Economics of International Migration9 Jan Brzozowski, PhD Cracow University of Economics

Beyond private remittances: how diaspora can contribute to the development of home country Social remittances Collective remittances Managing collective remittances: the case of 3x1 program in Zacatecas, MEX

Social remittances (Levitt, 1998) Migration-driven form of cultural diffusion Ideas, behaviors, identities, and social capital, flowing from host to home countries Such remittances induce social change at home country, which might speed up the modernization and help in development at the local level

Social remittances are not a novelty of the 21st century Bona Sforza marriage with Sigismund I the Old, the King of Poland in 1518 – inflow of Italians into Poland (architecture, music, cusine) Englightement influence on Latin America: most of the leaders of the independence movements at the beginning of 19th century studied at European universities

Levitt (1998): Miraflores community in Dominican Republic Social remittances – clothing brought from the US But also the appraisal of more ordered way of living (f.i. do not throw garbage at the street) But also some negative effects: individualistic approach of migrants, less respect for the family and community

Collective remittances Philantropic and charity motives also important in remitting bahavior Migrants often contribute to charity initiatives at home community These are mostly religious purposes (i.e. temple building/repairs), but also other social investments (social events, education and health infrastructure)

Philipine immigrants in Italy (Baggio and Asis, 2008) 70% seend remittances every month Frequent visist in home country (50% visited Philipines in the last 12 months) 28% voted in previous elections 40% declared that they would support a development project in their hometown 31% actually have plans to do so Motivations: to help those in need (poor); mostly charity and religious aims (church construction, charity programs, school improvement or school projects)

Initiatives to attract collective remittances (Overseas Filipinos - 10% of population, 10.5 million) 1989: program LINKAPIL (Service to Fellow Filipinos), proposed by the Comission on Filipinos Overseas Overseas donors can support small-scale projects in education, health and welfare, small-scale infrastructure, and technology and skills transfer In last 20 years 2.5 billion Philipine Pesos (ca. 56 million USD) have been channeled to country through LINKAPIL program

Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Classroom Galing sa Mamayan Abroad program Donations for construction of schools and classrooms, esp. in poor, underdeveloped areas Between July 2004 and March classroms have been built Example: 2 classes-school building in Gusawan Elementary School, funded by Council of Filipino Associations in Flanders in 2010, cost: 400,000 pesos (ca. 9 thousand USD)

Managing collective remittances: the case of 3x1 program in Zacatecas, MEX Growing importance of hometown associations (HTAs) of Mexican immigrants in the US HTA gathers paisanos – people born in the same village Usually a supportive role for immigrants in the US: counselling, networking, job placement, accomodation information etc. As the Mexican community becomes stronger, HTAs turn their attention also to the hometowns in Mexico

Most of the immigrants concentrated in 3 states 70% of 9.2 million Mexicans (2000) concentrated in California, Texas and Illinois HTAs

Starting in mid 1990s, HTAs become involved in philantropic projects in their towns in Mexico Charity projects (toys, clothes, funds donations) Infrastructure (parks, streets, plazas) Human development (libraries, health equipment, health facilities, sport facilities)

Managing collective remittances Mexico government, seeing the potential in HTAs proposed the more formal organization Confederation of Mexican Federation created Additionally – 17 state federations (out of 31) Such federations facilitate the formal relationships between the paisanos and the authorities in Mexico and enable joint projects

Three for One program Started in 1992 as Two for One program – for every dollar provided by the HTAs the federal and state governments gave 2 dollars for social infrastructure projects 1999 – 3 for 1, additionally funds from municipal governments 2005 – 4 for 1, First Data Corporation (Western Union) joined

Zacatecas region No. of projects (till march 2006) Investments in USD million

The impact of HTAs is not only financial HTAs know their hometowns better than the public administration officers They recognize the needs of local population, negotiate which projects are the most important They supervise the investments (lot of funds are saved – decrease in corruption)