Blog – FFRemittances

This year’s International Women’s Day is a moment to reflect on the profound impact remittances have on women’s lives— from improving well-being and livelihoods, to shifting household dynamics due to migration, to addressing the persistent disparities between men and women in terms of access and control over these funds in some of the world’s most remittance-dependent countries.

Yet, these challenges also open doors for greater financial inclusion and economic empowerment, and it’s time to accelerate action!

IFAD’s recent work in The Gambia and Nepal highlights how targeted interventions with public and private sector partners can unlock opportunities. By making financial services more inclusive, we not only create a business case but also empower women to maximize remittances and improve their economic well-being.

Remittances are a vital lifeline for millions of families across LMICs

Migrant remittances form a vital financial lifeline that reduces the economic and social fragility of millions. These flows support over 800 million people worldwide, paying for household expenses, education, healthcare, and investments in income-generating activities.

In 2024, over 200 million migrants, nearly half women, sent over US$685 billion in remittances to LMICs[1]. Cumulatively these flows are forecast to reach US$5 trillion by 2030. While individual remittances average around US$200 per transfer, collectively they are three times Official Development Assistance and exceed foreign direct investment.

Yet disparities persist in terms of access and control over remittances by gender

Migration patterns significantly shape remittance flows. In nations such as India, Bangladesh, The Gambia, and Pakistan, over 60 per cent of migrants are men[2], and women are often left behind as de facto head of household and primary remittance recipients. It is in some of these remittance-receiving countries, where male outmigration is most common, that some of the largest gender gaps exist in terms of access to digital remittances, financial inclusion and gender equality (see graph – World Bank, Findex database).

These disparities and shifting household structures create an opportunity to focus efforts on digital financial services for women receiving-remittances and, in so doing, challenge and reshape social norms. By equipping women with the tools to receive and manage their money independently, we can enhance their financial autonomy and economic resilience.

Excluding women from financial services is not just a social issue—it’s a missed business opportunity. Empowering women in this way can help to foster economic prosperity and address the root causes of migration.

IFAD partners with the private sector to make case for gender-inclusive financial services

In The Gambia, where remittances are a lifeline and most migrants are men, women often face barriers to financial access. To bridge this gap, IFAD partnered with OnAfriq (a digital payment aggregator) and AfriMoney (a mobile money company) to digitize remittance access and financial services for rural women.

By digitalizing osusu savings groups—informal cooperatives traditionally used by women—AfriMoney created a platform for them to save, borrow, and receive remittances. This innovation has been a game-changer, especially in rural areas where mobility and banking access are limited.

“Women now have the liberty of saving discreetly, without anyone knowing about their finances,” shares Kalimatou Jallow, a program trainer. This newfound financial independence allows women to meet daily needs like school fees and household expenses.

Local female agents within their communities have further bridged accessibility gaps, enabling women to deposit savings, withdraw funds, and receive remittances without trips to financial institutions. With 134 savings groups established and over US$50,000 saved in the last two years, the model is proving its impact. Eighty percent of users now send and receive domestic remittances digitally, showcasing a strong business case for financial service providers to empower this often unreached and underserved segment.

Though still in its early stages, this pilot highlights the opportunity for financial service providers to bridge disparities and empower women by focusing on this underserved customer base.

IFAD supports remittance-receiving women in Nepal to leverage their remittances towards increase productivity, asset accumulation and prosperity

With remittances making up 25 per cent of Nepal’s GDP and a third of working-age men migrating for jobs, many women are left managing households with limited financial access. IFAD’s Samriddhi project, in partnership with Nepal’s Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Supplies, is changing that by leveraging remittances to strengthen women’s financial resilience.

A key initiative by IFAD, the Gender Action Learning System (GALS), brought women together to empower women in financial planning, savings, and investment in income-generating activities. Since its launch, over 1,300 women have nearly doubled their income and a further 20,000 remittance-receiving women gained financial literacy and entrepreneurship training.

Asha Kumari, a participant, started running her own agricultural business. Through GALS training, she opened a bank account, learned new agricultural techniques and invested in vegetable farming, creating an independent income stream. Her husband now plans to return, demonstrating this type of intervention can reshape migration patterns.

Accelerating action – what needs to change?

Improve data collection – Collecting gender-disaggregated remittance data is key to identifying financial service gaps. IFAD collaborates with central banks and the private sector to improve product uptake for women.
Develop and scale inclusive financial products – Financial institutions create and expand inclusive, safe and cost-effective financial services that address disparities by integrating tailored product design, targeted outreach, financial education, and access points designed to meet the needs of women.
Expand financial literacy and digital access to marginalised women receiving remittances – Financial literacy programs should target underserved women, especially in areas, addressing barriers like digital exclusion and social norms that limit financial independence.
Advocate for policy and regulatory reform – Policies focussed on reducing barriers for women in financial services, including access to identification, streamlined and reduced KYC requirements, remote onboarding.

The future is about inclusivity

Investing in gender-inclusive financial services is key to economic growth. When women can access and control remittances, as well savings, credit, insurance and other financial services, they reinvest in their families, businesses, and communities, especially in rural areas where remittances count the most.

This International Women’s Day, let’s move beyond seeing remittances as transactions and recognize their potential in driving women’s financial inclusion and economic resilience. In many countries, women still represent an untapped market, and prioritizing inclusivity in financial services will unlock new business opportunities, drive household resilience as well as catalyze local economic growth.

Know more about The Gambia project

Know more about the Samriddhi project

Watch Samriddhi video

Watch The Gambia video

[1] UNDESA migrant stock data (2020)

[2] https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/peoplemove/in-2024–remittance-flows-to-low–and-middle-income-countries-ar

RemitSCOPE.org is here, bringing remittance and remittance-related data to your fingertips in a way that’s informative, easy to access, and free to use.

Launched by the United Nations’ International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), RemitSCOPE gathers and organizes the latest information on remittance flows, costs, market conditions, access, and structure with a special focus on the regions and countries that benefit most from remittances—particularly rural communities in low- and middle-income countries.

For anyone interested in the world of remittances—whether you’re a remittance service provider, regulator, policy maker, or simply exploring the field—RemitSCOPE is a powerful, interactive tool that opens up a deeper understanding of global remittance markets and new market opportunities.

Why remittances matter

In 2023, officially recorded remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) were an estimated $656 billion. These funds, sent by migrants to support their families back home, are essential to many economies, especially in rural areas where they often matter most. Remittances have surpassed foreign direct investment (FDI) and official development assistance (ODA), making them the largest source of external financing to LMICs. This funding helps families meet basic needs, invest in education, healthcare, and businesses, and build financial resilience.

Despite their significance, critical gaps in remittance market data persist, making it challenging to identify bottlenecks, track trends, or address issues with access and cost. RemitSCOPE fills this gap with a central repository of reliable, current remittance information from multiple sources, from public agencies to primary research. It provides comprehensive remittance data that fosters competition and supports initiatives aimed at reducing transaction costs, promoting digitalization, and improving access to formal and digital remittance services.

Key features of RemitSCOPE

RemitSCOPE is designed to simplify the remittance landscape and offer data-driven insights to a broad audience. Here’s a closer look at some of the features that make this platform unique:

Comprehensive Country Profiles RemitSCOPE provides individual remittance profiles for over 70 countries across Africa and Latin America, with plans to expand further. Each profile includes detailed data, such as the total remittance volume received, the main sending countries, access metrics, and an overview of the remittance market’s structure. This resource helps users understand how remittances support various economies and households, making it a valuable tool for exploring a specific country’s remittance landscape.

Country Diagnostics on African and LAC Markets RemitSCOPE is also home to specialized Country Diagnostics on seven African markets and five countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). These diagnostics offer in-depth analysis on remittance markets within these countries and provide specific recommendations for improving market functionality. This level of targeted insight is ideal for identifying actionable strategies that can directly enhance the impact and efficiency of remittance flows in key markets.

Interactive Dashboards and Thematic Insights RemitSCOPE’s interactive dashboards allow users to explore remittance data across multiple themes, from migration trends to financial inclusion, remittance costs, and market structure. The data is easy to filter and customize, allowing users to focus on the information that matters most to them. Carefully curated indexes deliver essential market intelligence across different countries.

Data on Costs and Accessibility RemitSCOPE provides detailed data on the costs of sending remittances, which is often a significant challenge in remittance markets. High transaction fees and unfavorable currency exchange rates reduce the funds received by families. By shedding light on cost disparities by country and corridor (from one country to another), RemitSCOPE supports policymakers and service providers in identifying cost bottlenecks and fostering more affordable options.

Focus on Digitalization and Financial Inclusion RemitSCOPE highlights trends in the digitalization of remittance services, showcasing data on mobile wallets, digital money transfers, and other fintech solutions that allow families to receive funds remotely. These digital options are becoming increasingly popular as cost-effective, safe alternatives, especially in rural areas with limited access to physical financial services. RemitSCOPE tracks the growth of digital remittances, helping users appreciate the benefits of these options.

Insights for Market Transparency For those interested in understanding market dynamics, RemitSCOPE offers valuable insights into the structure and regulatory environment of remittance markets. By outlining factors such as service providers, competition levels, and regulatory frameworks, RemitSCOPE provides users with a complete picture of how remittance markets operate. This transparency supports greater accountability and drives improvements in cost, accessibility, and service quality across the sector.

How RemitSCOPE can benefit you

RemitSCOPE is a versatile tool for anyone curious about remittances—whether you’re sending money, receiving it, or interested in understanding the global economy. Here are a few ways it can support you:

Remittance Service Providers: Gain insights that help identify market opportunities, enhance competition, and improve products. Providers can use country-specific remittance flows and barriers to tailor services to underserved populations, particularly in rural areas.

Policymakers: Access data that supports effective policy formulation. Detailed remittance and migration insights enable governments to better address financial inclusion, promote formal remittance channels, and ensure regulations encourage innovation and competition.

Donors and Development Agencies: Identify regions where remittances impact poverty alleviation and development. RemitSCOPE’s data helps align investments with high-need areas, especially in rural LMIC regions.

Regulators: Use RemitSCOPE’s insights on pricing, competition, and operating environments to develop policies that lower remittance costs, enhance transparency, and improve formal financial service access.

Get Started with RemitSCOPE Today

Exploring RemitSCOPE is easy. Start with a country profile, explore interactive dashboards, or dive into cost data to see how remittances are evolving worldwide. Each feature on RemitSCOPE is designed to make remittance information accessible and actionable, putting you in control of this vital financial resource.

Whether you’re a first-time visitor or a regular user, RemitSCOPE.org continuously updates with new data, visualizations, market insights, and expanded country profiles.

As IFAD continues supporting economic resilience in rural areas, RemitSCOPE is a crucial step toward a future where remittances are more accessible, affordable, and impactful for the communities relying on them most. Visit the www.RemitSCOPE.org  and watch the Video to explore the latest remittance data and discover how this platform can serve you.

The world is getting hotter, rainy seasons less predictable, storms more intense and in many places there is either too much water, or not enough– always in the wrong place and the wrong time! Global climate change is experienced locally by people across very different places and circumstances. For the rural poor in Africa, Asia and the Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean this threat poses an ongoing humanitarian crisis. Extreme drought, floods, heatwaves, storms, and other climate hazards worsen poverty, threaten food and water security, health, livelihoods and settlements.

Consider the smallholder farmer in Mali, Guatemala or the Philippines who looks skywards and observes that “the rainy season never starts or stops when it used to, sometimes it begins slowly and then at the end, we get floods…in other seasons we begin with heavy rains and end in drought.” For smallholders who rely on crops to feed their families and livestock, shifting precipitation patterns can be life threatening. Fishers, herders and forest enterprises are also negatively impacted by a changing climate that contributes to land degradation, desertification, deforestation and shifts in the ranges of animal and plant species.

Farmers in Mali

Smallholder farmers and other rural livelihoods struggle to adapt to this growing set of risks in the face of declining economic opportunities and life chances. But most lack the know-how, tools, and finance needed to better protect themselves from climate change. Consequently, migration becomes a rational choice, particularly for rural youth. Migration is in many ways an investment decision for rural families, and the financial returns from migration can help in creating the economic opportunities that make such decisions less necessary in the future.

The main financial returns from migration are remittances – the money that migrants send to loved ones back home and they represent a vital financial lifeline for millions. In 2023, remittances to low- and medium-income countries were an estimated US$656 billion, resources that helped families with household expenses, including education and health and productive activities. In fact, remittances to these countries are more than three times Official Development Assistance (ODA) and for most developing countries these flows are more than the total of ODA and foreign direct investment (FDI).

Diaspora investment is another financial outcome generated by years of migration. These investors are migrants who settle in host countries and invest in productive activities in their countries of origin. These successful migrants invest across many sectors, including agriculture and land, and directly in enterprises. Many support entrepreneurial start-ups and bring a wealth of financial and business experience to local economies back home.

A good example of one such diaspora investor is an IFAD partner, Ciwara Capital, a venture capital fund owned by the Malian diaspora. Ciwara Capital recently invested in SOPROTRILAD, a Malian rice company with 400 employees that supports over 3000 small rice producers. Ciwara investment has enabled the implementation of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, water and fertilizer use and to increase crop yields.

Co-founders of Ciwara Capital

Is there scope for a programme to facilitate the use of migrant resources, both remittances and diaspora investment, for building climate resilience, generating local economic opportunities and eventually reducing the incentives to migrate?

For instance, evidence indicates that remittances help families better cope with climate change in agriculture and related rural activities. Remittances enable the purchases of resilient products and tools, such as new seeds, crops, water conservation tolls and a host of climate smart practices. IFAD pilot projects show that rural recipients will invest a portion of their remittances in climate resilience when given the right tools and incentives, thereby increasing agricultural productivity and the ability to withstand climate shocks. Scaling these models could empower more rural families to use their funds for resilience in sustainable ways.

These actions could include better financial options and know-how for families, such as low-cost microloans for resilient farming, climate insurance and other financial products that broaden the choices, information and know-how for remittance recipients and senders. Lower transaction fees for sending remittances for climate-related uses or savings programs designated for climate-resilient assets would also encourage greater resilience without infringing on the private nature of these resources.

Smallholder farmer in Mali

Toward this end, IFAD’s Financing Facility for Remittances (FFR) will launch a global programme, ResilientRemit, to maximize the impact of migrant remittances and diaspora investment for improving rural climate resilience and the sustainability of land use and other forms of natural capital, while increasing livelihoods, economic opportunities and reducing the incentives for migration.

ResilientRemit will scale innovative remittance-linked solutions, including technical and financial products that support climate resilience and sustainable practices, as well as business and financial models that facilitate diaspora investments in rural climate resilience. The programme will build know-how for smallholders and other rural enterprises, expand employment skills for rural youth, women and other disadvantaged groups. ResilientRemit will leverage IFAD projects and partnerships to broker opportunities for youth training and apprenticeships for decent employment. These could include IFAD Agribusiness Hubs, where available, and building on the impact of other IFAD projects such as the Rural Enterprise and Remittance Programme (RERP) in Nepal that provided migrant households with financial education and training in climate resilient agriculture among others.

Financial literacy training to women in rural Nepal

ResilientRemit will conduct market assessments that provide the first standardized collection of data on “green remittances,” including the behaviour and strategies of remittance senders and receivers, diaspora investment and related opportunities for improving rural resilience and reducing the incentives for migration. The programme will share learnings and strategies for enabling frameworks that facilitate the use of remittances, and will forge partnerships with national and international public, private and civil society stakeholders on leveraging migrant resources for adaptation and resilience and reducing rural migration. ResilientRemit can provide the incentives, know-how and options that can enable the financial fruit of past migration to sow the seeds for rural resilience and opportunity that will allow more youth to remain and come home.

Climate Change as a Crisis-Multiplier

Climate change fuels a growing humanitarian and economic crisis in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Worsening drought, shifting raining seasons, more intense floods, heatwaves and storms combine to increase rural poverty, reduce food and water security and spur rural migration. Migrant remittances, estimated at $656 billion in 2023, are now a vital financial lifeline for millions in these countries. These private flows help to support recipients’ household expenses, including education, health and many productive activities. Can these intra-family cash transfers also assist families in becoming more resilient in the face of climate change?

Migrant Remittances and Climate Resilience

Remittances are personal financial flows, not development aid or foreign investment. These transfers deliver value directly and efficiently to loved ones back home. Remittances also support climate resilience in agriculture and rural enterprises, enabling the purchase of products and tools, like drought-resilient seeds and crops, water catchment and efficient irrigation among other climate-smart practices. The impact of these actions will be amplified when families access greater financial options, including tailored financing for solutions that expand climate resilience such as low-cost microloans for resilient farming tools and products, climate insurance and access to know-how for more resilient practices.

Greater Financial Choice for Greater Impact

The focus is not on channelling or directing remittance flows, but on broadening the choices, information and capacities recipients need to build climate resilience. Private and public actors have an important role to play by supporting financial and other products services that encourage resilience building. This should include efforts to lower remittance transaction fees for a range of climate-resilient solutions and activities among other incentives.

The IFAD Approach: A Model for Scaling Good Practices

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), through its Financing Facility for Remittances (FFR), leads projects in climate vulnerable regions and supports financial inclusion and development impact. With the critical support of the European Union, Luxembourg, Spain and Sweden IFAD seeks to expand the productive options for families to use their remittances. Pilot projects demonstrate that with the right financial tools and options, families will invest a portion of their remittances in climate resilience, thereby improving agricultural productivity and resilience to climate hazards. IFAD is focused on scaling these models to enable more rural families to harness their remittances for greater resilience, household incomes and sustainability.

A Call to Action: Leveraging Remittances for Resilient Futures

Public and private support for accessible, climate-resilient financial options for rural remittance families is crucial. With this backing, these private migrant resources can also have a beneficial public impact on furthering climate adaptation and resilience in LMICs. It is time to recognize and encourage this form of migrant climate finance.

Pedro de Vasconcelos, Manager Financing Facility for Remittances, International Fund for Agricultural Development