Remittances and diaspora investments offer vital support for sustainable practices and climate adaptation. IFAD’s initiatives in Nepal and Mali prove simple solutions can scale.
Type of Document: Video
Nearly 40% of Nepalese households depend on remittances, which total around US$11 billion annually. While this supports families and builds the country’s foreign exchange reserves, it comes with a social cost. Samriddhi helps youth, migrant households, and returnees turn remittances into sustainable livelihoods.
Beyond remittances, diaspora investment is helping to address Africa’s financing gap while empowering local communities. Since 2022, with the support of the European Union, IFAD and I & P have partnered with the Malian diaspora to create Ciwara Capital—an investment fund owned and managed by Africans in Europe.
International remittances sent by migrant workers to developing countries reached a staggering US$300 billion in 2006, according to an IFAD study. This short documentary looks at the scope and scale of the flow and features the first-ever map to show remittances estimates on a country-by-country basis worldwide.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) reports that remittances flowing from the United States into Latin America reached a record-breaking US$45 billion in 2006. This IFAD documentary looks at a joint IADB-IFAD project attempting to re-direct a portion of the remittance flow through micro-finance institutions in rural communities.
Nepalese migrants send home $1.5 billion every year – over 20% of the country’s GDP. Many of the women here rely on these remittances to survive. Now Savings and Credit Organisations, supported by IFAD and the Nepal Center for Micro-Finance, are facilitating safe money transfers and encouraging people to save. This is transforming villages like Makrahar where, for the first time, people are able to access credit.
Each year more than 2 million Sri Lankans working abroad send more than $5 billion to their families. Traditionally this was done through wire transfers or fellow Sri Lankans returning home. But now IFAD has partnered with Hatton National Bank to ensure that migrant workers have more affordable and secure options to send their money home. This video was created for the Global Forum on Remittances 2013.
Recognizing the efforts of millions of migrants who work hard to provide a better future for their loved ones back home.
Project Greenback 2.0 by the World Bank, discussed at the Global Forum on Remittances and Development 2015 – Milan, 16-19 June
