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Ethiopia’s new diaspora bond: will it be successful this time?

Submitted by Sonia Plaza on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 08:05

According to the latest issue of the Economist, diaspora bonds an idea worth trying. Ethiopia recently announced the launch of its second diaspora bond: “Renaissance Dam Bond”.


The proceeds of the bond will be used to fund the construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam. This dam will be the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa when completed (5,250 Mega Watts). The first one was called the Millennium Corporate bond, and was for raising funds for the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCO) . The first diaspora bond issuance did not meet the expectations. Sales were slow during the first months of offering despite the efforts of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and the embassies and consulates to sell them. Some risks that the diaspora faced were: i) risk perceptions on the payment ability of EEPCO on its future earnings from the operations of the hydroelectric power; ii) lack of trust in the government as a guarantor; and iii) political risks.

The ECA diaspora can contribute to development

Submitted by Sudharshan Canagarajah on Wed, 06/08/2011 - 14:37

At approximately 46 million, the diaspora population originating from the ECA (Europe & Central Asia) countries is the largest of all the development regions. Over ten percent of the population of the ECA countries currently lives outside their home countries, a much larger share than the 3 percent of the world’s population who are defined as migrants. Even if some immigrants choose to fully assimilate in the recipient countries, there is still a significant number who maintains active links to their countries of origin. The flow of remittances in ECA coming from this Diaspora is also quite significant, more than 30 percent of GDP in some ECA countries. This financial contribution has led to a dialogue on potential Diaspora Bonds to attract much needed investment for capital projects (see Dilip Ratha’s work).

Remittances Rebound but Pressures Persist

Submitted by Otaviano Canuto on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 22:36

Remittances, or the money migrant workers send home to their countries of origin, are finally recovering to pre-crisis levels. In 2010, remittance flows to developing countries reached $325 billion, and they are poised to continue growing sustainably through 2013, according to the World Bank’s latest Outlook for Remittance Flows 2011-13.


This is very good news for developing countries. For many of them, money sent by their migrant workers living abroad is a very important source of external financing –sometimes even higher than the revenues obtained from oil exports or tourism. Thanks to the money being made in the U.S. by their relatives, millions of Mexican families can put food at their tables, just as Indians and Filipinos benefit the same way from the remittances sent from rich and oil producing countries in the Middle East.

Russia’s Migration Reforms – Learning to look at the Glass Half Full

Submitted by Sudharshan Canagarajah on Thu, 05/19/2011 - 12:09

The more I work on migration issues, I have come to realize the uniqueness of the CIS region migration phenomena. Migration in what is currently called the CIS region (the former Soviet Union) includes both migration within the region and external migration. Although the CIS countries are now nation states, they were earlier part of one country. The migration phenomena, therefore, existed for more than 70 years before the fall of Soviet Union in 1991. Despite being ethnically different, almost all speak Russians (although the fluency in Russian is declining over time, especially in the younger generation). There is substantial movement of goods and services and trade integration across the region.

LDC IV Conference calls for facilitating migration and remittance flows, and fostering their development impact

Submitted by Dilip Ratha on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 08:50

The program of action of the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, Istanbul, 9-13 May 2011 explicitly calls for reducing remittance costs and improving the development impact of remittances.


The conference calls on the LDCs to:

 (a) Make efforts to improve access to financial and banking services for easy transaction of remittances;
 (b) Simplify migration procedures to reduce the cost of   outward migration;
 (c) Take appropriate measures to better utilize knowledge,  skills and earnings of the returning migrants;
 (d) Provide necessary information, as available, to workers seeking foreign employment.

How does migration shape economic and social development?

Submitted by Elina Scheja, co-authors: Dilip Ratha, Sanket Mohapatra on Mon, 02/28/2011 - 12:11

Migration has a profound impact on the lives of the migrant households, but also their societies are shaped by the cumulative effects of labor mobility and consequently remittances. Literature provides interesting insights into the true development impact of migration. Dilip was asked to provide a background document assessing the state of the current knowledge for a roundtable discussion at the Civil Society Days of the Global Forum of Migration and Development 2010 held in November in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. This resulting paper (co-authored with me and Sanket) has since then been revised and recently published as a World Bank working paper.

In the paper we have reviewed a variety of studies representing different aspects of migration in order to distill key messages and new insights. Main observations arising from the survey are:

For a sending country, migration and the resulting remittances lead to increased incomes and poverty reduction, improve health and educational outcomes, and promote productivity and access to finance. Although individual variation exists, the economic impact is primarily and substantially positive. Yet, these gains come at a substantial social cost to the migrants and their families as migration may lead to eroded family structures, children losing parental care, and weaker safety nets. 

Passions Fuelling Interests: A Portfolio Approach to Diaspora-Home Country Projects

Submitted by Yevgeny Kuznetsov on Fri, 02/25/2011 - 10:01
Photo:Istockphoto.com

For 20 years, BP Agrawal led research and development at such companies as General Dynamics, ITT, GTE, and Hughes, helping take new technologies from lab to marketplace. US-based Agrawal and his diaspora peer had a number of discussions on how they can make an impact in home country (India), and concluded that it is not their financial contributions that would make a difference but rather new commercial models of public service provision. In 2006, he won Development Marketplace awards for River from the Sky, a system of community water provision in draught-stricken areas and in 2007 for, Clinics for Mass Care, a system of mobile, kiosk-based clinics.

Recognition of the poor as a major market opportunity has produced bottom-of-the-pyramid innovation, the hallmark of which is global search for home-grown solutions. Diaspora members are natural vehicles for both global search and diffusion in the local context. In reality, diffusion is all that matters. Thanks to Agrawal’ patience, perseverance and persistence, he was able to enter into partnership with a local government which significantly speeded up the diffusion.  

Will their parents’ DREAM come true?

Submitted by Sonia Plaza on Sat, 12/18/2010 - 01:22
Photo: istockphoto.com

Since 2001, the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act (“DREAM Act”) has been discussed in the congressional sessions without success. On December 8th, the fifth version of the DREAM Act passed the House by a vote of 216 to 198. The Senate is likely to vote on this today.  However, it seems that the legislation will be short of the 60 votes needed to bring the bill to the floor for debate. (See article)
 
The current version of the Act would allow undocumented immigrants under age 30, who entered the United States before they reach 16 years old, to attain temporary status if they have graduated from high school or earned a general equivalency degree (GED). To qualify, migrants must attend two years of college or serve in the military as requirement to get temporary residency.  (See article)

Qatar's winning World Cup bid is a win for migrants

Submitted by Dilip Ratha on Tue, 12/07/2010 - 18:36

I was in Dubai last week when the news broke about Qatar's World Cup bid. Qatar winning the vote to host World Cup in 2022 will produce significant increases in migration flows from, and remittance flows to, South Asia, East Asia and East and North Africa.
 
Qatar employs just short of 1.5 million migrant workers currently. It is the largest host country for migrants in the world: the share of migrants in the population exceeds 85%, for every adult Qatari national, there are 10+ migrant workers (see Factbook, my earlier blog post). Although it does not report data on remittances to the IMF, newspapers quoting Qatar Central Bank reported outward remittances approaching $7 billion in 2010. The sheer increase in the demand for workers for constructing stadiums and developing infrastructure is expected to result in huge migration flows from South Asia, but also from East Asia (the Philippines, but also China). Outward remittances will rise more than proportionately, first because wages will rise, and second, because the authorities will provide greater scrutiny to recruitment practices and working conditions for migrant workers.

The challenge of forced displacement and survival Migration

Submitted by Margarita Puerto Gomez on Mon, 11/01/2010 - 17:09

The World Bank’s Social Development Department (SDV) and Migration and Remittances Unit hosted a brown bag lunch (BBL) on state fragility, forced displacement, and survival migration on September 21, 2010. Dr. Alexander Betts from the University of Oxford presented a compelling argument on the need for innovative institutional approaches to displacement and forced migration as a development challenge. In today’s world of internal conflicts, state and societal fragility, and climate-related threats to food security, constant movements of people are not only associated with political persecution (“refugees”) or the mere desire to improve livelihoods (“economic migrants”), but also with a concept called “survival migration.” According to Dr Betts, this concept refers to people who are forced to move outside of their countries of origin because of an existential threat to their liberty, security, or livelihood systems.  Such people do not fall within the existing conventions and agreements related to displaced people. Case studies conducted in Angola, Botswana, among others, illustrate that these migrants are extremely vulnerable groups and that their human rights are often violated in host countries.