Oxfam Novib: Remittances must contribute to development

Oxfam Novib wants to better use remittances – migrants’ transfers to their families – for development in the countries of origin. Many people in developing countries have relatives who have moved to the ‘big city’ or abroad. These migrants are sending money to their families.

Family networks
One of the opportunities Oxfam Novib sees, for this money to contribute to community development in the countries of origin, is for these transfers to go via micro-finance institutions (MFIs). They can support the home front and stimulate that the money be spent on progress and development as much as possible. Another wish of Oxfam Novib is for governments of countries where migrants are working to give remittances a fiscally favourable regime.

Innovations
The attention to remittances is one of the four innovations in Oxfam Novib’s work. The Business Plan for the coming four years had already announced them. The 2007 Annual Plan has worked them out. The other three innovations are:

• The promotion of safe, democratic and inclusive education, by linking education with gender and HIV and AIDS. Boys and girls thus learn how to treat each other. Sexual violence and HIV and AIDS drop. Active citizenship is encouraged at the same time.
• Inclusive democracy. Together with counterparts Oxfam Novib is going to elaborate on this concept in project work. In the Netherlands this takes the form of Reverse Development Co-operation.
• The promotion of transformative leadership, which can bring about real changes, above all through the involvement of women in developing countries. An example is the global ‘WE CAN end all violence against women’ campaign. Oxfam Novib wants to transform this campaign into ‘WE CAN build inclusive democracies.’

Project plans for these four innovations have in the meantime been drawn up. In 2007 existing experience and expertise are mapped and pilots are launched. There must be worked out plans for the period of 2008 to 2010 inside a year. (Link)