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Remittances and Development

HDRO Conference Room
14 October 2008

Time: 12:30 – 2:00 p.m.

Topic

International migration is driven by major economic, demographic and social disparities as well as conflicts, climate change and environmental degradation or disasters. It has been argued that the benefits of migration to source countries are mostly through remittances.

One issue to consider is how the financial sector, through which remittances flow, can impact development. How can the Diaspora invest in home communities through starting businesses, proving investments, etc. The current literature highlights considerable scope for leveraging remittances and other diaspora resources for the benefit of developing countries. There is, however, a gap in our empirical understanding since migrant remittances are a private transaction and mainly a family affair, which fundamentally differ from other financial flows including official development assistance. The presentation will review ways to leverage the impact of remittances to make financial services more inclusive and mobilize the diaspora as transnational actors who can tailor efforts to local realities.

About the Speaker

Arun Kashyap is Senior Policy Advisor in the Private Sector Division of UNDP. Kashyap has considerable practical experience in designing, strategizing, implementing and managing development work in governmental, inter-governmental, private, and multilateral settings. His current work focuses on supporting inclusive private sector development in UNDP’s client countries together with public private partnerships to meet the MDGs. Kashyap is working on models to meet the unmet demand for financial services including credit, savings and market based safety net mechanisms that build upon the role of remittances in the context of strengthening entrepreneurship.

Presentation

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