Media Advisory no.: MA/08/08

Rome, July 10 2008 - Filipino domestic helpers in Rome are using their hard-earned savings to invest in the rural areas they came from, sometimes even buying farms for themselves and their families, according to an IFAD-supported study.

Italy has been a traditional host for Filipino migrants since the early seventies, and 61% of those migrants are women. Of the women interviewed in the survey, 91.8% worked as domestic helpers.

The United Nations International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW) undertook a study on "Gender, Remittances and Development", supported by a grant from IFAD. This study was prepared in collaboration with the Rome Chapter of the Filipino Women’s Council. 

“Women, as primary senders of remittances from Italy to the Philippines, play a key role in determining how the money is used” said Maria Hartl, IFAD Technical Adviser on Gender and Social Equity.

The study showed, among other things, that foreign earnings gave Filipino women a chance to break with tradition and buy arable land for their families, and in some cases themselves, if they thought agriculture was a viable business.

“Remittances allow migrant households to improve their living and working conditions, to purchase agricultural land and invest in technology to intensify and diversify their production” said Hartl.

This is particularly important as over 70% of farmers in the Philippines do not own the land they cultivate and limited access to land is one of the main causes of poverty in the country.

It also has a major impact on the relationship between the sexes in rural areas.

More than 60% of Filipino women migrants to Italy completed higher level of education before leaving the Philippines; however they came abroad looking for better work opportunities.

Remittances also have an impact on food security since improved agricultural production leads to more and different kinds of food available.

The Philippines is the third highest recipient of remittances in Asia and Oceania.

Remittances to the Philippines were worth US$ 14.651 or 12.5% of GDP according to a 2006 IFAD study.

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IFAD was created 30 years ago to tackle rural poverty, a key consequence of the droughts and famines of the early 1970s. Since 1978, IFAD has invested more than US$10 billion in low-interest loans and grants that have helped over 300 million very poor rural women and men increase their incomes and provide for their families.
IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized United Nations agency. It is a global partnership of OECD, OPEC and other developing countries. Today, IFAD supports more than 200 programmes and projects in 81 developing countries and one territory.