Knowledge

This report outlines key findings and actionable outcomes for both remittances and diaspora-impact investments.

This report uses the latest data to give an overview of remittances into and throughout Africa, looking at the drivers, trends, impact and potential.

This diagnostic provides an assessment of Kenya’s remittance market, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, using a market-oriented approach. 

This Ghana country diagnostic was prepared in accordance with the PRIME Africa goals.

The Gambia country diagnostic has been prepared in accordance with the PRIME Africa goals, to provide more in-depth analysis and additional evidence for the areas of action identified in the country road map.

Since its inception in 2006, IFAD’s Financing Facility for Remittances (FFR), has produced a large number of publications and information material with global outreach. This pamphlet aims to provide the reader with a quick overview of each, with a link to the dedicated webpage.

This flyer was produced in the framework of the African Postal Financial Services Initiative (APFSI) to highlight the improved partnerships between the Post and Money Transfer Operators to provide remittance services in rural areas.

This diagnostic provides an assessment of Uganda’s remittance market, with special reference to factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic, based on a market-oriented approach. 

The Senegal diagnostic provides an evaluation of remittance market into Senegal, under a supply-based approach. 

This report provides an assessment of the remittances market in Morocco.

The diagnostic covers key focus areas of Ethiopia’s formal remittance market, including the impact of the parallel foreign exchange market on remittances.

 

This study provides food for thought for operators wishing to tailor their financial tools to the needs and expectations of the diaspora while stimulating the interest of public actors.

IFAD research shows that Mali’s diaspora want to invest in businesses within the agricultural sector, and specifically in businesses owned by members of the diaspora and their relatives.

This diagnostic provides an assessment of Cabo Verde’s remittance market, which contributes over 15 per cent to the country’s GDP.

The South Africa country diagnostic has been prepared in accordance with the PRIME Africa goals, to provide more in-depth analysis and additional evidence for the areas of action identified in the country road map.

This note focuses on the challenge of verifying refugee identity in Uganda, outlining the current issues at stake and the rationale for solving this challenge and potential solutions for doing so.

MobileRemit Africa is a key instrument of the Platform for Remittances, Investments and Migrants’ Entrepreneurship in Africa (PRIME Africa) initiative, co-financed by the European Union and initially implemented in seven African countries along with their main remittance corridors.

Remittances sent by migrant workers to and within Africa were over US$85 billion in 2018, of which US$25 billion were sent by migrants residing in Europe.

This report examines the factors that have contributed to the resilience of remittances during the pandemic.

The 2021 GFRID Summit focused on the role of remittances and diaspora investment in strengthening market recovery in the midst of the current global pandemic and on heightening the resilience of migrant workers and their communities.

This feasibility study explains the role of remittances in agricultural risk management.

This set of three working papers explores ways to maximize the impact of remittances delivered through post offices.

This study analyses how migrants positively contribute to the sustainable economic development of rural youth in their countries of origin.

International Day of Family Remittances booklet for 2019

This report presents the highlights and key outcomes of the first country-led Global Forum on Remittances, Investment and Development, hosted by Bank Negara Malaysia in collaboration with IFAD and the World Bank Group.

This Guidebook compiles the lessons learned from the implementation of the IFAD-funded Remittances and Diaspora Investment for Rural Development (2014-2018).

A set of specific priorities and actionable outcomes resulted from the GFRID 2018. These are directly linked to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. 

On 12 June 2018, the United Nations General Assembly formally adopted the International Day of Family Remittances as a universally recognized observance. New partners and supporters from private and civil society sectors have endorsed the Day 2018.

The African Postal Financial Services Initiative (APFSI) was a unique broad-based partnership led by IFAD’s Financing Facility for Remittances (FFR), and bringing together the World Bank, the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the World Savings and Retail Banking Institute (WSBI) and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), and was cofinanced by the European Union (EU). The joint goal of this regional programme was to enhance competition in the African remittance marketplace through supporting and enabling African post offices in offering financial services. More specifically, it aimed at promoting a cheaper, faster, more convenient and more client-friendly transfer of remittances, particularly to rural areas, while fostering dialogue among stakeholders, regulators and policymakers. 

​RemitSCOPE, a new website portal, is designed to provide data, analyses and remittancemarket1 profiles on individual countries or areas. In coordination with the Global Forum on Remittances, Investment and Development 2018, RemitSCOPE is being launched to provide market profiles for 50 countries or areas in the Asia and the Pacific region.

The additional four regions will be included gradually: Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, and Near East and the Caucasus. RemitSCOPE intends to address the fast-changing market realities in the remittance industry in order to help bring together the goals of remittance families, as clients, and the strategies of the private-sector service providers. RemitSCOPE is designed as a free, one-stop shop that is available to any organization or entity interested in accessing all relevant public information on remittances.  

Remittances constitute a critical lifeline for around 1 billion people around the world. These vital flows of private money, sent by over 200 million international migrant workers, help families raise their living standards and contribute to improved health, education and housing. 

Remittances have increased in low-income and lower- middle-income countries in recent years, playing an important role as a stable source of finance at the macro-level, and in poverty reduction at the micro-level. 

Drawing on a critical review of the literature and econometric analyses based on cross-country panel data, this study examines the relationships among remittances, growth and poverty reduction in Asia and the Pacific and highlights policy implications to be considered by governments and policy-makers.

In 2015, Member States of the United Nations issued a call to action to eradicate global poverty, reduce economic inequality and place the world on a more sustainable pathway: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

The International Day of Family Remittances recognizes the efforts of millions of migrants to improve the lives of their families and to create a future of hope for their children. Remittances – the money that is sent home by migrants – help to sustain 800 million people and are a major contributor to development. Some 40 per cent of remittances go to rural areas, where poverty and hunger are concentrated. 

This report provides data and analysis of remittances and migration trends for developing countries over the past decade, as well as the potential contributions of remittance families to reaching the SDGs by 2030.

The Global Forum on Remittances, Investment and Development (GFRID) is part of a series of ground-breaking and inclusive international forums hosted by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations and an international financing institution (IFI), in collaboration with key development organizations and other IFIs. Over the last decade, these Forums have brought together stakeholders across all sectors and from around the world involved in the field of remittances, migration  and development.

On 15 and 16 June 2017, on the occasion of the International Day of Family Remittances, over 350 practitioners from the public and private sectors gathered at the United Nations headquarters in New York for the fifth Global Forum on Remittances, Investment and Development (GFRID). The participants had the opportunity to discuss challenges and opportunities in the remittance market, and present innovative approaches and successful business models, framing the discussions around the role of migrants’ remittances and investment towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) by 2030.

This report focuses on African National Postal Operators (NPOs) as one of the several distribution channels for remittances and financial services.

Endorsements by the United Nations and international organizations.

Remittances are the traditional means of financial support to family members back home.  This infographic illustrates the global flow of remittances.

This brochure describes the operations of the African Postal Financial Services Initiative, highlighting the unique position of postal networks for extending access to cashless payments and securing affordable financial services in rural areas.

In 2016, around 200 million migrants worldwide sent home an estimated US$ 445 billion to their families in developing countries. These remittances provide for basic necessities such as food, clothing and shelter that are essential to lifting millions of people out of poverty. The truly transformative potential of these funds, however, lies in their investment in education, healthcare and asset building. To meet these needs, the us$36 million multi-donor Financing Facility for Remittances (FFR) has been working since 2006 with the goal of increasing the development impact of remittances and enabling poor households to advance on the road to financial independence and rural transformation. The FFR is administered by IFAD, a specialized agency of the United Nations with the mandate to invest in rural people to eradicate poverty in developing countries.

Brochure that describes the Why, the Who, the Where and the How the the Diaspora Investment in Agriculture (DIA) initiative will seek to foster job growth in local communities, contribute to poverty alleviation and reduce the need to migrate.

This report proceeds from the Global Forum on Remittances and Development held in Milan, Italy in 2015.

​This survey was commissioned by the Financing Facility for Remittances (FFR) of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and undertaken by Taylor Nelson Sofres, TNS-RMS, in the context of the African Postal Financial Services Initiative (APFSI). 

The Use of Remittances and Financial Inclusion A report prepared by the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Bank Group to the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion.

This report proceeds from the First African Conference on Remittances and Postal Networks held in Cape Town, South Africa 2015.

The findings in this report are based on a series of studies and surveys commissioned by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and on analyses undertaken by IFAD on World Bank data. Financial contributions in support of the report were made by members of the IFAD-administered Financing Facility for Remittances, including the European Commission, the Government of Luxembourg, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and the United Nations Capital Development Fund. 

With mobile phone coverage generally surpassing 90 per cent of the population, even in developing countries, the potential to leapfrog to mobile banking holds the promise of addressing many of the challenges currently faced by rural remittance recipients. 

This report proceeds from the Global Forum on Remittances held in Bangkok, Thailand in 2013.

This document reports on the remarkable achievements of the Financing Facility for Remittances (FFR) in its five years of operation. It provides an overview of the importance of remittances to development, the strategy that the Facility has adopted to date, and the lessons. 

The FFR Brief learned from the innovative projects it has financed. Looking forward, the report highlights the tremendous opportunities offered by large-scale distribution networks, adoption of new technologies, mobilization of migrant capital and partnering with the private sector. Each chapter has been designed to be readable as a stand-alone discussion of the specific topic area it addresses. As a number of projects resulted in lessons learned in multiple areas, projects may be mentioned more than once, and their impact in each topic area will be discussed separately.

This report is an executive summary of a forthcoming compilation of studies on remittances to Asia and the Pacific. The findings are based on a series of studies commissioned by IFAD and carried out by Developing Markets Associates, the Inter-American Dialogue (IAD), the World Bank and the World Savings Bank Institute, and studies and analyses undertaken by the World Bank. 

The Financing Facility for Remittances (FFR) aims to expand the reach of financial services to the world's underserved rural areas. The maintenance of a network of dedicated brick-and-mortar branches throughout vast sparsely populated areas is prohibitively expensive for most forms of financial institutions, with one important exception: post offices.

​This report is based on the results of a study commissioned by IFAD and carried out by Manuel Orozco of the Inter-American Dialogue. 

This report on remitance flows to developing and transition countries is based on a data research study commissioned by IFAD from Dr Manuel Orozco of the Inter-American Dialogue, in collaboration with the Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank.