ABSTRACT
In the sector of international development cooperation where the focus is shifting from bilateral investments and government-supported programmes towards private initiatives and public–private partnerships, migrant communities 1 are seen as a new avenue for inciting development interventions in their countries of origin (De Haas 2005; Faist 2008; Fauser 2011; Ratha et al. 2008). This trend has been triggered by the increasing amount of migrant remittances sent back home and the programmes that have been developed during the past decade which seek to mobilize these money transfers for development purposes. The International Organization for Migration (IOM 2012), for example, states on its website that its ‘recent programme focus has been placed on the facilitation of remittances – the private financial transfers of migrants – and the development impact that they can have on communities and countries of origin’. In turn, the World Bank has responded to the debate by setting up a research programme on the development impact of migration, the International Migration and Development Program (IMDP) (Schiff 2004, 20). The World Bank (2012) states that the programme aims to identify the effects of migration policies and reforms and expects that these will lead to superior development outcomes.
