Sending Money Home | Remittances, Philanthropy, and the Global Financial Crisis

Flikr photo by Adam Cohn used under a Creative Commons license.  The PCR Project is conducting a study to investigate the potential contributions of diasporas and transnationals to security and public safety in conflict prone settings, funded by the Compton Foundation. Diasporas and transnationals may provide a useful source of resources (including remittances), expertise, local knowledge, and serious long-term commitments to improve security and public safety in their country of origin. With the global financial crisis, there has been speculation that the developing world will suffer the most from a down turn in Official Development Assistance (ODA), but maybe even more importantly from a decline in remittances.    Diasporas maintain a close connection with their homeland.  In 2008, remittances exceeded $300 billion dollars and revised World Bank estimates for 2009 project only a 5 to 8 percent decline in remittances, to between $280 and $290 billion dollars.  Recently the Hudson Institute released The Index of Global Philanthropy and Remittances 2009, which examines the total spectrum of development support to the developing world, including ODA, global philanthropy, and remittances.  The report highlights the resiliency of remittances and philanthropic donations to support livelihoods for families living at or below the poverty line. The full report dispels some inaccuracies in how the broad-spectrum of development assistance is perceived and highlights ways private financial flows and innovative philanthropy may provide even more development opportunities than the limitations the financial crisis might suggest.