The forum will be held on 24-25 October 2008 at the Asian Institute of Management in Makati City, Philippines and will be attended by around 80 participants representing different stakeholders in migration and development from different countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe, and North America.

The forum aims to highlight the contribution of migrants to development and the recognition of partnership building as an empowering process for them and their families and communities. It is also expected to serve as a platform in helping awaken the migrants’ consciousness on their potentials, and in further increasing their involvement as key participants in the national development process. This forum is part of the PHILCOMDEV parallel activities on the GFMD entitled “Closer to Home: Galing ng Pinoy, Galing sa Pinoy”.

INAFI is a network of organizations committed to fighting poverty by capacitating its members to pursue non-traditional affordable financial services that will enable the poor in meeting their financing needs and lessen their vulnerabilities. With the emerging phenomenon and opportunities on migration and development, the INAFI network has been evolving a program to address the challenges of including migration in the development agenda of governments, and creating an enabling environment that will value-add remittances and transform this as a tool for sustainable development.

INAFI recognizes the direct link of remittances (i.e. as a transfer facility, Diaspora philanthropy, or investment) to alternative finance and the need to facilitate this financial flow. In engaging migrant remittances for development, INAFI through the support of Oxfam NOVIB and other stakeholders has conducted 3 major international conferences: the Zacatecas Conference in Mexico (Latin America) in 2005; the Tagaytay City Conference in the Philippines (Asia) in 2006, and the Cotonou Conference in Benin (Africa) in 2007. Two big events in preparation for the Benin Conference were also held in 2007 namely the Experts’ Roundtable Discussion held in Burkina Faso and the African Diaspora Conference in Benin.

INAFI employs partnership building as the main strategy of its engagement in migration and development. Its African network is active in inter-facing with the African Diaspora philanthropy for the establishment of an African Diaspora Fund for Development. In Asia, its Philippine network with its partners has spearheaded the formation of PHILCOMDEV. Other INAFI network members are also involved in facilitating remittances through partnership building like that of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), New Rural Bank of San Leonardo (NRBSL) and Banco Lagawe in the Philippines, PAMECAS in Africa, and the Sistema Fedecredito and FOLADE in Latin America to name a few.

With these initiatives, INAFI has positioned itself in the forefront in addressing the challenges of migration and development, specifically harnessing the potentials of remittances for sustainable community development. As a microfinance network, INAFI has already created a niche in harnessing remittances for economic and social investments through the accessible and efficient remittance channels of its affiliate microfinance institutions (MFI). INAFI also assisted in linking Diaspora/migrant organizations to their home countries like that of the Kapatiran Philippines with the Economic Resource Center for Migrants Overseas (ERCMOVE). Other INAFI affiliates like the Social Enterprise Development Partnerships, Incorporated (SEDPI) and BALIKKABAYANI have launched migrant education campaigns focusing on the realities in the migrants’ respective origin countries, while several have facilitated the channeling of remittances/investments/donations into productive projects that benefit both migrant families (by weaning them away from the vicious cycle of indebtedness and dependency), and their immediate communities (by encouraging investments that will help build stronger local economies). The ATIKHA, Kooperatibang Likas ng Nueva Ecija (KOOL NE) and MILAMDEC experiences are examples of this.

THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM

Rationale

Over the years, migrant remittances have increased significantly leading experts to recognize it as the developing world’s most reliable and broad-based source of financing. Remittances have been second to or even surpassing official development assistance. The World Bank Remittances Trend estimates that recorded remittances to developing countries in 2007 has reached $240 billion and projected to increase to $318 billion with India, China, Mexico and Philippines as the top 4 recipient countries.

These remittances have a definite contribution to development and some of the recognized impacts are:

1. association with poverty reduction and increased household investments in education, entrepreneurship, and health (e.g. the Vellinippatti Migrants Association in Singapore helping in infrastructure development and social transformation in a community in India, the Seven Lakes International in the USA and Canada donating community social projects in a city in the Philippines);
   
   
2. contribution to the appreciation of the local currency that affected traditional exports (i.e. the Overseas Filipinos Worldwide Mutual Benefit Corporation (OFW-MBC) donation/investment in the Coco Natur project for coconut farmers, ERCMOVE’s time deposit/investment in the microfinance program for the enterprising poor of MILAMDEC, the Adopt a Client Investment Program (ACIP) of KOOL NE all in the Philippines);
   
   
3. the securitization of future remittances towards raising capital from international markets (e.g. easier access to remittances and value-adding as shown by BRAC in Bangladesh and Sistema Fedecredito in Latin America, savings in time and distance as shown by the Banco Lagawe in the Philippines).
   
   

And in recognition of these contributions, an agreement was forged during the November 2007 G8 meeting to promote better coherence and coordination of international organizations that are working to enhance remittance services and heighten the developmental impact of remittance receipts in developing countries.

But there is still much to be done. Economic depression remains evident in the migrants’ countries of origin especially the rural areas. Migrant families remain dependent on remittances mainly for expenditures on food, clothing, shelter, education, health, and loan payments although they would have saved money and invested if they could. This indicates the lack of support systems for reintegrating the migrants once they go back home.

The present situation denies development participation to the migrants which makes them uninformed, excluded and marginalized. PHILCOMDEV would like to reverse this trend. The welfare of the migrants should be recognized and protected, and migration should contribute to sustainable development. Towards this end, PHILCOMDEV has been conducting dialogues and inter-face to link the migrants with the development imperatives in the Philippines. This effort is well illustrated in its successful facilitation of partnerships between and among Home Town Associations (HTA), Local Government Units (LGU), and Non-government Organizations/ Private Institutions (NGO/PI).

Goals and Objectives

INAFI’s last Global Conference on Migration and Development in Benin was all about sharing and profiling the best practices of remittances, microfinance and Diaspora philanthropy for sustainable development. It was where INAFI’s policy and program on migration, remittances, microfinance and sustainable development was launched. Now, it is about time to look at the trends and lessons learned from the practice.

With the Philippines’ hosting of the forthcoming GFMD, INAFI-Philippines proposes to hold an aligned but parallel conference that seeks to acknowledge the contributions of migrants to development; and the recognition of partnership building as an empowering process for the migrants, their families, and their communities; and help arouse the national consciousness on the migrants’ potentials and therefore increase their involvement in the development process. The specific objectives are:

• launch with PHILCOMDEV partnership initiatives of migrants with LGUs and MFIs /NGOs through a Memorandum of Agreement;
  
  
• bring together migrants, their families, migration and development stakeholders, and microfinance practitioners to share their best practices on leveraging remittances for development;
  
  
• promote migration and development as a development agenda;
  
  
• introduce with PHILCOMDEV a process of migrant empowerment through consciousness raising and capacity building on financial literacy and entrepreneurship;
  
  
• showcase migrants’ initiatives and contributions to economic development and empowerment.
  
  

Theme

The proposed forum will be part of the PHILCOMDEV parallel GFMD program and will have the theme of Leveraging Migrants’ Remittances for Development: Practices, Lessons Learned and Trends.

Expected Output

Through the forum, the following outputs are expected to be achieved: (1) HTA-LGU-NGO partnerships, (2) crafting of a common advocacy agenda, (3) compilation of training modules financial literacy and social entrepreneurship, (4) conducted financial literacy and social entrepreneurship capacitation for migrants and their families, (5) documented proceedings with a compendium of the showcased best practices, and (6) awarding of recognition to best practices.

Management and Administration

The forum will be held in Manila near where the GFMD will take place, and will be undertaken with the cooperation of PHILCOMDEV and in coordination with the GFMD, and through the support of Oxfam NOVIB. INAFI’s Philippine chapter with PHILCOMDEV representatives shall comprise the organizing committee and will be responsible for the preparation, mobilization, promotion and management of the forum and the other parallel events..

The forum promotion, mobilization of sponsors, coordination with relevant stakeholders and other preparatory activities shall take place from June to the second week of October 2008. A web link to the web sites of INAFI Asia (www.inafiasia.net) and INAFI International (inafiinternational.org, info@inafiinternational.org) will be established a month before the forum provide updates for the participants.

The design of the activities presented in this proposal will be open to adjustments and changes until a month before the proposed forum date. The forum will be part of the PHILCOMDEV parallel events --- “Closer to Home: Galing ng Pinoy, Galing sa Pinoy” --- which includes the following activities which will take place on 24-30 October 2008.

• Conduct of Philippine Dialogue on Migration and Health. Discussion of migration and health issues as well as solutions,
  
  
• Launching of the Closer to Home: Galing ng Pinoy, Galing sa Pinoy Search for Best Practices on Migration and Development.
  
  
• MOA Signing with 15 Provincial Governors and City Mayors Piloting Program on Leveraging Resources for Development. The MOA is intended migrants’ rights and welfare, reintegration preparedness, and harnessing the benefits of migration for local economy development.
  
  
• Four Day Exhibit of Best Practices on Migration and Development. The exhibit will showcase migration and development initiatives, NGO and government programs and services, and OFW-funded enterprises and other social enterprises.
  
  
• Alternative Development Tours. Trips to projects that somehow involved overseas Filipinos in Laguna, Batangas, Nueva Ecija, and Ifugao.