This dissertation uses a mixed method approach to examine the determinants of internal remittances that are connected to the social networks of urban migrant street vendors. Urban street markets are a point of entry for many migrants moving from rural areas to cities in the Global South. The qualitative portion of the dissertation uses an ethnographic approach including participant observation, interviews and focus groups to examine the social networks of street vendors in a market in the municipality of Madina, Ghana. The quantitative analysis codes data from the ethnography in order to conduct a social network analysis using quadratic assignment procedure and logistic regression quadratic assignment procedure to analyze the relationship between attributes of street vendors and remittance behavior. Findings lead to several policy recommendations for the international community, as well as locally based non-governmental organizations, microfinance organizations, national and local governments providing funding or designing interventions affecting street markets or working with individual street vendors.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / Remittances from South Africa to other African countries have been a growing phenomenon over the past few years. A substantial proportion of such flow is informal and yet, the complexity and heterogeneity of migrants mean that relatively very little is known about which migrants remit, what they remit, how much and how, what the challenges are and how their remittance behaviour varies according to nationality. Using the case study of African immigrants in Cape Town, South Africa, this study sets out to explore the nexus between international migration and remittances, in particular the relationship between migrants' characteristics and remittance behaviour. This study is anchored around the international migration system theory, prospect theory and the social capital theory. The methodological approach is both quantitative and qualitative. The information was collected from an extensive literature review, survey questionnaires administered to 83 immigrants from Zimbabwe, DRC, Rwanda and Somalia, selected using purposive and snowballing techniques, a focus group discussion with 12 participants from the case study and observations of two informal remittance sending sites. This study found that African immigrants send cash, goods and social remittances to their respective countries. Furthermore, using nationality, education and income as the key variables of characteristics of immigrants, this study revealed that economic immigrants from Zimbabwe tend to remit cash and goods more frequently, Somalis remit more socially, Rwandese send goods using formal courier companies, while the Congolese remit through buses. In addition, educated and higher income African immigrants tend to remit formally, and more in terms of goods value and cash amount. This study further established that informal remittance systems still dominate. Beside cost, speed, safety, reliability, customer care, friendliness, trustworthiness and convenience; informal remittance operators offer flexibility through loans and the collection of remittances from regular senders at low service charges. Informal remittance systems also provide other services that attract immigrants. Formal remittance systems on the other hand, have no strong appeal for African immigrants, especially the less educated remitting in rural areas due to low coverage. They are also bureaucratic burdens, by requiring proof of income, and address as well as documentations that immigrants are not able to produce. In addition, the challenges related to the South African money transfer policy environment, the registration and licensing of Money Transfer operators drives remittances further underground. Within the context of remittances, the researcher recommended the measures needed to bolster the use of formal systems, this ranged from the government's relaxation of remitting requirements and licensing conditions, formal remittance operators' extension of their reach, provision of better information about their services and reduction in transfer cost, to informal remittance providers pooling their resources together in order to have a strong capital base that can be easily legitimized.

En adoptant une démarche macroéconomique, cette thèse étudie les déterminants et l’effet des transferts de fonds de migrants sur les économies des pays d’origine. A l’aide des données de panel relatives aux pays du Sud de la Méditerranée (PSM), elle s’intéresse plus particulièrement à étudier l’effet indirect des transferts de fonds sur le bien être et la croissance économique. Ainsi, la thèse cherche à i) étudier la réaction des transferts de fonds aux chocs macroéconomiques subits par le pays d’origine et d’accueil, ii) identifier les motivations microéconomiques et les déterminants macroéconomiques des transferts, iii) évaluer leurs effets sur les inégalités des revenus, la pauvreté et la croissance économique. Les résultats montrent que les transferts de fonds sont contracycliques pour l’Algérie et l’Egypte, et procycliques pour la Tunisie et le Maroc. Par rapport au cycle d’affaires des pays d’accueil, les transferts de fonds sont procycliques, à l’exception de l’Algérie. Ils révèlent également que les envois de fonds à destination des PSM sont motivés par l’altruisme. Enfin, les transferts de fonds n’ont aucun impact direct sur les inégalités de revenu. En revanche, l’effet est indirect et conditionné par le milieu socioéconomique de l’émigré et de sa famille. Quant à la pauvreté, les transferts de fonds diminuent la pauvreté, et permettent à certaines couches défavorisées de la population de ne pas y sombrer. Les estimations montrent que les transferts de fonds et le système financier sont complémentaires, et que les envois de fonds stimulent la croissance dans les pays disposant d’un système financier suffisamment développé. / This Ph-D studies the impact of migrants’ remittances on recipient economies using a macroeconomic approach. More specifically, it deals with the indirect effects of remittances on the economic growth of the migrants’ home countries on the basis of data from the Southern Mediterranean countries (SMC). This Ph-D will try to i) investigate the quantitative and qualitative effects of remittances, ii) identify the microeconomic and macroeconomic determinants of remittances, iii) investigate their effects on inequality, poverty and growth. Our results suggest that remittances are countercyclical in Algeria and Egypt, and procyclical in Morocco and Tunisia regarding the business cycle of the countries of origin. However, except for Algeria, remittances are procyclical regarding the business cycle of the migrants’ host country. Moreover, empirical findings show that altruism is the most important motivation behind remittances in SMC. Furthermore, our results indicate that remittances indirectly reduce inequality and poverty in the migrants’ home societies. This effect on poverty gains further importance when the recipient countries suffer from external chocks. Finally, this thesis shows that remittances can promote growth in countries with more efficient financial systems.

Chinese society has greatly emphasized filial piety and other related societal norms. This thesis explores how Mainland Chinese international students, especially those who are from one-child households, maintain their familial responsibilities while studying in Canada away from home. The research is framed by the family migration strategy literature and empirically adopts a qualitative approach. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews with Mainland Chinese international students are undertaken. The findings show that as with many other types of migration, student migration, in this case, is a familial decision. To a certain extent, obtaining a foreign degree is the foundation for fulfilling familial responsibilities in the future. In addition, a new concept, delay remittances, is introduced as a way of conceptualizing the concrete meaning of familial responsibility for Mainland Chinese international students. The findings also show that the most significant tension for Mainland Chinese international is related to the uncertainty of how and where they will be able to fulfill their familial obligations to their parents.

Policy makers in the global development industry in the past two decades have shown increasing interest in engaging diasporas in homeland development. This research aims to address the gap of searching for better practices of engaging diaspora in homeland development, using the case of Tajik diaspora in Russia. The research objective is to identify the most promising areas to effectively engage Tajik diaspora in Russia in homeland development. The research adheres to abductive logic of enquiry, and uses qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews conducted remotely with representatives of Tajik diaspora organizations and Tajik diaspora members in three major Russian cities (Moscow, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg). The study uses structuration theory as a theoretical framework to conceptualize diaspora organizations and their practices. For analysing data, pragmatic, administrative, centralized and decentralised approaches to diaspora engagement in homeland development are used as an analytical framework. The scope of this study is not able to generate representative results, but drawn conclusions provide basis for further research. The combination of the theoretical and analytical framework applied within this study allowed to identify gaps between existing diaspora engagement strategy and the actual capabilities present in the diaspora. This study indicates that the most promising areas for effectively engaging Tajik diaspora in Russia in homeland development is bridging said gaps by institutionalizing existing development practices through a decentralized pragmatic approach. The analysis also argues that diversifying channels of administrative approach to diaspora engagement and scaling down the projects to the local level could maximize effectiveness of diaspora engagement strategy.

More than two decades of internal fighting and political unrest have seen millions of Congolese people leave their home country in search of a better future for themselves and their families in other parts of the world. This migratory movement exposed most of them to the significance of remittances as a means to support the loved ones left behind. Remittances from abroad play a key role in enhancing the standard of living of households in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The study therefore analyzed remitting behaviours of migrants based in the Western Cape province of South Africa and the impact of their remittances on recipients’ livelihood in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This study made use of primary and secondary data collected from various sources, then applied qualitative methods for analyzing both the remittance senders’ behaviour and the impact on recipient households. After a critical analysis, the study found that remittances increase the income of recipients, help alleviate poverty, improve recipients’ ability to access basic services such as health and education, and contribute to employment creation by providing capital for microenterprises and community based projects. The study also found that migrants based in the Western Cape would rather use informal channels instead of formal channels due to high costs and compliance requirements. One contribution of this study is the finding that current policies in relation with the remittance industry in South Africa and in Congo can definitely be improved in order to increase remittances inflows both ways, and thus meaningfully impact both countries’ economies.

This thesis is a case study that examines the impacts of the European Union Emergency Fund(EUTF) in The Gambia. Using a combination of the Neoclassical theory, New Economics ofLabor Migration theory and Migration Network theory this thesis investigates the impact theEUTF has had on irregular migration in The Gambia locally known as the “back way” to Europe.Furthermore, through the use of interviews, and secondary data from the InternationalOrganization for Migration (IOM) and International Trade Centre (ITC), this paper alsoinvestigates the impact of the projects implemented under the EUTF has on the beneficiaries.The analysis shows that in terms of the economic and employment opportunity plan of theEUTF, it has had too little coverage to have any significant impacts in the Gambia, however, theawareness-raising component has made a considerable impact on the decision-making process ofthe backway migration. Finally, the analysis shows that the EUTF has had a positive impact onits beneficiaries thus far.

The key question that this paper seeks to answer is (1) To what extent are Zimbabweans living in London, in the United Kingdom involved in transnational activities to their country of origin? To try to answer this question I have carried out quantitative analysis of primary data gathered in London and the results show that the Zimbabwean migrants are actively involved in transnational activities to their country of origin. Contact with family and sending money home seem to be the most carried out transnational activities than others. In the context of this research project, transnational activities will encompass those falling under the socio-cultural domain such as maintaining family ties with relatives in origin country, the economic domain such as sending money to family in origin country and the political domain such as voting back in origin country.

According to the World Bank’s (2019) latest Migration and Development Brief, remittances to low and middle-income countries reached a record high in 2018. This study examines Swedish migrants’ motives behind remittances and their experience with the social and economic impact of sending remittances. The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to a research-based study on Swedish-migrants’ remittances practice since Sweden lacks research about remittances. We have conducted eight semi-structured interviews with Somali and Iraqi migrants to understand their motives and experience with remittances. The results are analyzed with theories such as Lucas and Stark’s altruism, self-interest, and tempered altruism, or enlightened self-interest, as well as transnationalism. We have also analyzed the results with the social exclusion concept to understand the migrants' experience in the host country in relation to remittances. In our study, we found that the respondents’ social and cultural resources were limited. Our interviewees were socially and economically impacted by sending remittances. They are in a state where their economy is limited because of sending remittances, which makes it hard for them to maintain a certain social presence in the host country, due to their lack of free time. They do not have the same opportunities as non-migrants in Swedish society, because they prioritize work and providing for their families in Sweden and the homeland. The respondents are living in two worlds where they are keeping their transnational ties with the origin country and therefore, they are comparing their living standards with families and relatives in the home country. This prevents them from seeing or identifying themselves as socially excluded individuals of the host country. They perceive themselves as socially excluded when it comes to their economic situation, however, in general, they see themselves as socially included as they learned the language, got an education, work, provide for their families, etc.

Since the 1950s, Haitian transnational migrants have ensured the socioeconomic survival of many nonmigrants in Haiti by sending billions of US dollars annually to their families and friends back home. While Haitian migrants are often perceived as having a positive economic impact on Haiti, some are criticized for engaging in homosexual behaviours, seemingly infringing on ‘traditional’ Haitian family values in a largely conservative ‘Christian’ society. This revives old debates about migrants’ role in using their money to normalize same-sex identity and practices and pervert sexual morality and ‘acceptable’ gender norms among nonmigrants in Haiti. Accordingly, men in Haiti are involved in same-sex intimate transnational relationships with migrants from the Haitian diaspora because of their precarious socioeconomic status in Haiti and not necessarily because they may be gay. Although homosexuality has always existed in Haiti and same-sex intimate relationships among men in Haiti and those abroad have long existed, these relationships have rarely been studied in the literature on transnational migration and sexualities. To fill this gap, this thesis draws on eleven months of ethnographic fieldwork and forty-four semi-structured interviews with men in Northern Haiti to show how homosexuality intersects with transnational space and socioeconomic inequality to shape and organize transnational processes and same-sex intimate relationships involving men in Haiti and their migrant partners across the Haitian diaspora in the United States, Canada, France, Brazil, Chile, and the Dominican Republic. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / In 2022, the World Bank estimated that international migrants sent 647 billion US dollars to their families, kinships, and friendship networks worldwide. This significant flow of money exemplifies the cross-border ties, connections, and relationships that people who moved from their homelands to resettle in host countries maintain with those who have stayed behind in their home communities. While scholars have conducted significant research in the past four decades on how international migrants’ gender, socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, country of origin and host countries’ reception contexts shape how they maintain such ties, connections, and relationships with their homelands, there is a dearth of research on how the sexuality of LGBTQ+ migrants and nonmigrants shapes how they develop and maintain connections, ties, and relationships that span national borders. To fill this gap, this thesis uses a Haitian case study to examine how migrant and nonmigrant men develop and sustain same-sex intimate relationships across national borders and what they mean to them in their home country’s socioeconomic and political contexts.