June 28, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
International aid groups should do more to help immigrants in wealthy countries send cash to their families back home, writes Ruth Gidley, a blogger for AlertNet, a Web site created by Reuters on humanitarian efforts.
Charities have traditionally not supported such payments, known as remittances, because they do little to alleviate poverty, aside from the recipients of the money.
“The traditional view of both academics and aid workers was that remittances were somehow a more selfish form of support than aid, going to help the folks back home buy more ostentatious houses than their neighbors, or frivolous electric appliances,” writes Ms. Gidley, a former aid worker and journalist in Central America.
But a new report by the Humanitarian Policy Group, in London, shows that remittances also help children attend school, allow families to start small businesses, and support other social and economic development.
To promote remittances, she suggests international charities develop better lines of communications between separated families, such as providing phone cards or opening Internet cafes.
What do you think? Should charities promote remittances? Or are such payments not a good form of international aid? Click on the comments link below this post to share your thoughts.
