Empowering Migrants and Transnational Communities as Development Actors
Channel: IOM - UN Migration
Date: 2021-10-19

As during other challenging times and crises, the COVID19 pandemic has once again demonstrated the ability of transnational communities to quickly adjust to the situation and mobilize their support and resources to assist those most vulnerable or left behind. Indeed, despite wide-spread anticipations of a radical drop of remittances in 2020 due to the economic crises linked to the pandemic – predicted to 20 percent by the World Bank in April 2020, migrant remittances once again demonstrated their resilience and continued providing an important buffet against falling into extreme poverty, loss of livelihoods and inability to afford treatment against the disease and save lives. 
 
Moderator: 
Marina Manke, Head, Labour Mobility and Human Development, IOM

IOM Speakers:
* Remittances and financial inclusion of migrants and diaspora communities lessons learnt during COVID19 response
    * Veronica Studsgaard, Founder and Chief Executve Officer, IAMTN
* Contributions and Counting – migrants’ support to countries of origin and destination beyond remittances.
    * Leon Isaacs, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, DMA Global
* Diasporas as partners during response to pandemic and beyond – what can governments do?
    * Gerardo Pérez, Director of Diaspora and Development, El Salvador
    * Abdifatah Diriye Ahmed, Director of the Somali National Institute of Health