What can Boost Remittances in the Current COVID 19 Context and Beyond?
By: Joann Rolle
Tags: UN, Sdgs, Remittances, Undp, Africa

WEBINAR SUMMARY REPORT

South-South Virtual Seminar Hosted by UNDP Africa Sector Hub

December 1st, 2020, 3:30 to 5:30PM (GMT+2)

UNDP Africa produced an engaging and insightful program that delivered expert content, discussions, and potential for solutions. There were opening remarks followed by two panels. The first breakout panel focused on engaging the diaspora as a development partner for national investments. The second breakout panel focused on reducing the cost of sending remittances.

Summaries of the opening remarks follow from the official UNDP Summary:

Fatou Leigh, UNDP South Africa, Senior Economist, speaking on behalf of Mr. Ayodele Odusola, Finance Sector Hub Africa Manager & UNDP South Africa Resident Representative: Ms. Jo-Ann Rolle, Dean, School of Business, Medgar Evers College (CUNY): “Engaging African diaspora for Building forward Better in Africa”: Mr. Yemi Oluwakuyide, Remittance Lead, and Senior Responsible Officer, Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO), UK: “Review of the Call to Action for Remittances from an African perspective”: Told us that according to latest estimates, remittances to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are projected to decline sharply by 7.2 percent, to $508 billion in 2020, followed by a further decline of 7.5 percent, to $470 billion in 2021. Remittances to sub-Saharan Africa are estimated to fall by 9 percent (2020) and 6 percent (2021), representing a loss of a crucial lifeline for many vulnerable households. Mr. Oluwakuyide stressed several related concerns: 1) Impact on migrants and their families, 2) Impact on local economies and communities and 3) Impact on remittance service providers, which led to the global call to action by the UK and Switzerland governments with the support of like-minded partners. It is a call to policymakers, regulators, and remittance service providers that issues of remittance should be considered for the benefit of migrants, their families, and local communities, aiming to a) enable the continuous flow of remittances and b) reduce the cost of remittances. Introduced her speech withthe words of Nelson Mandela, education is the most powerful weapon that you can use to change the world. Ms. Jo-Ann Rolle spoke about the vision of her grandmother who was blind and could not read or write, yet had an entrepreneurial spirit, who relocated her family from a small Caribbean island, and now she and her five siblings all hold college degrees. Ms. Jo-Ann Rolle stressed that out of the shadows of a global pandemic, hope will rise in the form of entrepreneurship and that by using creativity, ingenuity, and innovation, people can leapfrog and create new opportunities, including to collaborate to increase remittances. The African Diaspora and African institutions need to reskill and retool people at faster rates of change. Ms. Jo-Ann Rolle suggested that African Diaspora fintech’s collaboration with African fintech need to be supported with resources to develop solutions to reduce the cost of remittance. Capacity-building resources need to be provided for African Diaspora entrepreneurs to ensure they have consistent revenue to send back to Africa. Diverse stakeholders of black businesses and universities need to be engaged and empowered to communicate, collaborate, and grow successful diaspora communities. Reminded about how in 2019, Remittances accounted for $48 billion to Africa, higher than ODA and FDI, without including informal transfers. She highlighted the significant challenge of the high transaction cost averaging 9.4 % for sending $200 in comparison to a global average of 5% for the same amount, which could save $1.8 billion per year for the social, economic, and environmental development of the home country if the cost is reduced to 3%. She stressed that COVID-19’s emergency response has demonstrated three crucial points: 1) The importance of fostering a conducive remittance policy and regulatory environment to lower remittance costs, while enabling access to formal remittance channels of cross-border transactions, 2) the importance that digital solutions represent the future of remittances, balancing innovation and risk, addressing the issue of ‘know-your-customer’, and 3) the importance of building digital and financial literacy skills of migrants and their families in both sending and receiving countries.

The full summary report is available.

Below is a video of my opening remarks

#undp #remittances #covid19 #un #sdgs #africa #africandiaspora #poverty #Covid19 #pandemic

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