The Metropolis Conference is an international conference series since 1996 with venues e.g. in Melbourne, Lisbon, Toronto, Geneva. It is a top-end international network for comparative research and public policy development on migration, diversity, and immigrant integration. This year the conference will take place in World Conference Centre in Bonn. More information on the conference you will find here.
For about a decade now the global (donor) community has been intensely analyzing the huge potential of remittances, but unfortunately: Expectations have still not been met. Despite the huge volumes of money transfers towards developing countries their impact on sustainable poverty reduction remains limited.
- What are the reasons for this discrepancy between ambitions and reality?
The workshop will focus on the pragmatic implementation of remittance related mechanisms that combine commercial interests of financial service providers, e.g. in the area of mobile banking or microfinance, with an effective approach towards poverty alleviation. The workshop therefore explores the potential of remittance payments for the development of the sender’s country of origin from both academic and practical perspectives and highlights selected pragmatic approaches (international ‘good practices’). It evaluates obstacles and critical success factors for pro-poor relevant remittance initiatives.
- Where do we find innovative hands-on solutions including poverty alleviation as an objective?
- What are their key success factors and challenges?
- What can be the next steps towards more partnerships and active implementations?
During the 13th International Metropolis Conference Swisscontact conducts a workshop on Thursday the 30th of October at 2.30 p.m. until 4.00 p.m.
We would like to thank the speakers and moderator for their participation:
The preliminary workshop programme looks as follows:
