Remittances During Crises - Implications for Humanitarian Response

Remittances, or migrants sending money home, are an important part of many people’s lives around the world. Globally, remittances are worth hundreds of billions of dollars. This means that they are substantially larger than flows of foreign direct investment and aid (Mohapatra et al., 2006). Unlike other financial flows, remittances go directly into family incomes, and thus have an immediate and direct impact on the livelihoods of receiving households. Relatively little is known, however, about the role that remittances play in crises. They are thought to be counter-cyclical, increasing during periods of crisis and therefore playing an important role in enabling some people to survive during disasters, and recover after them. In countries affected by long-term crises, migration is often a key coping or survival strategy leading to large diasporas which play an important role in sustaining the livelihoods of those who remain.