FAMILY AND COMMUNITY NETWORKS IN MEXICO-U.S. MIGRATION

A household's decision to send migrants is based on information the household has on the expected returns and the costs of migration. Information on migration flows from both family migrant networks and community migrant networks. Direct assistance - in the form of money, housing, transportation, and food - is often provided to migrants by these networks, thus reducing the costs of migration. Using data from a national survey of rural Mexican households, we show the importance of networks in both the decision to migrate and the level of migration. We find that community and family networks are substitutes in the production of information and assistance suggesting that, once migration is well established in a community, family networks become less important. In addition, the development of strong community networks erases the role of household characteristics in migration, allowing those initially least favored to also participate in migration. Results suggest that policies designed to reduce Mexico-U.S. migration should focus on regions where migrant networks are yet weakly developed since, once strong community networks become established, reducing migration would require much higher levels of public investment.Migration, networks, Mexico, Consumer/Household Economics, Labor and Human Capital,

Philanthropy for Social Justice and Peace: A Summary Report from Latin America and the Caribbean

The report is based on findings of a project we started in 2013, which included interviews, a survey and a convening of social justice and peace philanthropy practitioners in Bogota in May 2013. The purpose of the project was to map an emerging body of foundations that are providing resources for movements for structural and systemic transformation in the region.The study reveals that the region is today dotted with small indigenous philanthropic institutions that identify themselves as women's funds, community foundations, human rights funds. While they are often set up with international funding, they are characterised by a shared commitment to social justice in the region, support for a social change agenda that is locally owned and driven, and a commitment to long-term work towards the change they seek.The report is, by no means, a comprehensive picture of the field in the regio

Indigenous female entrepeneurship: a qualitative studies in the context of Bolivia

Indigenous entrepreneurship and the gender approach to entrepreneurship are areas that have grown in interest in the entrepreneurship literature in recent years. This paper combines both research streams with the aim of analysing the social and individual factors affecting indigenous quechua female entrepreneurs of Bolivia. Based on the analysis of qualitative data from forty-two face-to-face interviews to indigenous entreprenerurs (female and male), the specific characteristics of these entrepreneurs, the barriers and the facilitators of entrepreneurial activities by women, as well as the role of social capital were extracted. The existence of a sexist and patriarchal culture has been found. However, regarding production, family becomes the production unit; the woman and the man have specific and complementary roles. In addition, there is growing individualism that results in a loss of indigenous values

Child Malnutrition, Social Development and Health Services in the Andean Region

This paper analyzes the social, ethnic and regional determinants of child malnutrition, as well as the effects of access to health services in the Andean region, by comparing conditions in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. These three countries are marked by a high prevalence of stunting and by wide socioeconomic, regional and ethnic disparities. The analysis used Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data from Peru (1992, 1996 and 2000) and Bolivia (1997), and Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) data for Ecuador (1998). The paper adopts an international comparative perspective, analyzing Ecuador in particular detail.

Indigenous peoples in Latin America : economic opportunities and social networks

Despite significant changes in poverty overall in Latin America, the proportion of indigenous peoples living in poverty did not change much from the early 1990s to the present. While earlier work focused on human development, muchless has been done on the distribution and returns to income-generating assets and the effect these have on income generation strategies. The authors show that low income and low assets are mutually reinforcing. For instance, low education levels translate into low income, resulting in poor health and reduced schooling for future generations. Social networks affect the economic opportunities of individuals through two important channels-information and norms. However, the analysis shows that the networks available to indigenous peoples do not facilitate employment in nontraditional sectors.Population Policies,Rural Poverty Reduction,Anthropology,Economic Theory&Research,Investment and Investment Climate

Enhancing maya women's development through cooperative associations:what factors support or restrict the contribution of cooperatives?

With the aim of contributing to the development of Mayan women living in the Yucatan Peninsula, this research focused on determine the factors that support or inhibit the sustainability of micro-businesses cooperatives, which are organizations with innovative elements that allow Mayan women to work within their communities with flexible schedules, which contributes to family unity, strengthening their self-esteem and community recognition. However, many of these initiatives hardly remain in the market, due to this, the research investigated the motivations of the Mayan women to undertake these micro-businesses, the elements of success that indicate the best practices in this type of initiatives, the implementation process of a national and foreign fund using Contextual Interaction Theory as a frame of reference and, finally, the contribution of cooperatives to the food sovereignty of Mayan women. This dissertation is divided into chapters whose elements are described as follows: Chapter 1 provides an overview of the study presenting the theoretical framework and methodology selected, as well the research questions which guided the dissertation. The theoretical framework was diverse, with a strong influence of the Theory of Social Economy in relation to Buen Vivir, which is a cosmogonic vision of the indigenous peoples, where the human being is interrelated with the environment, taking into account that natural resources are indispensable for their survival. The reflections of Freire, Seglow, Bandura and Simon among others, enriched this work which maintained a perspective of gender equity and social inclusion. Chapter 2 reflects on the motivations of the women participating in these micro-businesses cooperatives, which go beyond of obtaining an additional income, the women think and make choices as mothers in a constant search for the well-being of their children, although sometimes, forgetting their own. The education and nutrition of their children are their priority, working to avoid family disintegration as a consequence of the migration of their husbands and sons, which are also relevant factors. Chapter 3 describes success stories found in the region, considering success in relation to business sustainability over time. These cases were distinguished by continuing in the market, which was confirmed until the end of this investigation. The elements found were social capital, understood as support networks that benefited the permanence of micro-business in the market, monitoring or follow-up activities carried out by representatives of the organizations that supported these initiatives economically, and ethical leadership, which represents an alternative of doing businesses based on honest work in counterpart with the serious problems of corruption that Mexican society has to dealt with. Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 are complementary, since they serve to make a comparison between the implementation of national and international funds in the same region. Both are productive programs whose beneficiaries were indigenous Mayan women living in rural areas. The programs analyzed were the Program of Productive Organization for Indigenous Women (POPMI), which was administered by the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples (CDI) and the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) a program which was part of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). CIDA was a Canadian federal agency which, until 2013, promoted female entrepreneurship initiatives among Maya women in the Yucatan Peninsula. Both programs were analyzed using Contextual Interaction Theory. Chapter 6 analyzes the contribution of working in cooperatives to among others the food sovereignty of the participants, with women who work in groups in relation to those who work independently in the same communities. In these villages with strong patriarchal structures, the independence of women is not easily accepted and is even questioned by other women. Because of that, it was interesting to contrast their perceptions on what the work brought them, which deepened the knowledge about self-reliance aspects related to food sovereignty. Chapter 7 makes a final reflection in the form of a response to the research questions, formulating recommendations for the implementation of public policies and productive programs both at regional and international levels, taking into account empirical evidence found in field research activities. This information will be available to the organizations who contribute to the welfare of indigenous women, since entrepreneurship is one of the available ways to foster development

Preserving Indigenous Paradigms in an Age of Globalization: Pragmatic Strategies for the Development of Clinical Legal Aid in China

This Essay uses the experiences of international efforts to promote clinical legal aid in China to explore one such unexpected consequence of globalization: international assistance\u27s understandable focus on more familiar kinds of legal aid institutions and activities can unintentionally impede the development of indigenous legal aid practices and institutions that might ultimately be better suited for the particular domestic environment. Part I of this essay will discuss international efforts to promote clinical legal aid in China, Part II will discuss reductive strategies for promoting legal development and the problems they present, Part III will discuss pragmatic strategies for promoting legal development and Part IV will provide an example from China to demonstrate the superior catalyzing potential inherent in pragmatic developmental strategies. The essay concludes that international development projects need to shift their focus from one of simply replicating successful foreign models (what we will call a reductive strategy) to one of promoting discovery of the indigenous developmental implications and possibilities inherent in the domestic environment (what we will call a pragmatic strategy)

Blurring the Boundaries Citizen Action Across States and Societies

Taking a "citizen's perspective", looking upwards and outwards, these studies offer a unique insight into how citizens see and experience states and other institutions which affect their lives, as well as how they engage, mobilise and participate to make their voices heard