Waheed Nunu (center right) plays with his daughter Alaa (center left) and family friend in their apartment in Beirut, Lebanon on June 1, 2014. Photo © Dominic Chavez/World Bank
"It is not about the money being sent home, it is about the impact on people’s lives. The small amounts of $200 or $300 that each migrant sends home make up about 60 per cent of the family’s household income, and this makes an enormous difference in their lives and the communities in which they live."
— Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development
The International Day of Family Remittances (IDFR), celebrated every year on 16 June, is aimed at recognizing the significant financial contribution migrant workers make to the wellbeing of their families back home and to the sustainable development of their countries of origin. It is also aimed at encouraging the public and private sectors, as well as the civil society, to do more together and collaborate to maximize the impact of these funds in the developing world. The IDFR was unanimously proclaimed by all 176 member states of IFAD's Governing Council at its 38th session in February 2015, and adopted by the UN General Assembly in June 2018 (draft A/72/L.56).
Proclaiming an International Day of Family Remittances represents an invaluable opportunity not only to recognize the efforts of migrant workers globally, but also to strengthen current partnerships and create new synergies among sectors to promote the development impact of remittances worldwide.
The first IDFR was celebrated on 16 June 2015 by more than 400 policy-makers, private sector representatives and civil society leaders at the opening of the Fifth Global Forum on Remittances and Development in Milan.
In 2016 over eighty money transfer operators endorsed the IDFR and committed to take concrete action to ensure that family remittances count for even more. Read their statements.
In 2017 and 2018 the Day received an unprecedented support from the private sector, with over 100 Money Transfer Operators (MTOs) through IAMTN, 800 mobile companies through GSMA, 6,000 savings banks across 80 countries through WSBI, and several individual private sector entities. The Day was also supported by the 22 UN organizations within the Global Migration Group (GMG), individually by IOM and by several member states.
Remittances: One family at a time
The money migrants send home helps families put food on the table, send their children to school and support economic development and job creation, thus helping to achieve the SDGs "One Family at a Time." Produced for the International Day of Family Remittances, June 2018.
http://www.un.org/en/events/family-remittances-day/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode
