Networking communities in the South -- challenges for diverse actors: Remittance, microfinance and technology

In 2003 a Pew Hispanic Center survey found that 40% of the adult, foreign-­born Latino population in the United States, some 6 million people, send money home on a regular basis. This paper deals with the issue of the high cost to migrants of sending money back to their families at home, i.e. international money transfers and who controls them, and discusses opportunities of creating an alternative system.

Scott Robinson is a Mexico-based anthropologist who has been a pioneer in community based information services, telecentres and ICTs for social justice in Latin America. APC thanks Scott for permitting us to reproduce his paper here.