Transnationalism

 

HIP recognizes that Latino communities are inherently transnational, and we integrate this transnational lens into much of our work:

• Through our Transnational Program, HIP has supported productive initiatives in Latin America that draw on the resources of Latino communities here in the U.S., focusing on regions that have lost much of their population due to emigration.
• HIP convenes summits and forums of funders and other institutions around economic development and migration, facilitating the identification and sharing of promising practices.
• HIP also fosters dialogue among funders and other leaders around human rights issues that cross borders, such as protecting the rights of unaccompanied migrant children.

Current Programs

Transnational Program

Through the Transnational Program, HIP has supported economic development projects that link with diaspora organizations and individuals in the U.S. with their communities of origin in Latin America—regions that, in some cases, have lost as much as half their populations to emigration. The program has also trailblazed innovative grantmaking models that connect local Latin American donors to an international funders network, providing leverage for their investments while promoting philanthropy in Latin America.

Facilitating Funder Dialogue

HIP has convened several summits and symposia around transnational issues, particularly around the intertwined issues of poverty, migration, and development. Most recently, on June 27, 2011, in San Francisco, HIP held a symposium on Migration, Economic Opportunities and Social Investments: Past and Future. The conference featured a keynote address by Gustavo Arnavat, Executive Director of the United States for the Inter-American Development Bank, and provided a forum to share and discuss what we’ve learned from previous transnational work while exploring potential new opportunities for promoting local development among migrants both in the United States and in Latin America.
→ View Symposium Videos

HIP has also convened summits on transnational migration and economic development in Puerto Vallarta, the Dominican Republic, and New York.

In 2008 and 2009, in recognition of HIP's 25th anniversary, HIP held a series of briefings and discussions on protecting the rights of unaccompanied migrant children. Events were held in Washington, D.C., New York, San Francisco, and Mexico, with speakers including Margarita Zavala, the wife of the president of Mexico; Sonia Nazario, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author; and Gara LaMarche, the former president of Atlantic Philanthropies.

Why We Care

Inequality and poverty continue to be the greatest challenges for Latin America: 

• One in four people in Latin America live on less than $2 (USD) a day. 
• Latin America is the most unequal region in the world. The richest 10 percent of Latin Americans earn almost half the region’s income, while the poorest 10 percent earn 1.6 percent of all income. 
• One aspect of inequality and poverty in Latin America is unequal access to basic infrastructure; may people lack access to clean water and quality sanitation.

This high level of poverty and inequality is among the primary driving forces of emigration from Latin America to wealthier countries, particularly the United States.  In the U.S., the discourse around migration focuses on immigrants entering the country. But, on the other side of the border, where many of those immigrants begin their journey, Mexico and other Latin American countries are struggling with emigration. Some communities have lost as much as half their populations due to out-migration, further exacerbating cycles of poverty and economic under-development.

While this presents challenges, it also presents opportunities. According to the Inter-American Development Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), in 2009 $58.8 billion in remittances were sent by Latinos to their countries of origin in Latin America. Most of these remittances go to individual family members, but some dollars also support infrastructure projects and organizations that help build stronger communities in Latin America. If leveraged and supported properly, the economic resources, connections, and knowledge of our Diaspora communities can help create more equal access to opportunity in Latin America.

What We've Learned

Through our forums on economic development and our own transnational work, we’ve learned a great deal about the conceptualization and implementation of productive initiatives that are linked with the Latin American diaspora. These are just a few of the practices that we’ve found to be promising in this area of work:

• Building the infrastructure to enable migrants and hometown participants to take the lead in identifying and planning marketable productive activities
• Establishing communications channels and good decision-making processes that integrate input from transnational communities, funders, and competent providers of technical assistance

We’ve gathered these and other learnings in a series of publications on transnational economic development:

Diaspora-Inclusive Productive Initiatives in Latin America

This report analyzes the different types of Diaspora-inclusive productive initiatives that have been supported by a variety of funders and institutions, exploring the opportunities and challenges of the various models for this work. It identifies the opportunities that have been seized—as well as those yet to be taken—by philanthropic and public funders to support migrants’ efforts to fully realize their potential to contribute to the development of their homelands.

Develop Your World: Case Studies

This report provides a series of case studies on the productive initiatives supported by HIP’s transnational program, capturing the outcomes of our investments as well as the lessons learned from these projects. (To view this report in Spanish, click here.)