A new IOM programme aimed at engaging West African women migrants
in the development of their countries has been launched in Italy,
representing an increasing need to target the sizeable numbers of
women migrants in development efforts.

The programme, funded by the Italian government, builds on
existing IOM efforts to involve African migrants in the development
of their countries of origin through investment and business
creation.

Migrant Women for Development in Africa (W-MIDA) hopes to tap
into the significant numbers of West African migrant women living
in Italy. Although overall, women represent nearly 49 per cent of
all migrants in the country; among some West African diasporas,
including the Nigerian, Cape Verde and Niger, women outnumber men.
In other diaspora communities in Italy such as the Ghanaian,
Cameroonian, and Ivorian, women migrants represent a significant
force.

Currently, remittances are seen as the main factor linking
migration and development. West African migrants in Italy sent home
nearly USD 262 million in 2005 alone and although Sub-Saharan
Africa has witnessed a 72 per cent growth in official remittances
received since 2001, it is still the region which receives the
lowest amount of remittances in the world. However, despite little
available gender analysis of remittance patterns, women migrants do
tend to remit more of their money over time than men. They also
send remittances to extended family instead of just spouse and
children, confirming the idea that women feel responsible for the
well-being of a community and not just a nuclear family.

W-MIDA will build on this by supporting West African women
migrants interested in committing all or part of their remittances
to establish small or medium enterprises (SMEs) in their countries
of origin through joint ventures with Italian partners and host
communities.

A maximum of 15 SME projects will be selected with the women
chosen to be given training in business development and management
and in the processes of accessing credit in order to enhance their
entrepreneurial skills.

"W-MIDA will be another way of making more effective use of
remittances, the value of which can be greater if the cost of money
transfers are reduced or if they are used to generate investment or
towards social initiatives that will help in the long-term
development of communities and countries," says Tana Anglana,
programme manager of W-MIDA in Italy. "We have seen with other MIDA
programmes the enormous benefits such initiatives and investment
bring to migrants as well as home and host communities."

Through Italian funded MIDA programmes in Ghana and Senegal, IOM
has already helped 18 migrants and their associations set up
businesses in their home countries, which have already seen the
creation of many new jobs both in Italy and in Ghana and
Senegal.

A knock-on benefit of W-MIDA is that in the process of outreach
to migrant women, IOM will be able to map West African women in
Italy and diaspora organizations and networks that have been set up
and which could also work on migration and development issues. IOM
will also be able to get a clearer picture of remittance practices
of West African women as well as set up a database of migrant women
wanting to invest in SMEs.

For further information, please contact:

Flavio Di Giacomo

IOM Rome

Tel: + 39 06 44 186 207

E-mail: "mailto:fdigiacomo@iom.int">fdigiacomo@iom.int