tions of migration to the United States, communities like
Avila Camacho have developed a “culture of migration”
that reinforces economic push factors. Investment in development to reduce migration pressures is only one part of a
long-term strategy to construct a more effective immigration
system. A rational system for the integration of immigrants
into the U.S. labor force complements increased attention to
reducing migration pressures in Mexico.
Reluctance to Change: Many small farmers in Mexico
use unproductive farming methods that only allow them to
barely survive economically. Sending their youth abroad to
supplement low farm earnings is now part of their “business
plan.” New and more productive methods are often viewed
with suspicion since there is no history of success and failure
has dire consequences when you are living on the poverty
line. Technical assistance must be introduced by credible
trainers, often with a small pilot group. Attempts to impose
new productive techniques rapidly and on a mass scale run
the risk of alienating farmers unaccustomed to adopting new
techniques.
Local Partners: Finding a local partner that works from
the ground up and is truly democratic can be difficult in
Mexico. Development organizations must be cautious that
their local partners are not co-opted by overriding political
interests. Due diligence should precede any partnership with
Mexican civil society or small producer organizations.
Technical Rather than Community Change: Technical
improvements in small farmers’ productivity and commercialization can create economic opportunity in rural Mexico.
But, as noted above, to build long-term viable livelihoods,
development organizations must focus on community transformation, not just the generation of income.
Recommendations
Project Evaluation: Because most development projects
seeking to reduce immigration pressures are relatively new,
they often lack formal evaluation. In order to generate evidence on what works in reducing immigration pressures, the
U.S. development community should fund long term-evaluations of new and pre-existing projects in Latin America
in order to generate a bank of promising practices, project
models, and challenges.
Pilot Projects: Development projects to reduce migration
pressures are rare. In addition to evaluating current projects, bilateral and multilateral development agencies should
support pilot projects in major migrant-sending regions in
Mexico and Central America. These should be based on current best practices in the field and could be used to generate
additional evidence on how development impacts migration
pressures.
12 Briefing Paper, December 2010
Improve Mérida: As the main vehicle for U.S. foreign assistance to Mexico, the Mérida Initiative is an ideal program
in which to expand funding for development to reduce migration. Economic development is currently a minimal part
of the program, but the importance of job creation and economic development is crucial not only to reducing migration pressures but to providing legal alternatives for youth.
By increasing the amount of funding for economic programs
within the Mérida Initiative, the United States can generate
positive impacts in terms of reducing both migration pressures and the lure of illicit activity.61
Dialogue on Migration and Development: Discussions on
the links between development and migration are mostly focused on theory, with the exception of evaluations and case
studies of remittance projects. Many of the organizations
conducting development projects aimed at reducing migration pressures do not share lessons learned. As a means to
gather and disseminate best practices, the U.S. development
community should build a network where project grantors,
designers, and implementers can gather to discuss—at the
project level—their experiences and ideas. This should be
based on measurable findings in the field.
Migration and Development Resources
A growing number of organizations and agencies \