International labor migration and livelihood security in Nepal

As measured by its per-capita income, Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world, with large parts of its population trapped in poverty within a stunning, but difficult to control natural environment. Under these conditions, since the wake of the 21st century, international labour migration and the associated remittances of large amounts of foreign exchange have rapidly gained influence on the country’s economic and social development, triggered by internal disturbances, in particular economic downturn and political upheavals, as well as external dynamics which boosted an uprising international demand for unskilled labour. While there is hardly any basic dissent about the short- to mid-term Positive growth effect for Nepal’s economy, surprisingly little is known about the consequences of this form of livelihood security at the individual household level, apart from some anecdotal evidence, although neither policy makers nor NGOs may effectively craft their strategies without considering this phenomenon. This book was developed from an Alumni Workshop held in Kathmandu in 2015, where, focusing on this knowledge gap, wide-ranging original research about the consequences of family members’ absence and the receipt of remittances was presented. Moving on from this starting point the authors further elaborated their work to make it accessible to a broader public, and exploitable as a resource for policy making and follow-up research. In addition, this volume includes detailed facts and figures about outmigration from and inflow of remittances to Nepal. With a view to long-term development implications of international migration it also considers the gain of knowledge and access to international academic networks brought into the country by returned scholars. The editor of the volume, Béatrice Knerr, is a professor of development economics, affiliated to the University of Kassel, Germany, where, until 2015, she was heading the Department of Development Economics, Migration and Agricultural Policy (DEMAP). Afterwards she has served as guest professor at the Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan (UADY) in Merida, Mexico, and at the College of Economics of Hue University, Vietnam. Presently she is on contract with the Brawijaya University of Malang, Indonesia, where she is joining research projects on rural development and teaching various modules in the Economics Faculty. As an expert in the implications of labour migration on the development of low- to middle-income countries she has published and edited around 30 books and 100 journal articles and book chapters.