Today, December 18th is International Migrants Day, where this year's theme is: Harnessing The Potential of Human Mobility.

On 4 December 2000, the General Assembly, taking into account the large and increasing number of migrants in the world, proclaimed 18 December International Migrants Day.

Migrants contribute with their knowledge, networks, and skills to build stronger, more resilient communities.

Globally, an estimated 270 million people, or roughly four percent of the world’s population, live and work outside their country of origin. Half of them are women. Like everyone else, migrants need a full suite of safe, affordable, convenient and effective financial services. But as new technologies emerge, a disconnect has grown between the available financial services and the needs and aspirations of migrant populations. It starts with remittances—ways to send money home to the people who depend on them. But it doesn’t end there.

MIGRATION & REMITTANCES - UNCDF is pursuing and ambitious, 360-degree approach to making remittances work better for migrants and their families.

UNCDF wants to make it easier, safer and less expensive for migrants to send money home. But beyond that, we want to take advantage of remittances as the starter product that could open the door to other high-impact financial services—credit, bill payments, savings, pensions, insurance, and more—to build the resilience of migrants and their families.

New thinking, approaches and knowledge are needed to reimagine remittances and make them work for men and women on the move. Through an inclusive way of doing innovation—one that is gender-smart and migrant centric—UNCDF is working at every level: with international and regional organizations, with national governments, with financial service providers, and with migrants themselves.

UNCDF helps by:

Making finance work for migrants:
We provide funding and technical assistance to all kinds of financial service providers so that they understand migrants’ financial needs, and design and deliver effective, gender-responsive products.

Strengthening financial resilience:
We work to build the financial and digital capacity of migrants so that they use financial products that advance their well-being.

Building awareness and advocacy:
We use our global presence, our unparalleled experience in finance for least-developed countries, and our convening power to raise awareness of the challenges around remittances and to accelerate solutions.

Promoting gender equality in remittances:
Ensuring our activities and outcomes reflect the experiences of, and are beneficial for, all migrants, regardless of their gender, and that we build resilience for all migrants equally.

Read more on UNCDF's work with migrants and remittances HERE.