Outpacing Foreign Aid, Migrant Remittances Are a Lifeline Ensuring Families Are Fed and Healthy, Says IFAD

A new report, Sending Money Home, released this week, asserts that remittances have become the world's largest and most resilient source of household finance. Credit: Jeong Yunji/Unsplashby Busani Bafana (bulawayo, zimbabwe)Friday, September 18, 2026Inter Press Service BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, September 18 (IPS) - Migrants now send home more money than foreign aid, and this is pulling rural families out of poverty, according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). A new report, Sending Money Home, released this week, asserts that remittances have become the world’s largest and most resilient source of household finance during overlapping economic, environmental and geopolitical shocks.“Those who receive remittances become more resilient in the end, but what we have seen and is most staggering is that remittances continue to dwarf any flow back to low- and middle-income countries,” said Pedro de Vasconcelos, manager of the IFAD Financing Facility for Remittances (FFR) and lead author of the report.“What we have seen is that both Official Development Assistance (ODA) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) combined add to a figure less than what migrants do in sending s...