Transnational Families: lives on the edge, but in pursuit of change
By Manuel Orozco
March 1, 2006
At the heart of money transfers and their intersection with development is the very human
face of family remittances. These flows relate to the social condition of senders and
recipients and their struggle to meet the basic needs of their families: the interactions and
relationships that occur from senders and recipients of money are part of a family affair of
transnational nature. In this report we explore the extent to which transnational families hold shared understandings of the needs and circumstances in their household. To that end, interviews with and analysis of twenty-two pairs of transnational families of various Latin American and Caribbean origins were conducted in order to further understand their needs and gauge the level of mutual understanding that exists between what a remittance sender believes are it’s needs and what a remittance recipient knows are its needs.