aidha wins IDRC research grant

aidha is pleased to announce the receipt of a  S$40,000 research grant awarded by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The study, entitled “Migrant Women, Economic Security & the Challenges of Reintegration”, was formally launched at a joint reception in Singapore on Sunday, 9 September 2007 by IDRC President Maureen O’Neil and aidha President Dr. Sarah Mavrinac.

This one-year research project will allow aidha to examine the socio-economic challenges facing migrant women who return to their home countries, and understand better the role that financial education can play in their re-entry process. aidha will partner with CARD Bank, the Philippines’ largest microfinance institution, and faculty from Singapore Management University (SMU) to collect and analyze the research data. Findings from the study will be used toward creating educational programming and networks that better serve returning migrant women. The specific intent of this initiative is two-fold: first, to generate a stronger empirical perspective on the socio-economic challenges associated with migrant reintegration and, second, to assess the potential for effective reintegration support through financial education and microfinance initiatives.

We’re very excited to partner with IDRC and CARD on this groundbreaking project,” says Dr. Mavrinac. “By understanding critical issues facing women workers who return home after many years of work abroad, organizations such as aidha can better help them achieve success during the reintegration process.”

To ground the research, aidha will focus attention on the reintegration experience of Filipina migrant women, specifically those returning home from the employment hubs of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. The principal research tool to be used for this study is a survey instrument to be administered by aidha’s partner organization in the Philippines: CARD MRI.

The participant pool should include some 100 returned Filipina migrants, identified and enrolled by aidha’s referring partners in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore and/or recruited in the home country through the CARD MRI network.  The investigators will compare groups of research participants who have or have not participated in financial education and entrepreneurship training initiatives prior to their return. Critical indicators to be tracked across these sub samples include a variety of social welfare indicators as well as such economic indicators as savings levels, investment levels, employment, and intent to re-migrate.

The research initiative should result in a variety of tools and insights that will both contribute to the expanding literature on migrant reintegration and practically inform the program development activities of community based organizations like aidha and its regional partners.