Platform for Remittances, Investments and Migrants’ Entrepreneurship in Africa (PRIME Africa)

Over the past two decades, remittances have emerged as an important contribution to the well-being of migrants and their families, and to the development of their communities of origin.

By the end of 2019, over 200 million international migrant workers – out of the estimated US$272 million* – sent more than US$550 billion* to their families in developing countries, representing more than three times the annual flow of official development assistance (ODA) and exceeding foreign direct investment (FDI).

Remittances are a private source of capital that should not to be associated with other international financial flows. However, they can help lift millions of migrant families out of poverty, as currently touching the lives of up to one billion people, senders or recipients: one out of seven people on the planet.

Remittances, the “human face of globalisation”, allow migrants and their family members to improve their access to health, education and housing, thereby helping achieve their own Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Objectives

Started in 2019, the Platform for Remittances, Investments and Migrants' Entrepreneurship in Africa (PRIME Africa), will run for 5 years with a contribution of €15 million.

The programme, implemented by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) with its Financing Facility for Remittances (FFR), in partnership with the World Bank Group, the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), and the African Institute for Remittances, aims at reducing the cost of remittances and maximizing their impact for millions of families in Africa, contributing to foster local economic opportunities in migrants' countries of origin.

Results

Innovative activities are implemented in a number selected African countries and their main EU and intra-African remittances corridors, to develop scalable products and business models that promote cheap and fast remittance transfers in line with SDG 10.c and the commitments taken at the Summit on Migration in La Valletta.

*www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/publications/wallchart/docs/MigrationStock2019_Wallchart.pdf

*www.knomad.org/sites/default/files/2019-04/Migrationanddevelopmentbrief31.pdf

PRIME Africa website

https://www.ifad.org/en/prime-africa

PRIME Brochure

https://www.ifad.org/web/knowledge/publication/asset/41112400

Funding instrument

DCI

Implementing organisations

IFAD