Remesas y su influencia en el bienestar de las familias de migrantes

Abstract

The objective of this research was to identify the use of remittances and their impact on the well-being of migrant families. Based on a transnational approach, the analysis units consisted of 128 families receiving monetary and social remittances from the parish of Sayausí, which belongs to the canton of Cuenca. It was decided to carry out the study in this parish because according to the revised bibliography, the main reason to migrate is due to labor issues. For the information gathering process, an adaptation of the Mecanismo de Monitoreo del Impacto Migratorio questionnaire was used, which was used in the study carried out by the VLIR Migration and Development Project of the University of Cuenca. Additionally, a focus group was applied, whose participants were sons and daughters of migrant parents. The results obtained show that the remittances sent by the migrants are used by their families for their support, mainly for food, education and access to health services and that they had a positive effect on the wellbeing of the families. This well-being increases when the material or symbolic transfer reflects an intentional and non-obligatory effort of the senders, this transfer may include material, emotional and, above all, relational elements. Moreover, in the study it was found that the use of new technologies becomes one of the transnational practices most used by families to maintain and preserve affective links in the distance. Remittances acquire a character not only monetary but also social since meanings are given to the, meanings that go from the affective presence of the migrant, to the commitment and responsibility that they achieve with their family after the event of migration.