The first M&D Café for 2018 had a good start with the presentations of Dr. Daisy Tam Driers and Ms. Tynna Mendoza of Enrich Hong Kong and Dr. Stefan Rother of Universitat Freiburg. Thank you to Daisy, Tynna and Stefan for sharing their work!

On its tenth year in 2017, Enrich Hong Kong conducted an assessment of its financial education programs for foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong (mostly Filipinos and Indonesians). Among others, the assessment found that migrant workers who participated in Enrich’s programs had marked improvement in financial practices and knowledge, financial self-efficacy and general self-efficacy. Concerning the circulation of political remittances and democratization, Stefan’s findings suggest more variable outcomes (other than democratization) of political remittances triggered by transnational migration. Political cleavages in the home country can be reproduced in destination countries and may influence the organization of migrants. The topic of political remittances need further work – and as discussed during the discussion, the role of social media in shaping political remittances is a promising area of further study.

A big thanks to everyone who joined us!