Comments

The uncomfortable truth-that no country has built prosperity by exporting its people, needs to be said. In Pacific contexts, remittances are often celebrated as success even as institutions thin, public services weaken, and confidence in domestic futures erodes. Migration here is not just an economic calculation but a political and moral one: people are seeking systems that feel fair, predictable, and dignified, not simply higher wages. Rebuilding domestic capacity, fair wages, skills retention, and institutional trust is not anti-migration but pro-choice, because the real failure is not that people leave, but that staying is no longer imagined as viable.

This is a lovely fresh piece of information even if only being indicative. This fondly reminds me of UPNG's student records section publishing in A2 size coffee table booklets showing student enrollments by province, gender, religion and even ethnicity. (I still have a copy to myself.) On this basis, this snapshot study might be helped with some quick comparisons between the decades or universities and colleges from elsewhere in the country. Also, high figures for the highlands region is likely a reflection of the population density and size, and is of no surprise really.

It is sad to read about South Sudan’s plight. Whilst donor assistance is important, it wouldn’t make sense if waring groups continue to target volunteers and facilities funded by donors. An UN Peacekeeping Mission is probably needed. It seems like there’s no appetite for such interventions globally now, but we cannot watch lives being lost, and call for more donor support whilst nothing is being done about the groups that target both donor initiatives and recipients.

Naren, this is an excellent article. It gets down to the root of the issue and forces us to contemplate how do small island developing States such as ours, make it attractive for citizens to stay. How do we successfully create that enabling environment for true development? You have highlighted well some of the arguments that have come to the forefront here in Jamaica as your assessment of remittances is spot on and applicable to many of our countries which share similar experiences. Until we change our position or views on remittances, and see it for what it really is, we will continue to grapple with the social and economic consequences of dependency on remittances.

While this is a micro-level observation, it carries significant weight given that current students at the School of Business and Public Policy at the University of Papua New Guinea have the potential to serve the nation in various fields in future. “Gendered differences in responses were also found in other areas. 92% of female students, but only 76% of male students, agreed that women can do the same kind of job that a man can do”. Although there persists a substantial gender gap, the acceptance rate of 76% among men showed a positive trend, despite the high rate of gender violence (40% in urban areas and 38% in rural areas) in the country’s context - Geejay P. Milli's (2020) data reminds us that “not all men are violent – but PNG is not safe for women”. The question now is, of the 76% supportive male students, how many of them would respond positively to self-employment versus traditional wage employment. More importantly, future surveys need to fill this gap and clarify whether these young males are interested in seeing women as equal partners in entrepreneurship or are interested in keeping them confined to established corporate roles.

Dear Ambika, Thank you for your comment. I agree with you. People do not leave only because of opportunities abroad, but because conditions at home do not meet their needs. Australia/NZ benefit from Pacific workers, but the real responsibility lies with our national leaders to create fair wages, good working conditions, security, protection and trustworthy institutions. Unless governments make staying a real and dignified option, migration will continue.

Dear Semi. Thank you very much for this kind comment. Your work seems interesting. Tonga is a particularly revealing case, given the scale of remittances relative to GDP and the size of the diaspora. I’d be very interested to read your findings, especially on how remittances are actually used at household level and what that means for domestic capacity over time. Please do share the work when it’s ready, this is exactly the kind of evidence we need to deepen the discussion.

Thanks for sharing, Graham. Another well written piece (hardly seems like work to read them!) I am glad you have your voice back.

This is a pretty powerful & much needed intervention. I really like the way they've reframed remittances as the "oxygen of the economy" rather than just a tool for development. All across the Pacific, you see these huge inflows of remittances being celebrated – but nobody ever stops to think about how that hollows out domestic capacity, makes people feel like they're not good enough & erodes the sense that we're capable of doing things for ourselves. It's worth highlighting that no country has ever made it to high-income status solely thanks to remittances – that's just fact. What really spoke to me is the way they tie this all back to politics – people don't just take off to find better paychecks, they're also voting with their feet because other places look like they have better institutions, a more honest system & a better shot at a decent future. Building real opportunities, dignity & some genuine hope in what we can do for ourselves here is pretty much the only way we're going to get out of this hole in the long run.

When is the next date of registration for the PEV. I'm interested.

Excellent review. We are going through this experience in Tonga.

Excellent article. I am working on similar Tonga remittance trends and how remittances are spent in Tonga.