Migration, Productive Return and Human Capital: Lessons from the new Governmental Policy on Migration in Ecuador

Abstract

In 2008, the Government of Ecuador initiated a programme for productive return dubbed the Cucayo Fund, aimed at financing small businesses for migrants who were returning to the country. This programme has been a cornerstone in the new governmental policy on migration. In 2015, the IOM considered it an exemplary practice among the instruments enabling the economic and social reinsertion of returning migrants. In this article, based on the mining and analysis of the implementation data from the Cucayo Fund in the three provinces comprising Administrative Region No 7, we specifically examine the incidence of human capital accumulated by the migrants in the success of their ventures. Our results show that the experience and knowledge attained by the migrants abroad, and transfer of these to new activities, play a key and relevant role in the financed ventures and that, therefore, human capital must be incorporated with greater emphasis into debates on return.

"El retorno de la mujer ecuatoriana desde Europa"

“…La Organización Internacional para las Migraciones (OIM) (2015) consideró estas políticas como «una práctica ejemplar entre los instrumentos que permiten la reinserción económica y social de los migrantes que retornaron». Ya que han adquirido experiencia y conocimiento fuera de su país de origen, lo que puede significar nue-vas iniciativas para las empresas (Lacomba & Cloquell, 2017). Contrastando con otros países sudamericanos las políticas de retorno son similares: en Colombia en 2003 se crea el programa Colombia Nos Une, con el Plan de Retorno Positivo en el 2009, con énfasis en el retorno de recursos humanos calificados, facilitando la inserción en el mercado laboral, (Moncayo, 2011, pp.…”

Return migration, entrepreneurship and development: Contrasting the economic growth perspective of Senegal’s diaspora policy through a migrant-centred approach

“…Various contributors to an edited volume on return and development in Africa confirm the importance of social capital: supported by country-based evidence on migrant entrepreneurship in Burundi (Sagmo 2015), Cape Verde (Åkesson 2015), the Democratic Republic of Congo (Eriksson-Baaz 2015), and Senegal (Sinatti 2015b), they claim that social networks abroad and back home shape migrants' return paths. Empirical research on return and entrepreneurship has also underscored migrants' ability to mobilise work experience (Wahba & Zenou 2012;Lacomba & Cloquell 2017). In short, transnationalism has uncovered the significance of non-economic transfers mobilised in return migration.…”

Return Migration and Entrepreneurship: Does Human Capital Matter?

“…Those previous studies argue that both social networks abroad and in the home country play crucial roles in shaping the paths of migrants upon their return. Furthermore, empirical studies focusing on return migration and entrepreneurship emphasize the importance of migrants' ability to leverage their work experience (Wahba & Zenou, 2012;Lacomba & Cloquell, 2017;Sinatti, 2019). Factors such as the duration of the migration period, the level of experience acquired, and the capital accumulated abroad may significantly impact return migrants' capacity to establish and effectively manage their own businesses (Bensassi & Jabour, 2017).…”