Who Drives Diaspora Development?: Replication of Mexico’s 3×1 Program in Yucatán

Abstract

Migration and remittances are increasingly central to development plans and the search for best practices has driven convergence of diaspora development policies. Mexico is often considered a model, particularly its Tres Por Uno or 3×1 Program that offers matching grants to encourage migrant organizations to sponsor development projects in their origin communities. We employ a policy mobilities framework to ask how this program has been positioned as a model and exported from its original contexts. With replication in other high emigration countries possible, we examine internal replication within Mexico to evaluate the model's possible external relevance. We focus on its re-grounding in Yucatán, a new sending state with low intensity and short history of migration by Mexican standards. Despite the non-traditional context, the state has rapidly embraced the migrant-centered 3×1 Program. We find that the program initially followed expectations in Yucatán, but within a few years devolved into a pattern of "simulation"/aval projects that are controlled by municipal officials and minimize migrant involvement. Without effective counter-pressures from migrant organizations, corruption and clientelism became common. We conclude that implementation in a very distinct context mainstreamed and normalized problems that had been present but marginal in the original contexts.

Legacies of mistrust

“…Evaluations of participatory fiscal reforms in the global South like 3x1 and participatory budgeting often remains positioned in terms of the efficiencies achieved or in terms of how well they encourage broad participation (Cabannes 2018;Malone and Durden 2018;Sintomer et al 2013). However, here we have considered another avenue for understanding and evaluating participatory fiscal initiatives.…”

“…3x1's origins can be traced back to the informal community projects funded by Mexican migrants beginning in at least the 1970s if not earlier (Malone and Durden, 2018). The program's first formal antecedent was the foundation of a 2x1 program in the state of Zacatecas in 1992.…”

“…In 1998, Zacatecas extended this subnational level initiative to a cooperation with the national government, forming 3x1 whereby every dollar invested through the HTAs was matched by the federal, state, and municipal governments (Hamann, 2007). In 2002, the program was expanded nationwide (Malone and Durden, 2018).…”

Untitled

“…Evaluations of participatory fiscal reforms in the global South like 3x1 and participatory budgeting often remains positioned in terms of the efficiencies achieved or in terms of how AESOP / YOUNG ACADEMICS NETWORK well they encourage broad participation (Cabannes 2018;Malone and Durden 2018;Sintomer et al 2013). However, here we have considered another avenue for understanding and evaluating participatory fiscal initiatives.…”

Diaspora policy's impact on migrant organizations: fifteen years of the Tres por Uno program in Zacatecas, Mexico

“…However, it also presents cautionary evidence that diaspora policies can be diluted and debased in ways that disempower migrant participants. Indeed, analysis of the 3×1 Program's expansion into non-traditional migration regions in Mexico found that migrants were sidelined and the program coopted by local elites (Malone & Durden, 2018). At the risk of stating the obvious, participatory diaspora polices only function properly with legitimate migrant participation.…”