NPWMR’s Online Discussion: Understanding the Impact of IMF WB on Women Migrants
The online discussion was held last September 29, 2026, organised by the Network of Protection on Women Migrants Rights (NPWMR) and was attended by around 50 participants coming from various migrants and advocates organisations across Asia Pacific.
The discussion started with a learning session on International Monetary Fund and World Bank (IMF WB) and its impact on women migrants, brought by Donna Denina of International Women’s Alliance (IWA) and Peoples Global Campaign Against IMF WB (PGC) and Eni Lestari of International Migrants Alliance (IMA).
During her opening, Denina highlights the freedom of Mary Jane Veloso as a hard-won victory of international solidarity and Filipino people who firmly stood by her side for over 16 years. “Veloso’s story represents the stories of millions of migrant women around the world. Women who are forced to make difficult and painful decisions to leave their homes, their families, and their communities behind” said Denina.
Denina highlights the role of IMF WBG policies in creating the situation of forced migration and the use of migration as an economic strategy, while failing the migrants who leave their country to work and send money back home. “Migration then becomes part of the “economic strategy” but fails to address the root of the issue. Instead of creating an economy where people can find decent work at home, governments use migrant labour and remittances as sources of economic growth” she explains.
Lestari started her presentation by highlighting IMF WB and how their neoliberal policies of privatization, deregulation and liberalisation destroy the economy in third world countries. She said, “the World Bank views migration as a powerful tool for global development that can help balance severe demographic shifts and labour shortages across countries,” which is different from the experience of migrants who were forced to migrate due to poverty and the need to provide for their families.
Lestari also highlights the role of money sent back home (remittance) by migrants, that is supporting poverty reduction and development, be a stable source of income for migrants’ families, supporting investments in children’s education, health care, housing, and entrepreneurial activities and is one of the largest financial inflows to developing economies, often out-pacing official foreign aid.
During the open forum, participants from sending countries such as Nepal and Indonesia share the impact of IMF WB policies to their country’s economy and to the livelihood of people. The implementation of Structural Adjustment Program as conditionality of debt in their country has worsened the economy of the people. Participants also share the unity that change is possible when migrants and people are organised and build their movement. Aside from that, discussions such as this online discussion needed to be held more often to share knowledge and strengthen solidarity.
