The ISMAFRD project is paying attention to the importance of migration to Kosovo’s rural economy, particularly as a way of mitigating against rural unemployment and facilitating additional investment through remittances.

A recent European Stability Initiative (ESI) paper indicated that remittances from migrant labour abroad have fallen significantly from their post-war high [1]. More than 100,000 Kosovo Albanian refugees have returned from Germany, in particular. Furthermore, continuing migration is now increasingly limited, and only those with close family in the diaspora are still able to go abroad through family reunification schemes. As a direct consequence, ESI has estimated that fewer than 15% of Kosovo families now receive regular remittances, and that this is decreasing, for three reasons. First, the total numbers of Kosovars living in the diaspora have decreased. Second, the diaspora is no longer being replenished by new arrivals of single young men. Third, the Kosovo Albanians who remain abroad increasingly have their families with them, and are therefore less likely to remit back to Kosovo.

ESI’s study argued that:

“The era of mass migration is now drawing to a close, without having either changed the structure of (Kosovo’s) economy or generated any sustained cycle of development. In economic terms, remittances have simply brought about more of what was already present in the local economy: construction services, shops, cafés, taxis, car mechanics and petrol stations. They have provided a supplement to household income, enabling some families to enjoy modern consumer goods, while keeping the poorest families one step away from destitution. However, … , if remittances dry up, these benefits (will) quickly dissipate … As a result, the economic and social problems that made migration a necessity in the past are still very much present. … Clearly, … the first step (is) to define credible economic and social policies for rural areas that (will) bring about the structural changes that migration alone will never produce … In relative terms, Kosovo has the largest rural population and the lowest per capita spending on agriculture and rural areas in the Western Balkans. Any national development strategy must … address the problem of inadequate access to, and high costs of, further education in rural areas. New funding schemes to enable rural students, including women, to receive a proper education should be a national priority.”

[1] http://www.esiweb.org/pdf/esi_document_id_80.pdf