Migration, Remittances and Development in Lesotho

METHODOLOGY

MIGRATION, REMITTANCES AND ‘DEVELOPMENT’ IN LESOTHO 6 kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk METHODOLOGY S AMP has been systematically studying the relationship between migration, remittances and development in Southern Africa since 2000. Given the paucity of data on the subject, a multi-country research initiative on migration and remittances was launched in Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. A standardized household questionnaire, protocols for sampling and all other aspects of data collection and processing were collaboratively developed by SAMP partners. In addition to queries about migrant destinations , occupations and demographics, questions were asked about remittance behaviour, the methods used for remittance transfer, the role of remittances in the migrant-sending household economy, and the impact of migrant remittances on migrant-sending households. The Migration and Remittances Survey (or MARS) is national-scale and statistically representative. Households were randomly selected and included in the survey if they answered ’yes’ to the question: ‘Are there migrants who work outside this country living in this household?’ A total of 4,700 households were identified in the regional sample. The Lesotho portion of the sample consisted of 1,023 households. Data was collected on household attributes as well as the characteristics of individual household members, both migrants and non-migrants. Information was gathered on a total of 1,076 migrants of whom 899 were male and 177 were female. Only migrant-sending households were included in the survey. Migrants ‘away’ in South Africa (or other countries) were not themselves interviewed. Instead, data on their migration and remittance practices and demographic characteristics was obtained from household members in Lesotho. Furthermore, the households captured in the data set were those reporting members working outside the country, and thus excluded either migrants who were not working or migrants who had not left household members behind in their home countries. The data thus reflects the situation for economic migrants: people who live away from home for reasons related to their employment or occupation. In order to explore remittance behaviour and its impact in greater depth, individual and focus group case-study research was conducted in Lesotho. All interviews, including those with migrants, were conducted in Lesotho because of the difficulties of identifying a sufficient number of migrants within South Africa and the fact that migrants would be more likely to give honest answers when at home than if they were interviewed in a foreign country where many work illegally. Most migrants come home for the festive season in December, which meant there were no problems in identifying interviewees. MIGRATION POLICY SERIES NO. 52 7 kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk A semi-structured questionnaire was prepared to provide basic data on household demography, income, and remittance information. Respondents were then asked to elaborate on their perceptions of the importance of migration, household decision-making on migration and the impact of migration to South Africa on the household and the community . Five focus groups were conducted (two with migrants, two with remittance receivers and one with remittance-based entrepreneurs). All interviews were conducted in Sesotho and transcribed and translated into English for analysis. PAST MIGRATIONS O ver the course of the twentieth century, the people of Lesotho became deeply reliant on migration to South Africa.10 An extensive research literature in the 1970s and 1980s showed that circular migration between Lesotho and South Africa had an impact on all aspects of Basotho economic, social and cultural life: dividing families, weakening domestic social structure and organization, undermining agricultural production and productivity, compromising health, exacerbating rural poverty and intensifying gender inequality.11 Migration was consistently seen as having a relentlessly negative impact on development, an interpretation of the migrationdevelopment relationship that persists to the present. Lesotho was once the “granary” of Southern Africa, the home of a productive agricultural peasantry producing crops for export but was reduced over time to an impoverished labour reserve for South African industry. The central question for these researchers was not “Why are the Basotho still poor?” but rather “How have the Basotho become poor?”12 The historical and contemporary dependence of households in Lesotho on migration to South Africa was recently described by Turner as follows: For generations, Basotho livelihood aspirations have focused on wage employment. For most of this time, the country’s role as a regional labour reserve meant that most of this wage employment was across the border in South Africa. To have at least one wage earner in the family is seen as the foundation of livelihood security, both through current wage income and through future activities. These future activities...