Citation:
Date Presented:
February 4Abstract:
With the current emphasis on migration in the media and politics today, researchers should look at what is happening to communities left behind rather than simply analyze what happens to migrants once abroad. Hometown associations made up of migrants in the United States have been building public works and infrastructure in order to help improve conditions in sending communities for almost a century. Through in-depth qualitative interviewing, this study analyzes the use of a matching funds program by the Mexican government to allow migrants to send collective remittances to their highly migratory hometowns, while providing 75 percent additional funding from the state. Through a comparative analysis of three communities in the northern region of Zacatecas, Mexico, I find that hometown association engagement through the 3x1 program can increase social accountability if specific conditions are present, thus increasing the potential for better governance. However, the study also shows that current perceptions of corruption from migrants abroad have risen due to corrupt or failed implementation of the program through nepotism, lack of information diffusion, and failed oversight on the part of the hometown association over local government. With unique qualitative data, this study outlines a variety of mechanisms through which the 3x1 program may successfully build stronger social accountability and conditions that cause it to exacerbate issues of corruption and government neglect. The mechanisms found in the data provide themes and trends for further macro-analysis of the 3x1 program and rural social accountability.