The Remittance Community Task Force

The Remittance Community Task Force (RCTF) was launched by IFAD, through its Financing Facility for Remittances (FFR), on 24 March 2020, in response to the call by the UN Secretary General for global solidarity. In that call, the Secretary General noted that “remittances are a lifeline in the developing world”.

The priority of this Task Force is to develop a coordinated and concerted effort to raise awareness of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the ONE BILLION people on earth directly involved in remittances.

To date, 40 organizations have joined the RCTF, including international organizations, inter-governmental bodies, industry and private sector groups, networks of diaspora organizations and international experts on remittances. This Task Force also includes a large reference group comprised of government representatives and national development agencies.

National remittances task forces (NRTF) were also launched in April in The Gambia, Ghana and Senegal. They saw the participation of more than 100 members from all sectors in the three countries. While seeking to have a national perspective on the impact of the crisis, the NRTFs are bringing in the expertise of the RCTF to identify key actions addressing their national realities.

Remittances in crisis: response, resilience, recovery

BLUEPRINT FOR ACTION

The Blueprint for Action, developed as a collaborative effort of RCTF members, showcases a preliminary set of immediate and short-term measures to be considered by public authorities, the private sector and civil society as part of their collective efforts to facilitate fast, cheap and safe remittance flows during the post-COVID-19 crisis and its aftermath.

Read

Members

Diaspora organizations:

Africa-Europe Diaspora Development Platform – ADEPT
African Diaspora Network in Europe – ADNE

Inter-governmental organizations:

African Union (AU), African Institute for Remittances – AIR
Financial Action Task Force – FATF

International organizations:

International Fund for Agricultural Development – IFAD, Financing Facility for Remittances FFR
International Organization for Migration – IOM
Making Finance Work for Africa – MFW4A
United Nations Capital Development Fund – UNCDF
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia – UN ESCWA
United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women – UN Women
Universal Postal Union – UPU
World Bank Group – WBG

Non-profit organizations:

Financial Sector Deepening Africa – FSD Africa

Private sector entities:

Azimo
Cosmo Element
Groupe Speciale Mobile Association – GSMA
Hello Paisa
International Association of Money Transfer Networks – IAMTN
International Money Transfer Conferences – IMTC
Mukuru
Novi
TransferWise
Western Union – WU
WorldRemit
World Savings and Retail Banking Institute – WSBI

Research organizations:

Centro de Estudios Monetarios Latinoamericanos- CEMLA
Centre for Financial Regulation and Inclusion – CENFRI
Centre for Studies in International Politics – CeSPI
DMA Global – DMAG
FinMark Trust – FMT
Inter-American Dialogue – The Dialogue
Red Mangrove Development Advisors – RMDA

The Reference group organizations that have been following the process and providing guidance to technical teams are:

Agence Française de Développement- AFD
Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo – AECID
Agenzia italiana per la cooperazione allo sviluppo – AICS
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit – GIZ
European Commission
- Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development – DEVCO
- Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs – ECFIN
- Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union – FISMA

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office – FCDO
Republic of the Philippines
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation – SDC

Briefs and Must-read

The Remittance Community Task Force is providing regular updated information concerning the challenges facing remittance families during the COVID-19 crisis through its Briefs and Must Read, which are listed below: