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Accepted Paper:
The difference that the host country makes. Moldova-Italy migrants making the most of emigration, between opportunities and challenges
Francesca Crivellaro
(University of Bologna)
Matteo Vittuari
(University of Bologna)
The paper will address the outcomes of policies promoting the nexus between migration and rural development by specifically focusing on the Moldovans who had a migration experience in Italy
Paper long abstract:
Since the late ’90s, the Republic of Moldova has experienced an enduring economic crisis that has led to increasing out-migration flows. Several forms of mobility (circular, short and long-term) have become key strategies for the diversification of the livelihoods of rural households. Acknowledging remittances as potential leverage for rural development, the State and international institutions have launched programs (e.g. DAR 1+3, PARE 1+1, etc.) to enhance the migration-rural development nexus and, specifically, to channel migrants’ remittances into small-scale investments in rural areas. Such policies, though, seem to achieve uneven results: while smallholders tend to use remittances for everyday expenses, a minority of Moldovan citizens exploit existing policies to start or implement agri-food and agro-tourism businesses. The paper will introduce the factors shaping the success stories of rural entrepreneurs who started innovative income-generating activities in Moldova to reflect more broadly on how the outcomes of policies aimed at making the most of emigration may be affected by the specific material conditions faced by the Moldovan diaspora in specific destination countries. Drawing on qualitative data collected between 2020 and 2022 in Moldova and Italy, the paper will particularly focus on both the perception and the use made of policies that connect migration and rural development by Moldovans who had a mobility or settlement experience in Italy.