About the assembly
Looking Forward

A new historic role has been asserted for remitters to play in the world: as transnational sustainers, visionary leaders, and policy makers. The challenge is to ensure that this identity is built “from the ground up” in the next period of time. But the “new imagination” is there. Forged upon our joint experiences of dislocation, loss, and discovering new realities as exemplified by the poetic words of Lebohang Liepollo Pheko, poem attached.

La Liga's strength and contribution on the world stage at this moment in time is to organize remitters and their families to demand sustainable reinvestment from money transfer companies and other industries that profit from migrants. Precedent and model has been set by the campaign on Western Union and subsequent favorable responses from companies like Virtual Money and Money Solutions.

The corporate social responsibility contract not only stipulates a reduction in transfer fees and transparent and just exchange rates, but also earmarks 1% of pre-tax profits to a Transnational Community Reinvestment Fund (TCRF) that will fund sustainable development of communities of origin. Migrant organizations that choose to use de services of Virtual Money will be able to earn an additional 9% from every transaction for its constituency. By early 2009, the new TCRF should be operational, by which time we will establish a sound ethical framework for transfer companies to partner with member organizations and refine how this is translated into an organizational expression and community action.

A challenge in the next period will be for us to harness the richness of experiences of the disparate constituencies that join La Liga as Community Sustainers. Finding common ground and linking to existing local, national, and international networks will coincide with building La Liga's infrastructure. In addition, a focus on gender, specifically women as transnational community sustainers, was initiated at the Assembly that will continue to be developed and incorporated into the programmatic work of La Liga.

On the ground, La Liga's infrastructure will be ignited in countries outside the USA by conducting regional assemblies in South & Central America, Asia/Pacific region, Europe, Africa, and the United States/Canada in the next 18 months to 2-years.

The first event will take place this year with a delegation of the Leadership Council to attend the Global Forum on Migration and Development in Manila, Philippines, in October 2008. A study tour and regional meeting of local organizations will complement the experience.

Lastly, we will upgrade our communications systems to have seamless sharing, discussions, and updates on all the moving parts of this strategy. An interactive and update-able website(s) will be first on the list.

Two years have passed since the initial convening in California, USA that began the work on the campaign to enjoin the money transfer industry. With the launching of La Liga in Mexico City, the movement to unite and organize remitters has gone global. We have learned much from the campaign and gained a tremendous victory with the signing of the first corporate social responsibility contract. Now comes the time to build La Liga and consolidate our relationships across regions and communities, even as we continue to put pressure on the industry to follow the example of Virtual Money and Money Solutions. Corporations can and will be held accountable to our communities. Remitters around the world have a new tool of leverage to protect the rights of our communities.

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For more information: 510-338-4930, convention@transnationalaction.org