Manuel Orozco

Senior Fellow and Director of the Migration, Remittances, and Development Program for Latin America, Inter-American Dialogue

Manuel Orozco is senior fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue, and currently director of the Migration, Remittances, and Development program. He founded the Center for Migration and Economic Stabilization at Creative Associates International. He is a  Fellow for the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University, Senior Migration; Remittances Advisor for the International Fund for Agricultural Development. Dr. Orozco is also chair of Central America at the U.S. Foreign Service Institute at the U.S. Department of State. He also taught at American University, and George Washington University.

He has theorized, conducted extensive research, policy analysis and advocacy on issues relating to economic development, global flows of remittances, and migration and development worldwide, and regional trends in Central America. His work has led to international policy and business initiatives leveraging these flows to build assets among families and migrants, strengthen market competition, and promoting innovative development policies. He works directly with migrant organizations and nationalities in several countries and provides advice on diaspora engagement and financial independence.

 

Some of his achievements include the design and implementation of a financial advising strategy that successfully motivates people to formalize their savings at financial institutions. The strategy has reached over half a million people in more than 15 countries. He has also introduced strategies on microfinance, and methods that link diaspora investments in their homelands.

In 1999 he introduced a pricing methodology on remitting transaction costs (now adopted by the World Bank) and produces a scorecard on industry competitiveness in money transfers. His work has included the design of evaluation tools to determine a project’s development impact. He works and monitors financial sectors in more than 50 countries. He has worked extensively in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean.

In addition, he has provided political analysis on Central America, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.  He has written country reports for Freedom House and reviewed political trends since the democratic transition in Central America.

He has testified every year before Congress and has spoken before the United Nations General Assembly.

Orozco holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Texas at Austin, masters in public administration and Latin American studies, and a BA in international relations from the National University of Costa Rica.

Manuel Orozco has published widely on migration, remittances, Latin America, globalization, democracy, conflict in war torn societies, and minority politics. His publications include studies about the intersection between remittances and finances, financial literacy and development.  He has analyzed and designed development strategies in more than 100 countries globally.

His books include Centro América en la Mira: La migración en su relación con el desarrollo y oportunidades para el cambio (Ed. Teseo, 2015); Migrant remittances and development in the global economy ( Lynne Riener Spring 2013), América Latina y el Caribe: migración, remesas y desarrollo (FLACSO, 2012), Remittances: Global Opportunities for International Person-to-Person Money Transfers (London: Lafferty Group, 2005) and International Norms and Mobilization for Democracy (London: Ashgate Publishers, 2002).

Journal and report publications include the following, “Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean in 2014,” Orozco, Manuel, Laura Porras, and Julia Yansura, February 2015. “Understanding Central American Migration: The Crisis of Central American Child Migrants in

Context,” Manuel Orozco, August 2014.  “Economic Status and Remittance Behavior Among Latin American and Caribbean Migrants in the Post-recession Period,” in Immigrant Vulnerability and Resilience, M. Aysa-Lastra, L. Cacho´n, editors, Chapter 11, Manuel Orozco, Springer International Publishing, Switzerland: 2015. “Impact of Remittances in Developing Countries,” in A New Perspective on Human Mobility in the South, Jonathan Crush, Susanne Melde, John O. Oucho, editors, Chapter 5, Springer International Publishing, Switzerland: 2014.  Migration & Development in Central America: Perceptions, Policies, and Further Opportunities/Migración y Desarrollo en América Central: Percepciones, Políticas y Nuevas Oportunidades, by Manuel Orozco and Julia Yansura, November 2013. Is Legalization Possible? Trends and Political Mapping of Immigration in the House of Representatives, Keeping the Lifeline Open: Remittances and Markets in Somalia.  Future Trends in Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean, 2012, Hacia un modelo de Alianzas por el desarrollo con la diáspora y el sector privado: la experiencia en educación, 2012; Remittance Recipients and the Present and Future of Micro-Entrepreneurship Activities in Cuba, (2011); A Commitment Amidst Shared Hardship: Haitian Transnational Migrants and Remittances, Journal of Black Studies,  March 2011.  “A Scorecard in the Market for Money Transfers: Trends in Competition in Latin America and the Caribbean (2010).” “Migration, Remittances and Assets in Bangladesh (2010).  “Toward financial independence: Financial literacy for remittance senders and recipients” (June 2010), “Remittances and development: financial literacy in an international perspective,” (May 2010), Remittances and Microfinance in Latin America and the Caribbean: Steps Forward on a Long Road Ahead, (September 2008), “Planting the seeds of financial inclusion: financial literacy for remittance recipients in Moldova (June 2008): “Making the Most of Family Remittances.” Second Report of the Inter-American Dialogue Task Force on Remittances. May 2007; “Migrant Foreign Savings and Asset Accumulation.” in Reducing Global Poverty: The Case for Asset Accumulation, edited by Caroline O.N. Moser. Washington, DC: Brookings, 2007; “Central American Diasporas and Hometown Associations.” Diasporas and Development, edited by Barbara J. Merz, Lincoln C. Chen, and Peter F. Geithner. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007; with Katy Jacob and Jennifer Tescher “Card-Based Remittances: A Closer Look at Supply and Demand.” The Center for Financial Services Innovation, Chicago, IL: February 2007; “Global Remittances and the Law – A Review of Regional Trends and Regulatory Issues.” in International Migration Law: Developing Paradigms and Key Challenges, edited by Ryszard Cholewinkski, Richard Perruchoud and Euan Macdonald. Cambridge University Press: January 2007; “International Flows of Remittances: Cost, competition and financial access in Latin America and the Caribbean- toward an industry scorecard.” Inter-American Development Bank: Washington DC, May 12, 2006; “Markets and Financial Democracy: The Case for Remittance Transfers.” Journal of Payment Systems Law, Vol. 1 No. 2, March/April 2005, International  Norms and Mobilization for Democracy London: Ashgate Publishers, 2002, The Remittance Marketplace: Prices, Policy and Financial Institutions Washington, Pew Hispanic Center, June 2004, “Mexican hometown associations and development opportunities”, in Journal of International Affairs, Spring 2004, vol. 57, no. 2.  Worker remittances in international Scope March 2003, “Globalization and Migration” in Latin American Politics and Society Summer 2002, The Impact of Migration in the Caribbean and Central American Region FOCAL, Canada, 2003, “The marketplace of remittances and its changing dynamics” and “Latino Hometown Associations as Agents of Development in Latin America” in Sending Money Home: Hispanic Remittances and Community Development, De la Garza, Rodolfo,  Lindsay Lowell. Rowman and Littlefield, 2002