Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States of America.
Department of Geography, Environment and Society, Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2020 Aug 6;15(8):e0236248. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236248. eCollection 2020.
Migration has long been used as a strategy for livelihood diversification in rural, subsistence communities. Yet in order for migration to effectively serve as a livelihood diversification strategy, it should meet certain conditions: migration should ease financial burdens, should confer access to economically valuable resources and information, and should broaden social networks. Using qualitative data gathered in 25 interviews with rural migrants to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, we examine how mobile phone technology has impacted migration as a livelihood diversification strategy. Our results show that while mobile phones facilitate migration, the advantages conferred may benefit migrants at the expense of the home communities. Mobile phones alleviate financial constraints, enable access to broader networks, and facilitate informational and resource support among migrants. Our results show limited evidence of migrants using mobile phone technology to provide resources or information to the home community. Our results highlight the need to reconsider the ways in which migration can be used as a livelihood diversification strategy in light of changing communication technologies to promote the economic success of both migrants and their home communities.
迁移长期以来一直被用作农村生计多样化的策略，在以生存为目的的社区中。然而，为了使迁移能够有效地作为生计多样化策略，它应该满足某些条件：迁移应该减轻经济负担，应该提供有经济价值的资源和信息，并应该扩大社交网络。我们使用在布基纳法索瓦加杜古对 25 名农村移民进行的定性访谈收集的数据，研究了移动电话技术如何影响作为生计多样化策略的迁移。我们的研究结果表明，虽然移动电话促进了迁移，但赋予的优势可能会使移民受益，而牺牲了原籍社区的利益。移动电话减轻了经济上的限制，使移民能够获得更广泛的网络，并在移民之间提供信息和资源支持。我们的研究结果表明，移民很少利用移动电话技术向原籍社区提供资源或信息。我们的研究结果强调，需要重新考虑如何利用迁移作为生计多样化策略，考虑到不断变化的通信技术，以促进移民及其原籍社区的经济成功。
