MEXICAN MIGRANT ORGANIZATIONS IN THE USA AND THEIR STRATEGY FOR LOCAL DEVELOPMENT WITH A TRANSNATIONAL APPROACH: ADVANCES AND CHALLENGES

The "Three for One" program of collective remittances in Mexico, with its variations, conflicts and difficulties, has been a major breakthrough as a trans-national, organizational effort for the promotion of social development in communities of origin. The key to its success lies in the solidarity of migrant organizations toward their home communities in association with the three levels of the Mexican Government. This transnational philanthropy began spontaneously in the 1960s and thirty years later it began to receive the gradual support of the different levels of the government, until its institutionalization as a federal program in 2002, reporting to the Ministry of Social Development. In 2010, after more than three decades of experience with solidarity projects, the migrant Mexican organizations are considering moving towards a new phase of local development -with a transnational approach-in their regions of origin, seeking greater impact on the economic and social structure.