• The programme

The programme

The functioning and consequences of transnational child raising arrangements in South and North: Angolan, Nigerian and Ghanaian migrant parents living in South Africa and The Netherlands (TCRA-SAN)

This program aims to contribute to the emerging field of transnational family research by systematically analyzing the effects of living in transnational families on migrant parents, by comparing the same groups of origin in South-North and South-South migratory flows. Parents migrate while leaving their children in the care of someone else in the origin country in order to ensure the well-being of their family. This leads to transnational families the world over with members spread in different nation-states. Such a phenomenon is present both in the Global North as well as the Global South yet we know little about the consequences of such family arrangements for the people involved.

The program complements two ongoing international studies on transnational child raising arrangements, TCRA (WOTRO/NWO grant number W 01.66.2008.012) and TCRAf-Eu (NORFACE-315) projects, in two ways. First, it adds a qualitative understanding to the systematic, large-scale comparative analyses conducted in the two aforementioned projects. Second, it incorporates an additional comparative dimension to the projects by including a South-South migration flow.

The research project proposes to study the same groups of migrant parents (Angolans, Nigerians and Ghanaians) in The Netherlands and in South Africa. This comparative dimension helps us investigate the differences between South-North and South-South migration flow effects on families. It explores factors that positively and negatively impact on migrant parents’ well-being, by comparing the same groups of migrants but in different migratory flows. Hardly any studies exist on transnational child raising arrangements within a South-South migratory context and none, to our knowledge, compare these to South-North migratory contexts.

The total project consists of 2 sub-projects that together will answer the main research questions:
• How do transnational child raising arrangements function amongst Nigerian and Angolan migrant parents living in The Netherlands and amongst Nigerian, Angolan and Ghanaian parents in South Africa?
• What are the consequences of transnational child raising arrangements on parents’ well-being as defined by their job performance, emotional well-being and health outcomes?

Maastricht University collaborates with the University of Cape Town to carry out this program.