Translocal vulnerability of temporary rural–rural labor migrant-sending households in Quarit district, Northwestern Ethiopia

The current era of globalization is accompanied by vulnerabilities of migrants at their destination. Although such cases possibly shape the vulnerabilities of migrant-sending households through the network of migration, most studies give little attention to these spatial vulnerabilities. Informed by the translocal approach, this article attempts to bridge this gap based on a mix of quantitative and qualitative data generated from households that send temporary labor migrants to export-oriented cash crop growing areas in Ethiopia. Quantitative data were collected from randomly selected 250 migrant-sending households and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Qualitative data meant to support quantitative data were gathered before and after collecting quantitative data through focus group discussions, key informant interviews and a review of secondary sources. The findings demonstrate that temporary rural–rural labor migrants are vulnerable to multiple shocks at their destination. These vulnerabilities of migrants are transferred to migrant-sending households through migration networks and result in various degrees of negative livelihood outcomes such as asset decumulation and food insecurity depending on the type of migrant-households. It is learned, in this case, that a localized approach to vulnerability analysis appears inadequate in revealing the whole spectrum of vulnerability. The implication is that efforts meant to address migration-related vulnerability require coordinated responses involving actors situated both at the origin and destination of migrants. Interventions to address migration-related vulnerability also require mainstreaming migration into national development policies and strategies designed based on a translocal approach.