The Transnational Project and its Implications for Migrant Civil Society in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, overseas labor migration plays a vital role in the development strategy promoted by government agencies, international donor organizations and civil society organizations. Civil society organizations facilitate the migration process, respond to exploitation facing migrants while overseas and assist migrants upon their return to Bangladesh. Organizations in Bangladesh are pursuing a ‘transnational project,’ whereby their activities, missions, and objectives are now focused around transnational work in order to assist migrants. The transnational project is driven by foreign development agencies and the legitimating actions of local migrant organizations. This paper demonstrates the different ways transnationalism has moved from a radical concept to a banal development practice, by critically analyzing contemporary development practices of migrant civil society organizations in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Also addressed are the implications of the transnational project on migrant organizations, development, and migrant political inclusion, arguing that the transnational project creates new power structures and paradoxes within organizations.