Local migrant organizations in the periphery: providing healthcare in India

ABSTRACT Local migrant organization is an emerging phenomenon in many emigrant countries, where such an organization is formed and run by current or former migrants and engages in a range of philanthropic activities for community development. Research on migrant organizations tends to focus either on immigrant organizations located in the host countries or on transnational migrant organizations engaged in diaspora philanthropy with origin country. Contrary to mainstream research on migrant organizations, this paper looks at the local migrant organizations and their engagements in emigrant countries through a case study in India. Drawing on selected local migrant organizations that cater to healthcare needs in India, this paper investigates how they evolve and mobilize resources, what sort of healthcare activities they are carrying out, and how such collective efforts are contributing to the healthcare needs for the underserved community. This study reports that local migrant organizations tend to be small and resource-poor, but they reach out to the Indian periphery and serve the underprivileged sections of the society.