The effects of migration on community sustainability: a service-learning project

Author: Princess Diaz
Major: Sociology
Approved: Spring 2016
Status: Completed

Las Entramadas, and the neighboring town of Ochomogo, is constantly in flux. The government is giving land to people of lower socio-economic status, promoting them to move into these communities in order to have a fresh start. There are people who have been in these communities for generations, and many children within these new generations are receiving their education and migrating to other communities because of a lack of job opportunities. There are also families who have one or both parents leaving for several weeks or months at a time. Many men, and women, who travel to Costa Rica to work for extended periods of time in order to support their family, and many women also take nannying jobs and must therefore be away from their family for a week or two at a time with only a day or two off. In the week I spent in Las Entramadas, during spring of 2015, I noticed that employment opportunities were scarce. From what I saw, many people in the community were involved in agriculture – but apart from this there did not appear to be many jobs around/available. This project seeks to study how out-migration due to work effects the community, the role education and children play in determining said migration, and determining if the government support of in-migration of peoples (generally of a lower-socioeconomic status) change the dynamic of the community.