Globalization and migration are rapidly transforming traditional spheres of human activity. The work of rural families is no longer confined to farming activities, and livelihoods are increasingly being diversified through rural-to-urban and international migration. Age-old boundaries are breaking down. Formerly isolated towns and villages in Latin America and the Caribbean have come closer to New York and Los Angeles than to the capitals of their own nations. The same is true of the relationship of certain areas of Africa and Asia to metropolises such as Berlin, Johannesburg, London, Paris, Singapore and Sydney. Development organizations that support rural poor families in overcoming poverty are realizing that essential members of these families are making their living abroad, far away from their dependants. The ‘global village’ has become a reality. However, the poverty that forced rural inhabitants to migrate still exists in their places of origin and continues to influence their lives and prospects in their ‘adopted countries’, as well as those of the people they left behind.