Integration, transnationalism and development in a French-North African context

An increasing number of public policies and schemes aim to foster integration dynamics by supporting immigrant development practices. The intent of this paper is to assess the effectiveness of this correlation through a comparison between two major immigrant Berber groups in France: the Algerian Kabyles and the Moroccan Chleuhs. While Moroccan organisations have become active development actors for the benefit of their origin area, Algerian ones, though sharing similar immigration and post-immigration trajectories, do not display the same level of commitment. Contrary to their Moroccan counterparts, Algerians, for historical and geopolitical reasons, have never been able to build an organisational level between hometown networks and funding bodies, i.e. a group of NGOs bridging project holders and host country organisations. This paper concludes with an attempt to distinguish the effects of development practices according to the definition given to integration. There is little evidence that development practices improve individual integration, not even the image of immigration in the host country. However, the study shows that commitment to development projects produces and is produc ed by functional integration of immigrant groups. The projects build up a cohesive interdependence between migrant actors and beyond, between immigrant and host country organisation