This data collection consists of survey data with Zimbabwean individuals living in Yorkshire (N=306). The research explores how patterns of interaction and social organisation across transnational society may perpetuate inequality. We draw on the systematic analysis of the sizeable community of Zimbabweans who live in the Yorkshire region of northern England. Using a combination of mixed methods, including a self-completed survey questionnaire and in depth interviews, the study shows the intensification of livelihood remitting since 2001, by focusing on three main areas: Firstly, the range of current remitting strategies, including who remits, what do they remit, why do they remit, and what might be expected in return; Secondly, the sources of vulnerability and opportunity that constrain and enable remitting. These may be related to various laws – including immigration, asylum, and employment – and how these laws are understood to apply to groups, and to patterns of community organisation, including the roles that individuals are expected to fulfil; Thirdly, the implications for Zimbabweans in the UK, for post-crisis Zimbabwe and, more generally, for the development of policies that use remittances as a tool to accomplish development targets, including the Millennium Development Goals. We discuss how the combination of these factors has implications for skill utilisation and processes of deskilling, and the complex negotiations that emerge as household and community members re-negotiate roles and social relations. We raise the possibility that the inequalities of such transnationalism may extend Zimbabwe’s economic paralysis and make the tasks of repair and growth more difficult. The study is important in that it identifies a section of the migrant population and the role it plays in British Society. Zimbabweans are employed in the health sector as either nurses or carers. This raises potential questions about implications for their return on the country’s health sector.

Data was collected using self-completed survey questionnaires with Zimbabwean individuals living in Yorkshire (N=306).