Remittances and female tertiary education as determinants of sustainable development in selected African countries

This study investigates the relationship between international remittances, female access to tertiary education, and sustainable development in selected African countries. Beyond assessing direct impacts, the study explores how remittance inflows interact with female higher education to catalyze development. It posits that remittances serve as an important social safety net, facilitating investment in specialized knowledge and thereby accelerating human capital formation and long-term economic resilience. The empirical analysis uses a comprehensive panel dataset covering 33 African countries from 2010 to 2024. To address the inherent challenges of endogeneity and unobserved heterogeneity common in cross-country growth models, the System Generalized Method of Moments (System GMM) was employed. This rigorous approach ensures the reliability of the estimated coefficients by utilizing internal instruments for endogenous variables. The results reveal that both international remittances and female tertiary enrollment exert a positive and statistically significant influence on sustainable development. Crucially, the findings highlight a potent moderation effect: remittances effectively alleviate household financial constraints. By lowering these barriers, remittances significantly improve female access to higher education, which in turn solidifies human capital formation across the continent. The study underscores the need for targeted policy strategies that synchronize remittance management with educational expansion. Policymakers should focus on a dual-track approach that stabilizes remittance inflows while expanding institutional capacity for female higher education to create a more resilient, inclusive development framework.