Nigeria is a country located on the western coast of Africa. Unfortunately, Nigeria has the highest number of people living in extreme poverty in the world with 86.9 million. People can attempt to deal with such poverty by making improvements to agriculture. Nigerian startups such as Zenvus have already begun to take initiative. Zenvus is a Nigerian startup for farmers that aims to fight poverty by improving farming conditions.
Products Zenvus Provides for Farmers
Zenvus is a Nigerian startup for farmers that aims to fight against extreme poverty. This company is able to do so by providing an app as well as services that lead to better crop yields and farming productivity for its customers. Farmers can attain better farming productivity through a range of products that Zenvus sells.
Some of the products that Zenvus sells include SmartFarm and Yield. SmartFarm is an electronic sensor that is able to keep track of important soil components such as humidity, temperature, pH, moisture and nutrients. This product collects data on a machine that is solar-powered. The machine sends information to the user’s desktop or mobile device. Being able to receive this information at any moment will enable farmers to be able to grow healthier crops.
Yield is a camera that one can use to capture images of their crops. The app can take these images and provide helpful information in regards to dealing with stressed crops, droughts, outbreaks, pests and diseases. This camera allows for farmers to prevent situations that could significantly weaken their profits. The information provided through data that the SmartFarm sensor and camera from Yield give will allow for much less guessing when it comes to farming in Nigeria. The further productivity that the Zenvus brings should improve the economy.
What Services Does Zenvus Provide?
Along with the products that Zenvus sells, it also provides a number of services. These services include zCapital, zCrowdfund, zInsure and zMarkets. All of these services aim to improve the lives of farmers and their crop yields. In order to raise money for their efforts, farmers can use zCrowdfund to get loans from local people in exchange for food. This app also makes selling one’s products much easier. Through zMarkets farmers can use the app as a digital market to sell their food. Farmers can buy farming insurance through zInsure in order to protect their assets. As these services go to show, this app aims to allow for larger profits in terms of agriculture.
Why is it Necessary?
A Nigerian startup for farmers such as Zenvus is important to have in Nigeria. Zenvus aims to fight against extreme poverty by improving agricultural production. A focus on agriculture is so important due to the amount of potential it has to improve people’s lives. The U.S. Government’s Global Hunger & Food Security Initiative reported that agriculture employs 75 percent of Nigeria’s total labor force.
One of Nigeria’s most grown products is cassava. Nigeria is the largest producer of cassava in the world, accounting for 20 percent of the world’s total production. As these numbers go to show, agriculture is already quite present throughout the lives of many people in Nigeria. This goes to further show why apps that aim to improve farming, such as Zenvus, are so important.
Within recent years, the production of agriculture in Nigeria has increased. Since 2010, Nigeria has seen an increase in quarterly profits from agriculture. In the first quarter of 2010, numbers were as low as ₦’2,594,759.86, whereas, in 2019, there were reports as high as ₦’5,408,978.92 in the third quarter. From the years 2011 to 2014, the national food production in Nigeria grew by 21 million metric tonnes. During this period, a rise in jobs related to farming also occurred. From 2012 to 2014, 3.56 million jobs related to farming emerged.
These numbers show that agriculture has the potential to help fight poverty and create jobs throughout Nigeria. A Nigerian startup for farmers such as Zenvus can make a significant amount of farming in Nigeria easier. Zenvus claims to be providing the same products and services as big brands for 10 percent of the cost. Another major thing that Zenvus’s products are able to accomplish is a 70 percent reduction in water usage for crops.
Since first coming out in 2014, the SmartFarm has been able to reach over 500,000 farming entities throughout Nigeria, Botswana, Ghana and Rwanda. Zenvus has been able to reach a large number of people throughout western Africa at reasonable and low costs.
Agriculture already plays a significant role in Nigeria and has the potential to grow even further. As of 2017, agriculture was the third-largest part of Nigeria’s GDP, at 20.85 percent. In order to deal with the pressing issue of poverty, it would be smart for the government to invest in agriculture as well as a Nigerian startup for farmers, such as Zenvus, that provides innovative products and services.
– James Turner
Photo: Flickr
The Dire State of Rural Poverty in Burundi
Two civil wars and genocides in the 1970s and 1990s destroyed Burundi’s economy and increased poverty from 33% in 1993 to 67% in 2000. Burundi’s poverty rate remains at 65% today. At $700 in 2017, its GDP per capita is the lowest in the world. The agricultural industry, which makes up about 80% of the workforce, weakened during the civil wars. The most affected people are those in rural areas, where about 1.77 million are food insecure. The Burundi government, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and NGOs are working together to address rural poverty in Burundi. The goal of these efforts is to bring the economy back to its pre-war state.
IFAD’s Programs
IFAD — which has worked in the country since 1980 — has funded nine projects in Burundi totaling $141 million. Rural and agricultural development, as well as food security, are two main areas the IFAD focuses on. Almost 500,000 households directly benefit from these projects. Many of the initiatives began around 2009, several years after Burundi’s economic reconstruction gained traction.
Value Chain Development Program
The Value Chain Development Program began in 2010 and ends in 2019. The program benefits more than 77,000 households and costs $73 million. The main focus areas include reduced poverty and increased food security through agricultural value chain development and increased income for rural farmers. To date, 5,761 people have received training on value chain development, seed multiplication and better animal husbandry techniques. Also, more than 6,400 acres of anti-erosion ditches have been dug.
Agricultural Intensification and Value-enhancing Support Project
Another program that addressed rural poverty in Burundi is the Agricultural Intensification and Value-Enhancing Support Project. This program began in 2009 and ends in 2019. It has helped more than 30,000 households in six provinces in the north and east of the capital city, Bujumbura.
After 450,000 refugees returned after political instability and violence lessened, the need for jobs increased. Rapid population growth, small land allotments and soil degradation made it difficult to sustain an income for rural farmers. Some of the results of the project include constructing 1,210 modern sheds for livestock, building 32 miles of roads to rehabilitated marshlands, providing more than 1,290 goats to poor households, planting more than 6 million trees and constructing 11,567 acres of anti-erosion ditches. The project also reduced the number of households living in extreme poverty by 7% and direct beneficiaries have enjoyed a 64% increase in income.
Vision 2025
Although rural poverty in Burundi is still a major issue, the government created Vision 2025 to set goals on addressing its high poverty rate. The government’s objectives are to reduce the poverty rate to 33 percent by 2025 and increase its GDP per capita. While the country’s dependence on agriculture and its heavy reliance on financial assistance pose threats to sustainable growth, with the help of the IFAD, NGOs and other organizations, Burundi could reach the goal of cutting its poverty rate in half by 2025.
– Lucas Schmidt
Photo: Flickr
5 Organizations Fighting Child Marriage in Nepal
Activists claim that prevalence rates are increasing in some districts of the country. This is occurring despite the government announcing in 2014 a target to eradicate child marriage by 2030. However, there are a plethora of organizations working to combat child marriage in Nepal. Many of these organizations are working in tandem with the government to ensure that the 2030 goal is achieved. Keep reading to learn more about the top five organizations fighting child marriage in Nepal.
5 Organizations Fighting Child Marriage in Nepal
UNICEF: The humanitarian branch of the United Nations has been instrumental in both raising awareness and tackling the problem of child marriage in Nepal. In 2016, UNICEF launched the Global Program to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage, focusing on Nepal and 11 other countries. This program manifests through training community religious leaders to advise against child marriage. In addition, efforts include building health posts that protect child brides by teaching them about reproductive health, as well as mobilizing adolescent girls.
Girls Not Brides: Girls Not Brides and UNICEF worked in tandem to craft Nepal’s National Strategy to End Child Marriage in 2016. The plan includes six components: implementing laws and policies, empowering girls, providing quality education for girls, engaging men, mobilizing families and communities to change norms and providing services. One tangible action taken thus far includes raising the legal marriage age to 20. Another action includes providing cash incentives for families to support their daughters’ educations. Girls Not Brides also works closely with a variety of grassroots organizations that address the issue on the ground including Sakcham Rural Nepal, Loo Niva Child Concern Group and Janaki Women Awareness Society.
Kapilvastu Integrated Development Services (KIDS): A partner organization of Girls Not Brides, KIDS works in Kapilvastu, a district in Nepal, to improve women’s health services. Some of its projects include Safe Motherhood through WASH. WASH targets recent mothers, including child brides, to promote hygiene mothering practices such as hospital deliveries. Another project is the Women’s Health Program, which informs poor adolescent girls about their reproductive health to protect young brides.
Loo Niva Child Concern Group: Another Nepali organization, Loo Niva specializes in children’s rights. The organization protects vulnerable children from exploitative practices, such as arranged child marriages. In particular, the organization has worked in the southern Lalitpur rural area. There, the organization promotes intervention education programs about the dangers of child marriage and how it contributes to issues such as school dropouts.
Human Rights Watch: Although not involved in grassroots and community efforts, Human Rights Watch plays an instrumental role. The organization’s efforts hold the Nepali government accountable for its goal to end child marriage. Additionally, it has consistently surveyed the Nepali government’s actions and reported when, for example, the Nepali government delayed releasing in its strategic plan in 2016. This exposure is necessary to pressure the Nepali government to achieve its target.
– Chace Pulley
Photo: Flickr
5 Modern Innovations Addressing Food Scarcity
5 Modern Innovations Addressing Food Scarcity
Finally, it is undeniable that technology plays a very prominent role in society today. Technological innovations have revolutionized the lives of people across the world. Further, these innovations addressing food scarcity are prime examples of this rapid paradigm shift. Progress necessitates change and change is only possible through people working together to absolve adversity in the most effective way possible.
– Jai Shah
Photo: Flickr
8 Facts About Education in the United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates started focusing on building a modern, mass-scale education system after its independence from Britain in 1971. In the past 50 years, the country revolutionized its education system aligning itself both with a modern and Western approach. Below are eight facts about education in the United Arab Emirates.
8 Facts About Education in the United Arab Emirates
These eight facts about education in the United Arab Emirates illustrate the achievements and progress made in the country’s education system and highlights the ambitious aims and goals the UAE has for the future.
– Andrea Duleux
Photo: Flickr
4 Countries Affected by the Measles Outbreak in 2019
Measles is caused by a virus and spread through respiratory transmission. It is highly contagious but mostly preventable through childhood vaccinations. Mild symptoms of measles include high fever and a rash. More severe effects of the disease include pneumonia, diarrhea and even deafness.
4 Countries Affected by the Measles Outbreak
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC): In the DRC, measles has killed 5,000 people so far in 2019, which is more than twice as many people as Ebola. More than 90 percent of these deaths are children under the age of 5. Further, the measles outbreak has spread throughout all provinces. Lack of access to health care and a shortage of measles vaccines contribute to these deaths. Additionally, weakened immune systems in malnourished children, deficiencies in vitamin A and diseases such as HIV/AIDS also lead to death. UNICEF and other NGOs have distributed more than 1,300 measles kits containing antibiotics, rehydration salts and other drugs to the most impacted areas. UNICEF has also advocated for a longer-term strategy to address the outbreak.
Brazil: Though Brazil had been deemed free of measles in 2015, as of November 2019 the country has had an estimated 50,000 cases of the disease. The highest concentration of measles cases occurred in Sao Paulo, the state with the highest population. Brazilian officials are concerned that people in an isolated tribe in the Amazon may have contracted the disease. This is of particular concern since these people have a low resistance to measles and other diseases. Health officials in Brazil have implemented a measles vaccination campaign to vaccinate millions of young people between the ages of 20-29 in order to contain the outbreak.
The Philippines: Yet another country that has faced a measles outbreak due to distrust in vaccines is the Philippines. The New York Times reports that measles vaccination rates in the country declined from above 80 percent in 2008 to below 70 percent in 2017. Officials have reported nearly 44,000 measles cases in Manila and the surrounding areas as of November 2019. In response to the measles outbreak, along with outbreaks of polio and dengue, the Philippines Red Cross has sought to expand its efforts. This will require recruiting and training some 2,600 volunteers. In the long-term, the Department of Health aims to increase immunization coverage so that 95 percent of children are vaccinated.
Somalia: According to a November 2019 U.N. article, there have been 3,616 suspected cases of measles in Somalia in 2019. In particular, people in IDP camps (for internally displaced people), areas with high population density and nomadic communities are at greater risk. The illness is particularly deadly for children under 5 in Somalia. Unfortunately, one in seven of these children dies before they turn 5. To combat this outbreak, the Somali government has partnered with UNICEF and the WHO to launch a campaign to vaccinate 1.7 million Somali children.
Several countries have faced measles outbreaks in 2019. Increased immunization coverage during childhood could prevent these outbreaks. As these countries affected by the measles outbreak show, access to vaccines and health care is vitally important. In fact, these ailments are often a matter of life and death. Fortunately, NGOs and governments are working together to prevent future measles outbreaks.
– Sarah Frazer
Photo: Flickr
What is Global Fragility?
Global fragility is a compelling global phenomenon. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has defined it as, “the combination of exposure to risk and insufficient coping capacity of the state, system and/or communities to manage, absorb or mitigate those risks. Fragility can lead to negative outcomes including violence, the breakdown of institutions, displacement, humanitarian crises or other emergencies.”
The 2030 Agenda
Rising global challenges such as climate change, global inequality, the development of new technologies and illegal financial flows, are all aggravating global fragility. Now more than ever before, these challenges most severely affect low and middle-income countries. Global fragility is a pressing issue as poverty is increasingly present in fragile areas and those affected by conflict. It is estimated that by 2030, as much as 80 percent of the world’s extreme poor will be living in fragile areas, becoming both a threat to global security and a prominent barrier to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030.
Within the 2030 Agenda, SDG 16 outlines achieving peaceful, just and equitable societies. Additionally, this SDG emphasizes the importance of sustaining peace and conflict prevention. Peace and conflict prevention are not achievable with increasing global fragility risks and inefficient responses. Indeed, 2016 was the year affected the most by violence and conflict in the past 30 years, killing 560,000 people and displacing the highest number of people in the world since World War II. Moreover, countries that are part of the 2030 development agenda all committed to leaving no-one behind, stressing the need to address fragile areas.
Addressing Global Fragility
Taking into account the elements mentioned above and the existing consensus on the matter, it is fundamental for countries and international organizations to address global fragility and take action by joining efforts. International institutions faced some blame for inadequate performance in fragile states. Recently, efforts began focusing on developing frameworks and tools to address fragility more efficiently. At the core of the solution to global fragility lies resilience. Additionally, this comprises of assisting states to build the capacity to deal with fragility risks and stabilize the country.
For example, the World Bank launched the Humanitarian Development Peace Initiative (HDPI) in partnership with the U.N. to develop new strategies to assist fragile countries. Under this initiative, the U.N. and World Bank will collaborate through data sharing, joint frameworks and analysis, etc. Additionally, the European Commission changed the way it approaches fragility, now concentrating more on the strengths of fragile states rather than their weakness, to assist them in resilience building and empowering them to do so.
All these efforts revolve around a set of core principles, stemming from lessons learned from the past. These mainly include empowering local governments and helping them escape the fragility trap. Another principle revolves around achievements in the long-term. Long-term achievements will ensure sustainability, as transforming deep-rooted governance takes time for effective implementation. Inclusive peace processes prioritizing the security of citizens, along with inclusive politics, are essential in the transformation of fragile states.
The Global Fragility Act
On December 20, the Global Fragility Act was passed as a part of the United States’ FY 2020 foreign affairs spending package, to address fragility more effectively. The Act emphasizes interagency coordination regarding development, security and democracy. In addition, the Act also highlights a more efficient alignment of multilateral and international organizations. As the first comprehensive, whole-of-government approach established by the United States, the efforts plan to prevent global conflict and instability.
The numerous actions and initiatives launched recently illustrate a significant step forward in addressing the threat of fragility. The common consensus between donor countries, multilateral and international institutions must now be translated into concrete actions.
– Andrea Duleux
Photo: Flickr
Zenvus: Nigerian Startup for Farmers
Nigeria is a country located on the western coast of Africa. Unfortunately, Nigeria has the highest number of people living in extreme poverty in the world with 86.9 million. People can attempt to deal with such poverty by making improvements to agriculture. Nigerian startups such as Zenvus have already begun to take initiative. Zenvus is a Nigerian startup for farmers that aims to fight poverty by improving farming conditions.
Products Zenvus Provides for Farmers
Zenvus is a Nigerian startup for farmers that aims to fight against extreme poverty. This company is able to do so by providing an app as well as services that lead to better crop yields and farming productivity for its customers. Farmers can attain better farming productivity through a range of products that Zenvus sells.
Some of the products that Zenvus sells include SmartFarm and Yield. SmartFarm is an electronic sensor that is able to keep track of important soil components such as humidity, temperature, pH, moisture and nutrients. This product collects data on a machine that is solar-powered. The machine sends information to the user’s desktop or mobile device. Being able to receive this information at any moment will enable farmers to be able to grow healthier crops.
Yield is a camera that one can use to capture images of their crops. The app can take these images and provide helpful information in regards to dealing with stressed crops, droughts, outbreaks, pests and diseases. This camera allows for farmers to prevent situations that could significantly weaken their profits. The information provided through data that the SmartFarm sensor and camera from Yield give will allow for much less guessing when it comes to farming in Nigeria. The further productivity that the Zenvus brings should improve the economy.
What Services Does Zenvus Provide?
Along with the products that Zenvus sells, it also provides a number of services. These services include zCapital, zCrowdfund, zInsure and zMarkets. All of these services aim to improve the lives of farmers and their crop yields. In order to raise money for their efforts, farmers can use zCrowdfund to get loans from local people in exchange for food. This app also makes selling one’s products much easier. Through zMarkets farmers can use the app as a digital market to sell their food. Farmers can buy farming insurance through zInsure in order to protect their assets. As these services go to show, this app aims to allow for larger profits in terms of agriculture.
Why is it Necessary?
A Nigerian startup for farmers such as Zenvus is important to have in Nigeria. Zenvus aims to fight against extreme poverty by improving agricultural production. A focus on agriculture is so important due to the amount of potential it has to improve people’s lives. The U.S. Government’s Global Hunger & Food Security Initiative reported that agriculture employs 75 percent of Nigeria’s total labor force.
One of Nigeria’s most grown products is cassava. Nigeria is the largest producer of cassava in the world, accounting for 20 percent of the world’s total production. As these numbers go to show, agriculture is already quite present throughout the lives of many people in Nigeria. This goes to further show why apps that aim to improve farming, such as Zenvus, are so important.
Within recent years, the production of agriculture in Nigeria has increased. Since 2010, Nigeria has seen an increase in quarterly profits from agriculture. In the first quarter of 2010, numbers were as low as ₦’2,594,759.86, whereas, in 2019, there were reports as high as ₦’5,408,978.92 in the third quarter. From the years 2011 to 2014, the national food production in Nigeria grew by 21 million metric tonnes. During this period, a rise in jobs related to farming also occurred. From 2012 to 2014, 3.56 million jobs related to farming emerged.
These numbers show that agriculture has the potential to help fight poverty and create jobs throughout Nigeria. A Nigerian startup for farmers such as Zenvus can make a significant amount of farming in Nigeria easier. Zenvus claims to be providing the same products and services as big brands for 10 percent of the cost. Another major thing that Zenvus’s products are able to accomplish is a 70 percent reduction in water usage for crops.
Since first coming out in 2014, the SmartFarm has been able to reach over 500,000 farming entities throughout Nigeria, Botswana, Ghana and Rwanda. Zenvus has been able to reach a large number of people throughout western Africa at reasonable and low costs.
Agriculture already plays a significant role in Nigeria and has the potential to grow even further. As of 2017, agriculture was the third-largest part of Nigeria’s GDP, at 20.85 percent. In order to deal with the pressing issue of poverty, it would be smart for the government to invest in agriculture as well as a Nigerian startup for farmers, such as Zenvus, that provides innovative products and services.
– James Turner
Photo: Flickr
Energy Improvements in Peru
Energy Access in Peru
The population percentage that has access to energy in Peru has increased from around 65 percent of people in 1992 to 95 percent in 2015. Much of the increase has come from Peru’s transition to mixing its energy sector with crude oil and natural gas thermal plants. Previously, Peru operated mainly on domestic hydropower plants.
Peru’s natural gas reserves primarily come from domestic sources. This includes sources such as the Camisea field and imports from Ecuador since the Andes have gas in abundance. Following natural gas, Peru’s oil sector is largely reliant on U.S. imports. From 2008 to 2014, the amount of crude oil imported from the U.S. has increased threefold.
Problems with Energy in Peru
Transitioning to a greater fossil fuel dependence is harmful to the environment; however, it has given the Peruvian population better access to electricity and has made energy in Peru much cheaper. Currently, the average price of electricity in Peru is around $13.4 c/kWh. Comparatively, the average price of electricity in the U.S. is about $13.19 c/kWh. Theoretically, once people have better access to electricity, their quality of life will improve. Additionally, incomes should increase, as well as further infrastructure development with greater energy access.
The biggest disparity of energy access is prevalent in the same regions with the biggest wealth disparities: rural areas. Only about 76 percent of those who live in the Peruvian countryside have access to electricity, as compared to 100 percent of those who live in cities. While 24 percent may not seem like a large number, this equates to about 1.6 million people that are still without electricity in rural areas.
Energy Improvement Initiatives
This does not mean that Peru is doing nothing to address the energy situation in rural areas. One such infrastructure overhaul initiative is the Peru Second Rural Electrification Project (RE2). This project follows up on RE1, which had already contributed to the increased regulation of the energy sector. RE1’s efforts also allowed for much more stable electricity access in rural communities. This was done through subsidizing solar home energy systems (SHS) and through developing online resources for private energy sources in order to more efficiently manage energy consumption.
RE2 expanded on RE1’s plan to increase physical electricity connections and promote self-sufficient energy sources like SHS’s. This is in addition to totally upgrading the Peruvian rural energy structure to grid extension and off-grid solar extensions. Ultimately, the plan brought electricity to more than 160,000 new people with roughly 48,000 of these people using SHS’s. The project, funded through the Peruvian government, loans/grants from NGOs and a $50 million loan from the World Bank, also takes the socioeconomic impact of increased electrification into account. Through the project’s provisions, those who have never used electricity in an extended manner before were educated on safe electricity use and how to limit consumption. In addition, 12,300 training kits were distributed to rural communities that have new access to electricity.
Future Access
Through efforts from the Peruvian government and international organizations, energy access in Peru has continued to improve over the past three decades. Not only is electricity more easily accessible for Peruvians, but it is also cheap enough to adequately distribute. By properly educating the rural population on the safe use of electricity, Peru has also better ensured a low level of electrical accidents. In this way, Peru is doing all the right things to facilitate a quicker, safe and ethical development of its rural communities that will ensure a better future for all Peruvians.
– Graham Gordon
Photo: Flickr
The Impact of the 2011 Somalia Famine
The Horn of Africa is the easternmost region of Africa. It is comprised of four countries: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia. In 2011, the countries in the Horn of Africa were severely impacted by what was known as the “worst drought in 60 years.” Somalia was affected the worst due to a combination of extreme weather conditions and civil disorder. On July 20, 2011, the U.N. declared a famine in southern and central Somalia, specifically in Lower Shabelle, Mogadishu and the Bay area where acute malnutrition rates among children exceeded 30 percent. People were unable to access basic necessities. More than two people per 10,000 were dying daily. Inevitably, the famine led to high mortality rates. Nearly 260,000 people died by the end of the 2011 Somalia famine with more than half of the victims being children under five years old.
Cause and Effect of the 2011 Drought
Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, cited poor rainfall for two consecutive seasons was the cause of the severe 2011 East Africa drought. Crops in Somalia are typically planted when the first rain of the season occurs in either March or April. However, the rains were late and inadequate, which caused late planting and harvesting.
The Famine Early Warning Systems Network had predicted the harvest in southern Somalia to be 50 percent below average. In addition to this, pastures were sparse due to the intensifying drought, which ultimately led to the rapid loss of livestock. Crop failure coupled with poor harvests and limited livestock reduced food availability. As a result, food prices increased substantially. This ultimately intensified the severe food crisis in Somalia.
Government vs. al-Shabaab
Due to limited resources, a conflict began to grow over food and water. Additionally, civil disorder worsened the famine conditions as the militant Islamic group, al-Shabaab, was at war with the government over control of the country. Food aid was delayed in south-central Somalia—two al-Shabaab controlled regions—because the terrorist group banned numerous humanitarian agencies from distributing food and assistance to starving citizens of the region.
Al-Shabaab threatened citizens with brutal punishment, including execution, if they dared try to escape the region. Despite these terroristic threats, 170,000 citizens of southern Somalia fled to Kenya and Ethiopia to escape the famine conditions that plagued the country. Unfortunately, this resulted in a substantial number of deaths due to severe malnutrition, overpopulated and unsanitary living conditions.
Foreign Aid to Somalia
The United Nations estimated that 3.2 million people in Somalia were in need of immediate help. At least 2.8 million of those citizens were inhabitants of south Somalia. Numerous United Nations agencies, including the World Food Programme (WFP), the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), united to provide relief to the victims of the 2011 Somalia famine. Although the conflict between rival groups initially left the south-central region of Somalia isolated from foreign aid, humanitarian agencies persisted in helping the citizens of Somalia.
The United Nations assisted in raising more than $1 billion for relief efforts across the region to reduce malnourishment and mortality rates. In addition to this, heavy rains in the fall season replenished the land, allowing a successful crop season and a bountiful harvest. In February 2012, the lethal conditions that once swept across the nation had improved. The United Nations declared the famine that plagued Somalia was finally over.
Where Does Somalia Stand Now?
In June 2019, the United Nations declared that countries of the Horn of Africa were at risk of another famine due to another drought. Five million people were at risk of this potential famine with Somalians accounting for a majority of the at-risk population. The Under-Secretary-General and emergency relief coordinator, Mark Lowcock, stated that he allocated $45 million from the U.N. emergency relief fund to help purchase food and other basic necessities. A majority of the $45 million was allocated for Somalia as 2.2 million people could face another severe food crisis similar to the 2011 Somalia famine.
The United Nations recognized that Somalia has suffered from several occurrences of food insecurity. The organization has taken the initiative to prevent another famine from occurring in Somalia by acting early, allocating funds and raising awareness about the issue.
– Arielle Pugh
Photo: Flickr
9 Facts about Human Rights in Eritrea
Eritrea is known by some as the “North Korea of Africa.” In 1993, after a 30-year long war of independence, Eritrea won its independence from Ethiopia. In the U.S. Department of State’s 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report, Eritrea received a tier-three rating, signifying that the Eritrean government has not engaged in any significant efforts to eliminate human trafficking in the country. Keep reading to learn the top nine facts about human rights in Eritrea.
9 Facts about Human Rights in Eritrea
Above all, the Eritrean government’s treatment of its citizens paints a bleak picture. Repression of free speech, limiting the freedom of religion, the lack of due process and accounts of torture make up the grim narratives told by the Eritrean refugees. However, Eritrea’s recent peace agreement with Ethiopia is more hopeful. These nine facts about human rights in Eritrea tell us that, with the help of the international community and humanitarian assistance given by the Ethiopian government, a better future awaits the people of Eritrea.
– YongJin Yi
Photo: Flickr