Eritrea is a small country with a population of approximately 3.6 million, located in the Horn of Africa and divided into six administrative regions. Sudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti border Eritrea, which has an arid and semi-arid climate with limited and erratic rainfall. Agriculture contributes to around 25% of GDP and provides employment for almost all rural households, with 70 to 80% of the population depending on farming and livestock for income and food production.
Food Insecurity in Eritrea
Because Eritrea relies heavily on unpredictable rainfall for agricultural production, the country remains one of Africa’s most food-insecure nations. The Eritrea Food Security Strategy reports that Eritrea produces only 60% of its national food requirements during favorable rainfall years. However, during drought years, production can fall to 20 to 25% of national food needs.
As a result, an estimated 66% of Eritreans, around 2.36 million people, cannot obtain sufficient food and essential goods to maintain a healthy standard of living. Approximately 37% of the population, or 1.31 million people, live below the food poverty line. Around half of all households require food assistance in usual years, and that figure rises to 80% during years of poor harvests.
Food insecurity in Eritrea has particularly severe consequences for children. The Global Nutrition Report estimates that 52.5% of children under five suffer from stunting, significantly above the African regional average of 30.7%. The Eritrea Food Security Strategy also found that 44% of children are underweight, while malnutrition causes anemia in nearly 50% of children.
Eritrea’s Human Development Index score of 0.503 places the country firmly in the low human development category.
Projects Combatting Food Insecurity
Despite these challenges, a range of initiatives are working to strengthen Eritrea’s food security from the ground up. Eritrea’s Ministry of Agriculture launched the Small and Productive Farm Plot initiative, locally known as Nirqah, under the national framework “Safe and Nutritious Food for Everyone, Everywhere.”
The Small and Productive Farm Plot’s concept is that each participating household works and manages a 1,000-square-meter plot, roughly a quarter of an acre, growing cereals, pulses, vegetables and sweet potatoes. Farmers then use crop residues to support livestock. This model is adapted to Eritrea’s diverse agroecological zones, allowing households to cultivate multiple crops throughout the year.
The early results are encouraging. During the first phase across the Maekel, Anseba, Debub and Gash-Barka regions, more than 12,000 households participated. These households produced yields of up to 970 kg of wheat, 950 kg of maize, 730 kg of sorghum and 420 kg of barley per 1,000-square-meter plot.
To date, farmers have cultivated more than 33,000 plots under the program. In the Gala-Nefhi region alone, the program reached 4,421 plots, while introducing 1,641 modern beehives and distributing 40,000 village chickens. In Serejeka, 4,700 farmers took part in the Small and Productive Farm Plot program. Looking ahead, Eritrea’s Ministry of Agriculture has set a national production target for 2028 aimed at balancing output across cereals (50%), pulses (25%) and oil crops (25%).
Environmental Threats
Alongside long-term agricultural development, Eritrea has contended with environmental threats. In December 2024, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Ministry of Agriculture identified a serious escalation in desert locust activity along Eritrea’s Red Sea coastline. The locust outbreak threatened 50,000 hectares of cropland and 450,000 hectares of rangeland, land that supports the livelihoods of approximately 600,000 people.
More than 700,000 sheep and goats, as well as 200,000 cattle, faced losing access to their primary feed sources. The United Nations (U.N.) Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) allocated $500,000 to FAO for a rapid response program. Between Jan. 16 and July 15, 2025, FAO worked alongside the Ministry of Agriculture and distributed 20,000 liters of Deltamethrin pesticide, 330 protective masks and 20 walkie-talkies to the ministry’s Plant Protection Unit.
By the end of the project, response teams had treated 21,450 hectares of infested land and safeguarded 38,770 tons of standing crops and 100,000 animals. Beyond treating infested farmland, the program directly reached 30,000 people, 55% of whom were women and girls. Radio broadcasts, community meetings and information sessions also reached another 600,000 people across five targeted regions.
The program trained more than 1,030 people, including 30 extension agents and 1,000 community volunteers, in locust monitoring, early detection and safe pesticide handling. Officials also reserved the remaining supplies for the 2025 locust season to strengthen future preparedness.
Water Infrastructure
Eritrea’s long-term investment in water infrastructure also underpins agricultural growth and food security. When Eritrea gained independence in 1993, the nation had approximately 130 dams, a figure that has since grown to 800. The expansion has enabled irrigation, reduced reliance on erratic rainfall and improved the stability of food production.
The dairy sector, constrained by fodder and water shortages resulting in a low-quality national herd, has historically underperformed. To combat this, Self Help Africa launched the DESIRA initiative, the Climate Smart Agriculture Research and Innovation Support for Dairy Value Chains program. This initiative works across the Debub, Anseba and Maekel Zobas districts and aims to improve dairy productivity and profitability, develop dairy value chains and increase national dairy consumption for nutritional benefits. The program expects to directly benefit 800 producer households, or around 4,000 people, along with approximately 50 academic and scientific staff.
Improving food insecurity in Eritrea also requires knowing where the needs are greatest. In 2025, the U.N. system in Eritrea supported the screening of 312,269 children ages 6 to 59 months for nutrition-related symptoms.
Looking Ahead
Food insecurity in Eritrea remains a challenge, shaped by decades of conflict, an unforgiving climate and limited resources. However, the projects taking shape across the country demonstrate how lasting solutions can emerge by building resilience from the ground up. These programs signal that Eritrea is taking meaningful steps toward a more food-secure future.
– Helen Turnbull
Helen is based in Cardiff, Wales and focuses on Good News for The Borgen Project.
Photo: Flickr
Innovations in Poverty Eradication in Tuvalu
Land Reclamation Efforts
One of the ways Tuvalu is tackling climate issues is through reclaiming land. As Tuvalu at its highest point is only 15 feet above sea level, many communities are at risk of coastal erosion because they are too low-lying and a sea level rise as low as 8 inches could make the country uninhabitable in 100 years. A measure to solve this problem organized by the national government and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is the Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project which began in June 2017.
The project aims to implement protections against coastal erosion and increasingly intense storm and wave activity. This will involve creating 7 hectares of new land designed to withstand storm surges and stay above forecast sea level rises until at least 2100. The project is set for completion in September 2026 and so far has already seen the construction of a 2,500 foot platform on the island of Fongafale to protect essential infrastructure and coastal homes. The new land can be used to relocate the most vulnerable residents and to provide government and community services on safe ground.
Improvements in Food Security
On the island of Nui, violent hurricanes make traditional crop farming difficult and food security very uncertain. Innovative solutions are essential to ensuring food security for the small community living there.
One of these innovations in poverty eradication in Tuvalu is the introduction of food cubes on the island, where people can plant crops in movable containers instead of in the vulnerable soil by the shore. The UNDP and International Organization for Migration (IOM) has implemented these and provided them to residents as part of the Climate Security in the Pacific Project.
The food cubes have proven to be especially effective and have provide much needed security for the crops of the 500 residents on the island of Nui. The cubes are simple to set up and are easy to move to a safer location more inland by the residents in the event of a storm. The cubes have also been successful on other Tuvaluan islands such as Nukulaelae and Funafuti where food security has also improved.
Fostering Connections to Global Institutions
Tuvalu is a very remote country, it is very reliant on aid from international institutions. With the impending risk of changing weather patterns exacerbating the poverty level in the country, Tuvalu is prioritizing forming connections with organizations that can assist with tackling climate poverty.
An example of this is the Tuvalu Second Climate and Disaster Resilience Development Policy Financing from the World Bank. While the previous initiatives have been for specific projects, this loan from the World Bank to the Tuvaluan government is to ensure the fiscal resilience of the country amidst the risks of changing weather.
The loan, as well as the strengthened ties between Tuvalu and the World Bank and other monetary organizations, provides much more financial security for Tuvaluan citizens and allows local entrepreneurs and business owners to contribute more to the island state’s economy.
Looking Ahead
These innovations in poverty eradication in Tuvalu, such as cultivating connections with international organizations, can help to ensure a safe and secure future for the country and its citizens.
– James Holder
Photo: Unsplash
Closing the Gender Wage Gap in Equatorial Guinea
A Wealth Gap Hidden in Plain Sight
Women hold only about 40% of positions in Equatorial Guinea’s total labor force, earning less than their male counterparts across sectors. Men overwhelmingly dominate the oil industry, which drives the country’s economy and commands significantly higher wages, leaving women concentrated in lower-paying agriculture and informal service work.
Informal social norms compound these structural barriers. According to the OECD’s 2023 Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI), 55% of the population believes men make better business executives than women, and another 55% agrees that when jobs are scarce, men should have more right to employment than women. These attitudes narrow women’s economic opportunities even where formal legal protections exist.
Education and Opportunity
The gender wage gap in Equatorial Guinea also reflects a persistent educational gap. Girls, particularly those from rural and lower-income households, face significant barriers to completing secondary school. A high rate of child marriage contributes directly: the OECD SIGI reports that 30% of women aged 20 to 24 were married or in a union before age 18, compared to a world average of 26% and a regional African average of 31%.
Early marriage interrupts schooling and limits women’s lifetime earning potential, funneling them into lower-paying sectors while men gain access to the higher-wage positions that oil wealth generates.
Gender-Based Violence as an Economic Barrier
Gender-based violence further restricts women’s economic participation. The OECD SIGI finds that 46% of women aged 15 to 49 have experienced intimate partner violence at some point in their lifetime, which is above the African regional average of 33%. In the past 12 months alone, 26% of women reported experiencing such violence, compared to a regional average of 17%.
Legal gaps reinforce the problem. Equatorial Guinea does not criminalize domestic violence, and its definition of rape does not rest on the absence of consent. These shortcomings leave many women without legal recourse and undermine their ability to remain safe, productive and economically active.
Agenda Igualdad: A Historic Turning Point
Significant progress is underway. In May 2024, Equatorial Guinea held its first-ever National Forum on Gender Equality, titled “Agenda Igualdad.” Prime Minister Manuela Roca Botey chaired the three-day forum, which the Ministry of Social Affairs and Gender Equality organized with United Nations support. Government officials, civil society organizations, women activists and UN representatives all participated, building a unified roadmap for change.
The forum produced the Djibloho Declaration, a concrete action plan committing the government to combating gender-based violence through education and improved data collection, protecting the rights of women with disabilities and strengthening women’s economic capacities in commerce. The declaration also calls for mainstreaming gender considerations into all national policies.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) played a central role, reaffirming the U.N.’s commitment to gender equality initiatives in the country. Just weeks after the forum, UNFPA led a five-day training workshop that equipped public officials with gender-based violence case management and victim referral skills.
Closing the Data Gap
One of the Djibloho Declaration’s most consequential commitments involves improving gender data collection, a critical step toward closing the gender wage gap in Equatorial Guinea. The OECD SIGI notes that a lack of gender-disaggregated data on social norms and economic outcomes currently prevents a comprehensive understanding of women’s rights and opportunities in practice.
Better data enables better policy, and better policy means a more equitable economic future. With the Agenda Igualdad framework now in place and UNFPA, UNICEF and civil society organizations working alongside the government, real momentum exists to close the gender wage gap in Equatorial Guinea for good.
– Amanda Draznin
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Homelessness in Tokelau: Where No One Sleeps Without Shelter
Tokelau, a dependent territory of New Zealand, is one of the most remote places on earth. The secluded non-self-governing region in the South Pacific comprises three coastal atolls – three rings of sandy beaches and lush green foliage surrounding beautiful turquoise lagoons – and has a combined population of 2,700 residents.
How Community and Subsistence Make a Difference
Homelessness in Tokelau is a foreign concept due to each atoll’s strong sense of collective responsibility. This Polynesian cultural norm greatly dictates Tokelau’s land management and dwelling allocation.
Subsistence is a major pillar of the region’s economic lifestyle. Since the three islands have a joint area of 12 square kilometers, how the residents use their land is crucial to housing accessibility.
Tokelauans do not farm with the intent to mass-export or produce beyond basic means. The Government of Tokelau says that residents cultivate only one cash crop (coconuts) and take advantage of local fisheries instead of dedicating mass amounts of land to animal husbandry. Geo Factbook notes that industrial efforts remain small-scale and construct mostly traditional handicrafts.
In addition to the island group’s minimalist way of life, homelessness in Tokelau is avoided due to a social safeguard. According to Tokelau’s governing system, all three islands have a complex social structure that emphasizes the value of community and sharing, making it rare for someone to be left without access to shelter or communal resources.
In the territory, people do not see land as a commodity; individuals do not buy and sell land for profit. Instead, the culture’s familial and communal obligations take charge, creating a distribution system in which ownership of and access to land are chiefly determined by family and ancestral ties, and the portion excluded from that generational handoff is reserved for collective use.
Addressing Overcrowded Homes Without Sacrificing Community
The same generosity that extinguishes homelessness in Tokelau also causes overcrowding in households across all three islands. The Tokelau National Statistics Office’s “2016 Census of Populations and Dwellings,” the most recent one available, found that across the whole of Tokelau, the most common number of rooms per dwelling was three (around 27%), and 14.5% of dwellings had eight or more occupants. The cultural tradition of extended families and multiple generations living together in single homes leads to serious health risks and poor housing quality. The Tokelau Community Housing project aimed to solve this problem.
Researchers at the Wellington School of Medicine and the Wellington Tokelauan Association in New Zealand approached the territory’s overcrowding problem in a unique way: they designed housing that could accommodate large numbers of people per dwelling, rather than disrupting the complex social and cultural system that values community and sharing.
The Tokelau Community Housing project successfully constructed a single demonstration home that accommodated 11 occupants and stayed warm, dry and well-ventilated. The Tokelauan family that lived in the house during the research period responded positively, reporting they felt healthier and happier after just a couple of months
Concluding Thoughts
The demonstration home from the Tokelau Community Housing project was never mass-produced, and neither New Zealand nor Tokelau has stated that the research paper’s published findings have influenced their housing policies. Yet, the project proved that overcrowding is not an inevitable consequence of Tokelau’s way of life. Researchers showed that communities do not have to choose between homelessness and unhealthy living conditions.
– Mia Puleo
Photo: Flickr
3 Projects Combatting Food Insecurity in Eritrea
Food Insecurity in Eritrea
Because Eritrea relies heavily on unpredictable rainfall for agricultural production, the country remains one of Africa’s most food-insecure nations. The Eritrea Food Security Strategy reports that Eritrea produces only 60% of its national food requirements during favorable rainfall years. However, during drought years, production can fall to 20 to 25% of national food needs.
As a result, an estimated 66% of Eritreans, around 2.36 million people, cannot obtain sufficient food and essential goods to maintain a healthy standard of living. Approximately 37% of the population, or 1.31 million people, live below the food poverty line. Around half of all households require food assistance in usual years, and that figure rises to 80% during years of poor harvests.
Food insecurity in Eritrea has particularly severe consequences for children. The Global Nutrition Report estimates that 52.5% of children under five suffer from stunting, significantly above the African regional average of 30.7%. The Eritrea Food Security Strategy also found that 44% of children are underweight, while malnutrition causes anemia in nearly 50% of children.
Eritrea’s Human Development Index score of 0.503 places the country firmly in the low human development category.
Projects Combatting Food Insecurity
Despite these challenges, a range of initiatives are working to strengthen Eritrea’s food security from the ground up. Eritrea’s Ministry of Agriculture launched the Small and Productive Farm Plot initiative, locally known as Nirqah, under the national framework “Safe and Nutritious Food for Everyone, Everywhere.”
The Small and Productive Farm Plot’s concept is that each participating household works and manages a 1,000-square-meter plot, roughly a quarter of an acre, growing cereals, pulses, vegetables and sweet potatoes. Farmers then use crop residues to support livestock. This model is adapted to Eritrea’s diverse agroecological zones, allowing households to cultivate multiple crops throughout the year.
The early results are encouraging. During the first phase across the Maekel, Anseba, Debub and Gash-Barka regions, more than 12,000 households participated. These households produced yields of up to 970 kg of wheat, 950 kg of maize, 730 kg of sorghum and 420 kg of barley per 1,000-square-meter plot.
To date, farmers have cultivated more than 33,000 plots under the program. In the Gala-Nefhi region alone, the program reached 4,421 plots, while introducing 1,641 modern beehives and distributing 40,000 village chickens. In Serejeka, 4,700 farmers took part in the Small and Productive Farm Plot program. Looking ahead, Eritrea’s Ministry of Agriculture has set a national production target for 2028 aimed at balancing output across cereals (50%), pulses (25%) and oil crops (25%).
Environmental Threats
Alongside long-term agricultural development, Eritrea has contended with environmental threats. In December 2024, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Ministry of Agriculture identified a serious escalation in desert locust activity along Eritrea’s Red Sea coastline. The locust outbreak threatened 50,000 hectares of cropland and 450,000 hectares of rangeland, land that supports the livelihoods of approximately 600,000 people.
More than 700,000 sheep and goats, as well as 200,000 cattle, faced losing access to their primary feed sources. The United Nations (U.N.) Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) allocated $500,000 to FAO for a rapid response program. Between Jan. 16 and July 15, 2025, FAO worked alongside the Ministry of Agriculture and distributed 20,000 liters of Deltamethrin pesticide, 330 protective masks and 20 walkie-talkies to the ministry’s Plant Protection Unit.
By the end of the project, response teams had treated 21,450 hectares of infested land and safeguarded 38,770 tons of standing crops and 100,000 animals. Beyond treating infested farmland, the program directly reached 30,000 people, 55% of whom were women and girls. Radio broadcasts, community meetings and information sessions also reached another 600,000 people across five targeted regions.
The program trained more than 1,030 people, including 30 extension agents and 1,000 community volunteers, in locust monitoring, early detection and safe pesticide handling. Officials also reserved the remaining supplies for the 2025 locust season to strengthen future preparedness.
Water Infrastructure
Eritrea’s long-term investment in water infrastructure also underpins agricultural growth and food security. When Eritrea gained independence in 1993, the nation had approximately 130 dams, a figure that has since grown to 800. The expansion has enabled irrigation, reduced reliance on erratic rainfall and improved the stability of food production.
The dairy sector, constrained by fodder and water shortages resulting in a low-quality national herd, has historically underperformed. To combat this, Self Help Africa launched the DESIRA initiative, the Climate Smart Agriculture Research and Innovation Support for Dairy Value Chains program. This initiative works across the Debub, Anseba and Maekel Zobas districts and aims to improve dairy productivity and profitability, develop dairy value chains and increase national dairy consumption for nutritional benefits. The program expects to directly benefit 800 producer households, or around 4,000 people, along with approximately 50 academic and scientific staff.
Improving food insecurity in Eritrea also requires knowing where the needs are greatest. In 2025, the U.N. system in Eritrea supported the screening of 312,269 children ages 6 to 59 months for nutrition-related symptoms.
Looking Ahead
Food insecurity in Eritrea remains a challenge, shaped by decades of conflict, an unforgiving climate and limited resources. However, the projects taking shape across the country demonstrate how lasting solutions can emerge by building resilience from the ground up. These programs signal that Eritrea is taking meaningful steps toward a more food-secure future.
– Helen Turnbull
Photo: Flickr
Everything To Know About Hunger in Sri Lanka
Reasons for Hunger in Sri Lanka
Understanding hunger in Sri Lanka arises from the country’s location and the local living conditions. Agriculture is one of the main sources of employment in the country, and the country depends heavily on the harvesting of crops as the industry contributes 6.9% of the GDP of the country. This heavy reliance on agriculture makes the country vulnerable to severe weather that can damage crops. Rainfall in Sri Lanka varies drastically, ranging from 1,000 millimeters to 5,000 millimeters depending on the area. Floods and landslides cause crops to break down or be completely flooded.
In 2025, Cyclone Ditwah – a tropical cyclone that hit Sri Lanka in November 2025 – caused a devastating impact on both local households and the agricultural system. The rainwater buried vegetables such as paddy, and the income of farmers as well as other residents decreased. Prices of agricultural products increased due to a decrease in quantity, causing hunger in more households. Fortunately, the country stored available food sources immediately and provided soft loans to farmers who were having difficulties recovering their land from the crisis.
Lack of imported goods and price inflation also contribute to hunger in the country. Within the total caloric consumption in the country, 22% comes from imported goods. Some agricultural products, such as wheat, do not grow in Sri Lanka due to the soil conditions. The shortage of foreign exchange limits the country’s ability to import food, which causes a deficiency in food storage in Sri Lanka.
These disadvantages force locals to rely on a bland diet. This diet causes many to suffer from malnutrition, and also acts as a barrier to children’s physical development.
Reduction of Hunger in Recent Years
Despite the unavoidable environmental damages, improvements are happening in Sri Lanka, and significantly fewer people are suffering from hunger every year. In 2025, the population that is “in moderate acute food insecurity” has decreased by 15% as of last year, and this is thanks to the World Food Programme (WFP) and other organizations.
WFP assisted international governments in providing food rations to 1.2 million children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some students from low-income families depend on the school meals provided during lunch. To address this issue, the government of Canada redirected $200,000 USD to assist Sri Lanka in providing rations for children during the pandemic.
Farmers are also taking scientific measures to resist the harsh weather conditions. Scientists are developing climate-smart agriculture by testing flood-tolerant crop varieties. Canals and reservoirs are also being built to promote water management and to ensure water distribution and control.
Looking Towards the Future
While challenges remain, the government as well as locals are making a lot of progress to support the hunger crisis in Sri Lanka. Resolving the situation depends on developing new varieties of crops against the disadvantaged growing conditions. The nation continues to have support from the government and other nations, and it continues to make important progress in sustaining sufficient food for locals, the population suffering from hunger in Sri Lanka could be greatly reduced.
– Jiayu Wang
Photo: Unsplash
Migration to Guatemala: The Struggle of Deported Migrants
Such is the story of Marvin, who lived for 20 years in the United States – where he left behind a wife and children – and now struggles to make ends meet in Guatemala, despite having owned a successful business before his deportation. Then there is Hector, a former manager in a larger American company. Having crossed the border as an infant, he spent his entire life in the U.S. before a prison stint led U.S. officials to deport him to a foreign homeland. Data and statistics often obscure individual stories like theirs. Stark examples of the struggle that Guatemalan deportees face as they try to rebuild their lives.
The Labor Barriers
When deportees land at La Aurora International Airport, government officials receive them with snacks and beverages, before leading them into an office for a quick medical check. For the vast majority, this is the only form of support they will know. Once they leave the reception gates, they must fend for themselves.
For people like Hector and Marvin, the immediate struggle is to integrate into a low-income economy where skilled individuals often struggle to find work that fits their profile. The structural constraints are the result of a scarcity of high-productivity jobs and a mismatch between the skills acquired abroad and the domestic demand. This results in inactivity levels in the returnee population that reaches 50.3% in rural areas and 45.7% in urban areas.
Most of the deported population – 79% – are working-age men who are unable to find a stable job in a country where 68% of employment remains informal. Economic necessity often forces them to rely on low-paid, temporary and informal work in construction and agriculture.
For female deportees, reintegration can be more challenging, as they must navigate gender-based discrimination regarding women’s role in society, particularly in rural communities. For children, the experience can be traumatic, having been pulled from the only life they knew while facing the harsh realities of an underfunded education system and enduring child labor.
The Social Struggle
Some deportees must face the social stigma that comes with deportation. After years spent abroad, many struggle to reconnect on a social and cultural level while their own communities often stigmatize them, leading to social isolation.
Exposure to Guatemala’s endemic violence also threatens returnees. Street gangs often extort them under erroneous assumptions that they possess wealth. In the worst case, deportees borrowed money from usurers in order to pay smugglers, meaning that upon their return, they remain in debt with dangerous human trafficking networks, while being unable to earn a stable living due to the country’s economic conditions.
The Institutional Gaps
For most migrants, rebuilding their life in those conditions is like climbing a steep mountain of economical and social hardship. Historically, there has been an institutional vacuum regarding migration to Guatemala, reflected in the lack of coherent policy and long-term reintegration strategies, especially regarding deportations. For the affected population, this means an absence of support in areas such as employment, housing and mental health.
Following the tightening of immigration policies in the United States, Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo announced in January 2025 the launch of a program designed to assist deported migrants upon their arrival. Known as “Plan Retorno al Hogar,” it is intended to provide immediate assistance to deportees, ensure individualized support, and connect them with services such as healthcare and education, as well as job opportunities or training programs.
However, the actual impact of the program remains questionable. In a document that Pop No’j shared with The Borgen Project – a Guatemalan association working closely with returned migrants – the organization noted that since its implementation, no noticeable changes have been observed beyond the basic reception and the creation of a registration center in Guatemala City. In their view, state support remains limited, failing to adapt to the returnee’s changing profile, now including entire families and individuals who have spent their entire lives abroad.
How Civil Society Is Filling the Void
The vacuum the government left has pushed grassroots organizations and civil society groups to fill in the gaps regarding return migration to Guatemala. Pop No’j, for instance, provided support to more than 400 returned migrants in indigenous regions between 2021 and 2024, focusing on some of the country’s most vulnerable and marginalized populations.
Similarly, organizations like Casa del Migrante, originally founded to assist the displaced population during the Guatemalan civil war, have expanded in order to meet the current needs of migrant communities. Today, Casa del Migrante provides help for transient migrants, as well as deportees.
The work of these civil society organizations and individuals shares a common holistic approach. According to Pop No’j, it offers not only economic and social reintegration support, but also legal counsel. Its efforts are also focused on coordinating with other organizations and state institutions as much as possible.
Support comes also from social initiatives that stem from concerned citizens. Such is the case with la Red, a restaurant and cultural center located in Guatemala’s second-largest city, Quetzaltenango. Willy Barreno, a chef and former migrant, founded it upon his return, in an effort to create employment opportunities for returned migrants, and teaching locals some of the skills he learned abroad.
Looking Ahead
Reintegration remains a struggle for deported Guatemalans. In light of the recent developments, the government responded with a program to assist returned migrants, with the results yet to be seen. Meanwhile, deported Guatemalans will always find a safety net in the solidarity of their fellow citizens.
– Mateo Montes Asturias
Photo: Pexels
Ending HIV in the Asia-Pacific
Asia and the Pacific account for 23% of new HIV infections globally each year. In 2024, about 6.9 million people living with HIV resided in the Asia-Pacific alone. Progress remains uneven in many countries, with some even seeing an increase in HIV incidence. Without proper procedures and resources, HIV will continue to rise in the Asia-Pacific.
Barriers to HIV Response
Several barriers have slowed the response to HIV in the Asia-Pacific, impacting prevention efforts.
Due to these barriers and challenges, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) launched the “Action Plan to End the HIV Epidemic” (2026-2031) in May 2026 to dissolve these barriers and push toward ending HIV in the Asia-Pacific. This initiative begins by helping countries strengthen political commitments, sustain funding and expand accessibility for HIV prevention to eliminate gaps and delays in treatments and testing.
The Action Plan
The plan brings together 21 economies, including China, Japan, Australia, Mexico, Chile and Southeast Asian economies, to promote financing, growth, collaboration and trading for HIV testing, treatment, awareness and protection policies for more vulnerable communities.
Under the action plan, all APEC economies will adopt a strategy to end the HIV epidemic by 2031. Focused on six pillars, the action plan aims to achieve the UNAIDS 95-95-95 target, expand HIV prevention in the Asia-Pacific and reduce new infections by 90% by the end of the plan.
These six pillars aim to provide solutions to past barriers by offering a roadmap for countries to accelerate progress in treating HIV and AIDS. Described as “the beginning of a new phase” of regional cooperation on HIV by Leonardo Chanqueo, project overseer of the APEC HIV Project, the plan represents a significant step toward ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Hopeful Future
With this plan, the barriers slowing the response to HIV in the Asia-Pacific are addressed and resolved. Though the plan is in its early stages, it represents human collaboration and a unified humanitarian effort, promising a hopeful future for the health of affected individuals and communities.
– Kianna Phosouvanh-Sythong
Photo: Flickr
HPV Vaccination in Pakistan Reaches 9 Million Girls
A Cancer of Inequality
Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers, yet it remains one of the deadliest for women in low-income settings. Globally, cervical cancer caused about 350,000 deaths in 2022, and roughly 94% of those deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries, a gap that reflects unequal access to vaccination, screening and treatment. The disease is driven by the human papillomavirus, and a vaccine given in early adolescence prevents most cases.
In Pakistan, the burden is heavy. Cervical cancer affects more than 5,000 women each year and kills around 3,200 of them. Screening and treatment remain concentrated in cities and private clinics, which places them out of reach for many rural and low-income women. For families living close to the poverty line, a late cervical cancer diagnosis can mean both the loss of a mother and catastrophic medical costs. Vaccinating girls early offers a way to interrupt that cycle before it begins.
The Largest Campaign of Its Kind
Pakistan launched the campaign on Sept. 15, 2025, through the Federal Directorate of Immunization, in partnership with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO). The first phase covered Punjab, Sindh, Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Islamabad Capital Territory, with a goal of vaccinating at least 90% of 13 million eligible girls aged 9 to 14.
More than 49,000 health workers, most of them women trained with WHO support, delivered the vaccine in schools and communities. By early 2026, WHO reported that HPV vaccination in Pakistan had reached more than 9.6 million girls, although the agency notes that official coverage figures will not be confirmed until later in 2026. A single dose of the vaccine prevents most cases of cervical cancer, making the intervention one of the most cost-effective in global health.
Reaching the Hardest Places
Delivering the vaccine at this scale was not simple. Officials at the Federal Directorate of Immunization noted that severe flooding and displacement complicated the rollout, yet the campaign still reached close to 70% of its target. Vaccine hesitancy posed another barrier. To counter misinformation, Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal had his own daughter vaccinated publicly, after which refusal rates fell and acceptance climbed in many districts.
The phased design reflects where the need is greatest. The poorest and most remote regions are scheduled for later rounds, with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due in 2026 and Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan in 2027. Balochistan is Pakistan’s poorest province and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also ranks well above the national average on poverty, and both carry limited health infrastructure. With about 22.5% of Pakistanis living below the national poverty line in fiscal year 2025, it is the households in these hardest-to-reach provinces that the later phases must serve.
What Comes After Vaccination
Vaccination is only the first of the WHO’s three targets for eliminating cervical cancer, known as the 90-70-90 goals: vaccinating 90% of girls, screening 70% of women and treating 90% of those who need it. Screening is where the gap is widest. In low- and middle-income countries, only about 19% of eligible women undergo screening, compared with far higher rates in wealthy nations. Pakistan has made a strong start on vaccination, but screening and treatment for the millions of women already past vaccination age remain limited, and sustaining the gains will require investment well beyond a single campaign.
Looking Ahead
HPV vaccination in Pakistan will not, on its own, eliminate cervical cancer. The country still needs accessible screening and affordable treatment, especially for poor and rural women who have the least access to both. Even so, protecting more than 9 million girls in a single campaign is a concrete step toward breaking a cycle in which a preventable cancer and household poverty reinforce each other. If the later phases reach the girls in Pakistan’s poorest regions, a disease that has long tracked inequality could begin to lose its grip.
– Amna Al Harrazi
Photo: Flickr
Local Efforts for Clean Water in Bangladesh
Bridging the Gap
Rural communities have taken proactive steps in their pursuit of clean water. Residents of remote villages in hilly or mountainous areas sometimes travel for hours searching for water. Often, the stream or well they find is contaminated or dried up. To fill their pots, they must sit in a hole and wait for the water to trickle in, which can take upwards of an hour. Additionally, one pot may not last an entire day, so more water must be collected in the evening. Yet in some areas, local residents, with help from outside aid, have built their own piping systems. These systems decrease the risk, time and effort associated with accessing clean water in Bangladesh.
Mong Pa Khai Para Village
In Mong Pa Khai Para village, located in Bandarban in southeast Bangladesh, community members built their own piping system, which provided safely managed water to 141 households. Led by women forming the Village Development Organization, the community contributed about 15% of the project cost and helped transport materials and install water tanks during construction. The system is situated atop a three-story school building, has a deep borehole with a capacity of 10,000 liters and will provide water directly to the village through an underground pipe network. The BRAC Integrated Development program helped finance and build the system. Already, the village has formed a committee to decide how to effectively maintain it.
Kalishakhali Village
In Kalishakhali village, Community Partners International assisted residents in building a safe water network in 2024. Kalishakhali is located in the Barisal District, where more than a quarter of the population lives in poverty. The system contains a deep tube well where water is drawn using a pump, and is then stored in a water tank sitting on a raised platform. Households pay a small monthly fee for electricity and maintenance, and any extra funds are used to assist in building more systems in surrounding areas. The project provided more than 100 households with safe access to water, and gave residents more time for work and family life.
Looking Ahead
Despite significant aid efforts, such as the more than $1 billion Water.org has mobilized for clean water in Bangladesh, safe access remains a daily struggle for many Bangladeshi citizens. As seen in Kalishakhali and Mong Pa Khai Para, rural villages are desperate for support and willing to assist in the building of clean water systems. Clean water is a building block toward poverty reduction, as it provides people the health and time necessary to improve their circumstances. The transformation of lives in Bangladesh continues through the building of these networks.
– Joshua P Megson
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Addressing the Gender Pay Gap in the Gambia
Women earn approximately $700 less than men. This means there is a higher chance for women to be in poverty than men, especially since the COVID-19 restrictions. In Gambia, women tend to work in the informal sector. This can range from working in the hospitality and tourism sector in urban areas to the agricultural sector in rural areas, where they constitute 50% of the workforce.
What Is the Gambia Doing Right?
Where Is the Gambia Struggling?
Solutions
In 2024, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare announced a 10-year plan to increase the pace of removing gender inequality, with the gender pay gap in Gambia being at the forefront of the plan. The government plans to implement the strategy between 2025-2034.
In 2025, the Ministry launched a popular program in partnership with the UNDP called the Gender Equality Seal for Public Institutions. The program focuses on improving educational opportunities and workplace equality. It connects public institutions to other similar establishments around the world and prepares them to improve their inclusivity and accessibility skills for women.
The Path Ahead
High fertility rates among young women, driven by low female school enrolment, keep many Gambian women out of the workforce and contribute to pay inequality. Improvements in education have helped reduce fertility rates among young women.
There is a chance to reduce gender pay gaps by only provisioning better educational resources, such as the construction of new schools, and giving them access to basic school supplies.
Similarly, child marriage has been a persistent issue in Gambian society, but a higher educational rate amongst girls and even boys has led to improvement in changing perspectives and an increasing rate of marriages after the age of 18.
This shows that there is a chance for tackling the gender pay gap in the Gambia if there are some basic provisions of education and opportunities for young girls.
– Tanay Ashok Sonthalia
Photo: Pixabay