Poverty in Peru declined steadily from 2001 to 2016, dropping from 55% to 21%. In 2017, the poverty rate rose slightly to 21 .7%. The relative success Peru has had in reducing poverty, however, is a result of economic growth along with increased and improved social programs and technological innovations. The Inter-American Foundation, which currently has 20 active projects in the nation, has made significant contributions to the reduction of poverty in Peru, having invested more than $5 million in the nation and directly benefiting more than 35,000 people.
The Situation in Peru
In Peru, one is in poverty if they have a monthly income of fewer than 338 soles (equal to $105). Poverty continues to be an issue in both urban and rural areas, with 44% of the impoverished population living in rural areas while the remaining 56% are located closer to urban centers. Those who are extremely poor tend to live in rural areas or on the very outskirts of the cities. Natural disasters, inadequate education and training and poor health care all contribute to poverty in Peru, making it a multi-dimensional problem.
One can at least partially attribute the recent increase in the poverty rate to political turmoil in the nation. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski entered office in 2016, and his policy decisions reflected a misunderstanding of Peru’s poverty and how best to reduce it. He resigned in March 2018, however, and his successor, Martín Vizcarra, has “declared the rise in poverty ‘unacceptable.” One will soon see how new leadership will affect Peru’s poverty rates in the coming years.
The Inter-American Foundation in Peru
While outside organizations cannot necessarily solve problems within Peru’s government, they can have an impact on improving the lives of Peruvians across the nation through targeted and effective investments and programming. The Inter-American Foundation, for example, has committed to investing in Peru by providing specific grants that are invested strategically to make the largest possible impact.
Congress created the Inter-American Foundation (IAF) in 1969 to act as an independent agency of the U.S. Government. The IAF focuses its efforts on reducing poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean, providing grants and creating partnerships with local organizations and governments. Rather than designing projects, the IAF invests in initiatives created by grassroots groups and communities, supporting local innovation.
The programs that the IAF supports in Peru employ a range of methods for various intended outcomes, although all have connections to efforts to reduce poverty in Peru. Program areas include leadership, education, job skills, enterprise development, agriculture, food security, legal assistance and inclusion. Most of these programs have funding from the IAF for periods of three to six years, with the amount of grant funding and the number of years the program will run determined at the outset. The IAF also estimates how many direct and indirect beneficiaries each grant will have.
Programs That the IAF Supports in Peru
One of the initiatives that the IAF supported most recently is the Asociación Peruana de Productores de Cacao (APPCACAO). It will receive $177,500 from the IAF and run from 2018 to 2020. This program aims to help cacao producers, who often lack the income needed to support their families. According to the IAF, APPCACAO will help “raise their income and quality of life by improving their production of fine flavor cacao and strengthening their management and governance practices to ensure greater participation of women and youth.” This will directly benefit 1,260 individuals and another 3,900 will receive indirect benefits as this program seeks to improve agriculture, food security, leadership, education, job skills and enterprise development.
The Asociación Grupo de Trabajo Redes (AGTR) is a program that also addresses the economic empowerment of women by focusing on female domestic workers. The IAF recognizes that these women are likely to have poor working conditions and low incomes. It, therefore, works to educate female domestic workers about their legal rights and helps to improve their negotiation skills, helping them find higher-paying jobs with humane working conditions. With an IAF investment of $240,000, this program will be active from 2017 to 2020, directly benefiting 2,600 individuals and indirectly benefiting 44,650.
A third program working to reduce poverty in Peru is the Asociación Kallpa para la Promoción de la Salud Integral y el Desarrollo (Kallpa), which focuses on reducing youth unemployment, including the unemployment of disabled youth. Youth includes anyone between the ages of 15 and 29, and the program provides the support necessary for young people to “find meaningful employment or start a small business.” The IAF has invested $554,390 in this program, which is expected to benefit 1,550 direct and 5,200 indirect individuals.
Looking Ahead
These programs provide a brief look at the work that the IAF has supported, highlighting its efforts to improve conditions for women and young people, decrease food insecurity, improve working conditions and reduce unemployment, all of which are vital to decreasing poverty in Peru. Notably, however, 11 out of the 20 active projects that the IAF is supporting were to end in 2018. People will soon know whether the IAF will continue to invest in as many projects in the future.
– Sara Olk
Photo: Flickr
Ending Child Trafficking in Ghana
Ghana, as a country, represents an epicenter for a vicious cycle where many men, women and children are victims of trafficking. This topic is a huge challenge for the country. Countless of Ghana’s children are taken from their homes and brought to work in poor conditions, mostly in the fishing industry. These young children are then forced to work long hours and live in squalor.
It is more common for boys to be forced into hard labor that includes things as diving into the water to untangle the fishing nets, while girls are sent to the Middle East where they become domestic workers in households or prostitutes being obligated to sell their bodies. According to the Head of the Counter-Trafficking Department of the International Organization for Migration child trafficking in Ghana is actually a distortion of the old cultural practice of placement with relatives or townspeople.
Statistics of Child Trafficking
Three thousand children are victims of child trafficking each day worldwide. It is estimated that child trafficking is an industry that earns $10 million yearly, but what are the factors that can cause a child to be trafficked? One prominent factor is lack of education and this certainly is one of the causes of child trafficking in Ghana as 623,500 children in Ghana are not even enrolled in school.
Extreme poverty also plays an issue in child trafficking as families sometimes leave their children behind or give their children to the traffickers. There is a large number of street kids who are easy prey to the traffickers who offer them the allure of a better life. Over 40 million babies are born every year and fail to be identified. Invisible children or the absence of birth registration happens when a child is born and is never registered with the local government or council. These children are perfect victims for child traffickers.
Challenging Heights’ Work
One organization that is currently working as an advocate for the right to a safe and protected home for every child in Ghana is Challenging Heights. James Kofi Annan founded the organization in 2003 and advocates for children rights. Annan was a fishing slave himself and was forced to work for seven years before he escaped, got an education and became a bank manager.
Challenging Heights is an organization committed to ending child trafficking in Ghana, reducing child slavery and promoting children’s rights in the country. They are currently focused on child labor, especially in the fishing and cocoa industry. As many as 24,000 children are victims of worst forms of child labor annually in Ghana. Challenging Heights’ works on improving child rights through three types of agendas: rescuing, preventing and advocating.
Challenging Heights also works to economically empower the women of Ghana. One plan that this organization has implemented is opening a smokehouse where the women can preserve the fish caught by the fisherman. The women can use the smokehouses free of charge and then they are able to sell their fish within the community, helping them make an income for their families. Challenging Heights also offers youth empowerment Programs. These programs teach children a certain career skill and offer training programs to hopefully set the youth up on the right track towards obtaining an education or a job.
Lake Volta Actions
Many of Challenging Heights rescue missions take place at Lake Volta. The Lake was built in the 1960s and is one of the world’s largest man-made lakes. Lake Volta is a way of life for most fisherman and people in the country where about 40 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. Children are most often exploited by fishermen desperate to feed their families and eke out a living along the banks of Lake Volta. With help from locals in the community, Challenging Heights makes several recuses a year. The liberated children are taken back to Challenging Heights rehabilitation house and offered care. This care can vary from medical, psychological or emotional. Each child stays with the organization for almost a year while their families are interviewed and assessed in hopes that this will deter them from falling back into child trafficking.
Thanks to Challenging Heights, more than 1,500 children have been rescued and 400 children have been given proper care in the organization’s rehabilitation center. The overall goal for this organization is to end child trafficking in Ghana by 2022. Currently, 103,300 people in Ghana are trapped in modern-day slavery. Challenging Heights hopes to combat this number by advocating for the victims, partnering with the government and nongovernmental organizations all while having the goal of ending child trafficking in Ghana in mind.
– Jennifer O’Brien
Photo: Pixabay
How the IMF is Working to Reduce Poverty in Peru
Poverty in Peru declined steadily from 2001 to 2016, dropping from 55% to 21%. In 2017, the poverty rate rose slightly to 21 .7%. The relative success Peru has had in reducing poverty, however, is a result of economic growth along with increased and improved social programs and technological innovations. The Inter-American Foundation, which currently has 20 active projects in the nation, has made significant contributions to the reduction of poverty in Peru, having invested more than $5 million in the nation and directly benefiting more than 35,000 people.
The Situation in Peru
In Peru, one is in poverty if they have a monthly income of fewer than 338 soles (equal to $105). Poverty continues to be an issue in both urban and rural areas, with 44% of the impoverished population living in rural areas while the remaining 56% are located closer to urban centers. Those who are extremely poor tend to live in rural areas or on the very outskirts of the cities. Natural disasters, inadequate education and training and poor health care all contribute to poverty in Peru, making it a multi-dimensional problem.
One can at least partially attribute the recent increase in the poverty rate to political turmoil in the nation. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski entered office in 2016, and his policy decisions reflected a misunderstanding of Peru’s poverty and how best to reduce it. He resigned in March 2018, however, and his successor, Martín Vizcarra, has “declared the rise in poverty ‘unacceptable.” One will soon see how new leadership will affect Peru’s poverty rates in the coming years.
The Inter-American Foundation in Peru
While outside organizations cannot necessarily solve problems within Peru’s government, they can have an impact on improving the lives of Peruvians across the nation through targeted and effective investments and programming. The Inter-American Foundation, for example, has committed to investing in Peru by providing specific grants that are invested strategically to make the largest possible impact.
Congress created the Inter-American Foundation (IAF) in 1969 to act as an independent agency of the U.S. Government. The IAF focuses its efforts on reducing poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean, providing grants and creating partnerships with local organizations and governments. Rather than designing projects, the IAF invests in initiatives created by grassroots groups and communities, supporting local innovation.
The programs that the IAF supports in Peru employ a range of methods for various intended outcomes, although all have connections to efforts to reduce poverty in Peru. Program areas include leadership, education, job skills, enterprise development, agriculture, food security, legal assistance and inclusion. Most of these programs have funding from the IAF for periods of three to six years, with the amount of grant funding and the number of years the program will run determined at the outset. The IAF also estimates how many direct and indirect beneficiaries each grant will have.
Programs That the IAF Supports in Peru
One of the initiatives that the IAF supported most recently is the Asociación Peruana de Productores de Cacao (APPCACAO). It will receive $177,500 from the IAF and run from 2018 to 2020. This program aims to help cacao producers, who often lack the income needed to support their families. According to the IAF, APPCACAO will help “raise their income and quality of life by improving their production of fine flavor cacao and strengthening their management and governance practices to ensure greater participation of women and youth.” This will directly benefit 1,260 individuals and another 3,900 will receive indirect benefits as this program seeks to improve agriculture, food security, leadership, education, job skills and enterprise development.
The Asociación Grupo de Trabajo Redes (AGTR) is a program that also addresses the economic empowerment of women by focusing on female domestic workers. The IAF recognizes that these women are likely to have poor working conditions and low incomes. It, therefore, works to educate female domestic workers about their legal rights and helps to improve their negotiation skills, helping them find higher-paying jobs with humane working conditions. With an IAF investment of $240,000, this program will be active from 2017 to 2020, directly benefiting 2,600 individuals and indirectly benefiting 44,650.
A third program working to reduce poverty in Peru is the Asociación Kallpa para la Promoción de la Salud Integral y el Desarrollo (Kallpa), which focuses on reducing youth unemployment, including the unemployment of disabled youth. Youth includes anyone between the ages of 15 and 29, and the program provides the support necessary for young people to “find meaningful employment or start a small business.” The IAF has invested $554,390 in this program, which is expected to benefit 1,550 direct and 5,200 indirect individuals.
Looking Ahead
These programs provide a brief look at the work that the IAF has supported, highlighting its efforts to improve conditions for women and young people, decrease food insecurity, improve working conditions and reduce unemployment, all of which are vital to decreasing poverty in Peru. Notably, however, 11 out of the 20 active projects that the IAF is supporting were to end in 2018. People will soon know whether the IAF will continue to invest in as many projects in the future.
– Sara Olk
Photo: Flickr
Top 10 Facts About the Health Expectancy in Angola
Sometimes referred to as “healthy life expectancy” or HLE, health expectancy measures more than just the number of years a person remains alive. In fact, it is calculated by “adjusting total life expectancy for the number of years spent in poor health.” As the following list illustrates, there are many improvements yet to be made, but there is also good reason to be hopeful about the health expectancy in Angola.
Top 10 Facts About the Health Expectancy in Angola
The Angolan Civil War, which lasted from 1975 until 2002, devastated and impoverished the country. Lack of infrastructure, little to no healthcare services and a widespread lack of clean water were just some of the difficulties the nation faced as it struggled to regroup after the war. However, today, the Angolan government is playing a proactive role in continuing to improve the collective health expectancy in Angola.
– Raquel Ramos
Photo: Flickr
Using Ocean Plastic to End Poverty
There are an estimated 150 million tons of plastic in the oceans and about 80 percent of that plastic comes from countries that can be considered as countries with extreme poverty. Individuals struggling to feed their families and send their children to school do not have time to worry about recycling and are often unaware of the effects of pollution on their surrounding environment. To address this issue, David Katz founded the Plastic Bank, a company that is using ocean plastic to end poverty.
The Plastic Bank- Using Ocean Plastic to End Poverty
The Plastic Bank aims to combine social and environmental impact by creating value out of plastic waste. Communities suffering from poverty usually do not have effective waste management programs and therefore any plastic products used by local families end up polluting the surrounding environment. By working with impoverished communities, the Plastic Bank helps set up stores in which the accepted currency is post-consumer plastics. This enables individuals to collect plastics and exchange them for money, goods and services.
This program has proven to be very successful in Haiti. A number of stores have been founded in which locals can bring used plastics to be weighed and checked for quality and then traded in for credit. The stores that are created and operated by locals offer various products and services, from food and water to school tuition and medical insurance to cell phone minutes and high-efficiency stoves.
Cooperation with Other Companies
In addition to offering a means of steady income, this credit system allows individuals to set up a savings account. Impoverished communities often rely on cash transactions and are therefore at a greater risk of corruption and theft. To solve this, the Plastic Bank teamed up with IBM to employ blockchain technology, removing money from the equation completely.
The Plastic Bank then sells the plastics collected to socially and environmentally conscious companies around the world. Brands like Marks and Spencer and Henkel use recycled plastic in their manufacturing. As a consumer, everyone can support poverty-reduction efforts and the environment by buying products made with these recycled plastics.
Innovative Solutions
The Plastic Bank is continuing to expand its operations and is testing out other innovative solutions by using ocean plastics to end poverty, such as a bottle-deposit program in Vancouver in which all of the money collected from recycled plastics is sent to poor communities around the world. Another idea is to match churches in big cities with those in impoverished nations. For example, a church in London asking its members to bring in plastics and then, with the help of the Plastic Bank, sending the proceeds to a church in Cairo that is able to assist the members of its community suffering from poverty.
The Plastic Bank has formed a system in which plastic waste is given a value, offering individuals a means of income while incentivizing anti-pollution efforts. Not only is this program using ocean plastics to end poverty and to create jobs for locals living in poverty, but it also creates stores in which goods and services most needed by the community are available. As they continue to grow and implement new ideas, the Plastic Bank is supporting those suffering from poverty around the world while tackling a global pollution issue.
– Georgia Orenstein
Photo: Google
Causes of Human Trafficking in China
Human trafficking encompasses any exploitation or forced trade of humans against their will. This includes sex trafficking, child labor, forced labor and even forced adoptions and marriages. Human trafficking has risen to extremely high rates in China and the country has been identified as having one of the world’s highest rates of human trafficking in the world.
About Human Trafficking in China
Traffickers have transported Chinese trafficking victims to every single continent around the world. Approximately 600,000 workers willingly migrate to China on the basis of false promises regarding work opportunities, including escapees from North Korea. Instead of finding work, many are set up and sold into human trafficking organizations. They are usually forced into hard labor, prostitution or entertainment industries. There are numerous causes of human trafficking in China. Supply chain companies, many of which sell their products to the United States, utilize human trafficking to obtain cheap or free labor to mass produce their products.
Causes of Human Trafficking in China
The one-child policy has contributed to human trafficking in China and can be considered as one of the main reasons for this negative trend in the country. In an effort to control the growing population, the country limited each family to a maximum of one child. The prioritization of male children over females has led to an uneven gender distribution ratio.
This results in less marriageable women and, therefore, the purchasing of wives through human trafficking. Children are also kidnapped from poverty-stricken rural areas and sold to parents that are unable to have children themselves. Overall, the largest causes of human trafficking in China are the high unemployment rates in rural areas, mass production increase in urban areas and lack of enforced punishment by government and law.
Tackling the Issue
China does not meet the minimum requirement of standards necessary to combat the rise of human trafficking. However, as the entire world learns about the issue, the country has begun to make efforts to fight against human trafficking. The Central Committee, the State Council and local governments and institutions are designated to tackle this issue.
Many organizations, predominately those that women organize, have been prominent in providing knowledge about sex trafficking to uneducated women. Paired with the Ministry of Justice, the All China’s Women’s Federation has produced many anti-trafficking printouts and propaganda. China has increased cooperation with other countries attempting to investigate cases of Chinese trafficking overseas, as well as provided shelters for trafficking victims and funded awareness campaigns to increase knowledge surrounding the issue.
These efforts, however small, go a long way in helping prevent the rise of human trafficking in China. Providing awareness to uneducated and poverty-stricken rural areas is a large first step, as many people fall into trafficking simply by being unaware of what it is, what it looks like and how it occurs. There is a long way to go, but with the help and encouragement of international countries, the causes of human trafficking in China will begin to lessen. The first big step, the recognition of the problem, is already done.
– Mary Spindler
Photo: Flickr
EcoViva Generates Stability Through Community-Led Initiatives
In 2017, El Salvador, a country of 6 million people, was one of the deadliest countries to live in that was not inside a war zone — the country saw on average 10 homicides every day.
El Salvador is pained by low levels of economic growth. From 2010 to 2016, real economic growth averaged only 2.6 percent, which makes El Salvador the nation with the lowest GDP growth in Central America. In 2016, 31 percent of the population lived in poverty, and the World Food Program estimates that 36 percent of the rural population lives in poverty.
Poverty and Environment in El Salvador
El Salvador is vulnerable to several climate risk issues. According to a USAID-supported platform called Climate Risk, El Salvador has witnessed a consistent occurrence of extreme events — storms, floods and droughts — within the last 30 years. Deforestation and land degradation have also negatively impacted agricultural lands, increasing the country’s vulnerability to climate change.
Thirty percent of the El Salvadoran population lives on the coast. El Salvador’s Pacific coastline is highly vulnerable to the combination of sea level rise and El Niño events. In fact, it is expected that 10 to 28 percent of the Pacific Coastline will be inundated permanently by the end of the century.
El Salvador’s current economic and political climate is predominantly shaped by the war on drugs, civil war and multinational corporate resource exploitation. EcoViva, a California-based community building organization, supports grassroots movements in El Salvador to alleviate the effects of these legacies in its partnered communities.
EcoViva
Thankfully, the organization EcoViva generates stability through community-led initiatives. Since its inception in 1996, EcoViva has worked with communities in the Lower Lempa River Estuary on the precipice of sea level rise. This at-risk location is in El Salvador’s northern mountain range and the Bay of Jiquilisco Biosphere Reserve.
EcoViva envisions works to create thriving ecosystems and communities in Central America by supporting community-led initiatives that support environmental harmony and ameliorate the effects of poverty. EcoViva serves more than 100 villages, reaching roughly 35,000 people. EcoViva and their partners are forming a green rural economy, addressing climate change, educating young people and ending gang violence in EcoViva’s partnered communities.
Shaping a Green Rural Economy
The Diversified Agriculture Program was created by the Mangrove Association, a partner of EcoViva, to reduce hunger and malnutrition experienced by communities in southeast El Salvador. The program provides free training and technical assistance to 120 farmers over a five-year period. The Mangrove Association also distributes 120,000 free organic vegetable seeds and fruit tree saplings to small-scale farmers each year.
The farmers are trained in permaculture, embracing practices that increase yields, diversify production and improve soil quality. These same practices protect the groundwater from chemical pollution and safeguard one of El Salvador’s last intact mangrove ecosystems in the nearby Bay of Jiquilisco, combatting a steady stream of chemical pollutants into the bay from industrial agriculture.
Empowerment and Education of Young People
Since 2002, EcoViva has supported youth programming in the Lower Lempa region of El Salvador, reaching a total of 500 youth. The programs reflect the needs of local youth so as to include leadership training, capacity building and educational opportunities.
Recently, youth have become entrepreneurs, putting their education and leadership training into practice by creating economic opportunities for themselves and other members of their community.
Ending Gang Violence
In 2001, EcoViva drew up three initiatives to bring about a gang truce in the partnered communities. One of the initiatives saw EcoViva help reintegrate former gang members into their communities by giving them the ability to remove their tattoos.
This initiative reduced the risk of former gang members becoming targets for gang violence and police repression; fortunately, 12 years have passed with virtually no gang-related violence in EcoViva partner communities.
EcoViva Generates Stability Through Community-Led Initiatives
EcoViva has been quite successful in its programs with partnered organizations and communities in El Salvador. In fact, 4,735 acres of mangroves are currently protected by community patrols; villagers and volunteers have build 94 composting toilets to decrease groundwater pollution and life-threatening illnesses; and 84 communities are equipped with an Early Warning System for disaster response. EcoViva generates stability through community-led initiatives, and other nations and organizations would do well to follow in its admirable footsteps.
-Sasha Kramer
Photo: Pixabay
Poverty and Sand Mining in Cambodia
The practice of sand mining has spelled disaster for fishing communities in Cambodia. For more than a decade, sand mining in Cambodia has contributed to the collective poverty of fishing communities as well as displacement. Although Cambodia officially banned the export of sand in 2017, the connection between sand mining and poverty in Cambodia is a lasting one.
Southeast Asian Expansion
Singapore has enlarged its landmass by almost a quarter its size since its independence in 1965, going from 224 to 277 square miles. Singapore considers reclamation a key strategy for accommodating its growing urban population. In fact, the country has artificially expanded the size of its landmass with sand, thus making the Southeast Asian nation one of the world’s largest sand importers.
After Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam grew tired of feeding Singapore’s insatiable appetite for sand; sand mining in Cambodia then took off in 2007 after Indonesia banned sand exports in the same year.
Cambodia, Poverty and Sand Mining
In 2007, the government of Cambodia began granting private companies concessions to mine rivers for sand. From 2007 to 2017, the U.N. reports that Singapore imported more than 72 million tons of sand from Cambodia. In 2015, Cambodia was number even on the top 20 list of sand exporting countries, to the tune of more than $53 million.
A practice called ‘dredging’ sucks up the sand a few feet below the marine floor, disturbing the water. Even temporary increases in turbidity interfere with spawning and suffocate coral reefs. Over-dredging in waterways can lower stream bottoms and disrupt the natural sedimentary processes, leading to the erosion of riverbanks.
Environmental Impacts
Environmental groups report that the dredging industry has threatened several species of endangered dolphins, turtles, otters and mangrove forests. Sand mining in Cambodia has also led to the destruction of Cambodia’s only natural protection against riverbank erosion, rising sea levels, tsunamis and hurricanes.
The connection between sand mining and poverty in Cambodia is seamless. The known dredging concessions were in Koh Kong and Preah Sihanouk provinces on Cambodia’s western shore. Companies did not consult with people in the fishing villages and local authorities did not speak with them before operations began. In the village of Koh Sralau, sand dredging has ravaged the ecosystem that thousands of families depend on for their livelihood.
Detrimental Dredging
According to Global Witness, every month in 2010 dredgers extracted more than 850,000 tons of sand from Koh Kong province alone. In 2010, residents of Koh Sralau told Global Witness that the fish catch had declined by 50% since the dredging ships arrived. In 2016, residents of Koh Sralau told the Thomas Reuters Foundations that the sand dredging industry had sent their once-prosperous fishing community into poverty. One man said that before the Vietnamese sand dredgers occupied the area, he could expect to earn $50 a day fishing for crab; alternately, in 2016 he was only seeing $10 and was unable to afford to send his children to school.
Sand mining in Koh Sralau has incurred a wave of displacement. Since the sand dredging began, every family in Koh Sralau has lost a family member, which forces such people to migrate to other places and other countries to find work. People are quite literally losing the land they live on — banks along the rivers in both provinces have become so eroded that people have lost their homes, farms and shops due to landslides.
River Reclamation and Ban on Sand
After years of community organizing and protests by environmental groups, the fishing communities of Cambodia have their rivers back. In July 2017, Cambodia placed a permanent ban on sand for construction and sand mud exports. In addition to this good news for the fishing communities of Koh Kong and Preah Sihanouk, Cambodia will no longer sell sand to Singapore, putting Southeast Asia in a stronger position for environmental and economic sustainability.
– Sasha Kramer
Photo: Flickr
How Technology Transforms Agriculture
Smallholder farmers and their families make up to almost 75 percent of the world’s poor population. Struggling with access to health care, clean drinking water and education are just some of the daily challenges these people face. A digital technology company called Ricult is striving to improve the productivity and profitability of smallholder farmers in developing countries by solving agricultural problems with technology-based solutions. Ricult has already helped 10,000 farmers across Thailand and Pakistan and continues to prove that technology transforms agriculture in developing countries every day.
Technology Transforms Agriculture
Ricult requires farmers to enter in their geo-coordinates through their app. It then uses geospatial data streams that monitor the environment through weather, satellite, and soil analytics. This provides the farmer with valuable data such as soil conditions to ensure optimal growth.
Some of the basic problems that poor farmers face include inadequate access to weather data, no pest attack forecast, storage issues, low-profit margins and credit access. According to Usman Javaid, the CEO of Ricult, the biggest reason why microfinance institutions haven’t been able to alleviate poverty in developing markets is that they only focus on one part of the problem by providing credit.
The Work of Government of Pakistan
Providing credit is the main way the Government of Pakistan seeks to transform agriculture. The government has adopted a long-term development strategy that aims to remodel the country into an upper middle-income country by 2025. The government developed the Five Year Plan that aims to ensure national food security and reduce rural poverty by increasing productivity, competitiveness and environmental safety. Through this program, the government provides $3 billion in subsidies, grants and loans. They are also providing credit to farmers who own up to 12.5 acres of land and are facing massive irrigation costs.
Ricult as Example how Technology Transforms Agriculture
Javaid says that one of the biggest problems in developing countries is that when farmers receive cash, they will use it for anything and everything but not for agriculture. The country gives an in-kind loan of inputs delivered to the doorstep of the farmers and accompanies this with insightful and actionable agronomic data from optimal sowing times to yield forecasts. This is just one of the examples of how exactly technology transforms agriculture.
Another great component about Ricult is that it allows farmers to get paid within 48 hours. Farmers generally use a middleman who delivers produce from the farm to the markets. Middlemen often stagger payments and cost additional input. Ricult offers five times lower interest rates than middlemen. Ricult has received a $100,000 grant from the Gates Foundation and continues to transform agriculture in developing countries by making a positive impact in the lives of farmers.
A Pakistani farmer named Faraz Shah has said that the current system of informal credit was not working for the farmers. They were very upset, but Ricult has greatly improved their lives by offering credit at much cheaper prices and improving them with high-quality products. Thailand farmer BubpaWorawat said that Ricult dashboard with its color coding system lets him know in which part of his land growth is stunted so he can take immediate action unlike before when he could not personally scout the areas and he would not know about the problem until it was too late.
Ricult is only one example of how does technology transforms agriculture. Since agriculture is a prevalent way of life in less developed countries, in which most of the poor people of the world live, it is very important to develop the new ways and to use technology to help these people to be more effective in their line of work. By doing so, technology can help poor people get out of the cycle of poverty.
– Grace Klein
Photo: Flickr
Education in Israel: The Arab-Jewish Divide
Although Israel as a whole is a highly educated country, its Arab minority does not fare as well in attaining higher education. Arabs and Jews typically attend separate schools, and the state education budget is unevenly skewed towards funding Jewish schools. Unequal access to education has long term consequences and in most cases result in poverty and unemployment of Arab minorities.
An Educated Nation
Education in Israel is treated with importance. Consequently, the nation is a leader among OECD members for the percentage of citizens completing tertiary education. According to the 2013 OECD publication, 46 percent of Israelis aged from 25 to 64 hold a post-secondary degree, well above the group’s average of 32 percent. Additionally, Israel’s population is younger than the average. Over 42 percent of the population is younger than 25, providing a continuous stream of students and young professionals that are entering the workforce.
A precursor and important supplement to tertiary education in Israel is mandatory military service. Conscription begins at the age of 18, lasting three years for men and two years for women. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is structured into different units, with conscripts sorted among them based on military and technical aptitude. The most prestigious IDF unit is the Talpiot, noted for its scientific innovation. It combines military service with rigorous science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, giving its participants transferrable skills for university education and preparing them for the job market.
Challenges in Education in Israel
Primary education in Israel tends to be highly segregated. This segregation is representative of Israel as a whole as, according to Foreign Policy Magazine, 90 percent of Arab-Israelis live in all Arab communities. Separating children by ethnicity and religion limits their ability to learn about one another’s culture firsthand.
In addition to learning in isolation from their Jewish counterparts, Arab-Israeli schools receive less funding and do not meet the same educational benchmarks. Whether measured in standardized test scores, high school graduation rates or university matriculation, Arab-Israelis consistently lag behind. One of the more startling statistics regarding education in Israel is the per-pupil funding figure that can be almost 88 percent lower than that of a Jewish student. Furthermore, Arab-Israelis are not required to serve in the IDF, depriving them of the vocational training Jewish soldiers receive.
Consequences on the Country
Poverty in Israel is high compared to other Western industrialized nations and especially pronounced among Arabs. While poverty rates are decreasing, nearly half (49.4 percent) of Israel’s Arab population lives below the poverty line. Lack of education and underemployment plays a key role in Israel’s poverty rate, as over half of the poor families are working families.
Poverty creates a bad environment and makes people prone to crime, and the poverty present in Arab communities contributes to higher crime rates than Israel’s average. Most alarming is the increase in violent crime, including weapons violations and assaults. According to a 2018 article published in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Arab citizens were involved in 40 percent of violent offenses and in 60 percent of the murder cases in the country, despite only comprising 20 percent of Israel’s population. As many Arab-Israelis feel marginalized socio-economically, some resort to violence as a means to make ends meet.
Solutions to the Problem
Both the Israeli government and nongovernmental organizations are working to ameliorate the educational gap between Arabs and Jews. One nongovernmental organization called Hand in Hand that serves as a center for Jewish-Arab education in Israel strives to bring Arabs and Jews together in the classroom. According to the organization’s mission statement, it currently operates in six schools, with the goal of expanding in at least 10 schools and 20,000 pupils in the next decade.
In terms of governmental reforms, Minister of Education Naftali Bennett pushes for both increased spending and a curriculum overhaul. The Jerusalem Post reports that Israel’s 2019 education budget of around $140 billion will surpass its defense budget. This is an astonishing development for a country that faces a vast array of security threats in its immediate vicinity.
Addressing the academic gap between Jewish and Arabic students, Bennett urges Arab schools to emphasize Hebrew and English instruction claiming that its absence is a barrier to future employment. The future of education in Israel depends both on integrating Arab students with their Jewish counterparts and addressing the structural problems present in underperforming schools.
– Joseph Banish
Photo: Flickr
The New US Africa Strategy
The National Security Advisor for the Trump Administration, John Bolton, unveiled the new strategy for the U.S. aid and investment in Africa in a speech at the Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C. During the speech, Bolton outlined what the new U.S. Africa strategy will look like. It has three main focuses: advancing U.S. trade and commercial ties, countering Islamic terrorism and making sure that U.S. dollars are used efficiently and effectively. In the text below, the three main objectives of the new U.S. Africa Strategy are presented.
Advancing US Trade and Commercial Ties
Bolton stated in his speech that the United States plans on providing assistance to “key countries” and strategic objectives, with U.S. economic interests at the forefront of any aid given, unlike previous administrations, whose objectives in providing aid were focused on sustainable growth for African countries. In order to achieve this goal, the U.S. plans on enacting a new initiative called “Prosper Africa.” This initiative will focus on growing the African middle class, improving the business climate in the region, and supporting U.S. investments. No details on how the initiative will be implemented were given.
Countering Islamic Terrorism
The second objective of the new U.S. Africa strategy is to counter Islamic terrorism in Africa. Bolton highlighted three nations specifically: Mali, Libya and Sudan, where Al-Qaeda and ISIS affiliates have taken hold. Rather than giving money or aid directly to fighting the radical groups that have taken hold in these and other nations in Africa, the new plan will focus on strengthening the economies of African nations. This will allow African nations to be more self-sufficient and will make them better prepared to address a range of security threats, including terrorism.
The goal of the Trump administration in the new U.S. Africa strategy is to help African nations become more self-sufficient and better able to take ownership of the security of the region. This strategy is closely aligned with the Department of Defense’s plans to reduce troop presence in Africa by 10 percent.
Efficient and Effective
In his speech, Bolton stated that the new U.S. Africa strategy will revisit the foundational principles of the Marshall Plan. Enacted in 1948 after World War II, The Marshall Plan was an American initiative to give aid to and help rebuild Western Europe. It legitimized U.S. foreign aid programs and opened markets for American goods. One way in which the Trump administration plans on making sure U.S. dollars are being used effectively and sticking to the principles of the Marshall Plan is by bypassing the United Nations. Coincidentally, the government will also reevaluate its support of U.N. peacekeeping missions.
What this Means for Africa
The economic focus of the new strategy has the potential to improve conditions in Africa. Under the new U.S. Africa strategy, United States aid must be invested in health and education, transparent governance and follow the rule of law. If these tenets are followed, the strategy may help African nations to become more self-sufficient and therefore better equipped to handle their own security issues.
Unfortunately, Bolton provided few details as to how the government plans on making sure the tenets are upheld. More information and examples of how the U.S. Africa strategy is to be enacted are needed to know if the new Africa strategy will be beneficial to all African nations.
– Peter Zimmerman
Photo: Google