Great urbanization over the past several decades has led to the phenomenon coined as “the urbanization of poverty.” The name generally refers to the migration of poor communities from rural areas into urban centers in the hopes of greater opportunity and increased quality of life.
Urbanization of Poverty
Numerous analyses view this urbanization as a positive for poor populations; urban areas tend to have less poverty and better access to quality jobs, schools, water and sanitation sources, hospitals, etc. Yet, several measures of urban poverty and rural poverty fail to take into account the inflated cost of living and the minutia behind general statistics.
On the whole, the poor are urbanizing at a faster rate than the general population; the share of poverty located in urban areas in developing nations rose 11 percent from 2002-2012. This has compelled some to believe that poverty is now mainly an urban problem.
So, the million-dollar question: what is the difference between urban poverty and rural poverty, and is poverty indeed an urban issue?
Issues in the City
Not only are cities more expensive for basic expenses such as housing, but poor city-dwellers have additional costs in the form of food and water. Many rural communities grow their own food and collect their own water, which comes with its own costs — predominantly kids dropping out of schools to aid their families.
Urban settlements add these items to their monetary costs, which often leads to increased instances of malnutrition and hunger. This also means that urban families are more vulnerable to pricing shifts. While it seems logical that individuals would be closer to certain resources in urban settings, quality access remains an issue for poor, urban households. Many city slums have a latrine shared by as many as 50 households.
Such facilities are overused to the point of water source contamination. Less than 10 percent of the population in most African cities have adequate provision for sanitation. As many as 100 million city dwellers in low-income nations have no toilet facilities that they can use or afford, including no access to free public toilets.
Urban Overcrowding
Overcrowding compounds many issues of poverty in urban settings. A water tap in a rural community may be used by only a hundred persons. In contrast, an urban tap in a poor area is often drained by over 5,000.
The rapid nature of urbanization has led to squatter towns, slums and project areas that are typically not safe, sanitary or adequate. This overcrowding also makes urban poverty populations more susceptible to decimation due to poor weather or a natural disaster, which will wipe out more people in an urban setting.
In addition to often being shanty, urban housing is also more difficult to sustain. Evictions leave hundreds of thousands desolate and on the streets. In rural areas, generally, the communities are more tradition based and losing family housing is uncommon.
Urban Poverty and Rural Poverty
Urban poverty and rural poverty share many of the same core issues: convenient access to water and sanitation, housing, food, education and health services. Yet, aid to urban poverty takes on an entirely different form from aid to rural poverty.
The focus of rural aid ought to be on improvements such as education and water access. Urban aid, on the other hand, must take into account growth and sustainability — building quality, affordable housing, creating large-scale water and sanitation systems, ensuring safety from street violence and more.
Tough Calls
While urban poverty has steeply risen, a vast majority of the world’s poor still live in rural areas, with most analyses reporting 75 percent of the poor and others reaching over 80 percent. Thus, while urban poverty perhaps presents a slightly more complex picture, rural poverty remains pervasive.
Additionally, urban poverty is often easier to aid largely due to the crowded areas in comparison to sprawling rural locations. This presents a strange dichotomy for aid organizations: help urban poverty and thus more people per dollar, or help the area with the largest portion of the world’s poor.
– Jessie Serody
Photo: Unsplash
Girls’ Education in Vanuatu: Putting a Stop to Social Stigmas
The Republic of Vanuatu is an island in the South Pacific Ocean with a population of only 283,558 people. Of that, 49.1 percent are females. With no effective care and knowledge, addressing menstruation is taboo and handling it is more complex than usual. While it is one of the most important and common changes all women experience, women in Vanuatu are at their most vulnerable during their menstrual cycle. In fact, 75 percent of girls miss school for three to seven days per month when they are on their period due to the social stigma that girls are unclean and unfit to work around the house or go to school.
Girls’ Education in Vanuatu
Education is a main tool for success, but girls’ education in Vanuatu is not guaranteed. According to Spain Exchange, Vanuatu schools have the lowest attendance and enrollment rate in the Pacific because attending school in Vanuatu is not mandatory. Even when given the opportunity to go to school, girls don’t have the proper support system they need to finish because schools lack access to proper bathroom facilities, toiletries and feminine hygiene products. Eventually, girls are forced to drop out because they are falling behind from missing school, making it difficult to catch up with the rest of the class. To make matters worse, young girls can’t turn to their mothers for help because mothers barely understand what is happening to their own bodies.
When girls miss school, they are at home trying to use the little resources they have as menstrual pads, usually using rags or leaves. However, these methods are unreliable and unsanitary. Throughout this process, these young girls are feeling sad, ashamed and confused. Fortunately, there are several organizations that have created effective ways for the girls in Vanuatu to feel protected and clean at school during their menstrual cycle.
CARE for Girls’ Education in Vanuatu
CARE is an international humanitarian campaign that fights global poverty. To help girls in Vanuatu, CARE raised $20,349 to help over 300 girls in 10 different schools. Each girl received a hygiene kit filled with various feminine products including pads, washable and reusable pad liners, soap, laundry detergent and a bucket to wash her clothes and pads.
CARE Australia states that the pads are made by Mamma’s Laef, a Vanuatu business that employs local women. Mamma’s Laef sews reusable and eco-friendly pads that are expected to last up to four years for women all over the country. Australian ABC News reported that, at first, this company was making just a few kits a week, but after high demand for its products, business was booming and catching the attention of the government.
Now, Mamma’s Laef holds educational sessions and programs as part of girls’ education in Vanuatu to inform the students about the reproductive system and the natural changes the human body experiences. Girls learn about the menstrual cycle and how to handle it while boys are taught self-care and how to respect women in their country.
With the help and knowledge of organizations such as CARE and Mamma’s Laef, Vanuatu is one step closer to becoming a successful, self-sufficient country. The girls in Vanuatu prove every day that, with just the help and support of each other, anything is possible.
– Kristen Uedoi
Photo: Flickr
How the Media Misrepresents Morocco
Morocco lies in the west of North Africa and is slightly smaller than the U.S. state of California. The country is both scenic and fertile with the Atlantic Ocean to its west and the Mediterranean Sea to its north. It’s in how the media misrepresents Morocco, a country with a great history, that much of its beauty is lost.
As of 2015, Morocco is the fifth richest country in Africa. Since it is one of the most visited countries, it generates two-thirds of its GDP through tourism and telecommunications.
Media Misrepresents Morocco
How the media misrepresents Morocco, however, is through the depiction of its people’s faith, geographic location and traditionalism. An astonishing 98 percent of the country’s population are Muslims. They follow Islam—a religion that has a history of conflict and controversy with the Western world. Since September 11, 2001, the Western media has continuously exposed the wrongdoings of the Muslim faith causing further tension.
Moreover, Morocco is also an African nation, which, given the continent’s history of mass poverty, has only added to the media’s bias.
Finally, about 24 percent of the population is the Arabized Imazighen and about 21 percent are Imazighen—a community of people who are descendants of an Afro-Asiatic family which directly descends from the ancient Egyptians. The Imazighen are strictly traditional and often live in Morocco’s mountainous regions to preserve their language and culture.
An example of how the media misrepresents Morocco is how it has depicted the country as an ‘unjust’ and ‘unfair’ nation. One such report came from Freedom House’s 2015 report on journalism, which ranked Morocco lower than other nations which have a history of violence with reporters although it does not have a history of violence.
It is true, that in essence, the Qur’an is the source of law, however, Morocco does have a French-inspired legal code. After the legal system was met with pressures from Moroccan women for a more balanced system, in 2004 the parliament issued a more liberal and balanced legal code.
Constitutional Monarchy in Morocco
The country is headed by a constitutional monarchy, which shares its power with the parliament. The monarch does have power over religious affairs, the country’s armed forces and the national security policy. The monarch also has the power to choose the prime minister.
The monarch’s political affiliation and power have been a subject of much controversy and debate—particularly in the last 30 years. Nevertheless, the Moroccans have voted in favor of this system, though they did vote to expand the parliament’s power in 2011.
Modernization in Morocco
Another aspect of how the media misrepresents Morocco is that it seems to ignore how the country is rapidly modernizing. It instead capitalizes on how Morocco has kept much of its ancient architecture and customs. The Western media reports the country to be “stuck in its ways” and “archaic” but ignores how it has tried to promote women’s equality, human rights, religious tolerance and social liberalization while upholding its Islamic heritage.
Morocco has seen much migration and urbanization of its communities. Its standard of living is also rapidly increasing. In fact, it is the most visited African nation with 10.3 million tourists in 2016 alone.
Battling Malnutrition in Morocco
While one-third of Morocco experiences malnutrition, the government is actively trying to better the living conditions of those affected. For instance, in 1999 the Moroccan government set up a loan fund to help small businesses grow. In 2017, the government provided its impoverished communities with electricity and piped water.
Morocco, in fact, is one of the few Arab nations which could be self-sufficient in food production. It can produce two-thirds of the grains necessary for domestic consumption in a year. Morocco is trying to capitalize on this by attempting to use its great potential in hydroelectric power.
– Isabella Agostini
Photo: Flickr
Top 10 Facts About Human Rights in Russia
Russia has become a regular fixture in much of today’s news. From the 2016 U.S. election and subsequent investigations to international relations and finally the most recent, FIFA 2018 world cup.
Russia has been ubiquitous in the Western world’s thoughts and discussions. With an increase in international scrutiny, Russia has been placed under a long-needed microscope, displaying an unfortunate state of corruption, violence and human rights violations.
10 Facts About Human Rights in Russia
Through these facts about human rights in Russia, one can see the deep-rooted history of corruption and injustice which has penetrated some of the most basic human rights even in the 21st century. However, the potential for change exists, as many Russian citizens continue to protest unjust laws and the world begins to focus on addressing human rights violations in Russia and beyond.
– Anna Lally
Photo: Flickr
How to Tackle Poverty Reduction in Poor Countries
Almost half of the world’s population lives in poverty, defined as having under $2.50 per day. Even more striking, more than 1.3 billion people live in extreme poverty, which means having under $1.25 per day on disposal. Most concerning, there are over 1 billion children exposed to substandard living conditions.
Several international organizations, such as the IMF, World Bank, and UN, work with governments and other organizations in the world’s poorest countries on daily basis. Their common mission is poverty reduction in poor countries and, ultimately, to end all forms of poverty once and for all.
However, what are the actions currently being implemented? Where can further attention and action be allocated to effectively alleviate poverty?
International Organizations and Governments
The weakest links are evidently countries that lack abundant natural resources, such as sub-Saharan African countries. These countries, such as Cameroon, Benin, and Angola, are home to the poorest people and their governments are unable to raise tax revenues or foster financial resource mobilization. Development of these countries could be achieved through a set of resources such as private investments and development financing.
Coordination with governments to address issues directly linked to the poorest of their population is vital. The Bolsa Familia program in Brazil exemplifies this notion, as the program has established a direct cash transfer to the poorest families. Over 48 million families are enrolled and this has led to extreme poverty dropping from 20.4 million in 2003 to 11.9 million in 2009. That is a staggering 8.5 million people who have been lifted from the severe poverty.
Facets of Poverty – Basic Needs
Typically, poverty is associated with one’s financial situation. Nonetheless, there are several other facets to poverty that must be addressed if extreme poverty, and eventually poverty altogether, is to be eradicated. Of these basic needs, five stand out in poverty reduction in poor countries:
Improving the well-being of the world’s poor enables them to break the cycle of poverty. Providing a greater home environment and adequate nutrition fosters the success of children in school and of adults in training, which boosts their economic position. One example is Colombia, where education can be the gate key to breaking the cycle of violence and poverty and promoting economic growth on all cylinders.
On Data
In an increasingly data-driven world, developing countries can greatly improve their data on poverty, and by doing so, clearly identify where the poorest citizens live and what their exact needs are. In this way, they can allocate their resources effectively. Crucial improvements include the monitoring of different facets of poverty other than income, while encompassing more dimensions to the problem (social, economic, etc.).
There is much work to be done to resolve the unfortunate effects of poverty. However, solving the persistent problem requires striking straight to the roots.
Collaboration between international organizations, governments and other groups, updating and improving data as well as providing basic needs are all must-do’s in the fight against poverty reduction in poor countries.
– Roberto Carlos Ventura
Photo: Google
Top 10 Facts of Resiliency about Poverty in Ghana
In the last two decades, poverty in Ghana has drastically reduced due to an increase in economic factors, despite poverty still dominating more rural areas where there is not enough access to food and other basic necessities.
Top 10 Facts about Poverty in Ghana
Combating Challenges
Ghana is continuing to grow despite its problems with poverty. In fact, the nation is considered to have one of the world’s fastest growing economies in the world. At the end of 2017, the economy increased for the fifth successive quarter.
The economy has increasingly focused on agricultural growth, which has created more jobs. Ghana’s government has also been spending money on educating workers that in return will create more money for the country. One of Ghana’s greatest challenges for the future is spreading development evenly throughout the country, and one can only wish Ghana success in combating such an issue.
– McKenzie Hamby
Photo: Unsplash
Comparing Urban Poverty and Rural Poverty
Great urbanization over the past several decades has led to the phenomenon coined as “the urbanization of poverty.” The name generally refers to the migration of poor communities from rural areas into urban centers in the hopes of greater opportunity and increased quality of life.
Urbanization of Poverty
Numerous analyses view this urbanization as a positive for poor populations; urban areas tend to have less poverty and better access to quality jobs, schools, water and sanitation sources, hospitals, etc. Yet, several measures of urban poverty and rural poverty fail to take into account the inflated cost of living and the minutia behind general statistics.
On the whole, the poor are urbanizing at a faster rate than the general population; the share of poverty located in urban areas in developing nations rose 11 percent from 2002-2012. This has compelled some to believe that poverty is now mainly an urban problem.
So, the million-dollar question: what is the difference between urban poverty and rural poverty, and is poverty indeed an urban issue?
Issues in the City
Not only are cities more expensive for basic expenses such as housing, but poor city-dwellers have additional costs in the form of food and water. Many rural communities grow their own food and collect their own water, which comes with its own costs — predominantly kids dropping out of schools to aid their families.
Urban settlements add these items to their monetary costs, which often leads to increased instances of malnutrition and hunger. This also means that urban families are more vulnerable to pricing shifts. While it seems logical that individuals would be closer to certain resources in urban settings, quality access remains an issue for poor, urban households. Many city slums have a latrine shared by as many as 50 households.
Such facilities are overused to the point of water source contamination. Less than 10 percent of the population in most African cities have adequate provision for sanitation. As many as 100 million city dwellers in low-income nations have no toilet facilities that they can use or afford, including no access to free public toilets.
Urban Overcrowding
Overcrowding compounds many issues of poverty in urban settings. A water tap in a rural community may be used by only a hundred persons. In contrast, an urban tap in a poor area is often drained by over 5,000.
The rapid nature of urbanization has led to squatter towns, slums and project areas that are typically not safe, sanitary or adequate. This overcrowding also makes urban poverty populations more susceptible to decimation due to poor weather or a natural disaster, which will wipe out more people in an urban setting.
In addition to often being shanty, urban housing is also more difficult to sustain. Evictions leave hundreds of thousands desolate and on the streets. In rural areas, generally, the communities are more tradition based and losing family housing is uncommon.
Urban Poverty and Rural Poverty
Urban poverty and rural poverty share many of the same core issues: convenient access to water and sanitation, housing, food, education and health services. Yet, aid to urban poverty takes on an entirely different form from aid to rural poverty.
The focus of rural aid ought to be on improvements such as education and water access. Urban aid, on the other hand, must take into account growth and sustainability — building quality, affordable housing, creating large-scale water and sanitation systems, ensuring safety from street violence and more.
Tough Calls
While urban poverty has steeply risen, a vast majority of the world’s poor still live in rural areas, with most analyses reporting 75 percent of the poor and others reaching over 80 percent. Thus, while urban poverty perhaps presents a slightly more complex picture, rural poverty remains pervasive.
Additionally, urban poverty is often easier to aid largely due to the crowded areas in comparison to sprawling rural locations. This presents a strange dichotomy for aid organizations: help urban poverty and thus more people per dollar, or help the area with the largest portion of the world’s poor.
– Jessie Serody
Photo: Unsplash
Irish Foreign Aid: Working and Improving
Irish foreign aid is distributed by Irish Aid, a program within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The main focus of Irish Aid is to reduce hunger and improve resilience. This means that Irish Aid focuses on developing economic growth, improving governance and holding governments accountable for human rights. Much of their work and funding is focused in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Ireland and the UN
During the United Nations negotiations to implement the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that were to feature in the United Nations program “Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” Ireland worked alongside Kenya to facilitate intergovernmental negotiations in 2014 and by mid-2015 the negotiations were complete.
This is an important milestone for Irish foreign aid. Ireland has yet to meet the United Nation’s standard of .7 percent of a nation’s gross national income (GNI) for foreign aid; the nation currently only spends .33 percent. Although Irish foreign aid spending is not at expected United Nation levels, it is still effective.
Impact of Irish Aid
Like many other nations and their foreign aid agencies, Irish Aid uses a grant system to make use of its allocated money. In 2012, Irish Aid granted 100 million euros to the organization Concern Worldwide. Irish Aid and Concern Worldwide have been partners ever since.
A similar partnership was struck again in 2017, and the grant money would be used to fund programs all across Africa in 17 different countries. Irish Aid and Concern Worldwide are working together on the Realigning Agriculture to Improve Nutrition (RAIN) project, amongst others.
Concern Worldwide
According to Concern Worldwide, nearly 45 percent of children in Zambia are undernourished, which can lead to health difficulties later in life and hinder a child’s performance in school.
Concern Worldwide works to combat this deficiency by bringing together both the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture. This cooperation will help the government learn how to effectively manage this issue. Concern Worldwide also provides advanced training for farmers, including improved techniques to increase crop yield and preserve the environment.
Educational Efforts
Education is another important area for Irish foreign aid. On the Irish Aid website, stories can be found about individuals, individual programs and their respective successes. In the realm of education, one young Ugandan man is an exceptional success story. Munyes Michael holds a bachelor’s degree in Business studies with education in a country where nearly 4 out of 5 adults cannot read or write.
Although his parents worked incredibly hard, they were unable to afford to send him to secondary school, let alone college. However, Munyes was able to go to college due to Irish Aid; after graduating, he now works as a community facilitator in Uganda. Munyes is a great example of how investment in people can turn out to be one of the best investments a nation, organization or person can make. Money was spent on one person, and that person can go on to help hundreds of people.
One Step At a Time
Although Irish Aid is changing peoples’ lives all over the world, it can still do better. Better funding and direction from their government can go a long way.
Although Ireland’s government does not yet have a plan to reach the target of .07 percent, credit should still be given to the nation. Ireland was hit hard by the 2008 financial crisis but continued to do its part to help around the world. Hopefully, as the Irish economy continues to grow, its government will begin to form a coherent strategy for improving its foreign aid efforts.
As with any important issue, the best change will happen when a government is called higher by its people and its media (specifically The Irish Times). With concentrated efforts reflective of populations near and abroad, Ireland can only do good.
– Nick DeMarco
Photo: Flickr
Solving Key Issues of Credit Access in Paraguay
The global indicator “Doing Business” ranks credit access in Paraguay at a not-too-shabby 122 out of 189 countries. The Western Hemisphere Credit and Loan Reporting Initiative stated that Paraguay‘s economy was ‘improving;’ still, the government’s 2014-2018 initiative, National Financial Inclusion Strategy (ENIF), identified two major issues it wishes to mitigate. Namely, it indicated that micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) needed better access to approved loans and that 17 percent of the population had no access to a bank.
What is the ENIF?
The Paraguayan government — working alongside the World Bank and the FIRST Trust Fund Initiative — created the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (ENIF) as part of Paraguay’s National Development Plan. The main goal of this initiative is reducing poverty and promoting economic growth.
The strategy intends to achieve this goal by creating better credit access in Paraguay, as well as access to other financial services for the entire population. The project’s vision explains it best: “Quality and affordable financial services for all people in Paraguay who want them through a diverse and competitive marketplace.”
In order to achieve this vision, the initiative analyzes the issues with Paraguay‘s current state of financial inclusiveness by comparing the objectives to the gap of the “current financial profile versus the financial needs of the five primary income groups.”
It then creates a strategy for closing this gap by identifying the end goals — the ‘key performance indicators (KPI)’ — and a list of tasks to help achieve this goal. Working groups under each KPI then focus on completing these tasks.
Bank Access
About 69 of the 224 districts in Paraguay with more than 2000 inhabitants (17 percent of the population) have no access to banks, bank agents or ATMs because financial services simply cannot survive in an area with such a tiny client base.
This makes access to financial services for the population living in these rural areas very difficult, if not impossible, to obtain. For the two-thirds of this population that live in extreme poverty, this can also prove quite dangerous. Without access to credit, savings, or even government subsidies they can run out of money to buy food and are ill-equipped to handle an economic shock such as an illness or a death.
The ENIF proposes increasing the use of mobile phones and the coverage of mobile networks in the 69 “financially excluded” districts (with an emphasis on the 17 vulnerable districts) to provide those in need with access to money through mobile financial services.
By coordinating with the working groups in other KPIs, ENIF also wishes to provide such populations with access to financial services such as credit, insurance and savings. Along with this, the working group plans to create financial literacy courses and to design products and initiatives that encourage these vulnerable populations to save their money.
Loan Access for MSMEs
While 64 percent of 1.1 million MSMEs wish to have access to a loan, only 35 percent of MSMEs have had the ability to borrow in order to fund their operations. One-fifth of these firms reported not even applying for loans because they anticipated outright rejection.
To the ENIF, this indicates issues with business credit access in Paraguay and a need to improve the loan system. Improving such access will not only help businesses gain more capital for the country, but it will also improve job growth and increase access to opportunity for those in need.
The ENIF believes that credit risk systems of Paraguay’s main bank, Banco Central de Paraguay (BCP), and the collective savings and credit cooperative institution Instituto Nacional de Cooperativismo (INCOOP) should communicate with each other in order to create a collective credit information system. This partnership would allow for better monitoring of indebtedness and to ensure responsible credit is given.
ENIF’s Efforts
Along with this, the ENIF will also help in the creation of other regulatory measures such as:
Room to Improve
Hopefully, with a great coordinated effort, the ENIF will see the data of financial inclusion improve and with it, will also see a greater reduction in the number of citizens in poverty. Even with the economy resting at a decent place, a good government knows that its country always has room to improve.
– Elizabeth Frerking
Photo: Flickr
Top 10 Biggest Issues in the World Today
The world has several issues, but luckily it also has organizations and individuals ready to combat them every step of the way. The following are a list of the 10 biggest issues in the world we face today.
The 10 Biggest Issues in the World
Imminent Progress
The biggest issues in the world are critical, but not insurmountable. Many have seen concrete progress over the past few decades, and all of them have the attention of different groups and organizations working to improve them.
Continued awareness and effort can ensure these issues have a smaller impact on the world in the future.
– Mrinal Singh
Photo: Flickr
Reasons Impoverished People Come to the United States
Most Americans will never know what it is like to be forcibly displaced from their home country. Living in a place where there is no threat of violence is a luxury when compared to the hardships faced by many other people. For those who are not privileged, every day can seem like a struggle. The reasons for impoverished people coming to the United States are many.
Asylum-Seeker and Refugee
What is the difference between an asylum-seeker and a refugee? Refugees are those who have to seek safety in neighboring counties during times of war or other perils and are recognized by the International Law. Asylum-seekers, however, are migrants whose identity as a refugee is not recognized by their home country. Their reason for fleeing may be related to personal threats of violence and they have not yet claimed refugee status. These two can fall under the term “migrant”.
In the current political climate, a pilgrimage to the United States is a great risk. Therefore, it is important for the natural born citizens of this nation to align themselves with the reasons impoverished people come to the United States.
Top 10 Reasons Impoverished People Come to the United States
The above reasons for impoverished people to come to the United States will not only help American citizens empathize with their struggle but possibly look for ways to help them out. Embracing migrants is something that has been an enormous struggle for centuries in the United States, and while every immigrant’s reasons for leaving their home country may be different, their desire to build new, bright future is what brings them here.
– Tresa Rentler
Photo: Flickr