Poverty is like a cancer for society — it is debilitating and does not have a cure-all solution. People in extreme poverty live on less than $1.90 a day and face poverty traps due to factors such as geographic location, malnutrition, effort required to meet daily needs, lack of education and poor governance. With so many ways for people to become poor, it’s not surprising that different regions need to focus on different issues when determining how to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
Poverty Eradication Across the Globe
According to the 2017 World Bank Annual Report, Europe and Central Asia focused 41 percent of the $5.3 billion they borrowed from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development as well as the International Development Association on energy and extractives but only two percent on education.
In contrast, South Asia concentrated 14 percent of the $6.1 billion they borrowed on energy and extractives, and 12 percent on education. Despite such disparities between these two countries’ prioritization of their energy and education sectors, both areas took action to build resilience to climate change, invest in human capital and improve infrastructure.
Benefits of Migration
For poor households trapped by low-productivity and in oftentimes remote, rural locations, migration could be a viable solution to increasing their standard of living. Such families may not be willing to migrate because it would put their sources of subsistence at risk. However, there are large potential gains from migrating to a highly productive country like the U.S.
According to a study by Clemens, Montenegro and Pritchett in 2016, the annual gain from working in a high-productivity environment is more than four times the total lifetime value of the most successful anti-poverty program.
Cash Transfer Solutions
On the policy side, well-targeted and structured cash transfers have been an increasingly popular tool for alleviating poverty in low-income countries. Cash transfers not only provide safety nets by raising the incomes of the poor, but they also help them escape from ‘psychological poverty traps.’
Contrary to the common concern that welfare programs can discourage work, a study done by Banerjee et al. in 2016 found no systematic evidence that cash transfer programs affect the overall number of hours worked nor the propensity to work among the men and women in the seven programs carried out in the Honduras, Indonesia, Morocco, Mexico (which had two programs), Nicaragua and the Philippines.
There are also solutions that require the consideration of measuring poverty based on other factors besides income and consumption. One example would be the offshoring of low-skilled jobs. While these jobs do provide a steady source of income, they are often also unpleasant, risky and may lead to adverse health effects. So, although these jobs can provide a short-term safety net, they are not a long-term solution to poverty.
Small Changes, Big Outcomes
Specific strategy government programs that have lasting effects countering poverty involve multifaceted household-level interventions. In one study by Banerjee et al., implementation of an anti-poverty program at the household level in India, Ethiopia and Pakistan (as well as both the village and household level in Ghana, Honduras and Peru) led to at least a year’s worth of lasting impact after the short-term intervention of the program.
Statistically significant impacts were made in the areas of consumption, food security, productive and household assets, financial inclusion, time use, income and revenues, physical health, mental health, political involvement and women’s empowerment. The intervention consisted of six elements: a productive asset grant, temporary cash consumption support, technical skills training, high frequency home visits, a savings program and health education and services.
Pros and Cons of Policy Change
On the other hand, governments also need to be careful when deciding on policies that involve low-income countries. Bill Clinton admitted in 2010 that his policy to dump American tariff-free rice in Haiti was a mistake. By forcing Haiti to drop tariffs on imported subsidized U.S. rice, the damage done to rice farming severely hindered Haiti’s ability to be self-sufficient.
In response to the incident, Oxfam recommended that food aid should be bought in local markets inside the country receiving aid.
Oxfam also said the Haitian government should decentralise services away from the capital, make sure farmers have credit access and improve their land tenure system where farmers could be cheated by judges able to transfer land into the hands of ‘whoever offers the biggest bribe.’
Eradicating Extreme Poverty and Hunger
The same goes for humanitarian organizations in deciding what kinds of resources and assistance to provide. To answer the question of how to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, these organizations need to first determine what consequences their intervention would lead to. By looking for methods to complement local capacities to combat poverty, humanitarians can prevent their efforts from displacing local businesses.
A great example is The Hunger Project — a global nonprofit organization dedicated to ending world hunger. With programs throughout Africa, South Asia and Latin America, this organization empowers women and men in rural villages to sustainably overcome hunger and poverty. Members of the community accomplish this feat by mobilizing and fostering effective partnerships to engage local government.
In conclusion, there are many factors to consider in different parts of the world when looking at how to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Auspicious solutions to poverty traps include migration, conditional cash transfers and multifaceted household-level programs. On the side of humanitarian organizations and the government, much deliberation is essential to providing goods, services and policies that complement and protect rather than displace local needs and markets.
– Connie Loo
Photo: Flickr
New Opportunities: Top 10 Facts About Poverty in Ankara
With a population of approximately 5.2 million people, Turkey’s capital city of Ankara is the nation’s second-largest city after Istanbul. Originally planned to hold only around 500,000 people, the urban center has continued to see a high rate of population growth. The city saw a population increase of 6.7 percent between 2014 and 2015 and an overall population increase of 290,000 since 2015.
As more people began moving into the city for job opportunities and a higher quality of life, housing became an issue, especially during the massive growth of the 1950s. The influx of inhabitants outpaced the construction of housing. This issue inevitably led to the building of illegal houses, public housing, compounds and eventually a higher rise in poverty. Here are the top 10 facts about poverty in Ankara.
Top 10 Facts About Poverty in Ankara
Investing in Ankara
In 2018, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan introduced a series of measures, including tax changes and an increase in the government’s Credit Guarantee Fund, which backs loans to smaller businesses. Erdogan is a self-described “enemy of interest rates” and wants the central bank to lower interest rates. He has commented that he plans to take greater control of the economy to increase and speed up growth.
As Ankara, and Turkey overall, debates and continue to look for solutions to alleviate poverty and grow its economy, one such idea remains at the forefront. During Erdogan’s 2014 presidential campaign, he announced Turkey’s 2023 vision.
Vision For Progress
Called “one of the most important economic project[s] going on in this century,” this plan focuses on six main points. Through concentrated efforts on economics, health care, tourism, transportation, energy and foreign policy, Turkey aims to remake its economic “face” by the 100-year anniversary of the founding of the Turkish republic.
These top 10 facts about poverty in Ankara are being assessed and alleviated through this very ambitious vision. This project will not only help lift the Turkish people but will also greatly benefit the Arab world.
Increases in the volume of trade between Turkey and other Arab nations, specifically Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries, will ease relations between the Turks and Saudis, which could lead to an alliance. Addressing these facts about poverty in Ankara may be the answer alleviating regional tensions.
– Aaron Stein
Photo: Flickr
doTERRA’s Healing Hands Foundation Provides Jobs to Alleviate Poverty
Oxfam estimates that it would take $60 billion annually to end extreme global poverty, less than one-fourth of the income of the top 100 richest people in the world. Although there are billionaires that donate to certain organizations, some of the most powerful efforts come from companies, like doTERRA’s Healing Hands Foundation, which works diligently with the actual individuals suffering from extreme poverty.
doTERRA Makes Social Responsibility Part of Its Corporate Mission
doTERRA, an essential oils company with $1.2 billion in annual revenue in 2016, was founded in 2008 with the vision of producing a new standard of therapeutic-grade essential oils that would positively influence individuals and communities around the world. In addition to making products such as lotions and supplements, as well as the pure essential oils themselves, the company truly desired to serve people and communities with the resources they had. In June 2012, doTERRA created the Healing Hands Foundation, a nonprofit organization that serves communities in need.
The organization partners with other groups and doTERRA Wellness Advocates to offer hope to millions around the world. One of the corporate partners, Operation Underground Railroad, works with the doTERRA Healing Hands Foundation to bring healing and hope to the world by rescuing children from sex trafficking by using some of the world’s experts in extraction operations and anti-child trafficking efforts. Through the foundation’s efforts, not only are the lives of many freed from disease and poverty, communities are empowered with the tools they need to become self-reliant.
Healing Hands Foundation Focuses on Innovative Co-Impact Sourcing Model
A major part of the Healing Hands Foundation’s efforts are based around its concept of co-impact sourcing, a model in which farmers are paid a fair wage for their work and in turn, the company receives a higher quality product, creating a strategy of economically sustainable development. The Healing Hands Foundation has co-impact sourcing initiatives in 10 different countries: Guatemala, Nepal, Somalia, Kenya, Madagascar, Haiti, India, New Zealand, Jamaica and Bulgaria; this list is predicted to grow further. The initiatives have sustained social impact and benefit farmers, harvesters, and distillers, their families and communities.
The doTERRA Co-Impact Sourcing Initiative in Somalia pays frankincense harvesters equal and fair wages. Frankincense harvesters have been around for thousands of years in Somalia; however, they often have treacherous journeys to collect the resin. Frankincense is grown from wild Boswellia trees, and it takes more than five months to complete the delicate process, forcing harvesters to leave their families and often live in caves. Even after all of this dedication, the harvesters are often unable to sell the frankincense at a fair price.
Because of doTERRA’s co-impact sourcing, all harvesters receive fair wages and on-time payments by bypassing the middlemen and instead working directly with the harvesters themselves. Because it is often the responsibility of women to clean and sort the frankincense resins, the foundation makes it a top priority to ensure that the women are able to do their work as close to the harvesters as possible. The foundation has made an impact on Somalia as a whole, due to the construction of two new schools for hundreds of students from harvester clans.
The doTERRA Healing Hands Foundation is actively eliminating global poverty by not only collaborating with other organizations, but by providing thousands of poverty-stricken individuals and communities worldwide with well-paying jobs. The foundation works to promote healing, hope, community and self-reliance in many developing countries.
– Angelina Gillispie
Photo: Flickr
Removing Gender Barriers Fuels Economic Growth
Equality between men and women still remains a struggle in the majority of countries around the world, but the fact that removing gender barriers fuels economic growth is becoming more evident in the world’s fastest-growing economies. In addition to fueling the principle of equality, women’s economic participation is a vital, often overlooked, piece to the labor force.
Female Economic Participation
According to the International Monetary Fund, the importance of female economic participation mitigates the shrinking labor force in developing countries. The more opportunities women have increases the likelihood of the gender contributing to broader economic development. Such outcomes are often seen through higher enrollment numbers for education.
Currently, in the Middle East and Northern Africa, women account for 21 percent of the labor force. Often these gaps lead to significant GDP losses. Countries that have acquired such losses include Qatar, Oman and Iran, and all three nations have a projected GDP loss estimated at 30 percent or higher.
Many of these countries pose a legal threat to women — women signing contracts, traveling abroad and negotiating finances are not common. However large the losses, there are significant macroeconomic benefits to eliminating gender barriers. Some of these benefits include:
One U.N. study claims that removing gender barriers fuels economic growth by fostering an additional $89 billion into the Asian Pacific economy per year.
A Rwandan Success Story
Some countries have fought hard to relinquish the negative stigma associated with women in their economies. From innovative coffee plantations in Rwanda to legislative change, alleviation of bias is slowly filtering its way through exclusive boundaries.
For instance, Rwanda has recently become a powerful leader in the gender equality sphere. Policies regarding gender empowerment and budgeting of public services are setting precedents for many Sub-Saharan African countries. In addition, the Ministry for Gender and Family Promotion is the largest gender equality organization in the country. Its commitment is centered on gender-based budgeting and fighting gender-based violence.
Rwanda and Gender
Post-Rwandan Genocide culture opened many doors for women just as World War II did for Americans. President Paul Kagame recognized the need for women’s labor and in 2003 passed legislation requiring 30 percent of parliamentary seats to be reserved for women. Kagame battled to revitalize the torn country with a labor force that was unheard of for many Eastern African countries.
As of January 2018 and thanks to President Kagame, 64 percent of seats in Rwandan legislature were held by women. This is a feat highly praised by most Rwandan women, but still remains a slight issue with Rwandan males and traditional females who choose to ignore the fact that removing gender barriers fuels economic growth.
Though Rwandan history has uniquely paved the way for female empowerment, many countries still lag behind the concept of gender equality. If barriers continue to be eliminated, economic success is sure to follow. Perhaps global powerhouses, like the U.S., can learn from Rwandan history, gender equality and culture, and bring gender equality to the forefront.
– Logan Moore
Photo: Flickr
Rising Awareness and Progress: Girls’ Education in Costa Rica
Education in Costa Rica is an important part of the region. Since the late 1800s, the government has made education mandatory and free. The government is now attempting to improve girls’ education in Costa Rica through various ways like the Women’s Empowerment Coalition and offering free schooling.
Women Empowerment
The Women’s Empowerment Coalition is an organization that is combating gender inequality. Its goal is to work with organizations for women’s rights since “of its 4.85 million population, 65 percent of girls in Costa Rica do not finish high school.” This coalition focuses on helping empower women to obtain their education.
Women are slowly attaining their education, but when it comes to the economy, women aren’t really present in making those decisions.
María Isabel Chamorro, the Minister of Women’s Affairs, stated that “women here are reaching higher levels of education, but we have yet to advance in transferring that to women achieving high-level, decision-making positions in the economy.” According to the World Bank, Costa Rica spent about 7 percent of its GDP on education in 2016.
Students Speak Out
In September of 2017, students of the University of Costa Rica and the National University took to the streets to demonstrate their unhappiness with the amount of spending on education. They protested for a higher percentage on education spending for the 2018 national budget.
TeleSur TV reported that students also “urged Legislative Assembly members to approve a law that would allocate 1.5 percent of the country’s GDP for higher education in the 2018 national budget, instead of the 1.37 percent proposed by the incumbent government.” In addition, STEM education lacks women — the gender makes up only 29 percent of the science and engineering workforce.
It’s especially important for girls’ education in Costa Rica to have a foundation where they are able to follow their desired career path, especially if it’s a STEM-related career.
Life Success Paired With Legislation
Sandra Cauffman came from a poor family from Costa Rica. At an early age, she vocalized that she wanted to go to the moon after she had seen the Apollo 11 landing in 1969. Today, she serves as the Deputy Director of the Earth Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA. Her mother and an elementary school teacher were the encouragement she needed in her early years for her to follow her dreams.
Girls’ education in Costa Rica is becoming even more important because the government is also pushing to help girls utilize education to for success in life. As a step in this direction, the country raised the marriage age to 18 without parental consent in January 2017 to protect young individuals from marrying too young.
According to Their World, the law was put in place to hopefully “prevent teen pregnancy and girls dropping out of school – but enforcement could be a challenge among indigenous communities where child marriage is prevalent.” Under this law, the individual could face a maximum three-year imprisonment for having sex with a minor under the age of 15 if the age difference is more than five years.
Girls’ Education in Costa Rica
In conclusion, Costa Rica is attempting to help girls get an education through free schooling and protection from societal pressures such as child marriage. Students from Costa Rica are also fighting to have more money invested in their education so they’re able to continue pursuing their passions.
Organizations like The Women’s Empowerment Coalition help women acquire their education by actively working with women seeking an education, and hopefully their actions will be repeated by other groups across the globe.
– Valeria Flores
Photo: Flickr
A Stronger Economy and a Changing Côte d’ Ivoire
Côte d’Ivoire is located in Western Africa off the Gulf of Guinea. In recent years, Côte d’Ivoire’s increased stability has attracted foreign investment and its swelling middle class has created domestic demand. Both of these have been possible as a changing Côte d’Ivoire evolves with its three main crops: cocoa, coffee and cashews.
History of Côte d’Ivoire
Côte d’Ivoire is a country with a troubled past. It began as a French colony that was granted independence in 1960 under President Felix Houphouet-Boigny, who held the post until his death in 1993. There was relative peace and democracy until the 2000 election when Alassane Ouattara decided to run against the current President Henri Konan Bedie. This election split the country into the north and south.
The north, led by Ouattara, was a Muslim-based rebel group; the South turned into a Christian-based government. Then, after some deadly hostilities, the U.N. sent a peacekeeping force in 2004. Events continued in this vein until 2010 when Ouattara was elected president. Laurent Gbagbo (who at the time had claimed leadership for himself) refused to accept terms, which led Ouattara to lead troops across the country in 2011. Gbagbo was captured and later tried for crimes against humanity.
It has been a long road since the end of the civil war in 2011, but the country has been on track for beginning to turn life around for its citizens. There are still instances of unrest, such as in 2017 when demobilized soldiers took to the streets, demanded pay and did not return to their barracks until the government had paid them back $21,000. In this particular instance, 15 people died.
Points of Concern
There are also suggestions of the government using false accusation to hold journalists or publishers back. On February 12th, six journalists were held for 48 hours after they reported the payment to the mutineers. Another instance was when an online news editor was charged for releasing fake news after an interview with ex-President Gbagbo’s son, Michel.
Along with potentially wrongful convictions is the concern over Côte d’Ivoire’s ability to handle criminals. Particularly those accused of the human rights abuse during the civil war. The trial of former First Lady Simone Gbagbo led many to lose belief in the judiciary system after she was released.
A Bright Future
Despite concerns, there have been some impressive steps in the right direction. President Ouattara is helping to create a changing Côte d’Ivoire with a new constitution as well as putting forth continued efforts to strengthen the judicial system. The government has also adopted a decree to help enforce the law that strengthened human rights defenders three years ago.
The increased stability has led to increased investment and the ability to focus on agricultural strengths. Côte d’Ivoire has the second highest growth rate in Sub-Saharan Africa standing around 8.8 percent as of 2016. While the middle class is currently at 23 percent. Both of these growth trajectories have been made possible by the cash crops (cocoa, coffee, and cashews).
Cashews, while not being a native to Côte d’Ivoire, hit a record of 625,000 tons in its first growing season of 2015. By the end of 2015 Côte d’Ivoire passed India in cashew exports making it the largest cashew exporter. The Côte d’Ivoire government offered a bonus payment of CFA 400 for every kilogram of cashew exports.
Moments of Success
The Côte d’Ivoire has evolved as successes and incentives increased interest from foreign investors. China has invested and given foreign aid totaling around $4 billion to the Côte d’Ivoire in the last 15 years. Such investments lead to improved infrastructure, especially in Côte d’Ivoire’s energy sector. With its growing energy sector, power demand has grown 10 percent within the nation each year from 2012-2017.
A changing Côte d’Ivoire has brought wealth and prosperity to the country. However, there is still a ways to go as Côte d’Ivoire learns how to face and deal with the aftermaths of the civil war.
– Natasha Komen
Photo: Flickr
Rescuing Migrants Crossing the Mediterranean Sea
For thousands of years, the Mediterranean Sea has been a giver of life to those who settle near its shores. Today, the body of water is seen as a gateway to a better life for many migrants fleeing violence and poverty. But their journey does not end at the first sight of Mediterranean. It is estimated by The Mediterranean Situation, an organization which monitors migrant activity in the Mediterranean, that over 16,000 migrants have died or gone missing crossing the Mediterranean Sea between 2018 and 2014.
Migrants Crossing the Mediterranean Sea
Small overcrowded boats are often used by thugs and smugglers who charge over a thousand dollars per person for abusive transportation from Africa to Europe. These boats, piloted by unskilled captains, are not built for open water travel or to withstand the ever-changing weather of the Mediterranean Sea. This is why countries most affected by the smuggling activities are prioritizing the rescue of migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
Rescuing migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea is no easy task — especially if your nation is split by a power vacuum caused by a civil war. Libya is a popular starting point for many migrants who plan to cross over the sea to Italy. Aside from being geographically close to Italy, the Libyan government and its navy are underfunded and trained. This status makes it difficult to thoroughly patrol the north African nation’s coastline.
Italy has taken the brunt of migrants crossing the Mediterranean with nearly 120,000 migrants arriving to its borders in 2017, and almost 190,000 in 2016. The migrant crisis was one of the most important issues during the recent Italian election, which helped to bring a coalition government of two eurosceptic parties to power.
Governments and Charities
Rescuing migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea is still important to Italy; in fact, $52 million has been pledged to increase Libya’s capacity to combat human smuggling through 2020.
State governments are not the only actors attempting to rescue migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea. Charities, such as the Spanish Proactiva Open Arms, patrol the Mediterranean Sea searching for migrants in need of rescue. Indeed, Proactiva Open Arms’ mission in the Mediterranean has saved over 26,000 lives. Due to the organization’s claims that migrants undergo human-rights abuses when returned to Libya, Proactiva Open Arms often brings rescued migrants to shore in Europe.
According to international maritime law, all vessels, private or otherwise, must rescue those in need. The vessel’s origin does not mean that the rescued people are now the responsibility of its national origin; but where the rescued people are put ashore does. This has put Proactiva Open Arms in conflict with the Italian government.
Rescue Efforts and Proactiva Open Arms
When Proactiva Open Arms volunteers and their boat brought migrants to Italy in April 2017, the volunteers were arrested and their boat impounded. The Italian government sought to press charges against the volunteers for bringing the migrants to Italy and not back to Libya, but a Sicilian judge disagreed. The judge agreed with the Proactiva Open Arms volunteers who claimed that Lyiba does not have the proper resources to help the migrants and that they would face abuse as a consequence.
Rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean is a messy business. Countries such as Italy do not want to see people die at sea at the hands of neglectful smugglers, but they also have trouble dealing with the influx of migrants at home. Charities want to help people who are taken advantage of and help them to a better life; but oftentimes these organizations are not always supported. This difficult task does not seem to let up any time soon, and could possibly get worse.
A combined effort is needed to protect people. More should be done to lessen the need for people to flee from their homes, and governments need to step up to protect the human rights of those in need — especially to save helpless children at sea.
– Nick DeMarco
Photo: Flickr
Economic Development In Iraq Contributes To Fight Poverty
According to the World Bank, after the complete eradication of ISIS in all of its territory, economic development in Iraq will most likely be deployed and bear fruitful results.
ISIS and Iraq
More specifically, the increase of oil prices and the promising rise of investments towards reconstruction are presumably fueled by a set of government actions. These decisions are set to facilitate and accelerate the process of economic and social recovery in the wake of ISIS which, as of December 2017, is no longer a major threat for Iraq.
Since 2014, the ISIS war and prolonged decrease of oil prices heavily contributed to the contraction of a non-oil economy by 21.6 percent. Therefore, a safer economic and social environment will bring nothing but economic and social relief.
Indeed, the most treasured tool for economic development in Iraq is certainly oil extraction, which accounts for 55 percent of the GDP. The remaining part of this number is divided between the services sector (33 percent), manufacturing, construction, water and electricity production (8 percent) and agriculture (4 percent).
Iraq’s Economic Growth
Oil prices and restored security, then, have been the main factors for Iraq’s solid economic growth in 2016, which amounted to 10 percent. However, fiscal responsibility and curbing corruption should go hand-in-hand with such economic development in Iraq.
To maintain a steady trend in economic growth and the road of improvement, the Iraqi government should take a serious look at how tax revenue as a percentage of GDP is barely detectable because of quite high levels of evasion and poor enforcement. Moreover, in terms of public spending, the government has been spending an amount close to to 42.7 percent of the (GDP) over the past three years, and budget deficits have averaged 8.6 percent of GDP. Public debt, as a consequence, is equivalent to 63.7 percent of GDP.
Poverty Eradication
Actions, however, have been taken towards the greater goal of poverty eradication in Iraq. In terms of analysis and planning, the government has, in fact, determined an official poverty line based on the 2006/07 IHSES (Household socio-economic survey), which also formed the basis for Iraq’s National Strategy for Poverty Reduction 2009.
Assessment reports measuring causes of poverty paired with high frequency, advanced impute expenditure surveys are top methods used to estimate poverty.
Road to Improvement
The Iraqian economy is largely state-run and oil extraction represents some 90 percent of government revenues. Meanwhile, 3.9 percent of people in Iraq are living in extreme poverty (2012). In fact, 18.9 percent live below the national poverty line (2012), with greater rural poverty than urban poverty; 11.6 percent of people in Iraq are multidimensionally poor (2011).
In recent years, economic improvement has been proven effective due to major social internal accomplishments — liberating ISIS territory is certainly on top of the list. Government and state presence can certainly encourage investments and economic development in Iraq, as they have done sporadically in previous occasions. However, it would be quite beneficial towards goals of poverty reduction if a larger portion of the economy could be left to the private sector.
– Luca Di Fabio
Photo: Flickr
Steps Towards Equality: Girls’ Education in Argentina
Argentina is a nation known for its efforts towards gender equality. As a nation that has made progressive strides towards equal opportunity with the election of its first female president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in 2007, the nation stands as a model for the rest of the world for allowing more women to obtain positions of power.
The journey for any woman to obtain a position in the field of their choice starts when they’re a child. However, girls’ education in Argentina, and the process for women to have successful careers presents a complicated path.
Even though Argentina has a high literacy rate among its citizens and has many highly-educated women, cultural norms still subject women and girls to second-class status, and threaten their opportunity to obtain jobs in the field of their choice.
Education Equality: A Class Matter
Access to a quality primary education for girls in Argentina isn’t as much subjected to gender as much as it’s subjected to class. According to the Women News Network, Argentinian girls who come from the two poorest sectors of Argentinian society are more vulnerable to dropping out of school at an earlier age (due to limited resources).
The National Institute of Statistics and Census of Argentina, also known as INDEC, states that “society must have an equal distribution of educational opportunities among both genders on all levels.” As far as secondary education, women have been shown consecutively to be more highly educated.
The World Bank, as of the year 2016, posited that more women from middle- and higher-income households achieved a secondary education, compared to their male counterparts. However, more men from lower-income households had a secondary education compared to women.
Education Doesn’t Guarantee Equal Opportunity for Women
A cultural conflict that threatens the effectiveness of girls’ education in Argentina is Machisimo — a societal ideal that favors the dominance of men in Argentinean society. Due to the country’s traditional values, women are largely subjected to discrimination and even abuse when it comes to defending their educational rights.
The workforce is a sector of Argentinian society that still awaits progression to grant women as equal an opportunity for the job of their choice. According to the World Bank, as of the year 2016, men over the age of 15 had a 73 percent participation rate in the labor force, compared to 47 percent of women.
The Inter Press Service (IPS) states that even when Argentinian women do gain employment, often times it is in “informal and low productivity sectors.”
Voices of Change: Girls’ Education in Argentina
The plights women have endured in Argentinian society has created resistance from women and men ready to make their voices heard. The non-profit organization, Ni Una Menos (Not One Less), developed after citizens started collaborating to protest against Machisimo. The organization has since taken its message to the forefront of Argentinian society to advocate for women’s rights and protection against violence.
As Argentinian women continue to advocate for change in their societies, it remains a possibility that as more laws are implemented to protect women’s rights, a more promising future for the younger generations can be ensured. This future would guarantee that girls education in Argentina isn’t futile.
– Lois Charm
Photo: Flickr
How to Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
Poverty is like a cancer for society — it is debilitating and does not have a cure-all solution. People in extreme poverty live on less than $1.90 a day and face poverty traps due to factors such as geographic location, malnutrition, effort required to meet daily needs, lack of education and poor governance. With so many ways for people to become poor, it’s not surprising that different regions need to focus on different issues when determining how to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
Poverty Eradication Across the Globe
According to the 2017 World Bank Annual Report, Europe and Central Asia focused 41 percent of the $5.3 billion they borrowed from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development as well as the International Development Association on energy and extractives but only two percent on education.
In contrast, South Asia concentrated 14 percent of the $6.1 billion they borrowed on energy and extractives, and 12 percent on education. Despite such disparities between these two countries’ prioritization of their energy and education sectors, both areas took action to build resilience to climate change, invest in human capital and improve infrastructure.
Benefits of Migration
For poor households trapped by low-productivity and in oftentimes remote, rural locations, migration could be a viable solution to increasing their standard of living. Such families may not be willing to migrate because it would put their sources of subsistence at risk. However, there are large potential gains from migrating to a highly productive country like the U.S.
According to a study by Clemens, Montenegro and Pritchett in 2016, the annual gain from working in a high-productivity environment is more than four times the total lifetime value of the most successful anti-poverty program.
Cash Transfer Solutions
On the policy side, well-targeted and structured cash transfers have been an increasingly popular tool for alleviating poverty in low-income countries. Cash transfers not only provide safety nets by raising the incomes of the poor, but they also help them escape from ‘psychological poverty traps.’
Contrary to the common concern that welfare programs can discourage work, a study done by Banerjee et al. in 2016 found no systematic evidence that cash transfer programs affect the overall number of hours worked nor the propensity to work among the men and women in the seven programs carried out in the Honduras, Indonesia, Morocco, Mexico (which had two programs), Nicaragua and the Philippines.
There are also solutions that require the consideration of measuring poverty based on other factors besides income and consumption. One example would be the offshoring of low-skilled jobs. While these jobs do provide a steady source of income, they are often also unpleasant, risky and may lead to adverse health effects. So, although these jobs can provide a short-term safety net, they are not a long-term solution to poverty.
Small Changes, Big Outcomes
Specific strategy government programs that have lasting effects countering poverty involve multifaceted household-level interventions. In one study by Banerjee et al., implementation of an anti-poverty program at the household level in India, Ethiopia and Pakistan (as well as both the village and household level in Ghana, Honduras and Peru) led to at least a year’s worth of lasting impact after the short-term intervention of the program.
Statistically significant impacts were made in the areas of consumption, food security, productive and household assets, financial inclusion, time use, income and revenues, physical health, mental health, political involvement and women’s empowerment. The intervention consisted of six elements: a productive asset grant, temporary cash consumption support, technical skills training, high frequency home visits, a savings program and health education and services.
Pros and Cons of Policy Change
On the other hand, governments also need to be careful when deciding on policies that involve low-income countries. Bill Clinton admitted in 2010 that his policy to dump American tariff-free rice in Haiti was a mistake. By forcing Haiti to drop tariffs on imported subsidized U.S. rice, the damage done to rice farming severely hindered Haiti’s ability to be self-sufficient.
In response to the incident, Oxfam recommended that food aid should be bought in local markets inside the country receiving aid.
Oxfam also said the Haitian government should decentralise services away from the capital, make sure farmers have credit access and improve their land tenure system where farmers could be cheated by judges able to transfer land into the hands of ‘whoever offers the biggest bribe.’
Eradicating Extreme Poverty and Hunger
The same goes for humanitarian organizations in deciding what kinds of resources and assistance to provide. To answer the question of how to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, these organizations need to first determine what consequences their intervention would lead to. By looking for methods to complement local capacities to combat poverty, humanitarians can prevent their efforts from displacing local businesses.
A great example is The Hunger Project — a global nonprofit organization dedicated to ending world hunger. With programs throughout Africa, South Asia and Latin America, this organization empowers women and men in rural villages to sustainably overcome hunger and poverty. Members of the community accomplish this feat by mobilizing and fostering effective partnerships to engage local government.
In conclusion, there are many factors to consider in different parts of the world when looking at how to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Auspicious solutions to poverty traps include migration, conditional cash transfers and multifaceted household-level programs. On the side of humanitarian organizations and the government, much deliberation is essential to providing goods, services and policies that complement and protect rather than displace local needs and markets.
– Connie Loo
Photo: Flickr
Zimbabwe’s Tobacco Secret: Confronting Child Labor in Zimbabwe
The nation of Zimbabwe is working towards more economic stability with its multiple industries, but has recently made headlines for its harmful farming practices, such as child labor.
Zimbabwe has been in the news for its tobacco farming practices, as farm workers have complained about health complications from working on tobacco farms, as well as the poor regulations on farms that fail to ensure that workers’ rights are being respected. What has been more alarming is the discovery of child workers, who have prompted humanitarian organizations to investigate child labor in Zimbabwe as practiced on the nation’s tobacco farms.
Zimbabwe’s Economy
Zimbabwe had a GDP of $17.11 billion and a per capita income of $2,300 as of 2017. The nation’s economy is largely dependent on agriculture and relies heavily on tobacco production for economic sustainability.
The nation is the sixth-largest producer of tobacco in the world, and the tobacco plant is the nation’s most valuable export commodity. The industry alone brought the nation an estimated $933 million in 2016.
Health Risks of Tobacco Farming
As the world’s demand for tobacco persists, growing concerns over child labor in Zimbabwe have surfaced as child workers have come forward to report the poor conditions they have faced while working on tobacco plantations.
According to UNICEF, one in four children in developing countries are engaged in child labor. Furthermore, in an extensive report published by Human Rights Watch, it was discovered that child laborers who harvested tobacco were exposed to nicotine and pesticides. This led to many experiencing symptoms consistent with nicotine poisoning, including nausea, headaches and dizziness. Heath researchers have also suspected that exposure to nicotine can affect brain development in children.
It was also discovered that farm workers who worked on larger farms worked long hours and did not receive any compensation for working overtime.
Human Rights Watch also noted that labor laws in Zimbabwe state that no child under the age of 16 is permitted to work and that children under the age of 18 are not permitted to work in a hazardous environment. However, several children under the age of 16 have reported working on Zimbabwe’s tobacco farms.
Solutions to Child Labor in Zimbabwe
The persistence of child labor in Zimbabwe is mainly attributed to the weak economy. With a national per capita income of roughly $2,300, families have resorted to using their children as laborers to help them survive.
Human Rights Watch child rights researcher Margaret Wurth stated that one solution to ending child labor in Zimbabwe is to make sure that companies who source tobacco from Zimbabwe do not purchase a crop produced by child workers, many of whom are forced to sacrifice their education and health to support their families.
The nation has about 120 labor inspectors, which is insufficient to monitor labor practices in every business, and it would be in the government’s best interest to recruit more inspectors to better monitor how business owners treat their employees.
The nation has shown signs of improvement; Human Rights Watch stated that the government has been working with trade unions and other groups “to develop occupational safety and health regulations for agriculture”.
Although child labor in Zimbabwe has become a crisis for the nation, it is likely that the nation’s government, under the authority of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, will be able to reverse its human rights abuses and further grow the economy, ensuring that children do not have to risk their health and education in order to help support their families.
– Lois Charm
Photo: Flickr