Poverty is a condition in which income is not enough to afford access to necessary goods, services and infrastructure needed to sustain a quality living standard. Securing and maintaining the means to satisfy adequate nutrition, healthcare, shelter, clothing and other humane safety provisions requires significant funds.
Past Printing
Imagine post-World War I Germany in the 1920s. To fund its military during the war and satisfy reparations thereafter to the Allied nations, the German government’s solution to producing more national income was simple — it commissioned 130 printing companies to print more money.
This, however, gave rise to increasing inflation in which their currency, the German mark, unsupported by a gold standard, became virtually worthless. With every printing press, creating more money became perpetually futile, and the German mark was more useful for a child’s arts and crafts project than it was to purchase food and clothing.
A New Kind of Tech
Less than a century later, technology and three-dimensional (3D) printing has allowed us to not only print currency with regular modifications (so as to prevent counterfeit bills), but to also print the very goods and supplies purchasable with said currency.
Three-dimensional printing employs the use of specialized technology called “additive manufacturing” — computer aided design and modeling software produce a virtual rendering of just about any three-dimensional object.
A 3D printer then reads a data file and melts raw material, such as plastic, metals and concrete, and with laser technology deposits that material through a nozzle. Layer upon layer, the virtual model forms the tactile facsimile.
New Story
A California-based non-profit organization, New Story, wants to sponsor printing-improved homes in El Salvador — Central America’s smallest and most population-dense nation. New Story has also partnered with the company ICON, an Austin, Texas construction technology company, to remedy housing shortages in El Salvador through ICON’s industrial Vulcan 3D printer.
At this year’s South by Southwest festival in Austin, ICON debuted its cement, single-story, 650-square-foot prototype home, a 3D rendering from the Vulcan printer. ICON claims it can erect such a home for $10,000 and in less than 24 hours time. The model is sleek with white concrete and features a living room, bedroom, bathroom and arched porch.
New Story aims to build 100 3D printed homes in El Salvador by 2019, compounding its previous accomplishments in the building of over 700 traditionally constructed homes in Bolivia, El Salvador, and Haiti; the corporation also built 1,300 worldwide.
Revitalizing Slums
ICON maintains it can trim 3D-printed building costs down to $4,000 and that its Vulcan printer can make a home as large as 800-square-feet. 3D printed homes are considered far more cost effective than the typical home. In El Salvador, a nation of over 6 million people, 35 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. Housing shortages are said to affect 944,000 families, amounting to 6 out of 10 families with insufficient housing.
And as 68 percent of El Salvadorians lived in urban areas in 2017, latest estimates from 2005 show 29 percent of El Salvador’s urban population lived in slum housing. Slum dwelling is defined as a group of people under the same roof without improved water and sanitation, durable housing or all of the above.
Preventing Natural Disasters
El Salvador’s geography leaves its buildings’ integrity exceptionally susceptible to natural hazards such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and volcanic eruptions. It is precariously situated along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a global seismic belt where 81 percent of the world’s earthquakes occur.
Ninety-five percent of El Salvadorians are said to be at risk of a natural disaster. In November 2009, Hurricane Ida displaced 15,000 people and damaged no less than 2,500 homes. New Story is currently fundraising $600,000 for research and development and another $400,000 for the community of 100 3D printed homes in El Salvador.
3D printed homes and building materials originated in Europe. A Dutch company, Dus Architects, built one of the first prototypes, — a small pavilion structure — in Amsterdam in March 2014. In September 2014, Chinese company, WinSun Decoration Design Engineering, used their custom 3D printer to create 10 homes with a cement blend of construction waste and glass fiber. This material incorporation lent more efficient material use to an already eco-friendly production.
3D Printing Around the Globe
The first inhabitable 3D printed home was recently erected in Nantes, France in April 2018 and tenancy is expected this June. The University of Nantes and the Nantes Digital Sciences Laboratory developed the five-bedroom home and a machine called the Batiprint3D built its frame in 18 days.
3D printing has also been proposed by the U.K.-based Oxfam, a confederation of 20 charitable organizations, to aid disaster relief by reproducing its water, sanitation and hygiene kits. Oxfam and non-profit 3D printing company, Field Ready, provided medical instruments and water pipe fittings in response to Nepal’s 2015 earthquake that claimed the lives of 9,000 people and injured 16,800.
There are several predecessors that have used, or plan to use, 3D printing for home construction and humanitarian efforts. But New Story and ICON lead the way with their campaigns to actualize proposals, print homes and alleviate homelessness and unsafe housing without for-profit interest.
Home is Where the Hard-drive Is
According to the United Nations, over one billion people worldwide live in slum housing — ramshackle homes fortified with scrap metal and founded on unfinished or dirt flooring.
New Story wants to transform slums worldwide into safe living communities; to that end, El Salvador stands to benefit first ahead of the rest of international community with the advent of livable 3D printed homes and requisite funding. All donations to New Story are matched up to $1 million.
– Thomas Benjamin
Photo: Flickr
Progress Towards Ending Modern Day Slavery in Thailand
In 2016, the Global Slavery Index estimated that 425,500 people, equivalent to 0.63 percent of Thailand’s total population, currently live in conditions of modern slavery.
Three Main Forms of Modern Day Slavery in Thailand
Modern day slavery in Thailand manifests in predominately three forms:
The most prevalent of these forms is forced labor, specifically within Thailand’s fishing industry. Human trafficking for forced labor in the Thai fishing industry enslaves not only men and women, but also children from the Greater Mekong Subregion. In the U.S., this $7 billion industry forces those enslaved to endure brutal treatment including severe and frequent physical abuse, threats of abuse, excessive and inhumane working hours, sleep and food deprivation, forced use of methamphetamines and lengthy, confined trips at sea.
Yellow Card
After media exposés in 2014 and 2015 that showed human trafficking and brutalizations of fishers on Thai fishing boats, the country received a “yellow card” warning from abroad; this means that the nation could face a ban on seafood export to the European Union. Following the EU’s actions, the United States placed Thailand on the Tier 2 Watch List in its 2017 Trafficking in Persons report, a ranking given to governments who do not fully meet the minimum standards for trafficking elimination.
In response, the Thai government removed antiquated fishing laws and issued a new ordinance to regulate the fishing industry. It further extended the application of the key provisions of labor law regulating wages and conditions of work to fishing vessels and established in law some International Labour Organization treaty provisions through the adoption of the 201 Ministerial Regulation concerning Labour Protection in Sea Fishery Work.
Thai Reforms & Pink Cards
These efforts led to the requirement of legal documentation and accounting on crew lists of migrant fishers as boats departed and returned to port, which aimed to help end some of the worst abuses. Thailand also created the system of “port-in, port-out” which demands that boats report for inspections as they depart and return to port. The system also established procedures for inspection of fishing vessels at sea.
Other reforms have been enacted in the industry in the wake of two reports by the International Labor Organization in 2013, and the Environmental Justice Foundation in 2014. These reports led to responses by the Thai government to introduce registration documents, also known as pink cards, for migrant workers on board. The government also instituted practices to inspect ships’ crews when leaving and returning to port. Along with vessel monitoring systems, other measures have led to important improvements for fishers, including limiting time at sea to 30 days.
Room for Improvement
However the report from Human Rights Watch, “Hidden Chains: Forced Labor and Rights Abuses in Thailand’s Fishing Industry,” shows how recent reforms addressing modern day slavery in Thailand’s fishing fleets haven’t totally rid the industry of coercive labor practices.
The report also asserts that even amongst Thai government’s pronouncements to rein in human rights abuses, the instances still remain widespread; as a result, joint efforts need to be made. Although the U.S. and EU have taken steps to punish the Thai government for abusive practices, “The EU and U.S. urgently need to increase pressure on Thailand to protect the rights, health and safety of fishers.”
Challenges still remain. Overfishing in the Gulf of Thailand and Andaman Sea has forced fishing vessels to operate at greater distances from shore, traveling at times along the coastlines of Indonesia and other neighboring countries. This has led monitoring difficulties both jurisdictionally and practically. This problem is only intensified by poor registration and licensing of fishing vessels — many operate under layers of false documentation. Furthermore, the government’s system of pink card ties the fishers’ “legal status to specific locations and employers whose permission they need to change jobs, creating an environment ripe for abuse.”
Making Progress
Despite these obstacles, progress has been made. Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs defended the country’s progress thus far by stating, “The Government has implemented various legal reforms, policies, and strengthened law enforcement on labour protection as well as engaged closely with the private sector, non-governmental organizations and neighboring countries. As a result, there has been significant improvement in the labour situation in the fishing industry in many areas.”
Progress thus far has shown that there is hope for reform and change in Thai’s fishing industry. Through the help of international players, modern day slavery in Thailand can be defeated.
– Ashley Quigley
Photo: Flickr
Top 10 Facts About Poverty in Singapore
Many facts about poverty in Singapore are not widely known. Singapore is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, but that doesn’t mean it is free from poverty. Media representations of Singapore often show prosperous aspects of the country while neglecting to cover issues of poverty. Singapore also does not have a poverty line, so it is difficult to measure how many households are officially in poverty.
Top 10 facts about poverty in Singapore:
These are the top 10 facts about poverty in Singapore. Poverty is a prevalent issue in the country and it has many contributing factors that need to be addressed individually. The government of Singapore can do more to reduce income inequality and ensure all Singaporeans are able to afford a proper standard of living.
– Liyanga de Silva
Photo: Flickr
CariSECURE Reduces Crime and Violence in Barbados
On August 15-17, 2017, a workshop was held to prioritize citizen security and crime reduction throughout the Southern and Eastern Caribbean region. The conference was a start in the process of reducing crime and violence in Barbados, one of the countries that participated in the workshop.
CariSECURE Project
The conference was organized through the Strengthening Evidence Based Decision Making for Citizen Security in the Caribbean Project (CariSECURE). The essential goal of the project is to decrease the incidence of youth crime and violence through policy-making and programming throughout the Southern and Eastern Caribbean region.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to formulate the CariSECURE toolkit, funded fully by the USAID.
The USAID consulted with many regional stakeholders, including 10 delegates from the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and the Caribbean Community Secretariat, in development of reducing crime and violence in Barbados and other Caribbean countries.
What does CariSECURE Do?
The CariSECURE project advances citizen security data management, analysis and monitoring for reduction of crime and violence in Caribbean countries. Through reporting on citizen security patterns, the project converts quantitative data into valuable qualitative information, which then enables public servants the ability to generate data-driven results.
The project relies on the ideas of intervention logic by focusing on problem prevention rather than addressing the problem after it occurs. Identifying the problem, recognizing the risk factors, developing preventive strategies and adopting the preventive strategies are the four essential steps of intervention logic.
Barbados National Task Force for the CariSECURE Project
To help implement the ideas of CariSECURE, Barbados developed a National Task Force to instill administration and coordination of the project to reduce crime and violence in Barbados.
Mr. Stephen O’Malley, Resident Representative, UNDP Barbados and the OECS described that“the National Task Force will be particularly helpful in driving the management and coordination of the Toolkit” in Barbados and the whole Caribbean.
The National Task Force was officially launched on February 21, 2018 in Bridgetown, Barbados by the Honourable Adriel D. Brathwaite, the Attorney General and Minister of Home Affairs in Barbados. Law-enforcement officials assisted in the launching of the National Task Force, which is the official implementation of CariSECURE in Barbados.
The Barbados National Task Force is composed of senior staff members from various public institutions that deal with crime and violence, which include the Royal Barbados Police Force, the Probation Department, the Courts, the Department of Public Prosecution, Prisons, the Statistical Service, Government Industrial School and the Criminal Justice Research and Planning Unit.
A Step in the Right Direction
The Honourable Brathwaite described how “reliable data provides an invaluable resource for the development and implementation of evidence-based policies and programs which have the potential to reduce crime and violence among the youth population.” The CariSECURE project was implemented by the National Task Force to secure an effective means in reducing crime and violence in Barbados.
– Andrea Quade
Photo: Flickr
Creating Impact: Five Benefit Corporations Fighting Global Poverty
There are many large enterprises committed to fighting global poverty as a part of corporate social responsibility or through donations. However, a new category of benefit-driven corporations characterized by creating a social and environmental impact has become increasingly popular with the rise of sustainable development and impact investment.
Many of these companies are commonly known as social enterprises, B corporations or fourth sector companies. The list below provides examples of corporations fighting global poverty around the world and how they are actively tackling numerous world issues through their impact.
1. AUARA
This social enterprise focuses on fighting global poverty through providing access to clean water in order to decrease risk of disease. The corporation sells environmentally friendly water bottles in Spain and 100 percent of the company’s dividends are invested in providing clean water to those living in poverty around the world; as a result of these efforts, Auara has both an environmental and social impact.
In addition, these projects aimed at providing clean water are mostly carried out in Africa.
2. BETTER WORLD BOOKS
This is one of many American corporations fighting global poverty, but Better World Books strives to break the poverty cycle by focusing on education. In 2002, the founders created a business model based on the online collection and sale of new and used books for economic profit. All profit gained from this is then used to fund literacy projects around the world.
Due to economic profit, social literacy impact and reselling of unwanted books, this organization is said to have a triple impact. Since the creation of the company, 21 million books have been donated to Books for Africa, Room to Read and the National Center for Families Learning. This company has also raised over $24 million for literacy initiatives.
3. EBY
Sofia Vergara and Renata Black co-founded EBY as an undergarment line in 2017. This company is one of many American corporations fighting global poverty through female empowerment and microfinance. The main goal is to provide small loans to women so that they have the means to start their own businesses and thus become self-sufficient and independent.
EBY accomplishes this by contributing 10 percent of net sales to the Seven Bar Foundation; so far, the financed loans have helped women in Colombia, Haiti and Nicaragua.
4. INCLUYEME
Incluyeme is a corporation fighting global poverty by providing jobs to those with disabilities. Disabled populations are more likely to be unemployed, which gives them a difficult position from which to overcome poverty. This company created an online platform to connect disabled people looking for work with inclusive employers that match their profiles.
The company began in Argentina, but has now spread to different parts of Latin America and Spain, and will continue to grow to increase impact. Any profits made are reinvested into social initiative projects so as to maximize social impact within communities served.
5. ALCAGÜETE
This Colombian corporation aims to fight global poverty by addressing the issue of hunger and fighting malnutrition and obesity. Founded in 2014, Alcagüete is a line of healthy snacks that for every snack sold, the company gives a snack to a child in the country who is in need. Since its founding, they have given away 437,895 snacks to hungry children.
With corporations like these five, the fight against global poverty is stronger than ever. Now the question is which company will be the next B-Corp or social enterprise?
– Luz Solano-Flórez
Photo: Flickr
Solutions to Infant Mortality in Central African Republic
Newborns remain at high risk in war-torn countries, and in the case of Central African Republic, many women lack adequate resources to ensure a successful pregnancy. This absence has resulted in the nation having one of the largest statistics of infant mortality in the world.
In a report published by the World Health Organization (WHO), the infant mortality rate for Central African Republic in 2016 was 42.3 deaths per every 1,000 births, making Central African Republic one of the riskiest places for a child to be born.
Causes of Infant Mortality
According to a study by UNICEF, the main cause for infant mortality in third-world countries is preterm birth complications, which encompasses 35 percent.
Complications can often result from limited access to medical care. According to the same study by UNICEF, not only was infant mortality in Central African Republic one of the highest in the world, but as of the year 2009, there were only three healthcare professionals to assist with every 10,000 people in the country.
Also, due to the lack of trained medical professionals to assist pregnant women, many mothers decide to have the child at home or end up in labor before they reach a facility. In a 2012 report published by Doctors Without Borders, the report stated that 26 percent of newborn deaths occurred in a hospital, while 74 percent of deaths occurred at home or en route to a hospital.
Solutions to Infant Mortality
Due to the high risks that newborns encounter, organizations have provided and proposed solutions to infant mortality in Central African Republic. According to the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), midwives can serve as a substitute for mothers who are unable to make the journey to the nearest healthcare facility.
The organization stated that a midwifery program in Nigeria was able to see a 60 percent increase in the use of prenatal care and almost 50 percent increase in healthy childbirth, when there was the presence of a midwife during pregnancy.
The Importance of Breastfeeding
Another proposed solution is aiding mothers with breastfeeding before and after they give birth. UNICEF has addressed the importance of breastfeeding mothers by stating that, “delaying breastfeeding by 2–23 hours after birth increases the risk that a newborn will die by more than two fifths. Delaying it by 24 hours or more increases the risk by almost 80 percent.”
UNICEF has made efforts over the years to address this statistic and stated that it has supplied thousands of children and mothers in Central African Republic with Vitamin A supplements to aid with breastfeeding.
Safe and Quality Treatment
Furthermore, Doctors Without Borders has established a project in the town of Boguila that includes a hospital which operates and provides secondary health care, an outpatient department and 10 health posts in proximity to the town.
With access to safe and quality healthcare facilities, midwifes and proper nutrition before and after pregnancy, mothers can be in better means of having children that survive after birth — an occurrence that would decrease the alarming rate of infant mortality in Central African Republic.
– Lois Charm
Photo: Flickr
Home is Where the Hard Drive Is: 3D Printed Homes in El Salvador
Poverty is a condition in which income is not enough to afford access to necessary goods, services and infrastructure needed to sustain a quality living standard. Securing and maintaining the means to satisfy adequate nutrition, healthcare, shelter, clothing and other humane safety provisions requires significant funds.
Past Printing
Imagine post-World War I Germany in the 1920s. To fund its military during the war and satisfy reparations thereafter to the Allied nations, the German government’s solution to producing more national income was simple — it commissioned 130 printing companies to print more money.
This, however, gave rise to increasing inflation in which their currency, the German mark, unsupported by a gold standard, became virtually worthless. With every printing press, creating more money became perpetually futile, and the German mark was more useful for a child’s arts and crafts project than it was to purchase food and clothing.
A New Kind of Tech
Less than a century later, technology and three-dimensional (3D) printing has allowed us to not only print currency with regular modifications (so as to prevent counterfeit bills), but to also print the very goods and supplies purchasable with said currency.
Three-dimensional printing employs the use of specialized technology called “additive manufacturing” — computer aided design and modeling software produce a virtual rendering of just about any three-dimensional object.
A 3D printer then reads a data file and melts raw material, such as plastic, metals and concrete, and with laser technology deposits that material through a nozzle. Layer upon layer, the virtual model forms the tactile facsimile.
New Story
A California-based non-profit organization, New Story, wants to sponsor printing-improved homes in El Salvador — Central America’s smallest and most population-dense nation. New Story has also partnered with the company ICON, an Austin, Texas construction technology company, to remedy housing shortages in El Salvador through ICON’s industrial Vulcan 3D printer.
At this year’s South by Southwest festival in Austin, ICON debuted its cement, single-story, 650-square-foot prototype home, a 3D rendering from the Vulcan printer. ICON claims it can erect such a home for $10,000 and in less than 24 hours time. The model is sleek with white concrete and features a living room, bedroom, bathroom and arched porch.
New Story aims to build 100 3D printed homes in El Salvador by 2019, compounding its previous accomplishments in the building of over 700 traditionally constructed homes in Bolivia, El Salvador, and Haiti; the corporation also built 1,300 worldwide.
Revitalizing Slums
ICON maintains it can trim 3D-printed building costs down to $4,000 and that its Vulcan printer can make a home as large as 800-square-feet. 3D printed homes are considered far more cost effective than the typical home. In El Salvador, a nation of over 6 million people, 35 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. Housing shortages are said to affect 944,000 families, amounting to 6 out of 10 families with insufficient housing.
And as 68 percent of El Salvadorians lived in urban areas in 2017, latest estimates from 2005 show 29 percent of El Salvador’s urban population lived in slum housing. Slum dwelling is defined as a group of people under the same roof without improved water and sanitation, durable housing or all of the above.
Preventing Natural Disasters
El Salvador’s geography leaves its buildings’ integrity exceptionally susceptible to natural hazards such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and volcanic eruptions. It is precariously situated along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a global seismic belt where 81 percent of the world’s earthquakes occur.
Ninety-five percent of El Salvadorians are said to be at risk of a natural disaster. In November 2009, Hurricane Ida displaced 15,000 people and damaged no less than 2,500 homes. New Story is currently fundraising $600,000 for research and development and another $400,000 for the community of 100 3D printed homes in El Salvador.
3D printed homes and building materials originated in Europe. A Dutch company, Dus Architects, built one of the first prototypes, — a small pavilion structure — in Amsterdam in March 2014. In September 2014, Chinese company, WinSun Decoration Design Engineering, used their custom 3D printer to create 10 homes with a cement blend of construction waste and glass fiber. This material incorporation lent more efficient material use to an already eco-friendly production.
3D Printing Around the Globe
The first inhabitable 3D printed home was recently erected in Nantes, France in April 2018 and tenancy is expected this June. The University of Nantes and the Nantes Digital Sciences Laboratory developed the five-bedroom home and a machine called the Batiprint3D built its frame in 18 days.
3D printing has also been proposed by the U.K.-based Oxfam, a confederation of 20 charitable organizations, to aid disaster relief by reproducing its water, sanitation and hygiene kits. Oxfam and non-profit 3D printing company, Field Ready, provided medical instruments and water pipe fittings in response to Nepal’s 2015 earthquake that claimed the lives of 9,000 people and injured 16,800.
There are several predecessors that have used, or plan to use, 3D printing for home construction and humanitarian efforts. But New Story and ICON lead the way with their campaigns to actualize proposals, print homes and alleviate homelessness and unsafe housing without for-profit interest.
Home is Where the Hard-drive Is
According to the United Nations, over one billion people worldwide live in slum housing — ramshackle homes fortified with scrap metal and founded on unfinished or dirt flooring.
New Story wants to transform slums worldwide into safe living communities; to that end, El Salvador stands to benefit first ahead of the rest of international community with the advent of livable 3D printed homes and requisite funding. All donations to New Story are matched up to $1 million.
– Thomas Benjamin
Photo: Flickr
Strengthening the Democratic Governance in Libya
There has been a battle over national governance in Libya ever since the dismantling of the Muammar Gaddafi authoritarian regime in the 2011 Arab Spring. A majority of Libyans are hopeful for a unified democratic governance in Libya; unfortunately, the Fragile State Index has listed Libya in the top 25 most fragile states in the world.
Political History in Libya
Dr. Federica Saini Fasanotti, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, described that “Libya has never been (truly) unified.” In a conversation on October 6, 2017 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) headquarters, Dr. Fasanotti described the historical significance of conflicts and changes of power in relation to rule of law in Libya.
Throughout the history of Libya, the state had many different rulers, contributing to the divided government. Up until 1911, the country was an autonomous territory under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. After 1911, Libya was controlled by the Italians in the western world’s quest for colonies. Then, in 1951, the Allied powers of World War II granted Libya independence, and the state created a federal constitution and monarchy; in 1969, Muammar Gaddafi led a coup d’état of the monarch.
Local, Regional and Strategic Issues
Dr. Fasanotti described the three fundamental issues to democratic governance in Libya. The local issue is the many internal divisions caused by the history of political upheavals and usage of tactics like Gaddafi’s ‘divide and rule’ concept — a tactic where different ethnicities and tribes are pitted against one another. The regional issue is the absence of current leadership to direct the country on the path of democratic governance. The strategic issue is the presence of terrorism, troublesome migration patterns and economic beneficial resources.
Alice Hunt Friend, a Senior Fellow with the International Security Program at the CSIS, stated,“It is very hard to take these complex, contingent situations and hundreds of years of history and translate it into prescriptive policies.”
Civil Society Formation by USAID
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) supports the project of Libya Elections and Governance Support Program to create effective practices for sub-national governance. The duration of the program is from October 2012 to September 2019.
The goal of creating municipal governments in Libya has served as an attempt to fill the national governance void. In the southern desert city of Sabha, the USAID assisted in the formation of a community center to provide the citizens the opportunity to engage in the decision-making process.
Uniting Communities
The community center attempts to create partnerships between people of different ethnicities and tribes to form ideas out of mutual interest. The additional partnership between local leaders and citizens assists in creating transparency and credibility with the government.
To have local municipalities work together to create a stable national government — like the community center in Sabha — is the goal of the civil society formation by the USAID; local authorities’ soft power has extremely high value.
Democratic governance in Libya has a formulation in municipalities and initiatives at the local level that once implemented, can reach national proportions.
– Andrea Quade
Photo: Flickr
Microentrepreneurship and Women Entrepreneurs Are Alleviating Poverty in India
Small-scale enterprises have been a large part of industrialization as well as job creation in India. As defined by the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (MSMED) Act of 2006, a microenterprise in India is a small business in which the investment in plant and machinery is no more than $ 40,000. Microentrepreneurship and women entrepreneurs are alleviating poverty in India, particularly because up until the past couple of decades women were a largely untapped source of economic potential.
Women Entrepreneurs in India
The Government of India has defined women entrepreneurs as those whose enterprise has a minimum financial interest of 51 percent of the capital and is made up of at least 51 percent female workers. Although rural women in India are mainly responsible for agricultural production, domestic duties and childcare, their economic status is low in a male-dominated society. Women in India have been able to raise their economic status and fight poverty in their country by taking charge of microenterprises.
Increasing the participation of women in micro, small and medium enterprises is an important stepping stone to alleviating poverty in India because not only does it engage women in productive work outside their homes, but it also empowers them and improves family health. In addition, women entrepreneurs can provide society with different management, organization and business solutions because of their different perspectives and skills.
Self-Help Groups (SHGs)
One major resource for women entrepreneurs in India are the Self-Help groups (SHGs) provided by the Government of Bihar and supported by the World Bank. These groups are part of what is known as “Jeevika”, the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project. (“Jeevika” means “livelihood” in Hindi.)
SHGs provide skills training, access to markets and finance as well as business development services. There are 45 million rural women in India who have been empowered by these SHGs under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) in 2011. The NRLM has saved $ 1.4 billion, leveraged $ 20 billion from commercial banks and is helping nearly 3.3 million women farmers increase agriculture and livestock productivity. Here are some success stories that, with the help of such programs, show how women entrepreneurs are alleviating poverty:
Future of Microenterprises
Women have, therefore, been able to use household skills to knit, stitch, weave and embroider for developing their microenterprises. They have also been able to use their technical skills and raw farm materials to earn substantial incomes and small agricultural units.
In conclusion, one reason the future of economic growth in India looks bright is that women entrepreneurs are alleviating poverty with their growing microenterprises. That is to say, the empowerment of women in India goes hand-in-hand with the auspicious development of microenterprises.
– Connie Loo
Photo: Flickr
How the Media Misrepresents Brazil
Brazil is a big country and within all its expanse the number of slums, known as favelas, is also large. In 2010, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics revealed a count of 15,688 slums with 11.4 million residents (this study is done every decade). The low-income, crowded areas are often featured in articles from all around the world. However, most of the press coverage on favelas focuses on sensational aspects such as violence, crime and drug trafficking—this illustrates how the media misrepresents Brazil.
Media Misrepresents Brazil
An article from NBC News, for example, lists five facts about favelas painting a picture of it based on wrongdoing, poverty and danger. The piece defines a slum as “a hotbed for crime and drugs.” Similarly, one of the articles published by The Guardian describes a favela as a place for “guns, drugs and Bandidos.”
Articles are not the only example of how the media misrepresents Brazil. TV news (including those on Brazilian channels), movies and Brazilian soap operas often reinforce favelas as dangerous places. “People create a narrative where favelas are a territory of barbarism and don’t have any contact with the outside world. It’s an idealization of a place where only terror thrives,” writes the researcher Felipe Botelho Corrêa about the Oscar-nominated movie, City of God, which is set in a favela in Rio de Janeiro.
Undeniably the violence rates in favelas are high. However, these pieces help perpetuate a stereotype of Brazil—an idea that slums are neighborhoods where there is only space for crime, violence and drug trafficking.
Initiatives Promoting Favelas
In fact, great initiatives take place in favelas as well. One of these is Favela Mais, a project created by Brazilian Service of Support for Micro and Small Enterprises (SEBRAE), that encourages entrepreneurship in favelas such as Heliópolis and Paraisópolis in São Paulo. “These businesses generate jobs and profit, helping the community to grow because the money stays in the neighborhood,” says Guilherme Afif Domingos, the president of SEBRAE.
The journalism school, Énóis, is another project that is trying to transform the reality in favelas. It was founded in 2009 in Capão Redondo, one of the most violent neighborhoods in São Paulo’s outskirts, by journalists Amanda Rahra and Nina Weingrill. Énóis started as onsite workshops and in 2014 it launched an online platform offering journalism courses. Currently, the school has 4,000 registered students, who have written more than 20 articles about life in favelas.
Besides these social initiatives, favelas are genuinely spaces of great cultural diversity and expression. They are the birthplace of many Brazilian artists and famous singers such as MV Bill, Tati Quebra Barraco, Carlinhos Brown and Anitta. Anitta started singing in a choir at a Catholic church located in an impoverished neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. Currently, she is among 50 singers in the Social 50 Billboard ranking and earns up to $ 500,000 per show.
Media in Brazil: The Way Forward
Agência de Notícias das Favelas, a news agency focused on events happening in favelas, is trying to shift how the media represents Brazil. The organization is helping break the stereotype of slums as places associated with criminality and violence. On its website, the agency is defined as “an NGO that wants to expand the struggle to democratize favela’s information to the world, with its own residents as protagonists.”
Initiatives like these destigmatize favelas and help with its social and economic growth. The traditional media should give these stories more attention. Only then will favelas be fairly represented as the creative and inspirational places they are.
– Júlia Ledur
Photo: Flickr
How the US Benefits from Foreign Aid to Malaysia
Last year, President Donald Trump proposed to cut U.S. foreign aid, offering even less money to go towards helping other countries. Any cuts to aid would have a major impact on recipient countries, considering that only about 1 percent of the United States’s federal budget goes to foreign aid. When discussing how much or how little the U.S. should be giving to help other countries, the question is often raised of how the U.S. benefits from foreign aid.
There are a few overall benefits that the U.S. receives when giving foreign aid to countries, such as promoting democracy and good governance, providing access to clean water, improving learning environments and helping end maternal and child mortality. The U.S. has a planned foreign assistance budget of $2 million for Malaysia in 2019. What are the U.S. benefits from foreign aid to Malaysia specifically?
A focus of the Department of State’s relations with Malaysia is promoting peace and security. Within Malaysia specifically, the U.S. hopes to strengthen cooperation on law enforcement, nonproliferation, counterterrorism, rule of law and expand military ties. The U.S. benefits from foreign aid to Malaysia by helping to strengthen regional and global institutions, creating better allies in Malaysia. David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee, remarked that global terrorist threats such as ISIS “grow out of poverty, instability and bad governance”. In giving foreign aid to countries like Malaysia, the U.S. benefits by combating major terrorist threats before they can even form, along with creating allies if and when terrorism does develop.
The U.S. Benefits from Foreign Aid to Malaysia Through Unique Manufacturing Partnership
Along with creating strong allies to fight against terrorism, the U.S. benefits from foreign aid to Malaysia as a partner in manufacturing. By promoting economic development through aid, Malaysia can further develop its production services, which provide many advantages and savings for American companies.
In a recent interview, vice president of global electronics company Flextronics Mark Shandley noted that many of the company’s customers felt more comfortable manufacturing their products in Malaysia than in other countries such as China. Shandley noted that this may be because of the “perception of intellectual protection” found in Malaysia, which is notably missing in China. Along with this, he noted that it could be more cost-effective to manufacture in Malaysia. China has a value-added tax, which is charged to non-Chinese companies and can be as high as 4 percent. However, Shandley notes that this is noticeably missing from Malaysia, resulting in lower production costs.
The U.S. benefits from foreign aid to Malaysia by forming close ties between the two countries’ militaries and in the production of goods. U.S. foreign aid helps create partnership diplomatically and helps spread democracy within the country. This, in turn, helps create allies when needed and helps lessen the birth and spread of terrorist groups. Along with this, the U.S. can develop a strong production partnership that may be even more beneficial than the already existing alliance with China. All of these benefits reinforce the advantages of continued foreign aid, in Malaysia and all over the world.
– Marissa Wandzel
Photo: Flickr