China has often been regarded as an “uncharitable” culture. Based on the numbers, there is a large gap between philanthropy in China and the U.S., with only .17 percent of China’s total GDP in 2014 contributed to philanthropy compared to that of the U.S.’s 12 percent of its total GDP. However, the rise of philanthropy in China cannot be ignored as the country is going through a “Philanthropy Evolution.”
Through traditions like Confucianism, philanthropy is not a nonexistent concept in China. Throughout the text of Confucianism’s “The Analects,” the concept of philanthropy prevails, often enforcing the idea that man should give to people who are less fortunate. During Communist China, philanthropy soon became a concept for only the wealthy.
Why China is Regarded as Uncharitable
Corruption often strays many people away from donating. Prior to 2011, many organizations and charities in China functioned in a quasi-legal environment. Enforcement was often categorized as “unpredictable and inconsistent.”
An important and well-known case is the Red Cross Society incident in 2011 in which a woman who held a senior position soon began flashing new and luxurious items. According to the New York Times, “[the scandal] struck a serious blow to China’s nascent notions of philanthropy, especially efforts guided by the government.”
The rate of development of a country may, in fact, have a correlation to the country’s overall philanthropic activities. Western countries such as the U.S. were able to create and maintain wealth for a much longer period of time as they developed. This was not the same for China.
If one looks at philanthropy in regard to wealthy entrepreneurs and their contributions, “[China has only] sustained real economic power for just over 10 years; therefore, Chinese enterprises are still in the stage of creating wealth.” Not only are Chinese enterprises still in this stage of creating wealth, but before the last decade, charity remained “a state-controlled process focused almost solely on Communist party priorities.”
Change in Philanthropy
The rise of philanthropy in China can be credited to the efforts of the country. For example, the National People’s Congress (NPC) of China passed a New Charity Law that took effect on September 1, 2016. Key areas of interest comprised in this new charity law include registration as a charitable organization, new rules for fundraising platforms, new rules for fundraising organizations, the establishment of charitable trusts and law enforcement. The New Charity Law, in fact, makes it easier to raise funds from the general public.
With legal modifications, the internet has made donating funds and supporting charitable organizations much easier for the public. Philanthropy leaders in China understood quickly that social media had a huge impact and began using it to promote a nonprofit sector that was able to link news-related social issues to social media users across China.
With a couple taps on sites such as Tencent Online Donation platform, Sina Micro-Philanthropy Platform and Alipay E-Philanthropy Platform, ordinary people are able to donate money to different charities with ease. According to the China Online Donations Report, “the total online donations through third-party social network donation platforms surpassed $83 million in 2013.” Similarly, in 2013, the Jet Li foundation raised over $49 million in donations through social media for the victims of the Lushan Earthquake.
Continuing the Rise of Philanthropy in China
Many organizations are working to keep propelling philanthropic efforts forward. For instance, The Asia Foundation reports that “Give2Asia hosted a forum in Beijing, which brought together over 60 leaders from different sectors of philanthropy, government and business to discuss the current state of charitable giving in China, and new directions and opportunities for philanthropists in the future.” The forum discussed that funds had risen by ¥97 million after the earthquake and that there was an increase of about 100 million volunteers through China.
Furthermore, in order to change the philanthropic sector, and to fill the gap between China’s philanthropic activities and other countries, the government, charities and people must work together. Yet, with China’s legal modifications, a rise of philanthropists and a change in the general public’s mindset, the future of philanthropy is looking bright in China.
– Emma Martin
Photo: Flickr
Understanding How the U.S. Benefits From Foreign Aid to Serbia
Serbia is working to strengthen human rights protections and to promote economic growth within the country while facing external pressure from Russia. Russia has been expanding its influence and amplifying ethnic tensions in several countries that may join the European Union. In particular consideration of the close relations between Serbia and Russia, the U.S. benefits from foreign aid to Serbia because this aid works to prevent a new Cold War in the Balkans.
Social Benefits of Foreign Aid to Serbia
From 2001 to 2017, the U.S. gave about $800 million in aid to Serbia to help the country stimulate economic growth, promote good governance and strengthen its justice system. One example of a major issue Serbia is dealing with is human trafficking.
According to the U.S. Department of State’s 2017 Trafficking in Persons report, Serbia remains listed as a Tier Two country because it has yet to fully comply with the minimum standard for eliminating the issue. However, Serbia has shown significant efforts to address human trafficking by establishing a permanent human smuggling and trafficking law enforcement task force, identifying more victims as well as providing guidelines to judges and prosecutors.
Other U.S. aid to Serbia in the past has gone toward strengthening its export and border controls. This includes efforts to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction. More recently, U.S. military aid has helped Serbia take part in NATO’s Partnership for Peace programs as well as prepare for international peacekeeping missions.
Economic Benefits of Aid to Serbia
From an economic standpoint, the U.S. benefits from foreign aid to Serbia through U.S. investors in the country. These investors include KKR, Philip Morris, Ball Packaging, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Cooper Tire and Van Drunen Farms. In 2013, Fiat began shipping cars manufactured in Serbia to the U.S., increasing imports from the Balkan countries.
In addition, U.S. technology companies in Serbia are becoming more interested in opportunities in areas such as e-government, cloud computing, digitization, IT security and systems integration. In 2013, Microsoft even signed a $34 million contract to provide software to government offices in Serbia.
Political Benefits of Aid to Serbia
U.S. aid to Serbia is currently focused on helping the country integrate into the European Union, which will decrease Serbia’s vulnerability to Russian aggression as well as strengthen its democratic institutions. Out of the $5.39 million the U.S. plans to allot in foreign aid to Serbia in 2019, 46 percent will be allocated to strengthening the country’s rule of law and protection of human rights, 34 percent will be put toward increasing the capacity of civil society organizations and 20 percent will be for good governance.
The U.S. benefits from foreign aid to Serbia from a diplomatic perspective as well in the case of international terrorism. The Ministry of Interior Directorate of Police, the Security Information Agency and Serbia’s law enforcement and security agencies have continued to work with the U.S. to prevent this major security threat, which affects both nations as well as the rest of the world.
In the past, Serbia has hosted a regional counterterrorism conference on foreign terrorist fighting. The country has also sent representatives to conferences in Albania, Italy and Slovenia to discuss how to counter violent extremism.
There are many economic and political reasons the U.S. and Serbia would benefit from the U.S. providing aid to Serbia. Together, the two countries have great potential to make technological advancements as well as work for a more peaceful world.
– Connie Loo
Photo: Flickr
Exploring How the Media Misrepresents India
India is a vast South Asian country, not only with diverse terrain stretching from the Himalayas to the Indian Ocean Coastline but also with significant socio-economic contrasts. It is understandable how the media misrepresents India because it tends to shed light only on the rural and urban poor and the struggling.
With a population of more than 1.3 billion, there are stories of unfortunate and inhuman events that occur in the country but those events don’t represent India, as a whole. India needs to be looked at through fresh lenses to dispel the following ideas.
How the Media Misrepresents India
These are just a few examples of how the media misrepresents India. Hopefully, in the coming years, the media will shed more light on the brighter side of the country.
– Shweta Roy
Photo: Flickr
Girls’ Education in Russia and the Wage Gap
At a glance, girls’ education in Russia seems to be fairly equal to boys’. For example, 37 percent of women have a higher education, while only 29 percent of Russian men do. However, gender biases and discrimination still exist within Russia. While more women have a higher education than men, their salaries are still 73 percent of men’s average salary.
What Hinders Girls’ Education in Russia
Girls’ education in Russia tends to be a competition. The payment for higher education is often too much for families, and while scholarships exist and can help the child through school, it is usually not enough.
The challenge of even attending school can come as early as kindergarten. The government’s policy tends to lead to a significant shortage of kindergarten classes. This leads to a difficult decision for families on whether to send their child to kindergarten and may even persuade them not to have children at all.
Room for Improvements
Women are more motivated to save money to attend higher education than men, with 20.7 percent of women saving money for school compared to only 14.6 percent of men. The men who save usually do so in order to escape military service.
Even though receiving education can be a hassle and can lead to a lower income job compared to men, girls’ education in Russia has improved slightly. Before 1764, girls’ education in Russia wasn’t even considered. It was not until Catherine II’s reforms that education rights were applied to both men and women.
Varying Job Paths
Education for girls, however, mostly happened in the home. They were taught about their duties as wives and mothers rather than learning about math and science. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets explained there might be a natural reason for this. “Women usually have to combine professional duties with household responsibilities and raising children,” Golodets said.
This mindset affects the kind of jobs women are expected to have. It is thought that education positions are for females because they are, or will become, mothers and teaching does not require much physical effort. Along with this, women are often found in lower positions, with men being in charge and holding manager positions.
While more women attend higher education than men in Russia, women’s salaries are still lower than a majority of men’s. Along with this, women are often pushed into only one area of employment and not into managerial positions. While girls’ education in Russia seems better than most countries, women still face issues and discrimination.
– Marissa Wandzel
Photo: Google
Economic Development in Brazil Key to Keeping Poverty Rate Low
According to a report issued by the World Bank, economic development in Brazil has lifted some 29 million people out of poverty between 2003 and 2014. The level of inequality declined significantly, with the Gini coefficient (the statistical measure of distribution often used to chart wealth inequality) falling by 6.6 percentage points in the same period, from 58.1 down to 51.5.
Moreover, the poorest 40 percent of the population experienced a massive rise (an average of 7.1 percent between 2003 and 2014) in income while the whole population enjoyed a 4.4 percent income growth.
A Variety of Programs Focus on Economic Development in Brazil
Most of the credit for such economic development in Brazil goes to a massive initiative, namely a global center for poverty reduction called Mundo Sem Pobreza (World Without Poverty), which has effectively become a place where ideas and anti-poverty programs are translated into reality for the benefit of the most disadvantaged citizens.
One of the most prominent of such programs is called Bolsa Familia. In its decade of implementation, this program, which consists of a conditional cash transfer program through which parents receive a fixed monthly stipend of about $30 in exchange for sending their children to school and complying with different health checkups, has managed to reduce poverty by half in Brazil (from 9.7 percent to 4.3 percent), aiding some 50 million low-income Brazilians.
According to a study led by Paul Glewwe of the University of Minnesota and Ana Lucia Kassouf of the University of Sao Paulo in 2012, Bolsa Familia did in fact improve children’s school enrollment rates.
This program has been paired with others, such as Brasil Sem Miseria, which was designed to help millions of Brazilians escape extreme poverty, while the Brazilian government has taken very seriously cogent issues such as expanded access to education and reducing income inequality.
Brazilian Government Both a Help and a Hindrance
However, what has really lent a helping hand to the overall betterment of Brazil’s social and economic conditions was a combination of public policy (expansion of access to education and government transfers to the poor) and favorable market factors (rising wages for low-skilled workers), both of which have led to substantial declines in inequality in Brazil.
Despite the laudable results achieved through social programs and economic development in Brazil, the rate of reduction of poverty and inequality appears to have stagnated since 2015. Political instability and a problematic recession have kept Brazil in an economic stalemate.
Moreover, while President Dilma Rousseff’s successor Michel Temer promise a rigid fiscal policy, major adjustments are undermined by budget rigidities and a difficult political environment.
Indeed, less than 15 percent of expenditures in Brazil are at the discretion of the political realm. Most public spending is rigidly determined by constitutional regulations and cannot legally be reduced.
Statistics Show Recent Progress
The overall situation is not beyond repair. In fact, 2017 saw a rise in household spending by 1 percent compared to a 4.3 percent decrease in 2016. Exports rose 5.2 percent compared to 1.9 percent in 2016. Imports grew by 5 percent (they dropped by 10.2 percent in 2016), marking the first increase in four years.
Thus, constant attention to keeping the markets open and efficient alongside a careful administration of public finances are key to getting Brazil back on track towards economic development and poverty reduction.
– Luca Di Fabio
Photo: Flickr
Progress Towards Universal Vaccinations in Egypt
Vaccinations have been proven to be the most powerful and most cost-effective health intervention that can be provided to a population. Vaccinations have been proven to reduce disease, disabilities and deaths, especially in children under the age of five. The majority of unvaccinated children reside in low to middle-income countries where health systems are compromised, such as Egypt. Vaccinations in Egypt have proven incredibly successful, but the country still has a ways to go.
There are three main organizations that supply vaccinations to low-income countries. These are UNICEF, the Pan American Health Organization and the Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. These organizations understand the impact vaccinations have on the eradication of disease.
Vaccinations in Egypt Have a Track Record of Success
Vaccinations have had a large impact on the health of children in Egypt. The vaccinations in Egypt that have been the most successful are poliomyelitis and neonatal tetanus. These vaccinations are responsible for nearly eradicating these diseases. The last case of polio was recorded in 2004, and by 2005, only 25 cases of neonatal tetanus were recorded.
Egypt established the National Immunization Program in the 1950s, and the first vaccinations introduced to the population were tuberculosis and diphtheria. Pertussis and tetanus vaccinations in Egypt became available in the 1960s. In 1977, the measles vaccination was introduced, followed by the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) combination in 1999.
However, better access to vaccinations in Egypt is critical. Measles and rubella were the most common diseases prior to vaccination programs in 1977, and even though it has been estimated that as of 1999, 95 percent of children were vaccinated with MMR, there were still major outbreaks of measles and rubella in Egypt between 2005 and 2007. Measles was considered endemic until 2008, when measles cases were estimated at less than one per every 100,000 people.
International Efforts to Increase Access to Vaccines in Egypt
Egypt has developed a strategy to increase access to vaccinations for the general population. The main organizations that coordinated and funded this plan are the Ministry of Health and Population, UNICEF and the World Health Organization. The plan is to increase access to vaccinations in Egypt in these ways:
Egypt has put forth great effort to provide vaccinations to all of its children. However, there is still a substantial need for more vaccinations in Egypt.
There are nonprofit organizations that are working to improve this situation for Egypt and other countries in need. The Access to Medicine Foundation is motivating the pharmaceutical industry to aid low to middle-income countries such as Egypt. In 2008, the Access to Medicine Foundation published the first Access to Vaccines Index. This index acknowledges the pharmaceutical companies that are responding to the need for vaccination in low-income countries and highlights each company’s progress. There are many positive actions that are improving access to vaccinations in Egypt and other low-income countries. However, the need is still present and crucial.
– Kristen Hibbett
Photo: Flickr
Health and Recovery of a Nation: Girls’ Education in Haiti
On Jan. 12, 2010, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake shook the island nation of Haiti. In the aftermath, 200,000 people were left dead and 1.5 million homeless. Homes, hospitals and government buildings crumbled, leaving communities scrambling for essential resources and shelter.
Volunteers and relief organizations across the globe swarmed with aid. Most aid groups from the earthquake have since left and the rebuilding process now lies in the hands of Haitian community members and scholars. Eight years later, many still live without basic services (clean water, plumbing) or health resources.
Citizens agree that girls’ education in Haiti and community development need to improve before the country can truly recover. A recent study using World Bank data has listed Haiti as a nation significantly below global enrollment rates for girls in schools.
World Bank data from 2014 states 15 percent of girls 12 to 18 are no longer in school, compared to 11 percent for boys. Only 45 percent of Haitian women over 15 are literate, compared to 53 percent for men over 15 years old. For effective redevelopment, the trends for girls’ education in Haiti are something both locals and researchers agree need to change.
In response to lower female community involvement and enrollment in schools, many research and educational programs focused on girls’ education in Haiti have started gaining popularity throughout the island nation.
Jayne Engle, a doctor of participatory community development in post-earthquake Haiti, conducted a post-earthquake study focused on effective and sustainable community development in Bellevue-La-Montagne, a small community near Port-au-Prince. She prioritized the rebuilding process by the following “levers of transformation:”
Engle worked extensively with community leaders to develop educational programs concerning social entrepreneurship, healthcare, environmental stewardship, community agriculture, planning and construction. As a result, the community has made significant progress in its infrastructural recovery and social equity. Engle believes her framework could be effective on a nationwide scale.
The Days for Girls (DfG) International program teaches Haitian seamstresses to produce DfG hygiene kits for distribution to women across Haiti. Each kit contains valuable information concerning female hygiene as well as safe, clean female hygiene products. During the two-month trial program, 90 percent of participants agreed the kits were easy to use and clean.
The Haitian Health Foundation’s (HHF) GenNext program combines a youth soccer league with “female sexual reproduction health” classes taught by nurse educators. The league is for girls only, as well as the classes. A three-year study of league participants compared to peers not in the soccer league showed significantly fewer pregnancies for league participants.
These programs and others continue to educate a generation of Haitian women eager to propel their
nation from poverty and hardship. As these efforts and more continue, girls’ education in Haiti is sure to only improve over the coming years.
– Charles Metz
Photo: Flickr
Rang De Facilitates Peer-to-Peer Microloans in India
According to the World Bank, approximately 20 percent of India’s population is poor. This totals 270 million people. These low-income individuals often lack credit or banking history and are considered too risky to finance by traditional lenders, like banks.
Rang De is a peer-to-peer microlending platform that works to increase low-income Indians’ access to capital. So far, Rang De has disbursed 57,096 microloans in India.
How Rang De Facilitates Peer-to-Peer Microloans in India
Low-income individuals are often unable to access capital from major lenders. Often, this underserved population turns to independent lenders who charge extremely high-interest rates for small loan amounts. Microloans from qualifying lending institutions are an alternative to predatory lenders. Rang De keeps interest rates low, between six and 10 percent.
Loans are financed by social investors, who choose a borrower through the platform and contribute in multiples of Rs.100. So far, 12,443 social investors have helped finance microloans in India.
Interest is used to pay back investors and to fund Rang De’s internal expenses; two percent of interest payments go to each. The rest of the interest payment funds rural partners who conduct literacy training sessions and collect borrower statistics.
Rang De’s Success So Far
Social investors can choose to finance a wide range of borrowers, from entrepreneurs to students to farmers. One example is Pooja Devi, a tailor who secured a loan of RS.10000.
Devi’s husband works at a factory and earns only Rs.7000 per month, too little to pay for their housing. Devi holds a Master of Arts degree but lives in a village with few work opportunities. As a new mother, finding suitable work while looking after her infant has proven impossible.
Devi accessed a Rang De loan to purchase a sewing machine for her at-home tailoring business. Her business is about four months old and she currently earns only Rs.1000 per month but plans to grow her client base. Tailoring at home gives Devi the flexibility needed to look after her infant while providing an additional stream of income for her family.
Ensuring Continued Success for Rang De
Rang De’s cofounder, Smita Ramakrishna, says that Rang De purposely keeps initiatives small so individual lenders receive more assistance. In addition to facilitating microloans in India, Rang De also focuses on increasing the financial literacy of borrowers. “For every sector we work with, we actually design the loan product to make sure that it works for them,” said Ramakrishna.
The majority of Rang De’s microloans in India, 93.25 percent, go to women. To further support this group, Rang De launched a new initiative targeted at women called Swabhimaan. Swabhimaan provides online loan applications and credit scoring. Self-serve kiosks set up around villages serve as portals to the online services. Women will be able to access same-day loans from Rang De with more ease and autonomy thanks to the kiosks.
To tackle skepticism in target borrower communities, Rang De publishes interest rates publicly on its website. The nonprofit also regularly updates social investors and hosts in-person meetings with both investors and borrowers.
Rang De’s hands-on approach and transparent business practices have led to a consistently high loan repayment rate of 93 percent. Ultimately, Rang De’s cofounders believe the innovative initiatives implemented through Rang De will “go a long way in making poverty history in India.”
– Katherine Parks
Photo: Flickr
The Rise of Philanthropy in China Will Continue to Better Lives
China has often been regarded as an “uncharitable” culture. Based on the numbers, there is a large gap between philanthropy in China and the U.S., with only .17 percent of China’s total GDP in 2014 contributed to philanthropy compared to that of the U.S.’s 12 percent of its total GDP. However, the rise of philanthropy in China cannot be ignored as the country is going through a “Philanthropy Evolution.”
Through traditions like Confucianism, philanthropy is not a nonexistent concept in China. Throughout the text of Confucianism’s “The Analects,” the concept of philanthropy prevails, often enforcing the idea that man should give to people who are less fortunate. During Communist China, philanthropy soon became a concept for only the wealthy.
Why China is Regarded as Uncharitable
Corruption often strays many people away from donating. Prior to 2011, many organizations and charities in China functioned in a quasi-legal environment. Enforcement was often categorized as “unpredictable and inconsistent.”
An important and well-known case is the Red Cross Society incident in 2011 in which a woman who held a senior position soon began flashing new and luxurious items. According to the New York Times, “[the scandal] struck a serious blow to China’s nascent notions of philanthropy, especially efforts guided by the government.”
The rate of development of a country may, in fact, have a correlation to the country’s overall philanthropic activities. Western countries such as the U.S. were able to create and maintain wealth for a much longer period of time as they developed. This was not the same for China.
If one looks at philanthropy in regard to wealthy entrepreneurs and their contributions, “[China has only] sustained real economic power for just over 10 years; therefore, Chinese enterprises are still in the stage of creating wealth.” Not only are Chinese enterprises still in this stage of creating wealth, but before the last decade, charity remained “a state-controlled process focused almost solely on Communist party priorities.”
Change in Philanthropy
The rise of philanthropy in China can be credited to the efforts of the country. For example, the National People’s Congress (NPC) of China passed a New Charity Law that took effect on September 1, 2016. Key areas of interest comprised in this new charity law include registration as a charitable organization, new rules for fundraising platforms, new rules for fundraising organizations, the establishment of charitable trusts and law enforcement. The New Charity Law, in fact, makes it easier to raise funds from the general public.
With legal modifications, the internet has made donating funds and supporting charitable organizations much easier for the public. Philanthropy leaders in China understood quickly that social media had a huge impact and began using it to promote a nonprofit sector that was able to link news-related social issues to social media users across China.
With a couple taps on sites such as Tencent Online Donation platform, Sina Micro-Philanthropy Platform and Alipay E-Philanthropy Platform, ordinary people are able to donate money to different charities with ease. According to the China Online Donations Report, “the total online donations through third-party social network donation platforms surpassed $83 million in 2013.” Similarly, in 2013, the Jet Li foundation raised over $49 million in donations through social media for the victims of the Lushan Earthquake.
Continuing the Rise of Philanthropy in China
Many organizations are working to keep propelling philanthropic efforts forward. For instance, The Asia Foundation reports that “Give2Asia hosted a forum in Beijing, which brought together over 60 leaders from different sectors of philanthropy, government and business to discuss the current state of charitable giving in China, and new directions and opportunities for philanthropists in the future.” The forum discussed that funds had risen by ¥97 million after the earthquake and that there was an increase of about 100 million volunteers through China.
Furthermore, in order to change the philanthropic sector, and to fill the gap between China’s philanthropic activities and other countries, the government, charities and people must work together. Yet, with China’s legal modifications, a rise of philanthropists and a change in the general public’s mindset, the future of philanthropy is looking bright in China.
– Emma Martin
Photo: Flickr
Danida: The World-Leading Agency of Denmark’s Foreign Aid
Denmark is one of the world’s leading providers of foreign aid. Not necessarily by dollars, but by Gross National Income (GNI). The U.N. set a target for 0.7 percent of a well-developed nation’s GNI be set aside for foreign aid. Denmark’s foreign aid meets that goal and its funds are distributed by Danida.
Denmark passed its first law regarding foreign assistance in 1962. Nine years later, the name Danida appeared to distribute Denmark’s foreign aid. Since its inception, it has gained its own logo and place within the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Denmark’s Foreign Aid Through Danida
Denmark is one of the few nations that consistently meets and exceeds the U.N.’s goal. In 2015, Denmark allocated 0.85 percent of its GNI toward international development. Only six other nations met or exceeded the goal that year. Since 1978, Denmark has allocated at least 0.7 percent of its GNI toward Danida. This year will be no different.
Danida operates in countries from Belarus to South Africa and from China to Chile. In recent years, Danida has centered its focus on Africa through various programs. Danida also supports non-governmental organizations already working in these countries. Like other nations, Danida also provides research grants to organizations and individuals through its Danish Development Center. In 2018, Danida will focus Denmark’s foreign aid to four main areas:
The Goal: Eradicating Poverty
Danida’s goal is to eradicate poverty in order to stabilize societies and governments. To achieve its goal, Danida funds programs that encourage the following:
Spending Foreign Aid Domestically
In 2016, Denmark began to roll-out a new strategy. According to the CPH Post, 30 percent of the money from Denmark’s foreign aid allocated to combat the refugee crisis abroad will be used to help migrants who have already reached Denmark. This system received mixed reviews. It was praised due to the benefits it would provide migrants in Denmark, including food vouchers, housing and healthcare.
However, critics say that by using this funding at home there is less money to help stabilize the nations the refugees are fleeing. There would be no need to spend this money domestically if these nations were stabilized in the first place.
Denmark is following the lead of other Scandinavian countries such as Sweden and Norway, who also spend 20 to 30 percent of the same allocated funds domestically. Both Sweden and Norway also consistently spend 0.7 percent or more of their GNI on foreign aid.
The 2018 budget outlines foreign aid plans and funding for Danida through 2021, staying at 0.7 percent of its GNI. The plan also hints that Denmark wants to keep this going until 2030. Hopefully, Danida will continue to operate well into the future and well past 2030.
– Nick DeMarco
Photo: Flickr
Top 10 Facts About Poverty in Lima, Peru
10 Facts About Poverty in Lima
Capital Progress
Although Peru itself faces several issues related to poverty, Lima has found ways to ameliorate the conditions and overcome difficulties. In the changing political and economic landscape of Lima, residents prove that there is both hope and a means to achieve such statuses. These 10 facts about poverty in Lima are but a testament to this city-wide occurrence.
– Sanjana Subramanian
Photo: Flickr