Though Swaziland has experienced quick and promising economic growth in the past decade, women remain left out of economic participation. Women make up 52 percent of the population in Swaziland, yet in 2008 they consisted of only 48.6 percent of the wage employment in non-agricultural sectors. In an effort to improve women’s empowerment in Swaziland, the African Health Observatory, which works with the World Health Organization (WHO), aimed to increase this percentage to 52 percent by 2015.
Women in Swaziland are not only left out of the country’s economic activities but also the country’s government. From 2008-2013, women made up 28 percent of the ministers in the national parliament, which increased from 20 percent during the 2003-2008 government. The Constitution sets the requirement at 30 percent, though many international bodies, including the African Union and the Southern African Development Community, have set their goal at 52 percent.
Formal employment opportunities for women in Swaziland are also scarce. It has a Gender Inequality Index (GII) of 0.557, which has ranked Swaziland 150th out of 188 countries.
Health and Education
Due to the lack of formal employment opportunities, women often resort to commercial or transactional sex as a way of making ends meet. Their work puts them at a higher risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease. Compared to the 20 percent of men in Swaziland that have HIV, 31 percent of women from the ages of 15 to 49 have HIV.
Another factor that contributes to women having to turn to sex work is their lack of education. In Swaziland, many girls must drop out of school in order to work at home and provide support for their families.
In 2007, the ratio of girls to boys in secondary education was 1.01. However, in that same year, there were over five thousand more girls of secondary school age than there were boys of this age. This statistic demonstrates that there is still a significant gap between the number of girls that attend school versus the number of boys that attend school in Swaziland.
Progress in Gender Equality
Despite the work that is still to be done for women’s empowerment in Swaziland, considerable progress has been made. The Swaziland Rural Women’s Assembly (SRWA), whose goal is to raise the voices of rural women and to further progress in gender equality, has grown by over four thousand members since 2012. It has also mobilized over 20,000 women to more actively fight for change.
In 2016, the Swaziland Progressive Women’s Charter launched on International Women’s Day, March 8. Over 350 women took part in promoting the Charter, which is meant to reflect the voices of rural women. In the Charter, the women say that they recognize how necessary it is for them to unite and build a strong voice of advocacy.
Through the work of these organizations, considerable progress can be made to improving women’s empowerment in Swaziland.
– Haley Rogers
Photo: Flickr
ModRoof is a Safer, Warmer Improvement for Slums
In 2001, 65 million people in India were living in slums without decent living conditions or any access to water and food on a daily basis. According to Berkeley research, more ore than 80 percent of the urban population in India cannot afford a concrete slab to be used as a roof.
For those who can afford a roof in slums, most of the time they are made of cement or metal sheets, which has a very bad effect on health and leads to poor quality of life. Witnessing such a lack of basic need, Hasit Ganatra, engineer and founder of ReMaterials, conceptualized a new type of roof named ModRoof to improve lives in slums.
According to ReMaterials, ModRoof is a “modular roofing system” that can improve shelters in slums and village homes in developing areas. Eco-friendly, easily removable and simple to install, it is also designed to be strong, waterproof and fire-resistant.
In addition, ModRoof is available for a low cost. Payable through microfinance companies, a very popular system in developing countries, the program solves the main obstacle to better facilities in worldwide slums: the price.
ReMaterials is currently considering embedding solar cells in ModRoof, which would allow houses to have power LED lights and outlets to charge phones. Employing solar power with ModRoof would be a huge step forward, as providing electricity to these shelters could assist in lifting the residents out of poverty.
“Worldwide experts told us to give up; they said we’d never do it,” said Ganatra in an interview with BBC. “But when you see this sort of problem [in the slums] you have to do something about it.”
Thus, the stark blue rooftop from ReMaterials is set to change lives. With continued persistence from Ganatra and his team, ModRoof will allow families living in slums all around the world to sleep in a safer, warmer environment.
– Léa Gorius
Photo: Flickr
Infrastructure in Jamaica: Developing a Road to Safety
Two of Jamaica’s largest economic sectors — tourism and the transport of goods — rely on this inefficient, and often dangerous, road network. The condition of the roads in Jamaica has led to increased traffic congestion, accidents and rising travel costs. With a population of 2.7 million, infrastructure in Jamaica fails to meet modern engineering standards for road quality and safety.
The roads are rapidly deteriorating as the population continues to rise on this small island, which threatens Jamaica’s economic stability. The road infrastructure in Jamaica must be addressed if the country aims to retain success in its main economic sectors.
Programs Addressing the Road Infrastructure in Jamaica
According to the Minister of Finance and Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation recently obtained funding for the continuation of two programs aimed at rehabilitating and restructuring the road network during the 2017-2018 fiscal year.
The Major Infrastructure Development Project (MIDP), with a budget of $16 billion, will restructure a set number of main roads, bringing them up to modern safety standards. These roads will be realigned or widened where necessary to accommodate the estimated daily amount of tourist traffic. In addition, this program plans to build three new bridges to increase the efficiency of freight transport. The Ministry intends to complete this project by the end of September 2018.
A second project aimed towards improving infrastructure in Jamaica is the Rural Road Rehabilitation Project II which began in 2008. With a budget of $500 million, this project will continue to rework 57 kilometers of roads to support the industrial, agricultural and tourist sectors in St. Mary, St. Ann, and Westmoreland. Due to budgeting issues, this project has required many extensions.
The government is working steadily towards its goal of decreasing the number of fatalities from car accidents to be under 300 annually. The modernization of roads is the key, and with the successful completion of these two major projects, infrastructure in Jamaica will be significantly closer to achieving that goal.
– Kayla Rafkin
Photo: Flickr
Women’s Empowerment in Swaziland
Women in Swaziland are not only left out of the country’s economic activities but also the country’s government. From 2008-2013, women made up 28 percent of the ministers in the national parliament, which increased from 20 percent during the 2003-2008 government. The Constitution sets the requirement at 30 percent, though many international bodies, including the African Union and the Southern African Development Community, have set their goal at 52 percent.
Formal employment opportunities for women in Swaziland are also scarce. It has a Gender Inequality Index (GII) of 0.557, which has ranked Swaziland 150th out of 188 countries.
Health and Education
Due to the lack of formal employment opportunities, women often resort to commercial or transactional sex as a way of making ends meet. Their work puts them at a higher risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease. Compared to the 20 percent of men in Swaziland that have HIV, 31 percent of women from the ages of 15 to 49 have HIV.
Another factor that contributes to women having to turn to sex work is their lack of education. In Swaziland, many girls must drop out of school in order to work at home and provide support for their families.
In 2007, the ratio of girls to boys in secondary education was 1.01. However, in that same year, there were over five thousand more girls of secondary school age than there were boys of this age. This statistic demonstrates that there is still a significant gap between the number of girls that attend school versus the number of boys that attend school in Swaziland.
Progress in Gender Equality
Despite the work that is still to be done for women’s empowerment in Swaziland, considerable progress has been made. The Swaziland Rural Women’s Assembly (SRWA), whose goal is to raise the voices of rural women and to further progress in gender equality, has grown by over four thousand members since 2012. It has also mobilized over 20,000 women to more actively fight for change.
In 2016, the Swaziland Progressive Women’s Charter launched on International Women’s Day, March 8. Over 350 women took part in promoting the Charter, which is meant to reflect the voices of rural women. In the Charter, the women say that they recognize how necessary it is for them to unite and build a strong voice of advocacy.
Through the work of these organizations, considerable progress can be made to improving women’s empowerment in Swaziland.
– Haley Rogers
Photo: Flickr
The Success of Humanitarian Aid to Cameroon
Despite needing further humanitarian aid, Cameroon has seen progress in many areas. The poverty rate has dropped from 53 percent in 1996 to 37.5 percent in 2014. With the extensive network of organizations providing humanitarian aid to Cameroon, there is hope that the lives of the country’s citizens will continue to improve.
The U.S. government first established a diplomatic relationship with Cameroon in 1960. Current diplomatic efforts are focused on strengthening democratic institutions and thwarting destabilizing threats, such as the threat posed by the extremist group Boko Haram.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) runs several programs in Cameroon. The Cameroon Peace Promotion Project utilizes radio broadcasts to promote moderate voices in the region and prevent the spread of violent extremism.
A second project, called the Central African Regional Program on the Environment, works to conserve the tropical forests in Cameroon and neighboring countries. The Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and Food for Peace program assists refugees and those affected by conflict. Lastly, USAID also promotes economic development in Cameroon through the West Africa Trade and Investment Hub.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) works in Cameroon to provide refugees with the care and resources they need. The UNHCR found that there are over 320,000 refugees currently residing in Cameroon. UNHCR partners with the World Bank and the African Development Bank to empower and support these refugees.
The European Union has allocated €80.7 million in humanitarian aid to Cameroon since 2013. These funds go toward providing food, water and shelter for Cameroon’s refugee population and other vulnerable communities.
Other groups are providing humanitarian aid to Cameroon to combat HIV/AIDS in the country. In 2016, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) reported that there were 560,000 people in Cameroon living with HIV. UNAIDS is partnering with other organizations like the World Health Organization to accelerate the HIV treatment response in the area. The Centers for Disease Control is also working to eradicate the disease in Cameroon.
Despite the many crises Cameroon faces, there has been progress in addressing these challenges with the contribution of aid from the global community. The success of humanitarian aid to Cameroon shows what can be accomplished with the unified response of organizations across the world.
– Aaron Childree
Photo: Flickr
Water and Transport Infrastructure in Sudan
Infrastructure in Sudan largely subsists around Khartoum, the country’s main hub, which acts as a direct connection between five major areas—Port Sudan, Egypt and North Africa, the Eritrean border, Kordofan and Ethiopia. The rest of Sudan consists of disjointed highways, five international airports that are severely limited in their operational capacity due to financial constraints and a power infrastructure that only focuses on major urban areas.
All of these underdeveloped areas leave the outlying regions beyond Khartoum disconnected to the rest of the country and incapable of economic development or expansion. According to the Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic (AICD), infrastructure in Sudan will require $4.2 billion each year over the next decade to overcome some of its major failings.
Developing Water Infrastructure in Sudan
The main goal of developing water infrastructure in Sudan is to increase access to clean water and sanitation systems, as well as decrease the inefficacy of utilities and its subsequent drain on money resources. The challenge here is increasing resources while simultaneously decreasing contaminants, such as defecation in surface water and leakages from septic tanks.
The Dams Implementation Unit (DIU) plans to raise the number of dams in Sudan from six to nine and increase the water supply to populated areas of Sudan through irrigation systems, though it is considered a controversial idea. The Niles Basin Initiative advised the DIU against this plan in 2005, citing evidence from the scientific community that evaporation rates in Sudan are already too high and creating more dams would only increase them.
Another proposed solution to this issue is encouraging private-public partnerships (PPPs), which allows private businesses to invest in public infrastructure development projects for a tax incentive. Some major water infrastructure development projects in Sudan are projected to cost between $20-$100 million and overall could cost $1 billion over the next six years. Encouraging PPPs is vital to the development of water infrastructure in Sudan, which would increase access to water and sanitation supplies.
Sudan’s Transport Infrastructure
Transport infrastructure faces the challenge of enhancing road quality and transport efficiency. One topic of debate is how to connect the rural areas to the urban centers of Sudan. Increased investments through PPPs is possible in this sector as well, but still require a legal framework before they are agreed upon.
Sudan has already succeeded in adding roads to connect more urban centers together, as well as decreasing travel costs. It continues to work on developing a solution for efficient transport to rural areas.
Despite the challenges to improving infrastructure in the water and transportation sectors, with the help of private partners, Sudan could continue to address infrastructure inefficiencies throughout the country.
– Kayla Rafkin
Photo: Flickr
Strategies to Address Poverty in Northwest China
Major reasons for the high rate of poverty in northwest China include the harsh deserts, plateaus and mountains, dry climates and natural disasters. Many areas in this region lack resources and basic infrastructure. Many cities and counties are enduring insufficient power supply and inconvenient transportation. In addition, incomes remain low, and basic facilities for education, health and other public services are poor.
Recently, quite a few different measures have been implemented for alleviating poverty in northwest China. Officials in Xinjiang relocated about 26,100 persons living in poverty in 2016 and raised $627 million of relocation funds for poverty reduction in 2017. The government of Qinghai aims to further exploit the advantages of tourism on reducing poverty by pairing 10,000 villages with private companies within five years.
The All-China Women’s Federation offers direct assistance for poverty alleviation by training women to improve their working capabilities and handcraft skills. Projects in the Shaanxi and Ningxia regions were also proposed in China’s thirteenth five-year plan.
The poverty rate among most ethnic minorities is relatively high, which stems from factors such as attitudes toward girls’ education and dependence on government assistance. Hence, it is necessary to reinforce the importance of education and gender equality and to encourage local people to go out seeking better jobs.
An important issue is reforming the strategy of poverty alleviation, by gradually replacing the conventional aid model with the participatory anti-poverty model. Tim Harvey’s work in Ningxia emphasizes the rights of the poor to participate, respects their enthusiasm and motivations to get rid of poverty. This strategy aims to enhance their viability to survive and expand their legal rights to gain wealth.
Besides the measures mentioned above, the Chinese central government attaches great importance to the development of medical care and nutrition support in northwest regions with ethnic minorities. Meanwhile, protecting the local natural environment, reinforcing the guiding role of religious groups and implementing the strategy of sustainable development are all keynote strategies on reducing poverty in northwest China.
One typical example is the Yinchuan Minning Agriculture Project in Ningxia, from which 35,000 local villagers were benefited by relocation and opportunities for income growth.
Alleviating poverty in northwest China represents another long march at present. As a region with the highest rate of returning poverty, it requires intensive concerns on protecting the rights and opportunities for the poor. By gradually changing the methods of poverty reduction and allowing the vast majority of the poor to participate, greater achievements can be made in the long-term project.
– Xin Gao
Progress for Women’s Empowerment in Montenegro
Women have topped the list of most discriminated groups in Montenegrin society for years. The statistics of violence are heavily skewed towards women, meaning every third woman in the state has experienced some form of violence. There is both political and social marginalization of women, visible through the lack of participation granted to women in formal institutions. As a result, most important decisions for Montenegrin society are made by men.
Misogyny is also prevalent in media, as smear campaigns against women and civil society activities have become commonplace in Montenegro. Lastly, the troubling economic situation has affected women the most, with many women being forced to work in the grey economy. This work exposes women to additional risks, as these jobs are not covered by insurance nor monitored by the government.
The latest Centre for Civic Education (CCE) research on discrimination indicated that more than 70 percent of citizens agree that the most important role of women in Montenegrin society is to be a good mother and wife. This illustrates the core problem and the difficult challenges that come with moving towards women’s empowerment in Montenegro.
Despite these struggles, there are plans being undertaken to improve the situation. The first of these is the Time for Women’s Rights and Gender Equality in Montenegro, which is a three-year project that was implemented between May 2014 and September 2016. It was undertaken in cooperation with the Ekvilib Inštitut and the Public Policy Institute, focusing on the fields of women’s rights and gender equality. The overall objective of the plan was to increase the visibility of the issue of gender inequality and women’s rights among the public and political actors in Montenegro.
To further women’s empowerment in Montenegro, the United Nations Development Programme has implemented a project that advocates for women’s and girl’s equal rights. The project combats discriminatory practices and challenges the roles and stereotypes that cause inequalities and exclusion in the country. Along with this, the UNDP’s goal is to support Montenegro in fulfilling its commitments of achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment in the post-2015 development agenda.
With these programs instituted and the problems interfering with women’s empowerment in Montenegro exposed, there will be visible improvements to women’s rights and equality throughout the country.
– Drew Fox
Photo: Flickr
Improving Infrastructure in Belarus
Due to its importance to trade, infrastructure in Belarus is not just a national issue but also an international issue. To preserve this stable trade corridor, Russia and the World Bank have stepped in to assist Belarus with maintaining and improving its existing infrastructure.
Russian Assistance to Improve Infrastructure in Belarus
In 1991, Belarus gained its independence from the USSR; in 1999, Russia and Belarus signed a special relations agreement, with the goal of maintaining close economic, political and security ties. Integration of the two countries is written into the framework of the agreement but other than simple economic assistance and international policy, not much progress has been made with regards to serious integration.
Russia and Belarus cooperate closely in the energy sector. After agreeing to pay over $720 million in debt to the Russian energy company Gazprom, Gazprom gave Belarus a discount on natural gas in 2018 and 2019. The maintenance of infrastructure in Belarus is important to maintaining the flow of natural gas from Russia to Gazprom’s European customers. This uninterrupted flow of natural gas through Belarus provides energy security within Europe.
Infrastructure Projects Implemented by the World Bank
Natural gas is not the only reason the world wants to improve the aging infrastructure in Belarus. The World Bank declared Belarus an important shipping corridor between Europe and Asia. As a result, the World Bank launched two projects to improve infrastructure in Belarus. The first project began in 2010 and was completed in 2016; its budget was $150 million. The project installed electronic tolling stations along the country’s M5 highway. Tolling stations were chosen to help Belarus improve its own road maintenance and expand the tolling stations to other roadways.
The second project is called the Transit Corridor Improvement Project. The project began in 2014 and has been allocated $250 million, but costs are estimated to exceed $270 million by its target end date in 2020. The goal of the project is to improve road conditions of the M6 highway, which connects the Belorussian capital of Minsk to the Polish border.
The project will first widen the highway between Minsk and the city of Grodno, which sits near the Polish border. Improving signage along the roadway and adding other safety measures is also part of this step. The second step is to improve traffic and roadside safety by constructing a safety coordination center. The third, and final, step is to improve Belarus’ ability to deal with cross-border traffic. By investing in and improving the infrastructure in Belarus, the World Bank helps to increase the stability and growth of the Belorussian economy.
Belarus finds itself in a fortunate situation due to its strategic location and international support. With the continued support of countries such as Russia and organizations such as the World Bank, Belarus will be able to further improve its infrastructure and grow its economy.
– Nick DeMarco
Photo: Flickr
Infrastructure Improvements Significantly Reducing Poverty in Tibet
Part of China’s most recent Five Year Plan (2016-2020) are provisions to finish construction of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway, which will link the most remote and mountainous region of Tibet to the rest of the world. With an estimated cost of roughly $36 billion and a plan to build well over 1,000 miles of railway, this ambitious project will vastly improve economic access to the region, greatly .
Other provisions of the Five Year Plan include continued expansion of housing projects, which the central government reports have provided modern housing for over 236,000 Tibetans to date. Many of the people that benefit from this program were reportedly living without either running water or electricity previous to receiving government assistance. The Chinese government aims to eliminate these dire conditions by 2020.
Though many critics in the international political sphere have expressed concerns over the preservation of Tibetan culture while the region remains under Chinese control, the central government has sought to reassure the international community of its intentions to preserve Tibetan religious and historical sites. Western fascination with Tibetan Buddhism and history has caused an uptick in tourism in recent years, which has provided a boost to the Tibetan economy.
Many people continue to question the validity of the Chinese government’s statistics regarding poverty in Tibet. To this day, some see China’s occupation of Tibet as illegal, including exiled Tibetan political groups that advocate for its independence.
Though also living in exile in India, the foremost Tibetan religious leader, the Dalai Lama, has recently affirmed his pro-China stance, saying that Tibet’s inclusion in Chinese politics offers the invaluable opportunity for economic modernization and environmental protections. In a speech given at the Indian Chamber of Commerce in November 2017, the Dalai Lama urged the Chinese government to enhance its respect of Tibetan culture and heritage, but stressed that Tibet is not seeking independence from China. Rather, says the Dalai Lama, the development and alleviation of poverty in Tibet made possible by its dependence on the central Chinese government validates this arrangement.
– Savannah Bequeaith
Photo: Flickr
Credit Access in Lebanon in Need of Improvement
Since 2011, over one million refugees from the Syrian Civil War have registered with the Lebanese government. These refugees live in camps, supported by the U.N., among the Lebanese population in major cities. The influx of one million people in six years has severely strained the economy of a country of only six million. A report by the World Bank claims that this influx has limited credit access in Lebanon.
Wars, occupations and bombardments have damaged Lebanon’s infrastructure. Although much of the damage was done to Lebanese cities, the countryside was not untouched. Any damaged farmland can significantly hurt credit access in Lebanon. Much of the rural population lives in poverty and already had difficulty gaining access to credit before the war in 2006; damaged fields and lower crop yields only made this more difficult.
To increase credit access in Lebanon, specifically to rural farmers, the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) launched a program targeting these farmers, called the Hilly Areas Sustainable Agricultural Development Project (HASAD). By organizing crop rotations, water access and soil conservation, the project aims to increase the productivity of the farmers. An increase in crop yield means higher profits for the farmers, which could, in turn, increase their access to credit.
Credit access in Lebanon is much easier to gain in urban areas, where more of the country’s wealth is located. After 16 years of civil war (1975-1990), people found that the banks could not offer sufficient credit. Kalafata was founded in 2000 to assist banks and help small businesses gain credit access in Lebanon. The organization is supported by the European Union, the World Bank and the Lebanese government.
Since the beginning of the refugee crisis, Lebanon’s economy has only grown by one to two percent each year. The refugees have increased the amount of available labor, but many Lebanese blame them for taking their jobs. This increase in labor could potentially help small businesses boom, which will hopefully increase the growth of the Lebanese economy.
Economic growth and credit access in Lebanon will continue to be hindered by the instability of the region. Unfortunately, regional stability does not look to be anywhere in sight. Recently the Prime Minister of Lebanon Saad al-Harir stepped down from power, claiming he feared for his life. This has sparked outrage from the Presidents of Lebanon and Iran. Both parties claim that this is interference from Saudi Arabia. The leader of Hezbollah has decried that this is an act of war against Lebanon.
Most recently, President Donald Trump declared that the United States will move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, increasing tensions in the Middle Eastern region and possibly hindering the further development of nations like Lebanon. Lebanon’s greatest hope for its future lies in itself and how it will continue to handle the refugee crisis. Perhaps allowing refugees access to work opportunities and credit in Lebanon will give the nation’s economy the boost it needs.
– Nick DeMarco
Photo: Flickr