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Humanitarian Aid to North Korea After Typhoon Lionrock

In August of 2016, Typhoon Lionrock struck the northeast region of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea). The massive flooding washed away over 30,000 homes, took the lives of hundreds of people and destroyed thousands more lives. The aftermath of the typhoon also left food sources more depleted than they already were. Humanitarian aid to North Korea came in truck-loads, providing shelter relief, food, non-food items and health care supplies to residents.

According to the 2016 Global Hunger Index, 41 percent of North Korea’s residents are undernourished. Along with that, 70 percent of the population relies on food aid. The communist country, unfortunately, has a recurring issue with hunger. In the 1990s, North Korea faced its most deadly famine that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths.

Since the decade-long famine, the United Nations has reported that humanitarian aid to North Korea has been able to relieve some of the hunger problems, yet natural disasters continue to jeopardize the progress. The flooding North Korea faced from Typhoon Lionrock was declared “the worst disaster” the country had seen since World War II. Without humanitarian aid, the affected parts of the country would be left in ruins.

The United Nations World Food Program was one of the first organizations to enter the country on an emergency food assistance operation. They delivered food to more than 140,000 survivors. The Red Cross also joined in the efforts by providing water purification supplies along with tools and tents to build shelters.

Altogether, the U.N. and NGOs contributed $43.78 million in funding in 2016. Almost $35 million was spent on nutrition and food while the remainder was spent on sanitation services and various other aid-functions.

In September of 2016, as a response to the recent catastrophe, the U.N. and the North Korean government came to an agreement called the United Nations Strategic Framework (UNSF). This framework’s strategy, which was officially put into place in January 2017, is to reduce the need for humanitarian aid by solidifying investments into communities to better prepare them in responding to disasters such as Typhoon Lionrock. This is a five-year plan prioritizing food and nutrition security, social development services, resilience and sustainability and data and development management.

The framework’s overall strategy theme is “sustainable and resilient human development.” It will develop a new kind of approach to recovery and rehabilitation of North Korea. Within the four priorities, UNSF seeks to pursue environmental sustainability, increase the resilience of North Korean people and localize new Sustainable Development Goals in accordance with what is currently happening in North Korea.

For example, there will be plans put in place to know how to respond if another typhoon strikes. As North Korean residents will be more prepared for future disasters, they will rely less on humanitarian aid.

According to the framework, humanitarian aid to North Korea will reduce by 2021. In the meantime, as the country now faces a serious drought jeopardizing its renewing crops, humanitarian aid to North Korea will continually be a hopeful source.

– Brianna Summ

Photo: Flickr

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Indigenous Children and Education: Struggles Across the Globe

Indigenous Peoples make up 15 percent of the world’s poor and one-third of the world’s extremely rural poor. They are subject to land grabbing, intimidation, discrimination, displacement and violence, and children are particularly vulnerable. When it comes to Indigenous children and education, there are a plethora of struggles faced across the globe.

The list of barriers to educational attainment for Indigenous children includes the devaluation of their own teachings, knowledge and culture, the whitewashing of history and deeply entrenched institutional racism. Rural children often can’t reach schools because they are too far away, and supplies, textbooks and school fees can be too expensive for many families to afford. Even when Indigenous children do reach the classroom, their lessons are not typically taught in their language and their curriculum is not culturally sensitive. They face discrimination and harassment by fellow students and by their teachers.

Quechuan parents in Peru were surveyed regarding their children’s education, and many revealed that they wouldn’t even teach their children their mother tongue at home for fear of the ostracization they would face at school. This fear and disenfranchisement leads to disproportionately low enrollment rates and high dropout rates.

In Botswana, corporal punishment is acceptable in Tswana culture (one of the ethnic majorities) but not acceptable in Basarwa culture (one of the Indigenous ethnic minorities.) This has led to very high drop-out rates among the Basarwa, and today 77 percent of the Basarwa are illiterate.

In 2012, Indigenous students made up 4.8 percent of all students, which is double their relative proportion of the population. The Indigenous population is young and growing, leading to higher school enrollments. This comes with its own challenges. Connecting Indigenous children and education – quality, accessible education – requires teachers to work hard to respect Indigenous culture and incorporate it into their curriculum.

Schools must also provide other resources to Indigenous children. According to a report by The Conversation, “many (not all) Indigenous children are under stress (educationally, socially, emotionally) due to low income, family mobility, overcrowded homes, and poor health and disability.”

The Murri School in Queensland, Australia, partners with Aboriginal health services to provide family support and healthcare, as well as occupational therapy, to their Indigenous students. This holistic approach better meets the needs of Indigenous students and increases retention rates.

In 2006, Cambodia introduced bilingual education in five of its provinces, allowing Indigenous children to attend schools taught in their native language. This helped close the gap in the number of out-of-school Indigenous children. Also in 2006, Ethiopia introduced alternative educational programs (such as mobile schools, flexible learning environments, boarding schools and bilingual education) to its Afar and Somali regions. This also had a positive impact on Indigenous children and education.

In 2010, there were no Indigenous adolescents enrolled in university in Cameroon. At the primary and secondary level, birth registration cards were often required for enrollment, and Indigenous Peoples face many barriers to receiving identity cards and being properly registered. Additionally, the academic calendar did not align culturally with Indigenous Peoples such as the Baka. Children were kept out of school to work in the forests with their parents.

Indigenous Peoples developed a curriculum called ORA (Observe, Reflect, Act) tailored specifically toward young Baka children. It is culturally sensitive, hands-on and aligns with the agricultural calendar. It aims to teach Baka children to read, write and count.

While Indigenous children across the world face innumerable challenges in receiving a quality education, Indigenous-specific measures can remedy this. For Indigenous children around the globe, “the key to success is to nurture a positive sense of identity, to engage positive community leadership and to nurture high expectations relationships.”

– Olivia Bradley

Photo: Flickr

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Legal Reforms Key to Women’s Empowerment in Cameroon

Women's Empowerment in CameroonCameroon, like many countries around the world, has dealt with women’s inequality. There are several laws in Cameroon that are severely discriminatory towards women, and even after observations and suggestions made by the CEDAW Committee to the government of Cameroon in 2000 and 2009, there have been no legal reforms to improve the protection of women’s empowerment in Cameroon. To make matters worse, customary law is applied next to statutory law, which brings about many contradictions and inconsistencies.

There are many customs and traditions that impede the implementation of statutory laws. Many marriages are forced, especially in rural areas, where some girls as young as 12 are married. There is also the practice of levirate, where widows are forced to marry the brother of their deceased husband, a very common practice since widows are considered property. Furthermore, according to tradition, only male children can inherit property.

Domestic violence is prevalent and happens often while remaining socially acceptable. Unlike many other countries, marital rape is not considered a criminal offense. The government has not established shelters or legal aid clinics, and victims usually have to suffer in a culture of silence and impunity.

When it comes to education, the literacy rate for the 15-26 age group is 72 percent for males and 59 percent for females. This is due in part to families being more in favor of boys getting an education if they are unable to send all their children. Even though there are still fewer females than males in secondary school, there is slight progress. There have been some efforts made by the government to promote girls’ access to education. However, only so many girls have been able to benefit from the scholarship policy after already being affected by the lack of infrastructure, educational materials and a shortage of qualified teachers.

There are labor laws in place to honor gender equality and provide equal access to employment and equal wages for equal work, but women are still being employed in informal sectors like agriculture and household services. Sexual harassment in the workplace is common and is not punishable by law.

There are calls for the authorities of Cameroon to reform or repeal all discriminatory measures in statutory law; specifically, the provisions of the Family Code concerning the age of marriage, consent, polygamy, marital power and property. They need to take all necessary measures to improve women’s access to public and political life when it comes to decision-making positions, which include adopting special temporary measures such as a quota system and passing legislation criminalizing sexual harassment. Furthermore, there is an urgent need to improve women’s access to health care; in particular, developing healthcare infrastructure and intensifying the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The country has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women but has not ratified the protocol of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. These changes would further encourage women’s empowerment in Cameroon.

The government of Cameroon must act and vigorously combat these issues so they can become things of the past. If the government does not make these changes and bring about equality, it will be seen as inadequate and paying lip service to the noble goal of gender equality. Women’s empowerment in Cameroon is the goal and it is up to the government to instill these laws and hold people accountable.

– Chavez Spicer

Photo: Flickr

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New Constitution: Hope for Women’s Empowerment in Kenya

Women's Empowerment in KenyaKenya is an East African country situated between two war-torn countries, Somalia and Uganda. The country is a low income, food-deficient country where 52 percent of people live below the poverty line, 40 percent are unemployed and 1.3 million live with HIV/AIDS. Despite the threat of natural disasters and violence, women’s empowerment in Kenya is also a major issue.

Kenya has many patriarchal systems in place, including one known as “beading”. Beading is a practice where girls as young as age six are engaged to a male relative and are allowed to have sexual relations. They do not allow pregnancy because they believe having a baby will lower the girl’s chances of getting married. The only concern is for the girl’s future marriageability, not the fact that the girl has most likely has suffered physical harm and mental trauma. The Children Act (2006) and the Sexual Offenses Bill (2001) were put in place to protect women from rape and incest, but beading is socially accepted within certain tribes, who believe it to be a part of their culture.

In addition to the practice of beading, there are ceremonies for female genital mutilation (FGM). Nearly 140 million girls around the world are living with the consequences of FGM. While Kenya has banned the practice, there are still some communities that participate in the ceremony. Kenya has created a prosecution unit to stop the mutilation from happening, but some parents take their daughters to more remote regions to have them undergo FGM. It is so integral to some communities that if a young girl does not undergo the practice, she will face stigma and alienation.

There are certain social, political and economic contexts that show the different layers of beliefs in Kenya that contribute to practices like beading and FGM. Kenya fits the description of a patriarchal society, where women are marginalized and dominated by men. The profound gender disparities caused by the patriarchal norms and laws have brought about steady attacks on women’s rights to land and property. Women make up about 80 percent of the workforce, but Kenyan women only hold about 1 percent of land titles in their names. Addressing women’s rights requires strategic interventions at all levels of programming and policymaking. The United Nations Population Fund suggests that the focus be on certain areas that are critical and compromised, like giving women control over their lives and bodies, as well as economic, educational and political empowerment, to encourage women’s empowerment in Kenya.

With these traditional ideas of what a woman’s role should be in Kenya, women are held back from contributing to important development goals. However, the new constitution, passed in 2010, provides methods to address gender equality. Marking a new beginning for women’s empowerment in Kenya, there is a movement to stop excluding women and promote their involvement in every aspect of growth and development in the country.

With the help of USAID, there are plans to create safe societies where women and girls can live free from violence, provide care and treatment services for victims, strengthen women’s access to resources and opportunities to expand economic growth, increase the participation of women in policies at all levels, ensure women have a role in peacebuilding and conflict prevention and narrow the gender gaps in education and learning. Women’s empowerment in Kenya has come a long way and is making progress.

– Chavez Spicer

Photo: Flickr

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Fishing and the Future of Women’s Empowerment in Nepal

In 2017, the Inspirational Women Series sat down with an empowered young woman named Kanchan Amatya for an interview to discuss her impressive achievements. She was born in Nepal, and through her belief that everyone should have an equal chance in life, she earned herself a scholarship to study abroad for an advanced education. By the age of 21, Amatya is now serving as a U.N. Women Global Champion for Women’s Economic Empowerment, is the founder of Sustainable Fish Farming Initiative (SSFI) and is an ambassador to Women Protection Center Nepal.

Sustainable Fish Farming Initiative 

SSFI is a female-owned social enterprise focused on fighting food security problems and poverty in the rural Nepal region. The organization offers tools and education on sustainable aquaculture and works to continue women’s empowerment in Nepal by providing women with access to all the necessary resources. These include training, micro-credit, distribution and market facilitation to allow farmers to harvest their own fish and manage production on their own farm.

Due to global climate change and the current imbalanced social and economic institutions in Nepal, there is a need to implement methods to diversify livelihoods; this holds particularly true for women. The most common form of employment for women in rural areas is in their own household — an unpaid position that cannot provide independent income. In regard to employment outside of the household, women’s jobs appear in planting, weeding and harvesting — all roles where profits are meager.

However, women have proven themselves in these areas. With programs like SSFI, they are able to continue on the journey to self-empowerment and autonomy.

Women and Aquaculture Farming

A 2007 research study by the WorldFish Center, the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science and the Asian Institute of Technology analyzed the introduction of an aquaculture sub-system combined with mixed-crop livestock systems into the Nepalese population and their effects on food access and security, as well as women’s empowerment.

Women who were given the opportunity to own and control a portion of the aquaculture farming system increased their autonomy and ability to make self-decisions within their households and community. The aquaculture farming system is the manifestation of women’s empowerment in Nepal and so far, it is working rather well in improving female independence.

Overall, an introduction of programs such as the ones previously mentioned are powerful in limiting the social and economic burdens faced by women with access to such resources in Nepal. As an added bonus, the aquaculture industry ensures easier and more efficient access to healthy meals for women and their families. After all, the challenges of the day are always easier to manage on a full stomach.

Women like Amatya, who grow up in less economically developed countries such as Nepal, grow up with a dream. In her case, this was a dream made of grand economic and social proportions. She is working every day to break down barriers for rural women and offer empowerment at every step.

The participants of this program now enjoy education, resource access and empowerment through the increase of income and expansion of knowledge. Amatya was originally just one fish swimming in the sea, but now her school of fish and community are growing. It will continue to do so for years to come, and women’s empowerment in Nepal will surface just like the fish they harvest.

– Caysi Simpson

Photo: Flickr

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How Technology is Helping Economies in Developing Countries

The Internet and other advances in communication technology have helped make the spreading of globalization even quicker. For developing countries, access to technology can have many benefits —  one such improvement being the boost of a nation’s economy. Other ways that technology is helping economies in developing countries include reducing the costs of production, encouraging the growth of new business and advancing communication.

An issue that developing countries must bypass is prioritizing technology innovation, not just adapting to technology. Another issue is that the distribution of technology needs to be equal across a country; so far the poor have not been able to have the same amount of access to technology. It is important for organizations to monitor technology and to encourage innovations and job creation in order to solve these issues.

One organization that works to do just that is Broadband for Good, a group that gives internet access to rural areas and encourages programs to utilize the technology in creating progress in communities.

When technology is used correctly it can be extremely helpful in furthering the prosperity of economies. One such example of technology creating a positive impact on the economy is in regard to India — the Self-Employed Women’s Association uses SMS to send agricultural workers messages about commodity prices. This information helps farmers determine the best places to sell their produce. Farmers who participated in this program have said that they have been able to sell their products over wider areas, which has increased their incomes.

Another example, also in India, is the Hand in Hand Partnership (HIHP). The HIHP is an organization that provides women with mobile devices so that they can launch their own tech-driven businesses. The HIHP helps train and provide technical support for these women. By encouraging women to innovate ideas instead of just giving them technology, HIHP is helping to better the economy in a sustainable and long-term way.

Other countries successful in creating businesses are Nigeria, Egypt and Indonesia. 38 percent of these countries’ gross domestic product (GDP) was generated by micro-entrepreneurs. In a 2011 World Bank report, figures showed that small businesses like these create new jobs and generate new ideas — both of which are great for helping economies.

– Deanna Wetmore

Photo: Flickr

Poverty in Rural India: Causes and Measures

poverty in rural IndiaIndia has an overall population of 1.3 million, with 900 million people living in rural areas of the country. While the poverty rate has been significantly reduced due to governmental support, factors such as natural disasters, heavy dependence on agriculture and high birth rates have contributed to the continued poverty in rural India that affects around 300 million people.

Farming in India relies heavily on monsoons that bring rainfall and irrigate the land. This means that erratic weather, cyclones, water shortages and droughts all have a huge impact on agriculture and can cause damage to crops.

Environmental factors are not the only causes of poverty in rural India; societal factors play a large role as well. Many people living in rural areas lack the physical ability to work. Individuals may also face problems such as drug addiction or alcoholism. Other factors that increase the poverty rate include a poor educational system, limited access to medical care, poor or non-existent sex education and a lack of available birth control methods.

One main social issue related to poverty in rural India is the custom of child marriage. The legal age of marriage in India since 1978 has been 21 for men and 18 for women. Despite this, about one-third of global child marriages occur in India, and more than 230 million Indian girls marry before they reach 18 years of age.

In rural India, one-fifth of Indian girls are married before age 16 and give birth to their first child before age 18. Child marriages greatly affect Indian women’s physical and psychological health and result in fewer educational opportunities for younger women. It also increases the demands on food and energy as a result of a growing population.

Solutions to this problem include stricter law enforcement against child marriage and proper education regarding family planning for those living in poor socioeconomic conditions in rural India.

While the “green revolution” emphasized the ownership of private land and tried to fairly distribute this land to all individuals, much of the land in remote areas of India is still held by a small group of upper-status people. Large portions of cultivated land belong to a minority upper social class, which includes rich farmers and landlords, and results in a severely uneven distribution of land. In other words, the majority of people own very little land and as such may have to maintain a feudal relationship with rich landlords. Those not in feudal relationships struggle with a low annual income and often with debt, since the harvests from their lands seldom bring a profit. Other issues such as crop patterns, neglect of crop rotation and poor quality materials and technology also influence poverty in rural India.

Due to the high poverty rate, many rural areas in India now have to depend on loans with relatively high annual interest rates. While this seems like a good solution to the poverty crisis and reduces the immediate pressure of economic needs, in the long run, it will negatively affect these rural areas. Such loans lead to future debts and increase the need for funds to pay back the loans.

Better solutions should be adopted to help relieve financial stresses in rural India, such as a compulsory education allowance and poverty subsidies from the local government.

To sum up, poverty in rural India is caused by many factors. Possible solutions to reduce the poverty rate include stronger surveillance of land, stricter enforcement of the legal marriage age, widespread awareness of birth control, better access to medical resources and increased support for low-income families. The more solutions for poverty, the better the prospects for rural India.

– Xin Gao

Photo: Flickr

How Art is Enriching Freedom of Expression in Pakistan

How Art is Enriching Free Expression in PakistanIn Pakistan, every citizen has the right to freedom of expression. However, this is subject to restriction. Article 19 of the Constitution of the Islamic State of Pakistan (1974) explains:

“Every citizen shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression, and there shall be freedom of the press, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interest of the glory of Islam or the integrity, security or defense of Pakistan or any part thereof friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, [commission of] [sic] or incitement to an offence.”

Censorship is an ongoing practice that often restricts freedom of expression in Pakistan. The 2017 Human Rights Watch World Report expressed concern for political influence by the Pakistani government on the media. Throughout 2016, media outlets were allegedly pressured to circumvent coverage on human rights violations. Terrorist regimes like the Taliban were also known to impact media outlets. According to the report, “many journalists increasingly practice self-censorship, fearing retribution from security forces.”

Since the year 2000, 110 journalists have been killed in Pakistan, only four of which cases have led to convictions. Despite this fact, there are artists throughout the republic ignoring the fear and embracing their passion. Pakistani artists are exercising their right to free expression and challenging the unspoken but palpable restrictions on freedom of expression via their artwork.

Fouzia Saeed, head of Lok Virsa, a Pakistani culture and history museum just outside of Islamabad, explains to Journal & Courier that he sometimes receives death threats. Despite this, Saeed continues to educate the public and provide an outlet for freedom of expression in Pakistan, often hosting poetry and folk music night.

Asia’s largest theater festival is an annual 11-day event hosted in Lahore, Pakistan. The World Performing Arts Festival, organized by Rafi Peerzada, is designed to reaffirm the democratic notions that Pakistan has been striving for since 2013.

The festival features some 90 performing groups. The event often evokes social commentaries, promotes dialogue and represents a celebration of local and global culture. This is an ambitious event that funding and support aren’t exactly there for, as Peerzada laments to say. “We’ve never had a policy for culture,” he says in response to the difficulty of fundraising. The program has never received government funding, and other sources are hesitant to associate their name with the festival, as it is considered “risky.”

When the festival started in 2008, it found itself the target of an attack. Three bombs detonated as the event was reaching full capacity. Some were injured, but luckily no one was killed. “The arts are seen as un-Islamic,” Peerzada explains in an interview with Christian Science Monitor.

Though artists, galleries, festivals and other forms of artistic expression are often targets of forced silence, this group collectively remains resilient.

“It feels like we are closer to that than a year ago, but we’re certainly not close to being all the way there. What appears to be a country divided is not that divided at all — it is just scared,” Peerzada says. In the transition to democracy and modernization, art plays a key role in strengthening freedom of expression in Pakistan.

– Sloan Bousselaire

Photo: Flickr

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Addressing the Issue of Women’s Empowerment in Turkey

TurkeyThe country of Turkey is located in between the European and Asian continents. Technically, the nation belongs to both continents, with 95 percent of Turkey’s landmass geographically located in Asia and the other five percent in Europe. This has led the Republic of Turkey to have evolved cultural influences from both the European lifestyle and the Asian way of life.

Even so, Turkey is a nation still heavily based upon tradition. Based on traditional values, women within the Turkish society rarely work outside the home or with men they are not related to. High-status job positions in almost all fields, except domestic, are taken by men, whilst the women are expected to stay at home mothers and wives.

Over the past several decades, though, women’s empowerment in Turkey has faced a turning point. Turkish women can now work as bankers, teachers, lawyers, engineers and more. A small but encouraging number of women even work as politicians. In spite of this being the case, women in Turkey still are not seen as equals to men. According to U.N. Women, women in Turkey make approximately 44 percent of the earnings that men make.

In the majority of households, the man has more power than the woman. The woman is expected to limit herself by choosing to take on a motherly role for the children, and being a dedicated and loving wife to her husband, even when faced with violence. As recorded by the National Domestic Violence survey, up to 38 percent of married Turkish women had suffered abuse from their husbands in 2014.

As mentioned before, the perception of women in Turkey is slowly starting to change. Throughout the 2000s, the Turkish government has adopted multiple pieces of legislation aimed at protecting women from domestic violence and eradicating gender-based discrimination. However, even though laws have been passed, the implementation and enforcement of such laws has not been as successful.

Gender equality is not yet a reality in the country, but women’s empowerment in Turkey has grown in the past few years. In fact, there is a United Nations campaign focused solely on improving the lives of women in the Western Balkans and Turkey. Initiatives, such as the three-year program Implementing Norms, Changing Minds, fight to end violence and discrimination against women, giving particular attention to women belonging to the most disadvantaged groups.

Furthermore, through the More and Better Jobs for Women project, the International Labour Organization (ILO) fights to create awareness about women’s employment opportunities. Developing women’s employment and creating decent work opportunities are some of the goals undertaken by the organization. By better serving the women of Turkey, the ILO hopes to increase the number of women employed in the labor force, only 26.7 percent of the female population as of 2014.

Turkey is on its way to becoming a country that values gender equality and forwards women’s empowerment. NGOs bring new awareness every day to the nation, and women’s empowerment in Turkey is slowly but surely becoming a reality.

– Paula Gibson

Photo: Flickr

Five of the Most Prominent Development Projects in Brazil

Development Projects in BrazilDevelopment projects in Brazil are creating change and improving the large South American nation. Although numerous efforts are being made to improve quality of life, here are the 5 most prevalent development projects in Brazil occurring today.

1. On October 20, 2017, Paraiba Sustainable Rural Development was approved.

Over the next five years (the project closes on the 15th of December, 2023), this project aims to improve access to water, reduce agro-climatic vulnerability, and increase access to markets for the inhabitants of rural Paraiba. Paraiba is a state of Brazil, located on the coast in the Brazilian northeast. It is most populated along the coast and becomes more rural as one goes inland.

The most important aspects of this project will be its construction and rehabilitation of piped and non-piped water systems, and its construction of desalinization facilities and rainwater harvesting systems for individual households. These projects will directly impact and improve access to clean water for rural inhabitants of Paraiba. Unfortunately, it’s estimated that the project will cost $80 million.

2. Another development project in Brazil is the Fortaleza Sustainable Urban Development Project.

Approved on April 28, 2017, the Fortaleza Sustainable Urban Development Project aims to strengthen land use planning in the Municipality of Fortaleza and to “enhance the urban environment and rehabilitate public spaces.”

Included in the project’s goals of rehabilitating public spaces are restoring Rachel de Queiroz Park, and reducing point-source pollution along the Vertente Maritima — the seaside of Fortaleza, the capital of Caera in northeastern Brazil. By improving the environment by reducing pollution and rehabilitating green spaces, the city will be a healthier space for its inhabitants, eventually leading to a higher quality of life.

3. A third of the development projects in Brazil is the Bolsa Familia social assistance program.

Bolsa-Familia is an older project — it began in 2003 — that serves as an example of a project that successfully fights against poverty. The program functions by giving poor families small cash transfers in exchange for keeping their children in school and attending preventive healthcare visits. About 50 million people benefit from Bolsa-Familia (1 in 4 Brazilians) and the project was responsible for reducing poverty in Brazil by 28 percent from 2002 to 2012.

Additionally, the poor in Brazil have gained greater autonomy through Bolsa-Familia, particularly women who make up about 90 percent of the beneficiaries. By helping families out of poverty, Bolsa-Familia gives the families’ children a greater chance of bettering themselves and their job prospects, and not requiring a program like Bolsa-Familia when they have their own families.

4. Government-invested research through institutions such as the Embrapa Institute has helped support agricultural development in Brazil. 

Small family farms have benefitted from this research in addition to large agribusinesses. The growth in productivity and wealth for small family farms is extremely important for agricultural development in Brazil, as family farms account for 84 percent of Brazilian farms and 24 percent of Brazilian farmland.

5. Another of the development projects in Brazil focuses on societal growth and inclusion– the Piaui Pillars of Growth and Social Inclusion Project for Brazil.

Two of the main focuses of the Piaui Pillars of Growth and Social Inclusion Project for Brazil are to reduce the dropout rate of students in public secondary school and to increase healthcare access for people with chronic diseases; the Piaui Project began in 2015 and will close in 2020.

By focusing on these areas, the project hones in on human development in Brazil, which aids in increasing the quality of life and chances of success for Brazilians. Ensuring healthcare and education for all provides greater equality of chance and helps those struggling to not have to spend as much time and money taking care of issues outside of their control — issues like chronic diseases.

Projects like these five not only improve development in Brazil by the ways outlined in their plans, but also through the research, planning, and implementation that goes into enacting them. All of these stages require people, such as researches and project managers; thus, more jobs are created, also helping to improve development.

A country cannot go wrong by implementing projects for the development of its people, particularly those of the lowest economic brackets. By this measure, Brazil is certainly doing right.

– Mary Kate Luft

Photo: Flickr