When Abeer Ghonimi walks into a field in northwest Syria, she takes her life into her own hands. A mother, researcher and Arabic literature graduate, Ghonimi is one of a small but growing number of women joining Syria’s demining effort, work that is not just dangerous but essential for millions of people who cannot yet safely return home.
More than a decade of civil war has left Syria among the most heavily contaminated countries on earth. Clearing that contamination has become one of the most urgent tasks of post-conflict recovery, and women like Ghonimi are increasingly part of the workforce doing it.
A Country Riddled With Hidden Dangers
Syria has recorded the highest or second-highest number of landmine casualties in the world for several years running. In 2023, the country recorded 933 casualties from mines and explosive remnants of war, more than any other country. In 2022, the figure was 834, also a global high. Casualties surged sharply after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December 2024, as millions of displaced Syrians began moving back to areas that had been closed off for years. Between Dec. 8, 2024 and March 25, 2025, the International Committee of the Red Cross recorded 748 casualties from mines and explosive remnants. Of those, 500 came in the first three months of 2025 alone, more than half the total recorded in all of 2024.
The scale of contamination is significant. According to the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), approximately 15.4 million people in Syria, more than 65% of the population, live at risk from unexploded ordnance, including landmines, improvised explosive devices and the remnants of years of aerial and artillery bombardment.
The human cost is matched by an economic one. Contaminated farmland cannot be planted. Roads cannot be repaired. Schools and water infrastructure sit idle because clearing them first requires funding and personnel that remain in short supply. One estimate put the cost of clearing northeast Syria alone at more than $190 million. Experts have warned that at current resource levels, it could take 25 to 40 years to address Syria’s contamination fully.
Training Local Deminers and the Inclusion of Women
Humanitarian organizations are expanding training programs to build local capacity. France-based Humanity and Inclusion, formerly Handicap International, concluded a three-week intensive course in early February 2025, based out of its Hama office and focused on northwestern Syria. The training team included two instructors, 12 trainees, 10 working deminers, a deputy team leader and a team leader. Participants learned to identify landmines and unexploded ordnance, follow safety protocols and respond to threats in their own communities, with classroom instruction combined with practical fieldwork in affected areas, including Idlib and Aleppo.
Those efforts are beginning to show results. According to UNMAS, cross-border mine action partners such as Humanity & Inclusion conducted 1,500 clearance operations between the fall of Assad and December 2025, disposing of more than 2,000 items of unexploded ordnance. During the same period, 141 minefields and 450 confirmed hazardous areas were identified across Idlib, Aleppo, Hama, Deir Ezzor and Latakia. Risk education has also expanded: 930 sessions were delivered to around 17,000 people in northwest Syria during the same period.
Separately, MAG International’s teams in northeast Syria have helped restore water supplies, roads, agricultural land and schools that had been blocked by contamination, enabling displaced communities to return.
HALO Trust deminers, including women such as 32-year-old Lama Haj Kaddour, are now working across the country following the end of the Assad era, which opened up regions that were previously inaccessible to civilian demining organizations.
Why Women’s Involvement Matters
Women remain underrepresented in Syria’s demining workforce, but their participation is growing. The recent Humanity and Inclusion cohort included two female trainees drawn directly from local communities. Among them was Ghonimi, who had worked for humanitarian causes since 2017 and trained community members to recognize the risks of explosive remnants before joining a clearance team herself.
Her motivation is personal as much as professional. “At any moment, I may encounter unexploded ordnance,” she told Arab News from Idlib. “Or my son could be exposed to remnants of war.” That fear, she said, drove her to learn how to respond and to pass that knowledge on. While working in Taftanaz, northeast of Idlib, a participant in one of her awareness sessions used what he had learned to stop a neighbor from picking up a suspicious object, a potentially life-saving intervention that illustrates how local knowledge, once shared, multiplies.
The practical case for including women is well established. In communities across Syria where conservative social norms restrict interaction between unrelated men and women, female deminers and risk education officers can access households and speak with women and children in ways that male colleagues often cannot. Those groups are among the most vulnerable to accidents, particularly children who may encounter or handle unfamiliar objects. UNICEF has estimated that at least 422,000 incidents involving unexploded ordnance have been reported across Syria since 2011 and that roughly half involved child casualties.
A Broader Push for Women’s Inclusion
The growing presence of women in demining is part of a wider effort to ensure Syria’s recovery is not rebuilt along the same exclusionary lines as before. Women have been largely sidelined in the country’s political transition: when elections were held in October 2025, just six women won seats in the 119-member transitional parliament. Women’s groups have described their roles in many institutions as symbolic rather than substantive.
In that context, technical roles like demining carry significance beyond the immediate task. Humanitarian frameworks increasingly recognize that gender inclusion improves outcomes in post-conflict recovery, not as an add-on, but because diverse teams reach more of the affected population and build stronger local ownership of the recovery process. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Syria’s Gender Equality Strategy for 2026 reflects this thinking, aiming to embed women’s agency across economic, social and institutional recovery programs.
For Ghonimi, the logic is straightforward. “There is no difference between men and women in their ability to contribute,” she said. “The war in Syria has shown that women play an essential role in supporting their communities.”
Looking Ahead
Syria’s demining problem is vast, and the resources dedicated to solving it remain far short of what is needed. Germany, one of the key funders of humanitarian demining, cut its relevant budget by more than half in 2025. U.S. support through USAID, which had funded clearance work in northeast Syria, was also cut back. Organisations like HALO Trust and MAG International are working to expand capacity now that the fall of Assad has opened access to previously restricted areas, but experts warn that without sustained international funding, progress will remain painfully slow.
Every cleared field, road or neighborhood returned to safe use represents families able to come home, crops that can be planted and schools that can reopen. As the country’s recovery gathers pace, the women joining Syria’s demining teams are not just clearing land — they are helping to make that recovery possible.
– Andrew Geddes
Andrew is based in Edinburgh, UK and focuses on Global Health and Politics for The Borgen Project.
Photo: Flickr
Women Join Syria’s Demining Effort
More than a decade of civil war has left Syria among the most heavily contaminated countries on earth. Clearing that contamination has become one of the most urgent tasks of post-conflict recovery, and women like Ghonimi are increasingly part of the workforce doing it.
A Country Riddled With Hidden Dangers
Syria has recorded the highest or second-highest number of landmine casualties in the world for several years running. In 2023, the country recorded 933 casualties from mines and explosive remnants of war, more than any other country. In 2022, the figure was 834, also a global high. Casualties surged sharply after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December 2024, as millions of displaced Syrians began moving back to areas that had been closed off for years. Between Dec. 8, 2024 and March 25, 2025, the International Committee of the Red Cross recorded 748 casualties from mines and explosive remnants. Of those, 500 came in the first three months of 2025 alone, more than half the total recorded in all of 2024.
The scale of contamination is significant. According to the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), approximately 15.4 million people in Syria, more than 65% of the population, live at risk from unexploded ordnance, including landmines, improvised explosive devices and the remnants of years of aerial and artillery bombardment.
The human cost is matched by an economic one. Contaminated farmland cannot be planted. Roads cannot be repaired. Schools and water infrastructure sit idle because clearing them first requires funding and personnel that remain in short supply. One estimate put the cost of clearing northeast Syria alone at more than $190 million. Experts have warned that at current resource levels, it could take 25 to 40 years to address Syria’s contamination fully.
Training Local Deminers and the Inclusion of Women
Humanitarian organizations are expanding training programs to build local capacity. France-based Humanity and Inclusion, formerly Handicap International, concluded a three-week intensive course in early February 2025, based out of its Hama office and focused on northwestern Syria. The training team included two instructors, 12 trainees, 10 working deminers, a deputy team leader and a team leader. Participants learned to identify landmines and unexploded ordnance, follow safety protocols and respond to threats in their own communities, with classroom instruction combined with practical fieldwork in affected areas, including Idlib and Aleppo.
Those efforts are beginning to show results. According to UNMAS, cross-border mine action partners such as Humanity & Inclusion conducted 1,500 clearance operations between the fall of Assad and December 2025, disposing of more than 2,000 items of unexploded ordnance. During the same period, 141 minefields and 450 confirmed hazardous areas were identified across Idlib, Aleppo, Hama, Deir Ezzor and Latakia. Risk education has also expanded: 930 sessions were delivered to around 17,000 people in northwest Syria during the same period.
Separately, MAG International’s teams in northeast Syria have helped restore water supplies, roads, agricultural land and schools that had been blocked by contamination, enabling displaced communities to return.
HALO Trust deminers, including women such as 32-year-old Lama Haj Kaddour, are now working across the country following the end of the Assad era, which opened up regions that were previously inaccessible to civilian demining organizations.
Why Women’s Involvement Matters
Women remain underrepresented in Syria’s demining workforce, but their participation is growing. The recent Humanity and Inclusion cohort included two female trainees drawn directly from local communities. Among them was Ghonimi, who had worked for humanitarian causes since 2017 and trained community members to recognize the risks of explosive remnants before joining a clearance team herself.
Her motivation is personal as much as professional. “At any moment, I may encounter unexploded ordnance,” she told Arab News from Idlib. “Or my son could be exposed to remnants of war.” That fear, she said, drove her to learn how to respond and to pass that knowledge on. While working in Taftanaz, northeast of Idlib, a participant in one of her awareness sessions used what he had learned to stop a neighbor from picking up a suspicious object, a potentially life-saving intervention that illustrates how local knowledge, once shared, multiplies.
The practical case for including women is well established. In communities across Syria where conservative social norms restrict interaction between unrelated men and women, female deminers and risk education officers can access households and speak with women and children in ways that male colleagues often cannot. Those groups are among the most vulnerable to accidents, particularly children who may encounter or handle unfamiliar objects. UNICEF has estimated that at least 422,000 incidents involving unexploded ordnance have been reported across Syria since 2011 and that roughly half involved child casualties.
A Broader Push for Women’s Inclusion
The growing presence of women in demining is part of a wider effort to ensure Syria’s recovery is not rebuilt along the same exclusionary lines as before. Women have been largely sidelined in the country’s political transition: when elections were held in October 2025, just six women won seats in the 119-member transitional parliament. Women’s groups have described their roles in many institutions as symbolic rather than substantive.
In that context, technical roles like demining carry significance beyond the immediate task. Humanitarian frameworks increasingly recognize that gender inclusion improves outcomes in post-conflict recovery, not as an add-on, but because diverse teams reach more of the affected population and build stronger local ownership of the recovery process. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Syria’s Gender Equality Strategy for 2026 reflects this thinking, aiming to embed women’s agency across economic, social and institutional recovery programs.
For Ghonimi, the logic is straightforward. “There is no difference between men and women in their ability to contribute,” she said. “The war in Syria has shown that women play an essential role in supporting their communities.”
Looking Ahead
Syria’s demining problem is vast, and the resources dedicated to solving it remain far short of what is needed. Germany, one of the key funders of humanitarian demining, cut its relevant budget by more than half in 2025. U.S. support through USAID, which had funded clearance work in northeast Syria, was also cut back. Organisations like HALO Trust and MAG International are working to expand capacity now that the fall of Assad has opened access to previously restricted areas, but experts warn that without sustained international funding, progress will remain painfully slow.
Every cleared field, road or neighborhood returned to safe use represents families able to come home, crops that can be planted and schools that can reopen. As the country’s recovery gathers pace, the women joining Syria’s demining teams are not just clearing land — they are helping to make that recovery possible.
– Andrew Geddes
Photo: Flickr
How Solar-Powered Irrigation Supports Farmers in Northern Ghana
Challenges Facing Agriculture in Northern Ghana
In northern Ghana, agriculture is a primary source of income for many households. However, farming is often heavily dependent on seasonal rainfall, making it difficult for farmers to maintain consistent crop yields. Periods of drought or irregular rainfall can significantly reduce production, leading to food insecurity and financial instability.
Without reliable irrigation, many farmers are limited to a single growing season each year, thereby restricting both productivity and income opportunities. For many farmers, the lack of irrigation also creates financial barriers, as fuel-powered pumps are often too expensive to operate. This forces smallholder farmers to rely on rain-fed agriculture, limiting their ability to farm year-round.
Solar-Powered Irrigation as a Solution
To address these challenges, solar-powered irrigation systems are being introduced as sustainable, cost-effective solutions in Ghana. These systems use solar panels to power water pumps, allowing farmers to access water without relying on expensive fuel. Evidence from Ghana shows that these systems have “led to greater yields, increased income for farmers and a generally improved food security situation.”
By reducing dependence on diesel pumps, these systems also lower operational costs and provide a more sustainable alternative for smallholder farmers. As a result, they provide a reliable and long-term solution to the challenges facing agriculture in northern Ghana. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), “the intervention is not only providing them more income, but it is also helping to improve the nutrition of their households because of the increased yields and the ability to produce food crops throughout the year.”
It emphasizes the contrast between traditional challenges and the benefits of improved irrigation systems.
Increasing Productivity and Income
Access to reliable irrigation has significantly improved agricultural productivity in northern Ghana. In one example, a farmer supported by a UNDP initiative expanded production from one harvest per year to multiple growing cycles, increasing both yields and income. The impact of solar-powered irrigation on farmers in northern Ghana is also reflected in broader academic findings.
As stated in the study “Economic and Food Security Effects of Small-Scale Irrigation Technologies in Northern Ghana,” “Small-scale irrigation (SSI) technologies can be useful not only to increase crop productivity and income but also as a viable adaptation practice to climate variability.” The same study further explains that adoption of SSI technologies can lead to substantial economic gains. Results show that “adoption of the SSI technologies could increase the net farm profit by 154%–608% against the baseline depending on the ‘crop type – SSI technology’ combination.”
Building Resilient Communities
Beyond individual farms, solar-powered irrigation contributes to broader social resilience. By stabilizing food production, these systems reduce vulnerability to economic shocks and seasonal shortages. They also create employment opportunities and support local economies.
Programs supporting solar irrigation in Ghana often include training and technical assistance to help farmers effectively use and maintain the systems. As these initiatives expand, they have the potential to reach more communities and further reduce poverty.
Conclusion
Solar-powered irrigation offers a practical and sustainable solution to agricultural challenges in northern Ghana. By increasing crop yields, improving food security and reducing costs, these systems play a key role in supporting farmers and strengthening rural economies. Continued investment in solar irrigation technology could further expand its impact and help reduce poverty across vulnerable communities.
– Grelby Santos
Photo: Unsplash
How Aid Helped To End Poverty in Niue
Free Association Agreement With New Zealand
The backbone of Niue’s economic stability lies in its unique Free Association agreement with New Zealand, which provides up to 90% of Niue’s Official Development Finance. This relationship gives the island significant financial aid and administrative support, which the local government channels into essential social infrastructure. Rather than allowing volatile market forces to dictate economic outcomes, Niue uses this funding to provide universal health care, free education and strong social security for the elderly and vulnerable.
By investing in these programs at the source, the island helps prevent the cycles of debt and health-related crises that often trap families in poverty.
The Niue Renewable Energy Project
New Zealand’s involvement extends beyond critical infrastructure projects that lower living costs and improve self-sufficiency. A key example is the Niue Renewable Energy project, a $20.5 million investment by the New Zealand government scheduled for completion in mid-2026. Featuring a large solar array and battery storage system, the project aims to meet 80% of Niue’s energy needs.
By reducing Niue’s reliance on expensive imported diesel, the investment can lower household utility costs and free government funds for additional social welfare programs. This aid-for-trade and infrastructure model helps create long-term stability rather than short-term relief, demonstrating the effectiveness of international aid. As of 2025, aid remained a dominant force in Niue’s economy, at 70%.
The country continues to rely heavily on grants, particularly from New Zealand, which has constitutional obligations to provide necessary economic and administrative assistance.
Community Support Systems
While New Zealand provides most of the aid, Niue’s strong culture of mutual support serves as a critical safety net. The island’s social framework emphasizes well-being and community prosperity, while its extended family system plays a central protective role. On the ground, Niue functions through a culture of collective responsibility in which family units help ensure that no one lacks food or shelter.
Ultimately, Niue demonstrates that eliminating poverty requires both a top-down approach from a committed partner like New Zealand and the bottom-up resilience of a united community. The island’s success shows that proactive governance and a commitment to mutual support can turn a global crisis into a solvable challenge. Niue stands as a powerful example of what is possible when foreign aid is directed toward people-centered social development.
It demonstrates that aid can have a positive, productive impact on communities isolated thousands of miles from others.
– Haydn Goodboy
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
4 Ways Kuwait Vision 2035 Supports Global Poverty Reduction
Development Financing Through the Kuwait Fund
Infrastructure in developing countries is sorely lacking, restricting economies and increasing health risks across regions. In many parts of the developing world, hundreds of millions of people still lack reliable electricity, while billions remain without consistent access to transportation networks or digital connectivity, limiting access to jobs, health care and education. Infrastructure planning in the MENA region often stalls due to insufficient funding.
Kuwait addresses this gap through the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED). The KFAED provides concessional loans and grants to finance infrastructure projects in developing countries, including transportation, water systems and energy access. Further, the Kuwait Vision 2035 initiative builds on Kuwait’s use of the Arab Economic Development Fund.
Domestic Infrastructure and Regional Trade Expansion
Roughly 90% of Kuwait’s government revenue and 95% of its exports are due to its heavy dependence on oil. This puts the country in a vulnerable position, as it must continuously adjust to the volatile shifts in global energy demand. To diversify the economy and position the country as a regional commercial hub, part of Kuwait Vision 2035 focuses on expanding domestic funding for more than 90 projects.
This includes expanding ports such as Mubarak al Kabeer and national rail and projects such as Silk City, a massive mixed-use area serving as a global hub for trade and finance. By expanding infrastructure and funding for these projects, Kuwait increases economic opportunity for neighboring countries, many of which are still developing.
Economic Diversification and Foreign Investment Growth
While Kuwait has made progress in improving its living standards, overdependence on oil revenue has limited economic diversification. Home to the seventh-largest oil reserves in the world, oil allows the state to fund a large public sector in which a staggering 80% to 90% of Kuwaiti nationals are employed.
To address overdependence on oil, Kuwait Vision 2035 promotes private-sector involvement by encouraging public-private partnerships to fund large projects. These partnerships support private-sector industrial development and bring additional funding to public projects, reducing reliance on oil revenues. By expanding its private sector, Kuwait attracts foreign investment and regional economic activity.
Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response
As of 2026, the MENA region is home to more than 24 million people affected by conflict-driven displacement, including millions of refugees. To address the humanitarian crisis, Kuwait has strengthened its global role through the “Global Positioning” pillar of Kuwait Vision 2035, which emphasizes international cooperation and humanitarian leadership. This includes continued financial support for refugee assistance, food security and emergency relief efforts in conflict-affected regions, often in coordination with the United Nations.
Final Remarks
As Kuwait continues to implement Kuwait Vision 2035, the initiative demonstrates how economic strategy can extend beyond a country’s domestic growth to influence global poverty reduction. Through development financing, infrastructure investment, economic diversification and humanitarian aid, Kuwait is expanding its role in addressing the conditions that drive poverty in developing regions.
– Kale Overton
Photo: Unsplash
SDG 6 in Iran Faces Rising Pressure as Water Crisis Deepens
Recent SDG 6 data show Iran has improved access to drinking water, but this does not capture the whole situation. The country still faces challenges such as water stress, high agricultural demand and limited freshwater resources.
Water Stress Builds
The challenges for SDG 6 in Iran have grown over the years because of drought, groundwater loss, inefficient irrigation and more demand from cities and industry. Recent reports highlight growing concerns about lower rainfall and declining reservoir levels, especially near Tehran and other populated areas.
Much of Iran is naturally arid or semi-arid, which makes the problem harder to solve. When dry conditions persist, aquifers and reservoirs recover slowly, and the effects are felt across homes, farms and local economies.
Agriculture remains the biggest pressure point. It accounts for the majority of water use in Iran, meaning that SDG 6 in Iran is not only about household access to clean water but also about irrigation, food production and long-term water sustainability.
Unequal Impacts
The effects of water stress are not felt evenly. Rural communities, low-income households and people living in marginalized provinces often face the greatest hardship when supplies tighten. In practice, that can mean inconsistent access to water, more time spent securing basic needs and weaker sanitation conditions.
A 2023 statement on SDG 6 in Iran warned that water policymaking has often lacked inclusion, leaving some communities with less influence over the decisions that shape access to water. Water policy is not only a technical issue but also a question of who benefits when scarce resources are divided.
For vulnerable families, water shortages make it harder to stay clean, raise health risks and add stress to households already facing financial difficulties. This shows how SDG 6 in Iran is linked to reducing poverty, improving health and maintaining social stability.
Signs of Progress
Despite the scale of the challenge, there are signs that progress is possible. UNICEF reported in 2024 that it improved access to safe water in flood-affected areas of Iran, showing that emergency and recovery efforts can help restore essential services when support is available.
UNICEF’s global annual results for 2024 also point to the kind of impact water and sanitation programs can have. Worldwide, 33.3 million people gained access to safe water, 18 million gained access to basic sanitation and 21 million gained access to basic hand hygiene. Those are global figures, but they demonstrate that progress on water access is achievable when governments and aid agencies invest in the right systems.
Lasting progress for SDG 6 in Iran will require better water management, more efficient farming and improved wastewater planning to protect future supplies.
Looking Ahead
The most realistic path forward for SDG 6 in Iran is to use existing water more efficiently. Smarter irrigation, groundwater protection and wider wastewater reuse could reduce pressure on drinking water systems while helping communities stay resilient during dry periods.
Iran also needs better coordination between different sectors. Water policy is connected to food production, urban growth and environmental management, since all of these affect how much water is available and who receives it. The U.N.’s SDG 6 plan highlights the need for this kind of coordinated planning, because single solutions rarely address water insecurity on their own.
For families living with shortages, SDG 6 in Iran is not an abstract development target. It is about whether children can drink safely, whether households can maintain basic hygiene and whether communities can build a more stable future. Progress on SDG 6 in Iran remains a priority, and even modest reforms could have a meaningful impact on daily life.
– Niaz Youssefian
Photo: Flickr
Food Insecurity in Nigeria and Okra’s Value
Okra
One food that is heavily relied on in Nigeria is okra. Sometimes called “lady’s finger,” it is native to Africa and is used in many Nigerian cultural dishes. “Of what I have seen in West Africa, okra is most commonly found in the home garden or closer horticultural patches that are managed rather than large-scale cereal production systems, though it can be intercropped,” says Laurajean Lewis, the global director of genetic resources at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico, in an interview with The Borgen Project.
“Okra is not a cereal. It is typically eaten green and you are generally harvesting the seed pods. Sometimes they are cut up and dried, then reconstituted later. They’re from the same plant family as hibiscus, just different species. The flowers of okra are harvested for tea,” Lewis shared.
How Better Okra Breeding Could Boost Nigerian Farmers
The African Vegetable Breeding Consortium (AVBC) is working with farmers in West Africa to explore how okra can be better positioned for the market. Okra is already highly valued in West African markets for its role in regional cuisine, but expanding its potential could increase its global appeal. The AVBC also supports vegetable breeding and crossbreeding different okra varieties could further strengthen the crop’s market potential.
Despite serving as an important source of nutrition for many people, okra has far less monetary value than traditional cash crops such as corn, rice and wheat. However, some scientists are working to improve okra’s marketability by focusing on one of its most distinctive traits: its sliminess. When cooked, okra produces mucilage, which is made primarily of pectin, a substance found in the cell walls of fruits and vegetables.
Pectin is commonly used as a thickener and stabilizer in food processing, as well as a dissolvable additive in pharmaceuticals that target the colon. Globally, pectin is highly valuable and is typically extracted from citrus peels such as oranges and lemons. Researchers suggest that okra could serve as an alternative source of pectin, particularly in West Africa, where it is widely grown and used.
This could be especially relevant for regional chocolate production, as Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire produce more than half of the world’s cocoa. Reducing reliance on imported pectin could help lower costs and improve supply efficiency for manufacturers in the region.
Final Remarks
Food insecurity in Nigeria remains a persistent challenge. However, with support from AVBC, okra has the potential to evolve from a subsistence crop into a viable cash crop that can support local farmers.
– Eddie Hofmann
Photo: Pexels
Seoul Learn: Education Reducing Poverty in South Korea
However, education in South Korea is very competitive. Additionally, economic differences among students exacerbate the situation. Students from low-income households do not have access to higher education. This leads to an educational gap between them and students who are financially better off. Hence, the difference in the opportunities available in the job market. Therefore, education intertwines with poverty in South Korea. In other words, it leads to generational poverty. This is where the technological education program named “Seoul Learn” enters the equation.
What is the “Seoul Learn?”
Launched in August 2021, “Seoul Learn” is a project that aims to address and improve the issue of educational inequality. This program recognizes the distinction in educational opportunities, as lower-class students come at a disadvantage.
Due to their socio-economic situation, these students experience difficulties in acquiring access to educational resources. “Seoul Learn” highlights that this results in generational poverty. This program emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic as the educational inequalities broadened. It intends to prevent inequality between students and make education equal for all.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) aspires to complete three distinct goals:
A Fair City of Education
The first step that SMG completed was ensuring that the underprivileged students obtain devices to use for their studies. For example, tablets or computers to work on. Additionally, the government and the administration of education provided reliable internet services.
Interestingly, in recent years, the mayor of Seoul Oh Sehoon announced the “Seoul Run 3.0 Promotion Plan.” The project then made some changes in order to expand the eligibility of the recipients. The eligibility criteria were upgraded from households with nearly 60% of the median income to 80%. And thus, expanding the circle of targeted people, like the youth from the local children’s centers.
Research states that the number of students who can benefit from this upgrade increases from nearly 120,000 to 170,000.
In addition, entering this program begins with a qualification test conducted online. Following the completion of this quiz, students from vulnerable groups can thus join the community of “Seoul Learn.”
Within the project, there are significant objectives, such as eliminating the burden of private school expenses. The issue is that only private schools offer private content. However, with “Seoul Learn”, students from vulnerable groups then have the opportunity to acquire access to more advanced education.
A Sustainable City of Education
In 2025, an article reported how the project turned into a student-customized educational platform. New learning services were included in the program that have strengthened it. They are designed to better accommodate the students’ needs. Such learning services include:
An Innovative City of Education
The reorganization called “Seoul Run 3.0 Promotion Plan” focused on strengthening career dedication as well as the incorporation of AI in this platform. With the 2026 academic year, “Seoul Learn” planned to implement an AI system through the program. It will focus on how the members respond to the platform, and thus offer “customized counseling and career exploration.” The services incorporated, like ChatGPT and Gemini, allow the use of features that assist the students’ learning. For example, creating practice tests, image/video generation, lists of English vocabulary, and AI Q&A. Moreover, “Seoul Learn” doesn’t only concentrate on helping students improve their grades, but it also encourages them to plan their lives based on their developing abilities, invoking hope in students.
To Conclude
“Seoul Learn” aims to improve the situation of education and poverty at once in South Korea. This further demonstrates how “Seoul Learn” works towards helping students from low-income households to evaluate their potential fairly, just like any other student. This gives them a better chance of acquiring valuable employment in the competitive job market. And thus, poverty in South Korea is reduced through the mission of technological education.
– Lara Ibrahim
Photo: Flickr
The Reality of Immigrant Credential Recognition in Canada
Many highly trained immigrants arrive in Canada expecting to continue the same jobs they were trained for in their home country. However, upon arrival, they face unexpected challenges. Immigrant credential recognition is not assured in Canada. This is what happened to Salem.
Barriers in Canada’s current credential recognition system mean many immigrants cannot work in the fields for which they were trained before coming to the country. This system failure has adverse effects on individuals, the workforce and the broader economy. Salem’s story is not unique.
Data from Statistics Canada shows that only 44% of people who immigrated to Canada in the last decade work in jobs that match their training.
How Immigrant Recognition Works in Canada
In Canada, immigrant credential recognition is the process of evaluating education and professional qualifications received outside Canada. A British Columbia-based website describes it as a program “funded by the Federal Government of Canada to help Skilled Newcomers get back into their professional fields or alternative related career fields.”
The immigrant credential recognition system is complex and decentralized. Although the federal government supports the integration of newcomers into the workforce, provincial regulatory bodies control licensing. This creates an inconsistent, fragmented system. Depending on provincial regulations, immigrants may need additional exams, Canadian work experience, bridging programs or further education before they can practice in their fields, particularly in health care, engineering and teaching.
Salem’s goal was to become an English teacher. He had nearly finished his university education in Syria and assumed he could complete it in Canada. This didn’t happen. He was told he needed to complete four years of high school to be eligible to apply to a university education program. None of his courses at a Syrian university was recognized.
“That’s too much! It’s going to take me forever to do that. So, I decided, no, I’m going to start something new and related to helping youth and young kids at the same time,” he told The Borgen Project in an interview.
Barriers Affecting Immigrants in Canada
Systemic barriers, as those Salem faced, delay and even prevent the recognition of immigrants’ credentials. As in Salem’s situation, it can take years for an immigrant to pass the required regulatory exams or meet provincial licensing requirements. Immigrants must also compete with local candidates for jobs regardless of their work experience from their countries of origin.
These barriers result in social and economic consequences: first and foremost, underemployment. Data from the 2021 census shows that more than 25% of immigrants with foreign degrees worked in jobs that required only a high school diploma or less, compared with 10.6% among Canadian-educated workers. Financial consequences for underemployed immigrants include frustration, loss of professional identity and lack of career advancement.
Canada recruits skilled immigrant workers but cannot fully utilize their experience. This means that, despite the many talented immigrants entering the country, sectors such as health care, skilled trades and engineering still face shortages. These shortages ultimately affect the entire Canadian population in the long term.
Salem chose not to pursue the eight years of training required to obtain his education degree. Instead, he found a related job working with children and youth through Child and Family Services. He plans to pursue a degree in social work through an online program at the University of Victoria.
“I think I was just lucky that I had the chance to find a path that was connected to what I know back home. I… was supported by the Manitoba Jobs and Employment Organization… I was open to anything I could find here. So that helped me, but at the same time, I didn’t do what I wanted to do before, teaching,” he said.
The Cost of Overqualification for Immigrants in Canada
Overqualified workers in the workplace often have lower productivity and less job satisfaction. Highly educated immigrants are more likely to be overqualified than Canadian-born workers. A study by the C.D. Howe Institute found that 22% of family-class immigrants and 19% of refugees are overqualified, compared to 16% of economic immigrants.
Because of barriers in the immigrant credential recognition system and language difficulties, immigrants tend to enter the workforce and advance more slowly in their careers than Canadian-born workers. In fact, 40%–44% of immigrants say these challenges are the main reasons for their slower career progress.
Underutilizing immigrants’ skills carries significant economic consequences for Canada. According to Generation1.ca, underemployment of immigrants results in a minimum annual loss of $12.7 billion in earnings for employers. In addition, the Government of Canada has calculated that immigrant underemployment results in a $50 billion loss in GDP, equivalent to 2.5% of the economy.
Closing Remarks
Canada’s immigration policy is contradictory: it selects skilled immigrants but limits their ability to use those skills. Despite efforts to improve foreign credential recognition, structural and interprovincial challenges remain. Immigrants need better pre-arrival guidance on licensing and streamlined regulatory systems. When successful, skilled immigrants make valuable contributions to research, entrepreneurship and technology.
Salem came to Canada hoping to become a teacher. However, like many skilled newcomers, he was forced to change course when his credentials weren’t recognized. His story reflects a broader systemic problem: a complex, fragmented process that prevents immigrants from working at their full potential, despite recent efforts to improve coordination and prearrival information.
The impact goes beyond individual setbacks. When skilled immigrants can’t work in their fields, Canada loses talent, productivity and innovation. A more streamlined credential recognition system could help newcomers integrate faster. Furthermore, this would strengthen key sectors and build stable careers—reducing the gap between the promise of immigration and its reality.
– Caleb Dueck
Photo: Freepik
3 MPs Against ODA Cuts
Sarah Champion
Sarah Champion has emerged as one of the strongest voices among MPs opposing ODA cuts. Champion is using her role as chair of the International Development Committee (IDC) to push back against reductions and show development as the first line of defense. Champion argues that cutting aid weakens global stability and increases poverty.
She has consistently framed development as a preventative tool, not a luxury. Champion warned that reducing aid to fund defense represents a “false economy” that will make the world less safe. She also highlighted the direct human cost of the ODA budget cuts.
In parliamentary discussions, she pointed out that millions of children risk losing access to education, especially in low-income countries where U.K. support has historically played a major role. Champion has revealed that certain health-focused ODA programs in countries such as Sierra Leone and Malawi are at risk of being cut altogether. The expected result is that 250,000 people will lose access to modern health services.
Champion’s position centers on a clear principle: investment in education, health and stability reduces poverty at its roots. Without sustaining the ODA, fragile communities face worsening inequality, which ultimately fuels conflict and displacement. Beyond her public statements, Champion has shaped the broader parliamentary critique of aid cuts.
Reports from the IDC have warned that reducing funding risks worsening outcomes for the world’s most vulnerable and shifting focus away from poverty reduction. Champion has explained that value for money has driven the ODA to lose sight of poverty reduction as its foremost concern, placing millions of lives at risk of losing aid. She has also challenged the government’s definition of value for money, arguing that aid should prioritize improving lives rather than focusing on domestic returns.
Through her work, Champion reinforces a central message shared by many MPs against ODA cuts: effective aid directly reduces poverty, strengthens institutions and prevents crises before they escalate.
Harriet Baldwin
Harriet Baldwin is among the MPs against ODA cuts. She has also spoken out strongly against the reductions, particularly highlighting their impact on education. Baldwin and others within the Parliamentary Network for Education have called for the government to reverse cuts, arguing that they disproportionately affect schooling in impoverished countries.
She has drawn attention to several alarming global realities. Hundreds of millions of children remain out of school, while literacy rates in low-income countries remain critically low. Furthermore, drawing on her experience as a former development minister, Baldwin has highlighted U.K.-funded programs that support education and health care in fragile states.
She argues that these interventions play a vital role in helping communities out of poverty. Baldwin’s arguments focus on long-term poverty reduction through education, helping pave the way for a better life for future generations. She emphasizes education’s role in driving economic growth. Like other MPs opposing the ODA cuts, she warns that these reductions risk trapping future generations in poverty.
Monica Harding
Monica Harding has positioned herself among MPs opposing ODA cuts, arguing that aid cuts threaten both poverty reduction and global stability. She has spoken out against the reductions, calling the government’s approach “strategically illiterate” and an opportunity for other developed countries to step up and replace the U.K. as an aid supplier.
In parliament, Harding has criticized the scale of the cuts, describing them as a “moral catastrophe.” Furthermore, she warned that they would damage the U.K.’s ability to influence global development and support vulnerable countries. She has consistently linked aid spending to poverty prevention.
Harding argues that development funding plays a crucial role in preventing conflict and instability. Cutting aid weakens security and creates greater long-term risks. Harding’s contributions to committee discussions have also highlighted the real-world consequences of reducing the ODA budget.
She has raised concerns that a falling aid budget will limit programs that keep vulnerable countries stable and livable and increase the likelihood of displacement and deepening poverty. Indeed, Harding’s argument has remained clear: sustained investment in development helps communities build resilience and avoid crises. Without that support from the ODA, poverty intensifies and instability spreads, making recovery far more difficult.
Final Remarks
These three MPs represent a growing and prominent group opposing ODA cuts, arguing that overseas aid remains essential. They do not see the ODA as a charity but as a strategic investment in global stability and poverty reduction. Their message remains that cutting aid may deliver short-term fiscal savings. However, it risks long-term human and economic costs that the U.K. and the world cannot afford.
– Leah Denning
Photo: Pixabay
Strait of Hormuz Conflict Could Hinder Poverty Reduction in Iraq
Recent Progress Towards Poverty Reduction in Iraq
In 2003, the United Nations established its Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) to assist in rebuilding the country following the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime. Since then, the people of Iraq have seen their fair share of struggle; they faced years of war, political corruption and economic struggle. However, in more recent years, the government of Iraq has made strong efforts to understand and reduce poverty for its people; in 2025, the Iraqi government officially announced the launch of its Multidimensional Poverty Index analytical report, and in the last three years, Iraq’s poverty rate has dropped from 23% to 17.5%.
On top of that, in 2024, Iraq reached a score of 0.712 on the Human Development Index (HDI), which measures life expectancy, education and quality of living for its citizens. By achieving this number, they surpassed the average HDI for Arab nations, a significant sign of progress for the country. After the UN declared its mission successful in 2025, the UNAMI mandate came to an end. Despite recent progress, many of Iraq’s citizens, including children, still face deprivation across education, health care and living standards.
Now, with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the halt of oil production, the challenge Iraq now faces is “the most serious operational threat” it has faced in more than 20 years, according to a senior Iraqi oil ministry official.
The Effects of the Strait’s Closure
Since the war began in late February, the Iranian government has controlled, restricted and blocked access to the Strait of Hormuz. “Tehran is leveraging the global economy’s inability to tolerate a sustained closure of the waterway,” said Landon Derentz of the Atlantic Council.
The problem for Iraq, a strategic trading partner of the United States, is that it relies on crude oil for nearly 90% of its total income, which they export via the Strait of Hormuz. Following the closure of the checkpoint, Iraq was forced to shut down oil production from its southern fields, halting nearly all of its oil exports.
Now, nearly two months since Iran closed the strait, after much negotiating, several U.S. threats, ultimatums and even a naval blockade, despite a couple of false alarms, the strait remains closed. The difficulty in reopening the waterway proves to be a problem within itself, but even when ship traffic does continue, Iraq’s economy will remain vulnerable to future threats made on the Strait of Hormuz.
‘Build Around it,’ He Says
While reopening the waterway by force may offer a quick fix to the problem, it has proved to be a difficult and costly task. Derentz, who served as director of energy at the White House during the Trump administration’s first term, suggests that building infrastructures around the channel to bypass it would offer a more long-term solution, ending Iran’s ability to leverage the Strait of Hormuz entirely.
“Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline…has already proven that bypass infrastructure can relieve part of the bottleneck created by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. That model should now be scaled dramatically,” says Derentz. If the government were to ever consider it, this suggestion could very well prove to be effective: the maneuver would permanently weaken Iranian leverage against the global economy, foster economic resilience for Iraq and only cost a fraction of the $200 billion the United States was willing to spend on military operations against Iran.
Final Thoughts
Lately, Iraq has shown significant progress toward poverty reduction. However, if the country ever wishes to climb out of destitution completely, sustainable economic growth remains crucial. The United States government has recently stated that it is “dedicated to our enduring strategic partnership with the Government of Iraq and the Iraqi people,” with several U.S. companies currently active in Iraq. U.S. resolution to the Strait of Hormuz will not only be a service to its enduring trading partner, but to the entire global economy as well. The Strait of Hormuz conflict may be a speed bump for poverty reduction in Iraq, but it is surely not the end of the road.
– Tommy Bass
Photo: Pixabay