According to the organization Girls Not Brides, child marriage is “any formal marriage or informal union where one or both of the parties are under 18 years of age.” The largest number of child marriages take place in Western and Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Over 50 percent of girls living in Bangladesh, Niger, Mozambique and Mali are married before they turn 18.
Child marriage violates several international human rights treaties including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. All of these treaties require that marriage be consensual between both parties and that both parties be legal adults (over the age of 18.)
Beyond violating human rights treaties, child marriage has many negative consequences for the participants. While boys are affected negatively by child marriage as well, the burden is felt more by girls and there is more data on its effects on girls. Child marriage leads to higher incidences of domestic violence, marital rape, medical complications due to pregnancy and HIV/AIDS. It is also difficult for girls who marry young to find work.
So, is there a silver bullet? Is there an easy way to reduce the number of girls who are forced to marry young? No – unfortunately things are rarely that simple. However, education is the most useful tool we have.
What is the link between education and ending child marriage?
There is undoubtedly a link between education and ending child marriage, but it is complex. On the one hand, higher educational attainment is associated with fewer child marriages and lower educational attainment is associated with more child marriages. But child marriage also obstructs educational attainment; therefore, the cause and effect are not clear. “Leaving school early both contributes to, and results from, marrying young.”
So, what do we know?
We know that girls are less likely to marry as children the higher if they obtain a higher level of education. We also know that countries with higher rates of child marriage have proportionally lower rates of school enrollment for girls. For example, in Niger – where there is the greatest disparity – 76 percent of girls are married before 18 and only 10 percent of girls are enrolled in secondary school. While primary school is important and should be accessible for all, secondary school attainment is a more reliable measure.
Why does child marriage still happen?
Poverty is a leading cause of child marriage. Families may want their daughters to marry so they have fewer mouths to feed, so they no longer have to pay their school fees or so that they receive the dowry – typically money or livestock – in exchange for their permission to marry.
Inaccessible education also leads to higher incidences of child marriage. Especially in rural areas, schools can be too far away to reach. Even when girls do make it to school, teacher absenteeism is common in underfunded rural schools and the quality of the education itself may be lacking due to poor teacher training and a lack of supplies and textbooks.
Environmental factors can also affect the rate of child marriage. Natural disasters may spur families to marry off their daughters, to protect them or to receive the dowry to help them rebuild.
What can be done?
Many organizations are working to eradicate child marriage through several different approaches. Girls Not Brides has a theory of change centered around four areas: empowering girls, mobilizing communities, providing services and implementing policies. This approach is rather comprehensive. Other organizations may focus on just one facet – improving access to quality education, making girls aware of their human rights or providing scholarships for school attendance.
Solutions should be oriented around requiring consent of both parties and requiring proof of age before a marriage ceremony. Education and ending child marriage may be intrinsically linked, but change will be most effective if the girls themselves are empowered to fulfill their own personal and professional aspirations and become economically independent.
– Olivia Bradley
Photo: Flickr
Clean Cookstoves in Kenya Change Lives
These biofuels are often used in immense quantities for a very specific task – cooking – as 84 percent of the population relies on wood or charcoal cookstoves. These stoves require such immense quantities of fuel that, in fact, a Kenyan household can often expect to spend about $500 per year on charcoal alone; this is an entirely unsustainable expense that can lead to bankruptcy for impoverished families.
This immense reliance on biofuels has also contributed to the massive deforestation the nation has faced. Only two to three percent of the land remains forested today, leaving the environment susceptible to irregular rain patterns and soil degradation, both issues that undermine agricultural abilities and thus undermine the economy. Further, the reliance on biofuel cookstoves in Kenya costs the nation at least 5,000 children a year, as the children catch respiratory infections caused by smoke from the stoves.
All of this is exactly why the clean cookstove revolution has entered Kenya. Organizations like the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves have catalyzed the efforts to diversify cooking options in order to combat the effects of traditional, expensive, and ultimately dangerous biofuel cookstoves.
Further, the first-ever clean cookstove manufacturing facility in Sub-Saharan Africa has settled in Kenya. This facility, run by BURN – a clean and affordable cookstove company – employs over 100 Kenyans in the effort to invigorate the economy with localized production and employment.
Though BURN’s cookstoves still use biofuels, they are incredibly efficient, cutting fuel consumption by over 56 percent, which ultimately saves Kenyans up to $250 a year. They also reduce carbon emissions by 65 percent, which not only helps to improve air quality on the whole, but also minimizes the respiratory risks associated with biofuels.
Thankfully, it is clear that although the clean cookstove revolution is relatively young, it is on its way to changing cookstoves in Kenya for the better. BURN is only a single company, and yet it is projected that in the next 10 years it will have generated 3.7 million clean biofuel cookstoves. This essentially means that at least 3.7 million households will be able to improve their finances, environment and health. And they are only a single company; imagine the impact that all similar companies will have in conjunction. Thus, there is a very bright light gleaming ahead for Kenyan cookstoves, and it is a clean light at that.
– Kailee Nardi
Photo: Flickr
Addressing the Most Common Diseases in Paraguay
Of the many common diseases in Paraguay, a particular few have been of the most concern in the last several years. Among the top causes of death in Paraguay are coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes mellitus, influenza and pneumonia, cancer, kidney disease and hypertension.
The diseases with the greatest impact on the population are intestinal infectious diseases. These viruses, parasites and bacteria result in 107.7 annual years of healthy life lost per 100,000 people. Since 1990, the mortality rate of intestinal infectious diseases has increased by 6.1 percent per 100,000 people. Mostly infants die from these diseases, but the mortality rate peaks again for adult women and men ages 60 to 64. The diseases can be a result of unsafe water, poor sanitation and lack of hand washing. The most deadly of these diseases are caused by typhoid fever and paratyphoid fever.
Other infectious diseases are also common in Paraguay. Lower respiratory infections have a mortality rate of about 28 per 100,000 people. Diarrheal diseases, while common, have had a steady decreasing mortality rate since 1990 — a solid 79 percent decrease. Meningitis and tetanus are also common infectious diseases with decreasing mortality rates, while encephalitis and intestinal diseases remain at a steady infection rate.
In 2015, the Centers for Disease Control warned that Zika virus was present in Paraguay. Public health officials reported the virus was being carried and spread by infected mosquitoes, and also warned of the virus’s dangerous lack of symptoms. Pregnant women were at the highest risk, as infection during pregnancy causes harsher symptoms and serious birth defects.
In 2014, the National Eradication Service for Vector-Borne Diseases reported that the vector for the dangerous parasitic Chagas disease was found with increasing frequency in Paraguay. At first it was believed the vector was only found in rural and indigenous areas, but uncleanliness and housing insecurity of other poor areas have caused the vector to find a home between the bricks of houses, which mimic its normal dry habitat. An estimated 165,000 people in the country suffer from chronic Chagas disease. A bite from the protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, can potentially be life-threatening.
The life-saving organization, Doctors Without Borders, has worked recently in Paraguay’s rural Chaco region, educating people in isolated communities about Chagas disease and offering screenings to locals. The World Health Organization (WHO) calls Chagas the “neglected tropical disease” because the vast majority of people affected do not have access to diagnosis or treatment. Most people affected experience symptoms without knowing why. Treatment is rapid and proves to be effective.
According to the WHO, in Paraguay, the probability of dying between the ages of 15 and 60 years is 166 for males and 126 for females per 1,000 people. Additionally, the country’s total expenditure on healthcare in 2014 was 9.8 percent of GDP. If Paraguay’s healthcare system were improved to prevent, treat and educate on disease and illness, many lives could be spared. As for now, organizations like Doctors Without Borders will continue to spread hope and educate on the common diseases in Paraguay which affect a majority of the population.
– Olivia Cyr
Photo: Flickr
The Link Between Education and Ending Child Marriage
Child marriage violates several international human rights treaties including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. All of these treaties require that marriage be consensual between both parties and that both parties be legal adults (over the age of 18.)
Beyond violating human rights treaties, child marriage has many negative consequences for the participants. While boys are affected negatively by child marriage as well, the burden is felt more by girls and there is more data on its effects on girls. Child marriage leads to higher incidences of domestic violence, marital rape, medical complications due to pregnancy and HIV/AIDS. It is also difficult for girls who marry young to find work.
So, is there a silver bullet? Is there an easy way to reduce the number of girls who are forced to marry young? No – unfortunately things are rarely that simple. However, education is the most useful tool we have.
What is the link between education and ending child marriage?
There is undoubtedly a link between education and ending child marriage, but it is complex. On the one hand, higher educational attainment is associated with fewer child marriages and lower educational attainment is associated with more child marriages. But child marriage also obstructs educational attainment; therefore, the cause and effect are not clear. “Leaving school early both contributes to, and results from, marrying young.”
So, what do we know?
We know that girls are less likely to marry as children the higher if they obtain a higher level of education. We also know that countries with higher rates of child marriage have proportionally lower rates of school enrollment for girls. For example, in Niger – where there is the greatest disparity – 76 percent of girls are married before 18 and only 10 percent of girls are enrolled in secondary school. While primary school is important and should be accessible for all, secondary school attainment is a more reliable measure.
Why does child marriage still happen?
Poverty is a leading cause of child marriage. Families may want their daughters to marry so they have fewer mouths to feed, so they no longer have to pay their school fees or so that they receive the dowry – typically money or livestock – in exchange for their permission to marry.
Inaccessible education also leads to higher incidences of child marriage. Especially in rural areas, schools can be too far away to reach. Even when girls do make it to school, teacher absenteeism is common in underfunded rural schools and the quality of the education itself may be lacking due to poor teacher training and a lack of supplies and textbooks.
Environmental factors can also affect the rate of child marriage. Natural disasters may spur families to marry off their daughters, to protect them or to receive the dowry to help them rebuild.
What can be done?
Many organizations are working to eradicate child marriage through several different approaches. Girls Not Brides has a theory of change centered around four areas: empowering girls, mobilizing communities, providing services and implementing policies. This approach is rather comprehensive. Other organizations may focus on just one facet – improving access to quality education, making girls aware of their human rights or providing scholarships for school attendance.
Solutions should be oriented around requiring consent of both parties and requiring proof of age before a marriage ceremony. Education and ending child marriage may be intrinsically linked, but change will be most effective if the girls themselves are empowered to fulfill their own personal and professional aspirations and become economically independent.
– Olivia Bradley
Photo: Flickr
Entrepreneurship Education and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa
Current trends in Africa indicate that by the year 2030, enrollment in secondary education will have doubled across sub-Saharan Africa. Yet despite better access to education, youth unemployment rates are increasing. Of all surveyed entrepreneurs in the region, 40 percent said that finding employees with the right skills was their primary challenge when looking to hire new employees. It is perhaps with this type of issue in mind that advocates of educational reform are seeking to make schooling more explicitly linked to the needs of the region.
Reform of this type is obviously a difficult undertaking, especially when considering the multitude of countries and different education systems in the region. With entrepreneurship becoming an increasingly important part of the solution to poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, enabling youths to have skills such as critical thinking and autonomy in their work, traits sought after by hiring managers, seems to be an important step to helping them into the working environment.
A sizable number of countries have already begun taking steps towards reforming their curriculums, with an increased emphasis to be placed on employability skills and entrepreneurship. One of these is Rwanda, a nation in which under-25s, who comprise 67 percent of the population, account for 70 percent of the unemployed labor force. As such, steps towards focusing education on these key aspects could be a massive difference maker in the country’s battle with poverty.
One organization focused on assisting education reform across sub-Saharan Africa is Educate!, whose goal is the transformation of schooling in the region with the ultimate aim of teaching youths to solve poverty in their community themselves. By 2024, Educate! aims to directly impact 1 million students, while reaching 4 million more, with skills training in leadership, entrepreneurship and employability skills. Through this, the organization hopes to transform youths into the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs across the region.
While it is perhaps naive to believe that entrepreneurship education can be the single solution to poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, it is not naive to believe that it will have an impact. It is with this impact in mind that support for these educational reforms should be given. The problem in the region is unique; the solutions to it can be too.
– Gavin Callander
Photo: Flickr
Clean Blood Transfusions Impoverished Countries
Due to the lack of blood donors in poverty-stricken countries, doctors use autologous transfusions to give the patients the blood they needed; this involves using the patient’s own blood for the transfusion. It could be obtained during hemothorax – a condition where the patient’s blood has pooled up in an open cavity, or, alternatively, they could also use the blood resulting from hemorrhaging during an ectopic pregnancy – pregnancy which occurs outside the uterus.
Originally, doctors had to scoop up the patient’s pooled blood with nothing but a soup ladle. They then took the blood collected from the soup ladle and poured it through a filtration system to make the blood cleaner for transfusion. Not only is this unsanitary, but it is a highly complicated process that takes many doctors to perform. It has saved a few lives in the past, but it is inadequate as a permanent solution.
The Hemafuse looks to alleviate all of those problems and make clean blood transfusions in impoverished countries happen. To operate the Hemafuse, doctors need to put the suction inlet into the pooled blood and then pull the pump. Blood is then filtered through the filtration system, removing clots and impurities. After the blood is collected, the doctor then pushes the pump and the blood is then moved into a separate blood bag that is connected to the side of the device. Once there, the blood can be used in a blood transfusion back to the patient the blood originally came from.
This is much safer and cleaner than using a soup ladle. The patient’s blood stays within a closed and sterile system rather than it being exposed to the elements. Not only that, it requires only one or two doctors to use rather than the eight or nine that were previously required. It also costs about $60 per patient use, which is much more affordable than the $250 a normal blood bag would cost.
The Hemafuse device has been backed by many prominent organizations such as USAID, UKAID and the Gates Foundation, among many others. Doctors want clean blood transfusions in impoverished countries to become widespread, so they are willingly coming around to performing clinical trials using Hemafuse. With this device, the soup ladle transfusion will hopefully become a procedure of the past and patients will finally be able to receive the – clean – lifesaving blood that they need.
– Daniel Borjas
Photo: Flickr
Improving Access to Clean Water in India
Thus, it is clear that access to clean water in India is a serious issue. Consequently, such an enormous undertaking typically requires an enormous price tag. As such, the increasing efforts to provide communal water systems are almost impossible to support financially, as an average system will typically cost anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000.
Yet, a company called Spring Health is changing the narrative. Spring Health provides low-cost safe water “kiosks” in Orissa, a rural state in northeastern India. After cleaning the water using a liquid chlorine solution, the water is distributed via motorcycle to rural vendors. Spring Health constructs cement water tanks near pre-existing local retailers within a village, which allows local retailers to then pump the water from the tanks into 10-liter Spring Health branded containers. From there, these local vendors sell the water alongside their other products, returning a portion of their water profits to Spring Health.
The system has revolutionized life in Orissa and is currently expanding. Within the next three years, the company is projecting to serve five million people via 10,000 village retailers, and it also hopes to one day export the system to other nations in order to serve on a global level as well. By simply capitalizing on pre-existing retailers and creating a low-cost distribution system using standard methods of transportation, Spring Health is advancing the fight for clean water in India.
– Kailee Nardi
Photo: Flickr
How to Help People in the Solomon Islands
Why the Solomon Islands Are Vulnerable
Between 1998 and 2003, the Solomon Islands suffered ethnic tensions and civil unrest. As result, the domestic infrastructure of the country was severely damaged. The geographic location of the islands makes the country particularly vulnerable to natural disasters, especially those that are water-related.
International Assistance
After the ethnic tensions and civil unrest had dramatically affected the Solomon Islands, the country’s prime minister requested Australian assistance. In response, Australia and New Zealand worked with the Solomon Islands to draft the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI). The Pacific Islands Forum wholeheartedly endorsed RAMSI, and was supported in its undertaking by then-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
RAMSI set up a comprehensive assistance plan focusing on the economy to better help people in the Solomon Islands. On June 30, 2017, RAMSI concluded, having improved the Solomon Islands’ economic capacity. RAMSI will likely be replaced by a new bilateral policy development program to ensure that the Solomon Islands’ growth continues in leaps and bounds.
The United States is helping the Solomon Islands work towards such a bilateral policy. In particular, the State Department has done detailed research into the ongoing policies of the Solomon Islands. There are opportunities to work to help people in the Solomon Islands through the U.S. State Department’s internship program or its career options.
Help from Organizations
There are several organizations helping to eliminate the causes of poverty in the Solomon Islands. Caritas Australia is one such organization. Caritas Australia focuses on helping people through community-driven efforts: improved access to water, sanitation, hygiene and heavy investments into education. Along the way, Caritas Australia promotes social justice for those living on the islands, and also prepares permanent residents of the islands to face natural disasters. For example, in 2012 and 2013, Caritas Australia trained more than 80 teachers to use nursery rhymes and games to prepare children for natural disasters.
The organization has vacancies, so those interested can work to help people in the Solomon Islands. While serving with organizations that directly help people in the Solomon Islands would be a powerful way to make an impact on people’s lives, other forms of advocacy from home are also important. Political advocacy for legislation that impacts international policies is an influential way to ensure that poverty across the world is reduced, bit by bit.
– Smriti B Krishnan
Photo: Google
NGOs and How to Help People in Malta
Although it is one of the smallest European states, Malta has been affected by the refugee crisis on the continent over the last few years. Many displaced families and individuals are seeking asylum in Malta, and organizations throughout the country have established means of meeting the asylum seekers’ most basic needs. NGOs offer several ways of how to help people in Malta, and specifically refugees.
Donations of necessary materials such as clothing, household goods, food and books are highly encouraged. Monetary donations are also accepted by all of the non-governmental foundations working to support refugees in the country. Here are two successful nonprofits that could use your help.
Jesuits in Malta is a nonprofit organization whose aim is to “serve, accompany and advocate.” Their mission specifically involves serving and welcoming new migrants and refugees. JRS Malta specializes in legal assistance and social work services, including psychological support and healthcare. The group offers outreach through its members, made up of social workers, lawyers, nurses and religious figures.
“Project Integrated” is on of Jesuits in Malta’s current projects, supported by UNHCR Malta. The overall goal of the project is to integrate “beneficiaries of international protection” into Maltese society so that they may practice their rights and live an independent life. The group suggests helping through monetary donations or the donations of useful items. They also offer information on organizing fundraising activities.
Kopin is a voluntary nonprofit based in Malta working in international development and refugee support. The group stands for international development cooperation and works to raise awareness about the “role of each individual as a global citizen.” The aim to empower developing communities in this way. For refugees in Malta specifically, Kopin provides educational and social services to women and children seeking asylum.
One of the group’s current projects is known as “TOO M&E up!” geared towards raising the quality of designs and implementation of learning activities for young people. You can donate to the organization online or even via text message. They also offer training and volunteering opportunities on human rights issues and hands-on skills.
If volunteer time or physical donations are not possible, it is always helpful to follow these NGOs on Facebook and Twitter if you are still wondering how to help people in Malta.
– Melanie Snyder
Photo: Google
EU and UN Initiative End Violence Against Women
The Spotlight Initiative’s main focus is on ending domestic violence, sexual violence, femicide, female circumcision, child and forced marriage, human trafficking and the exploitation of women. These problems are widespread throughout the world. 35 percent of women worldwide have experienced domestic and/or sexual abuse. 700 million women have undergone child marriage and 200 million have experienced genital mutilation. These acts come at a tremendous cost to the physical and mental well-being of women.
Violence against women also comes at a great cost to society at large. When societies suppress women with acts of violence and both institutional and de jure inequalities, they are deprived of the many contributions women bring to the world. Women’s contributions are so valuable that McKinsey Global Institute found that the world economy would be $12 trillion richer if every nation moved towards gender equality at a rate equal to its fastest-improving neighbor. Ending violence against women is not just in the best interest of humanity, it is also crucial for advancing global development.
Ending violence against women is a highly ambitious goal, but this is not the first time that the EU and the U.N. have made efforts to end forms of gender violence. The U.N. manages the Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women, which has granted $116 million to 426 initiatives across the globe. The EU has been working with UNICEF and UNFPA to end female circumcision and child marriage in 16 African countries. Their efforts have put Senegal on track to become the first nation to completely abandon female genital mutilation, and Egypt and Sudan are seeing significant improvements as well.
The U.N. has touched on a few core areas of action for the Spotlight Initiative to end violence against women. In order to create long-term, sustainable developments in equality for women, social and political mobilization is essential, according to the U.N. When women are more politically active, nations are more likely to pass laws protecting the rights of women. Educational programs, community-organized events and awareness campaigns are also needed to shift cultural norms surrounding violence against women. Policies directed at empowering the financial independence of women will be significant in enabling women to leave physically and sexually abusive relationships as well.
Though the issue of ending violence against women is a daunting one, the amount of funding the Spotlight Initiative has drawn in and the wide scope of the initiative brings hope that the world will see major advancements in the global rights of women by 2030.
– Carson Hughes
Photo: Flickr
Poverty in Brunei – Development and Forward Thinking
Brunei, a high development country that benefits from a wealth of natural resources, has one of the highest gross domestic products in the world. While there is no reported poverty line, all signs point to a very successful population and a government structure that could act as a model to the world. In other words, poverty in Brunei is not nonexistent, but it is minimized. Unfortunately, even though Brunei is highly developed and their infrastructure is smoothly run and effective, the nation is a special case, and thus their model cannot be applied to the rest of the world that does struggle with high levels of poverty and strife.
The government of Brunei has not only set up an excellent infrastructure, but the population is also highly educated and benefits from not having to pay income taxes or for medical care. Yet, the government can only afford this social system because of the breadth of natural resources they have at their disposal. Brunei refines crude oil, which is then exported to economic powerhouses around the world such as Japan, which is the primary export market. Since the natural resources are so abundant for the time being, Brunei does not have to worry about them running out, leading to a recession or worse.
Yet, despite the strength of industry, the nation does struggle to make modern adjustments, raising the possibility of a future where poverty in Brunei could become an issue. The recent decline in oil prices has made this concern more plausible, and officials have made it a priority to diversify industry and bring in more foreign investment. The wealth of the country allows them to fix problems before they begin, and the threat of a “resource curse” is one such issue.
Another concern lies in the very small level of poverty in Brunei. While the country has no official measurement of a poverty line, the UN Millennium Development Goals report in 2011 indicated that 5.04 percent of the population is impoverished. The government is already taking steps to deal with the issue, creating a Poverty Issue Special Committee and drafting an action plan for eradicating poverty. While this committee has not led to an official poverty line, it does show that the government of Brunei is proactive and willing to fight for their citizens’ interests.
While Brunei does not struggle with a high percentage of poverty, they still remain an example on how to combat poverty through government action. Creating a committee to deal with this issue before it becomes too problematic and planning to diversify industry and modernize makes the government of Brunei an idealistic, forward-thinking country to observe and emulate.
– Rachael Blandau
Photo: Flickr