The global financial crisis hurt first world nations as well as developing countries. As one example of this, poverty in Cuba has been affected. The country is doing better than some Latin American countries, but the government is struggling to maintain services such as free healthcare and education.
Cuba opened up its economy as a result of the global financial crisis, but it is worse off as a result. Fifteen percent of the population is living in poverty in Cuba. This most recent data is at least 10 years old, though, and more recent numbers are not available.
Because of the USSR’s collapse, Cuba was left to fend for itself. This has led to a restructuring of how goods and services are distributed. For example, instead of a universal food supply in the form of food stamps for everyone, Cuba is targeting the most vulnerable.
One problem Cuba faces is people living longer, despite the availability of junk food. It is estimated that the population of those over 65 in Cuba will double in the next 20 years. That will swell the number of people seeking healthcare as well as the costs associated as such.
About 40 percent of Cubans fall within the “middle class,” which is broadly defined, according to the Brookings Institute, but the average take-home pay for Cubans is $20 per month, or $0.66 per day, based on a 30-day month.
Despite this, 90 percent of Cubans own their own homes. Most Cubans can buy and sell property, open small businesses, have cell phones and form cooperatives both on and off farms.” President Raul Castro, who encourages the high ownership rate, is trying to “preserve socialism while introducing new market-based mechanisms,” according to Ted Piccone, a senior fellow at the Brooking Institute who specializes in International Order and Strategy and Latin American Initiatives.
Just as towns that concentrate and depend on one industry or business, with the risk of seeing that business close or fail, Cuba replaced dependence on the United States with dependence on the former USSR, only to see it fall. Castro inherited a Cuba that was dependent on sugar production, but with the deep socio-economic and racial scars of slavery. Some believe the revolution interrupted capitalistic growth, while others say it was “a precondition to resolving the contradictions obstructing development by ending Cuba’s subjugation to the needs of U.S. capitalism.”
Adding to the problem was Batista’s taking millions with him as he fled. This left Cuba without much of the money it needed to rebuild.
Despite the country’s economic problems, prices are kept low across the board, with some services still coming free, such as education and healthcare. Those who rent do not pay more than four percent of their income. Cuba’s infant mortality rate is 4.5 per 1,000 live births, placing it among the rates in first-world countries, even ranking above the United States. The wealth indicators here are not necessarily material goods but instead are reflected in the quality of life. This quality does come at a price, though: Cuba’s infrastructure is in very poor shape.
Despite Cuba’s economic problems, its medical triumphs show how, despite the embargo by the United States, a country can survive if it looks for help elsewhere, and even become a leader. By investing in people and reaching out, poverty in Cuba and other countries like it can be reduced, and developing nations can make their mark on the world and life for its citizens better as time goes on.
– Gloria Diaz
Photo: Pixabay
Education in Afghanistan: Lifting the Nation Out of Poverty
At Mirman, Khajo Secondary School students hurry into class bundled up in their winter uniforms. The school bell chimes. Teachers rush around the room handing out tests. Just a few years ago this wasn’t a reality. The school was recently built as part of the country’s major push to bring access to education to its populace as well as improve the overall standing of education in Afghanistan.
U.S ambassador to Afghanistan Hugo Llorens stated that Afghanistan has made significant educational strides over the past 15 years, but also emphasized that the nation still has a lot of room left for improvement.
According to Asia Foundation’s Survey of the Afghan, people find education is one of the only sectors where the Afghan people feel that the government has made an improvement. The Ministry of Education, with support from USAID, has created a widespread community-based class system, built 16,000 schools and hired and trained more than 154,000 teachers. As a result, enrollment has increased by 60 percent, more than nine million students, 40 percent of whom are girls.
In Afghanistan, 80 percent of the people own smart phones. This prevalence of technology and internet access further aids education in Afghanistan. The Asia Foundation, for example, has developed an education app designed to improve reading skills in grades one through three. The organization has also developed online mock exams to prepare students for the real ones.
The increase of access to education in Afghanistan has also improved higher education. According to the Afghan Central Statistics Organization, public university enrollment has increased from 7,800 in 2001 to 174,425 in 2015, with 21 percent of those students being women.
While Afghanistan has increased education access, it has not achieved the quality of education. Only 30 percent of Afghan students score high enough on the standardized tests to make it into college. While good private schools exist, many public schools are poorly administrated. Irfan, a 10-year-old Afghan student, claims that in public school there are only two lessons a week and teachers will often chase students out of the classroom so they can listen to music.
In order to lift itself out of strife and economic woes, Afghanistan needs an educated public. The government has done incredible work in creating access to education; now it just needs to focus on monitoring public and private schools in order to improve education in Afghanistan.
– Bruce Edwin Ayres Truax
Photo: Flickr
Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina: 2017 World Food Prize Laureate
Growing up in poverty himself, Adesina’s mission to improve farming in Africa has the potential to lift millions out of poverty. He studied Agriculture at the University of Ife in Nigeria, and eventually went on to earn his Masters and Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics at Purdue University in Indiana, U.S.A.
A firm believer in making a better world for the next generation of Africans through education, health and economics, Dr. Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina has been a political pioneer for millions of farmers throughout Africa. He works on everything from financial assistance for farmers to access to agricultural technologies and investments in agriculture.
Dr. Adesina believes that fertilizer and hybrid seeds can be some of the greatest assets to African agriculture in the coming years. He had a leading role in organizing the African Fertilizer Summit, which “was one of the largest high-level meetings in history to focus on Africa’s food issues,” according to CNBC. The mission of the summit? “Combating poverty and food and nutrition insecurity in Africa, and to direct our attention to key decisions that can move us forward with a view to eradicating hunger by 2030.”
The summit established a forefront to the Green Revolution across Africa, which in turn gave birth to AGRA, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, established by Bill and Melinda Gates.
With his Electronic Wallet System technology (or E-Wallet), Adesina has been able to cut out corrupt distributers, giving farmers access to seeds and fertilizer directly from the source. This mobile phone-based technology improved the lives of 14.5 million farmers and their families in its first four years.
Dr. Akinwumi Ayodeji also co-founded the African Leaders for Nutrition Panel with John Kufuor (former President of Ghana) with a goal to end malnutrition and stunting.
In 2011, he helped orchestrate the largest bank negotiation to aid farmers and agribusiness ever attempted in Africa, convincing the Central Bank of Nigeria to use $350 million in creating a facility that would pull $3.5 billion from commercial banks into agriculture.
At the 50th anniversary celebration of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in July of this year, Adesina announced that the African Development Bank (of which he is president) would be investing $24 billion in agriculture in Africa over the next 10 years. Adesina hopes that the two institutions can work together to transform African agriculture into being self-sustaining, with the potential to feed the entire continent within 10 years.
In a speech delivered last year at the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, Dr. Adesina exposed the importance for improving agriculture in Africa and its effect on the world.
“Africa needs to invest more in science and technology to become more efficient and competitive in agriculture – and to diversify rapidly its economies. For Africa must fully unlock its immense agricultural potential. That potential is massive: Africa has 65 percent of all the arable land left in the world to feed 9 billion people by 2050. Africa cannot eat potential.”
These powerful words by such an influential man ring true, and hopefully more technological and scientific developments will come soon and impact Africa as positively as Dr. Akinwumi Ayodeji’s.
– Katherine Gallagher
Informal Economies Quelling the Tide of Globalization
However, from the floating markets of Nigeria to the burgeoning markets of India, informal economies, or what Robert Neuwirth calls “system D” economies, are filling the void left by globalization. Secure jobs are becomimg more and more scarce, as multinational corporations control ever more of the production and distribution of goods across the globe. As these practices continue to drive up economic inequality and leave people battling unrelenting poverty, informal economies are quickly reversing the course and offering alternative economic practices that are quelling the tide.
An informal economy, as defined by the International Labor Office (ILO), is “all economic activities by workers or economic units that are — in law or practice — not covered or sufficiently covered by formal arrangements.”
Informal economies are on the rise across the globe, although accurate statistical data is hard to come by. They are estimated to be worth $10 trillion a year.
Terence Jackson reports that the informal economic sector in Africa “represents about three-quarters of non-agricultural employment, and about 72 percent of total employment in sub-Saharan Africa.” In India, informal economies are estimated to generate 90 percent of jobs and half of the national output. In both Africa, Asia and the world at large, many GDPs are heavily reliant on informal economies.
As talk of new and emerging economies fill the airwaves, informal economies offer alternative means to lift local people and communities from the coercive and restricting structures of globalization. Ironically, globalization is credited as having increased the size and importance of informal economies while these very economies stand to threaten the reign of multinational corporations and globalization.
A study by Martha Alter Chen, a lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and international coordinator of Women in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO), explores how in today’s economy, formal jobs are not being created in sufficient quantities, and existing jobs are being made informal. “Informal employment is here to stay in the short, medium, and probably long term. It is the main source of employment and income for the majority of the workforce and population in the developing world,” her study states.
Informal economies across the globe are expanding, and increasing numbers of people are dependent on the profits generated. As informal economies seem to be here to stay, it is imperative the world embraces the revolutionary entrepreneurship pouring out of the sector. It holds the potential to not only fill the labor void left by globalization but to offer an alternative way forward that addresses local problems with local answers.
– Joseph Dover
Photo: Flickr
Belo Monte Dam Progress Halted on Environmental Concerns
Community and Forest Effects
The dam, which was scheduled to be completed in 2019, would be one of the world’s largest hydropower plants. As of April 2017, 10 turbines are already running, with plans to build 24 in total. The budget for the entire project is 30 billion Reais, or $9.6 billion.
The construction of the Belo Monte dam is a complicated issue. Droughts in southern Brazil led to energy shortages, increasing pressure on the Brazilian government to push forward construction of the dam.
Additionally, the desire to reduce Carbon emissions is a top priority for Brazil. Yet the deforestation and destruction of local communities due to dam construction are also pressing concerns.
The Belo Monte dam complex partially blocks the Xingu River, one of the major Amazon tributaries. The blockage forced the construction of a new channel, which has inadvertently flooded thousands of acres of rain forest. It is reported that many low-lying islands have been submerged and deforestation is occurring as a result.
Hydroelectric Dam Disruption
The construction of the dam disrupted the natural flow of rivers through the rain forest. It also forced many of the local inhabitants, primarily river dwellers and fisherman, to abandon their current lifestyle and relocate to urban areas. The forced relocation and loss of current lifestyles and employments exacerbates the risk of falling into extreme poverty in an already poverty-stricken area.
There is a loss of water supply and fishing stocks in several regions of construction as well as the lack of social support and economic compensation provided for local communities, many of which have indigenous populations. This is a major catalyst for lawsuits filed by the national Indian protection agency (Funai) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Hydroelectric dams, while currently favored not only in Brazil but throughout South America, are just one of several solutions for cleaner energy. Energy options powered by the sun or wind are also potential choices that could provide clean energy and reduce carbon emissions without contributing to deforestation.
As plans for the Belo Monte dam are reworked to better address certain environmental concerns, alternative forms of energy should also be considered as a way to reduce damage caused by hydroelectric dams.
– Nicole Toomey
Photo: Flickr
10 Facts About Refugees in San Marino You Might Not Know
San Marino is a small country ensconced by its neighboring country, Italy. It is considered to be the world’s oldest surviving republic. Its population is a little over 30,000. The refugee population in the area is small, which makes it a low concern for the region. However, previous years reveal higher numbers of refugees. Here are 10 facts about refugees in San Marino.
10 Facts About Refugees in San Marino
Though the refugee population in the country is minute these 10 facts about refugees in San Marino are important to achieving a deeper understanding the European refugee crisis as a whole.
– Leah Potter
Photo: Flickr
The State of Human Rights in Jamaica
Poverty and public security are the primary human rights concerns in Jamaica. Gang violence and violent murders are rampant and affect a majority of the population, especially the poorest. Although there has been a slight decrease in gang activity in the last few years, gang violence still accounts for a majority of murders in Jamaica. Last year, the Acting Police Commissioner reported that 65 percent of murders were linked to gangs.
Police violence is also a major issue. The state’s answer to significant violent crime has largely been to respond with its own violence. Human rights activists in recent years have reported the prevalence of unlawful killings on behalf of the state police force on the order of – or complicit with – higher authorities. Since 2000, it is alleged that the Jamaican constabulary force has killed over 3,000 people. Although these killings have been decreasing since 2010, the numbers are still high. In 2016, there was an average of two police killings per week.
Beyond the killings themselves, international human rights watchdog organizations have claimed that police officers perpetuate an atmosphere of fear. The planting and tampering of evidence, along with the intimidation and terrorizing of witnesses, are commonplace.
Another major obstacle to improving human rights in Jamaica is the treatment of the LGBTQ community. Hate crimes directed at these individuals have been committed both by citizens and the police. Between 2009 and 2012, estimates show that over 200 attacks, including physical attacks, mob attacks and home invasions, were directed at LGBTQ members. More recently, the government has formally acknowledged the issue and has put in place initiatives, such as a division of the police focused on diversity, to help aid the problem.
The state of human rights in Jamaica over the past decade has been improving. Initiatives on behalf of the government and the support and direction of human rights organizations have attempted to systematically address the issues that plagued the Jamaican community, and have already made progress. However, there is still a lot of room for improvement and as long as Jamaica suffers from chronic poverty, human rights issues will always be present.
– Alan Garcia-Ramos
Photo: Flickr
Human Rights in the Czech Republic
The condition of human rights in the Czech Republic is, for the most part, favorable. The Czech government takes an active role in protecting its citizens’ rights and appears open to positive change.
The main issue that the Czech Republic faces is a lack of acceptance of immigrants and minorities along with an increase in hate speech. While the nation complied with the European Union (EU) resettlement agreement of Turkish and Middle Eastern refugees, Amnesty International reports several demonstrations against the Romani people and asylum seekers. The general dislike of refugees and the view that they pose a threat to the Czech Republic was perpetuated by some political leaders, including the president.
Several polls reflected the general disapproval of Roma, including one in which 82 percent of the participants deemed Roma “unlikeable” or “very unlikeable,” according to the U.S. Department of State (DOS). Additionally, one-third of Roma lived in ghettos or similar conditions, and many Romani children went to special schools, putting them at an educational disadvantage.
Most reported hate crimes against both Romani and Muslim people have led to convictions, revealing a commitment to the improvement of human rights in the Czech Republic. The minister for labor and social affairs as well as the minister for human rights in the Czech Republic also supported legislation that would benefit minority and disadvantaged groups.
Freedom of speech and expression is largely unhindered by the Czech government with the exception of hate speech and those who deny the Holocaust. Unlawful Internet censorship is not an issue, and most homes have high-speed Internet access.
Government corruption still affects the Czech Republic, as demonstrated by an increase in crimes committed by prison workers and law enforcement officers between 2014 and 2015. Despite this, the government ensured that these offenders were subjected to the appropriate fines and prison time. Lawmakers and the like must publicly report their assets and are generally compliant, even if the information is sometimes difficult to access.
The unemployment rate among disabled persons remains high, but education conditions for the disabled have progressed. The U.S. DOS documents that legislation was recently passed that increased the attendance rate of disabled children in “mainstream schools.” This is indicative of a focus on improvement of human rights in the Czech Republic.
Although prisons struggle with sanitation and overcrowding, they are open to making the suggested changes of investigative forces – such as NGOs – that monitor prison conditions.
Human rights in the Czech Republic could improve in some areas, but thanks to the Czech government being attentive to the needs and rights of its citizens, not much improvement is needed.
– Emma Tennyson
Photo: Flickr
Five Main Causes of Poverty in the UK
While these issues are problematic for many people across the U.K., attempts have been made to alleviate the damage. The national living wage, introduced in 2016, was created in order to reflect the costs incurred by working people in the country. There are charities such as the Child Poverty Action Group and End Child Poverty that target vulnerable families. Though it may take time, the fight is certainly underway against poverty in the U.K.
– Gavin Callander
Photo: Flickr
Progress Made on Reducing Poverty in Cuba
Cuba opened up its economy as a result of the global financial crisis, but it is worse off as a result. Fifteen percent of the population is living in poverty in Cuba. This most recent data is at least 10 years old, though, and more recent numbers are not available.
Because of the USSR’s collapse, Cuba was left to fend for itself. This has led to a restructuring of how goods and services are distributed. For example, instead of a universal food supply in the form of food stamps for everyone, Cuba is targeting the most vulnerable.
One problem Cuba faces is people living longer, despite the availability of junk food. It is estimated that the population of those over 65 in Cuba will double in the next 20 years. That will swell the number of people seeking healthcare as well as the costs associated as such.
About 40 percent of Cubans fall within the “middle class,” which is broadly defined, according to the Brookings Institute, but the average take-home pay for Cubans is $20 per month, or $0.66 per day, based on a 30-day month.
Despite this, 90 percent of Cubans own their own homes. Most Cubans can buy and sell property, open small businesses, have cell phones and form cooperatives both on and off farms.” President Raul Castro, who encourages the high ownership rate, is trying to “preserve socialism while introducing new market-based mechanisms,” according to Ted Piccone, a senior fellow at the Brooking Institute who specializes in International Order and Strategy and Latin American Initiatives.
Just as towns that concentrate and depend on one industry or business, with the risk of seeing that business close or fail, Cuba replaced dependence on the United States with dependence on the former USSR, only to see it fall. Castro inherited a Cuba that was dependent on sugar production, but with the deep socio-economic and racial scars of slavery. Some believe the revolution interrupted capitalistic growth, while others say it was “a precondition to resolving the contradictions obstructing development by ending Cuba’s subjugation to the needs of U.S. capitalism.”
Adding to the problem was Batista’s taking millions with him as he fled. This left Cuba without much of the money it needed to rebuild.
Despite the country’s economic problems, prices are kept low across the board, with some services still coming free, such as education and healthcare. Those who rent do not pay more than four percent of their income. Cuba’s infant mortality rate is 4.5 per 1,000 live births, placing it among the rates in first-world countries, even ranking above the United States. The wealth indicators here are not necessarily material goods but instead are reflected in the quality of life. This quality does come at a price, though: Cuba’s infrastructure is in very poor shape.
Despite Cuba’s economic problems, its medical triumphs show how, despite the embargo by the United States, a country can survive if it looks for help elsewhere, and even become a leader. By investing in people and reaching out, poverty in Cuba and other countries like it can be reduced, and developing nations can make their mark on the world and life for its citizens better as time goes on.
– Gloria Diaz
Photo: Pixabay
Examining Tunisia’s Human Rights Record
In 2011, Tunisia was embroiled in revolution, eventually leading to the resignation of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and the formation of a new, free, republic. Although Tunisia’s new government may be free, there is no guarantee that it will have a stellar human rights record. Following the revolution, Tunisia’s human rights record has been imperfect, and its new government still has issues to work out.
According to Amnesty International’s annual report, the biggest threat to human rights in Tunisia is the current nationwide state of emergency, which has been in effect since November 2015. Through this state of emergency, the government military force has been granted an expansion of powers in order to deal with the threat of the Islamic State along Tunisia’s borders. Instead, the military has used its power to take away the human rights and freedom of Tunisian citizens. Tunisia’s Truth and Dignity Commission, which was created to address Tunisia’s human rights violations, reported that it has received reports of more than 62,000 human rights violations.
Among said human rights violations include arbitrary arrests, intimidation and harassment, discrimination and the banning of assembly and free speech. Since the start of the state of emergency, there have been thousands of arrests and house searches, often without a warrant. Accompanying these arrests is a sense of intimidation and harassment, where law enforcement and military officials are threatening people in the name of counter-terrorism. Tunisian citizens are stereotyped, men in long beards and women in religious clothing are explicitly monitored and treated harshly and their homes are searched. These unlawful searches and arrests go against key human rights, including the right to work and freedom of movement – further injuring Tunisia’s human rights record.
The Human Rights Watch notes that Tunisia has been trying to prevent torture and ill treatment towards detainees in their prisons, with the National Constituent Assembly creating a High Authority for the Prevention of Torture, which elected 16 members in March 2016. Using unannounced inspections, torture in prisons and detention sites can be reduced. However, the Tunisian government is still unsure of how to preserve the human rights of citizens in police custody as reports of ill treatment by judges and police officers rise.
Addressing these reports, the U.N. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recommended, among other suggestions, that Tunisia should increase accountability amongst these police officers and judges by raising awareness of human rights. Thus, while the government continues to stabilize and search for ways to stem Tunisia’s human rights violations in the midst of the country’s ongoing state of emergency, there is hope that the treatment of its citizens will continue to improve.
– Rachael Blandau
Photo: Flickr