Benin is a small, mostly rural country on Africa’s west coast. It has nearly 11 million people and around half live on less than a dollar a day. The relatively new nation is among the world’s poorest countries. Why is Benin poor? The following are a few main reasons.
One reason is poor agricultural practices. Cotton makes up about 70 percent of Benin’s export earnings, so the country’s economy is at risk of low levels of crop production.
The country’s emphasis on cotton has led to land degradation, making it even more difficult for small-scale Beninese farmers to earn a living. Monoculture and pesticide use damages the land’s fertility and reduces cotton and other crop production.
Eighty percent of Benin’s population earns a living through agriculture, and this puts millions of people in a vulnerable position. Farmers may face low rainfall in dry seasons and disastrous floods in wet seasons. Poor farmers may not be able to afford fertilizer, farm machinery or good seeds. All those things would improve crop yields and hence profits when used correctly.
Another obstacle for farmers is a lack of education on what is necessary for optimal crop growth. They may adhere to monoculture farming or plant seeds too close together when it is best to practice crop diversification and give plants enough room to grow.
Another answer to the question of why is Benin poor is low education rates. The literacy rate for people aged 15 and up is 38 percent.
Six years of free primary education is required in Benin, but around one in every four children does not complete it. Some children have to help financially support their families if their parents do not earn enough or a parent died from a disease such as HIV/AIDS, hepatitis A or malaria.
More than one million Beninese children are employed. They work in family farms, construction sites, small businesses, markets and more. According to the World Factbook, many families even send their children to work in wealthy households as servants. Children leaving school to work greatly reduces their chances of getting an education and, consequently, breaking the cycle of poverty.
Uncertain trade is another cause of poverty. Benin’s economy could benefit from increasing trade. Benin’s annual exports reach $1.8 billion, but it imports $2.6 billion, creating a trade deficit.
According to the World Bank, “Benin’s economy relies heavily on informal re-export and transit trade with Nigeria, which makes up roughly 20 percent of GDP.” Despite this, Benin’s trade with its neighbor Nigeria is not as high as it could be. Nigeria imposes import bans and high tariffs on goods ranging from used cars to cigarettes.
Benin is susceptible to market shocks because of its reliance on Nigeria’s much larger economy. Low oil prices and low growth in Nigeria indirectly affect Benin, according to the World Bank.
International cooperation is tackling the root causes of poverty in Benin. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has taught thousands of farmers how to increase productivity by diversifying crops and implementing better agronomic practices.
Other programs in Benin aim to increase primary school enrollment to get as many children as possible on the path to education. The Global Partnership for education has grown the primary school completion rate from 40 to 54 percent in target districts and has trained more than 10,000 teachers.
Although Benin remains one of the world’s poorest countries, its economic outlook is improving. The government’s 2016 to 2021 action program is expected to boost the economy 6.2 percent in 2018. The plan aims to reduce poverty by focusing on the Benin’s agricultural potential, trade position and industrial sector. Maybe soon no one will have to ask: Why is Benin poor?
– Kristen Reesor
Photo: Flickr
How to Help People in Liberia
How to help people in Liberia starts with the food insecurity rate. Chronic malnutrition is high, 41 percent of Liberians are considered food-insecure. Farmers that can barely support their own families are common in Liberia, this has led to more than one-third of the population being malnourished. More effective measures of farming need to be put in place to help people in Liberia.
The country has plentiful rainfall and good soil, yet it is not being used effectively. The government of Liberia has granted large plots of land to multinational companies for rubber, timber and palm oil. This has reduced opportunities for farmers to produce large amounts of food at a rapid pace. Agricultural reform needs to be made in order to fix the measures of farming and the allocation of land.
More than 75 percent of the population has little to no access to referral care services. The health care system in Liberia is heavily dependent on aid from outside resources. USAID funded Rebuilding Basic Health Services (RBHS), and since 2008, RBHS has been working closely with the Liberian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to rebuild the health system in Liberia.
Training organized groups and volunteers, investing in basic infrastructure, and supporting the prosperity of the health system are crucial. Interventions must be put in place to develop a line of communication with village chiefs, community health committee members and political representatives. A multi-faceted approach is necessary when addressing the health system in Liberia.
Poor conditions Liberia can be traced back to the military coup in 1980. An absence of political stability in any country causes conflict and poor conditions. In Liberia’s case, being unable to change economic conditions through political activism condemns the poor to stay poor. Lack of opportunity alone does not cause poverty, it is also a lack of political power to change the systems and practices that cause impoverishment.
How to help people in Liberia starts with knowledge and action, both being essential factors. Influencing public policy, financial contributions and working directly with the poor are all impactful. Even though Liberia has not had a prosperous history, there are many successful programs that are encouraging future growth for this West African country.
– Lucy Voegeli
Photo: Flickr
Why Is Benin Poor?
One reason is poor agricultural practices. Cotton makes up about 70 percent of Benin’s export earnings, so the country’s economy is at risk of low levels of crop production.
The country’s emphasis on cotton has led to land degradation, making it even more difficult for small-scale Beninese farmers to earn a living. Monoculture and pesticide use damages the land’s fertility and reduces cotton and other crop production.
Eighty percent of Benin’s population earns a living through agriculture, and this puts millions of people in a vulnerable position. Farmers may face low rainfall in dry seasons and disastrous floods in wet seasons. Poor farmers may not be able to afford fertilizer, farm machinery or good seeds. All those things would improve crop yields and hence profits when used correctly.
Another obstacle for farmers is a lack of education on what is necessary for optimal crop growth. They may adhere to monoculture farming or plant seeds too close together when it is best to practice crop diversification and give plants enough room to grow.
Another answer to the question of why is Benin poor is low education rates. The literacy rate for people aged 15 and up is 38 percent.
Six years of free primary education is required in Benin, but around one in every four children does not complete it. Some children have to help financially support their families if their parents do not earn enough or a parent died from a disease such as HIV/AIDS, hepatitis A or malaria.
More than one million Beninese children are employed. They work in family farms, construction sites, small businesses, markets and more. According to the World Factbook, many families even send their children to work in wealthy households as servants. Children leaving school to work greatly reduces their chances of getting an education and, consequently, breaking the cycle of poverty.
Uncertain trade is another cause of poverty. Benin’s economy could benefit from increasing trade. Benin’s annual exports reach $1.8 billion, but it imports $2.6 billion, creating a trade deficit.
According to the World Bank, “Benin’s economy relies heavily on informal re-export and transit trade with Nigeria, which makes up roughly 20 percent of GDP.” Despite this, Benin’s trade with its neighbor Nigeria is not as high as it could be. Nigeria imposes import bans and high tariffs on goods ranging from used cars to cigarettes.
Benin is susceptible to market shocks because of its reliance on Nigeria’s much larger economy. Low oil prices and low growth in Nigeria indirectly affect Benin, according to the World Bank.
International cooperation is tackling the root causes of poverty in Benin. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has taught thousands of farmers how to increase productivity by diversifying crops and implementing better agronomic practices.
Other programs in Benin aim to increase primary school enrollment to get as many children as possible on the path to education. The Global Partnership for education has grown the primary school completion rate from 40 to 54 percent in target districts and has trained more than 10,000 teachers.
Although Benin remains one of the world’s poorest countries, its economic outlook is improving. The government’s 2016 to 2021 action program is expected to boost the economy 6.2 percent in 2018. The plan aims to reduce poverty by focusing on the Benin’s agricultural potential, trade position and industrial sector. Maybe soon no one will have to ask: Why is Benin poor?
– Kristen Reesor
Photo: Flickr
Causes of Poverty in Malawi
Malawi has a population of 15 million people, and 74 percent live below the income poverty line of $1.90 per day. Causes of poverty in Malawi include problems with the agricultural sector and diseases. Both of these complicated issues prolong impoverishment for many communities in Malawi.
Weather-related complications often shock rural communities, plunging them deeper into poverty. Droughts are the root of the largest harm in the agricultural sector. When a drought occurs, there is a significant fall in crop production and sometimes crop failure occurs. Lower crop outputs are common in subsequent farming seasons after a drought.
Farmers have harvests that are not large enough to sustain their communities. This causes food shortages, generating larger numbers of malnourished people. More than one-third of rural households earn their income through either farming or fishing, so when there is a drought, income is scarce because food production is scarce. The agricultural sector’s problems are among the serious causes of poverty in Malawi. These problems affect the food security of Malawi’s citizens and the overall economy.
Diseases are a vast problem for the citizens of Malawi. When a family member gets sick, other members often have to sell belongings, withdraw school payments and cut back on daily food consumption. Approximately 11.9 percent of Malawians are affected by HIV/AIDS. Many families of those infected are no longer able to pursue a productive lifestyle and escape from poverty. To make medical payments, the patient’s family often has to sacrifice their education, nutrition and personal belongings. Disease causes substantial impoverishment.
Causes of poverty in Malawi, such as agricultural struggles and diseases, are severely complex issues, but there are programs being developed to help. The government of Malawi developed a National Nutrition Policy aimed at coordinating food security programming. USAID training increases the productivity of farmers and their incomes, leading to long-term agricultural development. The diseases are still a cause for concern, but USAID is helping by increasing access to high-quality healthcare. There are certainly issues, but there are ways to fix those issues, and that is what needs to be focused on.
– Lucy Voegeli
Photo: Flickr
Different Approaches to Measuring Poverty
The typical method for getting a headcount of impoverished people within a single nation is using a calculated number called an absolute threshold. Typically referred to as a ‘poverty line’, this threshold indicates that those whose incomes fail to meet a certain standard are poor. The standard varies with country, taking into account economic factors like inflation.
Absolute thresholds were historically used by the World Bank and most governments around the world as a means of taking a “poverty census”.
However, critics like Mark Greenberg, senior fellow of the American Progress organization, call the absolute threshold method “essentially arbitrary.” Many point out that an absolute threshold is limited as a headcount evaluation because it fails to take into account factors outside of income that may still be related to poverty.
The absolute measurement’s counterpart is that of relative poverty. This approach focuses on quality of life as the determining factor for a poverty headcount. According to UNESCO, evaluating poverty this way takes into account income as well as two additional perspectives: basic needs and empowerment.
The U.N. asserts that humans have eight basic needs: food, safe water, sanitation, health, shelter, education, information and access to services.
The level of access to each need is evaluated using clearly defined standards, such as body mass index for measuring access to food, or distance from a clean water source. The state of living with two or more ‘severe deprivations’ (substandard measurements) is termed ‘absolute poverty’.
The final aspect of relative poverty — the empowerment perspective — views poverty as limiting social and political rights. Therefore, groups that experience high levels of discrimination or are denied basic rights, such as that of political participation, are also considered impoverished.
While methods of measuring poverty certainly vary, the general consensus is that living on less than $1.90 per day is extreme poverty.
Though it is by no means an easy task and there is ample room for improving methodology, measuring poverty is essential to understanding and approaching this complex, global issue.
– Kailey Dubinsky
Photo: Flickr
Female Victims of Sex Trafficking in India Get a Second Chance
In 2014, police in India recorded 2,604 sex trafficking cases, but more than three-quarters of the traffickers accused went unpunished. The Better India states that “less than 50 child prostitution cases in a year lead to successful convictions on average.” Current laws are not effective enough in preventing human trafficking in India.
The Dutch anti-trafficking group Free a Girl created a new approach to the sex trafficking issue in India, called The School for Justice. It launched in April of this year with 19 women who were victims of sex trafficking in India. Not only are these women training to be lawyers but they are also gaining empowerment in a community in which they are ostracized.
The program financially and emotionally supports the process. It enrolls them into a university so that they can receive a bachelor’s degree in law. The rescued girls live in a house together while receiving food and an education to prepare them for a future career. For each student in The School for Justice program, it costs $3,400 per year which is covered by donors for the first two years.
Having women who were once trafficked as prostitutes become members of India’s legal system is a huge step for the country. Not only are females that are trafficked not welcome back with their families, they are also more likely to be arrested. These women are not receiving the help that they need once they escape sex trafficking in India.
The main goal of The School for Justice is to provide the help and resources needed to create prosecutors out of the victims of trafficking in India. This could be a small change that eventually leads to holding traffickers accountable for their actions and keeping women and children out of trafficking. Per The Better India, “not only will these brave women finally be able to chart a course of their own life but they will also be saving the lives of others like themselves in the process.”
– Mackenzie Fielder
Photo: Flickr
Hunger in the Solomon Islands
Hunger in the Solomon Islands is prevalent despite the abundance of food resources available to the population. Conditions are ideal for agriculture and fisheries are high producing, yet 32.8 percent of children under the age of five have stunted growth and 8.5 percent have severely low heights for their age. There is little evidence of wasting, which is the phenomenon where children have low weights for their heights, meaning that most children do get their required daily energy intake.
The prevalence of stunting, however, shows that most residents of the Solomon Islands suffer from “hidden hunger,” meaning they have enough food intake but are deficient in important vitamins and minerals. This reduces growth and restricts development while leaving them vulnerable to disease and infection. Alongside the prevalence of stunted children, there is a large trend of obesity in adults in the Solomon Islands. This creates a double burden of disease with both often appearing in the same household.
People in urban areas are disproportionately disadvantaged and limited because they don’t have access to land to grow their own food and so must rely on overpriced foods in urban areas. Fresh fish and even canned tuna is too expensive for many to buy, and the cheapest foods like rice and noodles present dangerous nutritional problems for residents of the Solomon Islands. There are high rates of anemia and diarrhea that result from this type of improper nutrition. People living in rural areas also have the opportunity to trade their produce for healthier foods, an opportunity that city dwellers do not have.
In an effort to increase food security and decrease hunger in the Solomon Islands, several agricultural projects have been established to support existing infrastructure. In the fishing sector, the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency project, funded by the European Union, is attempting to promote local businesses and employment in the Solomon Islands by controlling illegal fishing and developing existing fisheries with technical assistance and changes to local fishing policies.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock is trying to develop new ways to produce rice locally in the Solomon Islands, as previous attempts at localized growing failed because of low crop yield, poor taste and high rates of insect infestation. The Ministry is working on implementing new rice production systems to overcome these preliminary issues and have already had success with seed planting.
The Nut Growers’ Association of the Solomon Islands is a national non-governmental organization that is trying to assist the production of indigenous fruits and nuts to increase the food variety available to local populations and increase trade.
Hopefully these new programs will hit their marks and do more to decrease “hidden hunger” and improve the nutritional wellbeing of inhabitants of the Solomon Islands.
– Saru Duckworth
Photo: Flickr
Why Is Ethiopia Poor?
Droughts and other disasters cause Ethiopia’s farms to lack necessary amounts of rainwater for irrigation. Famines occur in effect and leave crops to suffer greatly. Ethiopia’s food and fertilizer prices increase as well, leaving many residents without the financial means to afford these items. This is especially problematic when considering that 80 percent of Ethiopians rely on agriculture to stabilize their economy.
A lack of infrastructure and basic services, such as safe drinking water, education and healthcare, contribute to Ethiopia’s poverty as well. Malaria, HIV and other diseases often kill Ethiopia’s young residents who provide for their families. If more Ethiopians had access to healthcare and other vital services, more Ethiopian families might be able to rise above poverty.
Many Ethiopian families that are run by women are especially vulnerable to poverty. Since many Ethiopian women do not participate in awareness programs, many of their infants suffer malnutrition, lack literacy skills and sometimes die. This problem could be avoided if more Ethiopian women, and other less-privileged groups in the country, participated in the awareness programs.
Why is Ethiopia poor? Human rights abuses, even though some have been carried out with the intent to strengthen Ethiopia’s economy, have done great harm to the country’s poor. “When a society is not free, development is not as sustainable,” according to Obang Metho, executive director of the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia.
There is hope for positive changes to Ethiopia’s economy. For more than a decade, Ethiopia has witnessed an economic growth rate of 10 percent, bringing the country close to meeting the U.N.’s development goals. Ethiopia’s government plans for the country to have a middle-income rate by 2025.
Ethiopia’s poverty rate in 2000 was 44 percent but dropped to 30 percent by 2011. Agricultural growth was one of the main reasons for this change. It could help Ethiopians in the present if such a change were to occur again. Education, household health and living standards have also been making steady improvements since 2000.
Why is Ethiopia poor? Ethiopia should maintain a focus on agricultural development in order to strengthen its economy. Promoting the growth of farms and helping households overcome migration constraints could help Ethiopians achieve financial security as well. While safety net programs have also proven to be effective, those programs must still adapt to Ethiopia’s changing poverty conditions.
– Rhondjé Singh Tanwar
Photo: Pixabay
Working to End Neglected Tropical Diseases
Typically caused by inadequate sanitation and lack of clean drinking water, NTDs vary in their effect but can prove detrimental, especially in children. These diseases can impair intellectual development in children as well as cause blindness and other physical disabilities. The health costs are not the problem caused by NTDs, as they also reduce school enrollment and prevent economic progress because infected individuals are limited in ability. This is why it is critical to end Neglected Tropical Diseases.
USAID is leading the global fight against NTDs. It implemented large-scale treatment programs and research for the affected countries. In the past 10 years, the U.S. made great progress in this fight, giving more than $11.1 billion in donated medicines. This contribution provided more than 1.6 billion treatments to approximately 743 million individuals.
The U.S. impact does not end there. In addition to the treatment programs and research implemented by USAID, Congress also prioritized this issue by introducing the End Neglected Tropical Diseases Act (H.R. 1415).
H.R. 1415, sponsored by Representative Christopher Smith (D-NJ), advances the current program working against NTDs. This act prioritizes improving the current program by monitoring funding, including morbidity management in treatment plans and expanding research development. So far, this act has five cosponsors and was referred to three House sub-committees.
Although USAID led a strong battle against NTDs, there is still much work to be done for the one billion people affected by this problem. As NTDs are slowly eradicated, the livelihoods of the world’s poor will begin to improve as children can return to school and adults are able to achieve financial stability.
– Kelly Hayes
Photo: Flickr
Farmerline: Increase Food Security in Ghana
The main challenge Ghanaian farmers face is that they have little or no access to farming information and services. Only those in the cities of Ghana have access to updates on market prices, growth innovations and weather patterns. For Ghanaian farmers in rural areas like Volta, predicting even the next day’s weather is difficult, and could mean a huge difference in revenue for the farm. Even when this information was available, it is usually not in languages farmers could understand, given Ghana’s vast language and dialect diversity.
Almost half of Ghana’s working population and its land are involved in farming. TheWorld Bank suggests that around 80 percent of agricultural output in Ghana comes from small-scale farms. Food security in Ghana is imperative to the country’s stability. When these farms succeed, the whole country succeeds. When they don’t, thousands of people struggle to get enough food to eat.
Attah wanted a way to help farmers receive the information they needed to help their farms thrive. As a young adult, he left his aunt’s farm and started learning how to code, pioneering a career in technology. In 2011, he realized cell phones were the answer. Cellular devices were becoming more popular in Ghana, and most farmers had access to at least a basic cell phone. Even the simplest devices could deliver prerecorded messages with the latest information on productive farming.
Attah began his start-up, Farmerline, and today, it has more than 200,000 farmers using its services to increase food security in Ghana and nine other African countries. The platform offers farmers several services, such as market prices, agricultural tips and weather forecasts in their own local language. It also connects potential buyers and businesses to the farmers, such as NGOs, global food companies and more through farm data, auditing, mapping and profiling services.
The company estimates that some farmers increased their revenues by more than 50 percent using Farmerline. This is a huge return, seeing that Farmerline only costs farmers $2-3 for a few months. The company created a gigantic agricultural network that reaches even more people in need of food. Farmerline broke down literature and language barriers in Ghana. Furthermore, because 80 percent of domestic food production comes from small-scale farms, food security in Ghana is steadily rising.
The company’s success was recognized with the King Baudouin African Development Prize. Along with two other start-ups, Farmerline won 367,000 Ghana Cedi to fund its business in early 2017. Attah is ecstatic with the win, and hopes to use the prize money to expand his business. The field of entrepreneurship in Africa is tricky, given high taxes and a lack of investors. Attah says there are plenty of successful start-ups in Africa, but transforming into a successful long-term business is nearly impossible without significant funding.
Up until now, Farmerline succeeded on the revenues of its customers and partnering NGOs, but the prize money will give it a new boost to take the company to the next level. Several investors and partners from other countries, including Mexico and Peru, have shown an interest in Farmerline’s technology. Attah welcomes the change. He ambitiously wants to help farmers all over the world. Attah hopes by 2020 he can have one million farmers using Farmerline and even more people breaking out of the poverty cycle as food security in Ghana and across the world improves.
– Sydney Cooney
Photo: Flickr
Best Ways to Help the Homeless
Top 3 Ways to Help the Homeless
If the world works together to solve our poverty problem, we can help the homeless. To do this, people around the globe must first educate themselves about each issue and push for legislation that will improve the lives of the homeless population. Continuing to dispel stereotypes and volunteering time and items for nonprofit organizations are important steps to improve lives of others and make the world a better place.
– Rilee Pickle
Photo: Flickr