To foster growth in developing countries, there has to be a focus on global education. Many children and adolescents are out of school worldwide, often due to poverty, conflict or financial deprivation. Approximately 24 million children globally will never see the inside of a classroom, according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Five international aid organizations have stepped up to expand worldwide access to educational opportunities: The World Bank, Global Partnership for Education, United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, Global Education First Initiative and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization.
The World Bank currently plays a significant role in providing educational access across the globe. Since its creation in 1944, the organization has invested $69 billion globally in more than 1,500 educational projects.
Recently, the World Bank laid out the “Learning for All” plan, an education strategy focused on ensuring that all children and youth receive learning opportunities by 2020. The organization plans to double its investment in global public education by 2020, spending approximately $5 billion to improve education in developing nations
“The truth is that most educational systems are not serving the poorest children well,” World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in an interview with Reuters. “With nearly a billion people remaining trapped in extreme poverty today, sustained efforts to improve learning for children will unlock huge amounts of human potential for years to come.”
The Global Partnership for Education works to develop effective and sustainable education systems across the globe by collaborating with national governments and development partners.
“The Global Partnership for Education supports developing countries to ensure that every child receives a quality basic education, prioritizing the poorest, most vulnerable and those living in fragile and conflict-affected countries,” the organization’s website states.
If all students in developing countries received basic reading skills, 171 million people worldwide could be lifted out of poverty, according to the organization.
Created in 2012 by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the Global Education First Initiative aims to strengthen global education through political advocacy.
The initiative works to reach three priority goals: ensuring that every child is in school, improving the quality of learning worldwide and fostering global citizenship through education.
“Without universal education, in other words, winning the war against illiteracy and ignorance, we cannot also win the war against disease, squalor, and unemployment. Without universal and high standard education we can only go so far but not far enough in breaking the cycle of poverty,” U.N. Special Envoy for Education Gordon Brown said in a statement on the organization’s website.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was established in 1945 to foster peace, poverty eradication, lasting development and intercultural dialogue across the globe. Education is one of the primary ways the organization aims to reach its goals.
“As a human right in itself, education is also fundamental to realizing other rights, and an enabler for reaching all the Millennium Development Goals. It plays an essential role in reducing mortality and morbidity rates; eradicating poverty and hunger; strengthening resilience to natural hazards and ending abuse, violence and armed conflict,” Olav Seim, Director of the Education for All Global Partnerships Team said in a UNESCO press release.
With headquarters in Paris and 52 other field offices, including regional bureaus in Bangkok, Beirut, Dakar and Santiago, the organization works worldwide to foster educational opportunities.
The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is a U.N. program that aims to provide long-term humanitarian and developmental assistance to children in developing countries.
Founded in 1946, the organization aims to ensure that children have access to quality education opportunities regardless of their gender, ethnicity or life circumstances.
UNICEF works to get children back to school after emergency situations or disasters and provides educational initiatives to give children in remote areas, as well as children with disabilities or those facing social exclusion, access to education.
The organization recently launched the “Let Us Learn” campaign, with the aim of bringing educational opportunities to the world’s most vulnerable children, focusing on Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Liberia, Madagascar and Nepal.
– Lauren Lewis
Sources: Global Partnership for Education 1, Global Partnership for Education 2, Global Partnership for Education 3, Reuters, U.N. Global Education First Initiative, UNESCO 1, UNICEF 1, UNICEF 2, UNICEF 3, UNESCO 2, UNESCO 3, UNESCO 4, UNESCO Institute for Statistics, World Bank 1, World Bank 2, World Bank 3
Photo: Flickr
WHO: Maternal Mortality Realities Worldwide
According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), maternal mortality is a prominent issue in many developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Deaths from childbirth disproportionately impact the poor as well as women living in rural areas. According to the WHO, “99 percent of all maternal deaths occur in developing countries.”
In addition, more than 50 percent of deaths during childbirth occur in sub-Saharan Africa.
The WHO also asserts that many complications that arise during pregnancy are treatable. The organization states that complications that present before birth may worsen during pregnancy and consequently become fatal.
Common complications accounting for deaths during pregnancy include severe bleeding (mostly after childbirth), infection, high blood pressure while pregnant, problems with the delivery and unsafe abortion.
According to the U.N., girls aged 15-19 are especially likely to experience fatal births.
The WHO explains that only 51 percent of women can afford skilled care by “a midwife, a doctor, or a trained nurse”. Therefore, millions of women face risks from unmonitored pregnancies. The WHO goes on to say that women need access to skilled care, not only during pregnancy, but also during childbirth and afterward.
A report from the U.N. shows that significant progress has been made in addressing the issue of maternal mortality. The organization states that Equatorial Guinea has achieved its Millennium Development Goals, reducing death during childbirth by 81 percent. Additionally, Eritrea reduced maternal mortality by 77 percent; Ethiopia saw a 69 percent decline and Rwanda reduced maternal mortality by 76 percent.
Moreover, U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon has launched a program named the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health, 2016-2030. The strategy “seeks to end all preventable death of women, children and adolescents and create an environment in which these groups not only survive, but thrive and see their environments, health and wellbeing transformed”.
– Mayra Vega
Sources: World Health Organization, United Nations 1, United Nations 2, Central Intelligence Agency
Photo: Flickr
Oxfam Fights Poverty Around the World
Oxfam works with its local partners from about 90 countries to tackle causes of poverty. Some of these countries include Afghanistan, Kenya, Somalia, South Africa and Liberia.
Among the issues addressed are food poverty, climate change, health and education, money for aid development, women’s rights, water resources, conflict and disasters.
What makes Oxfam unique is its ability to work on a plethora of projects such as:
Aside working on projects at the grassroots level, Oxfam encourages ordinary citizens to donate to charity and take part in the fight against global poverty. Here, this allows for ordinary people to feel as though they are being stewards of the world.
Some of the successes of the organization include (1) a rice growing revolution in Liberia; (2) seeds of change in Nepal, which allowed vegetable seed farmer Kalpana Oli create income through smart farming and finding a gap in the market; (3) a lift-off for girls’ education in Pakistan and (4) a water project in Zimbabwe, which creates an irrigation system to provide clean water in Zimabwean communities.
Oxfam has helped improve many impoverished lives around the world and is expected to further its influence in the future.
– Vanessa Awanyo
Sources: Oxfam, Key One
Photo: Flickr
Ban Ki-moon’s Career as UN Secretary-General
Like all jobs, the role of Secretary-General of the U.N. comes with its own challenges and rewards, especially when you’re following in the footsteps of someone like Kofi Annon. Ban Ki-moon has served in this position since January 2007.
Ban Ki-moon’s agenda has been all encompassing — promoting sustainable development, empowering women, supporting countries facing crisis and instability, dealing with arms control and non-proliferation, all while strengthening the U.N.
“Be a global citizen. Act with passion and compassion,” said Ban Ki-moon at Our World, Our Dignity, Our Planet: the Post-2015 Agenda and the Role of Youth. “Help us make this world safer and more sustainable today and for the generations that will follow us. That is our moral responsibility.”
In his first year as secretary-general, he called attention to the genocide in Darfur and made it a top priority. Under Ban Ki-moon’s leadership, a hybrid force, part African-Union and part U.N., was established for peacekeeping, according to the BBC.
“He worked doggedly on agreements between the government of Sudan and the African Union that led to a UN Security Council resolution last summer authorizing a hybrid UN force made up largely of African Union soldiers,” said Howard LaFranchi in a March 2008 Christian Science Monitor article.
Not only has Ban Ki-moon worked to address humanitarian issues like global poverty through the use of the Millennium Development Goals but he has also made it his mission to tackle climate change through the Global Goals for Sustainable Development.
“The Goals are universal; they apply to all countries, since we know that even the wealthiest have yet to conquer poverty or achieve full gender equality,” said Ban Ki-moon in an op-ed for the Huffington Post in 2015.
According to his U.N. priorities, he also sought to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation along with increasing monies for the Green Climate Fund and putting them to good use.
Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel applauded Ban Ki-moon’s efforts to address climate change, global humanitarian issues and the refugee crisis. “With sound preparations, and when the many partners involved pull together, the international community can accept shared responsibility,” said Merkel at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris. “To a very great extent we have you to thank for this achievement. And I would like to thank you most warmly.”
Although Ban Ki-moon’s term as secretary-general concludes at the end of this year, he can leave knowing he had a positive impact on the global community.
— Summer Jackson
Sources: Bundesregierung , BBC, Huffington Post, UN 1, UN 2, UN 3
What Gender Means for World Peace
The evidence clearly suggests that world peace and gender equality go hand-in-hand. According to Foreign Policy, “there is a strong and highly significant link between the state’s and women’s security…the best predictor of a state’s peacefulness is not its level of wealth, its level of democracy, or its ethno-religious identity; the best predictor of a state’s peacefulness is how well its women are treated.”
In their investigative book “Sex and World Peace,” four scholars found out that the larger the gender gap with respect to the treatment of men and women in a population, the more probable it is for a country to get involved in interstate issues as well as have higher levels of violence.
Regarding economic growth, national wealth, corruption and social welfare, the best prognosticators are those which manifest the situation of women. According to Foreign Policy, “what happens to women affects the stability, prosperity, bellicosity, corruption, health, regime type and power of state.”
The empirical results are abundant. WomanStats database rated countries based on numerous sections respecting women’s security from 0 (best) to 4 (worst). In this categorical system, no country received a 0, in regards to the physical security of women.
The world average was 3.04, “attesting to the widespread and persistent violence perpetrated against women worldwide, even among the most developed countries,” announced Foreign Policy. The United States received a 2.0 due to the predominance of rape and domestic violence.
Gender-based assault is sadly intrinsic in many cultures and it remains rooted in the countries associated with underdevelopment.
The fundamental objective facing the 21st century is to eradicate violence against women and remove barriers that prevent them from development and empowerment.
“The countries of the world must try a different path, one that we have every empirical reason to believe will lead to greater well-being, prosperity and security for the entire international system. Sex and world peace, then, with no question mark,” said Foreign Policy.
– Isabella Rölz
Sources: Foreign Policy, Woman Stats, Columbia University Press (2016) Sex and World Peace,
Four Reasons to be Excited About Nanosatellites
Recently, there has been a lot of hype surrounding nanosatellites. These satellites are an emerging technology in space development and offer the potential for more developing countries to reap the benefits of traditional satellites without the hefty costs associated with them.
Nanosatellites are small satellites weighing between 1kg and 10kg. CubeSats are box-shaped versions of nanosatellites and are currently one of the most widely-used forms. They are very light compared to traditional satellites, which can weigh up to several tons.
Why are nanosatellites so exciting? The reasons range from their cost and convenience to unique benefits that they can bring to the table. Here are four of the main reasons:
1. They are cheap and convenient. Compared to traditional satellites, nanosatellites retain the same or similar capabilities, while costing significantly less. According to the online publication The Conversation, while the cost of traditional satellites can be hundreds of millions of dollars, a CubeSat can be built for around $100,000 and can be launched for many of the same missions that their traditional counterparts can. “Including the launch, a nanosat of CubeSat dimensions might cost $150,000-1m, rather than $200m-1 billion for a full-sized one,” an article in the Economist corroborates.
Furthermore, nanosatellites are more convenient to build. According to the Economist, due to their low cost and less stringent standards of regulation, they can be built faster. Nanosatellites also have a relatively short lifespan of perhaps no more than a year or two in low-Earth orbit before re-entering the atmosphere and burning up. This allows for less risk-management during the building and launch phases.
2. They will help the space programs of developing countries. Funding is often a big problem for these programs; they are constrained by the high cost of traditional satellites and supporting infrastructure. The low costs of nanosatellites, however, offer a solution.
“From being cheaper to build and launch into space, they provide a cost-effective platform for training and research, especially for countries where heavy investment in a space industry has to be weighed against more immediate needs such as health and welfare,” the article on The Conversation says.
In addition, nanosatellites will encourage more youth to enter the space industry. Speaking about Africa, the Conversation notes that young people are entering careers in STEM at low rates. Nanosatellites, though, can be integrated into training at a lower cost and will thus give young people more first-hand exposure to the technology. They also have a “cool” factor: “Combining the vibrant ingenuity and creativity of this generation with an equally ingenious and cool space technology can no doubt have a profoundly positive socioeconomic impact on Africa,” says the Conversation.
3. They are closely integrated with modern, advanced technology. According to the Economist, small satellites benefit from the constant improvements in price and performance being achieved by the consumer-electronics industry, particularly in smartphone technology.
A modern phone is equipped with technologies such as an accelerometer to measure how fast it is moving, a magnetometer to detect magnetic fields and provide a compass reading, a gyroscope to measure its position, a barometer to detect pressure and much more. These technologies provide nanosatellites with a wealth of resources to work with.
4. They provide unique benefits. Though traditional satellites are able to certain complex tasks that nanosatellites cannot, nanosats have their own unique advantages.
According to the Conversation, because they are low cost, multiple nanosatellites can be launched into low-Earth orbit. The satellites in these constellations pass over a specific geographic area more frequently than single, big-satellite missions. This allows nanosatellites to be used for rapid responses to disasters or to gather timely information relating to telemedicine, environmental management and asset tracking.
The unique potential of nanosatellites is also being seen in other projects. According to the online publication Inverse, the company SkyFi is working on creating a nanosatellite network to provide the entire world with free internet access. The cheap costs and flexibility of nanosatellites would allow them to circumvent the problems preventing traditional satellites from providing reliable wifi.
“The high flexibility of our nanosatellites and the ability to provide multiple services to different customers enables us to offer free internet access to the whole planet in the same manner as GPS services are free. We think this has the potential to bridge great divides and give everyone worldwide a part in the great global connected community,” Raz Itzhaki Tamir, Co-Founder and CEO of SkyFi, said in a press release.
– Anton Li
Sources: The Conversation, The Economist, Inverse, PRWeb
Photo: Kirtland Air Force Base
Why the Global Food Security Act of 2016 is Important
Global poverty touches the lives of millions of people. Currently, close to 3 billion people lack access to toilets and 1 billion lack access to clean drinking water. In addition, 2.7 million newborns worldwide die within their first month of life.
Seven countries are home to 58 percent of the world’s hungry: India, China, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Tanzania.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization states that 795 million people suffer from chronic hunger. It is clear that there is much work to do in confronting the problems associated with ending global poverty.
The Global Food Security Act aims to address these problems head-on. The bill is a “comprehensive strategic approach for U.S. foreign assistance to developing countries” according to the text of the bill and hopes ‘to reduce global poverty and hunger, achieve food and nutrition security, promote inclusive, sustainable, agricultural-led economic growth, improve nutritional outcomes” among other objectives.
First introduced in March of last year, The Global Food Security Act has carried much bipartisan support due to its proposed benefits. According to InternAction, a group of non-governmental agencies in Washington D.C, a program launched due to the Act, Feed the Future, Initiative, “improved the nutrition of 12.5 million children and assisted nearly 7 million farmers and producers in improving their use of technology and land management practices.”
On March 10, 2016, the Global Food Security Act (S.1252) moved from the Senate floor to committee. The bill, which was introduced by Senator Robert “Bob” Casey Jr. from Pennsylvania, gained three new cosponsors in February, Senator Benjamin Cardin [D-MD], Senator Bob Corker [R-TN] and Senator Daniel Coats [R-IN]. The new additions bring the total number of cosponsors to 13, seven republicans and six democrats.
The House version of the bill (H.R.1567) that has been in committee since April of last year, also has three recent cosponsors, consisting of Congressman Steve Womack [R-AR3], Congressman Lacy Clay [D-MO1] and Congressman Lee Zeldin [R-NY1] which brings the total number to 123, 82 democrats and 42 republicans.
The Global Food Security Act can have huge potential benefits. The World Bank indicates, “that growth in agriculture is on average at least twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth outside agriculture… Agricultural growth reduces poverty directly, by raising farm incomes, and indirectly, through generating employment and reducing food prices.” By passing the Global Food Security Act, the United States can take decisive action in reducing global poverty.
– Michael Clark
Sources: The Borgen Project, GovTrack 1, GovTrack 2, GovTrack 3, InterAction, Bread for the World, World Bank
Photo: Flickr
Higher Number of Women Landowners Relieves Poverty
As the number of women landowners grows, the overall condition of their communities improves drastically. This topic was recently covered at the World Bank Land and Poverty Conference 2016, the 17th annual conference, earlier this month.
The conference, “Scaling up Responsible Land Governance,” brought together many experts from many fields from around the globe to talk about land strategy.
A large portion of this year’s conference highlighted the work of researchers focusing on the empowerment of women in developing countries through land ownership. Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of increasing women landowners is the link to fewer cases of domestic violence.
With greater access to land ownership for women, the need for young daughters to marry diminishes and households have more access to resources. According to Klaus Deininger, an economist for the World Bank and conference organizer, women with greater land rights typically have more personal wealth, leading to lower levels of domestic violence.
“If women have stronger bargaining power, they actually can resist,” Deininger says in an article by Reuters. “Their husbands will think twice before beating them.”
The conference tackled questions on how to enhance women’s awareness of their legal rights and how to ensure women’s rights in land interventions. The Landesa Rural Development Institute is an organization that seeks to provide solutions to these questions by securing greater access for potential women landowners in developing countries.
Laws and policies often dilute or deny women’s rights to land. Even when laws enshrine such rights, loopholes, low implementation and enforcement and sex-discriminatory practices often undercut these formal guarantees.
Landesa’s Center for Women’s Land Rights has programing in both India and Rwanda to combat those challenges. In partnership with West Bengal’s Department of Women and Child Development, the Security for Girls Through Land Project provides vocational training and skills to adolescent girls in order to improve their health and nutrition. The curriculum is based on land rights, asset creation and land-based livelihoods.
The project creates “girls groups” which are peer-facilitated meetings in which girls are given lessons to educate them about land rights and the positive benefits associated with control over land. Girls are taught to start “kitchen gardens” to grow produce for the family or to sell. As the girls begin to earn money, often for the first time, families begin to think of girls as an asset rather than a burden.
The project, beginning in 2010, has already reached 40,000 girls in over 1,000 villages in West Bengal. In addition to engaging with girls in local communities, the project reaches out to boys in local schools in an effort to change the mindset that young women are an economic burden.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization reports that women make up half of the world’s agriculture workforce. As these women have greater access to land, the ripple effect, according to Landesa, includes better nutrition for families, improved family health, educational gains and reduced domestic violence.
– Michael A. Clark
Sources: Landesa, Reuters, World Bank
Photo: Flickr
International Aid Organizations Improve Global Education
To foster growth in developing countries, there has to be a focus on global education. Many children and adolescents are out of school worldwide, often due to poverty, conflict or financial deprivation. Approximately 24 million children globally will never see the inside of a classroom, according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Five international aid organizations have stepped up to expand worldwide access to educational opportunities: The World Bank, Global Partnership for Education, United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, Global Education First Initiative and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization.
The World Bank currently plays a significant role in providing educational access across the globe. Since its creation in 1944, the organization has invested $69 billion globally in more than 1,500 educational projects.
Recently, the World Bank laid out the “Learning for All” plan, an education strategy focused on ensuring that all children and youth receive learning opportunities by 2020. The organization plans to double its investment in global public education by 2020, spending approximately $5 billion to improve education in developing nations
“The truth is that most educational systems are not serving the poorest children well,” World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in an interview with Reuters. “With nearly a billion people remaining trapped in extreme poverty today, sustained efforts to improve learning for children will unlock huge amounts of human potential for years to come.”
The Global Partnership for Education works to develop effective and sustainable education systems across the globe by collaborating with national governments and development partners.
“The Global Partnership for Education supports developing countries to ensure that every child receives a quality basic education, prioritizing the poorest, most vulnerable and those living in fragile and conflict-affected countries,” the organization’s website states.
If all students in developing countries received basic reading skills, 171 million people worldwide could be lifted out of poverty, according to the organization.
Created in 2012 by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the Global Education First Initiative aims to strengthen global education through political advocacy.
The initiative works to reach three priority goals: ensuring that every child is in school, improving the quality of learning worldwide and fostering global citizenship through education.
“Without universal education, in other words, winning the war against illiteracy and ignorance, we cannot also win the war against disease, squalor, and unemployment. Without universal and high standard education we can only go so far but not far enough in breaking the cycle of poverty,” U.N. Special Envoy for Education Gordon Brown said in a statement on the organization’s website.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was established in 1945 to foster peace, poverty eradication, lasting development and intercultural dialogue across the globe. Education is one of the primary ways the organization aims to reach its goals.
“As a human right in itself, education is also fundamental to realizing other rights, and an enabler for reaching all the Millennium Development Goals. It plays an essential role in reducing mortality and morbidity rates; eradicating poverty and hunger; strengthening resilience to natural hazards and ending abuse, violence and armed conflict,” Olav Seim, Director of the Education for All Global Partnerships Team said in a UNESCO press release.
With headquarters in Paris and 52 other field offices, including regional bureaus in Bangkok, Beirut, Dakar and Santiago, the organization works worldwide to foster educational opportunities.
The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is a U.N. program that aims to provide long-term humanitarian and developmental assistance to children in developing countries.
Founded in 1946, the organization aims to ensure that children have access to quality education opportunities regardless of their gender, ethnicity or life circumstances.
UNICEF works to get children back to school after emergency situations or disasters and provides educational initiatives to give children in remote areas, as well as children with disabilities or those facing social exclusion, access to education.
The organization recently launched the “Let Us Learn” campaign, with the aim of bringing educational opportunities to the world’s most vulnerable children, focusing on Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Liberia, Madagascar and Nepal.
– Lauren Lewis
Sources: Global Partnership for Education 1, Global Partnership for Education 2, Global Partnership for Education 3, Reuters, U.N. Global Education First Initiative, UNESCO 1, UNICEF 1, UNICEF 2, UNICEF 3, UNESCO 2, UNESCO 3, UNESCO 4, UNESCO Institute for Statistics, World Bank 1, World Bank 2, World Bank 3
Photo: Flickr
Highlighting the Benefits of Cash Transfers
According to a report by the Center for Global Development (CGD), cash transfers may come in the form of “an envelope of cash, a plastic card, or an electronic money transfer to a mobile phone, with which [recipients] can buy food, pay rent and purchase what they need locally.”
This report also suggests that these transfers should be complemented by services such as immunization and sanitation, where cash transfers may not be sufficient.
Other benefits through transfers include the transparency provided. They allow precise measurement of how much aid is arriving to the desired target population.
Receivers are granted the benefit of being able to choose what the aid is spent on. This decision making process further empowers communities and allows them to receive what they really need.
Despite the benefits, the CGD states that cash transfers are still often overlooked in favor of other forms of assistance. Today, cash payments make up only six percent of aid. Evidence from global crises, in Ethiopia, for instance, has proven that “cash was more effective than food aid by 25-30 percent,” says the CGD.
There are also challenges in the distribution of cash transfers. According to the World Bank, one challenge is ensuring that cash directly reaches needy recipients, avoiding corrupt processes and opportunistic elites.
Overall, cash transfers are practical. They can also reduce administration and operating costs. Respected nonprofits such as Give Well assert that unconditional cash transfers help the poor begin to create a better life on their own terms.
Giving the impoverished the freedom to utilize cash payments means they have the ability to meet individual needs and accelerate progress in their developing countries.
– Mayra Vega
Sources: Center For Global Development, World Bank, The New York Times
Photo: Flickr
Dr. Bjorn Lomborg on Tackling Poverty in Bangladesh
The government of Bangladesh recently dedicated itself to pulling more than six million people out of extreme poverty by 2020. Dr. Bjorn Lomborg, the director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center wrote an article for the Daily Star, an independent newspaper in Bangladesh, on the most efficient ways to tackle poverty in the country.
Bjorn Lomborg is also the author of several books, including “How to Spend $75 Billion to Make the World a Better Place” and has been ranked one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time magazine.
In this article, he writes that poverty is one of the most crucial challenges that Bangladesh faces. There is much work to do to solve the problem, with 20 million Bangladeshis considered extremely poor.
Bjorn Lomborg is a part of the Bangladesh Priorities project, which works with stakeholders across Bangladesh to find, analyze, rank and publicize the best solutions for the country. Two of the project’s economists, Munshi Sulaiman of BRAC International and Farzana Misha of Erasmus University Rotterdam, have analyzed three of the most important ways to end extreme poverty in Bangladesh.
The first way to tackle poverty is through cash transfers. Bjorn Lomborg writes that this method has proven to be popular in Kenya and Uganda. According to research, the most efficient method is providing no-condition transfers (no conditions on how the money can be used).
However, Bjorn Lomborg notes that the benefits of cash transfers diminish over time. “A one-time stipend for someone in extreme poverty may help for a little while, but the effect is fleeting.”
The second strategy is developing “livelihood programs.” These programs essentially give a livelihood boost to those living in poverty so that they can eventually thrive on their own. Programs include agronomic training and growing inputs. Lomborg says the return on spending is one-to-one in programs of this kind.
The third way out of poverty, the one Lomborg calls “the most promising,” is graduation programs. In these programs, ultra-poor participants first receive a small gift of food or cash, which allows them to meet basic needs and start saving.
Then participants receive an asset, such as a cow, as well as technical and financial education. They also receive healthcare support so they can weather emergencies and not be forced to sell all of their assets. Lastly, participants get social training, which Lomborg notes is an important factor that is overlooked in escaping poverty.
“The assistance in the form of money, assets, and financial and social support allows participants to ‘graduate’ out of extreme poverty over a set timeframe,” he says.
“Graduation programs would increase recipients’ incomes by at least one-third,” he continues. “And it’s likely that household benefits are somewhat understated because the analysis has only estimated the income benefit but not the improved nutrition status of children.”
Although this approach is expensive, Lomborg says the rewards are worth it.
– Kerri Whelan
Sources: The Daily Star, Copenhagen Consensus, Lomborg
Photo: Flickr