Here are five top documentaries to consider adding to your watch list.
5. How to Change the World (2015)
This documentary discusses the creation of the modern environmental groups and the rise of Greenpeace. 1971–the Nixon Administration orders the third underground nuclear test on Alaska’s Amchitka Island, site a WWII U.S. Naval air facility. The remote island, once home to the world’s largest runway, was an ideal location for the U.S. government to conduct underground nuclear testing. The film follows Bob Hunter, “a hippy journalist from Vancouver” and Greenpeace founding member, during a sailing voyage to Amchitka Island to protest the atomic testing.
4. The True Cost (2015)
Number 4 of the top documentaries to stream on Netflix, The True Cost features a “behind the curtain” story revealing hard truths about the fashion industry’s production system. John Hilary, the executive director of the “War on Want” captures the essence of the film: “When everything is concentrated on making profits, what you see is that human rights, the environment, workers rights get lost.” Organizations like Clean Clothes Campaign, BRAC, Fashion Revolution and Greenpeace continue to advocate for reform in the fashion industry. The film seeks to educate the public in order to stir support for campaigns like Fashion Revolution’s mission to reform the fashion industry “which values people, the environment, creativity and profits in equal measure.”
3. The Square (2013) Tahrir Square certainly has its place going back long into history; however, five years ago it was the site of protests and an Egyptian revolution. Protesters like Khalid Abdalla, the British-Egyptian actor and star of The Kite Runner, occupied the heart of Cairo to protest the current government regime. The documentary features footage shot by protesters that capture the intimacy of their struggle. It’s a story about a people yearning for their rights to be heard and to “create a society of conscience.” The Square received a 2014 Oscar Nomination for ‘Best Documentary’.
2. The White Helmets (2016) The White Helmets features a story about hope in the war-torn nation of Syria. In a nation wrought with death and destruction, the White Helmets claim to have saved 62,000 lives. The film offers firsthand perspectives into the civil war in Syria, exposing its horrors but also sending a message that the altruism of the human spirit will never fail. Though a bid for the Nobel Peace Prize was unsuccessful, supporters are actively campaigning to raise the $1 million that would have been awarded to the White Helmet rescue workers. The money will go to “treat wounded volunteers and replace rescue equipment and ambulances that have been bombed.”
1. Poverty, Inc. (2014)
At number 1, Poverty, Inc. tells the story of the multi-billion dollar business of charitable giving. Through well-intentioned donations, the charity industry generates enormous profits for certain businesses but does not develop recipient nations to become self-reliant. Instead, the preponderance of aid leads to dependency. The documentary encourages “empowerment” in order to eliminate the mindset of dependency on foreign aid. Winner of 30 film festival honors, Poverty, Inc. tells an incredible story of hope and charts a general path toward finally eradicating extreme global poverty.
https://borgenproject.org/wp-content/uploads/borgen-project-logo.svg00Borgen Projecthttps://borgenproject.org/wp-content/uploads/borgen-project-logo.svgBorgen Project2016-11-06 01:30:432020-05-15 17:35:57Five Top Documentaries to Stream on Netflix
Recently, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said it was time for women to lead the United Nations. As elections are approaching the end of the year, there are eleven candidates among which six are women. This could be a historic first time for female leadership at the United Nations since the organization was created 70 years ago.
Ki-moon said that it was high time now for a female leader. He further elaborated: “We have many distinguished and eminent women leaders in national governments or other organizations or even business communities, political communities, and cultural and every aspect of our life. […] There’s no reason why not in the United Nations.”
Generally, there are strong voices that call for a woman leader. There is an impatient demand, which is higher than ever, for women to lead the United Nations. The female candidates definitely have their chances and it’s now their time to shine.
People are excited to see how a female leader would continue using soft power and coalition tactics to pursue U.N. goals. The new leader will set the tone and vision of the organization for the next decade. A female leader could definitely bring a much-needed change.
Furthermore, the women aspiring to a leadership role in the United Nations demonstrate interesting qualifications and well-experienced cadres. Many have worked in their respective governments but also in handling many projects related to the United Nations. Each woman candidate can bring a whole lot of shift in the U.N. with their diverse practical experience.
Women have been underrepresented in the United Nations. A new female chief will certainly address this critical issue. This is part of achieving gender equality on a global, leadership level. A female U.N. chief will also shed the light on women groups and issues related to feminism, education and equality that would otherwise be overshadowed by superpowers in favor of other issues.
Another interesting fact is that women make up almost half of the population of the world. However, they only hold 25 percent of the U.N.’s highest positions. Thus, having female leadership at the United Nations would significantly change the view of women worldwide. The world would see women leaders as equally capable of handling international crises with high qualifications and potential.
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On Oct. 25, Indonesia launched the Tropical Landscapes Finance Facility (TLFF), a green growth project to finance projects that encourage eco-friendly growth and improve the lives of citizens in rural areas. The TLFF initiative will collaborate with the United Nations’ Environment Program and agents in the private sector, such as the French bank BNP Paribas.
The program will include a loan fund and a grant fund, leveraging public capital to stimulate economic development while working toward the Paris Climate Agreement goals. This will give access to long-term funds at affordable rates for farmers.
In the past, Indonesia lost a significant portion of its forests due to logging and intentional fires. The government tried to implement a permit scheme for deforestation, but the country still has the highest rate of deforestation globally.
According to U.N. figures, between 2000 and 2005, Indonesia lost 310,000 hectares of forest every year. The rate of deforestation rose to 690,000 hectares per year between 2006 and 2010.
Industrialization has driven workers out of the agricultural sector and into the industrial and services sectors. Yet agriculture remains the dominant employer in the country, with a workforce of 40.8 million people.
Palm oil is its largest export, and palm oil plantations have increased dramatically in the past decade. Forests are sliced to make room for palm oil plants. However, the price of this commodity has steadily declined and farmers are destroying the environment for a product that is losing its value.
The new green growth project will use public funding to unlock private investment. It is looking to make strides in the development of renewable energy and sustainable landscape management. The latter will minimize deforestation and restore degraded lands.
The green investment fund will stimulate the productivity of small farms without compromising the productivity of the land in the future. Chair of the Steering Committee of the facility, Dr. Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, told the audience at the launch event that “This ground-breaking and innovative financial platform, a world’s first, can transform the lives and livelihoods of millions of Indonesians in rural areas that deserve it the most.”
Officials hope the fund will steer farmers away from practices that deplete the land of its natural resources and hinder long-term productivity, hindering the growth of the per capita income of poor farmers.
https://borgenproject.org/wp-content/uploads/borgen-project-logo.svg00Borgen Projecthttps://borgenproject.org/wp-content/uploads/borgen-project-logo.svgBorgen Project2016-11-06 01:30:272024-05-27 23:54:12Indonesia and the UN Create Green Growth Project
Every year, thousands of Nepalese newborns die due to various life-threatening infections contracted early on that go unaddressed. Currently, one in 19 Nepalese children dies before they reach the age of five and half of that number die before reaching even 28 days of life.
Finding successful ways to nurse newborns to health in Nepal has been a challenge for decades. Navel Glazers, a simple topical application of chlorhexidine digluconate (CHX), are helping to pave the way to a brighter future for Nepalese children.
The application of CHX has been used in health care settings to reduce the development and transmission of infections for a number of years now. However, due to limited support regarding its effectiveness in reducing newborn umbilical cord infections, it is not a widely known practice.
Per the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO) more studies have been done to assess the navel-glazing strategy, specifically in high-risk environments like Nepal.
Country-wide clinical trials of CHX application post-birth were rolled out in Nepal through the support of the National Institutes of Health, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID.
It was found that applying a 4 percent chlorhexidine solution to the umbilical cord after birth significantly reduced neonatal mortality.
“This is very important because, after its implementation, the number of infected umbilical cord cases in my facility declined,” explains Birendra Ghale, a health worker in charge of this peripheral-level health facility in Banke, Nepal. “I have also seen that fewer babies are dying in my VDC [village development committee].”
For a long time, cultural barriers kept the implementation of the newly-found, life-saving technique from being used. Nepalese mothers are accustomed to applying substances like turmeric, ash, cow dung or vermilion to their child’s umbilical cord post-birth.
Now, single-dose tubes are freely distributed to all expectant mothers in their eighth month of pregnancy. They also receive a one-on-one educational session to explain how to apply the gel after cutting the cord as well.
Chlorhexidine has rolled out to 26 of 75 districts in Nepal as of July 2012. The country’s government has committed to incurring the full expense of buying the commodity as well as other program costs from its own resources. They are even using a local manufacturer to help with a production of a high-quality product, and distribution continues to rapidly expand — mainly through community health workers.
Delegates from more than 20 countries learned from Nepal and its implementation of the program. At least five of those countries have implemented similar interventions.
According to the Healthy Newborn Network (HNN), the application of CHX is recognized as being successful, acceptable, feasible and cost-effective newborn care intervention. The widespread practice of CHX cord cleansing, or navel glazing, could prevent more than 200,000 newborn deaths each year in South Asia.
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Since 1990, the world has almost cut infant mortality rates in half. Where the number of neonatal deaths in the first 28 days was once 5.1 million in 1990, there were just 2.7 million in 2015. Although this progress is heartening, it does not meet the Millennium Development Goal of a two-thirds decrease in the mortality rate for children under five.
In fact, over 17,000 children under five years old continue to die every day of treatable conditions. This is evidence that we must focus on this problem more heavily, and that child survival must be made an ongoing priority. Here are 10 facts about child mortality:
About 99 percent of newborn deaths transpire in low and middle-income countries.
Africa and South Asia currently have the highest rates of infant mortality and show the least amount of progress in combating it.
In 2015, 5.9 million children died before their fifth birthday. This is equivalent to 11 child deaths every minute.
Approximately 2.7 million child deaths occur within their first month of life. Nearly 50 percent of these deaths occur within the first 24 hours, while 75 percent occur within the first week.
A child’s risk of mortality is highest in the neonatal period. This period occurs in the first 28 days of a child’s life.
Leading causes of child mortality in children under 5 years include preterm birth complications, pneumonia, birth asphyxia, diarrhea and malaria.
Roughly 45 percent of all child deaths are at least in part due to malnutrition.
Children who have lost their mothers are ten times as likely to die prematurely than children whose mothers are present.
In 2015, low-income countries saw one child in every 13 dies before the age of five. In wealthy nations, this occurred in only one child of every 143.
About 3 million of the 5.9 million children who die each year can be saved at a low cost to wealthy nations.
There are things that can be done to help. Access to affordable health care has proven effective against child fatality in developing nations. In fact, more than half of child fatalities worldwide are due to conditions that can be easily treated or prevented should mothers and children be given access to simple and affordable care.
The 48 hours following birth are the most important, as this is when the mother and child are most vulnerable. It is also important that mothers and their children receive follow-up care to both prevent and treat illness.
The bipartisan Reach Every Mother and Child Act (H.R. 3706) is one such solution that works toward ending preventable deaths of mothers and young children in developing countries. If the bill should pass, it would mandate a multi-year strategy to combat maternal and infant mortality, part of which would entail establishing a permanent United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Maternal and Child Survival Coordinator.
The job of this coordinator would be to find and implement a strategy that will bolster the most effective treatments and interventions making them available or scaled up in target countries. It would also require the executive branch of the United States government to develop a fiscal framework to get commitments from non-profit organizations, the private sector, ally countries and global organizations.
Infant mortality is a problem in this world. However, by working together to lobby congress and by donating to global organizations such as UNICEF it is one that we can work to alleviate.
You can make a difference by asking your members of Congress to support the Reach Every Mother and Child Act here.
The Maya Relief Foundation, a California-based charity, is providing thousands of Guatemalans with stoves and water filters, efficient and sustainable solutions to contamination, to over 100 communities in the region. While 95 percent of Guatemala’s water sources are contaminated, nearly 40 percent of their daily wood supply is used to boil water for drinking.
Nearly half of the world’s population uses fire to cook. The smoke from cooking kills nearly 2 million people each year. It is the fifth largest cause of death worldwide, and most of the victims are women and children, according to the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.
In Latin America, 166 million people cook over an open fire. An estimated 28,000 people died from smoke in 2012, nearly half were children under 5 years-old. In Asia, 2 billion people cook over an open fire. The smoke kills roughly 1.2 million each year, and 239,000 are children under 5 years-old. In sub-Saharan Africa, 609 million people cook over an open fire. The smoke killed 574,000 Africans in 2012.
Health hazards include acute respiratory infections, insufficient weight at birth and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Without significant policy changes or efficient and sustainable solutions to contamination, the reliance on solid fuels will remain roughly the same by 2030, according to the World Health Organization.
Dona Irma Xo uses an open fire stovetop to cook for her four children. The smoke contaminates the whole house, causing most of their sicknesses. It is painful for them to inhale – their eyes get watery, irritated and red. The Eko-stove only requires 50-60 pounds of wood per month, in contrast to the 200 pounds they needed prior.
In the dry season, Guatemalans walk long distances to get their water supply every day. At the local well, they pull up a rope with enough buckets of water for the day, hoping there will be water left for tomorrow.
The well’s water supply comes from small springs, according to local Guatemalan Maria Quej Pop. Sometimes dust, leaves and animals are found in the water. After drinking the well water, her children experience stomach pains and diarrhea. Now she uses the filter for cooking and drinking, which provides 10 gallons of filtered water each day.
It’s a simple, low-cost design made with local materials. The clay and sawdust are locally sourced, mixed with water and left to dry for roughly two weeks prior to a kiln firing. The Maya Foundation’s studies of over 100 families show a 55 percent decrease in gastrointestinal problems, especially among children.
The ceramic filtration system is being used in over 30 countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America. Families can even cook 24 tortillas, or utilize multiple pots at once with the latest Eko-stove. These sufficient and sustainable solutions to contamination conserve time, wood and water with each system provided by The Maya Relief Foundation.
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Knowledge is power. This simple statement is more resonant than ever as the world moves towards a knowledge-based economy. In spite of the tremendous importance of education in building the lives of youth around the world, only a small share of the United States’ foreign aid budget goes to education and social programs. By increasing education foreign assistance for such programs, the U.S. could bolster its contribution to global development.
Here are four facts about the current amount of U.S. foreign assistance for education:
Since 2010, spending budgeted for foreign assistance for education has fallen by 44 percent from $1.75 billion to $1.21 billion in 2016. This stands in stark comparison to the seven percent decline in the overall foreign assistance budget and the 13 percent increase in total federal spending over the same time period.
The U.S. spends only three percent of its total foreign assistance budget on social and educational programs, around half of which goes to basic education. By contrast, Australia spends around 25 percent of its foreign aid budget on such programs. The largest recipient of foreign assistance for education in the 2016 fiscal year is Afghanistan. Many of these programs target education for women and girls in a society where female education has traditionally received little support or even outright hostility.
In 2016 the military budget for the U.S. was $604.5 billion and foreign assistance spending on security was $8.77 billion, respectively 500 and 7.2 times higher than spending on foreign assistance for education.
Since 2006, 123 different countries have received foreign assistance for education from the U.S. Afghanistan received the most, $696.8 million, while Montenegro came in last with a little over $14,000. The other leading countries after Afghanistan were Ethiopia, Liberia, Kenya and Guatemala.
Increasing education foreign assistance can bolster economic growth, encourage gender equality and build local capacities. For each additional year of schooling in a country, annual GDP growth rises by 0.37 percent, allowing for greater trade opportunities. The higher the proportion of the population enrolled in secondary education, the lower the risk of war. Therefore it is key to U.S. economic and national security interests that we continue to provide foreign assistance for education.
Namibia is a country in southwestern Africa, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west. It is home to diverse wildlife species. Namibia is one of just nine countries in Africa categorized by the World Bank as “upper middle income.” Poverty in Namibia, however, is still prevalent and the country is rife with extreme wealth imbalances.
The Namibian Economy
The Namibian economy boasts relatively high growth, with an average growth rate of 4.3% between 2010 and 2015. The economy is heavily based on the country’s mining industry, which accounts for 50% of foreign exchange earnings. Despite its high income, Namibia has a poverty rate of 17.2%, an unemployment rate of nearly 20% and an HIV prevalence rate of 11% percent.
Poverty in Namibia is acute in the northern regions of Kavango, Oshikoto, Zambezi, Kunene and Ohangwena, where upwards of one-third of the population lives in poverty. Furthermore, the country’s status as upper middle income makes its most vulnerable population ineligible for aid from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other development groups.
Economic Disparity in Namibia
The apparent imbalance between Namibia’s high income and simultaneous extreme prevalence of poverty can be traced to enduring income inequalities.Namibia has the second most unequal wealth distribution globally, with a Gini coefficient of 0.63, after South Africa, making it one of the most unequal countries. High inequality persists despite several government initiatives, reflecting the nation’s history when the apartheid system created significant economic and social disparities between the white minority and the Black majority.
In Namibia, the most disadvantaged 20% of the population receives approximately 3% of the total expenditure, while the richest 20% receives more than 70%. Gender inequality is also a significant issue in Namibia. As of 2023, women make up only 55.8% of the labor force, while men make up 63.7%. This gender gap in labor force participation is lower than in other upper-middle-income nations.
Efforts
Even though poverty in Namibia has declined significantly in recent years, the United Nations (U.N.) and other advocacy groups have pressured the Namibian government to do more to tackle the large wealth gap. In response, the Namibian government has implemented several initiatives to narrow the wide gap between the most vulnerable and wealthy populations.
One of these initiatives is the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) program. This policy aims to encourage the participation of the Black population in the economy, which could ultimately transform Namibia’s economy while narrowing the wealth distribution. Additionally, the New Equitable Economic Empowerment Framework (NEEEF), which the Namibian government implemented in 2018, encourages businesses to transfer ownership and skills to historically disadvantaged Namibians.
Final Remark
While these efforts are steps in the right direction, addressing Namibia’s significant wealth gap and inequality remains an ongoing challenge requiring sustained commitment and innovative solutions.
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Education’s role in improving the lives of the global poor has been well documented. However, researchers have been exploring the reverse — how poverty affects learning and a child’s education.
The Ontario Child Health Study concluded in its research that there is a “direct link between lack of income and chronic health problems, psychiatric disorders and social and academic functions.”
Additional research provided evidence that poverty decreases a child’s school readiness through six factors: the incidence of poverty, the depth of poverty, the duration of poverty, the timing of poverty, the concentration of poverty and crime in a student’s community and the impact of poverty on social networks.
Children from families with lower incomes score significantly lower on vocabulary and communication skills assessments, as well as on their knowledge of numbers and ability to concentrate. Furthermore, their counterparts in higher-income households outperform them in copying and symbol use, and in cooperative play with other children. Students with lower income are more likely to leave school without graduating.
According to author Eric Jensen, although “children raised in poverty rarely choose to behave differently,” poverty affects learning because they face challenges their affluent counterparts never see. “Their brains have adapted to suboptimal conditions in ways that undermine good school performance,” Jensen writes.
A child’s formation of new brain cells will slow down and the neural circuitry will create emotional dysfunctions if a child’s primary needs are not met at an early age.
Typically, children from low-income families suffer from parental inconsistency, frequent childcare changes, lack of adult supervision and lack of role models. Thus, the child does not receive the stimulation or learns the social skills necessary to maximize their academic performance.
In order to reverse how poverty affects learning, researchers suggest that schools focus on support services that aid in a child’s cognitive and social skill development.
The High/Scope Educational Research Foundation concluded in a study, that children who received proper intervention services were more likely to graduate secondary school, have higher employment and income rates and have lower crime rates by the time they reached 40.
Schools with targeted efforts to aid in a child’s academic development, such as counseling and after-school programs, can both lessen the effect of poverty on a student’s learning and use education to fight poverty to improve lives.
Water is a human necessity. The issue of water quality in the developing world is one that affects millions of people daily. More than half of the population of the developing world suffers from a water-related disease and about 6,000 children die from a water-related disease every day.
Djibouti, a small country off the eastern coast of Africa, is one of these developing countries. Currently, the country is experiencing a major national water crisis. Citizens in rural areas are the most affected: according to UNICEF, nearly 50% of people in rural communities do not have access to a safe water source.
Despite its coastal location, Djibouti is a country heavily affected by drought due to its arid climate. Most of the country’s water supply comes from groundwater resources, which have dwindled dramatically in recent years because of widespread drought.
Water quality in Djibouti is also a national problem. The little groundwater resources that are available are often of poor quality which has resulted in an epidemic of many waterborne illnesses.
The most high-risk water-related diseases in Djibouti are hepatitis A, hepatitis E and typhoid fever. These illnesses are contracted when people come into direct contact with water contaminated by fecal matter. Typhoid fever is the most deadly of the three, with a mortality rate of 20 percent.
Water conditions are slowly improving in the country thanks to efforts made by UNICEF, the European Union and Djibouti’s Ministry of Agriculture. This partnership, which began in 2007, has given more than 25,000 of the poorest people in rural communities access to clean water close to their homes.
The European Union has given UNICEF 2 million euros toward improving water sanitation in Djibouti. UNICEF also agreed to include an additional 60,000 euros to provide technical expertise.
More still needs to be done to improve the water quality in Djibouti. According to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), about 35% of the rural population has not received any improvements to their water supply.
Luckily, the Djibouti government has shown proactive concern in erasing the national water crisis. With help from UNICEF and the implementation of climate change policy in the country, Djibouti is looking toward a future of increased health and adaptability.
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Five Top Documentaries to Stream on Netflix
Here are five top documentaries to consider adding to your watch list.
5. How to Change the World (2015)
This documentary discusses the creation of the modern environmental groups and the rise of Greenpeace. 1971–the Nixon Administration orders the third underground nuclear test on Alaska’s Amchitka Island, site a WWII U.S. Naval air facility. The remote island, once home to the world’s largest runway, was an ideal location for the U.S. government to conduct underground nuclear testing. The film follows Bob Hunter, “a hippy journalist from Vancouver” and Greenpeace founding member, during a sailing voyage to Amchitka Island to protest the atomic testing.
4. The True Cost (2015)
Number 4 of the top documentaries to stream on Netflix, The True Cost features a “behind the curtain” story revealing hard truths about the fashion industry’s production system. John Hilary, the executive director of the “War on Want” captures the essence of the film: “When everything is concentrated on making profits, what you see is that human rights, the environment, workers rights get lost.” Organizations like Clean Clothes Campaign, BRAC, Fashion Revolution and Greenpeace continue to advocate for reform in the fashion industry. The film seeks to educate the public in order to stir support for campaigns like Fashion Revolution’s mission to reform the fashion industry “which values people, the environment, creativity and profits in equal measure.”
3. The Square (2013)
Tahrir Square certainly has its place going back long into history; however, five years ago it was the site of protests and an Egyptian revolution. Protesters like Khalid Abdalla, the British-Egyptian actor and star of The Kite Runner, occupied the heart of Cairo to protest the current government regime. The documentary features footage shot by protesters that capture the intimacy of their struggle. It’s a story about a people yearning for their rights to be heard and to “create a society of conscience.” The Square received a 2014 Oscar Nomination for ‘Best Documentary’.
2. The White Helmets (2016)
The White Helmets features a story about hope in the war-torn nation of Syria. In a nation wrought with death and destruction, the White Helmets claim to have saved 62,000 lives. The film offers firsthand perspectives into the civil war in Syria, exposing its horrors but also sending a message that the altruism of the human spirit will never fail. Though a bid for the Nobel Peace Prize was unsuccessful, supporters are actively campaigning to raise the $1 million that would have been awarded to the White Helmet rescue workers. The money will go to “treat wounded volunteers and replace rescue equipment and ambulances that have been bombed.”
1. Poverty, Inc. (2014)
At number 1, Poverty, Inc. tells the story of the multi-billion dollar business of charitable giving. Through well-intentioned donations, the charity industry generates enormous profits for certain businesses but does not develop recipient nations to become self-reliant. Instead, the preponderance of aid leads to dependency. The documentary encourages “empowerment” in order to eliminate the mindset of dependency on foreign aid. Winner of 30 film festival honors, Poverty, Inc. tells an incredible story of hope and charts a general path toward finally eradicating extreme global poverty.
– Tim Devine
Photo: Flickr
Possible Female Leadership at the United Nations
Recently, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said it was time for women to lead the United Nations. As elections are approaching the end of the year, there are eleven candidates among which six are women. This could be a historic first time for female leadership at the United Nations since the organization was created 70 years ago.
Ki-moon said that it was high time now for a female leader. He further elaborated: “We have many distinguished and eminent women leaders in national governments or other organizations or even business communities, political communities, and cultural and every aspect of our life. […] There’s no reason why not in the United Nations.”
Generally, there are strong voices that call for a woman leader. There is an impatient demand, which is higher than ever, for women to lead the United Nations. The female candidates definitely have their chances and it’s now their time to shine.
People are excited to see how a female leader would continue using soft power and coalition tactics to pursue U.N. goals. The new leader will set the tone and vision of the organization for the next decade. A female leader could definitely bring a much-needed change.
Furthermore, the women aspiring to a leadership role in the United Nations demonstrate interesting qualifications and well-experienced cadres. Many have worked in their respective governments but also in handling many projects related to the United Nations. Each woman candidate can bring a whole lot of shift in the U.N. with their diverse practical experience.
Women have been underrepresented in the United Nations. A new female chief will certainly address this critical issue. This is part of achieving gender equality on a global, leadership level. A female U.N. chief will also shed the light on women groups and issues related to feminism, education and equality that would otherwise be overshadowed by superpowers in favor of other issues.
Another interesting fact is that women make up almost half of the population of the world. However, they only hold 25 percent of the U.N.’s highest positions. Thus, having female leadership at the United Nations would significantly change the view of women worldwide. The world would see women leaders as equally capable of handling international crises with high qualifications and potential.
– Noman Ahmed
Photo: Flickr
Indonesia and the UN Create Green Growth Project
On Oct. 25, Indonesia launched the Tropical Landscapes Finance Facility (TLFF), a green growth project to finance projects that encourage eco-friendly growth and improve the lives of citizens in rural areas. The TLFF initiative will collaborate with the United Nations’ Environment Program and agents in the private sector, such as the French bank BNP Paribas.
The program will include a loan fund and a grant fund, leveraging public capital to stimulate economic development while working toward the Paris Climate Agreement goals. This will give access to long-term funds at affordable rates for farmers.
In the past, Indonesia lost a significant portion of its forests due to logging and intentional fires. The government tried to implement a permit scheme for deforestation, but the country still has the highest rate of deforestation globally.
According to U.N. figures, between 2000 and 2005, Indonesia lost 310,000 hectares of forest every year. The rate of deforestation rose to 690,000 hectares per year between 2006 and 2010.
Industrialization has driven workers out of the agricultural sector and into the industrial and services sectors. Yet agriculture remains the dominant employer in the country, with a workforce of 40.8 million people.
Palm oil is its largest export, and palm oil plantations have increased dramatically in the past decade. Forests are sliced to make room for palm oil plants. However, the price of this commodity has steadily declined and farmers are destroying the environment for a product that is losing its value.
The new green growth project will use public funding to unlock private investment. It is looking to make strides in the development of renewable energy and sustainable landscape management. The latter will minimize deforestation and restore degraded lands.
The green investment fund will stimulate the productivity of small farms without compromising the productivity of the land in the future. Chair of the Steering Committee of the facility, Dr. Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, told the audience at the launch event that “This ground-breaking and innovative financial platform, a world’s first, can transform the lives and livelihoods of millions of Indonesians in rural areas that deserve it the most.”
Officials hope the fund will steer farmers away from practices that deplete the land of its natural resources and hinder long-term productivity, hindering the growth of the per capita income of poor farmers.
– Eliza Gkritsi
Photo: Flickr
Nepalese Newborns and Chlorhexidine: Match Made in Heaven
Every year, thousands of Nepalese newborns die due to various life-threatening infections contracted early on that go unaddressed. Currently, one in 19 Nepalese children dies before they reach the age of five and half of that number die before reaching even 28 days of life.
Finding successful ways to nurse newborns to health in Nepal has been a challenge for decades. Navel Glazers, a simple topical application of chlorhexidine digluconate (CHX), are helping to pave the way to a brighter future for Nepalese children.
The application of CHX has been used in health care settings to reduce the development and transmission of infections for a number of years now. However, due to limited support regarding its effectiveness in reducing newborn umbilical cord infections, it is not a widely known practice.
Per the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO) more studies have been done to assess the navel-glazing strategy, specifically in high-risk environments like Nepal.
Country-wide clinical trials of CHX application post-birth were rolled out in Nepal through the support of the National Institutes of Health, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID.
It was found that applying a 4 percent chlorhexidine solution to the umbilical cord after birth significantly reduced neonatal mortality.
“This is very important because, after its implementation, the number of infected umbilical cord cases in my facility declined,” explains Birendra Ghale, a health worker in charge of this peripheral-level health facility in Banke, Nepal. “I have also seen that fewer babies are dying in my VDC [village development committee].”
For a long time, cultural barriers kept the implementation of the newly-found, life-saving technique from being used. Nepalese mothers are accustomed to applying substances like turmeric, ash, cow dung or vermilion to their child’s umbilical cord post-birth.
Now, single-dose tubes are freely distributed to all expectant mothers in their eighth month of pregnancy. They also receive a one-on-one educational session to explain how to apply the gel after cutting the cord as well.
Chlorhexidine has rolled out to 26 of 75 districts in Nepal as of July 2012. The country’s government has committed to incurring the full expense of buying the commodity as well as other program costs from its own resources. They are even using a local manufacturer to help with a production of a high-quality product, and distribution continues to rapidly expand — mainly through community health workers.
Delegates from more than 20 countries learned from Nepal and its implementation of the program. At least five of those countries have implemented similar interventions.
According to the Healthy Newborn Network (HNN), the application of CHX is recognized as being successful, acceptable, feasible and cost-effective newborn care intervention. The widespread practice of CHX cord cleansing, or navel glazing, could prevent more than 200,000 newborn deaths each year in South Asia.
– Keaton McCalla
Photo: Flickr
10 Facts About Child Mortality
Since 1990, the world has almost cut infant mortality rates in half. Where the number of neonatal deaths in the first 28 days was once 5.1 million in 1990, there were just 2.7 million in 2015. Although this progress is heartening, it does not meet the Millennium Development Goal of a two-thirds decrease in the mortality rate for children under five.
In fact, over 17,000 children under five years old continue to die every day of treatable conditions. This is evidence that we must focus on this problem more heavily, and that child survival must be made an ongoing priority. Here are 10 facts about child mortality:
There are things that can be done to help. Access to affordable health care has proven effective against child fatality in developing nations. In fact, more than half of child fatalities worldwide are due to conditions that can be easily treated or prevented should mothers and children be given access to simple and affordable care.
The 48 hours following birth are the most important, as this is when the mother and child are most vulnerable. It is also important that mothers and their children receive follow-up care to both prevent and treat illness.
The bipartisan Reach Every Mother and Child Act (H.R. 3706) is one such solution that works toward ending preventable deaths of mothers and young children in developing countries. If the bill should pass, it would mandate a multi-year strategy to combat maternal and infant mortality, part of which would entail establishing a permanent United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Maternal and Child Survival Coordinator.
The job of this coordinator would be to find and implement a strategy that will bolster the most effective treatments and interventions making them available or scaled up in target countries. It would also require the executive branch of the United States government to develop a fiscal framework to get commitments from non-profit organizations, the private sector, ally countries and global organizations.
Infant mortality is a problem in this world. However, by working together to lobby congress and by donating to global organizations such as UNICEF it is one that we can work to alleviate.
You can make a difference by asking your members of Congress to support the Reach Every Mother and Child Act here.
– Kayla Provencher
Photo: Flickr
Efficient and Sustainable Solutions to Contamination
The Maya Relief Foundation, a California-based charity, is providing thousands of Guatemalans with stoves and water filters, efficient and sustainable solutions to contamination, to over 100 communities in the region. While 95 percent of Guatemala’s water sources are contaminated, nearly 40 percent of their daily wood supply is used to boil water for drinking.
Nearly half of the world’s population uses fire to cook. The smoke from cooking kills nearly 2 million people each year. It is the fifth largest cause of death worldwide, and most of the victims are women and children, according to the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.
In Latin America, 166 million people cook over an open fire. An estimated 28,000 people died from smoke in 2012, nearly half were children under 5 years-old. In Asia, 2 billion people cook over an open fire. The smoke kills roughly 1.2 million each year, and 239,000 are children under 5 years-old. In sub-Saharan Africa, 609 million people cook over an open fire. The smoke killed 574,000 Africans in 2012.
Health hazards include acute respiratory infections, insufficient weight at birth and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Without significant policy changes or efficient and sustainable solutions to contamination, the reliance on solid fuels will remain roughly the same by 2030, according to the World Health Organization.
Dona Irma Xo uses an open fire stovetop to cook for her four children. The smoke contaminates the whole house, causing most of their sicknesses. It is painful for them to inhale – their eyes get watery, irritated and red. The Eko-stove only requires 50-60 pounds of wood per month, in contrast to the 200 pounds they needed prior.
In the dry season, Guatemalans walk long distances to get their water supply every day. At the local well, they pull up a rope with enough buckets of water for the day, hoping there will be water left for tomorrow.
The well’s water supply comes from small springs, according to local Guatemalan Maria Quej Pop. Sometimes dust, leaves and animals are found in the water. After drinking the well water, her children experience stomach pains and diarrhea. Now she uses the filter for cooking and drinking, which provides 10 gallons of filtered water each day.
It’s a simple, low-cost design made with local materials. The clay and sawdust are locally sourced, mixed with water and left to dry for roughly two weeks prior to a kiln firing. The Maya Foundation’s studies of over 100 families show a 55 percent decrease in gastrointestinal problems, especially among children.
The ceramic filtration system is being used in over 30 countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America. Families can even cook 24 tortillas, or utilize multiple pots at once with the latest Eko-stove. These sufficient and sustainable solutions to contamination conserve time, wood and water with each system provided by The Maya Relief Foundation.
– Rachel Williams
Photo: Flickr
Increasing Education Foreign Assistance
Knowledge is power. This simple statement is more resonant than ever as the world moves towards a knowledge-based economy. In spite of the tremendous importance of education in building the lives of youth around the world, only a small share of the United States’ foreign aid budget goes to education and social programs. By increasing education foreign assistance for such programs, the U.S. could bolster its contribution to global development.
Here are four facts about the current amount of U.S. foreign assistance for education:
Increasing education foreign assistance can bolster economic growth, encourage gender equality and build local capacities. For each additional year of schooling in a country, annual GDP growth rises by 0.37 percent, allowing for greater trade opportunities. The higher the proportion of the population enrolled in secondary education, the lower the risk of war. Therefore it is key to U.S. economic and national security interests that we continue to provide foreign assistance for education.
– Jonathan Hall-Eastman
Photo: Flickr
Inequality and Poverty in Namibia: A Gaping Wealth Gap
Namibia is a country in southwestern Africa, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west. It is home to diverse wildlife species. Namibia is one of just nine countries in Africa categorized by the World Bank as “upper middle income.” Poverty in Namibia, however, is still prevalent and the country is rife with extreme wealth imbalances.
The Namibian Economy
The Namibian economy boasts relatively high growth, with an average growth rate of 4.3% between 2010 and 2015. The economy is heavily based on the country’s mining industry, which accounts for 50% of foreign exchange earnings. Despite its high income, Namibia has a poverty rate of 17.2%, an unemployment rate of nearly 20% and an HIV prevalence rate of 11% percent.
Poverty in Namibia is acute in the northern regions of Kavango, Oshikoto, Zambezi, Kunene and Ohangwena, where upwards of one-third of the population lives in poverty. Furthermore, the country’s status as upper middle income makes its most vulnerable population ineligible for aid from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other development groups.
Economic Disparity in Namibia
The apparent imbalance between Namibia’s high income and simultaneous extreme prevalence of poverty can be traced to enduring income inequalities. Namibia has the second most unequal wealth distribution globally, with a Gini coefficient of 0.63, after South Africa, making it one of the most unequal countries. High inequality persists despite several government initiatives, reflecting the nation’s history when the apartheid system created significant economic and social disparities between the white minority and the Black majority.
In Namibia, the most disadvantaged 20% of the population receives approximately 3% of the total expenditure, while the richest 20% receives more than 70%. Gender inequality is also a significant issue in Namibia. As of 2023, women make up only 55.8% of the labor force, while men make up 63.7%. This gender gap in labor force participation is lower than in other upper-middle-income nations.
Efforts
Even though poverty in Namibia has declined significantly in recent years, the United Nations (U.N.) and other advocacy groups have pressured the Namibian government to do more to tackle the large wealth gap. In response, the Namibian government has implemented several initiatives to narrow the wide gap between the most vulnerable and wealthy populations.
One of these initiatives is the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) program. This policy aims to encourage the participation of the Black population in the economy, which could ultimately transform Namibia’s economy while narrowing the wealth distribution. Additionally, the New Equitable Economic Empowerment Framework (NEEEF), which the Namibian government implemented in 2018, encourages businesses to transfer ownership and skills to historically disadvantaged Namibians.
Final Remark
While these efforts are steps in the right direction, addressing Namibia’s significant wealth gap and inequality remains an ongoing challenge requiring sustained commitment and innovative solutions.
– John English
Photo: Flickr
Updated: June 01, 2024
How Poverty Affects Learning
Education’s role in improving the lives of the global poor has been well documented. However, researchers have been exploring the reverse — how poverty affects learning and a child’s education.
The Ontario Child Health Study concluded in its research that there is a “direct link between lack of income and chronic health problems, psychiatric disorders and social and academic functions.”
Additional research provided evidence that poverty decreases a child’s school readiness through six factors: the incidence of poverty, the depth of poverty, the duration of poverty, the timing of poverty, the concentration of poverty and crime in a student’s community and the impact of poverty on social networks.
Children from families with lower incomes score significantly lower on vocabulary and communication skills assessments, as well as on their knowledge of numbers and ability to concentrate. Furthermore, their counterparts in higher-income households outperform them in copying and symbol use, and in cooperative play with other children. Students with lower income are more likely to leave school without graduating.
Experts refer to the relationship between socioeconomic status and academic performance as the “socioeconomic gradient.”
According to author Eric Jensen, although “children raised in poverty rarely choose to behave differently,” poverty affects learning because they face challenges their affluent counterparts never see. “Their brains have adapted to suboptimal conditions in ways that undermine good school performance,” Jensen writes.
A child’s formation of new brain cells will slow down and the neural circuitry will create emotional dysfunctions if a child’s primary needs are not met at an early age.
Typically, children from low-income families suffer from parental inconsistency, frequent childcare changes, lack of adult supervision and lack of role models. Thus, the child does not receive the stimulation or learns the social skills necessary to maximize their academic performance.
In order to reverse how poverty affects learning, researchers suggest that schools focus on support services that aid in a child’s cognitive and social skill development.
The High/Scope Educational Research Foundation concluded in a study, that children who received proper intervention services were more likely to graduate secondary school, have higher employment and income rates and have lower crime rates by the time they reached 40.
Schools with targeted efforts to aid in a child’s academic development, such as counseling and after-school programs, can both lessen the effect of poverty on a student’s learning and use education to fight poverty to improve lives.
– Ashley Leon
Photo: Flickr
Improving the Water Quality in Djibouti
Water is a human necessity. The issue of water quality in the developing world is one that affects millions of people daily. More than half of the population of the developing world suffers from a water-related disease and about 6,000 children die from a water-related disease every day.
Djibouti, a small country off the eastern coast of Africa, is one of these developing countries. Currently, the country is experiencing a major national water crisis. Citizens in rural areas are the most affected: according to UNICEF, nearly 50% of people in rural communities do not have access to a safe water source.
Despite its coastal location, Djibouti is a country heavily affected by drought due to its arid climate. Most of the country’s water supply comes from groundwater resources, which have dwindled dramatically in recent years because of widespread drought.
Water quality in Djibouti is also a national problem. The little groundwater resources that are available are often of poor quality which has resulted in an epidemic of many waterborne illnesses.
The most high-risk water-related diseases in Djibouti are hepatitis A, hepatitis E and typhoid fever. These illnesses are contracted when people come into direct contact with water contaminated by fecal matter. Typhoid fever is the most deadly of the three, with a mortality rate of 20 percent.
Water conditions are slowly improving in the country thanks to efforts made by UNICEF, the European Union and Djibouti’s Ministry of Agriculture. This partnership, which began in 2007, has given more than 25,000 of the poorest people in rural communities access to clean water close to their homes.
The European Union has given UNICEF 2 million euros toward improving water sanitation in Djibouti. UNICEF also agreed to include an additional 60,000 euros to provide technical expertise.
More still needs to be done to improve the water quality in Djibouti. According to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), about 35% of the rural population has not received any improvements to their water supply.
Luckily, the Djibouti government has shown proactive concern in erasing the national water crisis. With help from UNICEF and the implementation of climate change policy in the country, Djibouti is looking toward a future of increased health and adaptability.
– Laura Cassin
Photo: Flickr