To most, the word “lobbyist” usually inspires images of big corporations influencing politicians. However, this image is not entirely accurate. Lobbying is actually a useful tool that average people can and should use. It is a form of advocacy that focuses on educating or influencing representatives in our government. You do not need money or power to lobby. You need only a voice, and by following these three steps, you can learn how to be a citizen lobbyist.
Step 1: Know who you are and the power you have.
American citizens ages 18 and older have the power to vote and are essential pieces of the country’s democratic system. However, few know that they are also constituents. Essentially, a constituent is a member of a community or a part of a whole.
Every citizen is a constituent to three individuals in Congress, and it’s paramount to know whose constituent you are. These three individuals are the two senators representing your state and the congressman or congresswoman representing your district. These representatives represent you and your interests in the legislation they vote for, and it’s important to know you have the power to influence their vote.
Members of Congress will listen to their constituents over other citizens because those are the people they are elected by and represent. For example, senators are not too interested in listening to citizens of another state. They would rather like to know what their constituents are thinking and worrying about. You can find out who your three representatives in Congress are on the Borgen Project’s Who Are My Leaders? page.
Step 2: Know what you can do as a constituent.
Members of Congress are voted in by their constituents, and it would be foolish of them not to listen to their constituents. Now that you know you have this power over them, it is helpful to know how to use it. Using this power is easy.
Simply put, it’s all about getting your word out. Representatives are not mind-readers; they are politicians. The best way to get politicians to vote on something you may be passionate about is to talk to them about it. You don’t have to walk into their office and proclaim your dream of a poverty-free world. An email, call or written letter all get the job done, and you can always do all three. You can even write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper discussing a certain bill or use social media to contact your representatives.
If you are the outgoing, adventurous type, try attending events where your representatives will be speaking or schedule a meeting with them. The more you meet with your representatives or attend their town hall meetings, the more they and their staff will get to know you and your cause.
Step 3: Practice.
Now that you know how to be a citizen lobbyist, it is your job to practice being an active citizen.
If you are shy, start out with phone calls or emails. They can be as simple as mentioning you are a constituent, your name and the bill you would like them to support. For the more outgoing, show up at the next town hall meeting.
Once you get a representative to support a piece of legislation, ask them to co-sponsor it as well. Co-sponsoring is like getting your representative to represent the issue to other members of Congress and asking them to support the bill as well.
By following these three easy steps, you too can learn how to be a citizen lobbyist.
– James Hardison
Photo: Flickr
Major Diseases in Burkina Faso: Improvements Left to be Made
The major diseases in Burkina Faso are also some of the largest killers in the world. They are incredibly dangerous, common throughout the country, and may be separated into categories as follows: food or waterborne diseases; vector-borne diseases; water contact diseases; aerosolized dust or soil contact diseases; respiratory disease and animal contact diseases. Below are the most common diseases in Burkina Faso.
Hepatitis A
This is a form of viral hepatitis. It is transmitted by food and causes jaundice and fever. Most who die from it are children aged one to four. Although the death rate from hepatitis A is Burkina Faso is lower than any other country in Western sub-Saharan Africa, it is their most dangerous food and waterborne disease.
Hepatitis E
The deadliness of this disease in Burkina Faso is most common at age 80. At this age, hepatitis E kills 4.3 out of 100,000 people. The virus targets the liver and is most commonly transmitted through the fecal-oral route.
Typhoid Fever
This is another of many diseases in Burkina Faso commonly spread through fecal-oral routes. Those infected experience high fevers and, if left untreated, mortality rates can reach 20 percent of the infected population. The annual mortality rate for typhoid fever in Burkina Faso has decreased 5 percent since 1990. It is like hepatitis A in that it mostly kills young children aged one to four.
Malaria
Malaria affects more people in Burkina Faso than in other countries of Western sub-Saharan Africa, although the mortality rate dropped 26 percent between 1990 and 2013. That decline is significant, but the death rate from Malaria decreased 49 percent in Sierra Leone and 51 percent in Gambia over the same period.
Dengue Fever
This disease is commonly spread through mosquitoes. Dengue fever is less common than it used to be, with a 52 percent decrease since 1990. It will occasionally cause shock and hemorrhage, leading to death in 5 percent of cases. While one of the less common diseases in Burkina Faso, it is still prevalent.
This is only the beginning of the list for diseases in Burkina Faso. While the country is fighting for better and stronger health care and prevention systems for these diseases, its citizens continue to die of entirely preventable causes. Burkina Faso is on its way to saving a lot of lives with their improvements in health care system, and help from countries like the United States can only help them from here.
– Rilee Pickle
Photo: Flickr
New Feminism in Latin America
In the past few years, social justice movements have evolved all over the globe, and a rise in feminism in Latin America is no exception. Women from several countries across Central and South America have formed alliances and staged protests over issues including street harassment, the wage gap, rape and femicide.
Veronica Gago, professor of social sciences at the University of Buenos Aires, notes networks of feminist allies being forged across international borders in Latin America. In addition to organizing marches against gendered injustice in their countries, Latin American feminists work to create spaces where activists can discuss these issues.
Femicide is perhaps the central issue, with a number of countries organizing protests to increase awareness of the thousands of women who are killed by romantic partners each year.
Mujeres de la Matria Latinoamericana (MuMaLa), an influential feminist collective in Latin America, estimated that in 2013, 13 women were killed per day in Brazil. According to data from the Ministry of Health, rates at which women are killed by partners is not only high, but on the rise, and activists are paying attention to this trend.
Feminists in Argentina, where women are killed by partners at one of the highest rates in the world, have been particularly active in the past few years. In 2016, MuMaLa and another major contributor to feminism in Latin America called Ni Una Menos organized a protest following the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl, citing hypermasculine culture as the cause of such violent acts. Women gathered and held an hour-long strike with signs reading, “If you touch one of us, we all react.”
Just last month, feminists in Argentina organized a nude flash mob in which participants marched on government buildings to protest gendered violence. The protest itself was a work of art, featuring a string quartet and percussionist who provided background music for the demonstration. One hundred and twenty women crowded beneath a banner reading “Femicide is Genocide,” cast off their clothing and fell into a pile, later returning to their feet and punctuating the protest with shrieks of rage.
Many Latin American feminists turn to art in order to express their goals, using music, poetry and graffiti to gain the attention of both the government and the public.
Feminism in Latin America manifests in a number of forms. With the continued efforts of collectives like MuMaLa and Ni Una Menos as well as individuals, rates of femicide could decline.
– Madeline Forwerck
Photo: Flickr
Girls’ Education in Tanzania Is on the Rise
In Tanzania, a sub-Saharan African country known for its national parks, diverse game and scenic wilderness, approximately two million young people were illiterate in 2011. Girls’ education in Tanzania, in particular, is an issue, as both adolescent and adult women demonstrate lower literacy rates than their male counterparts.
In 2012, literacy among women aged 15 to 24 was just 72.8 percent, while literacy among men in the same age group sat at 76.5 percent. The disparity becomes statistically significant among adults is even wider among adults: 75.5 percent of men and only 60.8 percent of women are literate.
In the country’s poorest areas, it is especially difficult for women to support themselves and their families, let alone further their education. In the northwest Tanzanian village of Kitenga, for instance, there is no running water or electricity, disease rates are high and scarce access to education, all of which are obstacles for girls who want to learn.
Enter the Immaculate Heart Sisters of Africa (IHSA), an organization committed to improving girls’ education in Tanzania. After partnering with the Girls’ Education Collaborative (GEC), which offers financial and logistical support, they launched the Kitenga Village Project. This project aims to raise the community from poverty by establishing basic resources, and, in January, it achieved its central objective when it opened the Kitenga School for Girls to educate girls in the community.
The school opened not only to encourage literacy but also to combat female genital mutilation and early marriage, both problems more likely to be faced by adolescent Tanzanian women without an education.
Currently, enrollment at the school stands at 59 girls from a variety of backgrounds. Having won the full support of the government, the GEC and the IHSA intend to accommodate a larger student body in the future. Plans for expansion include a library and housing for 1,500 boarding students.
The Kitenga School for Girls’ central vision is to provide girls from destitute families with an exceptional range of knowledge and skills. Students will have access to career and leadership coaching, health studies and life skills training, as well as a safe and secure environment.
Though women in poverty continue to face gendered hardships, access to schools creates greater opportunities. With the innovative efforts of organizations like the GEC and the IHSA, girls’ education in Tanzania is likely to continue growing.
– Madeline Forwerck
Photo: Flickr
The Importance of Community Cooperation in Global Development
When outside aid organizations enter developing countries with the best intentions to help, it is important that these organizations partner with local businesses and individuals. Community cooperation is essential to effective and long-term global development. The alternative is short-lived relief that lasts only as long as the aid organization’s presence persists in the region.
Community cooperation, however, ensures that no vacuums are left in communities after aid is inevitably retracted. Creating self-sustaining communities is key to long term relief.
There are many organizations that have grasped hold of this idea. The following are a few examples of such:
Global Water Partnership (GWP)
Global Water Partnership is a global action network whose goal is to reach a water-secure world. The organization has over 3,000 partners in 183 countries. It focuses on educating countries and communities about water management. GWP believes that good governance concerning water management can only be accomplished with collaborative efforts.
Save the Children
Save the Children believes that education helps children to reach their full potential. Through its education programs, Save the Children has helped train teachers and parents on effective teaching practices, encouraged education practices outside of the classroom and ensured that students continue learning after crises occur.
World Vision
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization that seeks to “empower people out of poverty.” Partnering with locals is the core of World Vision’s approach to global development. Local partnerships allow “programs to be more effective by benefiting from greater legitimacy, local knowledge, resources, and long-term ownership.”
Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE)
CARE is a humanitarian aid organization that works around the globe to “save lives, defeat poverty and achieves social justice.” The organization’s approach to aid often involves partnering with locals. For instance, one of its facets for gender-based violence (GBV) relief involves equipping local activists with the tools needed to provide case managers for women and children who are survivors of GBV. CARE’s economic development programs also involve local education by teaching women and families sound financial habits and by creating entrepreneurs.
The purpose of many nonprofit and aid organizations is to effectually become unneeded. A nonprofit fighting illiteracy wants everyone to eventually know how to read. Once literacy rates reach 100 percent (or 99 percent, accounting for margin of error), aid can withdraw from regions around the world.
The longevity of the impact of these organizations is dependent on their ability to prepare future generations. If the hypothetical literacy-focused nonprofit withdrew without leaving behind any local teachers then future generations would be left in a disadvantageous state.
A helping hand without explanation and aid without education is hurtful in the long term. Community cooperation is key to effective relief.
– Rebeca Ilisoi
Photo: Flickr
Ten Facts About Refugees in Ireland
The UN believes the world is experiencing the worst refugee crisis since World War II. At the end of 2015, 63.5 million refugees had been reported. That means that one out of every 113 people on the planet is a refugee. The tremendous number of people seeking refugee status is partially a result of the Syrian civil war and the long-standing war in Afghanistan. While Italy, Greece and Turkey initially received the most refugees, there are now more people coming to these shores than these countries can be expected to take in. Other European Union (EU) member nations are being asked to resettle some of these refugees. Ireland is one country that has agreed to do so. What is the refugee climate like in Ireland? Discussed below are the leading facts about refugees in Ireland.
Top 10 Facts About Refugees in Ireland
With each refugee having a unique story, 10 facts about refugees in Ireland cannot begin to sum them all up. Some have left a family in their country of origin, while others have left loved ones in new EU countries. All the same, refugees remember what their homeland was to them while resettling in places like Ireland.
– Mary Katherine Crowley
Photo: Flickr
How to Be a Citizen Lobbyist: Three Simple Steps to Get Started
To most, the word “lobbyist” usually inspires images of big corporations influencing politicians. However, this image is not entirely accurate. Lobbying is actually a useful tool that average people can and should use. It is a form of advocacy that focuses on educating or influencing representatives in our government. You do not need money or power to lobby. You need only a voice, and by following these three steps, you can learn how to be a citizen lobbyist.
Step 1: Know who you are and the power you have.
American citizens ages 18 and older have the power to vote and are essential pieces of the country’s democratic system. However, few know that they are also constituents. Essentially, a constituent is a member of a community or a part of a whole.
Every citizen is a constituent to three individuals in Congress, and it’s paramount to know whose constituent you are. These three individuals are the two senators representing your state and the congressman or congresswoman representing your district. These representatives represent you and your interests in the legislation they vote for, and it’s important to know you have the power to influence their vote.
Members of Congress will listen to their constituents over other citizens because those are the people they are elected by and represent. For example, senators are not too interested in listening to citizens of another state. They would rather like to know what their constituents are thinking and worrying about. You can find out who your three representatives in Congress are on the Borgen Project’s Who Are My Leaders? page.
Step 2: Know what you can do as a constituent.
Members of Congress are voted in by their constituents, and it would be foolish of them not to listen to their constituents. Now that you know you have this power over them, it is helpful to know how to use it. Using this power is easy.
Simply put, it’s all about getting your word out. Representatives are not mind-readers; they are politicians. The best way to get politicians to vote on something you may be passionate about is to talk to them about it. You don’t have to walk into their office and proclaim your dream of a poverty-free world. An email, call or written letter all get the job done, and you can always do all three. You can even write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper discussing a certain bill or use social media to contact your representatives.
If you are the outgoing, adventurous type, try attending events where your representatives will be speaking or schedule a meeting with them. The more you meet with your representatives or attend their town hall meetings, the more they and their staff will get to know you and your cause.
Step 3: Practice.
Now that you know how to be a citizen lobbyist, it is your job to practice being an active citizen.
If you are shy, start out with phone calls or emails. They can be as simple as mentioning you are a constituent, your name and the bill you would like them to support. For the more outgoing, show up at the next town hall meeting.
Once you get a representative to support a piece of legislation, ask them to co-sponsor it as well. Co-sponsoring is like getting your representative to represent the issue to other members of Congress and asking them to support the bill as well.
By following these three easy steps, you too can learn how to be a citizen lobbyist.
– James Hardison
Photo: Flickr
10 Facts About Shia Refugees in Bahrain
Bahrain is a small Muslim country located in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Saudi Arabia. Bahrain has only been independent of imperial governance for 42 years. It has been governed by a Sunni-led constitutional monarchy since its release from British rule and Iranian influence in 1971. Although many of the violent conflicts in the Middle East dwarf the issues in Bahrain, the country’s refugee problem has grown since 2011. Shia refugees in Bahrain today face displacement, religious segregation and suppression of free speech.
Until recently, Sunni and Shia Muslims have lived in relative peace since Bahrain’s formal independence. In comparison to many other Islamic countries in the Middle East, Bahrain experienced little violence along religious lines. Whether this was because the nation is in its infancy, or because of the absolute rule of the government, remains to be seen. However, it is clear that a stark divide between the two sects of Islam was revived in light of recent political turmoil.
The dominant sect of Shia Muslims began a series of protests in 2011 which have occurred through to the present day. Dissatisfied with their representation in the government since independence, protesters hope to galvanize political reform. The royal family’s militant suppression of free speech caused most protests to subside and created a mass of Shia refugees.
Government analysts noted the possibility that the religious divide between Sunni and Shia has been rehashed as a political tactic to suppress dissenters. Bahraini dissenters are displeased with the lack of democratic representation in the government. As local Bahraini historians and politicians suggested, pitting the two sects of Islam against each other appears to be an attempt to consolidate power within the royal family.
Civil unrest in Bahrain and the royal family’s purported desire to consolidate power within the country led to the marginalization of Shia Muslims. Below are ten facts about Shia refugees in Bahrain which indicate the disenfranchisement, poverty and exploitation they suffer.
10 Facts About Shia Refugees in Bahrain
– Linford Spencer
Photo: Flickr
12 Facts About the World’s Champion: Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai, the world’s youngest and most powerful champion for girls’ education, may soon be attending one of the most prestigious schools in the world: the University of Oxford. Back in March of this year, Yousafzai announced that she had received a conditional offer (based on her A Level grades) from Oxford and that she plans to attend the University. She plans to study philosophy, politics and economics (PPE), and work on her organization, the Malala Fund. To commemorate this outstanding individual, here are 12 facts about her life, her achievements and her organization.
12 Facts About Malala Yousafzai
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As Yousafzai continues to push for girls’ education around the globe, we should follow in her footsteps and do what we can do alleviate global poverty and ensure global education.
– James Hardison
Photo: Flickr
International Monetary Fund: Lending to Developing Nations
According to The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in 2015, Japan spent 0.22 percent of its budget, about $9 billion, on development assistance. While developed countries spend an average of less than one percent of their budget on foreign aid, Japan’s generosity made it the fourth most generous nation of 2015.
A 2010 agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a Trustee of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT), assures that Japan will lend $2.7 billion to secure a total of $8 billion gathered from other nations in new loan resources for low-income countries. The loan agreement was effective in April of 2017. This will allow the IMF to increase aid to low-income countries hit particularly hard in the current global economic crisis by providing more loans for recently reformed concessional lending facilities.
The PRGT has three facilities that work on the concessional financing framework. There are the Extended Credit Facility to provide flexible longer term support; the Standby Credit Facility to address short-term needs; and the Rapid Credit Facility to provide immediate emergency support. These facilities are in place to help countries with governments with low financial stability and a “protracted balance of payment problems.”
Additionally, a 2017 IMF press release reveals that Japan “agrees to provide additional $2.5 billion to International Monetary Fund’s Trust benefitting low-income member countries, bringing [its] total contribution to $5.2 billion.” This would be Japan’s fourth contribution to the PRGT. This makes Japan one of the first 10 countries to respond with an additional loan under the current campaign.
The money that countries like Japan lend ensures that receiving countries can be financed to fix struggling institutions. The loans enable rebuilding international reserves, stabilizing currency, paying for imports and overall economic growth. What makes the IMF different from other international lending or donating organizations is the fact that it does not lend money for specific projects.
Since 2005, the IMF’s goal has been to re-stabilize the world’s economy, which is in a a state of crisis unseen since the Great Depression. As a result, the IMF has created a flexible credit line for countries that show potential to put their economies back on track and implement strong policies to keep it that way. Countries like Japan can see a return on their investments while developing nations can continue to develop.
– Vicente Vera
Photo: Flickr
10 Facts About H1N1
The H1N1 virus, or “swine flu” as it’s commonly known, was a strain of influenza that became pandemic in 2009. In the subsequent years, the virus was one of the most prevalent concerns of the worldwide medical community. Though the virus has not been as prominent in recent years, it can still infect people and have drastic effects in some regions of the world.
Here are 10 facts about H1N1 influenza:
Vaccination is still the best protection against H1N1 influenza. Other measures can be taken, including hand washing, avoiding people showing symptoms and avoiding touching eyes, nose or mouth. It is also suggested to get vaccinated against the disease if traveling to an area where contracting H1N1 is a possibility.
– Drew Hazzard
Photo: Flickr