The third-smallest South American country came into independence in 1966 after more than 340 years of colonial control by the Dutch, British and French. Slavery and indentured servitude brought immigrants from several continents, giving Guyana one of the most ethnically diverse populations globally. Many ethnic origins are international, and many people choose to leave and live in other countries. Guyana has one of the worst net migration rates in the world as more than 55% migrate to find work.
Economy
Sixty percent of the country’s gross domestic product is represented by six exports: sugar, gold, bauxite, shrimp, timber, and rice. Guyana was once a powerful producer of sugar, yet its production sunk to an all-time low in 2014. More recent crop production numbers have shown an improvement. A 2015 submission to the Guyana Sugar Corporation Commission of Inquiry reported reaching 94 percent of productivity goals in the first half of that year.
With somewhat recent estimates stating that 35% of the population lives in poverty, Guyana is one of the world’s poorest nations. (2012 Gross National Income (GNI) per capita: $3,410-USD, 2011: $2,900-USD)
Education
Less than 3.5% of Guyana’s GDP goes toward education expenditures. Less than 90% of people age 15 and over have attended school, and the average school-life expectancy is 10 years.
In its population, 27% of which are children under the age of 15, just 281,000 people use the internet. More than a quarter of the population are without cellular telephones. Of those 199,607 0-14-year-olds, 16% are child laborers.
Health
There were 100 HIV/AIDS-related deaths in 2015. With a population of less than 800,000, that number is staggering. In that year there were nearly 8,000 people living with HIV and AIDS in Guyana.
The cause for low numbers of doctors and hospital beds is very low health expenditures. The country has a low life expectancy, 165th in the world at 68.4%. This is likely due to the populations’ increased exposure to major infectious diseases like hepatitis A and malaria.
Water supplies are endangered by sewage, chemicals, and well water pollution by saltwater from the sea.
Solutions
According to the CIA world factbook, the government remains maligned in sizable debt servitude despite the Inter-American Development Bank canceling more than $450 million of their debt a decade ago. While that brought the debt-to-GDP ratio down from 183% in 2006 to 67 percent in 2015, the country sorely needs investments in infrastructure and an influx of skilled workers.
Coordinating with international health organizations to develop research facilities would develop a premier health care network.
Currently, the nation’s largest university focuses mainly on agricultural sciences. While the Pan-American Health Organization maintains an office in the country, working to expand upon that network would prove beneficial.
Developing a health care network on the northern-most coast of South America would aid in fighting infectious disease in Guyana. This creates a need to improve its poor infrastructure and bring skilled medical professionals back into the country.
The focus on improving health conditions in Guyana is the first step toward a stronger economy. Improving health conditions is done by investing more resources, educating physicians and keeping those doctors from emigrating by buying more hospital beds. The possibility of creating an infrastructure around medical research facilities could benefit the region, keep and draw skilled health professionals in and to Guyana.
– Shaun Savarese
Photo: Flickr
Rebuilding Schools in Aleppo: Hope for Syrian Children
Thousands of individuals and families are returning to eastern Aleppo after months of displacement. The U.N. estimates that since the beginning of February, over 40,000 people have moved back to the area. Despite the joy of being able to return home, the war-torn city remains in ruin.
An estimated 1.8 million people in and around Aleppo lack access to clean water. The supply was cut off in the middle of January. The weather in Syria is extremely cold during this time of year, and most houses have no windows or doors. The U.N. is providing assistance in the form of sleeping mats and plastic sheets to cover open windows. Nonetheless, most remain unable to find the same comfort in their homes as they used to.
There is one beacon of hope that remains despite these horrors: the promise of education. Schools in Aleppo are gradually reopening after being destroyed by bombing. Thousands of children require remedial classes to reintegrate into the schooling system. More importantly, these students need to rebuild their confidence.
Close to half of the schools in eastern Aleppo are damaged in some way. However, the process of rebuilding is ongoing. UNICEF is playing a vital role in ensuring that children have access to education in the area. The organization is working hard to reopen and secure safe access to schools in Aleppo.
UNICEF is assessing which former schools can still be used for educational purposes. Roughly 23 primary schools have reopened since the beginning of 2017, and the number continues to grow. Prefabricated classrooms have also been set up for overflows of students who don’t have access to safe buildings.
In some areas of Aleppo, UNICEF has provided “schools in a box” and recreational kits to 90,000 children. Almost 300 teachers have received special training to help children catch up after long periods of missed education.
Children can supplement their education with classes in 70 child service spaces opened by UNICEF. The spaces allow children to play while also providing education on how to stay safe in a war-torn environment. Clinics in these spaces have taught over 60,000 people life-saving information, including how to recognize explosives.
Despite the cold and often uncomfortable conditions inside these makeshift classrooms, children are extremely excited to be getting back into a familiar routine. It is estimated that 1.7 million children in Syria are still not in school. However, the progress being made thus far provides hope that soon all returning children will have access to schools in Aleppo.
– Lindsay Harris
Photo: Flickr
10 Facts About Hunger in Somalia
Situated on the Horn of Africa and plagued by a history of instability, Somalia has fallen victim to crisis after crisis. The end result has created massive hunger in Somalia. Clan warfare, droughts, famines, and the presence of terror group al-Shabab have left much of the country vulnerable and without food.
10 Facts about Hunger in Somalia:
Hunger in Somalia has a detrimental impact on communities and future generations. The conflict hinders the country’s progress toward establishing stability. However, understanding the facts and conditions surrounding hunger in Somalia is an essential first step in becoming a part of the solution.
– Alexi Worley
Photo: Flickr
Poverty in TAAF: French Southern and Antarctic Lands
The French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF) are an outer department of France. There are four main islands: Kerguelen, La Terre-Adélie, Saint Paul & New Amsterdam and Archipel Crozet. These islands are notably famous for their large penguin populations. There are also around 150 human inhabitants on the islands in winter, but the population grows to around 310 in the summer.
The region is used for meteorological and geophysical research, military bases and French fishing fleets. The main interest of these territories resides in their large maritime zones and economically exclusive zones. These zones allow for unlimited resource consumption, which has been going on for decades and has now led to the creation of a 3,850,000 euros program administered by the Agence française de développement (AFD) to protect local fauna, fisheries and biodiversity of these islands. The program that was adopted in 2009 converted dozens of previous fishing zones into protected marine habitats and parks.
There exists a strong correlation, however, between the consumption of resources and the reduction of poverty in TAAF. The AFD is set on changing fishing habits, to make consumption and trade more sustainable, and to ensure that overfishing doesn’t occur.
The AFD also distributes the Bpifrance Bank’s development loan program and has offered 14.4 million euros to the public sector to grow infrastructure, as well as 23.3 million dollars worth of loans to agricultural, fishing, aquaculture and individual enterprises.
Regardless of TAAF’s very low population density, the AFD has still created a solid development plan that will ensure that the environment, as well as the local economy, are both protected. The cornerstone of this project is the implementation of sustainable fishing and the AFD has worked with the local prefecture to develop a plan to do just that. The AFD has done a great job of creating a win-win scenario to reduce poverty in TAAF, as well as to ensure that the environment remains protected.
– Joshua Ward
Photo: Flickr
6th World Sustainability Forum Held in Cape Town
At the end of January, Cape Town, South Africa played host to the 6th World Sustainability Forum. The journal Sustainability sponsored this international scientific conference. The Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI) organizes the annual World Sustainability Forum. The forum includes the presentation of research in many areas relating to sustainability and sustainable development.
Sustainable Development Goals
The 17 U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted in September 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, motivated discussions at the 2017 conference. The sustainability agenda outlined by the U.N. has the main aim that “countries will mobilize efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change while ensuring that no one is left behind.” Madame Graca Machel, a member of the SDGs Advocacy Group of the United Nations, was one of the keynote speakers at the conference.
Key Messages
The themes of this year’s forum were environmental management and social and economic development. There were key national and international speakers in attendance, including world-renowned professor of economics Jeffrey Sachs, who is also director of the Center for Sustainable Development and the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Sachs’ messages in his presentation included:
Sachs went on to say that “achieving the SDGs is the moonshot for our generation […] when 193 governments agree on something […] that is really something for us to grab hold of. That is a lifeline.” Plans are already underway for next year’s conference, which will be held in Beijing.
– Kristin Westad
Photo: Flickr
Five Facts About Poverty in Svalbard
Contributions from nations around the world work as insurance for genetic crop variations, providing a backup in case of natural or man-made catastrophes. The vault stands as a powerful defense against hunger worldwide and has most recently been used to aid a vulnerable gene bank in Aleppo during the Syrian civil war of 2015.
Poverty in Svalbard is practically nonexistent, but its economic policies and small population shed light on broader social issues. And while the archipelago’s economy is small and seemingly insignificant, it provides a fascinating microcosm of larger societies and a powerful platform for research. In addition, the archipelago’s Global Seed Vault has been and will continue to be a powerful weapon against poverty and hunger worldwide.
– Chasen Turk
Photo: Flickr
Poverty in Guyana: Educate, Fund and Build Medical Network
The third-smallest South American country came into independence in 1966 after more than 340 years of colonial control by the Dutch, British and French. Slavery and indentured servitude brought immigrants from several continents, giving Guyana one of the most ethnically diverse populations globally. Many ethnic origins are international, and many people choose to leave and live in other countries. Guyana has one of the worst net migration rates in the world as more than 55% migrate to find work.
Economy
Sixty percent of the country’s gross domestic product is represented by six exports: sugar, gold, bauxite, shrimp, timber, and rice. Guyana was once a powerful producer of sugar, yet its production sunk to an all-time low in 2014. More recent crop production numbers have shown an improvement. A 2015 submission to the Guyana Sugar Corporation Commission of Inquiry reported reaching 94 percent of productivity goals in the first half of that year.
With somewhat recent estimates stating that 35% of the population lives in poverty, Guyana is one of the world’s poorest nations. (2012 Gross National Income (GNI) per capita: $3,410-USD, 2011: $2,900-USD)
Education
Less than 3.5% of Guyana’s GDP goes toward education expenditures. Less than 90% of people age 15 and over have attended school, and the average school-life expectancy is 10 years.
In its population, 27% of which are children under the age of 15, just 281,000 people use the internet. More than a quarter of the population are without cellular telephones. Of those 199,607 0-14-year-olds, 16% are child laborers.
Health
There were 100 HIV/AIDS-related deaths in 2015. With a population of less than 800,000, that number is staggering. In that year there were nearly 8,000 people living with HIV and AIDS in Guyana.
The cause for low numbers of doctors and hospital beds is very low health expenditures. The country has a low life expectancy, 165th in the world at 68.4%. This is likely due to the populations’ increased exposure to major infectious diseases like hepatitis A and malaria.
Water supplies are endangered by sewage, chemicals, and well water pollution by saltwater from the sea.
Solutions
According to the CIA world factbook, the government remains maligned in sizable debt servitude despite the Inter-American Development Bank canceling more than $450 million of their debt a decade ago. While that brought the debt-to-GDP ratio down from 183% in 2006 to 67 percent in 2015, the country sorely needs investments in infrastructure and an influx of skilled workers.
Coordinating with international health organizations to develop research facilities would develop a premier health care network.
Currently, the nation’s largest university focuses mainly on agricultural sciences. While the Pan-American Health Organization maintains an office in the country, working to expand upon that network would prove beneficial.
Developing a health care network on the northern-most coast of South America would aid in fighting infectious disease in Guyana. This creates a need to improve its poor infrastructure and bring skilled medical professionals back into the country.
The focus on improving health conditions in Guyana is the first step toward a stronger economy. Improving health conditions is done by investing more resources, educating physicians and keeping those doctors from emigrating by buying more hospital beds. The possibility of creating an infrastructure around medical research facilities could benefit the region, keep and draw skilled health professionals in and to Guyana.
– Shaun Savarese
Photo: Flickr
New E-Permit System to Boost Construction in Serbia
A new e-permit system in Serbia, created with the help of USAID, has shortened the process for obtaining a construction permit from 240 to 28 days. It cut out the 50-plus interactions between the investor and the government. One can register for an e-permit through the Business Register’s Agency website, the Minister of Construction website, or other government websites.
The new e-permit system will help develop Serbia’s important infrastructure as well, particularly transportation. Serbia has been called the “gateway to Europe” as it is the crossroads between Western Europe and the Middle East. The Serbian parliament is looking for private investment in this sector, and the e-permits system has made this process more efficient. In addition, the new e-permit system is allowing the Clinical Center of Serbia to build new healthcare facilities. New jobs in the construction sector lead to new jobs in other sectors. The new e-permit system has not only helped construction in Serbia, it has increased the nation’s GDP by 3.5% in the first quarter of 2016.
One company already taking advantage of the new system is IKEA, and its investment is expected to bring 700 million euros and 300 new jobs to the nation. IKEA took advantage of the new permit process to build a new store in Belgrade. This new store is expected to open in July 2017. IKEA will be the first international business to invest in Serbia after the introduction of the country’s new construction e-permit system. The store in Belgrade is only the first store IKEA is building in Serbia, and the company is planning to invest 300 million euros in five stores across the nation.
IKEA will hopefully pave the way for more investment in Serbia, whether through creating new businesses or encouraging domestic construction in Serbia.
– Jennifer Taggart
Photo: Flickr
Five Facts About Women’s Education in Morocco
Morocco is known for being one of the most progressive states in the Middle East and North because of its advancements made for women. Despite these advancements, women’s education in Morocco still lags behind. In 1999, King Mohammed VI ascended the throne after the death of his late father. Since then, his reign has been touted as “the education decade,” and the rise of literacy for the women of Morocco could be partly credited to the King. Here are five facts about women’s education in Morocco.
While there remains a long way to go, the progress for women’s education in Morroco over the last 20 years has been remarkable. With continued local and international support, opportunities for young and old will continue to drive the nation toward a lasting prosperity.
– Maria S. Rodriguez
Photo: Flickr
Global Water Crisis: Fight for Clean Water Helps Businesses
The global water crisis not only hurts women around the world but also hurts economies. Water scarcity affects 2.8 billion people around the world for at least one month each year, and more than 1.2 billion people cannot access clean drinking water.
Matt Damon, who co-founded the charity Water.org, told CNN that he has hope that President Trump could help support the fight against the global water crisis. “For every dollar you invest in this sector, you get back four,” Damon said.
Gary White, Damon’s partner in Water.org, said that many women and girls around the world are unable to obtain an education because they must prioritize carrying water for the survival of their families. The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition pointed out that women who focus on education find stable jobs and build economies and markets, which not only benefits them but lifts the world economy as a whole. According to the U.N., women spend about six hours a day in Africa carrying water. Women also do 90% of the work of carrying water in Africa.
Water.org gives microloans called WaterCredit to people in developing countries allowing them to invest in water solutions. Water.org in partnership with Stella Artois, a Belgian beer company, started a campaign called “Buy a Lady a Drink.” The campaign focuses on women who have to carry the water instead of going to school. For this campaign, Stella Artois sells chalices and $6.25 from each one sold goes to Water.org.
White said that the global water crisis is worth the attention because the solution is within reach, easy to understand, and could have widespread benefits that will not only lift millions out of poverty, but create opportunities for businesses all over the developed world as well.
Solving the global water crisis not only improves the health of people in developing nations, but it also improves the global economy.
– Jennifer Taggart
Photo: Flickr
IBM Investment to Train African Youth in Technology
IBM is investing $70 million in building digital, cloud, and cognitive IT skills among youth in Africa in order to support a 21st-century workforce. The initiative, “IBM Digital – Nation Africa,” will provide a cloud-based learning platform offering free skills development programs for up to 25 million African youth over the next five years. The IBM investment is part of their global push to equip the next generation with the skills needed for “New Collar” careers, a term used by IBM to describe non-traditional careers that require sought-after skills in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data science, cloud and more, rather than a traditional four-year college degree.
The IBM investment will offer programs ranging from basic IT literacy to advanced IT skills development to enable digital competence and sprout innovation in Africa. The platform is geared to raise overall digital literacy, increase the number of developers able to tap into cognitive engines and enable entrepreneurs to grow businesses around new digital solutions.
The program will run through a free, cloud-based online learning environment delivered on IBM Bluemix and will allow users to learn a wide range of skills, from basic IT literacy to highly sought-after advanced IT skills. Users will even have access to career-oriented topics including programming, cybersecurity and data science. The initiative aims to empower African citizens by giving them the educational tools to design, develop and launch their own digital solutions. The program will run in English and is completely free of charge.
In Africa, just 25% of people have a bank account, but 75% have access to a mobile phone. There is no doubt that technology plays a huge part in Africa’s future development, and that with this much-needed technological revolution will come an influx of job opportunities. Programs such as that from the IBM investment will ensure that the youth of Africa are equipped for such opportunities that are quickly arising.
– Mayan Derhy
Photo: Flickr