Ghana is an African country roughly the size of Oregon and home to around 27 million people – approximately seven times the population of Oregon. In Ghana, around 24 percent of people live in poverty as of 2013 estimates, and the country’s 2012-13 Gini index score of 42.3 shows the country has moved away from economic equality since the 2005-06 score of 41.9. With such a disparity, the people of Ghana need a sound plan for moving people out of poverty. Ghana’s Social Investment Fund (SIF) is meant to do just that by investing in people to promote the projects they need most.
SIF works to directly improve the lives of people living in rural and urban poverty in Ghana, particularly women and children through various regional projects. They support economic and social infrastructure by funding irrigation, livestock raising, family planning services, nutrition and vocational and technical education. Some of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) SIF has worked with include the African Development Bank, the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) and the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA).
The goal of SIF’s work is to put people living in poverty in Ghana in the driver’s seat of poverty reduction, making them “proactive and reactive” partners with “a sense of ownership” in the project.
In order to reach this goal, one of the requirements of the organization’s support includes ensuring donors make a minimal number of interventions in the community, and resources already existent within the community are given priority of use over imports. This policy, similar to import substitution in economics, ensures that when the funding from SIF is no longer there, the people will still have access to the products they need and, just as importantly, the local economy will be stimulated. In addition, the entire community is pushed to be actively involved in an intervention, which helps to build the community’s sense of ownership and empowerment.
To date, since its establishment in 1998, SIF has made over 1000 advances in socio-economic infrastructure and services in areas of education, health, sanitation, roads and income generation. Its microfinance credit schemes have been implemented using NGOs and local banks to grow the revolving fund of one scheme to almost five times the starting amount, reaching 9.34 million Ghanaian cedis (GHC) and 20,000 beneficiaries, 80 percent of them female. In another scheme, 1,583 beneficiaries were lent 3.08 million GHC.
Curiously, while females constituted 89.26 percent of the beneficiaries in this scheme, only 46.3 percent of the funds were disbursed to females. SIF’s website does not offer any reason for this occurrence.
SIF’s current program is the Integrated Rural Development Programme, an OFID and BADEA-funded project targeting infrastructure and agribusiness across several regions of Ghana. The four-year program is projected to benefit around 25,000 low-income households and include targeted funding for socio-economic infrastructure as well as micro-lending and training programs.
Though challenging issues surround poverty, SIF’s strategies have succeeded in raising people out of poverty in Ghana. But funding is not the easiest asset to come by when approaching development issues, and for Ghana to truly succeed on a larger scale than has been seen, it needs steady, programmatic support from the international community, such as is found in USAID programs.
– Lucas Woodling
Photo: Flickr
Teaching Children About Global Education and Development
Entering “pen pal in developing country” into a search engine will display results with at least five different organizations that offer this type of service. Parents and teachers may do this to find pen pals for their children and students, while at the same time trying to teach them about global education and development for those who are much less fortunate than they are. However, Virginia Fresne who is Director of programs for the nonprofit organization Flying Kites, says that this is not always mutually beneficial or educational for either writer.
Founded in 2007, Flying Kites believes that the way out of poverty is through education. They run a leadership academy in the foothills of Kenya’s mountains where they help some of the world’s most desperate children. Flying Kites believes that education is a human right; they believe in children, and they believe in children’s rights and dreams. They invite others to “believe with us.”
Fresne says that she often receives letters written by people who hope to become pen pals with her Kenyan students. However, she feels that “letter exchanging with ‘disadvantaged’ children in an effort to remind our own children to appreciate privilege doesn’t work for our students in Kenya.” Students may not know enough about the person who they are writing to, specifically about their vulnerabilities. This can lead to the use of phrases such as, “I’m sorry you are poor.” According to Fresne, wording such as this, “would be confusing, offensive or hurtful to our students in Kenya.”
Instead, she suggests other methods that she feels are more effective in teaching children about global education and development. One is having children write to their state representatives about issues that are affecting the world’s poor. To do this requires them to first learn about some of the challenges and difficulties faced by people who live in poverty. Another way is sponsoring a student, with the help of an adult, using an organization such as Flying Kites. This supports the education of a student in need and may initiate correspondence between the student and the sponsor, depending on the level of sponsorship.
Among Fresne’s other suggestions for teaching children about global education and development are helping them to coordinate a bake sale to use the proceeds as donations, or encouraging them to read about global poverty. They can then take what they learn and teach others, spreading awareness. Fresne notes how much braver this generation is, and says, “They will be a force in this world, but it won’t be because they sent letters to ‘poor children.’”
– Kristin Westad
Photo: Flickr
Mapping Roads in Tanzania Improves Healthcare
Mapping roads in Tanzania will fuel economic growth and development as well as improve healthcare and response to natural disasters.
Like many developing countries, roads and cities in Tanzania were previously off the grid from GPS devices and Google services such as Street View. With no map data, it is difficult to deliver aid and supplies to communities in need. Lack of map data affects virtually all transit in a country, from farmers transporting food to markets to residents of cities finding routes that avoid traffic on their commute.
However, recent efforts from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank have begun to put Tanzanian roads on the grid.
In an effort to improve how health supplies are delivered, USAID began mapping roads in Tanzania that connect more than 5,600 health centers. So far, more than 30,000 kilometers of roads have been mapped across the nation.
Previously, transporting medical supplies between these health centers and the communities that needed them was difficult because nearly half of Tanzania roads were not mapped online. This meant that if drivers did not know their delivery route, they had to rely on directions from locals. Drivers also did not know the road conditions or how long routes would take.
To map large amounts of roads quickly, USAID installed tracking devices on trucks from Tanzania’s medical stores department (MSD). USAID and MSD were able to determine the quickest routes possible to distribute medical supplies based on the data. The organizations also released the data to the public so all those looking to travel in Tanzania have access to the information.
The Ramani Huria community mapping group in the city of Dar es Salaam helped upload this data. The group has also begun mapping the streets of Dar es Salaam, where map data will become crucial to help the city better prepare and respond to natural disasters.
To map the city’s streets, local volunteers attach camera rigs to their vehicles and take pictures as they travel the streets. They can also use the Swedish app Mapillary to take photos as they walk or hitch rides around the city.
So far volunteers have helped map 300 miles of the project’s 2,000-mile goal. Images captured with Mapillary become 3D digital maps that show real-time data of Dar es Salaam.
Aside from the maps providing data about traffic and travel times, they can also be used to help locate areas that are in danger of flooding, develop plans to prepare for heavy floods and assess which routes can be taken to deliver aid in case of flooding.
Rising sea levels and heavy rainfall from March to May leave Tanzania prone to floods. Each year floods leave hundreds to thousands of Tanzanians homeless and cause many deaths. While the poverty rate is 28 percent, mapping roads in Tanzania will help combat some of the issues that lead to poverty.
– Cassie Lipp
Photo: Flickr
The Five Best Ways USAID Helped Nigeria in 2016
As 2016 ends, USAID has announced encouraging news in regards to their long-time relationship with the country of Nigeria. Going forward, USAID plans to add $92 million to their humanitarian assistance program for the country. This move is symbolic of the year the two partners have shared; one rich with progress in support of refugees displaced and suffering from the Boko Haram insurgency. Here are five more ways USAID helped Nigeria in 2016:
Since 2015, the U.S. has been the largest donor to Nigeria, giving $291 million in the 2016 fiscal year toward humanitarian aid. With the incredible news of their upcoming $92 million increase, USAID has extended help to tens of thousands more people and strengthened a partnership that will continue to improve the lives of millions of Nigerians.
– Emily Marshall
Photo: Flickr
Ten Facts About Refugees in Slovakia
Over the past several months, the influx of migrants in Europe has notoriously prompted headlines about the manageability of refugees and illegal immigrants on the continent. To explore the details about one country in particular, here are 10 facts about refugees in Slovakia:
As a relatively poorer nation of Eastern Europe, Slovakia’s concerns for accommodating a large number of migrants socially and economically may prevail, but it is important to also ensure that refugees in Slovakia are welcomed to the highest possible degree. As the UNHCR rhetoric reiterates, Slovakia’s cooperation with resettlement arrangements is greatly needed for the most vulnerable citizens around the world.
– Zachary Machuga
Photo: Flickr
Five of the Top Diseases in Greece
Though often envisioned as an ideal vacation spot, home to thousands of sites, islands and beaches, Greece is not exempt from the list of countries affected by diseases, and it is necessary that travelers be aware of this.
According to WHO, Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is one of the top diseases in Greece, responsible for 26.17% of the country’s total deaths. Statistically, CHD occurs in men between the ages of 50 to 79, and in women ages 70-79. Controllable factors include arterial hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, obesity, smoking and lack of physical activity. Non-modifiable factors include gender, age and family history of premature CHD.
Falling second in the list of top diseases in Greece, mortality from heart disease and strokes has reached 35,000 deaths per year, which is high compared to other regions like Portugal or Spain. As a result, life expectancy for Greeks has fallen. Statistics showing 33% of adults smoking daily and 19.6% of the population being overweight or obese contribute to the issue.
In 2011, a total of 20 cases of malaria occurred among Greek residents in the Evrotas, Laconia district, caused by the parasite Plasmodium vivax. The following year, 17 additional locally acquired cases were reported. According to the Centers for Disease Control, it is recommended that travelers take an anti-malarial medication and follow insect protection measures to reduce the risk of mosquito bites.
A total of 14 cases of Legionnaires’ disease were reported on the island of Corfu in 2011. Legionnaires’ disease is a bacterial infection that typically causes pneumonia but can also involve other organ systems. The disease is usually transmitted through contaminated water sources, such as air conditioners and showers. Common symptoms include fever, cough, chest pain, difficulty breathing, headache, muscle pains and diarrhea.
An outbreak of West Nile virus infections surfaced in 2010, causing 262 confirmed cases and 35 deaths. West Nile virus is carried by Culex mosquitoes. Most infections are mild but can affect the central nervous system, leading to fever, headache, confusion, lethargy, coma and in most serious cases, death. Because there is no treatment for West Nile virus, prevention methods should be taken by keeping cover and applying insect repellents.
For both locals and visitors, such recent outbreaks emphasize the importance of taking safety precautions and preventing further transmission of top diseases in Greece. Since most of these illnesses cannot be cured, undergoing certain treatment methods or making lifestyle changes help with recovery.
– Mikaela Frigillana
Photo: Flickr
Girls’ Education in Cameroon: Nurturing Opportunity and Choice
Education in Cameroon, although constitutionally guaranteed, falls short in execution. Undeniable disparities hinder educational access for poor, disabled, indigenous and refugee children, particularly disadvantaged girls. Issues ranging from sexual harassment, unplanned pregnancies and early marriages to domestic chores and socio-cultural biases proliferate a trend in which fewer girls attend primary schools than boys. Incongruences between male and female education in Cameroon exacerbate the growing movement of students leaving the country to study and live elsewhere that has been termed the “brain drain.”
Rectifying this gender discrepancy can boost individuals’ capacities for financial autonomy as well as improve the state of the nation overall.
Less than 50 percent of Cameroonian girls attend primary school, and the average adult has only 5.9 years of education under his or her belt. There are many, however, who are working to change that.
The ShineALight Africa initiative was inspired by one Cameroonian woman, Nsaigha Thecla, who risked her livelihood and security to give her daughter the education she had never attained. Borrowing, investing and selling all she had, her children received an uncommonly good education in Cameroon. Years later, Nsaigha’s granddaughter, Leila Kigha, founded ShineALight Africa in that spirit.
ShineALight Africa mobilizes individual women into a cooperative through which they can sell their farm produce as a group, and the profits are dedicated to keeping local community children in school. Participation fosters the skills to help women gain financial autonomy, which provides previously non-existent options regarding marriage and domesticity.
Self-sufficiency and personal livelihood are certainly not all there is to be gained through more available education. Many claim that national security is at stake when education is inaccessible, for “an educated population doesn’t give away to extremism.” As a military campaign against Boko Haram rages in northern Cameroon, mosques in the south resist the spread of Islamist insurgency by providing girls’ education. The director of the Grande Mosque in Briquerterie, Mohaman Saminou, claims girls are at the greatest risk of being radicalized due to their lack of education.
To that end, his mosque provides free classes to girls every weekend in subjects like computer science, sewing and the Qur’an. Other mosques, like the Yaoundé Central Mosque, follow suit, providing girls’ classes in French, English and Arabic to promote the notion of “bilingualism as a gateway to quality education and sustainable development.” This work should broaden opportunities and choices for Cameroonian girls, consequently decrease the likelihood of radicalization.
Improving education in Cameroon can hugely impact both individual lives and national wellbeing. The ability to make financial and social choices is essential to the welfare of the people and the state to which they belong.
– Robin Lee
Photo: Flickr
Ten Facts on the War in Darfur
The war in Darfur, a region in Sudan, has been the reason for mass slaughter and rape of Darfuri men, women and children; what the U.S. has labeled a genocide. The war in Darfur has been called the worst humanitarian crisis of the century and its effects are still seen today, specifically the displacement of Darfurians into neighboring countries.
10 Facts about the War in Darfur:
Much has been done to help resolve the ongoing conflict in Darfur by the U.N., A.U., N.A.T.O. and the U.S., but hundreds of thousands of displaced Darfurians are still in the necessity of aid. The six-month cessation of hostilities could be the first step towards peace in the region.
– Mayan Derhy
Photo: Flickr
Social Investment Fund Tackles Poverty in Ghana
Ghana is an African country roughly the size of Oregon and home to around 27 million people – approximately seven times the population of Oregon. In Ghana, around 24 percent of people live in poverty as of 2013 estimates, and the country’s 2012-13 Gini index score of 42.3 shows the country has moved away from economic equality since the 2005-06 score of 41.9. With such a disparity, the people of Ghana need a sound plan for moving people out of poverty. Ghana’s Social Investment Fund (SIF) is meant to do just that by investing in people to promote the projects they need most.
SIF works to directly improve the lives of people living in rural and urban poverty in Ghana, particularly women and children through various regional projects. They support economic and social infrastructure by funding irrigation, livestock raising, family planning services, nutrition and vocational and technical education. Some of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) SIF has worked with include the African Development Bank, the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) and the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA).
The goal of SIF’s work is to put people living in poverty in Ghana in the driver’s seat of poverty reduction, making them “proactive and reactive” partners with “a sense of ownership” in the project.
In order to reach this goal, one of the requirements of the organization’s support includes ensuring donors make a minimal number of interventions in the community, and resources already existent within the community are given priority of use over imports. This policy, similar to import substitution in economics, ensures that when the funding from SIF is no longer there, the people will still have access to the products they need and, just as importantly, the local economy will be stimulated. In addition, the entire community is pushed to be actively involved in an intervention, which helps to build the community’s sense of ownership and empowerment.
To date, since its establishment in 1998, SIF has made over 1000 advances in socio-economic infrastructure and services in areas of education, health, sanitation, roads and income generation. Its microfinance credit schemes have been implemented using NGOs and local banks to grow the revolving fund of one scheme to almost five times the starting amount, reaching 9.34 million Ghanaian cedis (GHC) and 20,000 beneficiaries, 80 percent of them female. In another scheme, 1,583 beneficiaries were lent 3.08 million GHC.
Curiously, while females constituted 89.26 percent of the beneficiaries in this scheme, only 46.3 percent of the funds were disbursed to females. SIF’s website does not offer any reason for this occurrence.
SIF’s current program is the Integrated Rural Development Programme, an OFID and BADEA-funded project targeting infrastructure and agribusiness across several regions of Ghana. The four-year program is projected to benefit around 25,000 low-income households and include targeted funding for socio-economic infrastructure as well as micro-lending and training programs.
Though challenging issues surround poverty, SIF’s strategies have succeeded in raising people out of poverty in Ghana. But funding is not the easiest asset to come by when approaching development issues, and for Ghana to truly succeed on a larger scale than has been seen, it needs steady, programmatic support from the international community, such as is found in USAID programs.
– Lucas Woodling
Photo: Flickr
The Five Youngest US Presidents
Next month, when President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in at age 70, he will officially become the oldest U.S. President to take the oath of office. Article two, section one, clause five of the U.S. Constitution states, “…neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of 35 years.”
Since 1789, there have been nine U.S. Presidents inaugurated before their 50th birthday, though none as young as 35. Meet the five youngest U.S. Presidents.
Teddy Roosevelt – 42 years, 322 days (1901-1909)
Roosevelt was sworn in just over one month before his 43rd birthday after the assassination of the 25th U.S. President, William McKinley. After the Spanish-American War, Roosevelt became known for ending a period of isolation and placing the U.S. on the world stage.
Trivia: The Roosevelt Room at the White House was created in 1934 in honor of the youngest U.S. President in the exact location of his original 1902 office.
John F. Kennedy – 43 years, 236 days (1961-1963)
Although only serving two years before his assassination in 1963, Kennedy was the youngest U.S. President ever to be elected to the oval office. In 1961, under Kennedy’s administration, Congress established the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency as a separate entity under the U.S. Department of State’s umbrella.
Trivia: Kennedy attended Harvard University. His application to attend was only five sentences long.
Bill Clinton – 46 years, 149 days (1993-2001)
Clinton was inaugurated in January 1993 on the heels of George H.W. Bush’s peaceful resolution to the conflict between the U.S. and Russia. This made Clinton the first president in nearly a century with little urgency to define U.S. foreign policy with the Soviet Union.
Trivia: Clinton has authored numerous books including his 2007 work about the power of volunteering entitled Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World.
Ulysses S. Grant – 46 years, 311 days (1869-1877)
Taking the oath just shy of his 47th birthday, Grant is the fourth-youngest U.S. President. As the General accredited for leading the Union to victory during the Civil War, Grant is known more for domestic relations than foreign policy. However, he fought in an international conflict under General Zachary Taylor’s command during the Mexican-American War.
Trivia: Both Grant’s mother and father witnessed his inauguration — a first for any U.S. President.
Barack Obama – 47 years, 169 days (2009-2017)
The U.S. President preceding the oldest President-elect also happens to be one of the five youngest U.S. Presidents. Immediately upon taking office, Obama set out to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq. He successfully reduced the total number of troops from 160,000 in 2009 to 150 in 2012. Then, in 2014, he restored diplomatic relations with Cuba. This milestone marked a new beginning toward alleviating economic animosity between the U.S. and its island neighbor.
Trivia: During law school, Obama became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Perhaps this achievement helped set his sights on becoming the first African-American U.S. President.
– Ashley Henyan
Photo: Flickr
Oxfam Launches New Project with Celebrity Voices: “I Hear You”
In 2015, more than 65 million people were displaced because of persecution, war and human rights violations. Nations around the world agreed to accept refugees, but the backlash has been swift amidst fears of terrorism. In light of this backlash, many organizations and individuals have tried to lend a voice to the refugee crisis.
One of the organizations on the forefront of global poverty is Oxfam. For over 70 years, Oxfam has been working to create awareness about global poverty. They focus on issues that contribute to poverty including discrimination and unequal access to resources. Oxfam provides clean water, food and aid to individuals suffering from poverty around the world. In response to the refugee crisis, Oxfam created a new project called “I Hear You“.
The “I Hear You” project aims to put a voice to the refugee crisis by recruiting celebrity voices to share personal refugee stories. Each celebrity reads a real-life story. The celebrities include Margot Robbie, John Cho, Gael García Bernal, Anna Camp, Minnie Driver and Al Madrigal.
By sharing the personal narratives, Oxfam hopes to create awareness and connect people to the stories. By going beyond the numbers and the statistics, Oxfam is trying to illustrate the humanity of the people impacted most by violence and persecution around the world. Social science often touts the concept of proximity; humans have a tendency to understand and bond with those that they are closest to in their lives. By sharing these personal stories, Oxfam has the ability to create a closer proximity to the refugees, and this could foster understanding.
The video series recently debuted on the Vanity Fair website; the videos are brief but powerful. John Cho tells the story of a teacher trying desperately to deliver lessons to his students even as they live in a refugee camp. Margot Robbie’s story is about a 17-year-old girl who dreams of bettering herself through education even as she has packed up everything she owns to flee a war zone. These celebrities are shining a light on the crisis, and each story is personal. Oxfam recognizes the possibility that activism can stem from those relatable stories.
After watching the videos, viewers can reach out to Oxfam on their website or by text to see what actions they can take for refugees living in poverty and displacement around the world. In addition to collecting donations for refugees, Oxfam also appeals to those hearing the stories to pledge compassion and kindness to refugees that are relocating.
– Jennifer Graham
Photo: Flickr