Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has not shied away from criticizing U.S. foreign policies, which directly spawn global poverty and migration. In her presidential platform, Stein underscores the dangers of trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
“People ask me ‘what are you going to do about immigration?’ I say we’re going to stop causing it…through wars and NAFTA, the war on drugs, coups and military interventions…We need to connect the dots,” on U.S. policy, free trade, global poverty, and migration, “People are not stupid. They can and will get it when you make the connections,” voiced Stein.
According to research by the Economic Policy Institute, NAFTA led to a loss of jobs in Mexico, particularly in their agricultural sector, consequently increasing the rate of poverty and illegal immigration to the U.S.
The governments of Canada, Mexico and the U.S. negotiated NAFTA in 1994. Arranged by President George H.W. Bush and implemented under Bill Clinton, the deal created a trilateral trade bloc in North America — barriers to trade investment were gradually eliminated, and as a result, tariffs became inapplicable.
Governments sought to integrate and liberalize trade between the North American countries. U.S. officials promised a growing trade surplus with Mexico, creating hundreds of thousands of American jobs. Yet, more than 20 years later, NAFTA has proved to have the opposite effect; studies show it led to a growing trade deficit owing to the growth of U.S. exports which vastly surpassed imports to Mexico.
Since barriers to trade investment were eliminated, U.S. investments in Mexico escalated; corporate executives could easily cut their expenses by moving their factories to Mexico and paying Mexican workers at a much lower wage, fueling a flood of outsourcing.
As a result, the U.S. experienced a heavy loss in jobs. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that, as of 2010, displaced production could have supported 682,900 U.S. jobs, 60.8 percent of those jobs being in manufacturing industries. This also takes into account the additional jobs created by exports to Mexico.
NAFTA also promised Mexico a growing middle class, yet as a struggling third world country, it experienced a harder economic downfall, particularly in its agriculture sector.
Research backs Jill Stein’s claims that, prior to NAFTA being implemented, tariffs were still very high, helping to protect domestic businesses. For Mexico, corn was a crucial commodity that was protected by tariffs.
NAFTA gradually lifted the tariffs in a 14-year transition to an open market. By 2008, the last tariffs on corn were lifted, thus the U.S. was able to flood Mexico with cheap subsidized corn. As a result, 1.3 million jobs in Mexico’s agricultural sector were lost.
The U.S. has sold tons of cheap corn to Mexico for over a decade now, yet corn originated in Mexico and it’s also the predominant food source that most people depend on, especially for making tortillas. Small farmers made a living from the production of corn, a crucial component of the Mexican economy. Now, many feel helpless without a source of income and the rates of extreme rural poverty in Mexico have therefore increased.
The World Bank, in a 2005 study, found that extreme rural poverty rate was around 37 percent in 1992-4, prior to NAFTA, which jumped to about 52%in 1996-8 after NAFTA took effect.
This could be explained partly due to the 1995 peso crisis, which was set off by the Mexican Government’s sudden devaluation of the peso against the U.S. dollar. Even so, one expert has argued the crises was caused in part because of NAFTA from the wave of speculative foreign investment in Mexico following the agreement.
By 2010, 53 million Mexicans were living in poverty according to the Monterrey Institute of Technology — half the country’s population. This growth of rural poverty from NAFTA, in turn, led to an increase of migration to the U.S. Indigenous people made up 7 percent of Mexican migrants in 1991-3; in 2006-8, they made up 29 percent.
As president, Jill Stein plans to repeal NAFTA and replace it with trade laws that could better benefit local workers and communities. She is calling for an emergency transition of the economy to 100 percent clean renewable energy by 2030. In doing so, she expects to create 20 million good-wage jobs, that are locally controlled and community oriented, giving Americans greater control of their own economic affairs.
“We are creating a community process, so it’s not just a cookie-cutter from Washington D.C., but rather it’s national support for local control, over creating the jobs, the small businesses, workers cooperatives, that are needed in order to make this clean energy green economy transition,” said Stein.
– Marcelo Guadiana
Photo: Flickr
Village Care: Empowering African Villages to Fight Poverty
David Glenwinkel worked with humanitarian aid and charitable associations and realized something was wrong in the system. He wondered how it was possible that billions of dollars in aid sent to Africa could have little impact on the African villages it was supposed to help.
With this in mind, Glenwinkel took a revolutionary approach to helping the needy and poor African villages to fight poverty. He founded Village Care International in 2008, offering hand-ups, not hand-outs, to empower struggling African communities. He hoped his unorthodox programs would help poor communities utilize their own resources without depending on failing aid programs.
“We believe only Africa can solve their problems by using the resources they have on hand,” said Glenwinkel. “We do that by equipping communities and their leaders with principles and practices that empower vulnerable populations to thrive.”
The core program at Village Care International is Outcomes Practices and Open Space (OPOS). In seminar forms, it is presented to any targeted community in one to three days. All OPOS seminars are run by trained African facilitators, with every villager invited to participate.
The program first recognizes the underlying causes of African poverty and struggles including colonial, cultural and historical factors, along with failures in direct aid and outside support.
The facilitator then guides villagers to set up a series of goals or outcomes for their community to fight poverty, using their own language and localized definitions. After everyone agrees on their goals, the facilitator leads villagers to discuss things that must be done to achieve the outcomes.
At the end, every participant shares with the group about what he or she can contribute to the community and what they can do as a group for the community.
In this program, the facilitator equips local communities and their leaders with principles and practices that empower vulnerable populations to thrive. In the past eight years, Village Care has seen its OPOS program take hold in 800 villages across 10 countries — through initiatives such as improving sanitation to boosting fish-farming techniques to fight hunger.
Increasingly, the program is spread and shared from village to village via word of mouth, helping countless families repair their villages while working to take advantage of the resources at hand to build a better future.
– Yvie Yao
Photo: Flickr
A Look at Three of the Top Diseases in Bangladesh
Bangladesh, a dense country of more than 160 million on India’s eastern border, has seen remarkable development in recent decades. A growing economy and enormous improvements in maternal health and food security have raised the quality of life for millions of Bangladeshis. Now, less than a third of the quickly urbanizing population lives under the poverty line, down from more than half. Bangladesh aims to have officially become a middle-income country by 2021.
Thousands of Bangladeshis, however, still suffer and die from easily preventable diseases every year. While the nation’s expenditure on health increased significantly in the past two decades, it still comprises only 3.7 percent of the national GDP. Improving public health is the biggest focus of international aid in Bangladesh, accounting for roughly 43 percent of all assistance committed to helping the country. The following are some of the top diseases in Bangladesh and what the government and international organizations are doing to fight them.
Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection that can be deadly, especially for young children, if improperly treated. According to USAID, Bangladesh has one of the highest infection rates in the world. The World Health Organization reported that tuberculosis is the leading cause of death in the country. In 2012, nearly 70 thousand Bangladeshis died from tuberculosis.
The Bangladeshi government and international aid organizations have labored to bring the tuberculosis rate down and save more patients, and they have seen tangible success. In the early 1990s, Bangladesh’s government established the National Tuberculosis Control Program (NTP) with the support of USAID, and today, 99 percent of people living in Bangladesh have access to effective detection and treatment services. USAID is continuing to provide funding for technology, infrastructure and drugs to control tuberculosis in Bangladesh, as well as prevent, detect and combat drug-resistant strains of the infection.
Bangladesh has yet to provide much of its population with access to quality sewage and water infrastructure. Only 16 percent of Bangladeshis living in rural areas have access to up-to-par latrines. As a result, millions of Bangladeshis are at risk for waterborne diseases, including hepatitis A and E and a wide variety of serious bacterial infections like typhoid and leptospirosis.
Low water quality makes diarrheal diseases especially serious in Bangladesh. In fact, diarrhea is the seventh single biggest killer of children under 5 years of age in the country. According to Water.org, a nonprofit aiming to expand access to clean water globally, 100,000 children die from diarrheal diseases annually.
Heavy rain is normal in Bangladesh and frequent floods exacerbate waterborne diseases by overflowing dirty water supplies into clean reservoirs and residential areas. Sixteen provinces in Bangladesh have suffered from severe flooding this summer, and local news is reporting thousands of new cases of waterborne diseases, with scores of deaths.
The government and aid organizations are working to prevent the top diseases in Bangladesh primarily by widening access to clean water. UNICEF is working with the government to improve water infrastructure and also educate Bangladeshis about how to keep their water clean and avoid disease. Further, organizations like Water.org are providing grants and loans for sanitation projects across the country.
Neonatal sepsis refers to bacterial blood infections in newborn babies, and it is the fourth biggest cause of death for children under 5 years of age in Bangladesh. According to UNICEF, such infections are the leading cause of mortality for newborn babies in Bangladesh; 80,000 of whom die less than a month after birth each year. Many common bacteria can cause neonatal sepsis. While infections are serious, they are easy to treat as long as they are detected early, and preventing neonatal sepsis can be as simple as providing mothers with clean environments for giving birth.
Despite its struggle with neonatal sepsis, Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in maternal and neonatal health in the past 20 years and remains determined to improve obstetric care across the country. The nation has already achieved its millennium goals for maternal and child health and reduced child and maternal mortality by 60 percent since 1990. Bangladesh continues to upgrade obstetric health facilities and make them more accessible to citizens living in under-served regions.
A brief look at some of the top diseases in Bangladesh provides clear lessons about poverty and health. Simple and cheap improvements for health systems — things like basic antibiotics, proper latrines and clean places to give birth — can save millions of lives in developing countries.
Bangladesh still struggles with deadly diseases, but with determination, the country has already climbed beyond many of its goals and continues to promote public health and fight against preventable illnesses.
– Charlie Tomb
Photo: Flickr
Gates Foundation: Reducing Enteric and Diarrheal Diseases
According to a journal published in the Gastroenterology Section of the U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institute of Health, enteric and diarrheal diseases are the leading causes of death in young children under five years old. Of this age group, diarrhea occurs approximately 2.5 billion times each year resulting in the fatality of nearly 15 percent. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation aspires to eliminate enteric and diarrheal diseases by 2030, including typhoid in children under five by 2035. The World Health Organization (WHO) also reports that diarrheal related illnesses are the leading cause of malnutrition for children under five.
The Gates Foundation is committed to serving and advocating the lives of the world’s poor by improving health care, education and other areas that could dramatically impact the quality of life for billions. The foundation’s goal for this initiative is “We believe that all children — no matter where they live — should not suffer or die from enteric (gastrointestinal) and diarrheal infections.”
Understanding the development of children across the world can help prevent and reverse the issues of growth stunting caused by environmental enteric dysfunctionalities in young children under five. Improving socioeconomic conditions is a crucial component for the Gates Foundation to reduce these illnesses. Children will have better access to health care and treatment, and the improvement in the accessibility of clean and sanitized water and hygiene will help to significantly reduce the likelihood of occurrence.
The Gates Foundation is primarily focused on providing safe, effective and affordable vaccines to children in vulnerable countries where these illnesses are more prevalent. The Gates Foundation also invests in quality research aimed at improving case management and delivering treatment for children in medically vulnerable countries.
Currently, there are safe and effective vaccines available for rotavirus and cholera. WHO recommended that these vaccinations be included in national immunizations. Affordable treatments such as oral rehydration solutions, zinc supplements and antibiotics to treat dysentery could also prevent enteric and diarrheal diseases in young children. Breastfeeding exclusively for the first six months of life, personal and household hygiene improvements, access to safe and reliable drinking water and improved sanitation help reduce the development of gastrointestinal infections.
Gastrointestinal research is a growing field of study and is beneficial in understanding neurocognitive development and how to support physical growth. Promising opportunities have been made possible through research on gut microbiome, immune system and gut barrier to test and further the development of inventions that seek to prevent and reverse growth stunting.
Although advancements in research are occurring, not nearly enough political attention, adequate funding and thorough research go toward the alleviation of enteric and diarrheal diseases. This is partially due to the fact that the impact of these fatal illnesses has largely gone unnoticed in the international community.
Additionally, the lack of critical information on the pathogens and the environmental factors that cause theses pathogens limit proactive progress toward eliminating these devastating gastrointestinal illnesses.
The good news is that action and awareness can yield a more positive result in fighting against these diseases and essentially lower the number of lives they take.
– Haylee M. Gardner
Photo: Flickr
The World’s Advanced Saving Project: 3D Printing Solutions
It may be difficult to determine what the World’s Advanced Saving Project (WASP) does from looking at its name. One might assume the organization focuses on environmental issues or poverty reduction, which is essentially correct, but the way WASP operates makes it unique. WASP is a tech company that creates 3D printing solutions with a focus on sustainability.
Like many innovative tech companies, WASP specializes in building 3D printers. Taking things further, the organization produced a 3D printer capable of creating a house. The 40-foot tall printer, named “Big Delta” by its creators, is claimed to be one of the largest in the world. By simply putting a clay and straw mixture into the printer, Big Delta can create a shelter in a few days.
While this is exciting news, there are currently several other companies that are capable of building shelters, often in less than a day. Big Delta and WASP outshine other companies at their price point. WASP calculates that with the costs of clay, straw, water and energy, a shelter can be printed for around $55. Furthermore, if the clay and straw combination is manually mixed, it can reduce energy costs dramatically.
For many, the idea of living in a straw/clay hut may not seem very appealing, yet for many others, any form of structurally stable housing would be a dream come true. According to WHO, nearly 863 million people live in slum housing.
Slum housing is defined as housing that lacks certain characteristics that make it durable such as access to water, sanitation, adequate space or ventilation. Additionally, over 100 million people worldwide are thought to be homeless according to the most recent U.N. global survey.
Those who are considered homeless by the U.N., people displaced by natural disasters, political instability or a variety of other factors, could benefit tremendously from fast, cheap and stable housing. With the Big Delta, WASP is just one of many organizations working to provide reliable, yet affordable housing to those in need. A 3D printed shelter may not be the best form of housing for every situation; however, it could be a good option for those in developing countries who have extremely limited income.
As innovation advances and technology improves, it is good to see that some companies are shifting focus and addressing world issues like poverty and sustainability. Who knows, in the next decade, advanced technology may allow people to 3D print entire buildings or even hospitals for a relatively low cost.
– Weston Northrop
Photo: Flickr
What is the Global Health Innovation Act?
On Dec. 18, 2015, the Global Health Innovation Act (H.R. 2241) was passed with bipartisan support in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill is projected to advance U.S. leadership in global health innovation.
Introduced by Representative Albio Sires, D-NJ, the Global Health Innovation Act aims to strengthen global health research and development programming at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) by requiring the agency to submit an annual report to Congress on the development and use of new health technologies in the agency’s programs, projects and activities.
“I am proud to support this legislation, which will help effectively address health needs around the world. As USAID continues to expand its research and development of these technologies, it is important that Congress continue to play its important role of oversight in ensuring the Agency’s investments make clear progress towards its stated goals,” said Sires.
Global health has experienced great progress over the last 50 years. Child mortality rates around the world have declined by 70 percent. In the last two decades alone, 50 million children were saved and people are living 21 years longer on average.
Yet nearly 9 million people are still dying every year from infectious diseases and other health challenges. Current technology alone is inadequate in combating systemic and emerging global health threats. New vaccines, drugs, diagnostics and other health technologies are critical in advancing global health.
The Global Health Innovation Act shines a light on and supports health innovations that are affordable, culturally appropriate, accessible and functional in settings that may have unreliable electricity, lack access to clean water and refrigeration and under-resourced health infrastructures.
The bill is currently in the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
The Borgen Project is working to build support for this bill and encourages everyone to e-mail their Senators and voice their support for global health innovations.
– Rodalyn Guinto
Photo: Flickr
10 Facts About Poverty in Latin America
Within the past decade, 70 million people were able to escape poverty in Latin America due to economic growth and a lessened income gap. However, millions still remain in the cycle of poverty. Presented below is key data about poverty in Latin America.
10 Leading Facts on Poverty in Latin America
In 2010, the middle-class population exceeded the low-income population for the first time in the region. However, with one-fifth of the population still in poverty, there is much work to be done.
– Ashley Leon
Photo: Flickr
Islamic Microfinance: Boldly Going Where No Credit Has Gone Before
While poverty is a global phenomenon, the Muslim world is disproportionately affected. According to Iran’s Mehr News Agency, 46 percent of the world’s poor live in countries where Islam is the dominant religion. Since Islamic microfinance responds to the needs and preferences of Muslims, it can play a vital role in reducing poverty in the Muslim world.
Many Muslims avoid traditional finance because Islam prohibits usury, also known as Riba. While usury generally refers to unreasonably high interest rates that unfairly benefit lenders, some argue that the term covers any interest charged on loans.
This aversion towards non-concessional loans is what Islamic financial products can circumvent. At this year’s International Conference on Best Practices in Rural and Agricultural Finance in Kigali, Rwanda, Muhammad Zubair Mughal, CEO of the Al-Huda Center of Islamic Banking and Economics (CIBE), highlighted the utility of Islamic microfinance in agriculture and manufacturing.
“Islamic finance has specialized financial solutions for each segment of rural poverty,” according to Mughal. Riba-free contracts, such as Bai Salam and Modarabas, can provide funding to farmers to purchase seed and equipment, Mughal said.
Non-Muslim majority countries can also benefit from Islamic microfinance. Uganda, where only 14 percent of the population is Muslim, may begin making small loans compliant with Islamic law in 2017, according to a Bloomberg article from July 25, 2016. The loans form part of an initiative by Uganda’s Microfinance Support Center to increase employment and income in the country’s rural regions.
To alleviate poverty, Muslims have also begun raising money in other innovative ways. August saw the launch of WaqfWorld, the world’s first Islamic crowdfunding platform. The organization will use new technology to improve the flow of waqfs, donations of money or property in Islamic law, to charities with the goal of promoting community and economic development.
“Financial inclusion” is the central theme of the 6th Global Islamic Microfinance Forum, which is taking place in Nairobi, Kenya from Nov. 8 to 9. The poverty-reducing potential of Islamic financial products cannot be understated, and one of its primary advantages is that it benefits those excluded from traditional aid on account of their religion.
– Philip Katz
Photo: Flickr
Jill Stein Equates NAFTA to Global Poverty
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has not shied away from criticizing U.S. foreign policies, which directly spawn global poverty and migration. In her presidential platform, Stein underscores the dangers of trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
“People ask me ‘what are you going to do about immigration?’ I say we’re going to stop causing it…through wars and NAFTA, the war on drugs, coups and military interventions…We need to connect the dots,” on U.S. policy, free trade, global poverty, and migration, “People are not stupid. They can and will get it when you make the connections,” voiced Stein.
According to research by the Economic Policy Institute, NAFTA led to a loss of jobs in Mexico, particularly in their agricultural sector, consequently increasing the rate of poverty and illegal immigration to the U.S.
The governments of Canada, Mexico and the U.S. negotiated NAFTA in 1994. Arranged by President George H.W. Bush and implemented under Bill Clinton, the deal created a trilateral trade bloc in North America — barriers to trade investment were gradually eliminated, and as a result, tariffs became inapplicable.
Governments sought to integrate and liberalize trade between the North American countries. U.S. officials promised a growing trade surplus with Mexico, creating hundreds of thousands of American jobs. Yet, more than 20 years later, NAFTA has proved to have the opposite effect; studies show it led to a growing trade deficit owing to the growth of U.S. exports which vastly surpassed imports to Mexico.
Since barriers to trade investment were eliminated, U.S. investments in Mexico escalated; corporate executives could easily cut their expenses by moving their factories to Mexico and paying Mexican workers at a much lower wage, fueling a flood of outsourcing.
As a result, the U.S. experienced a heavy loss in jobs. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that, as of 2010, displaced production could have supported 682,900 U.S. jobs, 60.8 percent of those jobs being in manufacturing industries. This also takes into account the additional jobs created by exports to Mexico.
NAFTA also promised Mexico a growing middle class, yet as a struggling third world country, it experienced a harder economic downfall, particularly in its agriculture sector.
Research backs Jill Stein’s claims that, prior to NAFTA being implemented, tariffs were still very high, helping to protect domestic businesses. For Mexico, corn was a crucial commodity that was protected by tariffs.
NAFTA gradually lifted the tariffs in a 14-year transition to an open market. By 2008, the last tariffs on corn were lifted, thus the U.S. was able to flood Mexico with cheap subsidized corn. As a result, 1.3 million jobs in Mexico’s agricultural sector were lost.
The U.S. has sold tons of cheap corn to Mexico for over a decade now, yet corn originated in Mexico and it’s also the predominant food source that most people depend on, especially for making tortillas. Small farmers made a living from the production of corn, a crucial component of the Mexican economy. Now, many feel helpless without a source of income and the rates of extreme rural poverty in Mexico have therefore increased.
The World Bank, in a 2005 study, found that extreme rural poverty rate was around 37 percent in 1992-4, prior to NAFTA, which jumped to about 52%in 1996-8 after NAFTA took effect.
This could be explained partly due to the 1995 peso crisis, which was set off by the Mexican Government’s sudden devaluation of the peso against the U.S. dollar. Even so, one expert has argued the crises was caused in part because of NAFTA from the wave of speculative foreign investment in Mexico following the agreement.
By 2010, 53 million Mexicans were living in poverty according to the Monterrey Institute of Technology — half the country’s population. This growth of rural poverty from NAFTA, in turn, led to an increase of migration to the U.S. Indigenous people made up 7 percent of Mexican migrants in 1991-3; in 2006-8, they made up 29 percent.
As president, Jill Stein plans to repeal NAFTA and replace it with trade laws that could better benefit local workers and communities. She is calling for an emergency transition of the economy to 100 percent clean renewable energy by 2030. In doing so, she expects to create 20 million good-wage jobs, that are locally controlled and community oriented, giving Americans greater control of their own economic affairs.
“We are creating a community process, so it’s not just a cookie-cutter from Washington D.C., but rather it’s national support for local control, over creating the jobs, the small businesses, workers cooperatives, that are needed in order to make this clean energy green economy transition,” said Stein.
– Marcelo Guadiana
Photo: Flickr
What is an NGO and What Do They Do?
What is an NGO? The acronym NGO stands for non-governmental organization. With only slightly more specificity, an NGO is any organization, usually non-profit, that operates independently of a government. Contrary to common usage, the NGO title does not necessarily imply the organization works abroad; NGOs can be local, national, or international.
But apart from these literal definitions, what unique roles do NGOs serve that government aid organizations and corporations do not?
The innumerable NGOs that are working on international humanitarian issues suggest that NGOs can adapt quickly and respond to changing needs faster than government organizations which require executive and electoral approval for action. The Global Journal published a list of the top 100 most influential and effective NGOs, acknowledging famous groups such as OxFam, PATH, and Medicins Sans Frontiers.
These groups’ acclaim comes from consistent and well-organized delivery of critically important services such as medical care, environmental education and advocacy, and human rights protection.
But all NGOs are different and some are met with intense criticism for lack of transparency in budgeting or effectual action. When donating money or looking for work in the NGO world, it is always important to do your research about how much of the group’s budget goes to administrative costs and how much goes directly to the cause you care about. The website Charity Navigator is a useful resource for this.
Another important critique of NGOs is that all too often organizations staffed with Americans and Europeans come into developing nations with action plans that don’t fit the local context and end up adversely affecting their target populations. This, however, is not an inherent flaw of NGOs but rather a symptom of failing to acknowledge the importance of local expertise within the NGO framework.
Because NGO funding commonly comes from developed nations, a particularly effective model for NGOs includes using local in-country staff to plan and implement programs on the ground while working with an international board focused on fundraising, outreach, and strategic group planning.
It would be untrue to claim that NGOs are immune to political influence simply because they are not directly connected to governments; NGOs’ funding and even daily operations are subject to political approval.
For example, NGOs working to bring amnesty to political refugees will often face intense political adversity, and even violence during their in-country work. But unlike government organizations, NGOs typically have more flexibility to defy a political status quo to pursue what they believe to be important social change.
– Shelly Grimaldi
Sources: Grant Space, Miratelinc
Photo: The Design Inspiration
10 Facts About Refugees in Sweden
The number of refugees seeking shelter in Sweden increases with the passing of time. Below are 10 facts about refugees in Sweden and the Swedish refugee system as it stands today.
The recent influx of refugees in Sweden has made it a more diverse country teeming with potential. Refugees in Sweden have helped add to the economy of the country, and that help should not be trivialized. Sweden’s growth as a country on the global stage is something to look forward to, and their refugee population will surely lend a hand, if asked.
– Bayley McComb
Photo: Flickr