With a concurrent poverty rate of 44 percent and a population of 44 million, Kenya has been the epicenter of mass migration in East Africa. Unfortunately, poor infrastructure, sanitation and absolute poverty have pervaded the country for many years. Even so, tourism in Kenya remains its crowning jewel as it is a microcosm of the country’s cultural and religious diversity.
The country is a haven for all manners of flora and fauna that have recently seen the advent of a new era of ecotourism. Over 62,800 visited Kenya in the month of May 2016 alone.
Kenya made headlines recently with a report by American-based luxury travel network Virtuso declaring that Kenya has topped the world in tourist bookings. This figure is also predicted to rise by a staggering 17 percent in the future.
As a result, tourism in Kenya has played a significant role in the 5.6 percent growth rate the country has experienced recently. Tourism has been a boon in Kenya as it has singularly contributed to 1.6 percent of this growth while bringing in employment opportunities.
Moreover, tourism has been a boon in Kenya because it has pumped more Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) into the country. This paves the way for more opportunities to enterprise and market. Daily Nation reported that Kenya experienced the highest exponential rise in FDI in both Africa and the Middle East.
Consequently, tourism has been a boon for Kenya as it is an integral aspect of this rise because of the investment power that it entails. The capital invested in Kenya’s infrastructure services is also a synergic endeavor that will bolster the tourism sector.
This has resulted in the growth of numerous safari businesses that have sprouted all over. The existence of rich biodiversity and diverse tribes in Kenya has helped these businesses flourish. The dawn of these industries can create great entrepreneurship opportunities for many communities.
The Kenyan Tourism Board (KTB) decided to expand into new markets in Asia to diversify its market. Eyeing the massive great potential of Kenya’s tourism sector, travel trade investors from the Middle East have agreed to invest in Kenya’s tourist sector in Kenya.
Additionally, the Sixth International Conference of African Development is being convened in Kenya, with the focus and objective to advance hotel and accommodation facilities significantly. Forty heads of states, 100 firms and Japanese delegations will discuss opportunities and incentives in Kenya with regard to the development for the further growth of tourism.
The appointment of Joseph Cherutoi as the head of The Tourism Fund and Tourism Finance Corporation is also essential to note, as it will lead the way for a new and successful era in tourism. However, with an influx of over 500,000 tourists to Kenya every year, the people feel that preservation is imperative to safeguard one of the major backbones of their country. Thus, the inception of the concept of ecotourism has ushered in a new dimension of tourism in Kenya.
Ecotourism has spearheaded this movement by involving community-based organizations (CBOs) that are run by the local people, corporate organizations and individuals to aid in initiating improvements and engaging in conservation to ensure a sustainable form of tourism development in Kenya. This has led to a higher propensity to enterprise among the people and has brought many communities together.
Tourism has been a boon for Kenya owing to the manifold opportunities that it will offer the country and the people. Its development is a good sign for the people, the country’s progression and equitable growth.
– Shivani Ekkanath
Photo: Flickr
GravityLight: Energy Access in Developing Countries
The GravityLight Foundation developed a gravity-powered LED lamp funded by Siemens to provide energy access in developing countries. The aim is to reach 15,000 people in off-grid areas of developing countries by 2017.
The light harnesses kinetic energy from gravity activated by a 12-kilogram weight. The weight can be made from accessible sources such as a bag of sand or rock. The resulting light lasts for 20-30 minutes, takes three seconds to recharge and is six times brighter than a kerosene lamp.
GravityLight costs approximately $10 and pays for itself over the course of two to three months when the cost of kerosene is removed.
The project is funded by Siemens Stiftung, a German engineering firm that sponsors a competition for sustainable development improvements. The gravity-powered light was chosen as the winner from 800 submissions across 88 countries.
GravityLight was tested in 26 countries with 55 partner organizations. Feedback received during these trials from countries such as Liberia, Guatemala and the Philippines provided invaluable feedback regarding the use of the light and the needs of those living off the grid.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) maintains that 1.2 billion people in developing countries do not have adequate access to safe and affordable lighting. Kerosene is expensive, dangerous and an environmental hazard.
According to the World Bank, kerosene costs 20-30 percent of a family’s income. Approximately $38 billion per year is spent on kerosene, the equivalent of $80 per kilowatt-hour for electricity, among the world’s poorest citizens.
A kerosene lamp burning for four hours emits 100 kilograms of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Additionally, inhaled kerosene fumes are the equivalent of 40 cigarettes per day, killing approximately 1.5 million Africans every year.
The GravityLight Foundation intends to locally produce the lamps, creating a market for skilled jobs and contributing to local economies. The foundation is currently testing assembly in Kenya. The next goal is to provide GravityLight to 100,000 people in Indonesia and Peru in 2018.
Dependable lighting is taken for granted in developed countries. Technology such as GravityLight can change social dynamics in developing countries by allowing children to complete homework after dark, allowing adults to work longer and allowing families and friends to come together for interaction and other activities.
Light, even for just a few additional hours per day, can change lives and create opportunities in developing countries.
– Mandy Otis
Photo: Flickr
Efforts to Address Poverty and Hunger in Egypt
Following the political turmoil of the last five years, the Egyptian economy is currently in a tenuous position. The World Food Program (WFP) explains that poor economic conditions such as increasing poverty and decreasing purchasing power among the poor are the primary drivers of food insecurity in Egypt.
The United Nations Development Project reports that the poverty rate is around 28 percent and overall unemployment now stands at 13 percent. Moreover, the Economist reports that Egyptian deficits are running very high and youth unemployment is currently a towering 40 percent.
A 2013 WFP report found that in 2011, 17 percent of Egyptians were food insecure. Additionally, according to a 2015 United Nations report, 45 percent of Egyptian children under the age of five suffer from anemia, which is a nutrient deficiency.
The news is not all bad, however, there are groups trying to make a difference. The WFP is one organization attempting to help the Egyptian people through these tough times. They currently provide a number of services designed to reduce hunger in Egypt.
One such program involves empowering low-income rural communities to adapt to global warming, diminishing agricultural losses by helping to create sustainable livelihoods. Another includes assisting the government to institute efforts aimed at preventing chronic malnutrition. Additionally, as part of the WFP’s Syrian Regional Refugee Response they are providing food assistance to Syrian refugees currently living in Egypt.
Along with these ongoing programs, the WFP partnered with the European Union in 2014 to initiate a $67 million project aimed at encouraging school participation among current or potential child laborers.
The project, entitled Enhancing Access of Children to Education and Fighting Child Labor, targets 100,000 children across Egypt by providing them and their families with food incentives to stay in school. Children who attend school receive an in-school snack that satisfies 25 percent of their daily nutritional needs, and their families receive a monthly food ration of 10 kg of rice and one liter of oil.
Egypt itself is also attempting to address some of these problems by launching its Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS), a data collection framework based on the United Nations Strategic Development Goals. Nihal El Megharbel of Egypt’s Ministry of Planning explains in the Egypt Strategy Support Program’s news bulletin that the country hopes to “reduce mortality by 20 percent and eradicate extreme poverty” by 2030 using the SDS.
The SDS will achieve this by substantially increasing Egypt’s capacity to collect meaningful data on food insecurity and poverty and using that data to develop data-driven solutions. Derek Headey of the International Food Policy Research Institute believes such a method has great potential explaining during a United Nations Development Program seminar that “some of the best national success stories have invested the most in measurement.”
Given that Egypt is the largest state in the Arab World, the country is central to the future of the Middle East. If it is to succeed where many other nations in the region are failing, it must take care of its people. The best way to accomplish this is by working to reduce poverty and hunger in Egypt.
– James Long
Photo: Flickr
Palm Tree Oil Plantations in Gabon Create Rural Jobs
With notoriety for being one of six leading oil producing countries in Africa, Gabon embarked on a new project — developing palm tree oil plantations aimed at reducing the poverty gap and encouraging sustainable development.
Since 2013, Gabon has been facing a decline in its oil reserves. The government committed up to one million hectares of sustainable land to appeal to investors in agricultural development and spawn economic diversification.
Collaboration With Olam Palm Gabon
Olam Palm Gabon, Singapore’s Olam International Ltd and Gabonese government-owned company made an agreement with the government of the Republic of Gabon to utilize 50,000 hectares of land for palm plantation.
The development of palm tree oil plantations will enable the country to diversify its dependency on oil and instead invest in a more lucrative and long-term venture. Palm oil trees can produce fruit for more than 30 years with a plant yield far more advantageous than any major oilseed crop.
Sustained Economic Livelihood
Gabon has a population of 1.9 million, the highest urbanization quota in Africa with more than four in five Gabonese citizens residing in the metropolitan area. With an additional unemployment rate of 20%, partnership with Olam to build plantations will generate a revenue of $400 million and up to 5,000 new jobs.
Planting began in 2011; currently, 31,000 hectares exist. Upon complete production, the plantation is expected to yield 24 metric tons of fruit bunches per hectare and 5.2 metric tons of oil per hectare. The total estimated investment in phase one development of plantations, palm oil mills and related assets was $500 million.
Six thousand five hundred and two hectares have been sold and leased for $130 million. This proves Gabon’s ability to support innovative financial structures designed for the growth of the palm oil sector.
Job and Investment Opportunities
Experts believe that investment in the palm tree oil plantations in Gabon and the rest of Africa is thriving and will create local jobs and guarantee the stability of the local economy. Ali Bongo Ondimba, the head of State, commissioned on Sept. 16 the new production site of sustainable palm oil of Olam, in Kango, in the Estuaire province. Eight hundred jobs have been created in this location, with an inevitable 120 contracts planned. Social contracts signed by Olam ensure small farmers are key sellers in the project with a mutual benefit of electricity, road repair and water supplies.
Falling oil prices in Gabon have had the most severe effect on the country’s poor. The project also entails support of local community farming around Kango with the construction of 400 accommodations and social infrastructures.
“In Sub-Saharan Africa, many countries rely on extractive industries for revenues, but extractive industries don’t create a lot of jobs, and so countries are beginning to invest more in agriculture as a means of job creation,” said Gagan Gupta, chief executive at Olam Gabon Enterprise. “To succeed, however, agriculture projects must take into account, and invest in, local communities.”
Given the attention Gabon has received for their actions, it is hopeful that such efforts will continue to yield fruitful results encompassing economic growth.
– Shanique Wright
Photo: Flickr
Tourism in Kenya Has Been a Boon
With a concurrent poverty rate of 44 percent and a population of 44 million, Kenya has been the epicenter of mass migration in East Africa. Unfortunately, poor infrastructure, sanitation and absolute poverty have pervaded the country for many years. Even so, tourism in Kenya remains its crowning jewel as it is a microcosm of the country’s cultural and religious diversity.
The country is a haven for all manners of flora and fauna that have recently seen the advent of a new era of ecotourism. Over 62,800 visited Kenya in the month of May 2016 alone.
Kenya made headlines recently with a report by American-based luxury travel network Virtuso declaring that Kenya has topped the world in tourist bookings. This figure is also predicted to rise by a staggering 17 percent in the future.
As a result, tourism in Kenya has played a significant role in the 5.6 percent growth rate the country has experienced recently. Tourism has been a boon in Kenya as it has singularly contributed to 1.6 percent of this growth while bringing in employment opportunities.
Moreover, tourism has been a boon in Kenya because it has pumped more Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) into the country. This paves the way for more opportunities to enterprise and market. Daily Nation reported that Kenya experienced the highest exponential rise in FDI in both Africa and the Middle East.
Consequently, tourism has been a boon for Kenya as it is an integral aspect of this rise because of the investment power that it entails. The capital invested in Kenya’s infrastructure services is also a synergic endeavor that will bolster the tourism sector.
This has resulted in the growth of numerous safari businesses that have sprouted all over. The existence of rich biodiversity and diverse tribes in Kenya has helped these businesses flourish. The dawn of these industries can create great entrepreneurship opportunities for many communities.
The Kenyan Tourism Board (KTB) decided to expand into new markets in Asia to diversify its market. Eyeing the massive great potential of Kenya’s tourism sector, travel trade investors from the Middle East have agreed to invest in Kenya’s tourist sector in Kenya.
Additionally, the Sixth International Conference of African Development is being convened in Kenya, with the focus and objective to advance hotel and accommodation facilities significantly. Forty heads of states, 100 firms and Japanese delegations will discuss opportunities and incentives in Kenya with regard to the development for the further growth of tourism.
The appointment of Joseph Cherutoi as the head of The Tourism Fund and Tourism Finance Corporation is also essential to note, as it will lead the way for a new and successful era in tourism. However, with an influx of over 500,000 tourists to Kenya every year, the people feel that preservation is imperative to safeguard one of the major backbones of their country. Thus, the inception of the concept of ecotourism has ushered in a new dimension of tourism in Kenya.
Ecotourism has spearheaded this movement by involving community-based organizations (CBOs) that are run by the local people, corporate organizations and individuals to aid in initiating improvements and engaging in conservation to ensure a sustainable form of tourism development in Kenya. This has led to a higher propensity to enterprise among the people and has brought many communities together.
Tourism has been a boon for Kenya owing to the manifold opportunities that it will offer the country and the people. Its development is a good sign for the people, the country’s progression and equitable growth.
– Shivani Ekkanath
Photo: Flickr
Ten Facts About Refugees in the Philippines
The islands of the Philippines have been in the news for their responses to the recent Syrian refugee crisis. A chain of approximately 7,500 islands located in Southeastern Asia, these lands are home to a vast biodiversity and many active volcanoes. The country has been in the public eye lately for its increasing amount of violence related to the government’s war on drugs. Victims included an innocent five-year-old girl, prompting outrage online as to why the government isn’t doing more to protect its citizens.
Below are 10 facts recovered in relation to refugees in the Philipines:
The key word for the Philippines government’s current refugee policies seems to be host. Their priorities lie with establishing a stable economy and prosperous nation, in which 25 percent of the population does not have to live in poverty. Then and only then can the Philippines consider being more than a temporary host to refugees. Without economic stability and a lower poverty rate, the Philippines’ government cannot hope to provide for refugees much more than what the refugees escaped from.
– Bayley McComb
Photo: Flickr
5 Things to Know About Healthcare in Timor-Leste
Timor-Leste is a small nation in Southeast Asia of around 1.3 million people. One of the world’s newest countries, Timor-Leste was a Portuguese colony until it was annexed by Indonesia in 1974. Subsequently, it endured nearly 30 years of occupation and unrest before finally winning its independence in 2002. Now a democracy, Timor-Leste has made great progress in terms of combating poverty and improving public health, during the past 20 years. Here are five things to know about healthcare in Timor-Leste.
5 Things to Know About Healthcare in Timor-Leste
A Hopeful Prognosis
While Timor-Leste is still facing the struggles of a developing nation, there have been many positive signs of progress in the past 20 years. The country has made huge strides forward in developing the foundation of a successful healthcare system — showing itself to be effective at treating diseases like malaria while growing life expectancy. With this continued progress, the citizens of Timor-Leste can look forward to a much brighter and healthier future.
– Jack McMahon
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Major Diseases in Malta: A Continuing Struggle
Known for being a premier island for holiday travel, Malta is an island located in the Mediterranean Sea between North Africa and Europe. Since gaining its independence from Great Britain in 1964, the island of Malta has made substantial improvements to all sectors of government, including their health care system.
Diseases in Malta are generally under control in part due to the fact that the country has made extensive progress in improving its health care system. According to the WHO, “The health care system is relatively equitable and comprehensive. The health care reforms are well focused on sustainability and quality based on an integrated and holistic approach.”
However, even with these advances to their health care system, many diseases in Malta are still present and increasing within the nation. Major diseases in Malta fall under the category of non-communicable diseases. These diseases range from bronchial asthma to obesity, to heart disease and cancer.
In 2003, ischaemic heart disease was the most deadly disease in Malta, killing almost 22 percent of the population that year. Studies have shown that both Maltese women and men over the age of 30 have a higher percentage of dying from ischaemic heart disease than the average European individual.
Uterine as well as breast cancer is also a major concern in Malta. Research indicates that death rates for these particular types of cancer, in Malta, are above average than other European nations. Additionally, death rates for cervical, ovarian and pancreatic cancer have decreased within Malta, but the percentages are still above European averages.
Despite the majority of diseases in Malta being non-communicable, the CDC also recommends that for those traveling into the country to have their routine vaccines as well as vaccines for hepatitis A, hepatitis B, yellow fever and rabies current and up to date.
In 2013, both an improved Mental Health Act and a general Health Act were approved by the government of Malta. These improvements have helped to steadily decrease rates of cancer and obesity while also helping those with mental diseases. The new Mental Health Act has seen tremendous success by promoting community treatment and securing the rights of mental health patients.
The government of Malta has sequentially promoted a plethora of health strategies such as the Non-Communicable Disease strategy in 2010, the National Cancer Plan in 2011, the Sexual Health strategy in 2011, the Tuberculosis Prevention strategy in 2012 and the Healthy Weight for Life strategy in 2012. These strategies were designed in order to promote health and prevention methods on a national scale.
Moreover, efforts to reduce diseases in Malta are both ever-constant and ever-changing thanks to the participation of the Maltese people and their government. These positive changes will ensure that rates of non-communicable diseases will continue to decrease while promoting a happy, healthy and well-engaged society.
– Shannon Warren
Photo: Flickr
Seattle Nonprofit Offers Training for Refugee Women
The struggles that face the increasing refugee population in the greater Seattle area continue to persevere. As these new residents search for employment, they are presented with language barriers, cultural differences and non-transferable professional degrees or certificates. Nonprofits like Muses are offering culpable training for refugee women.
Women from Afghanistan are often accustomed to contributing to their family’s well-being by the small-scale production of textiles, soap, furniture, jewelry and other handmade goods.
When these women arrive in the U.S., it is often difficult to translate their skills successfully into the job market.
Oftentimes, refugee families are in a financial position where both adult members of the household need to work. For many women, this is the first time they are faced with entering an official work environment, let alone one that follows the Western standard of living.
Sandrine Espie and Esther Hong realized back in 2012 the potential that refugees and low-income immigrants, women, in particular, had to contribute to the workforce.
They were inspired by the talents of these women and out of this inspiration came Muses. Muses is a Seattle-based nonprofit that aims to educate and provide these women with the skills necessary to enter the workforce.
Through research and interviewing, Espie and Hong found that there is a high demand for local, high-quality apparel manufacturing services. Their services aim to provide training for refugee women, enhancing their existing skills to aid them in finding a job.
Muses has also inspired other organizations in the area to pursue similar training programs.
World Relief Seattle, a non-profit that partners with the local church and focuses on refugee resettlement, has recently taken steps to begin a project specifically geared toward employment for Afghan women.
The program will ideally feature extensive orientation for women about work environments in the U.S. as well as instruction on using sewing skills to contribute to the financial security of their families.
In 1996, when the Taliban banned women in Afghanistan from working or attending school, the idea that women are less capable than men was ingrained into the eyes and minds of many people.
Through training programs for refugee women like Muses, women are gaining economic and personal empowerment and are learning to contribute to the sustainable market for handmade goods in Seattle.
– Peyton Jacobsen
Photo: Flickr
The Elders Support Zimbabwe Through a Letter to SADC
The Elders, a group of global leaders unified by Nelson Mandela, have urged the heads of state of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to support Zimbabwe through an upcoming transitional period.
In a letter to the SADC, they point out that Zimbabwe is “on the verge of an important transition.” The advocates behind the letter, including Kofi Annan, Graca Machel and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, note that with the support of the SADC, Zimbabwe could experience a shift to democratic leadership and a boost to their economic and social development.
Zimbabwe has been rife with protests recently as a result of displeasure with President Robert Mugabe’s rule, as well as various economic problems that have developed in the country.
There are cash shortages throughout the country, the government is planning to reintroduce bond notes as legal tender and civil servants are lacking several months of pay. Civilian anger about these facts has led to multiple protests that police have broken up through the use of batons and tear gas.
Government authorities are attempting to subdue civilian protests, many of which have been organized through social media, by drafting a law that will punish civilians with up to five years jail time for “abusive” use of social media.
The Elder’s letter comes at an auspicious time considering the current tumult within Zimbabwe. Additionally, the letter prefaces the upcoming SADC group summit in Swaziland.
In the letter, not only do the Elders support Zimbabwe but they also make clear that aid to Zimbabwe will be beneficial for the nation as a whole and should, therefore, be something that SADC thoroughly consider in their impending meeting.
The letter states, “The Elders believe the upcoming summit is an important opportunity to reflect on how best SADC can help Zimbabwe manage the complex challenges ahead.”
– Jordan Little
Photo: Flickr
Elimination of Malaria by 2040: Benefits Developing Countries
Malaria is a parasitic condition that is contracted primarily through the bite of an infectious Anopheles mosquito. Currently, sub-Saharan Africa suffers from the greatest disease burden of malaria as a consequence of widespread poverty and poor living conditions.
Malaria has serious social and economic implications. It is estimated that each year, Africa incurs a health care cost of $12 billion as a result of malaria. This cost imposes a significant strain on the continent’s financial resources. It also forces compromises to be made in other aspects such as a provision of schooling facilities and treatment of debilitating infections.
The elimination of malaria has always been an important but elusive objective of the global health care movement. Despite years of investment in research, no vaccine is currently available that offers complete protection against malaria. According to the World Health Organization, efforts are being focused on developing a clinically efficacious vaccine that protects against the most serious variant of malaria that is caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum.
Recently, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a humanitarian organization aimed at improving lives of the poor, has declared an ambitious objective: to eliminate malaria by the year 2040. The organization aims to achieve this goal through increased involvement of world leaders in the process of ending malaria. The foundation also aspires to involve countries afflicted with malaria in the movement by encouraging them to implement local strategies to tackle malaria.
The motive behind the movement is simply the fact that if malaria is not eliminated completely, countries could be tirelessly working toward the development of new vaccines, medications and prevention strategies to contain the spread of cases. This is not an economically viable solution for controlling malaria transmission — it represents a drain on valuable health care resources that can be used for the treatment of other life-threatening conditions such as cancer.
Increasing drug resistance of the organisms involved in the causation of malaria has limited the effectiveness of strategies targeted at the elimination of malaria. Currently, in Seattle, several research projects are experimenting with novel methods such as genetic modification to eliminate malaria.
With approximately 3.2 billion individuals globally estimated to be at risk of malaria, it is essential to control the spread of this disease. Malaria tends to be concentrated in regions of poverty, further exacerbating standards of living. As a result of the increasing connectivity of the world and the ease of access to different countries, travel has further increased the risk of spread of malaria to countries that are not typically affected by the condition.
The elimination of malaria by 2040 is a glorious yet difficult objective to achieve. Implementing pragmatic measures over the next few decades such as increasing awareness about malaria, improving sanitation and hygiene in poor countries, and prevention campaigns can bring us one step closer to the complete eradication of malaria.
– Tanvi Ambulkar
Photo: Flickr