The following humanitarian quotes are from well-known humanitarians who shared their wisdom for helping others.
Humanitarian Quotes
1. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”
– Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights activist and clergyman
2. “If you can’t feed a hundred people, feed just one.”
– Mother Teresa, founder of The Missionaries of Charity
3. “Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.”
– Mahatma Gandhi, Indian nationalist and civil rights leader
4. “Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.”
– Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid activist and former president of South Africa
5. “The destiny of world civilization depends upon providing a decent standard of living for all mankind.”
– Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution and credited with saving over one billion people from starvation
6. “The fact is that ours is the first generation that can look disease and extreme poverty in the eye, look across the ocean to Africa, and say this, and mean it. We do not have to stand for this. A whole continent written off – we do not have to stand for this.”
– Bono (Paul David Lewis), lead singer of U2 and international philanthropist
7. “Since the world has existed, there has been injustice. But it is one world, the more so as it becomes smaller, more accessible. There is just no question that there is more obligation that those who have should give to those who have nothing.”
– Audrey Hepburn, actress and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
8. “When we live in a world that is very unjust, you have to be a dissident.”
– Nawal El Saadawi, Egyptian feminist, writer, and psychiatrist
9. “To say that on a daily basis you can make a difference, well, you can. One act of kindness a day can do it.”
– Betty Williams, Irish activist and founder of the Irish peace movement, Community of Peace People
10. “The power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and frees prisoners. Ordinary people, whose personal well-being and security are assured, join together in huge numbers to save people they do not know, and will never meet….Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people’s places….We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.”
– J.K. Rowling, author, philanthropist, and founder of the children’s charity, Lumos
– Jordanna Packtor
Sources: Brainy Quote, All That is Interesting, MSN Glo J.K. Rowling, Harvard Gazette, Nobelprize.org
Photo: Flickr
Unemployment in Afghanistan Soars as Drawdown Continues
Afghans have been caught in a vise of lost employment from decreased U.S. military expenditures in the country and a decrease in foreign aid expenditures. The withdrawal of security forces is also linked to increased violence in the country, leading to additional economic instability.
Though President Obama gave the order to slow the withdrawal of non-combat troops from the country in July, the drawdown continues. The new plan involves keeping 8,400 troops in Afghanistan into 2017, down from the current number of 10,000.
This news comes at a time when many Afghans rely on employment in service industries surrounding the foreign military presence in Afghanistan which stems back nearly 15 years.
Political instability and security concerns amid rising violence have also negatively impacted economic growth in the country. According to a report by the World Bank, economic growth in Afghanistan made only a modest gain from 1.3 percent in 2014 to 1.5 percent in 2015.
The sluggish economic growth and pronounced unemployment in Afghanistan has led to a spike in poverty as the rate increased from 35.8 percent in 2011-12 to 39.1 percent in 2013-14.
Faced with unemployment, poverty and violence, many young people in Afghanistan have made the choice to flee the country. Seeking a better life in Europe and the U.S., the young workers have joined the stream of refugees fleeing conditions in the Middle East.
According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Afghans made up about 20 percent of the over 1 million refugees arriving in Europe in 2015. Many of those leaving are young adults who are desperately needed to help rebuild the war-torn country. Efforts by the Afghan government to stem the exodus have not found success.
Speaking about the unemployment crisis, former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan James Cunningham said, “Everybody anticipated that this was going to be a problem because of the drop-off in the economic opportunity after the bulk of international forces were transiting out. Unfortunately, the government effort to reorganize itself to deal with the economy didn’t materialize as they had hoped.”
Continued unemployment in Afghanistan will bolster instability as additional people flee the country or become susceptible to extremism. It remains to be seen if the country will descend into the same failed-state status it held prior to the U.S. invasion in 2001.
– Will Sweger
Photo: Flickr
Oranga Tamariki Replaces Child System in New Zealand
With more than 300,000 children living in poverty in New Zealand, an increase of 45,000 since 2015, the country’s government has chosen to replace its Child Youth Family system (CYF) with the Ministry for Vulnerable Children, Oranga Tamariki. The new ministry will begin operating by April 2017. It will aim to address the well-being of vulnerable children and help ease their transition into adulthood.
According to the UNICEF country executive director, New Zealanders have developed a lack of empathy for the country’s most vulnerable individuals, and child poverty has become a pattern in the island nation of 4.5 million.
The new ministry was named to reflect the fact that six out of 10 children in state care are Maori, aboriginal New Zealanders. According to children’s commissioner and judge Andrew Becroft, the new ministry’s Maori name represents the most vulnerable 20 percent of New Zealand’s children.
According to Social Development Minister Anne Tolley, “The new ministry, new name and completely new operating model reflects our determination to remain absolutely focused on the individual needs of each child.” Tolley said the new ministry will be responsible for child care and protection, youth justice services and community investments associated with vulnerable children.
Oranga Tamariki has received an initial primary investment of $200 million in New Zealand’s 2016 budget. The ministry has five focal points aimed at prevention, intensive intervention, care support services, transition support and a youth service dedicated to restricting reoffenses and providing trauma counselling for beneficiaries.
On September 13, State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes announced the appointment of Gráinne Moss as establishment chief executive of Oranga Tamariki. Moss is expected to serve a five-year term as chief executive once the ministry is fully established on April 1, 2017.
New Zealand’s treatment and protection of children is scheduled to come under review, with its five-year U.N. scorecard due.
– Shanique Wright
Photo: Flickr
Eight Facts About Poverty in Barbados
Barbados is known as a beautiful tourist destination in the Caribbean, but poverty in Barbados is still an issue that is being addressed.
While poverty in Barbados is still an issue, efforts are underway to change the status quo and improve the lives of future generations.
– Edmond Kim
Photo: Flickr
Improving Education in Qatar: Learning for a New Era
Education in Rwanda: Adieu Français, Hello English
Education in Rwanda has blossomed in the years following the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, currently boasting the highest primary school enrollment rates in the entire continent of Africa. The challenge now is to increase secondary school enrollment, which was only 28 percent in 2011 and get more students to enroll in higher education.
Rwanda’s educational system operates on a 6-3-3-4 system; there are six years of primary school, three years of junior secondary school, three years of senior secondary school and four (optional) years of university to obtain a Bachelor’s degree.
Children are instructed in three different languages in Rwanda: Kinyarwanda, English and French. Kinyarwanda is a Bantu language spoken by around seven million people in Rwanda. These official languages were established after the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) gained control of Rwanda’s government in 1994; many of the RPF’s members grew up in English-speaking Uganda and Tanzania.
Kinyarwanda is the primary language of instruction during the first three years of primary school. When children enter secondary school, most of their classes are taught in English. Prior to 2009, French was the principal language of instruction after year three of primary school. Now, French can be taken as an elective in both primary and secondary school.
Fluency in English, Claver Yisa of the Rwandan education ministry said, will help strengthen Rwanda’s ties with their English-speaking trade partners Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, as well as help attract foreign investors in education in Rwanda—most of whom will speak English.
The switch from instruction in Kinyarwanda to English is difficult for some teachers, which is why Rwanda launched STEM (Supporting Teachers’ English proficiency through Mentoring). For effective learning, teachers themselves needed to be more fluent in the language they must teach. Their innovative and effective program earned Rwanda the prestigious Commonwealth Education Good Practice Award in 2015.
Yet there is still a long road ahead of Rwandan teachers, as they work to improve the English skills of students and themselves so more students can go on to further education in Rwanda and abroad. Students’ immersion in the English language has positioned them to be larger contributors to the global economy and will no doubt play an important role in defining Rwanda in the coming years.
– Bayley McComb
Photo: Flickr
10 Facts You Need to Know About Malaria
Malaria is a parasitic infection transmitted through the Anopheles mosquito, a genus found on every continent except Antarctica. Humans have known about malaria for thousands of years, but it remains one of the most threatening diseases in the world. Here are 10 facts about malaria and its epidemiology.
1. Malaria threatens almost half of the world’s population.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 3.2 billion people in at least 95 countries are at risk for malaria today.
2. Malaria killed nearly half a million people last year.
WHO estimates that malaria killed 438,000 people in 2015 and infected more than 200 million. Children under the age of five account for two-thirds of malaria deaths.
3. Pregnant women are at especially high risk.
Women who contract malaria while pregnant are more likely to die from the illness. The disease also threatens fetal health and can cause a variety of birth-related problems. Babies born to mothers who have malaria are likely to have health problems. According to WHO, malaria is responsible for one-third of all preventable low birth weight cases.
4. Africa suffers the most from the disease.
While malaria is endemic on four continents, Africa bears the brunt of the burden. Last year, Africa accounted for 89 percent of all cases and 91 percent of all deaths from malaria, the vast majority of which occurred in just 15 countries.
5. Drug resistance is an increasing problem.
When malaria patients don’t finish their full courses of treatment, the parasites can develop resistance to the drugs used to treat them. The development of drug resistance has always been an aspect of dealing with malaria, but scientists are reporting alarming multi-drug resistance in the Mekong region of Southeast Asia. The spread of a strain that doesn’t respond to the strongest drugs could undo years of work fighting malaria elsewhere.
6. Malaria reinforces poverty.
Malaria not only threatens people living in poverty; it exacerbates the problem. Where malaria is rampant, economic growth and development suffer enormously.
7. Climate change will expand the scourge of malaria.
Rising temperatures and increased rainfall and humidity will increase the range and number of malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Studies suggest that a rise in global temperatures of just two to three degrees Celsius could put hundreds of millions more people at risk for contracting malaria.
8. Malaria is easily treatable and preventable.
Preventing malaria is as simple as avoiding mosquito bites. Since the mosquitoes that transmit the parasite are nocturnal, sleeping under a bed net at night is generally an adequate prevention measure.
If detected early, malaria can be treated and cured with a course of prescription drugs in a matter of days. The disease becomes dangerous when it is not detected quickly and medicine is not readily available.
9. Globally, humanity is winning the battle.
In the last 15 years, malaria incidence has decreased by 37 percent among at-risk populations. In those same populations, death rates were more than halved. Additionally, the death rate among young children has gone down 65 percent.
10. Malaria can be eradicated.
Adult mosquitoes only live for one or two weeks, and they don’t travel far from the location at which they hatched. If communities have the means to prevent transmission completely, the disease can be erased locally in a matter of weeks. According to Bill Gates, the international community can, with some determination, eradicate the disease globally in the next two or three decades.
Global efforts have proven that eradication is possible. In the past decade, Europe eliminated its indigenous cases of malaria completely, and in September, WHO declared Sri Lanka, a country of more than 20 million people, malaria-free. If Gates is right, the rest of the world may soon follow.
– Charlie Tomb
Photo: Flickr
Recycling Plastic Waste: A Tool for Fighting Global Poverty
When brainstorming solutions for global poverty, it’s important to consider how we can use existing resources more efficiently. The world wastes far more resources than it needs to, and one major source of waste is plastic. Several entrepreneurs today are recycling plastic waste into productive materials.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), out of 32 million tons of plastic waste produced in 2012, only 9 percent was actually recycled. Plastic is pound-for-pound more valuable than steel, and letting so much of it go to waste is a real shame.
Several ideas for utilizing plastic waste to combat poverty have been implemented. For example, the company Plastic Bank pays people to collect plastic waste in exchange for practical items like food and clothing. This strategy removes plastic from areas such as beaches where it poses an environmental threat while simultaneously giving impoverished people a chance to earn things they need.
Plastic is a versatile material that can be used for a myriad of purposes. EcoDomum is a Mexican startup that collects used plastic materials with which to build housing. It takes the company about a week to make a house from recycled plastic materials, and one 430-square-foot unit costs around 5000 pesos (around $280 U.S. dollars) to build. The short amount of time and low cost required to build these houses make them an efficient tool for improving the living conditions of impoverished people.
While companies can utilize recycled plastic waste for large-scale construction jobs like this, it’s also possible to use plastic for small-scale local operations. A group of older women in Tennessee have made it their mission to make beds for the homeless out of discarded plastic bags. The women receive donated bags, cut them into strips and tie those strips into a sort of plastic yarn, which they then use to crochet sleeping mats.
Recycling plastic waste into productive materials positively impacts the environment as well as the world’s poor. It’s an enterprise that can be undertaken anywhere at both community and global levels.
– Edmond Kim
Photo: Flickr
Closing in on Food Insecurity in Morocco
According to a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report titled “The State of Food Insecurity in the World,” Morocco has made significant progress in the reduction of hunger.
The United Nations group reports that the nation has successfully achieved the Millennium Development Goal to cut the number of the population living in hunger by half in 2015. Addressing food insecurity in Morocco has been a priority with hunger levels currently below 5 percent.
The vast progress in hunger reduction that has earned the Northern African country praise from the United Nations is the result of an economic plan launched in 2008. “Plan Maroc vert,” a plan for a green Morocco (PMV), aimed to stimulate socioeconomic development through agriculture. The plan stipulated policies that maximized production from large-scale farms and supported small-scale farms in reducing poverty and hunger through venture capitalism.
Since 2008, several banks and international agencies have invested $12 billion have been in an estimated 700 mechanization, irrigation and soil fertilization projects.
The Moroccan ministry of economy estimates an additional $2 billion have been spent on 500 small-scale projects to help farmers bring more diversity to their businesses, increase harvest yields and experiment with new seed varieties. Private agricultural investment firms hope to bring Morocco’s fruit and vegetable export potential to fruition in Europe.
Agriculture makes up 15 percent of Morocco’s GDP, with up to 40 percent of the population working in the sector. As a result of the PMV, the agricultural industry has grown by approximately 7 percent, exports have increased by 34 percent and farmland use has risen by 11 percent. These production increases have contributed to decreasing the rate of hunger in Morocco from 7.1 percent and 4.6 percent two years ahead of schedule.
Despite the remarkable progress, some critics of the PMV believe the initiative has prioritized the interests of large-scale agricultural production firms over the needs of rural farmers living in poverty. The FAO reports that small-scale farmers, especially females, often find difficulty in obtaining financial support and technical training. The heavy reliance on rain for abundant harvests has also worried officials of the Morocco’s ability to recover from the effects of climate change.
However, the PMV has exposed neighboring countries to an alternative economic plan. “The plan Maroc vert has created an irreversible momentum without precedent,” Michael George Hage, an FAO representative in Morocco told the Guardian. “It has played a determining role in food security and is inspiring several other African countries.”
– Ashley Leon
Photo: Flickr
India’s Gender Gap in Literacy
As two-thirds of the world’s illiterate population or 496 million people are women, the gender gap in literacy rates remains conspicuous. The Guardian calls the gap “stubbornly unchanging” as gender inequality persists and overall literacy rates improve.
In the past 20 years, youth literacy rates have jumped from 83% to 91%, while the number of illiterate youth declined from 170 million to 115 million. Yet the difference between literacy rates for men and women has remained quite stable.
For instance, India’s gender gap is stark. The country holds the largest illiterate population and constitutes one-third, or 187 million, of all illiterate women around the world; there is a 24 percentage point difference between men and women. About 75% of Indian men have at least a basic level of literacy while 51% of women are literate.
This disparity in literacy rates remained persistent throughout the years according to data collected by India’s National Commission on Population. For example, in 1951, the literacy rate for males was 27% while just a mere 8% of women were literate — a 19 percentage point difference. In addition, in 1981, 56% of men were literate with a 30% literacy rate for women — a 26 percentage point difference.
Taking a Closer Look at India’s Gender Gap
As the gender gap remains stable although overall literacy rates are on the rise, this predicament is an interesting puzzle that requires a closer look at possible causes.
According to Planet Read, the following social factors have contributed to India’s gender gap:
It is obvious that abiding social and cultural norms have been a roadblock towards promoting a more balanced ratio in literacy rates.
In a report by the University of Maryland, College Park, Aparna Sundaram and Reeve Vanneman observed a counter-intuitive relationship between an increase in women’s labor force participation and literacy rates. In areas that promote the idea of women in the labor force, there are also lower rates in literacy and education levels.
One may assume that the participation of women in the labor force contributes to an equalization in women’s status and, thus, a decrease in the gap between men and women literacy rates. However, this does not seem to be the case. The solutions towards resolving disparity seem much more complex than simply promoting an equalized labor force.
As more education is provided to a society as a whole, the more likely it would be for the persisting gender gap in literacy rates to decrease. Sounds like a paradox, but it is a solution worth noting.
As literacy is tied to thriving economies, it is important to focus on improving the gender gap in literacy rates. According to data, an increase in literacy rates correlates with a decrease in the share of the population living in poverty — on less than $2 per day. Moreover, focusing on educating women more specifically would, according to Bloomberg, yield a “growth premium” in DGP trends around the world.
– Priscilla Son
Photo: Flickr
10 Quotes from Famous Humanitarians
Humanitarian Quotes
1. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”
– Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights activist and clergyman
2. “If you can’t feed a hundred people, feed just one.”
– Mother Teresa, founder of The Missionaries of Charity
3. “Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.”
– Mahatma Gandhi, Indian nationalist and civil rights leader
4. “Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.”
– Nelson Mandela, anti-apartheid activist and former president of South Africa
5. “The destiny of world civilization depends upon providing a decent standard of living for all mankind.”
– Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution and credited with saving over one billion people from starvation
6. “The fact is that ours is the first generation that can look disease and extreme poverty in the eye, look across the ocean to Africa, and say this, and mean it. We do not have to stand for this. A whole continent written off – we do not have to stand for this.”
– Bono (Paul David Lewis), lead singer of U2 and international philanthropist
7. “Since the world has existed, there has been injustice. But it is one world, the more so as it becomes smaller, more accessible. There is just no question that there is more obligation that those who have should give to those who have nothing.”
– Audrey Hepburn, actress and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador
8. “When we live in a world that is very unjust, you have to be a dissident.”
– Nawal El Saadawi, Egyptian feminist, writer, and psychiatrist
9. “To say that on a daily basis you can make a difference, well, you can. One act of kindness a day can do it.”
– Betty Williams, Irish activist and founder of the Irish peace movement, Community of Peace People
10. “The power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and frees prisoners. Ordinary people, whose personal well-being and security are assured, join together in huge numbers to save people they do not know, and will never meet….Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people’s places….We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.”
– J.K. Rowling, author, philanthropist, and founder of the children’s charity, Lumos
– Jordanna Packtor
Sources: Brainy Quote, All That is Interesting, MSN Glo J.K. Rowling, Harvard Gazette, Nobelprize.org
Photo: Flickr
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