For people who live in extreme poverty and do not have access to clean water, sanitation, health services, education or regular food supplies, any form of help can make a big difference. For example, building a well can greatly improve the standards of living of a whole community. There are other affordable and simple acts that can lead to poverty alleviation.
The following three examples illustrate how even the most humble form of aid can help a community develop and advance:
1. MALAWI – William Kamkwamba: Poverty Alleviation in the Form of a Book
When Kamkwamba was 14 he decided to build an electricity-generating windmill to power his family home in the village of Masitala. After the success of the first windmill in powering four lights and two radios in his house, Kamkwamba began to build bigger windmills in order to power more houses and pump water for irrigation.
Currently, Kamkwamba runs an NGO called Moving Windmills Project. The organization is involved in multiple projects from building labs for developing farm tools to providing secondary school scholarships.
All that was needed to create the first windmill were spare parts, scrap and a rented library book. The book that began it all was “Using Energy” from the NGO-run community lending library. Something as simple as building a library and providing access to books therefore led to great improvements in Kamkwamba’s community.
It was because of a single book and an individual willing to do something that a village that had formerly run on kerosene for power was able to obtain electricity. Imagine what would be possible if someone like Kamkwamba was given access to good building materials instead of scrap from the beginning.
2. INDIA – Joe Madiath: Poverty Alleviation in the Form of Instruction
Madiath is the founder of Gram Vikas, which means “village development organization.” The organization focuses on providing water and sanitation, community health, education and renewable energy to marginalized areas in India. TED Ideas Worth Spreading describes Madiath’s programs as “helping villagers help themselves.”
One of Gram Vikas’ most important programs targets water and sanitation. Madiath says the lack of toilets and infrastructure for waste disposal are “the cause for 80 percent of the diseases in rural areas.” As such, it is the lack of clean water and sanitation that prevents poor people from gaining the level of health that will allow them to break out of poverty.
The basic idea is very simple: Better toilets will lead to better lives. The methods for turning this idea into reality are also simple. Gram Vikas organizes and helps a village to build toilets, showers, an elevated water reservoir and the piping that will take water to taps in every household.
Materials for construction include rubble, sand, cement, steel and the actual toilet seat. Most materials can be found locally and the government helps with whatever the village does not have. This means that in the end, the community covers around 60 percent of construction costs for sanitation. In other words, it is the villagers who improve their community. All they receive is training and instruction from Gram Vikas.
In the 1,200 villages that have participated in the program, 400,000 people have benefited and waterborne diseases have gone down 82 percent. This shows that something as simple as providing training and know-how to people in poverty is enough to greatly raise standards of living.
3. MEXICO – Pablo de Antuñano: Poverty Alleviation in the Form of Opportunity
Antuñano works for Suma, an NGO that searches for talent in marginalized areas of Mexico City. The organization seeks to integrate youth into theater, cinema, sports, music and art.
By enabling youth who grew up in the street to participate in movies as paid actors, Suma prevents boys and girls from joining gangs or delving into the drug world. One Suma success story is Jonathan Monroy.
Monroy told Reforma newspaper he would never have known he was a good actor if it was not for Suma’s program. He gets inspiration from his experience growing up in the streets of one of the most dangerous areas of Mexico City.
Acting gives Monroy something to be proud of as he looks forward to the future.
The three examples above show that aid does not necessarily have to take the form of large sums of money or massive construction projects. Acts as simple and humble as providing books, a running toilet or an opportunity to act in a movie can transform a person’s life for the better.
– Christina Egerstrom
Photo: Flickr
How Small, Simple Actions can Lead to Poverty Alleviation
For people who live in extreme poverty and do not have access to clean water, sanitation, health services, education or regular food supplies, any form of help can make a big difference. For example, building a well can greatly improve the standards of living of a whole community. There are other affordable and simple acts that can lead to poverty alleviation.
The following three examples illustrate how even the most humble form of aid can help a community develop and advance:
1. MALAWI – William Kamkwamba: Poverty Alleviation in the Form of a Book
When Kamkwamba was 14 he decided to build an electricity-generating windmill to power his family home in the village of Masitala. After the success of the first windmill in powering four lights and two radios in his house, Kamkwamba began to build bigger windmills in order to power more houses and pump water for irrigation.
Currently, Kamkwamba runs an NGO called Moving Windmills Project. The organization is involved in multiple projects from building labs for developing farm tools to providing secondary school scholarships.
All that was needed to create the first windmill were spare parts, scrap and a rented library book. The book that began it all was “Using Energy” from the NGO-run community lending library. Something as simple as building a library and providing access to books therefore led to great improvements in Kamkwamba’s community.
It was because of a single book and an individual willing to do something that a village that had formerly run on kerosene for power was able to obtain electricity. Imagine what would be possible if someone like Kamkwamba was given access to good building materials instead of scrap from the beginning.
2. INDIA – Joe Madiath: Poverty Alleviation in the Form of Instruction
Madiath is the founder of Gram Vikas, which means “village development organization.” The organization focuses on providing water and sanitation, community health, education and renewable energy to marginalized areas in India. TED Ideas Worth Spreading describes Madiath’s programs as “helping villagers help themselves.”
One of Gram Vikas’ most important programs targets water and sanitation. Madiath says the lack of toilets and infrastructure for waste disposal are “the cause for 80 percent of the diseases in rural areas.” As such, it is the lack of clean water and sanitation that prevents poor people from gaining the level of health that will allow them to break out of poverty.
The basic idea is very simple: Better toilets will lead to better lives. The methods for turning this idea into reality are also simple. Gram Vikas organizes and helps a village to build toilets, showers, an elevated water reservoir and the piping that will take water to taps in every household.
Materials for construction include rubble, sand, cement, steel and the actual toilet seat. Most materials can be found locally and the government helps with whatever the village does not have. This means that in the end, the community covers around 60 percent of construction costs for sanitation. In other words, it is the villagers who improve their community. All they receive is training and instruction from Gram Vikas.
In the 1,200 villages that have participated in the program, 400,000 people have benefited and waterborne diseases have gone down 82 percent. This shows that something as simple as providing training and know-how to people in poverty is enough to greatly raise standards of living.
3. MEXICO – Pablo de Antuñano: Poverty Alleviation in the Form of Opportunity
Antuñano works for Suma, an NGO that searches for talent in marginalized areas of Mexico City. The organization seeks to integrate youth into theater, cinema, sports, music and art.
By enabling youth who grew up in the street to participate in movies as paid actors, Suma prevents boys and girls from joining gangs or delving into the drug world. One Suma success story is Jonathan Monroy.
Monroy told Reforma newspaper he would never have known he was a good actor if it was not for Suma’s program. He gets inspiration from his experience growing up in the streets of one of the most dangerous areas of Mexico City.
Acting gives Monroy something to be proud of as he looks forward to the future.
The three examples above show that aid does not necessarily have to take the form of large sums of money or massive construction projects. Acts as simple and humble as providing books, a running toilet or an opportunity to act in a movie can transform a person’s life for the better.
– Christina Egerstrom
Photo: Flickr
Local Groups Develop Solutions to Combat Poverty in Italy
Causes of Poverty in Italy
Poverty in Italy is on the rise as millions of Italians are unable to heat their homes and afford basic necessities. A recession, soaring unemployment and an increasing migrant population are the biggest contributors so far. In light of these conditions, Italians are working together to reduce poverty rates.
A post-war recession caused the number of people living in absolute and relative poverty to jump in 2012; southern regions were hit especially hard. Italy’s unemployment rate, like its economy, is slow to recover. Despite living in the third-largest economy in the eurozone, youths between 15-24 years of age are hit the hardest as approximately 40% are unemployed.
The Group of the Party of European Socialists (PES Group) in the Committee of the Regions (CoR) hopes to address this issue through the Giovanisi project in Tuscany. This project, which draws support from the European Union’s Structural Fund, includes initiatives to promote a right to study, vocational skills, entrepreneurship, support for housing and independent living as well as services related to well-being in the community.
Food Security
Food security is also an issue for many citizens. Of the 8.6 million impoverished people in Italy, about 16.6% of families live in poverty and cannot afford healthy meals. As a result, a family may go without meat once every two days. According to the Associated Press, Italy’s highest court ruled that stealing small amounts of food is no longer illegal for the country’s destitute and starving in May 2016.
Pope Francis recently visited the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) to address the need to end hunger. The pope called on U.N. member states to strengthen their commitment to serving and cooperating with WFP. “In this way, the World Food Program will not only be able to respond to emergencies but also implement sound and consistent projects and promote long-term development programs, as requested by each of the governments and in keeping with the needs of their peoples,” said the pope. Despite the lack of food security in Italy, the European nation was one of the top 25 donors to the WFP in 2015.
Migration into Italy
Italy has also seen a spike in the number of migrants. According to the Telegraph, “There are more than 130,000 migrants living in reception centers in Italy, waiting to hear if they will be granted asylum or expelled.” However, migrants have played a role in aiding police officers in the town of Caltanissetta, Sicily. According to The Local, officers struggled with providing support to the thousands of foreign visitors and migrants that pass through each year. Police Chief Diego Peruga approached the city’s mayor, Giovanni Ruvolo, about getting lessons for his officers. Ruvolo thought it would be beneficial if some of the city’s asylum seekers could teach a 30-hour basic English course for the police force; the asylum seekers were happy to volunteer as teachers. “It also provides them with the opportunity to give something back to the town which has welcomed them with open arms,” said Ruvolo.
There is still much work to be done to alleviate poverty in Italy — changes in the economy and unemployment cannot happen overnight. Thanks to these initiatives the country is getting on the right track.
– Veronica Ung-Kono
Progress for India’s Largest Public Health Campaign
The video for India’s largest public health campaign by the Mass Drug Administration to eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) begins with a trail of oversized footprints attracting a group of curious spectators. The growing crowd follows the giant tracks to find their owner and the intent investigation of the crowd captures the matched attention of viewers off-screen.
Lymphatic Filariasis, commonly known as elephantiasis, is a disfiguring and debilitating neglected tropical disease that puts three in five people in India at risk of infection. While prevention of the disease is fairly simple — a pill once every year — public participation in the government’s drug distribution programs was low.
In 2002, India set a goal to eliminate preventable diseases by 2015. Their current campaign plan began in 2004. Although the Filaria has not yet been eliminated in India, significant progress has been made since India’s largest public health campaign began.
The video leads the villagers to a man with LF, who stresses the ease of prevention and emphasizes that contracting the disease can happen to anyone. The narrative is largely positive with the patient himself acting as a champion for awareness and change. Distributed widely in ten different languages on television and online, the public service announcement reached over 300 million people.
The number of people reached by the MDA increased from 72 percent in 2004, to 89 percent in 2015. Subsequently, the microfilaria rate decreased from 1.2 percent in 2004 to 0.26 percent in 2015, according to India’s National Vector Borne Disease Control Program (NVBDCP).
As of May 2016, 72 districts (each with an approximate population of 164 million) completed the Transmission Assessment Survey for LF and were qualified to stop the MDA program, said the NVBDCP. India’s dedication and success in decreasing LF likely increased global attention on Lymphatic Filariasis and other neglected tropical diseases. On June 3, the World Health Organization reported that LF was eliminated in Sri Lanka and Maldives.
With the largest Mass Drug Administration in the world, the Indian government continues its efforts to eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis by distributing LF preventative medication to 460 million people in 17 Indian states.
– Erica Rawles
Photo: Flickr
Healthcare in Bihar is Improving for Women and Children
Bihar is one of the poorest states in India as approximately 55 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. There is an overwhelming need for quality health care facilities and workers in this region. In the past ten years, the World Bank Group and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have made great strides toward the improvement of healthcare in Bihar.
The World Bank’s collaboration with the Bihar Government led to an increase in the accountability and accessibility of healthcare from 2005 to 2008. By 2008, the number of outpatients visiting a government hospital grew from 39 per month to almost 4,500. The number of babies delivered in healthcare facilities also increased from some 100,000 to 780,000.
Bihar’s infant and maternal mortality rates are higher than India’s national average. According to the Sample Registration Survey in India conducted in 2013, 208 women per 100,000 died during childbirth. Furthermore, 28 out of every 1,000 newborns die within their first month of life.
Most of these deaths are preventable if basic care is provided to women and newborns during and immediately following childbirth. Unfortunately, the infrastructure of healthcare in Bihar falls short in nearly all required categories, including the number of health assistants and nurses.
According to the Huffington Post, there are not enough nurses in Bihar to allow for lengthy off-site training to prepare nurses for treatment of postpartum hemorrhage or premature births while also keeping health facilities adequately staffed.
In order to improve maternal health and newborn care, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation along with the Bihar Government launched a Mobile Nurse Mentoring Program called AMANAT.
Through AMANAT, nurses in public health facilities are mentored on-site by mobile nurse mentors, who ensure that basic standards of care are provided for pregnant women and newborns.
The program has greatly improved healthcare in Bihar for women and children before and after deliveries since its implementation in 2012. A few of these improvements include:
The number of stillbirths declined from 19 to 12 per 1,000 live births due to improvements in basic care practices. AMANAT was implemented in 160 public health facilities across Bihar and is expected to be administered in 240 over the course of this year.
There is a long way to go in creating a stable system of healthcare in Bihar. However, these crucial improvements made by the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Bihar’s Government have saved and will continue to save countless maternal and newborn lives.
– Kristyn Rohrer
Photo: World Bank
Hunger in Developing Countries: Five Facts You Need to Know
Hunger in developing countries is one of the most significant hindrances to poverty reduction and global development around the world. Below are five facts about hunger in developing countries that everyone should know.
One in nine people globally is currently undernourished. Of these 795 million people, 98% live in developing countries. This means that hunger in developing countries represents one of the most significant issues facing the developing world and development assistance programs.
While the population of Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest percentage of undernourished people, Asia is home to the most hunger people in the world. Nearly 70% of the world’s hungry live in underdeveloped countries within Asia.
Every ten seconds a child dies of malnutrition, making up 45% of all child deaths under age five in developing countries. Those who do survive are often forced to go to school hungry, which hinders their ability to grow and learn and puts them behind in school. Hunger largely contributes to many underdeveloped countries’ educational gaps.
Three-quarters of the world’s hungry live in rural areas. Most are low-income farmers whose lands are plagued by frequent natural disasters, making them one of the world’s most vulnerable populations.
In July 2014 the heads of the African state department committed to ending hunger in Africa by 2025. To achieve this admirable goal, the country has committed to investing in agriculture and improving peace and stability in the region. Both of these actions have been found to have significant positive impacts on hunger-reduction. Hefty progress has already been made throughout the world — nutrition improved for 26 million people between 2011 and 2013 alone.
Hunger in developing countries is a detrimental hurdle to effective growth. The fight against global hunger is essential; ending hunger in developing countries could bring the world one step closer towards eliminating global poverty and sparking growth in much of the developing world.
– Sara Christensen
How Sex Education in Guatemala is Transforming Lives
Guatemala has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in Latin America. By age 20, 54 to 68 percent of indigenous or uneducated women have married or become pregnant.
This number is raised by a high rate of sexual abuse that boys and girls suffer: 10,000 cases are reported every year. One of the many reasons these statistics are so alarmingly high is a lack of comprehensive sex education in Guatemala. In 2012, only two percent of schools had effective programs; but fortunately, many advocates have worked to counteract these dismal statistics over the past few years.
Comprehensive sex education is incredibly beneficial to children of all genders. The National Survey of Family Growth discovered that pregnancy rates for 15 to 19-year-olds are 50 percent lower for teens who receive comprehensive sex education than for teenagers who received less education.
Guatemalan children need to be taught about contraceptives, STIs, HIV, pregnancy and especially consent. Programs should emphasize the goals of improved gender equality as well as increasing male involvement in family planning. These alterations would allow teenagers to have more control over their reproductive health as well as counteract the dangerous culture of violence and rape.
Fortunately, new legislation has paved the way for improvement. The 2010 Preventing through Education Act calls for comprehensive sex education in Guatemala and increases teenage access to sexual health services.
Sex educator Ana Lucía Ramazzini insists that “sex education cannot be successful in Guatemala without being taught from a feminist viewpoint that addresses consent, assault and the power dynamics and social inequalities between men and women.” Two other laws have been similarly positive — hospitals are now required to report pregnancies for girls under 14, and the marrying age with parental consent has been raised from 14 to 16.
Three years after the Prevention through Education Act, a program with gender equality views was incorporated into nine regions. After the 2010 law passed in Guatemala, the rate of teen pregnancy decreased from 90 births per 1000 women ages 15-19 to 81 births in 2014. While the statistic is not overtly dramatic, the steady decline does indeed bode well for the future.
Ten Guatemalan organizations and a handful of international organizations continue to transform sex education from bill to reality. UNAIDS works to educate people about HIV and decrease the stigma surrounding the condition for the 65,000 people in Guatemala who live with the disease and require treatment. Two Guatemalan organizations in particular, Asociacion Pro-Bienestar de la Familia de Guatemala (APROFAM) and Incide Joven, have done exceptional work in this field.
APROFAM is a family planning organization that serves Guatemala with 27 permanent clinics, five mobile facilities and a large number of community distributors. Their clinics and workshops provide education for both men and women about the effectiveness of contraceptives and family planning services. Using media from comic strips and television shows, they educate the public on both sexual health as well as issues of consent and abuse.
Incide Joven is a similar organization, but its uniqueness stems from the fact that it is entirely youth-run. Like APROFAM, Incide Joven is dedicated to making sex education available for teenagers. Their advocacy was very successful in creating the valuable Gender and Cultural Diversity office as part of the Ministry of Education to oversee new sex education. APROFAM and Incide Joben share sex educator Ana Ramazzini’s ideology by encouraging both genders to take an active role in family planning.
With such high rates of abuse and teenage pregnancy, sex education in Guatemala is a tough job. Fortunately, children are growing more aware of their rights and the risks of young sex. A 10-year-old listing off information about HIV at a UNAIDS event said that “[children] are very young for sex. Ah! And that our body is only ours and no one can touch it.”
The emphasis on consent in sex education in Guatemala not only builds a better-informed public, but it also is a large step in the right direction for female empowerment and youth rights.
– Jeanette Burke
Photo: Bustle
7 Facts: The Focus on Slowing Poverty In Lithuania
Lithuania is one of the three European Baltic States and also a new addition to the Eurozone. While the country faces a serious problem with rural poverty, recent indicators and initiatives suggest that Lithuania is a country on the rise.
The EU plans to invest heavily over the next few years. The EU plans to invest $7 billion in aid to Lithuania by 2020, with the main focus on infrastructure. Other major points of investment are in renewable energy and quality employment. With continuing economic growth and help from the EU, poverty numbers may be driven down in the coming years.
– John English
Photo: Flickr
Making Education in Costa Rica High Quality and Accessible
Education in Costa Rica has come leaps and bounds from its past. The highly-rated education system in Costa Rica continues to lead Central and Latin America by example, striving to provide both highly accessible and high-quality education to all.
Costa Rica’s literacy rate is approximately 95 percent, one of the highest in Latin America. In 1869, the country was one of the first in the world to make primary education mandatory and free. Costa Rica is also one of the few countries in the world without a standing army, and part of the funds that would have been spent on the military is instead redirected to education.
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), almost seven percent of the country’s GDP is spent on educational programs. The government has also issued a mandated goal for allocated funds to rise to eight percent by 2018. This percentage of GDP spending on education is exceeded only by Iceland, New Zealand and Denmark.
In the book, “The Ticos: Culture and Social Change in Costa Rica,” it is said that every Costa Rican pueblo is known to have five things: a local store, a football field, a church, a bar and a school. Some schools in the most rural parts of the country only have two students, but regardless of the number of children in the pueblo, they will always have access to education.
While accessible schooling for all children is a noble goal, the quality of education must also be upheld. The smaller the school, the fewer resources the school and its teachers have. Children in rural areas often miss days or weeks of school to work or ultimately drop out to help support their families.
According to the 2015 U.N. Development Programme’s Human Development Report, Costa Ricans spend an average of 8.4 years in school, and only 50.6 percent of the population receives at least some secondary school education.
While the necessary amount of money is being spent to ensure education in Costa Rica is a priority, according to the OECD the gap in educational outcomes based on family income has grown significantly larger in the past 20 years. It is critical that Costa Rica not only increases education funding but also focuses on how that money is spent, specifically by spreading resources more equitably across schools.
The Costa Rican Ministry of Education is working alongside UNICEF and other international organizations to confront the factors contributing to students permanently leaving school and to provide quality education to all.
“Yo me apunto” (“I’m in”) was launched in 2015 with the hope of encouraging students to stay in school and to reintegrate young adults back into school. The program reaches 155 schools and offers educational programs for students living in areas of poverty.
By continuing initiatives like “Yo me apunto” and increasing focus on establishing better educational outcomes, education in Costa Rica will continue to be an exemplary model for the rest of Latin and Central America and beyond.
– Erica Rawles
Photo: The Costa Rica News
Education in Singapore: Methods for Global Success
For the first time in history, Singapore has been named as having the top two universities in all of Asia. This includes the National University of Singapore, which rose 14 spots in the World University Rankings since 2012. The method for success goes back many generations, as education in Singapore instructs not only academics but teaches respect for authority and an understanding of the gravity of education.
Singapore, among other Asian nations, neared the top of the international league tables for over a decade. These tables measure child proficiency in reading, math, and science, with high scores showing the success of Singapore’s education system. Singapore’s education method is to approach classrooms with a highly-scripted way of teaching, making teachers ‘teach to the test’ instead of adapting to children’s different needs.
Students in Singapore ‘learn how to learn,’ a generally ineffective method that has been unusually successful in Singapore. Instead of checking the students’ level of understanding, teachers are instructed to check whether students can get the correct answer. The prescribed national curriculum sets the standard by which students learn, with little flexibility or deviation.
Singapore’s universities have been able to compete in the global economy by pouring financial support into research and strategically positioning each university. From the start, students are instructed on their expectations through primary, secondary and post-secondary education.
However, the first lessons students learn are how to know and how to love their country. By strengthening the pupils’ appreciation for their country, they then also appreciate the meaning of receiving an education.
Students in Singapore have been instructed since birth to follow the national and cultural standards that reproduce the instructional regime. Teachers instruct with a type of ‘folk pedagogy’ that reinforces the nature of their instruction, such as ‘teaching is talking and learning is listening.’ However, in recent years these policies have relaxed to lessen student stress.
Despite their unorthodox success, Singapore is realizing that balance is just as important as educational prowess. Education in Singapore has changed to accommodate more stress-relieving activities, such as white-water rafting, since experts in Singapore’s education system now aim to give students a more well-rounded life.
The goal is to move students from being academic-based people to leading emotionally-healthy lives, a change that should positively impact Singapore’s education system. With a combination of previous methods and these new changes, Singapore’s high status in education in Asia and around the globe should remain consistent.
– Amanda Panella
Photo: Pixabay
G20 Summit Aims for Sustainable and Inclusive Development
From Sept. 4 to 5, heads of state and government from nineteen countries and the European Union will gather in Hangzhou, China for the 11th G20 summit. The theme of this year’s conference is “Towards an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy”, a motto which many officials and experts find encouraging.
In an interview with the Xinhua News Agency, China’s state-owned media outlet, Atsushi Sunami, the vice president of the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo, explained that the G20 summit could forge consensus on implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Adopted by the U.N. last fall, the 2030 Agenda includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and aims to end poverty and hunger by the end of the third decade in the 21st century.
Sunami also called on countries to work together and build innovation across borders. The conference in Hangzhou, in his view, could jump-start the dialogue on open innovation and inclusive development.
Also speaking with Xinhua, Peter Thompson, who will be the president of the upcoming 71st Session of the U.N. General Assembly, voiced his support for the summit’s theme as well as the U.N.’s desire to work with the G20 organizers. “We will certainly be doing our part here at the United Nations in terms of the G20 outcome to make sure it’s built into the international implementation plans,” he said.
Likewise, Daniel Funes de Rioja, President of the International Organization of Employers (IOE), expressed his hope that the G20 summit will be a step in the direction of inclusive development. “Prosperity requires growth, investment, technology and innovation, with employment and social coverage for all,” according to de Rioja.
Indeed, while the G20 is primarily a forum for leaders of the developed world, developing countries are also starting to make their voices heard.
Senegal, which will be present at the summit in Hangzhou, sees the G20 as a platform to call attention to African issues as well as an opportunity to explore solutions. Alioune Sarr, the country’s commerce minister, told China Central Television (CCTV) that the conference will highlight the necessity of poverty eradication and inclusive development on the continent.
The G20 has consistently underscored the importance of international cooperation when it comes to solving the world’s problems, and the renewed emphasis on inclusive development and shared prosperity is certainly a welcome change.
– Philip Katz
Photo: Flickr