Ending extreme poverty within one’s borders takes time, hard work and commitment. One South American country that has shown such commitment is Ecuador. Thanks to the work of its leaders in making poverty reduction their top priority, 1.9 million Ecuadoreans, about 16.5 percent of the population, were lifted out of poverty from 2009 to 2015.
President Rafael Correa, who was first elected in 2007, made improving the lives of Ecuador’s poor his central theme, with the belief that: “Socioeconomic poverty will be fundamentally solved through changes in the relations of power […] through political processes.”
Before eradicating poverty, however, it must be measured properly. To this end, Ecuador uses a multidimensional index. Most countries and organizations rely solely on income or consumption rates to define a poverty line but Ecuador’s index covers four areas: education, work, health (including access to food and water) and housing. Using this rate, 51.5 percent of Ecuadoreans were poor in December of 2009 compared to 35 percent in 2015.
The World Bank also lauds President Correa for his efforts. They report that from 2006 to 2014, poverty, as measured by income, was reduced from 37.5 to 22.5 percent; extreme poverty was also reduced from 16.9 to 7.7 percent.
Furthermore, they report that Ecuador’s Gini coefficient of inequality was reduced from 54 to 48.7 over the same period. This happened because the poorest Ecuadoreans experienced the fastest wage gains. From 2000 to 2011, the incomes of the lowest 40 percent grew by 8.8 percent compared to a national average of 5.8 percent.
Ecuador’s success can be largely attributed to economic factors and smart decision making. In 2000, they adopted the dollar as their national currency, ending the wild bouts of inflation that could destroy a poor family’s life savings in the blink of an eye.
Then, in 2007, the government set a minimum wage and improved its social security. As labor shifted into more diversified, higher paying sectors, incomes rose for many of Ecuador’s poorest. The minimum wage guaranteed a certain standard of living for employed people, raising wages for many in the agricultural sector.
Next, Correa’s government focused on redistribution. High oil prices throughout the 2000s helped keep export dollars flowing and the government signed contracts giving itself more revenue. This money was spent on health, education and establishing government services in rural communities, significantly benefitting the poor. As a whole, government spending increased from 4.7 percent of GDP when Correa took over in 2007 to 8.3 percent of GDP in 2012.
As Ecuador’s economic situation improved, so too did the welfare of its people. Children received better nutrition, household consumption increased and more families sent their children to school instead of to the field. Domestic demand also increased, leading to new service jobs in a country where, 20 years earlier, they largely did not exist.
In 2016, Ecuador faces a number of challenges. Falling oil prices, a weak Chinese economy and an overreliance on exports mean that Ecuadoreans will have trouble in the near future. Yet their success in poverty reduction through smart development and redistribution cannot be denied. Ending extreme poverty will not happen overnight but through strong leadership, dedication and a national effort, Ecuador has made great strides.
– Dennis Sawyers
Sources: ODI, Telesur, World Bank
Photo: Flickr
Necklace in India to Track Children’s Immunization History
In rural Rajasthan, North India, an innovative necklace has been introduced into the health system to track a child’s vaccination history. It is helping to increase the number of children protected against diseases that can kill them in the first few years of their lives.
Approximately 1.5 million children die every year from diseases that can be prevented by vaccination and India has one of the worst immunization records in the world. Less than 60 percent of children in India are vaccinated, a number far below the World Health Organization’s target of 90 percent.
The necklace is called Khushi Baby (which means ‘happy baby’) and is a small plastic pendant on a black string. A computer chip in the pendant stores vaccination data as well as the mother’s health records.
The chip interfaces with a mobile app for community health workers. The health workers just need to tap the pendant to the back of a tablet, syncing the devices and storing the information in the chip. The Ministry of Health and other health agencies can then easily access the data.
Particularly for families that live far from cities, getting access to vaccinations can be difficult. Rural areas have fewer clinics and parents are not always aware of when or why their child might need a vaccination. “Many mothers don’t understand the importance of vaccines and choose not to take their children to immunization clinics,” says a statement on the Khushi Baby website.
With the help of the necklace, health workers no longer need to carry cumbersome records for every patient. Furthermore, the necklace allows health workers to see which vaccine the child needs and when. “Khushi Baby wants to ensure that all infants have access to informed and timely health care by owning a copy of their medical history,” said Ruchit Nagar, co-founder of Khushi Baby.
According to the BBC, Khushi Baby costs less than US$1 to make. Currently, there are around 1,500 children in the Khushi Baby system. Health workers plan to expand the program to include the 1 million people within Rajasthan’s health system.
– Michelle Simon
Sources: BBC, Antara Foundation, CNN, Daily Mail
Photo: Antara
Poverty in Sri Lanka: Successes and Challenges
In many ways, poverty in Sri Lanka reflects its tumultuous history.
From 1983 to 2009, this South Asian country of 20 million was embroiled in a civil war pitting the rebellious Tamil Tigers against the state government. Rebel forces controlled the north and east of the island nation while the army held the center and south. Seven years after the Tigers’ defeat, poverty persists in the former rebel provinces. But progress has come steadily for the Sri Lankan people.
A recently released World Bank assessment of Sri Lankan poverty finds that less than 7 percent of Sri Lankans now live below the poverty line. This is down from 22.7 percent in 2002, 15.2 percent in 2006 and 8.9 percent in 2010. Increasing wages, urbanization and greater domestic demand for goods have contributed to the decline. As more Sri Lankans obtain jobs in industrial and service sectors, wages grow. As wages grow, so too does demand, generating more jobs.
Poverty in Sri Lanka
However, this decline is not uniform across the country. Mullaltivu, Mannar and Kilinochchi districts in the north have poverty rates of 28.8 percent, 20.1 percent and 12.7 percent, respectively. The eastern district of Batticaloa has a rate of 19.4 percent while the Monaragela district has a rate of 20.8 percent. Information regarding most of these districts was limited until the early 2010s, as the war made survey collection impossible.
Men and women have also not seen uniform gains. While men have a labor force participation rate close to 80 percent, only 40 percent of women are active in the labor market. They also have an unemployment rate of 6 percent, which is twice as high as men.
Additionally, social service programs are limited in Sri Lanka, so not only do women suffer from a lack of employment, they also do not receive government assistance to get them through times of need.
A key challenge to be overcome by Sri Lanka is its low tax rates. According to World Finance, Sri Lanka has “one of the lowest tax-to-GDP rates in the world.” Investing in education, rebuilding infrastructure and redistributing societal wealth become difficult without adequate taxation. This leads to the absence of the skilled workers and roads necessary for businesses to flourish.
Still, with stability comes development and with development comes wealth. Following the cessation of hostilities, Sri Lankans were able to use their talent to diversify away from agriculture into industrial and service jobs, lifting millions out of poverty as a result. Sri Lankan leaders also recognize the need to spread the wealth, giving hope to millions more.
Most notably, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said, “A priority for us is the creation of more jobs that will minimize poverty and provide for prosperity for ALL Sri Lankans.” He plans to do this by making the country more attractive for foreign investment. “Towards this, we need to enhance our capacity to successfully compete in global markets while creating the necessary space for investments to come in.”
Overcoming poverty is a process. It requires stability, which Sri Lanka achieved in 2009. It requires individual initiative, which the Sri Lankan people have shown in diversifying their economy.
Finally, it requires government investment in education, infrastructure, health and social services. This final piece is essential to solving Sri Lanka’s poverty puzzle — and with strong leadership and support from the global community, Sri Lankans can look forward to a brighter future.
– Dennis Sawyers
Sources: Department of Census and Statistics – Sri Lanka, The World Bank, World Finance
Sources: Borgen Magazine
Mapping Startup Helps Identify Unmapped Areas
Swedish startup Mapillary and the World Bank have teamed up to solve this problem. Mapillary enables individuals to map their own streets by collecting street level photos simply by using their smartphones.
Such maps can help cities anticipate and recover from natural disasters, track traffic congestion, distribute resources to the impoverished communities that need them and build public transportation systems.
Mapillary CEO Jan Erik Solem told NPR News, “Dar es Salaam has really poor map data. The reason is that the mapping companies need people on the ground or in the local area to create the actual map.”
Maps that detail roads, homes, rivers and terrain may help kickstart city planning.
“In order for it to flourish into the metropolitan city [Dar es Salaam] has the potential to become, we began a community-based mapping project called Dar Ramani Huria (Swahili for “Dar Open Map”),” states a blog post from the World Bank, “to bring disaster prevention and response to previously unmapped areas, training the local community to create highly-accurate maps by the residents who know their city best.”
25 wards have been charted so far in Dar es Salaam with Mapillary. The task was accomplished by attaching a camera to a local Tanzanian rickshaw and by using photos taken by a motorist. These photos were then uploaded to Mapillary and constructed in 3D. A blog post by the World Bank on Mapillary’s website says that this information allows them to “pinpoint troubled areas” and to map out the routes locals often use.
As these maps are developed, they are run through software that develops natural disaster scenarios to help citizens improve planning and preventive efforts.
NPR reports that more than 260 citizens have volunteered to take photos for the mapping project. Locals have taken around 23,000 photos, which will map 300 miles of road.
“Sparking the community’s interest in mapping has the potential to truly transform Dar es Salaam into a prosperous city with the infrastructure to prevent floods, bring awareness to the need for flood prevention and risk reduction, and arm its citizens with the right tools and skills to build a better city,” states the same blog post.
– Kaitlyn Arford
Sources: NPR, Mapillary, World Bank
Photo: Flickr
Equitable Poverty Reduction for Ecuadoreans
Ending extreme poverty within one’s borders takes time, hard work and commitment. One South American country that has shown such commitment is Ecuador. Thanks to the work of its leaders in making poverty reduction their top priority, 1.9 million Ecuadoreans, about 16.5 percent of the population, were lifted out of poverty from 2009 to 2015.
President Rafael Correa, who was first elected in 2007, made improving the lives of Ecuador’s poor his central theme, with the belief that: “Socioeconomic poverty will be fundamentally solved through changes in the relations of power […] through political processes.”
Before eradicating poverty, however, it must be measured properly. To this end, Ecuador uses a multidimensional index. Most countries and organizations rely solely on income or consumption rates to define a poverty line but Ecuador’s index covers four areas: education, work, health (including access to food and water) and housing. Using this rate, 51.5 percent of Ecuadoreans were poor in December of 2009 compared to 35 percent in 2015.
The World Bank also lauds President Correa for his efforts. They report that from 2006 to 2014, poverty, as measured by income, was reduced from 37.5 to 22.5 percent; extreme poverty was also reduced from 16.9 to 7.7 percent.
Furthermore, they report that Ecuador’s Gini coefficient of inequality was reduced from 54 to 48.7 over the same period. This happened because the poorest Ecuadoreans experienced the fastest wage gains. From 2000 to 2011, the incomes of the lowest 40 percent grew by 8.8 percent compared to a national average of 5.8 percent.
Ecuador’s success can be largely attributed to economic factors and smart decision making. In 2000, they adopted the dollar as their national currency, ending the wild bouts of inflation that could destroy a poor family’s life savings in the blink of an eye.
Then, in 2007, the government set a minimum wage and improved its social security. As labor shifted into more diversified, higher paying sectors, incomes rose for many of Ecuador’s poorest. The minimum wage guaranteed a certain standard of living for employed people, raising wages for many in the agricultural sector.
Next, Correa’s government focused on redistribution. High oil prices throughout the 2000s helped keep export dollars flowing and the government signed contracts giving itself more revenue. This money was spent on health, education and establishing government services in rural communities, significantly benefitting the poor. As a whole, government spending increased from 4.7 percent of GDP when Correa took over in 2007 to 8.3 percent of GDP in 2012.
As Ecuador’s economic situation improved, so too did the welfare of its people. Children received better nutrition, household consumption increased and more families sent their children to school instead of to the field. Domestic demand also increased, leading to new service jobs in a country where, 20 years earlier, they largely did not exist.
In 2016, Ecuador faces a number of challenges. Falling oil prices, a weak Chinese economy and an overreliance on exports mean that Ecuadoreans will have trouble in the near future. Yet their success in poverty reduction through smart development and redistribution cannot be denied. Ending extreme poverty will not happen overnight but through strong leadership, dedication and a national effort, Ecuador has made great strides.
– Dennis Sawyers
Sources: ODI, Telesur, World Bank
Photo: Flickr
How Small Farmers Connect Without the Internet
For small-scale farmers in developing countries, the slightest challenges can quickly become insurmountable. Issues like climate change, access to profitable markets and below-average growing seasons hit small farmers much harder than their larger counterparts.
According to the Huffington Post, there are currently about 500 million smallholder farmers around the globe. On average, these agriculturists live on less than $1 a day.
In order to survive year after year, many small farmers have developed low-cost, effective solutions to the everyday problems they face. Until recently, these solutions could travel no farther than word-of-mouth could take them.
In 2014, WeFarm was founded with the mission of becoming “the internet for people without the internet.” The organization offers peer-to-peer communication amongst farmers in developing countries. Users can ask and answer questions using SMS or text messaging. The service is offered to smallholder farmers free of charge.
The service translates queries and advice so that small farmers from around the world can communicate and share the valuable information they have accumulated through their personal experiences. So far, over 100,000 answers have been provided to the 43,000 farmers registered to the program.
The founders of WeFarm thought strategically about how to make information available to all the small farmers who live without the Internet. Six billion of the world’s seven billion citizens have access to a mobile phone but only 25 percent of the global population has an Internet connection. SMS is a far more trafficked channel of communication for the world’s poor, compared to email or Internet messaging.
WeFarm has big plans for the data collected by the service. The organization sees the questions farmers are asking and answering as an opportunity to address some of the major issues inhibiting food production around the world.
The data gathered by WeFarm’s service is sold to major food producers to give them a sense of the daily struggles faced by small-scale farmers. The buyer companies can use this information to better analyze the issues and develop long-term strategies to address them.
According to Zoë Fairlamb, a spokesperson for WeFarm, “Small scale farmers produce 70 percent of the world’s food globally. Global brands rely on what small scale farmers are producing, yet they have next to no visibility on what is going on at the bottom of the supply chain. A lot of food is wasted in this way through very preventable diseases.”
Though WeFarm has already taken significant strides toward a more sustainable farming system, this is only the beginning for the organization. According to the Huffington Post, WeFarm is currently seeking investments in order to expand and reach one million farmers by the end of 2016.
As a connector of major players in the food industry and small farmers across the globe, WeFarm is in a unique position to change the way the world grows food and transfers information.
As Fairlamb put it, “WeFarm wants to be about changing [the] conversation and giving [farmers] a voice, showing their knowledge is valuable and giving them a way to share that information.”
– Jennifer Diamond
Sources: Huffington Post, WeFarm, Global Citizen, Space Innovation Congress
Photo: National Geographic
Roll Back Malaria Raises Global Health Awareness
Arguably, the most admirable feature of RBM is its ability to form effective partnerships both globally and nationally.
Partners work together to increase malaria control efforts at a nationwide level, coordinating their activities to avoid duplication and to ensure optimal use of resources.
According to the RBM website: “malaria is a preventable and treatable infectious disease transmitted by mosquitoes that kills more than one million people each year, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa, where malaria is the leading cause of death for children under five.”
In 2015, there were about 214 million malaria cases worldwide and 3.2 billion people (about half the world’s population) were at risk of contracting the disease. Close to 100 countries and territories across the globe still had ongoing malaria transmission.
Though there is still much to be done, significant progress has been made in the fight to eliminate malaria. RBM reports that between 2000 and 2015, the global malaria mortality rate was reduced by 60 percent overall. Among children under five, the numbers are even higher, with a 65 percent reduction in the last 15 years.
“On the basis of reported cases for 2013, 55 countries are on track to reduce their malaria case incidence rates by 75 percent, in line with World Health Assembly and Roll Back Malaria targets for 2015,” states the RBM website.
In 2014, an increasing number of countries were on the verge of eliminating malaria. 13 countries reported zero cases of the disease and six countries reported fewer than 10 cases. “The fastest decreases were seen in the Caucasus and Central Asia (which reported zero cases of malaria in 2014) and in Eastern Asia,” RBM reports.
RBM has contributed immensely to these victories by helping to forge consensus between partners, mobilizing resources and catalyzing action.
In 2015, RMB went through a transformation in order to adapt its architecture to better meet the needs of countries in this new era of development. The restructuring of RMB has led to the “Action and Investment to defeat Malaria 2016-2030 (AIM).” This initiative seeks to build on the success of the first Global Malaria Action Plan, bringing us one step closer to a malaria-free world.
– Vanessa Awanyo
Sources: WHO
Photo: Roll Back Malaria
Five Reasons Educating Women Fights Poverty
Regions such as sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia remain challenges, as boys in these regions are still more than one-and-a-half times more likely to complete their secondary education than girls. Organizations such as UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank keep track of statistics like these in their quest to provide education to girls and women in need.
Data from these types of organizations also illustrates the greater benefits of educating women. Here are five major reasons that educating women benefits everyone:
1. Educated women tend to have smaller, healthier families. Women who stay in school longer are likely to be older when they marry and when they have their first child. Education provides more access to information about family planning and educated women are more likely to have fewer children. Additionally, women learn about immunizations and general medical care for their children. They may also learn how to treat preventable diseases and learn hygiene practices to keep their children healthy.
2. Educated women are more likely to contribute to the economy. The more women participate in a country’s workforce, the healthier its GDP becomes — and every year of additional education increases a person’s capacity to be productive in the workforce. Families also increase their income when both parents contribute, which leads to more families rising out of poverty. UNESCO data shows that if girls enjoyed the same access to education that boys do, per capita income would increase by 23 percent over 40 years.
3. Education combats the problem of hunger. Women who receive more education are older and have more access to life-saving information by the time they begin having children. They are more likely to recognize the signs of malnutrition and to recognize proper nutrition that will prevent their children from becoming malnourished or stunted.
4. Educating women counters the threat of violence and terrorism. If lacking education, both women and men are more likely to be less tolerant of those who look different, who speak a different language or practice a different religion. Increasing tolerance in communities that were previously under-educated serves to spread that tolerance around the world and women are in a prime position to promote this in further generations as caretakers of their own children.
5. Educated women are more likely to have educated children. Once they have experienced the benefits of education for themselves, women are likely to want their children to have the same benefits. This perpetuates the trends of smaller, healthier families, healthier economies and better-informed world citizens.
Not only is educating women one of the most efficient ways for aid organizations to make an impact on gender equality, it also benefits the greater community in terms of prosperity, health and peace.
– Katie Curlee Hamblen
Sources: Bloomberg, UNGEI, UNESCO, World Bank
The Progress of Democracy in Africa
Now countries like the one-party presidential republic Eritrea and the absolute monarchy Swaziland are becoming irregularities on the continent. Indeed, this is because Africa has experienced increasing engagement in the democratic process.
While African countries have made significant progress in regards to the spread of democracy, there is still significant work to be done. For example, according to the Guardian, nine African leaders have been in power for more than 20 years with three of them holding power for more than 30 years.
This is an example of the popular notion that African countries are directed by a group of authoritarian heads called “Big Men,” who dominate and control every aspect of the country.
Although authoritarian heads have not lost complete power, women in Africa have benefited greatly from democratically held elections.
For example, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected president of Liberia in 2011, becoming Africa’s first democratically-elected, female head of state. She was followed by Joyce Banda, who became president of Malawi in 2012 and Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, who was elected president of Mauritius in 2015.
The Guardian labels the notion that the transition of power in government is inherently violent to be “misguided.” There are many factors that could incite violence during the election process aside from transition of power.
These events include voter belief of election fraud, opposition initiated violence as a result of an act being considered unjust, or violence being instigated by leaders threatened by the opposition.
Kenya’s 2007 election proved to be an example of the devastation that can result from the election process when 1,133 people were killed and 600,000 displaced. However, while this kind of violent election gains the most international attention, it is the exception and there are more peaceful elections.
For example, the Guardian cites a recent peaceful election that took place in the Central African Republic, during which voters went to the polls in February in hopes of restoring democracy in Africa and ending years of struggle.
Post-Cold War advancement has been substantial for the African continent in many ways and the foundations that make up democracy in Africa have been overwhelmingly embraced by its citizens.
Alex Vines, head of the Africa program at Chatham House, a London-based think-tank told the Economist, “Progress comes in waves,” and much of West Africa has experienced a huge shift to democratic representation.
Many countries that have experienced devastatingly violent conflicts, such as Sierra Leone and Liberia, now possess, if not perfect, adequate political systems.
– Heidi Grossman
Sources: Economist 1, Economist 2, The Guardian
Photo: Flickr
First U.N. Syria Airdrop Lands Unsuccessfully
The Justice for Life Observatory in Deir Ezzor said that “the cargo was significantly damaged” and that most of the containers fell into remote areas.
The U.N. estimates that more than 480,000 Syrians live in besieged areas, with four million people in areas difficult to reach. “The U.N. is calling on all sides to lift starvation sieges across Syria, where it estimates that 487,000 people live, although some non-governmental organizations say the figure is much higher,” writes AFP.
Additionally, the U.N. confirmed that there are approximately 200,000 Syrians living in Deir Ezzor. A recent U.N. report showed that those in besieged areas suffer from harsh and worsening conditions and that many have died from starvation, according to the BBC.
The WFP had previously ruled out airdrops as a method of delivering aid to Syria due to the difficulties involved in securing flyover rights, locating viable drop zones and arranging distribution on the ground, reports the BBC.
The British government, likewise, has called air drops “high risk” and says that they should only be used as a last resort.
“The operation faced technical difficulties and we are debriefing crew and partners in Deir Ezzor to make necessary adjustments,” the WFP told IRIN. “The team will try again when possible…high altitude drops are extremely challenging to carry out and take more than one trial to develop full accuracy,” commented the WFP spokesperson.
Moreover, the Local Coordination Committees activist network reported that the Syrian army might have seized part of the aid.
Specialists are still skeptical of continuing with airdrops, specifically because, as claimed by IRIN, “between 480,000 and two million Syrians are living under siege (the numbers differ depending on who is counting), and until recent talks led by the US and Russia, aimed at a partial ceasefire and better humanitarian access, aid organizations had effectively ruled them out because aid drops, even at low altitude, are notoriously difficult to carry out.”
Whether or not the operation continues is yet to be seen but reports have confirmed that there are still difficulties with immediate humanitarian aid reaching besieged areas.
– Isabella Rolz
Sources: BBC , IRIN, AFP
The First Next Einstein Forum in Africa
The event, which was held from March 8-10, addressed various topics pertinent to the state of African science and technology research, such as gender disparity and the need for more advanced education. These issues brought commentary from local leaders to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon.
The Next Einstein Forum (NEF) was created in 2013 but this year marked the first global gathering, which was focused on promoting “a vibrant and cohesive scientific community.” The focus is on Africa in particular because it believes that the “next Einstein will be African.”
Panelists focused on the mobilization of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) sector of Africa. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon showed his support for STEM research as a weapon against poverty when he said, “Science is a force multiplier for advancing progress across all the Sustainable Development Goals.” The Next Einstein Forum supports a number of the Sustainable Development Goals proposed by the United Nations by inspiring change in a continent with the capability to grow rapidly.
However, this growth has been stunted by the need to outsource STEM-based jobs worth almost $4 billion a year. PR Newswire reported that this yearly sum accounts for about 35 percent of the continent’s aid. This expense could easily be reduced with the emergence of STEM-educated Africans that could keep the jobs local.
The 2016 NEF also focused on the barriers African women interested in jobs in the STEM sector face. Many speakers supported the removal of the gender disparity in the industry as a solution to the lack of innovators.
The panel leading the fight, named “Driving the Agenda for African Women in STEM,” featured prominent female scientists such as France Cordova, the director of the U.S. National Science Foundation, and Naledi Pandor, South Africa’s Minister of Science and Technology. But they weren’t alone, as women made up about 40 percent of the NEF Fellows class.
In a culture described as “less progressive than most,” this number shows the group’s recent success in combating the gender gap in employment.
With the 2016 event over, the forum looks forward to its next meeting in Kigali, Rwanda in 2018. Supporters of the cause can still take action now, though, by signing the I Am Einstein petition and staying connected through the forum’s Twitter page with daily updates.
With its international backing and optimistic outlook, the Next Einstein Forum has inspired a new generation of African STEM students. By advancing education and providing more opportunities for growth, it has put itself in a good position to fight poverty in the region.
– Jacob Hess
Sources: NEF, PR Newswire
Photo: Flickr