Over the past few years, the UNHCR has experimented with the use of green energy technology in developing countries as a way to create sustainable light, heating and jobs for the poor.
In 2013, the organization funded a solar-light and fuel-efficient stoves project called Light Years Ahead for Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad.
Sudanese refugees and Chadian locals were taught how to construct fuel-efficient stoves and then employed to make them for the community. The stoves do not use firewood, preventing deforestation.
The project successfully used green technology to create a functioning economy for impoverished refugees and locals.
This method of humanitarian aid utilizes skills from locals and refugees to create a functioning local economy.
Last year the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs published a paper titled “Humanitarian Innovation” emphasizing the importance of capitalizing on the innovation of impoverished people.
The paper identifies previous approaches to humanitarian aid stressing that historically the UN and other aid organizations use a “top-down” structure.
This structure tends to work in the short-term by depending solely on aid from external actors rather than empowering those in need.
Instead, humanitarian innovation uses a “bottom-up” approach by “recognizing and understanding innovation capacity within communities”, and “putting these communities and local systems at the heart of the innovation process, regardless of where ideas or resources originate.”
This “bottom-up” method has been proven successful, mainly by its high investment value. In 2014, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) announced a $41 million dollar investment in developing countries’ renewable energy projects.
The investments are meant to stimulate local economies by creating markets. The 2015 and 2016 loan qualification criteria for projects in countries is its ability to assist communities by creating jobs, generating income, helping public education and health, improving energy access, innovation, replicability and aligning with government priorities.
Sierra Leone, Samoa, Mali, the Republic of Ecuador, and the Maldives are some of the countries receiving loan investments.
More and more foreign investors are looking at funding renewable energy projects as a financially wise decision. Portfolio diversification allows investors to spread the risk of a project investment failing among less risking investments.
In other words, if a few projects succeed, a few failed projects can still be financially supported. This approach allows investors to safely invest in green energy projects in developing countries without severe risk.
Agricultural project investments, especially, show the potential to revert climate change, supply food for poor communities, and create jobs for locals, creates food security by using farming systems that are more resilient to climate change.
In addition, these investments reduce emissions and increase “agriculture’s potential to capture and sequester atmospheric carbon” which is harmful to the earth’s atmosphere. This agricultural system depends on daily maintenance from locals. Some locals are trained how to farm by green technology programs.
In 2012, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) which is part of the UN, and the European Commission invested €5.3 in Malawi, Vietnam and Zambia agricultural sectors to help with the transition into climate-smart agriculture.
Leslie Lipper, Senior Environmental Economist at FAO, says that, “Climate change offers the possibility for large-scale financing that’s directly linked to the agricultural sector to recognize the possibility for this environmental benefit, as well as the traditional agricultural products and markets.”
– Michael Hopek
Sources: UNHCR, RSC 1, IRENA 1, IRENA 2, FAO, RSC 2, UN
Photo: bloglet
Clean Energy Improves Health in Bangladesh
Each year, over a million diesel pumps consume approximately $900 million worth of diesel in Bangladesh, according to the World Bank. Like other gas-operated engines, the diesel pumps kick out the exhaust. Diesel emissions have been found to contain more than 40 hazardous pollutants, including nitrogen oxide along with heavy metals, such as arsenic, according to the Office of Environmental Health Hazards Assessment (OEHHA).
These emissions have both immediate and long-term health risks for the farmers operating the pumps. On contact, exhaust can cause irritation to the eyes, nose and throat. But more serious damage can occur over time. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) reports that 80-95 percent of diesel soot contains “ultrafine particulates, which are small enough to penetrate the cells of the lungs.” These particulates and toxic gasses increase the risk of cellular mutation leading to cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular disease in those with long-term exposure to the emissions, according to the OEHHA.
To combat the problems associated with the lack of electical grid access and prevalent use of diesel powered engines, the World Bank has created the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Development II (RERED II) Project. With a yearly average of more than 200 sunny days, studies have shown that Bangladesh is a prime candidate to use solar power as an alternative to the expensive and health threatening diesel, according to the Climate and Development Knowledge Network.
The program is straightforward. RERED II is designed to give farmers access to clean energy irrigation while saving them money at the same time. The solar pumps, funded in combination by the World Bank, the Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Funds (BCCRF) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), produce water that serves multiple farms. With this arrangement, the farmers only pay for what they need during the irrigation season, according to World Bank.
At this point, the program is still a pilot and serves a limited number of communities. However, since the Infrastructure Development Company (IDCOL) has implemented the pilot, farmers in the selected areas have chosen the solar pumps over their diesel counterparts.
With the installation of solar pumps showing positive results across the board thus far, the Bangladesh government intends to install more solar panels throughout the nation. As reported by The World Factbook, in 2013 Bangladesh produced 97 percent of the country’s electricity through the combustion of fossil fuels. By making steps toward switching to clean solar energy, the Bangladesh government will be able to drastically lower carbon dioxide and other emissions in future years, improving air quality and the health of Bangladeshis throughout the nation.
– Claire Colby
Sources: CDKN, OEHHA, Science Direct, Union of Concerned Scientists, World Bank, The World Factbook
Photo: providencetrade
Humanitarian Innovation: Creating Jobs for the Impoverished
Over the past few years, the UNHCR has experimented with the use of green energy technology in developing countries as a way to create sustainable light, heating and jobs for the poor.
In 2013, the organization funded a solar-light and fuel-efficient stoves project called Light Years Ahead for Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad.
Sudanese refugees and Chadian locals were taught how to construct fuel-efficient stoves and then employed to make them for the community. The stoves do not use firewood, preventing deforestation.
The project successfully used green technology to create a functioning economy for impoverished refugees and locals.
This method of humanitarian aid utilizes skills from locals and refugees to create a functioning local economy.
Last year the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs published a paper titled “Humanitarian Innovation” emphasizing the importance of capitalizing on the innovation of impoverished people.
The paper identifies previous approaches to humanitarian aid stressing that historically the UN and other aid organizations use a “top-down” structure.
This structure tends to work in the short-term by depending solely on aid from external actors rather than empowering those in need.
Instead, humanitarian innovation uses a “bottom-up” approach by “recognizing and understanding innovation capacity within communities”, and “putting these communities and local systems at the heart of the innovation process, regardless of where ideas or resources originate.”
This “bottom-up” method has been proven successful, mainly by its high investment value. In 2014, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) announced a $41 million dollar investment in developing countries’ renewable energy projects.
The investments are meant to stimulate local economies by creating markets. The 2015 and 2016 loan qualification criteria for projects in countries is its ability to assist communities by creating jobs, generating income, helping public education and health, improving energy access, innovation, replicability and aligning with government priorities.
Sierra Leone, Samoa, Mali, the Republic of Ecuador, and the Maldives are some of the countries receiving loan investments.
More and more foreign investors are looking at funding renewable energy projects as a financially wise decision. Portfolio diversification allows investors to spread the risk of a project investment failing among less risking investments.
In other words, if a few projects succeed, a few failed projects can still be financially supported. This approach allows investors to safely invest in green energy projects in developing countries without severe risk.
Agricultural project investments, especially, show the potential to revert climate change, supply food for poor communities, and create jobs for locals, creates food security by using farming systems that are more resilient to climate change.
In addition, these investments reduce emissions and increase “agriculture’s potential to capture and sequester atmospheric carbon” which is harmful to the earth’s atmosphere. This agricultural system depends on daily maintenance from locals. Some locals are trained how to farm by green technology programs.
In 2012, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) which is part of the UN, and the European Commission invested €5.3 in Malawi, Vietnam and Zambia agricultural sectors to help with the transition into climate-smart agriculture.
Leslie Lipper, Senior Environmental Economist at FAO, says that, “Climate change offers the possibility for large-scale financing that’s directly linked to the agricultural sector to recognize the possibility for this environmental benefit, as well as the traditional agricultural products and markets.”
– Michael Hopek
Sources: UNHCR, RSC 1, IRENA 1, IRENA 2, FAO, RSC 2, UN
Photo: bloglet
Folate-Rich Rice for Malnourishment
Recently, scientists at the Ghent University have successfully engineered a new folate-rich rice strain. The most notable achievement of this experiment has been the stabilization of the bio-engineered nutrition richness.
Biofortification is a relatively new venture into the field of agricultural biotechnology. It involves modifying the genetic makeup of an agricultural plant to yield a more nutrient-rich product. The results of biofortification of plants have been tested for nutritional value and bio-availability for the consumers, with promising results.
In addition to increasing the nutrition value of food products, scientists are also focusing on making the products more sustainable. New research in this area is committed to not only increasing the dietary value of the crops, but also providing for practical answers for food shortage problems globally. For instance, crops that are more resistant to droughts and natural adversities are being manufactured. Food staples such as grains are being engineered to comprise nutrients from more expensive and inaccessible vegetables.
A significant issue in the provision of sufficient food for the whole world is the problem of food wastage and storage. The world today produces more food per person than ever before; however, food insecurity continues to be an issue with the improper handling and storage of food.
Crops such as rice, wheat and other grains are generally easier to store than most foodstuffs. However, the long-term storage of food deprives them of much of their nutritional value. Micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals are likely to be degraded as a result of long-term storage, as well as the methods of storage.
Folate, or Vitamin B9 as it is popularly known, is one such nutrient. It is found in abundance in leafy green vegetables such as spinach; such vegetables are, however, difficult to store for extended periods of time. Folate is a water-soluble vitamin; consequently, it cannot be stored in the body, and needs to be replenished constantly. Folate deficiency can lead to abnormally large blood cells, and ultimately anemia, which is particularly dangerous for pregnant women.
To tackle this problem, the researchers at Ghent University took a two-pronged approach: making the rice folate-rich, as well as stabilizing the folate to ensure its availability after long periods of storage. They used a folate-binding protein- found originally in animals- to stabilize the folate molecules. The resulting molecule was found to be more resistant to degradation after storage.
The rice strain manufactured has not been introduced commercially as of yet; the public use of the strain remains subject to testing and approval by appropriate authorities. This research is, nevertheless, an innovative step in the quest for engineering more nutritious and healthier crops for ending hunger and malnourishment.
– Atifah Safi
Sources: Ugent, NIH
Photo: cbnnews
Loans in the Philippines? Download an App
As less than a quarter of the Philippines‘ 101 million people have bank accounts, establishing credit remains impossible for many. Traditionally, in the Philippines there are two ways to borrow money if you can’t get a loan from a bank.
First, the legal option involves selling goods at any of the country’s ubiquitous pawn shops (as of 2013, the central bank tallied more than 17,000 pawn shops nationwide). The second, illegal option is to borrow from a loan shark.
Enter smartphones.
Three-quarters of Filipinos who use the internet, access it primarily through their smartphones. The increasing popularity of using smartphones now offers a safer alternatives for securing loans in the Philippines.
PawnHero, a Manila-based startup, wants to give Filipinos an accessible, less expensive alternative to the traditional pawn shop. On PawnHero, users upload photos and descriptions of items they want to pawn to the website where an appraisal team decides upon a fair estimate.
If both sides agree, PawnHero picks up the item where it is stored until the loan is repaid. As opposed to traditional pawn shops, PawnHero offers up to half of the typical monthly interest rates found in physical shops.
Another company, Lenddo, creates virtual credit scores for Filipinos who have no bank account or credit history. According to their website, Lenddo’s credit score and verification services “use over 12,000 data points to manage risk and make better decisions.”
These data points stem from users social media accounts, such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and serve as methods to prove the identity and creditworthiness of the user.
While Lenddo was created in 2011 in the Philippines, their assistive reach now extends to Mexico and Colombia with plans for further expansion into other emerging markets.
Loans from Lenddo typically average around $450 with interest rates at 2-4 percent monthly. With membership at over 500,000, Lenddo’s effectiveness as a supplement to emerging middle-class families is evident.
With the middle class on the rise, the country is finding new ways to empower its impoverished through technology. Smartphones are just the beginning.
– Bailey Wenzler
Sources: WSJ, Pawn Hero, Lenddo, The Guardian
Improving Global Health Opportunities: India’s Tremendous Progress
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has helped save millions of lives among the world’s poor. Through their work, they are helping to find a way to stop the spread of global health diseases such as polio and malaria and support initiatives for proper sanitation.
Recently, there has been a great deal of success with projects like these in India. The country has been certified polio-free for over a year. To meet the requirements, the country had to go four years without a case of wild poliovirus. “This is a giant achievement in the global effort to eradicate polio,” according to an article on the Gates Foundation blog called Impatient Optimists. “As recently as 2009, India was home to nearly half the world’s cases and considered the hardest place on earth to stop the disease.”
To stay polio-free, India must maintain its high levels of immunity. In partnership with the government, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF conduct two nationwide, as well as three sub-national, vaccination campaigns annually.
Where malaria is concerned, India is also making progress; having halved the number of its cases from two million in 2000 to 882,000 in 2013, according to WHO. The country is working towards the eradication of malaria through powerful campaign tactics and ensuring that rapid response diagnostic tests are available and easily accessible.
India is hoping to reach a pre-elimination phase of malaria in 2017 and to then move forward to total elimination by 2030.
In addition to eradicating these infectious diseases, efforts are being made to improve sanitation conditions to reduce illness and death. For example, in some parts of the country as many as 80 percent of the population do not own a toilet, which can be expensive to purchase and install. However open defecation can lead to diarrheal disease. More than 450,000 children died from the disease in 2014. Women and girls are also put in danger of being raped when they go off to find a private place to use the restroom.
Thanks to microfinance loans through the Centre for Development Orientation and Training (CDOT), families are able to purchase a toilet and improve their living conditions.
Through organizations like WHO, UNICEF, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, incredible feats for global health are being reached in India and all around the world.
– Drusilla Gibbs
Sources: Impatient Optimists 1, Impatient Optimists 2, Impatient Optimists 3, WHO
Photo: hydratelife
World Bank Grants $11.6 Million for Sahel Women
On April 23, 2015, The World Bank Group granted the Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend Project (SWEDD) $11.6 million, and an additional $23.2 million credit, to include Burkina Faso into the program.
Due to the political instability in Burkina Faso late October 2014, negotiations to add Burkina Faso to the SWEDD project were delayed. Currently, Burkina Faso is the sixth Sahelian country to be added to the project; others include: Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.
The Sahel region would gain a great economic boost from a demographic dividend through a rapid decline in fertility and infant mortality rates; the addition of Burkina Faso expands the effectiveness of SWEDD.
The program aims to increase access to reproductive, child and maternal health services for women and adolescent girls in participating countries in the Sahel region of Africa. SWEDD also intends to educate women on gender and their own reproductive health.
In Burkina Faso, the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) is 5.8. With only 15 percent of married women aged 15-49 using contraception the maternal mortality ratio, per 100,000 live births, is 300. Moreover, the under-5 mortality rate, per 1,000 live births, is 108.
The high fertility rate, which worsens population pressure, coupled with poor health services are preventing Burkina Faso from garnering the benefits from a demographic dividend.
Burkina Faso’s involvement in the Sahel Women’s Empowerment promises great outcomes. The issue of child marriage in Burkina Faso is linked to poverty, the tradition of gender inequality and lack of education.
Involving women in the working age population will accelerate Burkina Faso’s demographic dividend because comparably the number of dependents would be lower.
SWEDD will empower women in Burkina Faso through promoting their academic education, and involving more women in life-skills programs, making women more independent.
This will consequently decrease the child marriage rates, which are at an 86 percent prevalence in the Sahel region of Burkina Faso, and 76 percent in the East region.
World Bank Country Manager for Burkina Faso commented on the addition of Burkina Faso to the Sahel Women’s Empowerment Project saying: “Educating adolescent girls and improving health services for women will certainly reduce poverty and boost shared prosperity in Burkina Faso.”
– Marie Helene Ngom
Sources: The World Bank 1, The World Bank 2, Sahel Women Empowerment Outline, Burkina Faso Child Marriage
Photo: Wikimedia
Darden Harvest Aims to Put an End to Hunger
Darden Restaurants, owner of restaurants like Olive Garden and Red Lobster, believes people are their most valuable resource. That being said, they have dedicated much of their time and money to helping end world hunger and poverty.
Their program, Darden Harvest, coordinates food donations to food banks and other charitable organizations across the country.
How it works:
When leftover foods from restaurants are not served to guests, it is packaged, frozen and stored in the restaurant. Nonprofit organizations travel to these restaurants weekly to pick up the food and then donate it to food banks.
The food is then served to those in need in the community. Throughout this process, the quality and safety of the food is ensured by Darden Restaurants’ employees.
What is donated?
Darden Restaurants focuses on donating foods that have a positive impact on health. Twenty-eight percent of the foods donated are vegetables, 27 percent are proteins, 19 percent are soups, 18 percent are pastas and breads, and eight percent are other food items and desserts.
Community Impact:
Since it started in 2003, Darden Harvest has donated more than six million pounds of surplus food to families in need, which is the equivalent of 89 million meals served. Nearly 49 million Americans suffer from hunger, with over 165 million dollars’ worth of food being thrown into landfills each year.
Every year, Darden Harvest observes World Food Day by positively impacting the lives of underprivileged people through food donations. In their 2013 fiscal year, Darden Restaurants donated over 11 million pounds of food to hunger-ridden families.
Darden Restaurants’ team of over 200,000 members has contributed to ending hunger. Just last month, Darden Restaurants created a program to help people feed their families during the busy school semester with their “Buy one, take one” program, which allows families to purchase one meal and take another one home to serve on another night.
– Julia Hettiger
Sources: CNN, Darden, Fool
Photo: Examiner
World Vision’s Literacy Boost Program
Since 2000, many victories have been made in the educational area, from increasing primary school enrollment by 8 percent in developing regions to the global literacy rate rising to more than 80 percent. But there is still a lot that can be accomplished in terms of improving literacy.
Through World Vision’s Literacy Boost program, educators, parents and community members are incorporated into children’s reading and writing education. The program is split into three categories: reading assessment, teacher training and community action.
The reading assessment is meant to establish a baseline of learning for students, giving teachers a better grasp of where their students are and giving them the ability to tailor curriculum to be the most effective.
In the classroom, Literacy Boost provides teacher training that ensures all teachers are fully literate and have a firm understanding of good teaching practices, and it stresses the value of teachers making learning fun for students. Studies have shown that children learn more effectively when they’re invested in course material and enjoying what they’re learning.
The Literacy Boost program also stresses the importance of continuing learning outside of the classroom. To do this, the program gives parents the tools necessary for helping their children read and write at home. Parents are also encouraged to use whatever is available to make reading a daily focus.
In Burundi, where only 64 percent of the population is literate, Literacy Boost volunteers have created necklaces with a piece of cardboard attached to the end with vowels written on it. The necklace is meant to help children whose parents are illiterate to practice their reading skills in the community with their literate neighbors.
This is where the community gets in on the action. From volunteering to create storybooks that are from the region of the children reading them to facilitating after-school activities, such as book clubs, the third pillar of community action ties everything together. In India, these book clubs have produced increased literacy levels among its members.
Since its start back in 2014, World Vision India has reported that the program has helped nearly 600 children in the program’s city of Lalitpur, with nearly 500 of them participating regularly in the book clubs.
Part of the success of the Indian book clubs is due to their 21 Book Banks, allowing children to borrow books to take home, teaching children to view reading as a fun pastime rather than a difficult school activity.
Linda Hiebert, senior director of Education and Life Skills at World Vision, emphasized the importance of reaching children early on in their education, establishing a solid foundation of literacy.
To do this, Literacy Boost has created a pre-primary school reading camp to give children a jump-start on their studies before they even step foot in a classroom. At the camp, children learn letters and vowels, preparing them to study a variety of subjects.
Thus far, the overall results have been promising. After a single year of the program, Bangladesh has achieved an improvement rate of reading comprehension of 40 percent, with other countries experiencing doubling and tripling of reading comprehension.
Through World Vision and Save the Children’s Partnership for Literacy campaign, the organizations are hoping to impact 1.5 million children in 15 sub-Saharan and South Asian countries by 2016, improving the lives of children today and future generations.
– Claire Colby
Sources: Canada News Wire, Our World in Data, World Vision 1, World Vision 2
Photo: Flickr
Global Alliance To Addressing Open Dumpsites
Due to a lack of investment in recycling infrastructure and an insufficiently trained workforce, most of the 42 million metric tons of e-waste generated in 2014 were discarded into open dumpsites.
This is according to the new report by the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), “Waste health: The tragic case of dumpsites.”
The report, in which 373 toxic waste sites in India, Indonesia and the Philippines were analyzed, declared open dumpsites as a global health emergency affecting millions of people in developing countries who already lack sufficient sanitation infrastructure.
Results indicated that problems regarding open dump sites are still widespread in developing countries today, 40 years after such issues were originally developed.
On top of the existing concerns, the developing world is seeing an unparalleled rise in the unregulated dumping of discarded electronics and medical waste.
Overall, 40 percent of the world’s waste goes to open dumpsites, and the 50 largest sites affect 64 million people globally. The uncontrolled burning of the waste, which causes gases and toxins to be released into the air, is a substantial threat to human life.
Open dump sites also cause financial burdens, as their overall cost is in the tens of billions of dollars.
According to the report, almost nine million people are at risk of being exposed to lead, asbestos and other hazardous materials from the open dumpsites analyzed. Additionally, it was revealed that those open sites have a bigger impact on life expectancy than malaria.
Malaria causes a combined loss of 725,000 healthy years in India, Indonesia and the Philippines, whereas exposure to hazardous materials from open dumpsites is estimated to cause a loss of 829,000 healthy years.
As a result of the report, several officials called for a global alliance to address the problem of open dumpsites.
“The recommendations of this report are clear: the international community has an urgent task ahead in closing waste dumps globally, for the sake of populations affected by them because they live in or near them, but also because all the world’s people are breathing in the toxins released by burning on open dumps,” David Newman, the president of the ISWA, said in the foreword of the report.
– Matt Wotus
Sources: International Solid Waste Association, Resource Magazine,
Photo: care4kidsworldwide
Roma in the EU are Focus of Anti-Poverty Efforts
The Roma people are Europe’s largest ethnic minority, comprising six million European Union citizens. But many of the Roma in the EU are victims of persistent prejudice and discrimination and face daily poverty and social exclusion.
In 2011, the EU Heads of State and Government adopted the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies up to 2020 to close the gap between Roma and non-Roma in access to education, employment, healthcare and housing. All Member States were charged with tailoring their strategies to meet the needs of the Roma population in their country.
A recent report reveals both progress made and areas for improvement.
In education, the EU Commission called on Member States to ensure, at a minimum, primary school completion, widened access to quality early childhood education and care, efforts to keep Roma children from being subject to discrimination or segregation and a reduction in the number of early school leavers.
The report reveals a positive general trend in the area of access to quality early childhood education and care. “In Finland for example, within ten years, the participation of Roma children in pre-primary school increased from 2% to 60%. The same applies to Hungary, where the enrollment rate of Roma children in preschool is high (79%) and is likely to further improve,” the report states.
Other issues, such as early school leavers, require additional efforts to address problems such as a lack of proper paperwork for children whose families move around a lot. “The Commission’s assessment confirms that sustained efforts can bring about a significant impact on the situation of Roma in education,” the report states. “For example, in three years (2010-2013), a Bulgarian educational project has brought down the number of children who dropped out of school by almost 80%.”
Less encouraging have been EU efforts to improve employment among the Roma population. “In some cases, the employment situation of Roma has even further deteriorated, although this is partly due to the general increase of unemployment in several EU Member States over the past few years,” the report states. “Within this context, Roma, and to an even larger extent Roma women, have been particularly affected as they often lack marketable skills and qualifications.”
Discrimination often plays a role in making it more difficult for the Roma people to attain employment. Successful programs were noted however, in Bulgaria, France, and Hungary, where countries worked with other organizations to set up community development centers, language classes, and labor market counseling among other services.
Providing better access to healthcare and housing to the Roma people has also proven difficult due to barriers such as distance to health services, lack of financial resources, lack of communication between Roma and non-Roma constituents, and the need for more integrated housing.
Most Member States have begun initiatives to raise awareness about Roma culture and history; in particular, in recent years, a growing number have organized activities to commemorate the Roma Holocaust, the report states. The report however encourages Member States to develop more effective measures to combat anti-Roma rhetoric and hate speech.
Last year Irish journalist, Barbara McCarthy, explored what it would be like to spend the day begging for money on the streets of Dublin dressed as a Roma person. “I kept my eyes to the ground out of fear of people,” she reported. “I felt really sorry for the person I was pretending to be.”
– Katherine Martin
Sources: European Commission , Independent.ie, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC,
Photo: Pers Blog