What is financial inclusion? Financial inclusion is when all members of society have access to financial services at affordable prices.
What does financial inclusion have to do with poverty? Some people may not be able to afford certain financial services. In addition, financial inclusion can help decrease global poverty. For example, when people have access to financial services, they can start and expand businesses, invest in higher education for their children and withstand financial hardships more easily. When other marginalized groups like women and disabled people have access to financial services, this can improve the economy of a country as the whole.
In 2011, 51% of adults,, or roughly 2.5 billion people, did not have a bank account. Now, 62% of the world’s adult population, or 2 billion, have an account.
China, India, Indonesia, Mexico and Tanzania have seen significant increases in account ownership. Account ownership in China increased from 64% to 79%, from 20% to 36% in Indonesia, from 35% to 53% in India, from 27% to 39% in Mexico, and from 17% to 40% in Tanzania.
Mobile money accounts have also helped increase financial inclusion. In Cote d’Ivoire, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe, adults are more likely to have a mobile money account than an account at a financial institution. Mobile money accounts are the sole reason for the dramatic increase of account ownership in Tanzania.
In terms of the poor, account ownership increased disproportionately among adults in the poorest 40% of households. In 2011, only 29% of the poorest individuals had an account. Now, 46% of these individuals own an account. This is great news!
Overall, women are more likely to own an account than ever before. In 2011, 47% of women owned an account. Now, 58% of women own an account. Again, this is significant progress.
Account holders are using their accounts. About half of account owners in developing countries use their account to make or receive a payment. About a quarter of account owners in developing countries use their debit card to make direct payments. About 39% of account holders in developing countries use their accounts to save. This is secure and helps the economy grow.
Can we still make progress? The short answer is, of course we can. About half of the poorest individuals still do not have an account. Additionally, there is about a 7% gender gap in account ownership. The good news is that there are many ways that we can decrease this number.
Governments and businesses could drastically decrease the number of unbanked adults by digitizing wages and transfers. Additionally, many farmers are unbanked. About 23% of people in developing countries receive cash for agricultural sales. Countries could focus on banking these farmers. Additionally, mobile money accounts could be a way to expand account ownership significantly, especially among women and the poorest individuals.
Overall, financial inclusion is improving in developing countries. More adults than ever own an account. This will help improve both financial equality and financial prosperity.
– Ella Cady
Sources: Center for Financial Inclusion, Impatient Optimists, World Bank
Photo: Live Mint
Africa Recommits to Developing Technology Skills
Earlier this June, several African nations came together to create the Regional Scholarship and Innovative fund to recommit to developing technology skills. The fund is a partnership that will help create thousands of new jobs across Africa, as well as develop specialized skills for African workers everywhere.
The fund is a project facilitated by the World Bank’s Partnership for Skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET). The initiative of PASET is “to accelerate the creation of a skilled, high-quality workforce in Africa to power Africa’s socio-economic transformation,” according to Ghanaweb.com.
The fund was created out of a $5 million investment from the World Bank back in 2013. Africa’s decision to commit itself to advancing skills in science and technology stems from a disparaging gap in work skills between African workers and workers worldwide.
The idea behind the fund is modeled after similar ideas done by Brazil, India and China years ago when their own economies were struggling. By deciding to invest heavily in science and technological research, these global powerhouses reinvented themselves by cultivating specialized skills for their workforces.
One specific area of reform targeted by the fund is the immediate training of 10,000 doctors across Africa to begin bolstering the continent’s health issues. By making an effort to modernize key industries such as medicine and engineering, Africa is preparing to step onto the same level as other major global powers.
The fund seeks to develop essential 21st century skills in Africans in the hopes that it will help “bring together all partners – public and private, traditional and emerging partners.” By allowing the African workforce to develop into a self-sustaining group, Africa can begin to move away from a heavy dependence on foreign aid.
PASET is the means by which Africa will enter a new era of social and economic development. The skills being taught to Africans will affect agriculture, infrastructure and modern medicine in a continent plagued by poverty and malnutrition. With the World Bank behind it, Africa is poised to leap into the 21st century as an economic power.
– Diego Alejandro Catala
Sources: World Bank, Ghana Web
Banning Bull Slaughter Makes Vulnerable Populations Poorer
Earlier this year, the government of Maharashtra, India, decided to ban bullock and bull slaughter. The slaughtering of cows, which are considered to be sacred in Hinduism, had already been prohibited since 1976. This new law has faced opposition from many sectors of society that claim it destroys businesses, makes farmers’ livelihoods more vulnerable, and hurts the very animals it hopes to protect.
Another argument against the law is that is promotes Hindu extremist interests over the nation’s secular principles. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the force behind the new law, argues instead that it protects religious beliefs. However, even one of the BJP’s strongest allies, the Republican Party of India (RPI), has expressed discontent with the law.
Farmers from the state have protested that banning bull slaughter means they can no longer sell their old animals that have outlived their usefulness. Many farmers count on the money made from the sale to pay back loans. In India, where huge numbers of farmer suicides have been a pressing concern, the new law has made farmers’ limited sources of income more precarious.
Some people have even argued that the law will lead to farmers simply abandoning their cattle because they cannot afford to look after them. They will be left on the streets to starve and die, or be smuggled in terrible conditions to Bangladesh, where they will be slaughtered. The very purpose of the law—to protect bulls—would be left unfulfilled.
The law has also eliminated the only type of meat poor people can afford. In India, beef is commonly called the “poor mans’ protein,” as it is much cheaper than mutton or chicken. Buffalo meat, while still legal, is predicted to become more expensive because of a lack of alternatives. In a country where more than half of children under five are malnourished, this ban is feared to increase rates of starvation and sickness.
Specific castes have also been negatively affected. The Qureshis, a Muslim community that has been synonymous with bull slaughter for generations, can no longer practice the only livelihood they know.
The Dharavi leather market has also lost its bearings. Dharavi, one of the biggest slums in Asia, obtained much of its income from its once-thriving leather industry, where workers would make wallets, belts, jackets and handbags. Now, hundreds of workers have been left jobless.
Sources: The Hindu 1, The Hindu 2, The Hindu 3, Times of India, The Independent, Al Jazeera, New York Times 1, New York Times 2
Photo: Stock Photos
Unlocking Accessibility for People with Disabilities in Paraguay
Through improving labor access, Paraguay has made recent advancements to become a more inclusive and equal society. Although only 15% of people worldwide have disabilities, an estimated 80% of them are out of work. Fundacion Saraki is at the forefront of finding employment and thus improving the lives of people with disabilities in Paraguay. Its first step was to work toward compliance with a congressional law providing labor inclusion in public institutions.
Congress agreed to grant the foundation an agreement for the “Effective Labor Inclusion” of those with disabilities in both the private and public sectors. Through this, Fundacion Saraki has begun to work toward increasing access to jobs with companies such as McDonald’s and Supermercados España, a Paraguayan supermarket chain. Both companies recently hired interns with disabilities who were later offered jobs with the companies in Capiata and San Lorenzo, two cities near the capital, Asunción.
The foundation has also worked to improve building access. Working with architecture students from local universities, the foundation is working toward raising building standards in the country. Students inspect the buildings and make recommendations to the companies housed there on how to improve their construction to accommodate disabled workers and customers. Thus, this solution is an improvement for both those with disabilities who can enjoy increased services and the companies who serve them in increasing their consumer base. They have also worked toward improving bus conditions to increase the ease of riding for everyone.
Through cooperation with USAID and the National Democratic Institute, the foundation has reached an agreement with Paraguay’s Superior National Electoral Tribunal to ensure improved participation of those with disabilities in the country’s upcoming election in November 2015. These organizations have recently published a manual titled “Equal Access: How To Include Persons with Disabilities in Elections and Political Processes.” Through this publication and continuing efforts on the part of all involved organizations, previous obstacles that prevented disabled people from voting in elections will be removed. Because those who are disabled are often also poor and marginalized, their voices in the political process are crucial.
“We are trying to work the government because in Paraguay disabilities have not been a priority, and we hope to have a greater impact on the private industry as well,” said Fundacion Saraki’s Executive Director Maria Jose Cabezudo Cuevas. Indeed, improving the quality of life and increasing opportunities for those with disabilities supports success and creates a more inclusive, fairer society for everyone.
– Jenny Wheeler
Sources: USAID, National Democratic Institute
Photo: USAID
Child’s Cup Full Fights Poverty in Palestine
One in every two Palestinians is classified as poor. The loss of significant economic resources during the Israeli occupation, including 82% of the nation’s groundwater, has lead to significant damages to the Palestinian economy. The real gross domestic product in Gaza is 10% below its 2005 level, and 66% of the population in the West Bank struggles with food insecurity. In Palestine, and particularly in the West Bank and Gaza, conflict has caused great suffering.
Yet, in the face of suffering, there is hope.
Founded by the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa in 2008, Child’s Cup Full promotes the development of local enterprises in Palestine through the sale and manufacture of children’s toys. These toys are built by refugee women, who are trained and paid through the program. The training and payment of these women promotes the development of marketable skills, along with the creation of networks to further develop local markets.
In addition, proceeds from these sales go toward developing childhood development and education programs in communities reached out to by Child’s Cup Full.
The toys sold by this social enterprise are educational and eco-friendly. In price, they range from a $5 set of building blocks to a $225 Darzeh heal. Each toy, crafted by Palestinian women and supporting both the training of adults and the education of children, holds infinite potential to change lives in Palestine. By promoting education, it works with great potential to break the cycle of refugee poverty in the West Bank.
Behind it all, Child’s Cup Full has one message: global poverty need not be an endless cycle. By fighting refugee poverty through economic development and education, it ends this cycle by empowering victims of global poverty.
Toys from can be ordered at http://childscupfull.org
– Andrew Michaels
Sources: Reuters, Child’s Cup Full, Read Little Muslims, Tulsa World
Photo: Child’s Cup Full
Baltimore City Schools Provide Free Meals to All Students
Worldwide, approximately 805 million people are classified as hungry. They do not have access to enough food to provide adequate nutrition and calories, putting them at risk for malnutrition or starvation. Although most of those affected by world hunger live in developing countries, about 15 million people in developed countries also struggle to put enough food on the table.
For children, struggling with hunger can be particularly devastating. As of 2013, about 15.8 million children in the United States live in food insecure households, and households with children reported food insecurity at a higher rate than those without.
Hunger has a clear negative impact on children’s education. Inadequate nutrition has been proven to delay brain development and impair the ability to learn. Children who do not have enough to eat at home often receive lower test scores and have more absences. They are also more likely to repeat a grade. Their reduced academic achievements could be linked to the fact that hunger can impair one’s ability to concentrate. Furthermore, they display more behavioral problems, such as higher rates of aggression and oppositional behavior.
Without enough food, children cannot properly learn. Recently, Baltimore City, where 84% of children qualified for the Free and Reduced Price Meal Program, has made tackling this issue a priority. Despite the fact that Maryland is one of the wealthiest states in America, 36.5%of Baltimore’s children live below the poverty level. Now, they can all receive a free breakfast and lunch at school, regardless of income level.
The Community Eligibility Provision, a part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, states that entire schools are eligible for free meals if 40% of the students come from low-income families. Maryland adopted this program under state legislation passed in the General Assembly. Over 2,000 U.S. districts are now participating in this program, with Baltimore City as the largest.
The federal government will be reimbursing the schools based on the number of meals that they serve, so the district does not anticipate any negative financial impact. Previously, students eligible for free or reduced meals may not have claimed them for a number of reasons. They may have been embarrassed or did not realize that they qualified. If their parents or guardians spoke limited English or struggled to fill out the paperwork for another reason, they may never have received free meals. Now, any stigma and limitations are gone and all students have access to free meals with no explanations or paperwork necessary.
This program is a step forward in ending childhood hunger in the United States. Other developed countries have similar programs. In Finland, legislation passed in 1948 allows free meals for all students from pre-primary to upper-secondary education. All enrolled in compulsory education enjoy free school lunches regardless of income in Sweden and Estonia. While many developing countries utilize school feeding programs with the assistance of organizations such as the World Food Programme or UNICEF, the programs in Finland, Estonia, Sweden and now Baltimore could provide a model for other developed countries to follow. Feeding the world’s children goes hand-in-hand with providing quality education.
– Jane Harkness
Sources: Care2 , Feeding America , Finnish National Board of Education , The Food Effect , Maryland Alliance for the Poor , Uppsala Universitet , World Food Programme 1 , World Food Programme 2
Photo: Baltimore Post Examiner
Misleading Poverty Statistics in Argentina
Earlier this year, the President of Argentina Cristina Kirchner publicly decreed Argentina’s level of poverty to be among the lowest in the world. While such an announcement should receive admiration and praise from other global leaders, Argentina has instead been put under the microscope for possibly falsifying information about its poverty statistics.
Last week, President Kirchner appeared at U.N. Food and Agriculture meeting in Rome and boasted her country’s supposed impressive poverty numbers. Kirchner was quoted as saying, “Today the poverty rate is less than 5 percent, and the rate of indigence is 1.27 percent, which has made Argentina one of the most egalitarian countries.” Her claims would place Argentina near the top of the list of economically successful countries, but her remarks have come under fire by prominent Argentinean figures for being inaccurate and misrepresenting Argentina’s true economic status.
The Catholic University of Argentina was one of the earliest critics of President Kirchner’s report on poverty citing a study conducted in April of 2014 that reported a 27% poverty rate in Argentina. The University attributed the blame in flawed figures to Argentina’s statistical research center INDEC.
According to an article published by the International Business Times, “critics have long questioned the poverty figures that have been on the books, saying they were based on controversial methodology with manipulated inflation estimates that drove down the calculation of food prices factored into the poverty rate figure.” Thus, Argentina finds itself reporting inaccurate statistics as a result of poor government decisions.
On May 15th of this year, PanAm Post published an article reporting Argentina’s unsuccessful attempt at increasing public spending to reduce poverty levels. An excerpt from the article states that public spending “has been directed to the energy sector, to the payment of public-sector workers, and offering access to pensions and public services to an additional four million people.”
The article also goes on to criticize INDEC for manipulating figures to conceal the accurate poverty rate in Argentina. The article concludes by reporting that between 2011 and 2013, Argentina spent roughly $36 billion while poverty levels remained unchanged. It appears that Argentina’s experiment has failed and it is finally time to admit error and find a new, honest approach to reduce poverty.
– Diego Alejandro Catala
Sources: Blog of the Panam Post: The Canal, International Business Times
Photo: The Guardian
How Sevenly Raises Awareness and Funds Through Art and Design
Sevenly has become an outlet to create awareness about different causes around the world and collect funding.
They team up with different charities and organizations to create purchasable art. Every purchase that a person makes results in a donation to charity. People can buy shirts, prints, special edition products and many other things in the Sevenly Finds collection.
Every week, Sevenly chooses a certain charity and organization and gives $7 of each purchase to that charity.
The apparel company was founded in 2011 and, according to an article published by Mashable, Sevenly sold 864 shirts in their first week, raising $6,125 for charity. Sevenly’s mantra is “People Matter,” and they focus on promoting the causes of the charities they work with by creating videos that explain the mission of each one.
According to an article published by the Los Angeles Times, Sevenly makes donations to seven causes—anti-slavery, clean water, hunger relief, medical help, disaster relief, miscellaneous aid and anti-poverty.
Every week that Sevenly chooses a charity, their designers create typography and images that they can put on their t-shirts, bags, hoodies and different products. These products are sold for seven days to raise money for the cause that they are supporting that specific week.
Sevenly also created a project in which each subscribed customer receives a box of different goodies worth $150 of Sevenly’s socially conscious brands. Seven percent of each CAUSEBOX purchased is donated to various charities and world-changing causes.
According to Sevenly’s CAUSEBOX website, the CAUSEBOX is a way to provide meals, education, jobs, water and many other necessities to people around the world that are in need.
A PRWeb’s article mentions that Sevenly’s CAUSEBOX products are specifically created for this box. Each subscriber will have this box delivered every three months and there are two options for subscriptions. Customers can subscribe in a quarterly subscription of $54.95 per box or in an annual subscription of $199.80 that includes 4 boxes a year for $49.95.
Another part of the CAUSEBOX by Sevenly is that subscribers can choose the charity to which their donation goes.
Fans and CAUSEBOX subscribers are able to share their thoughts and love for the causes that this box supports by joining the community with #CAUSEBOXLOVE in social media.
This apparel company has the purpose to support good causes around the world by generating awareness by the products they sell. From shirts and hoodies to jewelry and prints, Sevenly approaches these causes with the use of art and design and raises $7 for each bought product.
CAUSEBOX by Sevenly is a different approach that the company uses to spread awareness and donate to good causes around the world. It is more interactive in that, while subscribers obtain a box worth $150 of Sevenly’s socially conscious brands, they also get to select the cause to which they wish to donate.
– Diana Fernanda Leon
Sources: Mashable, Sevenly 1, Los Angeles Times , Sevenly 2 , PR Web
Photo: Blog
Katya Cherukumilli Takes on Poverty in Rural India with Bauxite
Living in poverty often means consuming contaminated drinking water. Assembled by the Blum Center for Global Engagement, Katya Cherukumilli earned recognition in June 2015 at the University of California Irvine’s Designing Solutions for Poverty challenge. She has been addressing and innovating ways to cheaply eradicate fluoride from drinking water by using a remediation solution in groundwater. In doing so, she is helping to protect those without any other source for cleaner water.
Katya Cherukumilli developed a cheap way to use bauxite, a material that produces alumina and aluminum, in order to filter out fluoride in drinking water. She is a PhD student at the University of California, Berkley, set to complete an Environmental Engineering Degree in 2017. Her work with the Gadgil Lab for Energy and Water Research found a cheap solution to the problem concerning fluorosis.
The Gadgil Lab is located at the University of California, Berkley. Its mission is to alleviate poverty using research and engineering studies. Katya Cherukumilli is working specifically with fluoride removal. Having been born near the district of interest, Nalgonda, she feels, according to Alex Chan with Daily Pilot, “This is something that is very close to my heart. Access to clean water does not seem like something people should die for.”
According to Gadgil Lab, drinking excessive levels of fluoride, above 1.5 mg/L, can cause anemia, discolored enamel and bone deformities, also known as skeletal fluorosis. Affected groundwater exists on a global scale in places like Sri Lanka, China, Est African Rift Valley, northern Mexico and Argentina.
With 200 million people drinking toxic water, 66 million in India are at risk. A site is open for examining the water in Telegana, where contamination is the most acute and fixated. Ten percent of this district has been affected and 10,000 are permanently deformed.
Groundwater in the Nalgonda District in India has a toxic amount of fluoride that causes deformities with excess intake. Skeletal fluorosis patients reside here. Granite rocks underground are breaking apart and contaminating drinking water with fluoride.
A toxic level of fluoride in drinking water is a problem that has been known for six decades. When rural areas cannot reach safer alternatives, the problem continues. Responding to this issue takes time and manpower. Areas where innovations are costly, difficult to set up or culturally ineffective make it difficult to introduce defluoridation. Gadgil Lab lists a few requirement guidelines addressing the issues.
Any technology useful to the cause must be local, affordable, and appropriate for the culture. It should require minimal maintenance and must function very successfully in the rural area.
To satisfy these requirements, Cherukumilli has been researching bauxite ore. She found that remediating groundwater fluoride needs to be more cost-effective. Cherukumilli is refining bauxite in order to minimize expenditure per person per year from $50 to $1.
Her method to reduce cost includes improving sustainability, so less material is required. Also less energy and carbon costs are needed to solve the issue.
Forty community leaders, scientists, business partners and investors at the competition agreed her progress in this field of study has absolute potential. It will protect the less fortunate from further disfigurement that affects them socially, economically and medically. Her presentation at the Irvine’s Designing Solutions for Poverty challenge received the popular vote among three others.
– Katie Groe
Sources: GADGIL Lab 1, GADGIL Lab 2, The Orange County Register, The Daily Pilot, GADGIL Lab 3
Photo: Daily Pilot
Financial Inclusion Improves Globally
What is financial inclusion? Financial inclusion is when all members of society have access to financial services at affordable prices.
What does financial inclusion have to do with poverty? Some people may not be able to afford certain financial services. In addition, financial inclusion can help decrease global poverty. For example, when people have access to financial services, they can start and expand businesses, invest in higher education for their children and withstand financial hardships more easily. When other marginalized groups like women and disabled people have access to financial services, this can improve the economy of a country as the whole.
In 2011, 51% of adults,, or roughly 2.5 billion people, did not have a bank account. Now, 62% of the world’s adult population, or 2 billion, have an account.
China, India, Indonesia, Mexico and Tanzania have seen significant increases in account ownership. Account ownership in China increased from 64% to 79%, from 20% to 36% in Indonesia, from 35% to 53% in India, from 27% to 39% in Mexico, and from 17% to 40% in Tanzania.
Mobile money accounts have also helped increase financial inclusion. In Cote d’Ivoire, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe, adults are more likely to have a mobile money account than an account at a financial institution. Mobile money accounts are the sole reason for the dramatic increase of account ownership in Tanzania.
In terms of the poor, account ownership increased disproportionately among adults in the poorest 40% of households. In 2011, only 29% of the poorest individuals had an account. Now, 46% of these individuals own an account. This is great news!
Overall, women are more likely to own an account than ever before. In 2011, 47% of women owned an account. Now, 58% of women own an account. Again, this is significant progress.
Account holders are using their accounts. About half of account owners in developing countries use their account to make or receive a payment. About a quarter of account owners in developing countries use their debit card to make direct payments. About 39% of account holders in developing countries use their accounts to save. This is secure and helps the economy grow.
Can we still make progress? The short answer is, of course we can. About half of the poorest individuals still do not have an account. Additionally, there is about a 7% gender gap in account ownership. The good news is that there are many ways that we can decrease this number.
Governments and businesses could drastically decrease the number of unbanked adults by digitizing wages and transfers. Additionally, many farmers are unbanked. About 23% of people in developing countries receive cash for agricultural sales. Countries could focus on banking these farmers. Additionally, mobile money accounts could be a way to expand account ownership significantly, especially among women and the poorest individuals.
Overall, financial inclusion is improving in developing countries. More adults than ever own an account. This will help improve both financial equality and financial prosperity.
– Ella Cady
Sources: Center for Financial Inclusion, Impatient Optimists, World Bank
Photo: Live Mint
Little Known Facts About Macedonia
Most Americans don’t know that Macedonia, a small country just north of Greece, exists, let alone that it is a nation riddled with distress. Many facts about Macedonia go unnoticed. Gaining its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, Macedonia is a young country that still faces many challenges. Macedonia has yet to solve the dispute with Greece that erupted over the origin of its name, has restricted media freedom and has limited rights for minorities. Macedonia’s membership in NATO was blocked by Greece at the Alliance’s Summit of Bucharest in 2008, and as a result the nation struggles with economic growth.
The population of Macedonia stands at around 2 million, with a median age of 36.8 years. The population is growing at a rate of 0.21 percent, ranking 180 out of all the countries in the world, and there is currently much controversy surrounding the treatment of migrants to the country. The Macedonian birth rate is 11.64 per 1,000 persons (ranked 171 out of the world’s nations), and the death rate is approximately 9 per 1,000 (ranked 66 in the world). 57 percent of the population lives in an urban environment, and luckily almost 100 percent of this population has access to drinking water.
The rest of Macedonia’s problems aside, malnutrition is not much of an issue. Although between 1.3% percent and 2.1 percent of children under the age of 5 are underweight, this statistic puts Macedonia at 128th in the world, which not bad considering all the countries that rank higher and the few that fall below, including the United States and Australia.
However, this does not mean that malnutrition is not a problem, and this percentage should still be regarded as significant and given adequate attention, as no children should have to go without proper nutrition. The most urgent of Macedonia’s struggles, however, is the current conflict with Ethnic Albanians and the treatment of migrants, and it is key that these issues are dealt with first and foremost.
-Katie Pickle
Sources: CIA, BBC
Photo: Flickr