Youth pregnancies in Côte d’Ivoire declined by an astounding 20 percent since the Zero Pregnancies in School Campaign began in 2013, according to the United Nations Population Fund. This campaign is part of a nationwide plan, supported with technical and financial assistance from UNFPA, to enable young people to make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health.
During the 2012-2013 academic year, 5,076 students became pregnant in primary or secondary school, reported the Ivorian Ministry of National and Technical Education. While the teen-age birth rate globally is 50 per 1,000 girls, in Côte d’Ivoire, the number is 125.
The 2013 UNFPA State of World Population report found that 7.3 million girls, 18-years-old and younger, give birth each year in developing countries. This reality is both a health issue as well as a development issue. Many pregnant girls are forced to drop out of school creating downward-spiraling repercussions of limited prospects.
“It is deeply rooted in poverty, gender inequality, violence, child and forced marriage, power imbalances between adolescent girls and their male partners, lack of education, and the failure of systems and institutions to protect their rights,” said Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, UNFPA Executive Director.
The high birth rates in Côte d’Ivoire undermine the country’s ability to take advantage of a demographic dividend. A demographic dividend is a window of opportunity to hasten economic growth when a population’s age structure shifts from one with fewer people of working age (15 to 65) to one with fewer dependent people (under 14 and over 65).
In response to this situation, the Ivorian Council of Ministers formally adopted the accelerated pregnancies reduction plan on April 2, 2014. The plan is a comprehensive program that integrates sexuality education in Côte d’Ivoire, teaching over several years starting in 4th grade to provide age-appropriate information at each stage.
Based on human rights principles, sexuality education encompasses more than sex education. The fundamental components of the curriculum feature the information about the human body, contraception and sexual and reproductive health. This includes knowledge about sexually-transmitted diseases and the effects of early pregnancy. The curriculum also addresses the issues of child marriage and gender-based violence so that human rights, gender equality and the empowerment of young people is advanced.
The comprehensive program offers other school activities beyond the classroom. Nationally, student clubs are being formed to raise awareness, and an arts and culture festival is planned where students can display their creative endeavors, such as plays, poems, stories and drawings about pregnancy in school. UNFPA has helped the government open a call center that provides free, confidential information. To disseminate information about health and services, various media, such as leaflets, videos, radio announcements and SMS messages will be disseminated.
Much of the needed education involves demystifying contraception and pregnancy. Amina, a pregnant student, revealed: “I did not take contraceptives because my mom told me that it might make me sterile.” Some girls are also told that not getting pregnant by age 15 or 16, “is a problem,” remarked Clarissa, 22.
The Zero Pregnancies in School Campaign was launched in Bondoukou, the most affected area in Côte d’Ivoire. Students in the region brought banners to the event with such messages as “Zero pregnancy in school, I endorse it,” “You don’t get a child pregnant” and “I am a child. A child doesn’t bear a child. A child goes to school to succeed.”
The government is making even further changes. Laws have been introduced that increase penalties for the sexual abuse of minors. Most significantly, this includes sanctions against teachers who abuse their students. Girls are often pressured into sex with teachers in order to get good grades.
Additionally, the government is planning to build better housing for the 10,000 to 15,000 students in cities that must board. This will enable the young students to have proper housing where boys and girls do not have to share a room.
The government also no longer expels girls when they are pregnant, and girls are returning to school after giving birth. Amina told UNFPA, “My mom takes care of my baby when I come to school.” Clarissa’s mom also takes care of her son. Clarissa explained to UNFPA that she still has her dreams: “I lost a school year,” but “I want to become a teacher.”
– Janet Quinn
Sources: UNFPA, UNFPA, Demographic Dividend, UNFPA
Photo: Flickr
CNNMoney’s Upstart 30 Project
CNNMoney launched its Upstart 30 Project in late June. It profiles 30 young innovative startups and their respective founding entrepreneurs and investors.
The list is broken down into five categories: the idealists, the funders, the simplifiers, the playmakers and the futurists. All of which comprise individuals from a variety of fields.
To take part, startups must be established in the United States, be no younger than five-years-old, and harness technology in hopes of making the world a better place. After a series of tests, the Upstart 30 Project was formed. The list is diverse in geography, gender, race, and industries.
Whether it is a solution to the current archaic U.S. school system, an agricultural phenomenon in a box, or an ingenious medical tool, Upstart 30 spotlights visionaries that are making serious headway, all before the age of 40.
While many of the startups tackle commonplace inefficiencies, several address national and global issues, and have the potential of reducing global poverty in unlikely ways.
BioBots brings personalized medicine tools. According to its profile on CNNMoney, the startup’s first product was a 3D printer for building cells, tissues and organs. BioBots’ printer is uniquely small and inexpensive. It can fit on a desktop and is priced at around $5,000. For now, the bio printer is for research. CEO Danny Cabrera, 22, said that his two co-founders and him are hoping to broaden their client base to include pharmaceutical companies who could use their products for testing cancer drugs. BioBots has a bright future in the United States, but could do wonders internationally.
Freight Farms is a farm in a box. Founders, Brad McNamara and Jonathan Freidman, created the boxes out of old shipping containers. The insulated, camera-equipped devices use LED lights and advanced monitors to regulate weather conditions, nutrient intake and carbon dioxide levels, all without soil. The startup launched in 2011, and already made $5 million. At $76,000 apiece, restaurants, schools, and hotels have mainly bought the boxes. While this is very expensive, the payoffs are incredible: each container produces 4,000 to 6,000 plants a week according to Shawn Cooney, a small business owner testing the Freight Farm. This is nearly 80 times more than Cooney would have gotten from a conventional farm space. The high cost keeps Freight Farms away from the developing world but, if ever brought down, Freight Farms could increase food security around the world.
uBiome scans a person’s body and micro biome. uBiome kits locate where diseases take root, and how they escalate. According to CNNMoney, uBiome completely changes the ways we examine anxiety, diabetes and heart disease. The $79 kits test bacteria, analyze results, and compare data to other profiles. This quick and cutting-edge device could easily help millions of people in developing nations.
Plangrid is a paper-saving blueprint alternative for construction engineers. By using a tablet to alter and share blueprints, Tracy
Young, Ryan Sutton-Gee, Ralph Gootee and Kenny Stone are making sure buildings are drawn from reliable sources. So far, Plangrid has been a success since it began only three years ago. The app helped build over 90,000 projects worldwide. Plangrid, however, has a long way to go until it can reach rural populations most in need of new buildings.
– Lin Sabones
Sources: PlanGrid, CNN
Photo: CNNMoney
ONE Launches Poverty Is Sexist Campaign
Gender equality is a basic human right that dignifies not only what each sex deserves, but what the social relationships between sexes must entail. According to the UNDP, the majority of children not attending school are girls, and nearly two-thirds of women in the developing world work informally without pay. Furthermore, “despite greater parliamentary participation, women are still outnumbered four-to-one in legislatures around the world.”
ONE launched its Poverty Is Sexist campaign in solidarity #WithStrongGirls. The social media-driven platform asks young girls and women everywhere to strike a pose and post it online with the hashtag #Strengthie. Participants are encouraged to tag women in their lives whose strength they admire, and share a link to ONE.org so that friends and family can also join in the movement. Beyond the hashtag, though, Poverty Is Sexist asks the world to pay closer attention to global gender imbalances. According to the organization, nearly half of women’s skills are overlooked, compared to just 22 percent of men’s. Whether these gender prejudices come from cultural or legal institutions, the group’s campaign advocates for greater change across the board.
Women play vital roles in global markets. ONE reports that in Sub-Saharan Africa, half of the agricultural labor force is female. African women also contribute greatly to the health sector by being healthcare providers and primary caregivers.
Poverty Is Sexist is targeting the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals in order to safeguard the needs of women and girls.
Beyond Poverty Is Sexist, the ONE Blog shares how female empowerment is advancing around the world. There are stories of how breakdancing is encouraging physical and mental endurance among women, and how sewing machines are financing educational equality. The organization often spotlights independent blog publications; Indego Africa, a nonprofit social enterprise in Rwanda, published Photo Essay: Radiant Women of Rwanda, which was an exposé celebrating the 30 seamstresses working at the Umutima cooperative in Myamirambo, Kigali, Rwanda. The portraits drew upon the joy, pride and independence each woman possessed in her life.
– Lin Sabones
Sources: ONE 1, ONE 2, ONE 3, ONE 4, ONE 5, UNDP
Photo: New Internationalist
Use of Impoverished Children in Pornography
Pornography is a business globally worth $57 billion, with the United States accounting for over $11 billion. Pornography was first developed as a means to help individuals fulfill their sexual fantasies and serve as a criminal deterrent against violent crimes, but pornography has just made sex more violent. Just as the pornography industry began to flourish, a survey of U.S. college girls showed that 69.8 percent of them had been “verbally coerced” into having “unwanted sex.” And in the United Kingdom in 2006, 33 percent of all women say that they have been forced into sex. Pornography has been further exacerbated through the Internet and the emerging trend to use child victims. Statistics indicate that upon the legalization of pornography, emerging growth rates of failed marriages have occurred, as well as an increase in sex-related crimes.
In 2013, child pornography arrests grew by 2,500 percent. It is attributed to the demand and an impoverished supply. Families under economically desperate conditions utilize their children as vessels of income. Pornography pretends to offer economic gain to the vulnerable, many of whom are led by coercion, force or kidnapping. In general there is an issue with the way in which the poor are represented in media. The media’s use of impoverished people objectifies them, as does pornography.
Sex industry recruiters and sexual deviants alike choose from a pool of candidates who have experienced various levels of previous exploitation and remain economically desperate. In countries such as Kenya, children as young as the age of six are sold and used in child pornography. The documentary “ Working Lives” is about child sex tourism and pornography in Kenya’s coastal towns. It discusses how in Kenya, some parents send their children to have sex for foreigners for as little as one dollar.
Due to limited options, some parents choose to knowingly rent their children for pornographic or sex slave purposes. In “The Secret Child Sex Trade Hiding in Kenya’s Tropical Paradise,” viewers are introduced to a six-year-old girl suffering from signs of rape, sodomy and beatings, that occurred on film for pornographic purposes.
In the Philippines, there was a major case involving a made-to-order porn operation, with charges that include murder and torture. An Australian made a global business of using impoverished victims for sexual and violent performances based upon customer request. Here he monopolized on the poverty and was strategic when choosing the cities, local child recruiters and victims. Often, he would utilize the other poor local children to establish connections and lure in street children. The documentary “ Catching a Monster” covers methods of grooming and deviant practices to recruit the needy for pornographic use.
His youngest performer was an 18-month-old girl name Daisi, of whom he created a series of pornographic videos of her sexual abuse. All of the children used in these videos had parents that had been coerced by false promises and the opportunity to provide a better life for their children.
Many people are victims to poverty and more so generational poverty, that has passed down impoverishment from the previous generations. Many of those in vulnerable populations experience exploitation and are forced to become workers in the sex industry. For the extreme poor, many questionable work opportunities arise; pornography is one of them. Ending poverty can help to decrease victimized children in pornography.
– Erika Wright
Sources: Oh My News, Feed the Right Wolf, Huffington Post, The Crime Report,
Sexuality Education in Côte d’Ivoire Revamped by the Zero Pregnancies in School Campaign
During the 2012-2013 academic year, 5,076 students became pregnant in primary or secondary school, reported the Ivorian Ministry of National and Technical Education. While the teen-age birth rate globally is 50 per 1,000 girls, in Côte d’Ivoire, the number is 125.
The 2013 UNFPA State of World Population report found that 7.3 million girls, 18-years-old and younger, give birth each year in developing countries. This reality is both a health issue as well as a development issue. Many pregnant girls are forced to drop out of school creating downward-spiraling repercussions of limited prospects.
“It is deeply rooted in poverty, gender inequality, violence, child and forced marriage, power imbalances between adolescent girls and their male partners, lack of education, and the failure of systems and institutions to protect their rights,” said Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, UNFPA Executive Director.
The high birth rates in Côte d’Ivoire undermine the country’s ability to take advantage of a demographic dividend. A demographic dividend is a window of opportunity to hasten economic growth when a population’s age structure shifts from one with fewer people of working age (15 to 65) to one with fewer dependent people (under 14 and over 65).
In response to this situation, the Ivorian Council of Ministers formally adopted the accelerated pregnancies reduction plan on April 2, 2014. The plan is a comprehensive program that integrates sexuality education in Côte d’Ivoire, teaching over several years starting in 4th grade to provide age-appropriate information at each stage.
Based on human rights principles, sexuality education encompasses more than sex education. The fundamental components of the curriculum feature the information about the human body, contraception and sexual and reproductive health. This includes knowledge about sexually-transmitted diseases and the effects of early pregnancy. The curriculum also addresses the issues of child marriage and gender-based violence so that human rights, gender equality and the empowerment of young people is advanced.
The comprehensive program offers other school activities beyond the classroom. Nationally, student clubs are being formed to raise awareness, and an arts and culture festival is planned where students can display their creative endeavors, such as plays, poems, stories and drawings about pregnancy in school. UNFPA has helped the government open a call center that provides free, confidential information. To disseminate information about health and services, various media, such as leaflets, videos, radio announcements and SMS messages will be disseminated.
Much of the needed education involves demystifying contraception and pregnancy. Amina, a pregnant student, revealed: “I did not take contraceptives because my mom told me that it might make me sterile.” Some girls are also told that not getting pregnant by age 15 or 16, “is a problem,” remarked Clarissa, 22.
The Zero Pregnancies in School Campaign was launched in Bondoukou, the most affected area in Côte d’Ivoire. Students in the region brought banners to the event with such messages as “Zero pregnancy in school, I endorse it,” “You don’t get a child pregnant” and “I am a child. A child doesn’t bear a child. A child goes to school to succeed.”
The government is making even further changes. Laws have been introduced that increase penalties for the sexual abuse of minors. Most significantly, this includes sanctions against teachers who abuse their students. Girls are often pressured into sex with teachers in order to get good grades.
Additionally, the government is planning to build better housing for the 10,000 to 15,000 students in cities that must board. This will enable the young students to have proper housing where boys and girls do not have to share a room.
The government also no longer expels girls when they are pregnant, and girls are returning to school after giving birth. Amina told UNFPA, “My mom takes care of my baby when I come to school.” Clarissa’s mom also takes care of her son. Clarissa explained to UNFPA that she still has her dreams: “I lost a school year,” but “I want to become a teacher.”
– Janet Quinn
Sources: UNFPA, UNFPA, Demographic Dividend, UNFPA
Photo: Flickr
The Voss Foundation: Creating a Ripple Effect
The Voss Foundation works in sub-Saharan Africa to provide sustainable access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). Its community-driven approach maintains projects in seven countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Swaziland, and Uganda.
The Voss Foundation mimics the ripple effect from a drop of water in a bucket. When it builds a well, it aims to trigger positive change throughout every sector in a community. Clean water advances development in rural communities by propelling local employment, and in consequence, local economies. Every year, 7.2 billion dollars is saved because of proper water and sanitation. Stronger trends in child development are a result of clean water, hygiene, and sanitation systems because children consume safer diets. Nearly 2,000 children die each day from preventable diseases linked to poor WASH systems. Likewise, food security increases as a result of effective water management. Education sees increases in enrollment and attendance, totaling to 544 million school attendance days gained per year thanks to access to water and sanitation.
Proper sanitation systems reduce the likelihood of contracting water-borne illnesses. Having functioning toilets and practicing hand washing alone prevents diarrheal diseases by 40 percent. Increased attention to health centers protects maternal health, of which 99 percent occur in the developing world.
Generally speaking, quality of life rises as a result of greater access to WASH systems. Women, for example, are able to pursue personal goals like obtaining an education and employment, which conventionally links to embracing female empowerment and equality. The Voss Foundation reports that for every year of primary school, girls’ future wages increase by 10-20 percent. Earning separate incomes also prompts greater gender parity.
The Voss Foundation builds wells and water systems to ensure that these benefits spread worldwide. In Latawken, Kenya, a water system attracted more students to the area, forcing local authorities to expand the school. In Kalebuka, in the Dominican Republic of the Congo, a well provided water for cementing The Malaika School for Girls. In 2011, the school enrolled 106 girls, and by Fall 2015 it expanded to 230 girls. The well continues to provide clean water to the school for its kitchens, gardens, and bathrooms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufYRGdHEBk8
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, girls are receiving education from the Malaika School for Girls. Thanks to the well built by the Voss Foundation, the school increased enrollment from its original 106 girls in 2011 to 230 girls in Fall 2015. In Pel, Mali, Voss built five wells. “One of them” according to the Voss Foundation, “is at a garden owned by a local women’s cooperative.”
Every Voss project empowers women. Voss projects recruit local council members to oversee the wells or water system, and every water management committee requires at least half of its staff to be female.
The Voss Foundation’s campaign, Women Helping Women, alone raised $650,000 in Europe and the United States. Voss reports that the profits funded 21 clean water access points and 291 sanitation facilities in Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and Swaziland, as of February 2015.
VOSS launched another event called One Well at a Time. The contest lasted from March 22 to April 22, 2015. Participants had to promote the issue of water scarcity in sub-Saharan Africa and how gaining access will positively affect short and long-term well-being in local communities. They had the option of choosing from one of three entry methods: an original or rights-free stock photo with a 50-200-word explanation, an original video no longer than three minutes, or a Be Inspired fact with a 50-200 explanation. The winner was announced on Earth Day. Matthew Kistler won the all-expense paid trip to Swaziland and attended the Dedication Ceremony of VOSS Water of Norway and Voss Foundation’s New Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Project.
The Norwegian water company prides itself on serving the 1/6 of the world’s population that has no access to clean drinking water. Approximately two million people die each year from preventable illnesses related to unclean water and poor sanitation. Over 700 million people cannot access clean water and 325 million alone reside in sub-Saharan Africa. Collecting water, on average, requires women and children to walk as far as ten miles per day to the closest, oftentimes unclean, water source. That totals to nearly 140 million hours in just one day, which is comparable to building the Empire State Building 20 times. The Voss Foundation works to eliminate these statistics. Through integrative solutions and sustainable practices, the Voss Foundation aims “to provide meaningful aid” too the 345 million people in sub-Saharan Africa without clean water.
– Lin Sabones
Sources: Voss Foundation 1, Voss Foundation 2, Voss Foundation 3, Voss Foundation 4, Voss Foundation 5, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, PR Newswire
Photo: Voss Foundation
Flooding Persists in Myanmar
Flooding is usually just a normal part of life in Myanmar. With every annual monsoon season comes the floods, yet this year has been different.
Since June, this Southeast Asian country has experienced some of its worst flooding in decades. In total, the natural disaster has critically affected almost 1 million people and killed at least 103. There has also been an agricultural toll; water has flooded more than 1 million acres of rice fields and destroyed more than 150,000 acres.
The floods have had a widespread impact on Myanmar with all but two of the country’s 14 states affected by rains. However, some are worse off than others.
Four regions in particular, Chin, Sagaing, Magwe and Rakhine have experienced the worst of the floods. The national government stated that all four had become natural disaster zones.
Sadly these regions were also some of the most impoverished and vulnerable in “a country where nearly 70 percent of people live close to the $2/day poverty threshold,” according to UNICEF. These states face what the UN has dubbed a ‘double catastrophe,’ both extreme poverty and natural disaster.
Children comprise a substantial 34 percent of Myanmar’s population and are among the worst victims of this disaster. According to UNICEF Deputy Representative in Myanmar Shalini Bahuguna, “The floods are hitting children and families who are already very vulnerable, including those living in camps in Rakhine State…Beyond the immediate impact, the floods will have a longer term impact on the livelihoods of these families.”
Of the four most devastated states, Rakhine seems the worst off. In addition to floods, the Cyclone Komen touched down causing even more destruction. Currently 140,000 children and families have been forced to out of their homes and must live in camps designed only for short-term use.
However, even these numbers are not entirely comprehensive. UN officials have struggled to access townships in the region due to the destruction of infrastructure.
The Myanmar government in tandem with UNICEF and other UN agencies has worked recently to mitigate the damages caused by natural disasters. They have sent teams of officials to survey the destruction and to provide water purification, hygiene and health supplies to those in need.
Shalini Bahuguna also added that “We are working with the Government to get emergency messages out to local communities through radio, to tell people how to prevent water borne diseases.”
In one of the most devastated areas, Chin State, UNICEF has worked to provide stranded refugees with access to latrines constructed from local resources.
So far UNICEF has requested $9.2 million in funds for humanitarian aid for children in Myanmar. While this sum is by no means worthless, it pales in comparison to the region’s aid requirements even before the disasters. Early in 2015, the organization requested $24.9 million to assist children in Rakhine state but only managed to garner a mere $5.6 million. With this taken into account, Myanmar still needs far more foreign aid than it has received.
Though perhaps operating on a tight budget, UNICEF has still accomplished a substantial amount. They have provided 860,000 water purification tablets, which are enough for 57,000 people for just over two weeks. Similarly, they have distributed 6,000 hygiene kits for 30,000 people. Of course, much more funding is required in order to meet the needs of all of Myanmar’s people.
– Andrew Logan
Sources: Unicef 1, Unicef 2, Reuters, BBC, Al Jazeera
Photo: Stuff
Kenya’s Geothermal Energy Revolution
Once the cradle of humanity several millennia ago, Africa’s rift valley is again about to give birth to something new. Nestled amongst the cliff walls that formerly contained a prehistoric lake, a seemingly primordial vapor rises, pungent with the smell of sulphur.
This is Kenya’s Hell’s Gate National Park, the doors to which open to a much needed energy oasis for this developing African country. As famous for its Maasai heritage as it is for its abundant thermal springs, Hell’s Gate has recently become a hotspot for sustainable geothermal energy development in east Africa.
The burgeoning Olkaria geothermal plant located within the park has spearheaded this effort to tap Kenya’s ideal thermal resources. With assistance from the World Bank, the power plant has dug into the earth to provide carbon-free power to Kenyans. Annually, the plant drills more than 40 wells, each of which can provide 18 megawatts per year in clean energy. The plant hopes to reach 580 megawatts in the coming years.
Energy efforts such as these could not have come at a better time for Kenya. Currently only 16 percent of the population has access to electricity. For those who do, the rationing of power has become a regular nuisance, as electricity is both undependable and inefficient.
Fortunately, Kenya has the geothermal potential to turn its energy crisis around. A report by the Geothermal Energy Association noted Kenya as “one of the fasted growing geothermal markets in the world.”
It predicted that “Kenya will lead the world with substantial additions to their geothermal infrastructure over the next decade and become a center of geothermal technology on the African continent.”
In total, the east African Rift Valley has the capacity to power 150 million homes, a World Bank report estimated. Geoffrey Muchemi, the geothermal development manager for the Kenya Electricity Generating Company claimed that, ideally, in 10 years’ time Kenya could rival the entire US energy capacity at around 3,000 megawatts.
For Kenya, geothermal represents a more reliable and sustainable energy option in comparison to other popular sources. Hydro-electric power, once a staple of the Kenyan power grid, has begun to dry up. Due to often unpredictable rainy seasons, it frequently fails to provide enough energy and runs 42 percent below capacity. Another main power source, Diesel, runs at only 60 percent of its capability and needs constant maintenance.
In comparison, geothermal runs almost always at 100 percent. While geothermal represents only 13 percent of Kenya’s energy capacity, it contributes nearly a quarter of the grid’s power. It is already carrying more than its fair share of Kenya’s energy needs.
However, geothermal has its faults. Unlike other power options, it requires highly skilled technicians. In a developing country such as Kenya, geothermal training programs are hard to come by.
Fortunately, the UN identified this problem decades ago and established the first Geothermal Training Programme in Iceland in 1979. Every year, Kenya’s Electricity Generating Company sends eight employees for training.
Despite its complexity, geothermal power has the potential to change millions of lives in Kenya. After the creation of the power plant, people could work longer hours allowing business owners like Elizabeth Kyalo, the owner of a hair salon, to send her children to school. With electric streetlights, residents fear less about nighttime muggings and experience a greater sense of security. From the sulfurous springs of Hell’s Gate national park, safety and success are just beginning to rise.
– Andrew Logan
Sources: The World Bank 1, The World Bank 2, Geothermal Energy Association, The Guardian
Photo: Power Engineering International
Recovering from Natural Disasters: Japan
Water, wind, fire and earth are four key elements which, when combined properly, create a perfectly harmonious world. But if one decides to go slightly awry, disaster can strike.
When disaster strikes, media coverage of the event and its aftermath is extensive and intense. After all of the tragic glamour of the disaster subsides, however, the public rarely hears any more about the victims, who are forced to rebuild their lives for years.
Water strikes in the form of a tsunami, one of which hit Japan rather brutally in 2011 and whose mark can still be seen four years later. While Japan is rather used to getting hit with natural disasters, as it has been home to some of the worst disasters in the 21st century, according to the Japan Times, it still has around 230,000 people living in temporary housing four years after the tsunami. Recovery has been slow partially because of the involvement of another element, earth: Soon after the tsunami hit, an earthquake followed. This came as a result of Japan existing within the “Ring of Fire,” which is the area of the world most susceptible to earthquakes due to tectonic plate positioning. The combined damages from the earthquake and the tsunami totaled to around $300 billion.
This earthquake caused a crack in a nuclear reactor close to Japanese water supplies, and this small, fiery crack led to a whole host of issues. Contaminated water was only another issue on a long list of things that needed to be fixed after this collection of tragic events. To repair the damage, Japan enacted a seven step plan, which has been slowly making progress and is almost complete. But none of this would have been possible without the aid of foreign nations and the support systems they have in place.
In the United States, there are organizations such as the Red Cross and FEMA, which allocate money and volunteers to help in the event of an emergency. Internationally, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies act to help nations develop and carry out their disaster relief plans. While the IRFC has developed several guidelines and regulations, few states have followed these regulations without contradicting one another. Recently, the organization has strived to perfect its work by releasing guidelines that strictly adhere to those adopted by state parties at the Geneva Convention, and have also created model acts and disaster law databases to permit governments to ensure that they are getting the best help possible.
Disaster can strike without warning and the side effects can lasts for years afterward. It is imperative for the global community to understand the old economic theory of the butterfly effect — when one problem occurs, even if it is halfway across the world, it will have repercussions for everyone. By helping each other grow and recover we preserve industry, trade and the lives of individuals who do not have a place to call home. Disaster can ruin lives, but that does not mean that we should let it.
– Sumita Tellakat
Sources: IFRC, Live Science
Photo: The New York Times
What We Fail to Mention About Foreign Aid
1. Foreign aid remains essential for developing nations. Providing healthcare, clean water, food, shelter, vaccines and schools can create opportunity. The catch we must avoid is generalizing these methods. Aid projects succeed when they target regions’ specific needs and histories.
2. We need to actually invest in the communities we serve. This requires “patient capital” which, according to CEO of Acumen, Jacqueline Novogratz, is “money that is invested in entrepreneurs who know their communities and are building solutions…thinking of low income people not as passive recipients of charity, but as individual customers, consumers, clients, people who want to make decisions in their own lives.” Patient capital is an inclusive approach to uplifting people out of poverty. While it requires risk, experimentation, and patience, the social impact can be enormous.
Journalist and activist, Andrew Mwenda, also advocates for wealth-creating “agents” that also give way to systems of productivity. “Wealth,” explains Mwenda, “is a function of income, and income comes from you finding a profitable trading opportunity or a well-paying job.” So, what is the solution? Entrepreneurs.
3. Economic gains in foreign aid investment beats the stock market. Paul O’Connell is the president and partner of FDO Partners, LLC, which is an investment management and research firm managing upwards to US$2.3 billion. O’Connell’s TedTalk, “Investments in the future: A new approach to foreign aid” talks about the economic gains from investing in poverty-related issues like vaccinations, education, and clean water, versus investing in the stock market. Investing in each category earns two to even six times the return in comparison to investing in stocks. O’Connell urges private investors to take the reigns on these investments because the payouts will be enormous.
– Lin Sabones
Sources: TED 1, TED 2, TED 3, Wall Street Journal, Oxfam America
Photo: USAID
Rebuilding Education in Sierra Leone
Before the Revolutionary United Front crossed from Liberia into Sierra Leone and started the 12-year war, Sierra Leone had one of the best education systems in Africa. Rebuilding education in Sierra Leone since has been a challenge and Ebola has made it even more difficult.
Only 48.09 percent of the population above the age of 15 in Sierra Leone are literate. Primary school enrollment is over 130 percent due to the amount of non primary school aged Sierra Leoneans who are attending classes because they missed out on educational services during the war. The UN estimates that 64 percent of primary aged children are enrolled in school.
During the 12 years of the war, there was no education unless the families fled to Guinea or Liberia. Out of the crisis of the civil war came an opportunity to ensure education would grow and enhance the livelihoods of Sierra Leoneans.
The Netherlands provided funding to the Cross Border Schools Project in Sierra Leone and has trained over 3,000 educators. After completing the training programs, teachers plan their own lessons and find their teaching methods are making a bigger impact.
Education in Sierra Leone is taken seriously by the government. Sierra Leone spends 14 percent of its national budget on education, which is much higher than most other countries in the region.
Other improvements have been made as well. 76 percent of Sierra Leonean children complete primary school and many go on to junior secondary education. However, 50 percent of primary school teachers still have no qualifications.
It cost $20 to send a Sierra Leonean to school and 70 percent of Sierra Leone families are living on less than a dollar a day. Poverty, child marriage, pregnancy and sexual abuse are the most significant barriers to education for girls in Sierra Leone.
UNICEF works on ensuring girls are attending school through building classrooms, providing sanitation facilities, training teachers and providing learning materials. The rights of girls in the classroom are protected through rights-based and gender-sensitive environments that helps girls succeed in the classroom.
Sierra Leone is still healing from the wounds left by the Revolutionary United Front during the civil war, but education is gradually improving and the youth are benefiting from the revival of education.
– Donald Gering
Sources: Al Jazeera, Global Partnership, Social Progress Imperative, UNICEF 1, UNICEF 2, UNICEF 3
Photo: Just Giving