Surrounded on all sides by its neighbor South Africa, the little country of Lesotho is the largest enclave in the world; larger than its only rivals Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City.
Essentially a landlocked island amidst African highlands, Lesotho also features the lowest point of any country in the world, measured at 1400 meters or 4,953 feet. However, it has another, less fortunate distinction; it places third on the list of countries with the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence.
In total, nearly one-quarter of the population lives with HIV, which accounts for 360,000 people. Close to 26,000 new HIV infections and 14,000 AIDS deaths were recorded in 2011. Of these infections, 40,000 are in children while around 60 percent of adults with HIV are women. On top of these harrowing figures, 42 percent who need treatment cannot access it.
Lesotho’s first reported incidence of HIV occurred in 1986 and accelerated rapidly into a national epidemic. While the government made attempts to monitor and treat the illness, the proved insufficient due to poor finances and infrastructure. Just six years later, in 1992, 3.2 percent of pregnant women between the ages of 20 and 24 had HIV. By 1996, the figures had exploded; in just four years, a quarter of the same demographic was living with HIV.
The sheer extent of this illness has had a detrimental impact on the development of Lesotho. The most productive age group in the country is also the most infected. This has compromised their ability to work and sustain themselves and their families.
For the Basotho people, family is vital. For centuries, extended relatives have supported one another through any hardship. However, AIDS/HIV has eroded this support system by orphaning 220,000 children. This has left children as the head of families in which the working generations are debilitated or have died.
One can notice the extent of the AIDS epidemic by looking at the data. It has significantly shortened the life span of the average Basotho to just 48.3 years from nearly 60 years in 1990.
Moreover, the two main statistics most indicative of development, GDP and the Under Five Mortality Rate have worsened. Since 1990, the Under Five Mortality rate has risen from 85 in 1000 to 100 in 1000. While from 1970 to 1990 the average annual growth rate of Lesotho stood at 3 percent, it fallen to 2.6 from 1990 to 2012.
With such a widespread influence throughout Lesotho, the nation’s government, along with international aid groups has made efforts to tackle the AIDS crisis. The first step was to provide universal testing for the entire country. Beginning in 2004, the program called “Know Your Status” involved training thousands of health care workers to perform swift HIV testing. However, the government has only trained one-quarter of the required workers, failing to meet its objective of universal coverage.
Besides testing, the government has implemented a variety of campaigns to confront the epidemic, but with mixed results. It introduced HIV/AIDS awareness to the curriculums of both primary and secondary schools. A ‘road show’ was also planned to inform communities about AIDS/HIV while providing both entertainment and HIV testing. Despite the efforts, only 29 percent of 15 to 24-year-old males and 29 percent of females from the same demographic had an understanding of HIV prevention.
Unlike awareness efforts, the distribution of cheap condoms has also served as an effective mainstay of HIV intervention in Lesotho. In 2001 affordable condoms began selling throughout communities. The sales spiked, with the number of distributors tripling and the number of condoms bought doubling.
In order to help those already infected with AIDS, the government has worked to provide better access to antiretroviral treatments. Since 2004 the government of Lesotho has sought to make antiretroviral treatment free to those in need. With only 89 trained medical professionals in the whole country, the program lagged behind at first. But since expansion in 2008 coverage has expanded to around 86,000 people, or close to 60 percent of those needing treatment. Still, only a quarter of children in need receive antiretroviral treatment.
While Lesotho has become closer to controlling its AIDS epidemic it has come at the cost of the nation’s development. Despite its aspirations, the country’s inadequate infrastructure, health care and budget have hindered its efforts. With more foreign assistance, Lesotho has the capacity to get back on its feet.
– Andrew Logan
Sources: Avert, CIA, PEPFAR, UNDP, UNICEF 1, UNICEF 2
Photo: NY Times
Mobile Technology Poised to Generate Land Ownership for 4 Billion People
For the world’s poorest and most vulnerable populations, land ownership is an economic resource and critical determinant of social and cultural identity. But for the 4 billion people who live without registered land, landlessness can mean economic insecurity, no personal address with which to vote or receive aid, and a constant state of disputation and residential impermanence.
One implication of massive concentrations of unregistered land is the loss of wealth that they have the potential to generate. But perhaps more importantly, the absence of established land title systems means that property ownership is not guaranteed. As Devex development reporter Naki Mendoza notes, this has serious consequences for developing countries.
“Farmers cannot legally pass down ancestral lands to their children. Families cannot secure a mortgage or use property as collateral for a loan,” he writes. “And local communities are shut out from negotiations with extractive companies. For governments, it represents a sizable loss of tax revenues or, crucially, a foreign direct investment that will never be made because of uncertainty over property rights.”
Data accumulation mechanisms are poised to remedy these problems by streamlining land registration and giving local communities the ability to monitor and enforce their rights to their land. Data and analytics company Thomson Reuters has created a proprietary land information system that digitizes and archives land deeds in government databases, a practice that safeguards against the loss or damage of paper deeds.
Like mobile banking or online healthcare, digitization can reduce the opportunity cost of land registration from a multiday journey to a local registrar to a minutes-long mobile upload. The digital platform is also linked to satellite mapping systems, which provide updated property lines and can be used to mediate disputes between families, communities or even multinational extraction companies.
As Mendoza points out, these digital platforms have yielded concrete results. In Cape Town, South Africa, 915,148 properties were reported on its tax roll last year, up 66% since 2000. In Jamaica, it now takes only two days to register new property, down from 45 days in 2005. In the Philippines, nearly 60,000 urban land titles are issued each year, compared to just a few thousand as of five years ago.
With increasingly large and accessible quantities of land management data, a number of global institutions have commenced programs to secure land rights for the world’s 4 billion landless people. Earlier this month, at the Third International Conference on Financing and Development in Addis Ababa, the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the World Bank signed a Declaration of Intent to establish a Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa (NELGA) to establish a widespread system of land registration and land rights. NELGA will complement the existing Land Policy Initiative, whose stated purpose is “to enable the use of land to lend impetus to the process of African development.”
“Secure access to land and other natural resources is of vital importance for the people in rural areas of Africa,” said German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Dr. Gerd Müller. “It will be an important contribution for food security and growth in the agricultural sectors, especially for smallholders.”
The demand for online land management services marks an opportunity for American companies looking to apply data and analytic systems to relieve people living in states of extreme poverty. It would also help millions of people establish a state of permanency for themselves and their families, which precedes activities like consumption and local investment. As land registration becomes more accessible for those living in extreme poverty, demand for modern information systems will become more widespread, and the door will continue to open for American technology companies and mobile developers in developing regions.
– Zach VeShancey
Sources: Devex, Leadership, Rural Poverty Portal
Photo: Devex
Fourth World Love Preserves Indigenous Villages
Fourth World Love defines the term “fourth world” as being exotic civilizations existing just beyond third world communities. Fourth World communities are usually located in obscure regions not typically visited by other people. These communities already have a set infrastructure they live by, but Fourth World Love works to help them keep up these unique infrastructures by supplying them with resources and innovative ideas and technologies.
Fourth World Love: Unique Development
The Fourth World Love organization was started by Misty Tosh and Lisa Colangelo who decided to create the organization in 2008 after filming a television show for the Travel Channel in Yelapa, Mexico. While there, they met people from a fourth world village who charmed them with their kindness and simplistic lifestyle. While filming, they noticed a crucial issue with their village; while they knew they had an established lifestyle, they realized they were not utilizing their resources to the best of their abilities. Tosh and Colangelo sought to help these people without tarnishing their beliefs.
Fourth World Love serves as a middleman for indigenous villages. They connect them with the resources and technology needed for villages to thrive without the technology conflicting with their lifestyles.
The members of Fourth World Love have worked on a variety of projects ranging from raising money through recycling to helping improve educational facilities in indigenous villages. One project raised enough money to provide a sanitation system in a village in Sembalum East Lombok Regency, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia.
The sanitation system will give the village a public toilet that will help with waste management, and Fourth World Love will create the toilet out of recycled products. The Sanitation System will also provide residents with clean water for proper hygiene.
Another project enacted by Fourth World Love allowed members from their Community Development Center to build and expand schools in indigenous villages in Sembalun. With donations, they were able to add libraries, multiple classrooms and a common area for students to study and hang out in.
Volunteers for Fourth World Love help out with the Community Development Center in preparing villages for possible tourism, teaching them English and working on organic farms. Helping villagers start up their own businesses, working with the elderly and playing with children are also among the tasks completed by volunteers. Tosh and Colangelo, along with many volunteers, have traveled to multiple villages and continue to help them strive and be successful, and Fourth World Love will continue to empower communities through grassroots projects.
– Julia Hettiger
Sources: Fly For Good, Fourth World Love, Matador Network
Photo: Matador Network
Corazones para Peru Provides Helps Children
Herzen für eine neue Welt (Hearts for a New World) was founded in Konigstein, Germany in 1998. Their project, Corazones para Peru, works to improve living conditions for children and families in the Peruvian Andes’ Chicon Valley near Cusco. In the past 17 years, Corazones para Peru has established a children’s village, multiple schools and two health centers.
The children’s village, located in Munaycha, Peru, has become home to over 80 orphaned or abandoned children. The village features a healthcare system, schools and a bridge program for college students in need of a place to live. The health facilities service over 400 people a month providing them with immediate healthcare, vaccinations and pharmaceutics.
Volunteers for Corazones para Peru have built 13 schools, allowing 1,000 children to receive an education. Along with these schools, members of the organization established kindergartens to prepare 50 children a year for school.
The village is supplied by an organic agricultural center, and volunteers have planted over 20,000 trees to prevent soil erosion and contribute to the economy of the village. It also features two psychologists, a social assistant, a pedagogue and three trained cooks to help raise the children physically and mentally apt to grow up to be healthy and well adults. Seven live-in dormitory matrons and 16 trained volunteers also contribute to the village staff.
Schools built in the village are equipped with jungle gyms, gymnasiums and recreational centers and all follow Corazones para Peru’s meal program. Many times, children have to walk many miles to reach schools just to spend the whole day learning on an empty stomach. The meal program eradicates this issue by supplying schools with meals for students. Throughout the last couple of years, Corazones para Peru has invested two million dollars to supply schools with basic educational materials like blackboards, books and pencils.
German volunteers teach English, physical education and extracurricular classes to students in the village. In addition, they teach them valuable skills like teamwork and tolerance and provide them with financial and personnel support.
Corazones para Peru’s project, Learning with Heart, strives to help children, especially young girls, receive an education. In Peru, completion of secondary school is a requirement for apprenticeships and attending universities. Many residents miss their chance of receiving an education because the school is too expensive or the family experiences a great financial loss from the loss of labor. Learning with Heart supports families with monthly funds so their children can attend school and become who they want to be.
Hearts for a New World plans to continue working in Peru for many years with the goal of rounding out future generations of Peruvians to create a better living environment and community for Peru’s residents.
– Julia Hettiger
Sources: Herzen Helfen, Shoulder To Shoulder, Matador Network
Photo: Flickr
Plant Power and Peace in the Middle East
With the advent of solar power, wind power and water power, most people would believe that scientists have used nature and all of its wonders to its greatest capacity, but there is one key aspect we have been missing: plant power.
For many years, scientists have been searching for an alternative source of energy and have had some luck on these ventures, but researchers at Cambridge University have now been able to harness the energy generated from photosynthesis to power cell phones.
As algae blooms, it absorbs a massive amount of sunlight, thus giving it a bright green color. In order to bloom and grow successfully, algae must utilize photosynthesis, as all other plants do. By converting sunlight into energy, these plants are able to grow bigger, but this energy may be able to be utilized to charge phones and other small electric devices.
Head of the Department of Plant Sciences at Cambridge University, Professor Sir David Baulcombe, stated that “algae offer considerable potential as a source of bioenergy. By studying the fundamentals of their metabolism and molecular biology and by understanding the fantastic natural variation in the different types of algae we can harness this potential for energy production.”
The Cambridge team’s discovery shows a lot of promise. This type of energy conversion is miles ahead of the photovoltaic cells most people are used to. These cells are biologically based, self-repairing, self-replicating, thoroughly biodegradable and thoroughly sustainable, creating an amazing entry into the world of truly green energy.
Recently, researchers at Cambridge have also been investigating the strength of regular plants. They have grown these plants in a vertical garden and utilizing the same concept of harnessing spare electrons from photosynthesis, have been able to power cell phones. However, these walls may take entire days to charge phones. After testing several plants, algae still remains the strongest and most productive source of energy.
At this point in time, most of the worlds’ energy comes from oil, and most of that oil comes from the Middle East. Many powerful nations, the United States being the most notorious of them all, have been intervening in Middle Eastern politics in order to ensure the safety of their precious oil supplies. For this reason, many wars have broken out, rulers have been overthrown and lives have been lost.
The invention of a source of green energy that comes directly from nature itself will drastically reduce dependence on oil as scientists are able to learn more and more about the true capability of nature. There are already solar-powered cars in the making, so maybe plant power is the next step. This would be a world out of the Lorax’s dreams, one where plants are abundant and well maintained.
By utilizing plants and their natural cycles as sources of energy, we create an even stronger dependency on them, thus causing people to plant more and more cautious in regards to nature. Of course, all of this is very far off in the future, but it will be very interesting to see how researchers decide to utilize nature and its power in the future.
– Sumita Tellakat
Sources: University of Cambridge, BBC
Photo: Flickr
Psychological Effects of Poverty
Bradley Ariza, a man living in the U.K. with his girlfriend and children, is stressed all the time. In addition to constant hunger and insecurity, he needs to carefully calculate every calorie he eats to make sure he has enough, and count every penny he spends to ensure that his finances remain in order. He feels the constant pressure to maintain certain living standards for his family. Poverty becomes a “physical and psychological condition,” not just an economic one.
Studying the psychological effects of poverty is not usually met with enthusiastic approval. In the past, such research was often tainted with racism. It was also accused of being a way of blaming the poor for their behavior. Sometimes it has been seen as unnecessary because of the belief that although the poor are more deprived, they are happier. However, scholarly and public opinions are becoming increasingly more open to studying the effects of poverty on psychology and behavior. It is slowly beginning to be seen as a way to tackle poverty.
Poverty creates a “mindset of scarcity,” as behavioral economists Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir have termed it. People are more likely to focus on current, pressing issues rather than long-term ones, even if they might be as important to their well-being. For instance, Indian farmers might prioritize their coming harvest over vaccinating their children. Some researchers have even found that the IQ of Indian sugarcane farmers falls just before their harvest.
Studies have already shown that poorer people have elevated levels of stress, and it is also widely known that stress is linked to depression. Depression, which causes absenteeism and lower levels of productivity, costs the U.S. and U.K. up to one percent of their GDP each year. People who are suffering from extreme stress and depression are less likely to make long-term investments in their health and education. They are more inclined to seek short-term rewards rather than long-term ones because they find it harder to delay gratification. These psychological effects of living in poverty make it more difficult for people to climb out of it.
Researchers are now exploring whether lowering stress and depression can improve people’s mental states enough so that they make better financial decisions and are more motivated about their future. When they are offered more psychological-centered treatments, such as therapy or counseling, people might be more likely to build a path out of the poverty trap. Studying this connection could also help explain why aid sometimes does not seem to work as it should. Microloans, for instance, might be financially helpful, but the added stress to repay loans might make poorer people’s lives worse.
Direct aid, instead of microloans, might be more beneficial. Johannes Haushofer, founder of the Busara Center for Behavioral Economics, has started studying how stress affects one’s ability to make good financial decisions. He found that giving unconditional cash transfers to families lowered their levels of depression and stress. In turn, they were more likely to make long-term, thought-out financial decisions. The effects were especially prominent when the cash transfer was a big enough size and given to women.
– Radhika Singh
Sources: Foreign Affairs, The Guardian, Harvard
Photo: The Prisma
Sexual Health of Adolescents in the Developing World
There are more than 1 billion teenagers worldwide. Seventy percent of them live in developing countries. According to the Demographic and Health Surveys and the AIDS Indicators Survey, the average age that young people in impoverished countries have their first sexual encounter is, at the lowest, age 16 or younger, and, at the highest, 19.6.
Just like in developed nations, with sexual activity comes the risk of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies. Unlike wealthier nations, these impoverished countries lack adequate healthcare. In places such as Sub-Saharan Africa, AIDs is an epidemic. Two-thirds of those infected are adolescents.
Adolescent girls run the greatest risk for sexual and reproductive health threats. A young girl that becomes pregnant who lacks access to healthcare faces many serious health risks. Pregnancies, child-birth and abortions are all perilous. The likelihood that a 15-year-old girl in a developed nation could ultimately die of maternal complications is 1/3800. Compare this to just 1/150 in the developed world.
Meet Reem: she is a 15-year-old girl living as a refugee in a camp. Her two-month-old baby is underweight because it was born prematurely and because Reem was never taught how to breastfeed. She has no one to help her, her husband was killed before the baby was born, and her mother was separated from her in the national conflict.
In other instances, girls marry older men. Hibo is a 13-year-old girl living in a Somalian refugee camp. The oldest of five children, she is responsible for helping her mother care for the family. Her parents are planning to marry Hibo to a wealthy landowner that will bring the family much-needed money and honor. She has been told that it is her duty to marry, serve her husband, and bear him children.
Married women like Hibo are encouraged to have children as soon as possible. Their social status and identity are associated with raising children. Being childless is frowned upon. Unfortunately, wedding older men who have had previous partners bring the potential for STDs.
Young people also face the danger of sexual violence. A national survey in Swaziland revealed that one-third of girls aged 13-24 suffered sexual abuse before the age of 18. Boys face abuse as well but are reported as being less likely to reach out for help from healthcare providers.
Although young people are getting married at an older age, the amount of premarital intercourse is increasing. At the same time, contraceptive use for all teens is low. In Sub-Saharan Africa, contraceptives are used by a low of 3% of sexually active adolescents in Rwanda and a high 46% in Burkina Faso.
Due to the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals, more youth have greater access to formal education. Health officials decided that school-based sexual/reproductive health programs were the perfect way to educate adolescents. Yet, a survey of these programs and their effects have produced varied results. Not all adolescents attend school, and the funding for these programs is not always there.
The Save the Children organization understands that if there are no programs that specifically reach young people with sexual health programs and education, they will never access the care and knowledge they need. The organization has set up teen-accessible places to teach them about safe sex and offer health services.
Their methods and the continuation of school-based programs have been yielding promising results in places like Mexico, Nigeria and the Dominican Republic. Young people are taking more measures to prevent STDs and unwanted pregnancies.
– Lillian Sickler
Sources: Guttmacher Institute, Women and Children First (UK), Alliance for International Youth Development
Photo: The Times
For China’s Nomads: Forced Settlement and Poverty
Nomads of China’s Western regions are the latest subjects of the government’s restrictive policies. Over the past fifteen years, the government has relocated over 1.2 million herders whose ancestors roamed the plains of Inner Mongolia for thousands of years. Many of these herders and their families have been relocated to cities in Qinghai Province, where, according to the government, they will have improved access to schools, electricity, and medical care.
This policy is not as ideal as it is portrayed. Many herders are forced to sell their livestock and are resettled in isolated towns on the edges of the countryside. In towns such as Xinlinhot in Inner Mongolia, illiterate former herders are unable to acquire the skills necessary to work at mills and factories and are left in unemployment and desolation. The annual government stipend of $925- good for only five years- allows them to feed and clothe their children, but leaves little room for anything else. Government-provided milk cows, native to Australia, are not adapted for the brutal winters of Inner Mongolia and often do not produce milk for their owners’ profit. After the stipend runs out, these unemployed, unskilled, displaced families don’t know where they will turn. Uprooted from their lives, these nomad families have to adjust to life in a cash economy while simultaneously profiting from it.
In these grim, shoddy townships, many homes lack toilets and running water and are often hastily built with leaky roofs. Anthropologists who study such relocation communities cite unemployment, alcoholism, and alienation from a new way of life as outcomes of the government’s projects to relocate an entire indigenous culture.
The government claims its efforts are meant to restore the fragile status of the frayed grasslands that make up more than 40 percent of China. The government claims overgrazing of grasslands threatens the water sources that supply the Yellow, Yangtze and Mekong Rivers that serve the entire country. Chinese scientists disagree, however.
Li Wenjun, professor of environmental management at Peking University, has said that these relocation programs have exacerbated poverty and worsened water accessibility. Indeed, residents of the major coastal cities, Beijing and Shanghai, earn nearly double their counterparts in the Western provinces. Li further argues that traditional grazing practices, which require little water compared to modern lifestyles, actually support grassland growth.
Certainly, this governmental change has kindled widespread social unrest. Nearly every week, herders protest in their new cities, carrying posters reading “We Want to Return Home” and “We want survival”. Seventeen herders were arrested last month alone.
Since the beginning of consolidated Chinese rule, the Western hinterlands have attracted fear and confusion. Populated by ethnic minorities such as the Uighurs, Kazakhs and Manchus, these groups have resisted assimilation and heavy-handed rule for decades.
Other government attempts at Western assimilation have been their “Go West” program, which encouraged the Han majority to move West and provided funding to build up the infrastructure of western provinces. Many suspect this new relocation is an effort not to economically support the rural West, but instead force its dependence on the eastern coastal cities for welfare.
Meanwhile, millions of herders and their families lie in anxious wait of what will come next. Forced into a new way of life dependent on a cash economy and far from the independence of the plains, they have little knowledge on how to alleviate the poverty they are living. “This is not a place fit for human beings,” said one. Until change is enacted, they will continue on in their impoverished houses on the outskirts of the lands and lives that helped them thrive.
– Jenny Wheeler
Sources: New York Times, Human Rights Watch
Photo: Flickr
ANDENI Aiding Orphans and Adoptive Families
In September of 1997, Gloria Nieto and her husband, Angel, adopted a baby girl from China. They already had a 4-year-old biological daughter and wanted a second child. Adoption from a developing country seemed like a great option.
Adopting baby Irene was an arduous process—more than they believed it should have been. One big legal issue was that the Spanish government did not understand that the adopted children would have to become Spanish citizens.
When Gloria and Angel came back to their home in Spain, they met with other adoptive parents and decided to start a non-governmental organization that would help future Spanish adoptions from China. The group of adoptive families met in Madrid and made the NGO official. ANDENI translates into English as the National Association for Defense of Children.
There are two avenues for foreign adoption in Spain. One is through the government, the other is with private adoption agencies. ANDENI helps families adopting through the government.
The organization has a central office in Madrid. A small number of administrative people work there for a salary. The remaining workers are volunteers. Each part of Spain has its own leader that serves as a spokesperson and a source of guidance for families. Instead of having to contact the government for help, parents can contact their section leader.
Parents who begin the process of adopting from China join ANDENI by donating every three months or so to the organization. Donations are based on what the family decides it can pay—there is no obligatory donation amount.
The organization provides families with adoption assistance for every step of the journey. They learn what has to be done in Spain before they go to get their child as well as what has to be done in China. The organization helps parents fill out adoption papers, prepares them for their trip to China and provides them with a translator and a safe travel agency.
After parents successfully adopt their child, they become a part of the ANDENI community of adoptive families. The group supports each other and their adoptive children as they grow up. Both of Gloria and Angel’s daughters, Aida and Irene, now work with grown adopted children. Irene counsels teenagers on how being adopted affects their identity.
In its 18 years, ANDENI has helped 4,500 families. Spain is second to the U.S. in the number of children adopted from China. Proportionally, they are #1. Spain is currently home to 18,000 adopted Chinese children.
In recent years, Chinese adoptions have been slowing worldwide. There are fewer children in orphanages and the Chinese government gives priority to national adoptions. People that began the adoption process in 2006, are just now starting to get their children.
This is great news for orphans in China and suggests a positive outlook for poverty levels there. Yet for ANDENI, it means fewer families are joining and fewer volunteers are needed. Volunteer numbers have fallen from 2,100 at its peak to just 1,600. Many families have stopped paying since they have lost their jobs due to the Spanish economy.
To adapt, ANDENI began to focus on orphans and people living in poverty in China. They started collecting money to send to Chinese orphanages to pay for amenities like washing machines, air conditions, food, clothing, etc. One of the poorest providences in China, Yunnan, received enough money from ANDENI to build four schools and hospitals.
In total, ANDENI has raised and sent one million dollars to China. The organization collaborates with the Chinese government to ensure that the funds are doled out appropriately.
As for the future of ANDENI, Gloria’s family sees it collaborating with other NGOs helping orphans and others in need living in third-world countries such as Sierra Leone in Africa.
– Lillian Sickler
Sources: ANDENI, ANDENI Valencia
Photo: Flickr
Lauren Conrad at The Little Market
The Little Market is making a big difference. A fair trade project based in Los Angeles, the online company works with artisans around the world, making handcrafted goods available to all and supplying a living wage to the artisans that create them.
Co-founded by fashion designer Lauren Conrad and Human Rights Watch member Hannah Skvarla in 2013, the Little Market “seeks to empower women artisans to rise above poverty and support their families”. The company is committed to building self-sufficient, economically independent women in impoverished countries around the world.
The Little Market sells a variety of handmade goods, from home décor and kitchen necessities to backpacks and bracelets. Conrad and Skvarla visit local markets in countries such as Kenya, Bolivia, India and Peru to gain inspiration, insight and appreciation for the talent, time and treasures provided by the artisans.
In order to benefit the artisans and themselves, the company searches for items with the potential to succeed in the U.S. market.
This month, The Little Market began selling olive wood products from Le Souk Olivique, an olive wood studio in Tunisia. Founded in 2013, Le Souk provides finely crafted wooden kitchen tools, including basic utensils, salad bowls and cutting boards.
The Tunisian company treats its artisans very well, setting payment above minimum wage and providing healthcare and social security payments. Le Souk will soon receive Tunisia’s Fair Trade certification.
The beautifully handcrafted kitchen tools sell at The Little Market for $12 to $44, depending on the type and size of the object. They are all made with olive wood.
Making olive wood products, however, is an intricate and time-consuming process. The raw wood must initially dry outside for a year before cutting and sanding the pieces to create a wood product fit for a kitchen.
Conrad and Skvarla expressed excitement about carrying this new line of products, available now on the company website. The Little Market has served as a catalyst in the sale of handmade goods from around the world, including those of Le Souk. As website sales increase, the demand for more products also increases, resulting in a need for more employees and thus creating more jobs for more artisans around the world, lifting many out of poverty.
– Sarah Sheppard
Sources: LA Times, The Little Market 1, The Little Market 2
Photo: Style News
The AIDS Crisis in Lesotho
Surrounded on all sides by its neighbor South Africa, the little country of Lesotho is the largest enclave in the world; larger than its only rivals Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City.
Essentially a landlocked island amidst African highlands, Lesotho also features the lowest point of any country in the world, measured at 1400 meters or 4,953 feet. However, it has another, less fortunate distinction; it places third on the list of countries with the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence.
In total, nearly one-quarter of the population lives with HIV, which accounts for 360,000 people. Close to 26,000 new HIV infections and 14,000 AIDS deaths were recorded in 2011. Of these infections, 40,000 are in children while around 60 percent of adults with HIV are women. On top of these harrowing figures, 42 percent who need treatment cannot access it.
Lesotho’s first reported incidence of HIV occurred in 1986 and accelerated rapidly into a national epidemic. While the government made attempts to monitor and treat the illness, the proved insufficient due to poor finances and infrastructure. Just six years later, in 1992, 3.2 percent of pregnant women between the ages of 20 and 24 had HIV. By 1996, the figures had exploded; in just four years, a quarter of the same demographic was living with HIV.
The sheer extent of this illness has had a detrimental impact on the development of Lesotho. The most productive age group in the country is also the most infected. This has compromised their ability to work and sustain themselves and their families.
For the Basotho people, family is vital. For centuries, extended relatives have supported one another through any hardship. However, AIDS/HIV has eroded this support system by orphaning 220,000 children. This has left children as the head of families in which the working generations are debilitated or have died.
One can notice the extent of the AIDS epidemic by looking at the data. It has significantly shortened the life span of the average Basotho to just 48.3 years from nearly 60 years in 1990.
Moreover, the two main statistics most indicative of development, GDP and the Under Five Mortality Rate have worsened. Since 1990, the Under Five Mortality rate has risen from 85 in 1000 to 100 in 1000. While from 1970 to 1990 the average annual growth rate of Lesotho stood at 3 percent, it fallen to 2.6 from 1990 to 2012.
With such a widespread influence throughout Lesotho, the nation’s government, along with international aid groups has made efforts to tackle the AIDS crisis. The first step was to provide universal testing for the entire country. Beginning in 2004, the program called “Know Your Status” involved training thousands of health care workers to perform swift HIV testing. However, the government has only trained one-quarter of the required workers, failing to meet its objective of universal coverage.
Besides testing, the government has implemented a variety of campaigns to confront the epidemic, but with mixed results. It introduced HIV/AIDS awareness to the curriculums of both primary and secondary schools. A ‘road show’ was also planned to inform communities about AIDS/HIV while providing both entertainment and HIV testing. Despite the efforts, only 29 percent of 15 to 24-year-old males and 29 percent of females from the same demographic had an understanding of HIV prevention.
Unlike awareness efforts, the distribution of cheap condoms has also served as an effective mainstay of HIV intervention in Lesotho. In 2001 affordable condoms began selling throughout communities. The sales spiked, with the number of distributors tripling and the number of condoms bought doubling.
In order to help those already infected with AIDS, the government has worked to provide better access to antiretroviral treatments. Since 2004 the government of Lesotho has sought to make antiretroviral treatment free to those in need. With only 89 trained medical professionals in the whole country, the program lagged behind at first. But since expansion in 2008 coverage has expanded to around 86,000 people, or close to 60 percent of those needing treatment. Still, only a quarter of children in need receive antiretroviral treatment.
While Lesotho has become closer to controlling its AIDS epidemic it has come at the cost of the nation’s development. Despite its aspirations, the country’s inadequate infrastructure, health care and budget have hindered its efforts. With more foreign assistance, Lesotho has the capacity to get back on its feet.
– Andrew Logan
Sources: Avert, CIA, PEPFAR, UNDP, UNICEF 1, UNICEF 2
Photo: NY Times