There are plenty of Latin songs from different countries such as Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Colombia that address the poverty and hunger situations that the countries are going through.
Many of these songs, more than only addressing a situation of poverty, address political disadvantages and the corruption that some of the Spanish speaking countries face.
These songs vary from sad ballads to rhythmic rap songs. Depending on the topic, some of these songs can have rude language to express frustration in regards to poverty and/or government corruption. Here are some more examples of songs in Spanish about poverty.
7 Songs in Spanish about Poverty
1. “Casas De Cartón” by Marco Antonio Solís
Que triste se oye la lluvia
en los techos de carton
que triste vive mi gente
en las casas de carton
Viene bajando el obrero
casi arrastrando sus pasos
por el peso del sufrir
mira que es mucho sufrir
mira que pesa el sufrir
The lyrics of this song portray the situation of poverty that many people live under. Phrases like “que triste vive mi gente en las casas de carton” (how sad my people live in cardboard houses) and “viene bajando el obrero casi arrastrando sus pasos por el peso del sufrir” (the laborer is coming down dragging his feet because of the weight of his suffering) give a strong meaning to this song.
2. “La Carencia” by Panteón Rococó
Por la avenida va circulando
el alma obrera de mi ciudad
gente que siempre esta trabajando
y su descanso lo ocupa pá soñar
This is a ska song by a Mexican band that talks about the working class and how hard it is to make a living with a minimum wage and long hours of work. “Gente que siempre esta trabajando y su descanso lo ocupa pá soñar” (People that is always working and use their free time to dream) is a reference to the working class and their condition.
3. “Baile De Los Pobres” by Calle 13
Tú eres clase alta, yo clase baja
Tú vistes de seda, y yo de paja
Nos complementamos como novios
Tú tomas agua destilada, yo agua con microbios
Tú la vives fácil, y yo me fajo
Tú sudas perfume, yo sudo trabajo
Tú tienes chofer, yo camino a patas
Tus comes filete, y yo carne de lata
In this song, Calle 13 compares both upper and mid-upper classes to poor and working class people. “Tú sudas perfume, y yo sudo trabajo” (you sweat perfume and I sweat work) is one of the references that the song makes to mark the differences among the social classes. He puts himself in the shoes of a working class man to find the differences with upper classes.
4. “El Pobre” by Attaque 77
Y andas perdido entre las marcas de tus manos
miras tu ropa y la que usan los demás
miras la chica que nunca podrás tener
y el chico que aspira el tren mientras viaja en Poxiran.
Tal vez pueda ser, lo que te rodea lo que quieras lo escuchas
Un poco de suerte para el pobre
“El Pobre” (The Poor) is a song from the perspective of the poor. “Miras tu ropa y la que usan los demás” (you see your clothes and the one that the others wear) gives the listeners an insight to what “El Pobre” is wearing and how his clothes are different from those of the middle class.
5. “Gimme Tha Power” by Molotov
Que nos guachan los puestos del gobierno
Hay personas que se están enriqueciendo
Gente que vive en la pobreza
Nadie hace nada
Porque a nadie le interesa
This is mainly a protest song by the Mexican band Molotov against the government corruption and the situation of poverty. “Gente que vive en la pobreza, nadie hace nada por que a nadie le interesa” (People that live in poverty, no one makes anything because nobody cares) protests the conditions in which poor people are living and how the government is doing little to resolve this problem.
6. Que Canten Los Niños” by Jose Luis Perales
Que canten los niños que viven en paz
y aquellos que sufren dolor
que canten por esos que no cantaran
porque han apagado su voz.
This is a song of hope that references children singing about hope and gives a voice to those who cannot speak. “Que canten por esos que no cantaran porque han apagado su voz” (May they sing for those who won’t sing because they have silence their voice) is a way for the song to express the desire to give a voice to those who are silenced.
7. “El Baile De Los Que Sobran” by Los Prisioneros
Bajo los zapatos
Barro más cemento
El futuro no es ninguno
De los prometidos en los 12 juegos
A otros le enseñaron
Secretos que a ti no
A otros dieron de verdad esa cosa llamada educación
Ellos pedían esfuerzo ellos pedían dedicación
Y para qué
Para terminar bailando y pateando piedras
This song has a political meaning and references social inequality topics in Chile. “A otros dieron de verdad esa cosa llamada educación” (They really gave to others that thing called education) is a phrase of the song that marks the difference of social classes and social inequality by portraying the opportunities that some people have over others.
– Diana Fernanda Leon
Sources: SinEmbargo, 5 Canciones Sobre, 20 Minutos, Proyecto 100 Canciones
Photo: Domingo
5 Examples of Makeshift Housing
Caught up in the daily complications that life throws at them, people do not often sit back and think about how lucky they are to have a roof over their heads. Not everyone has that luxury: according to the Salvation Army, there are over 100 million homeless people in the world. Organizations like Habitat for Humanity and Greenbuilding fight to lower this statistic by building houses in underprivileged neighborhoods. Lacking access to conventional building materials, people living in impoverished areas are forced to make do with what they can find to build passable living spaces. Below are descriptions of five makeshift homes built from unusual materials. The descriptions are bittersweet, for although it is impressive that people are able to come up with such designs, it is unfortunate that they are put in such a position at all.
5 Examples of Makeshift Housing
1. Storage container homes
Widely used for shipping and storing, there is no shortage of these containers lying around out of use. Homes made from shipping containers have become a highly popularized fad and are all the rage with home décor enthusiasts, but in this context they are often used as a desperate measure rather than as a chic building material. The storage container village located in Shanghai and inhabited by poor migrants is just one example of such establishments used by the homeless in similar areas across the globe.
2. The Paul Elkins Shelter
This “mobile home” on wheels is perhaps better described as a mobile bed, as its small dimensions can hardly be described as a house. The amazingly compact, 225-lb. living space not only has a bed, however, but also a bathroom, and even has a small stove crammed inside. Although tiny, it is still useful for staying out of the elements.
3. Dai Haifei’s Egg House
It is not always in rural, historically poor areas that makeshift housing becomes a necessity. Dai Haifei was forced to create an egg-shaped dwelling when he could not afford any of the rental options available in Beijing. Built from eco-friendly materials like bamboo, wood chippings and grass seed, the six foot-high egg is also expected to grow blooms in the spring – an aesthetic bonus to a practical structure.
4. Cob homes
One of the oldest building materials known to man, cob is a mixture of sand, clay, straw, earth and water. Used for construction since prehistoric times, it is perhaps the cheapest and most readily available material in the world. Cob homes are often bolstered and adorned with wood, recycled materials found in landfills and animal fur for insulation.
5. A Hole in the Ground
With an income of just $5,000 a year, Dan Price calls an underground space, which measures eight feet around, his home. Located in the town of Joseph, Oregon, Price leases the property on which the structure is built for a meager $100 a year. The hole is equipped with a door, a small stove and pantry and electricity – but Price plans to switch to propane in the near future. He has an extremely positive attitude and could ask for nothing more, claiming that the environment is low stress.
– Katie Pickle
Sources: Home Harmonizing, Build
Photo: Financial Post
Virtual Meal Planner Could Improve Malnutrition in Ghana
Knowing this, countries such as Ghana have taken steps to improve school meals. Ghana School Feeding Programme provides free school meals to over 1.7 million children every school day. Additionally, Partnership for Child Development and Dubai Cares are working with the government to improve the nutrition of school meals.
Partnership for Child Development has created a virtual meal planner. The meal planner can be accessed both online and offline in order to be helpful to more people. This meal planner could allow school cafeteria workers to create menus with local ingredients. Also, the virtual meal planner includes local prices of ingredients. Thus, users can plan the cost of each meal.
In order to combat child malnutrition, the meal planner includes virtual gingerbread children graphics that show the amount of daily nutrients and vitamins the meal offers. The gingerbread measurements are based off of recommendations by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization. Additionally, the meal planner uses “handy measures.” This means that ordinary utensils, like spoons and buckets, have been calibrated to international measuring units. School cafeteria workers can accurately measure different components of meals without buying expensive kitchen utensils.
Schools can learn about healthy eating, and local farmers can learn what foods are nutritionally beneficial to grow for schools. The virtual meal planner can be used by many people in the community in order to boost the nutritional values of meals.
As a result, Ghana is leading the way in combating malnutrition. This program was trialed in Ghana in 2014, and is still in use today. Other countries around the world could also combat child malnutrition with this easy-to-use program.
More and more children are going to school, and more and more children get their one daily meal from free school lunches. By improving the nutrition of school lunches, we could greatly impact the health of a great number children.
– Ella Cady
Sources: HGSF, Impatient Optimists, ModernGhana World Food Programme
Angelina Jolie and Daughter Visit Turkey for World Refugee Day
In an effort to bring awareness to one of the largest refugee crises in history, Angelina Jolie embarked on a UN tour of the affected region. The movie star and long-time humanitarian was joined by her daughter, Shiloh, and stopped at the Midyat Refugee Camp in Turkey on June 20th to commemorate World Refugee Day. Jolie was also accompanied by UN Special Envoy Antonio Guterres. The group met with Turkish officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to discuss the challenges that Turkey faces given an unprecedented number of refugees.
Jolie issued a statement at the camp in which she calls on the world to act. She said, “We are here for a simple reason: This region is at the epicenter of a global crisis. Nearly 60 million people are displaced from their homes. That is one in every 122 people on our planet. Our world has never been richer or healthier or more advanced. Yet never before have so many people been dispossessed and stripped of their basic human rights.”
Later in her speech Jolie stressed the impact that refugee camps have on the people that house them. While providing more security than war torn cities and villages, the camps more often than not make the poor even worse off. Jolie stated, “Families like the six young people I met yesterday, living in Lebanon without parents, on half food rations and paying US$100 a month to live in a tent because UNHCR does not have the funds or capability to take full care of everyone.” Already with limited resources and away from home, refugees have the burden of coming up with funds to keep their temporary shelter even though, as refugees, they “cannot legally work in their host-countries.”
There is hope, however. Jolie made her speech on a key day, a day dedicated to bringing light to the very issues at the core of her delivery. Her celebrity status will ensure that more people listen to her message, and in turn act to help. Jolie and other media figures have even inspired governments to act. Jolie thanked the governments of Turkey and other refugee hosting nations for taking in millions. To finish, the actress wished all the families she spoke to, and by extension the refugee families across the globe, a good Ramadan with “Ramadan Kareem.”
– Joe Kitaj
Sources: UNHCR, US Magazine
Photo: Flickr
Michelle Obama Launches Global Education Campaign
At a luncheon on June 29, Michelle Obama announced the introduction of an international global education campaign called “Let Girls Learn,” focuses on educating adolescent girls worldwide.
To begin her speech, Obama said that about 31 million young girls around the world are not in school. Many of these girls lead difficult lives because of the lack of sufficient education in their area. Girls who are not educated are more susceptible to HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases. They are less likely to build successful lives for themselves without proper education.
Bendu Fafana, a young girl from Bong Country, Liberia, said that attending school was challenging for her because her father was not present in her life and her mother had passed away.
“I dropped from school because I was not getting any support,” Fafana said.
In a video presented by the White House, President Barack Obama said that there are studies that prove that educated girls are much less likely to get married early. Not only will their future children be healthier, but the family will have a better chance at a job that creates sufficient income for the children. This creates a chain of healthy living, which can generate better-functioning societies that lead to greater opportunities for economic growth for both developing and developed countries.
Michelle Obama said that “Let Girls Learn” will provide volunteers from groups like the U.S. Peace Corps to work with local leaders to bring education to girls like Fafana. She also said that “Let Girls Learn” is not only a philanthropic aspiration, but is also vital for foreign policy and international development.
Not only will this endeavor help the U.S. economically, but this opportunity can also help produce worldwide equality. Obama said that economic obstacles are not the only things that inhibit girls from receiving schooling: much of the problem is about views and cultures.
“It’s about whether societies cling to laws and traditions that oppress women,” she said.
“Let Girls Learn” will fund a program in North Africa and the Middle East that will encourage the native girls to learn about social issues in their communities and societies. The campaign will also provide a space that will encourage girls to reflect upon human rights and democracy. In addition, the initiative will contribute to organizations against gender-based violence.
With help from USAID, the U.S. Department of State, the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the U.S. Peace Corps, “Let Girls Learn” will increase efforts to produce tactical partnerships and political goals that will help adolescent girls succeed.
Alexa Ofori, a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cambodia, gave her thoughts about one of the goals of “Let Girls Learn.”
“Girl empowerment is for a girl to be able to have the self-esteem and, really, the confidence to be able to feel like they can do anything they put their minds to,” she said.
This education plan includes these programs and at least 24 others that will provide information about proper health and nutrition, prevent child, early and forced marriage, ensure safety for young children and, of course, deliver education to areas without.
Learn more about Let Girls Learn.
– Fallon Lineberger
Sources: My San Antonio, White House 1, White House 2
Photo: Share America
7 Songs in Spanish about Poverty
There are plenty of Latin songs from different countries such as Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Colombia that address the poverty and hunger situations that the countries are going through.
Many of these songs, more than only addressing a situation of poverty, address political disadvantages and the corruption that some of the Spanish speaking countries face.
These songs vary from sad ballads to rhythmic rap songs. Depending on the topic, some of these songs can have rude language to express frustration in regards to poverty and/or government corruption. Here are some more examples of songs in Spanish about poverty.
7 Songs in Spanish about Poverty
1. “Casas De Cartón” by Marco Antonio Solís
Que triste se oye la lluvia
en los techos de carton
que triste vive mi gente
en las casas de carton
Viene bajando el obrero
casi arrastrando sus pasos
por el peso del sufrir
mira que es mucho sufrir
mira que pesa el sufrir
The lyrics of this song portray the situation of poverty that many people live under. Phrases like “que triste vive mi gente en las casas de carton” (how sad my people live in cardboard houses) and “viene bajando el obrero casi arrastrando sus pasos por el peso del sufrir” (the laborer is coming down dragging his feet because of the weight of his suffering) give a strong meaning to this song.
2. “La Carencia” by Panteón Rococó
Por la avenida va circulando
el alma obrera de mi ciudad
gente que siempre esta trabajando
y su descanso lo ocupa pá soñar
This is a ska song by a Mexican band that talks about the working class and how hard it is to make a living with a minimum wage and long hours of work. “Gente que siempre esta trabajando y su descanso lo ocupa pá soñar” (People that is always working and use their free time to dream) is a reference to the working class and their condition.
3. “Baile De Los Pobres” by Calle 13
Tú eres clase alta, yo clase baja
Tú vistes de seda, y yo de paja
Nos complementamos como novios
Tú tomas agua destilada, yo agua con microbios
Tú la vives fácil, y yo me fajo
Tú sudas perfume, yo sudo trabajo
Tú tienes chofer, yo camino a patas
Tus comes filete, y yo carne de lata
In this song, Calle 13 compares both upper and mid-upper classes to poor and working class people. “Tú sudas perfume, y yo sudo trabajo” (you sweat perfume and I sweat work) is one of the references that the song makes to mark the differences among the social classes. He puts himself in the shoes of a working class man to find the differences with upper classes.
4. “El Pobre” by Attaque 77
Y andas perdido entre las marcas de tus manos
miras tu ropa y la que usan los demás
miras la chica que nunca podrás tener
y el chico que aspira el tren mientras viaja en Poxiran.
Tal vez pueda ser, lo que te rodea lo que quieras lo escuchas
Un poco de suerte para el pobre
“El Pobre” (The Poor) is a song from the perspective of the poor. “Miras tu ropa y la que usan los demás” (you see your clothes and the one that the others wear) gives the listeners an insight to what “El Pobre” is wearing and how his clothes are different from those of the middle class.
5. “Gimme Tha Power” by Molotov
Que nos guachan los puestos del gobierno
Hay personas que se están enriqueciendo
Gente que vive en la pobreza
Nadie hace nada
Porque a nadie le interesa
This is mainly a protest song by the Mexican band Molotov against the government corruption and the situation of poverty. “Gente que vive en la pobreza, nadie hace nada por que a nadie le interesa” (People that live in poverty, no one makes anything because nobody cares) protests the conditions in which poor people are living and how the government is doing little to resolve this problem.
6. Que Canten Los Niños” by Jose Luis Perales
Que canten los niños que viven en paz
y aquellos que sufren dolor
que canten por esos que no cantaran
porque han apagado su voz.
This is a song of hope that references children singing about hope and gives a voice to those who cannot speak. “Que canten por esos que no cantaran porque han apagado su voz” (May they sing for those who won’t sing because they have silence their voice) is a way for the song to express the desire to give a voice to those who are silenced.
7. “El Baile De Los Que Sobran” by Los Prisioneros
Bajo los zapatos
Barro más cemento
El futuro no es ninguno
De los prometidos en los 12 juegos
A otros le enseñaron
Secretos que a ti no
A otros dieron de verdad esa cosa llamada educación
Ellos pedían esfuerzo ellos pedían dedicación
Y para qué
Para terminar bailando y pateando piedras
This song has a political meaning and references social inequality topics in Chile. “A otros dieron de verdad esa cosa llamada educación” (They really gave to others that thing called education) is a phrase of the song that marks the difference of social classes and social inequality by portraying the opportunities that some people have over others.
– Diana Fernanda Leon
Sources: SinEmbargo, 5 Canciones Sobre, 20 Minutos, Proyecto 100 Canciones
Photo: Domingo
Should I Sign the Up for School Petition?
At the time of this posting, eight million people and counting have signed the Up for School Petition. These people want to make sure that children all over the world get an education — a good one. One that will help end the cycle of poverty.
This includes children displaced due to natural disasters or wars. This includes children living in poverty so bad that their parents cannot afford to send them to school, and the children themselves are forced to work. This includes girls who are married off as children or who are unmarried but get pregnant while still of primary or secondary school age or who have their period but no appropriate way to take care of the blood.
Up for School, a petition sponsored by A World at School, demands government leaders to fulfill their promise made at the U.N. in 2000, which guarantees all out-of-school children will be in school before the end of 2015. As Hellen Griberg, A World at School Global Youth Ambassador, reminded world leaders of the Up for School Petition at the Oslo Summit for Education Development on July 7, 2015, “We know that nothing changes without pressure. Therefore, we have been building support in every corner of the world.”
In 2000, 102 million primary school children were out of school. By 2011, the number dropped to 57 million. Progress was being made in developing countries. Primary school enrollment reached 90 percent. Literacy rates were on the rise and gender gaps were narrowing. In 2012, however, the number started rising again to 58 million children out of school. The number is still rising and has now reached 59 million.
Along with this increase in numbers is a decrease in funding. International aid to basic education started falling in 2011 for the first time since 2002. In 2014, only one percent of overall humanitarian aid went to education. Now progress is stalling, placing the 2015 target at great risk.
Yet education is crucial to overcoming poverty. The United Nations Children’s Fund considers education to be critical in achieving all the Millennium Development Goals. Education provides future generations with the tools to fight poverty, disease and gender disparity — all issues that need work in order for the world to improve the environment, the economy and our security. From the midst of today’s primary school children, our future leaders will emerge — our educators, doctors, scientists, economists, heads of state and all the others who will be needed to support a developed world. We may not know them by name now, but one day they will be making decisions about our world.
“Sometimes we wait for others and think that a Martin Luther [sic] should raise [sic] among us, a Nelson Mandela should raise [sic] among us and speak up for us. But we never realize that there are normal humans like us, and if we step forward, we can also bring change just like them,” asserted the Nobel laureate, Malala Yousafzai, on the June 18, 2015 airing of The Daily Show. Yousafzai is the survivor of the Taliban’s assassination attempt in 2012 for openly supporting girls’ right to education.
Why should I sign the Up for School Petition? I cannot think of a reason why anyone should not — or cannot. Most of us may not have had a voice at the Oslo Summit for Education Development on July 6-7, 2015 or at the International Conference on Financing for Development in Ethiopia on July 13-16, 2015. We also will not have the opportunity to speak at the U.N. Summit to adopt the post-2015 development agenda on September 25-27, 2015. What we can do, though, is visit the Up For School Petition website to sign the petition now. I just did. It took three minutes.
– Janet Quinn
Sources: United Nations 1, United Nations 2 UNICEF, UpWorthy, A World at School 1, A World at School 2
Photo: A World at School
How to Make Water Drinkable
One of the biggest issues in many developing nations with regards to poverty is the lack of necessary resources. One such resource that many impoverished people lack is safe and sustainable drinking water.
Though most countries seem to have plenty of water sources, many of these are not safe for people. This means they are not safe not only to drink but to bathe in, as many people do in poor and underdeveloped nations.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has done studies that have shown that only approximately 59 percent of the world’s population has access to safe drinking water. WHO also has stated that it is proven that having adequate and sustainable water resources has prevented the outbreak and spread of disease. This means that the other 41 percent of the global population without safe drinking water are not only without a resource necessary for the sustenance of life, but are also at risk for the outbreak and spread of dangerous diseases.
For example, unsafe and contaminated water sources are responsible for the increasingly rampant spread of dangerous diseases in Africa, especially amongst young children and the elderly. Although just over half of the world has access to safe drinking water, only about 16 percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa has access to such a resource.
This issue revolves around a number of flaws in the maintenance of water filtration systems in poorer countries in Africa. It is also attributed to a lack of education for the people in what they should consider safe drinking water, the potential risks of drinking from unsafe sources and how to get access to safer water.
How to make water drinkable:
Despite the flaws in the system, there are a number of actions being taken by NGOs and charity organizations as an effort to end such problems with such an essential resource. For example, The Water Project is a nonprofit organization that works with communities in sub-Saharan Africa to create sustainable and safe water filtration systems. This includes not only building infrastructure that would physically yield more drinking water, but also educating the people of the region in safer habits and smarter financial practices that would make these efforts have a more long-term impact.
It is through organizations and programs such as these and smarter maintenance of innovative systems by the states themselves in underdeveloped and developing nations that will make sustainable water resources something that 100 percent of the world’s population will soon have access to.
– Alexandrea Jacinto
Sources: The Water Project, World Health Organization
Photo: IKKUMA
The Global Teacher Shortage Crisis
There have been huge gains in global education recently. Schools have been built, enrollment numbers have soared and equality has risen. While much of the focus has been on these factors – schools and teachers – there is another that needs more attention.
Teachers. Love or hate them, they are key to education anywhere. But there is a problem associated with them in the developing world: there are not enough of them in many places. Ninety-three countries around the world do not have enough teachers. United Nations estimates suggested that the world needed four million teachers by this year in order to meet the 2015 Millennium Development Goal of primary education for all. Of this four million, 2.6 million were needed to replace teachers either retiring from or quitting the profession.
Even more teachers will be needed for the next round of development targets set for 2030. Up to 27 million teachers are needed to meet the goal of universal primary education for all by 2030. India alone will require three million new teachers and Sub-Saharan Africa will need 6.2 million.
One issue that comes with the need for more teachers, is that for every teacher trained and put to work, more children are born. This is especially true in Africa, where many country’s populations are expected to explode if they are not already. For every 100 primary school-aged children in 2012, there will be 147 in 2030. This is why out of the 6.2 million new teachers needed, 2.3 million will be completely new positions at schools around Africa. This presents another problem: to pay for all these new teachers, $5.2 billion will be needed for their salaries.
Fueled by desperation for more teachers, many countries fail to train their teachers to the required standards. One in three countries with data available shows “less than 75 percent of primary school teachers were trained according to national standards; and less than 50 percent in Angola, Benin, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal and South Sudan.” This means that for every one trained teacher in Chad, there are 101 students. In the Central African Republic, the ratio is even worse: 138 students for every trained teacher
It could be said that simply training teachers and putting them into school is not actually that daunting of a task. But the real issue at the root of the global teacher shortage is the rate that teachers are leaving the profession. Teaching in the developing world, where survival comes before everything, the pay is not enough. It is for this reason that 24 of the 28 million teachers needed by 2030 will serve to replace other teachers leaving the profession for.
To combat this, countries are trying a whole range of different tactics. In Indonesia and Benin, the governments have raised teachers to civil service status, and in Korea seasoned teachers are enticed to stay with salaries more than double what new teachers make.
Addressing the global teacher shortage is extremely important in the fight against poverty. Education is a gateway out of destitution, but more properly trained teachers are essential for this to be true. “An education system is only as good as its teachers.”
– Greg Baker
Sources: Worldwide Learn, BBC, The Guardian, UNESCO
Photo: The Recruiting Times
Students Slowly Returning to School in South Sudan
Decades of conflict have denied millions the right to education in South Sudan. Currently, about one million primary school-age children are not in school, and only 10% of those who enter actually complete a primary school education. Seventy percent of children ages 6 to 17 have never attended school at all, and gender and wealth gaps play a huge role in preventing some children from ever accessing education.
Even before violence broke out across the young nation in December 2013, schools were basic and ineffective. But now, the situation is even more dire—in the worst effected states of Jonglei, Upper Nile and Unity, 70% of the schools have closed. In some counties, no schools are currently open.
Five decades of civil war left a generation of adults who never had the opportunity to attend school in South Sudan. This is one major factor behind South Sudan’s adult literacy rate of 27%—one of the worst in the world. Only 2% of the adult population has completed primary school, meaning that many teachers in South Sudan never received a comprehensive education themselves. This has resulted in poor quality of instruction and a lack of official training in areas such as effective classroom management. Furthermore, schools themselves lacked important resources, from sturdy building materials, to textbooks.
Violence over the past year and a half has worsened the situation. Soldiers have re-purposed school buildings, and there is a deficit of teachers. Some teachers have been killed or forced to flee, while others have become involved in the conflict. 400,000 children have been forced out of school. Many have been displaced due to the violence, and when they fled for their safety, they had no choice but to put their education on hold.
In April 2006, the government’s “Go to School” initiative—one of the world’s most rapid reconstruction programs—enabled more than 1.6 million children to enroll in school, but the conflict has reversed some of this progress. Recent surveys have shown that citizens see education as a top priority, as it could be a path to peace for the country, and many groups are still working to improve the education system in South Sudan.
UNICEF began their Back to Learning Campaign in South Sudan in November 2014, and they have reached 121,000 children so far. They hope to reach 400,000 by December 2015. They are currently running two programs: the Integrated Education in Emergencies program for internally displaced students, and the Basic Education Package, which can be utilized by any child who is out of school.
South Sudan also has an Alternative Education Program, which initially began for soldiers but is now open to anyone. Many adults who never had access to education as children are utilizing the program. Furthermore, aid agencies are encouraging more women to attend school. South Sudan is still struggling in many areas, but with more students returning to school, education can become a means to further developing the nation.
– Jane Harkness
Sources: The Guardian, IRIN Africa, UNICEF 1, UNICEF 2
Photo: SBS
Human Rights and Gender Equality on the Rise in Central and West Africa
Recently in Dakar, Senegal, UNAIDS and the Alliance Nationale Contre le Sida, or ANCS, held a three-day capacity workshop. This workshop was designed to discuss the continued political, legal, cultural and social challenges that hinder efforts addressing the HIV epidemic in Africa.
So then, why are human rights and gender equality so important? According to UNICEF, “A lack of respect for human rights fuels the spread of HIV and exacerbates the impact of the epidemic … at the same time, HIV undermines progress in the realization of human rights and hampers the scale-up of high-impact interventions.” Without proper education of human rights and gender equality, atrocities like gender-based violence not only increase the vulnerability of the area, but also the likelihood of transmitting the HIV infection.
The discussions focused on the fact that human rights, gender equality and the involvement of people living with HIV were rarely factored into the national programs and planning aimed at reducing or preventing HIV. In the few instances where human rights, gender equality and the involvement of people living with HIV were included, they were not addressed at the cost and budgeting phase; with little ability to track progress, these programs were not evaluated or taken to scale.
Over fifty participants from ten countries across Western and Central Africa, including Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Chad, participated in the workshop.
Participants stressed the importance of different approaches and tools for ensuring the inclusion of programs to advance human rights and gender equality. Each country elaborated on individual national action plans with specific commitments to integrate these human rights and gender programs into their national HIV/AIDS response.
Leopold Zekeng, deputy director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for West and Central Africa, said, “Unless the legal and social environments are protective of the people living with and vulnerable to HIV, people will not be willing or able to come forward for HIV prevention and treatment. Human rights need to be at the core of our Fast-Track efforts towards ending the AIDS epidemic in the region.”
At the end of the meeting, the delegation concluded that human rights and full access to services for everyone in West and Central Africa should be the core of the “Fast-Track” declaration, now named the Dakar Declaration, which aims at scaling up the HIV response in West and Central Africa. With this new plan, one hopes to see positive and significant change—such as erasing AIDS from the region by 2030.
– Alysha Biemolt
Sources: UNICEF, UNAIDS, HRW