Looking to gain some good karma? A Millennium development goal can address many issues ranging from health to HIV/AIDS. This list recommends one great way to support each of the latter four Millennium Development Goals. All charities listed have a score of 96 or higher on Charity Navigator. To see part one of this article, please click here.
Millennium Development Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health
Where to donate: Direct Relief
Women in low-income countries are at a startling disadvantage when it comes to maternal health. Worldwide, a woman dies from complications during pregnancy or childbirth every two minutes. Even more shocking is the fact that 90 percent of these women die from preventable conditions.
One of Direct Relief’s chief programs works to improve the health of mothers in impoverished countries. The organization’s health services train and equip midwives, provide emergency obstetric care and treat birth-related injuries.
Charity Navigator recently ranked Direct Relief at the top of its “10 of the Best Charities Everyone’s Heard Of” list. When donating to Direct Relief, you can choose to either direct your gift specifically to their Maternal and Child Health programs or let the organization use the money where it is most needed.
Millennium Development Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases
Where to donate: United Nations Foundation Nothing But Nets
Malaria, a disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes, kills over 600,000 people every year. In sub-Saharan Africa, malaria is the leading killer of children; one child dies from the disease every 60 seconds.
In 2006, Rick Reilly published an article in Sports Illustrated challenging his readers to donate to the fight against malaria. His column inspired the creation of Nothing But Nets, which in the past nine years has worked with hundreds of thousands of individuals to distribute bed nets throughout Africa. The organization has also partnered with some big names, including the World Health Organization, the National Basketball Association’s NBA Cares and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The idea behind Nothing But Nets is simple: when bed nets keep out mosquitoes, fewer people are infected with malaria. The insecticide-treated nets also kill mosquitoes, which helps slow the spread of the disease. This life-saving strategy is also relatively cheap; it costs only $10 to send a net to a family in sub-Saharan Africa.
Millennium Development Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Where to donate: Global Greengrants Fund
Want an organization that works to promote sustainability and social justice? Since 1993, Global Greengrants has provided worthy communities with grants to help them face environmental and social challenges. According to the organization’s website, “Global Greengrants believes local people know best how to address the environmental issues impacting their own lives.”
The Global Greengrants Fund supports over 5,300 projects in 163 countries. Before giving a grant, the organization’s team of Grant Advisors carefully reviews which projects will receive funding. Once chosen, grant recipients use the money to combat issues such as fresh water shortages, biodiversity loss and land rights violations. Women in Ghana, for example, used a Greengrant to prevent a mining company from destroying their freshwater spring. Community members in Indonesia used their Greengrant to keep palm-oil companies from illegally clear-cutting local rainforests.
Millennium Development Goal 8: Global Partnership for Development
What to donate: Your time!
Millennium Development Goal 8 is especially complex. It calls for fairer trade practices, better debt relief services, affordable access to pharmaceutical drugs and new technologies and increased aid for the world’s poorest countries. While all these targets may seem overwhelming, you can advocate to make your support for them heard.
Time can be just as valuable a donation as money. Call or email your Congressional representatives and ask them to support bills such as the Food for Peace Reform Act of 2015. The act would allow U.S. global food aid to reach over eight million more people while saving an estimated $440 million.
Another important bill to support is the Electrify Africa Act, which addresses the target of MDG 8 that calls for increased availability of technology in developing regions. The bill was passed by the House in 2014 but never made it through the Senate. Show your Congressional leaders that the Millenium Development Goal like this matter to you by making a 30-second phone call.
– Caitlin Harrison
To see part one of this article, please click here.
Sources: Direct Relief, Nothing But Nets, Global Greengrants Fund, The Borgen Project
Photo: Flickr
Maternal Mortality in the Philippines
Maternal deaths are still a huge concern for the Philippines. By 2006, the maternal mortality rate decreased to a rate of 162 per 100,000 live births and currently, the MMR is 120 deaths per 100,000 live births—still nowhere near the target that the MDGs established.
Various factors are responsible for the high rate of maternal mortality that the Philippines face. According to the IRIN, some of the main causes of maternal deaths are hemorrhages, sepsis, obstructed labor, hypertensive disorders during pregnancy and complications associated with unsafe abortions. Having a physician, nurse or midwife who has had formal training present during the birth can decrease the maternal mortality rate, but currently, these skilled birthing attendants supervise only 60 percent of births in the Philippines. Others rely on traditional birthing attendants who do not have formal training and therefore are often unable to deal with complications.
Poor women and women in rural areas are at a disadvantage. Around 75 percent of the poorest quintile do not have a skilled birth attendant to help them through their pregnancy. Rural areas also have higher maternal mortality rates because many women in rural areas begin having children at a young age. Since adolescent women are normally not developed enough for childbirth, these young mothers face many complications during and after pregnancy and contribute to the high maternal mortality rate.
Another problem that adds to the high maternal mortality rate in the Philippines is the low level of contraceptive use. The Philippines is 80 percent Catholic, so birth control pills, condoms and other forms are contraceptive use are considered to be similar to abortion. This has led to limited access to contraceptives, since contraceptives were previously not widely available at health care clinics.
This limited access to contraceptives has negative effects. In 2006, there were three million pregnancies in the Philippines. Half of those pregnancies were unplanned, and one third of the unplanned pregnancies resulted in abortions. A higher rate of contraceptive use will prevent this from happening and will consequently decrease the maternal mortality rate.
While rates of contraceptive use have not risen much from 2006 to 2014, there is hope that contraceptive use will now increase dramatically due to a birth control law that the Philippine Supreme court approved in April 2014. The law requires the government’s health centers to have free condoms and contraceptive pills. It may be too soon to tell whether that law has a significant effect on maternal mortality. However, the law will hopefully help the Philippines to reach its MDG by the end of 2015. Other ways to help reduce maternal mortality are providing more antenatal care and more widespread access to health facilities.
– Ashrita Rau
Sources: UNDP, IRIN News, Philstar, WHO, Huffington Post, United Nations, BBC
Photo: Flickr
Indonesia’s Fight Against Stunted Growth
Over the past decade, Indonesia’s economy has grown steadily and over 50 percent of the population is now living above the poverty line. However, the wealth gap has further widened. With most of the population living in rural areas and relying on agriculture as a main source of income, it is hard for Indonesians below the poverty line to have access to nutritious food and clean water. This has caused problems such as stunted growth in children.
According to the Millennium Challenge Corporation, “a lack in critical vitamins and minerals during early childhood puts children at higher risk for chronic disease [and] delayed cognitive development” which causes a reduction in academic success and future earnings. Because of the lack of vitamins and minerals, about one-third of all Indonesian children under the age of 5 experience stunted growth—that’s seven million infants and children.
The Indonesia Compact is a five-year, $600 million agreement. The goal is to increase household income in the project areas by increasing productivity, reducing energy costs and increasing provisions of goods and services.
Part of the Compact is the $135 million Community-Based Health and Nutrition to Reduce Stunting Project. This effort is two-sided: raise awareness about feeding practices and supply access to proper nutrition and health care services.
Through this project, the people of Indonesia are being educated on how the lack of essential nutrients, such as vitamin A, iron and zinc, can impact health and affect growth. The government of Indonesia is helping by training local governments on health and sanitation services as well as nutrition, in order to have a highly aware population.
The theory is that a healthier young generation will bring economic growth to the country. The next generation will be healthy and knowledgeable, which leads to a stronger working-class and eventually an improved economy. The Indonesia Compact still has a long way to go before any change can be seen, but Indonesia is headed in the right direction.
– Hannah Resnick
Sources: Millenium Challenge Corporation, Rural Poverty Portal
Photo: Flickr
The Blockchain and Poverty
Satoshi Nakamoto was the pseudonym under which a person or persons released the invention of the Bitcoin, and more importantly, the Blockchain. Bitcoin has proved to be influential and has a fervent user-base that believes it holds the keys to upending the banking and finance world through decentralized cryptocurrency. The power behind Bitcoin, however, lies with the Blockchain. And the power of the Blockchain has the potential to spawn new technologies and help the poor.
The Blockchain technology developed by “Satoshi Nakamoto” has been hailed as a practical solution to the “Byzantine General’s Problem.” It does not completely solve the Byzantine General’s Problem, but it does enough to bypass the issue to the extent that it should pose no issue in reality. The Byzantine General’s Problem proposes the flaw of sharing information between, say, two Generals. If one wants to tell the other to “attack point A,” he or she may send a message, but then he will never be sure if the other General got the message. The Blockchain is important because it solves the problem of “double spending” by providing a practical solution to the Byzantine General’s Problem. This means that there is no risk of a Bitcoin being spent twice, which would be similar to counterfeiting money. The Blockchain does this by creating a public ledger that records every transaction that ever took place with Bitcoin. Essentially, the Blockchain enables trust without the need for identity.
Blockchain technology could be used in wide-ranging applications. For example, NASDAQ recently announced that it will be testing Blockchain technology to record transactions of share trades for privately-held companies. Brian Singer explained in an interview with Forbes that he believes that Bitcoin and the Blockchain can substantially reduce poverty around the globe. Singer argues that the ability to have undeniable, transparent ownership of something that everyone can trust is imperative. Ownership of, say, a Bitcoin is ownership overvalue. This undeniable ownership of value that is recognized in a system no matter what anyone says is what causes Singer to believe that the Blockchain technology behind Bitcoin can have a profound impact on the poor. Bitcoin has already caused disruption in the remittance business; immigrants have been using Bitcoin to send money back home. Bitcoin does not demand costly extra fees like Western Union.
The Blockchain also removes the need for a third party, such as a computer server. One purpose of a bank is to store value safely and efficiently and also manage exchanges of value at high rates using credit card and debit card systems, which are centralized. The Blockchain can safely and effectively protect your value from “double spending” and digital theft – only by mistake of the user can it be stolen – and at the same time avoid the pesky fees and rules that banks impose.
Because of the Blockchain’s ability to essentially create trust without identity in a system, it lends itself to secondary innovations such as being used for other distributed systems that are without a central point, such as one server that contains all necessary information. Although distributed systems are not new, the Blockchain could help facilitate the creation of even more. These systems are in many ways more powerful than a centralized system. They rely on much less digital and physical infrastructure, such as a server run by a third party. These systems can run independently of authority. Distributed systems of all sorts have many advantages that lend themselves to the poor. By curtailing the need for a trusted authority or more infrastructures, it makes it easier for the poor to use and access these technologies from their respective countries and makes them more reliable.
It is possible that new innovations will emerge that are of particular use to the poor, as seen when people use the Blockchain and Bitcoin to bypass traditional remittance markets. The possibilities are endless; new companies are popping up and attempting to leverage this new technology. Like the Internet or other technologies, it can be difficult at first to see where the end of the tunnel leads, and the Blockchain may be no different. With smartphones becoming more and more common even amongst the poor, innovations on the Blockchain may hold hidden solutions.
– Martin Yim
Sources: Brookings, Marketplace, Forbes, The Guardian
Photo: The Cointelegraph
Children on the Streets of Bangkok
There are more than 20,000 street children in Thailand’s major urban areas. In a single day, a child can earn 300 baht ($10) to 1,000 baht ($30) – much more than the amount a Cambodian or Burmese living in poverty makes back home. In Phnom Penh, for instance, scavenging rubbish all day will only earn a child 16 baht ($0.50).
Cambodians make up around 80 percent of Thailand’s child beggars. Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in the world and half of its population is children.
Beggars who are from Thailand usually hail from the northeast Isan region, where 40 percent of the country’s poor comes from. Their parents come to Bangkok to find work, usually as motorcycle taxi drivers or construction workers. When they have children, they realize they cannot afford to take care of them. Distrustful of the government-run orphanages, many simply abandon their children in the hands of babysitters, hoping they will find a home there. However, these children are often made to work on the streets to earn some money for their upkeep, according to chairwoman Darat Pitaksit of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YMCA) in Bangkok, an organization that works with underprivileged children.
Because going to school is mandatory until the sixth grade, most Thai children manage to attend at least primary school. Secondary school attendance in Bangkok, however, drops by 20 percent. Despite it being the richest area of Thailand, rates of attendance are lower in Bangkok than anywhere else in the country because of the presence of migrant workers’ children and the lifestyles they are made to lead.
Contrary to common perception, street children, both from Thailand and neighboring countries, do not fall into crime, drugs, or other illicit activity. “Thai children are raised to respect their elders,” Pitaksit says. “In addition, the belief in karma helps them to be more accepting of their hardships in life.” Similarly, Cambodian children would often rather beg on the streets than go to school, says Chantana Sueprom, a staff member of the UNICEF supported NGO Friends International. They feel it is their duty to help their parents earn money.
– Radhika Singh
Sources: Reuters, UNICEF, Asian Development Bank
Photo: Jimmy Lam Photography
Leprosy Is Almost Eliminated
According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) reports, Leprosy still infects almost 200,000 people globally. The disease not only infects a person but also creates an environment where a person is shunned and forced to live away from his or her family. Even though the disease is highly treatable and not very common, it still creates an immediate social stigma whenever it is mentioned. Thankfully, the disease is on its way to being eliminated completely around the globe.
Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s Disease, affects a person’s nerves, skin and mucous membranes (CDC). Lesions appear on a person’s skin and loss of feeling can occur since the nerves are damaged. Because a person loses sensation in the affected areas, burns or other injuries can go unnoticed and lead to further health issues.
The disease spreads through human contact. It is not highly contagious but can be spread through coming into contact with fluid droplets from an infected person.
The United States and other developed countries rarely ever see cases of leprosy, but several developing countries still experience the disease. According to WHO, “the leprosy burden is now concentrated in the five most endemic countries (Brazil, India, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Nepal), which account for 83% of prevalence and 88% of detection worldwide.” Usually, it is the poorest of the poor who contract the disease because they are the farthest from medical care.
WHO supplies a multi-drug therapy (MDT) free of charge to those with the disease. If the patient takes the prescribed medicine as directed, the disease is curable in as quickly as six months, but it could take up to two years.
Eliminating the disease is of huge importance to global health, but it is also vital to a family unit that has a member suffering. People with the disease are often shunned and pushed out of their social circle. An infected person is made to live with other people who have leprosy regardless of whether the person is a child or an adult. This can cause further strain on a family’s psyche, financial situation and emotional well-being.
Leprosy is well on its way to being eliminated completely from the globe. In 2000, leprosy was considered eliminated because there was less than 1 case per 10,000 people globally. But that number has the potential to be reduced even further. WHO states the following to describe the effectiveness and potential of leprosy elimination:
– There is only one source of infection: untreated, infected human beings.
– Practical and simple diagnostic tools are available: leprosy can be diagnosed on
clinical signs alone.
– Under natural conditions, “incident’ cases” (new cases in which the disease has
recently developed) make up only a small fraction of the prevalence pool. Below a
certain level of prevalence, any resurgence of the disease is very unlikely.
WHO is calling for a “Final Push” to remove leprosy as a health issue around the globe. The biggest factor is the ability to bring the MDTs to every person who has leprosy. This requires the patient’s help in seeking out medical care, despite the stigma that is associated with the disease, as well as integrating leprosy detection into routine medical care in countries where cases are still seen. While this may be easily achievable in more urban areas, the rural areas still need to see higher availability of medical care.
Seeing the end of leprosy for good is an achievable goal. Already the case numbers are dwindling as people are being treated and healed until they are no longer able to pass the disease along. As the “Final Push” is implemented more often, the good news about eliminating leprosy should be heard.
– Megan Ivy
Sources: CDC, NLT, WHO 1, WHO 2, WHO 3
Photo: Asian Correspondent
Improving Women’s Health Leads to Sustainable Development
The Commission aimed to make policy recommendations in terms of economic, social and cultural factors that would make governments accountable for recognizing the need for improving women’s health and the welfare of them and their communities. Published at a critical point in which Millennium Development Goals are ending and the world is beginning to adopt new Sustainable Development Goals, the Commission aims to heighten women’s roles in national and international leadership and set developments in their health and social status as a measured requisite for completing each Development Goal.
The Commission’s work was primarily concerned with developing ideas about women’s health from a productive standpoint – how they contribute to societies economically, culturally and environmentally – rather than reproductive standpoint. Viewing women’s health solely in terms of reproduction allows gender inequity to prosper because it defines women solely based on their ability to have children. The report demonstrates that improvements in women’s healthcare from a comprehensive standpoint will expand their contributions in education, the economy and the environment.
Globalization, the Commission reports, has contributed to the improvement of women’s status globally but has worsened it in individual countries, threatening social stability. Thus, though globalization has led to more widespread recognition of gender inequality, it has not done anything to change it. The increasingly rapid transmission of communicable diseases, another outcome of globalization, has increased the importance of women in caring for family members and preserving the welfare of their communities.
As humanitarian crises and ecological degradation continue to grow and conditions for populations around the world worsen, the protection of women’s health and social status are increasingly vital to the well-being of societies. Thus, it is essential that nations adopt plans to improve women’s healthcare and equality.
According to the Commission, financing healthcare should take into account persistent health challenges that affect women, such as communicable diseases and violence against women and girls. They should also take on measures to promote women’s rights and recognize their invaluable roles in society. Doing so will improve not only gender equality and societal harmony but also economic stability, healthcare, education and environmental quality. Thus, in investing in the needs and welfare of women, policymakers will help achieve sustainable growth and development for their nations.
– Jenna Wheeler
Sources: The Lancet, Impatient Optimists, The Lancet
Sources: Flickr
Charity for Every Millennium Development Goal
Looking to gain some good karma? A Millennium development goal can address many issues ranging from health to HIV/AIDS. This list recommends one great way to support each of the latter four Millennium Development Goals. All charities listed have a score of 96 or higher on Charity Navigator. To see part one of this article, please click here.
Millennium Development Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health
Where to donate: Direct Relief
Women in low-income countries are at a startling disadvantage when it comes to maternal health. Worldwide, a woman dies from complications during pregnancy or childbirth every two minutes. Even more shocking is the fact that 90 percent of these women die from preventable conditions.
One of Direct Relief’s chief programs works to improve the health of mothers in impoverished countries. The organization’s health services train and equip midwives, provide emergency obstetric care and treat birth-related injuries.
Charity Navigator recently ranked Direct Relief at the top of its “10 of the Best Charities Everyone’s Heard Of” list. When donating to Direct Relief, you can choose to either direct your gift specifically to their Maternal and Child Health programs or let the organization use the money where it is most needed.
Millennium Development Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases
Where to donate: United Nations Foundation Nothing But Nets
Malaria, a disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes, kills over 600,000 people every year. In sub-Saharan Africa, malaria is the leading killer of children; one child dies from the disease every 60 seconds.
In 2006, Rick Reilly published an article in Sports Illustrated challenging his readers to donate to the fight against malaria. His column inspired the creation of Nothing But Nets, which in the past nine years has worked with hundreds of thousands of individuals to distribute bed nets throughout Africa. The organization has also partnered with some big names, including the World Health Organization, the National Basketball Association’s NBA Cares and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The idea behind Nothing But Nets is simple: when bed nets keep out mosquitoes, fewer people are infected with malaria. The insecticide-treated nets also kill mosquitoes, which helps slow the spread of the disease. This life-saving strategy is also relatively cheap; it costs only $10 to send a net to a family in sub-Saharan Africa.
Millennium Development Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Where to donate: Global Greengrants Fund
Want an organization that works to promote sustainability and social justice? Since 1993, Global Greengrants has provided worthy communities with grants to help them face environmental and social challenges. According to the organization’s website, “Global Greengrants believes local people know best how to address the environmental issues impacting their own lives.”
The Global Greengrants Fund supports over 5,300 projects in 163 countries. Before giving a grant, the organization’s team of Grant Advisors carefully reviews which projects will receive funding. Once chosen, grant recipients use the money to combat issues such as fresh water shortages, biodiversity loss and land rights violations. Women in Ghana, for example, used a Greengrant to prevent a mining company from destroying their freshwater spring. Community members in Indonesia used their Greengrant to keep palm-oil companies from illegally clear-cutting local rainforests.
Millennium Development Goal 8: Global Partnership for Development
What to donate: Your time!
Millennium Development Goal 8 is especially complex. It calls for fairer trade practices, better debt relief services, affordable access to pharmaceutical drugs and new technologies and increased aid for the world’s poorest countries. While all these targets may seem overwhelming, you can advocate to make your support for them heard.
Time can be just as valuable a donation as money. Call or email your Congressional representatives and ask them to support bills such as the Food for Peace Reform Act of 2015. The act would allow U.S. global food aid to reach over eight million more people while saving an estimated $440 million.
Another important bill to support is the Electrify Africa Act, which addresses the target of MDG 8 that calls for increased availability of technology in developing regions. The bill was passed by the House in 2014 but never made it through the Senate. Show your Congressional leaders that the Millenium Development Goal like this matter to you by making a 30-second phone call.
– Caitlin Harrison
To see part one of this article, please click here.
Sources: Direct Relief, Nothing But Nets, Global Greengrants Fund, The Borgen Project
Photo: Flickr
Photonic Fence Zapping Malaria, One Mosquito at a Time
A laser defense system from the scientists at Intellectual Ventures may prove to be an effective weapon against malaria-spreading mosquitoes.
The device is known as a “photonic fence” and works by monitoring a virtual field for disturbances caused by insects. Once an intruder is properly identified as a mosquito, it is targeted with a deadly laser. Within a fraction of a second, the device shears off the bug’s wing, leaving it dead or incapacitated.
Bees, butterflies and humans need not worry, however; the software powering the photonic fence is precise. It can determine not only the type of insect but also its gender and species. This accuracy is needed because only mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles carry malaria and only females bite people. The software analyzes insect size, wing movement pattern, airspeed and other characteristics to discern friend from foe.
Naturally, the idea is not without its skeptics. One concern is that rural areas often have unreliable power grids. The scientists at Intellectual Ventures hope to solve this problem with the use of solar cells. The laser itself doesn’t require much energy, as it targets the wings of a mosquito rather than its tough exoskeleton.
Intellectual Ventures sees the device as supplementing, rather than replacing current measures of control. These include habitat destruction, nets for homes and beds, as well as pesticides. Nonlethal uses of the photonic fence are also possible, such as monitoring mosquitoes or agricultural pests so that they can be treated with more traditional methods.
The company is currently field testing the device in a partnership with Lighting Science Group. Models are not yet for sale and the so-called mosquito laser will need to be produced cheaply in order to be effective.
The device couldn’t come at a better time. Over three billion people—more than half the world’s population—are at risk of malaria worldwide. An estimated 584,000 people died of malaria in 2013, out of 198 million cases. Although the disease is present in the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, most deaths due to malaria occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. Young children are particularly vulnerable to the disease; it is estimated a child dies of malaria every minute.
Its widespread economic effects worsen malaria’s human devastation. Several studies have demonstrated a relationship between malaria and poverty, and many of the world’s poorest countries have high rates of the disease. Refugees and transient people are at heightened risk of malarial infection, as they may not have developed any immunity.
– Kevin Mclaughlin
Sources: Intellectual Ventures, NCBI, WHO
Photo: Intellectual Ventures Lab
This Generation’s Billionaires Start as Technopreneurs
Bill Gates has an annual income higher than that of many countries. If he were a country, he would be the sixty-fifth richest in the world. He has an estimated net worth of $77.8 billion and is widely considered to be the wealthiest individual in the world. All that from selling computers and software.
In 2011, President Barack Obama called for an “all hands on deck” approach to innovation, encouraging government officials, academics and philanthropists to “spark … creativity and imagination.”
This is an important priority of America’s domestically and abroad. Partnership for Growth, a bilateral effort to promote inclusive economic growth, has enabled USAID to place a new emphasis on innovation and education, most notably in the Philippines, which recently played host to the Global Entrepreneurship Symposium and Workshop, a summit designed to help young Filipino inventors hone their ideas, connect with possible investors and launch their businesses.
Aid professionals are hopeful that an emphasis on launching small tech startups will drive long-lasting growth in countries like the Philippines, which have an undersized middle class.
“Entrepreneurship is the fastest way to move wealth in society. Education gives people the tools to innovate and build businesses,” says Dado Banatao, a Filipino-American engineer and entrepreneur who now runs the Philippine Development Foundation and works with young inventors. “Entrepreneurship leads to the creation of jobs and redistribution of wealth, and puts the Philippines on the global economic map.”
In the United States, two-thirds of jobs are generated by small and medium-scale businesses. These small businesses are at the heart of a middle class, the sweet spot between struggling to survive and living to excess. Most developing countries lack a robust middle class. Instead of small and medium-scale businesses, developing countries like the Philippines have offices for mega-corporations like McDonalds, and nameless micro-enterprises like street food vendors or family-run convenience shops.
Even if a technopreneur does not strike it rich, she or he could still run her or his venture like a small or medium business. More businesses mean more jobs, which is an improvement for everyone. With this growing push for innovation and empowerment, it would not be a stretch to predict that the next generation of billionaires will be making their first millions as the founders of tech companies in developing countries.
– Marina Middleton
Sources: USAID, Brookings Institution, Universiti Kuala Lumpur
Photo: Flickr
Poverty in Ahmedabad, India
With a population of around 8 million, the city of Ahmedabad is the largest in India’s western region of Gujarat. While India has long held a reputation for being one of the world’s least developed countries, it has steadily been shifting and is now one of the fastest growing developing countries. Poverty in India is starting to disappear; industry is thriving, literacy rates are increasing and the world community is beginning to see it as a real front-runner. There is no better example of this new shift in development than Ahmedabad.
Census information gathered in 2001 showed a literacy rate of around 79 percent. The next census, gathered in 2011, revealed a great increase, showing that around 85 percent of the population was literate. The first step in decreasing poverty is increasing education. For many years, India has faced issues with its large impoverished communities not allowing their children to attend school because they needed them to work in order to support the family. Now, with increased aid from various NGO’s and family structure organizations, Ahmedabad’s youth have been, for the most part, educated at least to an 8th grade level. This six percent gain is not the only leap that Ahmedabad has made.
When one imagines India, they might picture crowded streets, pollution, over-population, grand temples and the Taj Mahal, which would all suffice to describe it. However, recent census information has shown a 1.55 percent decrease in birthrates. While to some this may seem sad, it is quite the opposite. Many poor families will have upwards of 8 children in an attempt to have as many people working in order to support the family. Often, women are overwhelmed by the pressure to have kids, and with no safe methods of birth control available, many have more than ten in their lifetimes. While supporting 10 kids is hard enough, this amount of children can also be very detrimental to a woman’s health. Many women to die during childbirth. In the past few years, many women’s health organizations have gone to the slums of India to introduce birth control packs and condoms to the people. This decrease in birthrate is also accompanied by a 6 percent decrease in death rates of women during childbirth, as the amount of institutionalized deliveries has increased by 13 percent. While this may seem small, it marks a big change for the city of Ahmedabad and India as a whole.
As India continues to grow, poverty rates in Ahmedabad are decreasing. Occupying a large strip of the coastline, Gujarat is one of the best areas for businesses seeking to work overseas to take root. The business models in Gujarat and Ahmedabad have been described by UNICEF as “being a highly effective growth and private sector-driven model. In fact, the average growth rate of GDP in Gujarat over the past two decades has been higher than the national average, and more balanced than the other high growth-rate states.” This positive increase in GDP is primarily due to the agricultural and business sectors.
For now it looks like poverty is out and development is in for the great city of Ahmedabad, and this is a trend that the global community hopes to see a lot more of in the future.
— Sumita Tellakat
Sources: UNICEF India, Journal of Health Population and Nutrition, Ahmedabad Census 2011
Photo: Flickr