By the age of 17, if a teenager has secured a part-time job, a driver’s license and takes home a good report card, they typically feel pretty accomplished. But 17-year-old Malala Yousafzai has already experienced and accomplished more than most do in a lifetime. On October 10, she added another accomplishment to her list: the youngest person to ever receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
Yousafzai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Kailash Satyarthi, “for their struggle against oppression of young people and children and children’s right to education,” Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Thorbjorn Jagland said.
To get to this monumental point in her life, Yousafzai has been through incomprehensible trials, including threats against her life. But through it all, this young girl has been a beacon to the girls in undeveloped countries, in particular Pakistan.
Yousafzai’s story began in 2009, when the young girl took to a blog to transcribe her thoughts and feelings of the world around her, in her native home of Swat Valley in northwestern Pakistan. The Taliban announced an edict that no girls were to be educated. Yousafzai, whose father is a schoolteacher, knew the value of education and chose to attend school, even after the edict was issued.
While journaling her days online, Yousafzai started to receive death threats from the Taliban. On Oct. 9, 2012, the threats came to life.
CNN reported of her attack, “[Gunmen] halted the van…demanded the other girls in the vehicle to identify her…she was pointed out. At least one gunman opened fire, wounding three girls.” The two girls survived the shooting and Malala sustained shots to the head and neck.
Malala underwent a surgery to remove the bullets, and doctors had to remove a part of her skull to reduce brain swelling. She was eventually taken to Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital in the U.K. via helicopter. This young girl who fought for her right to be educated now was fighting to recover from what could have been life-ending injuries. After close to three months, Malala was released from the hospital to rehabilitate in her family’s new home.
Word spread globally of the young heroine, resulting in the United Nations creating a global education campaign entitled, “I am Malala,” even proclaiming November 10 to be Malala Day, focusing on “’Malala and the 32 million girls like Malala not in school.”
Yousafzai recovered from her wounds and returned to school at Edgbaston High School for Girls in Birmingham, England. Since the ordeal, she has become a light for girls all over the world.
Yousafzai has created the Malala Fund, which focuses on educating girls in Pakistan, Kenya, Nigeria and the girls who are Syrian refugees in Jordan. She has also published a book entitled “I am Malala.”
This advocate for education and most recent recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize still has work cut out for her. A CNN infographic from 2012 showed over 4.5 million girls are still out of school in Pakistan.
Even though the statistic is staggering, Yousafzai’s influence can be seen in young girls in her home country. Ahmad Shah, who was an aide to Yousafzai’s father and an educator himself, asked a young girl what she wanted to be when she grew up. Her reply? “I want to become Malala Yousafzai to work for education and peace,” Shah recalled.
The world has its eyes on Malala Yousafzai for now and for the foreseeable future because she is sure to change the world, one little girl at a time.
– Kori Withers
Sources: CNN, CNN 2, The Washington Post, Nobel Prize
Photo: Flickr
SKYE Program Boosts Guyana Youth
President Barack Obama’s Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) was implemented in the early part of this decade. The United States is working with nations in the Caribbean on substantially reducing illicit trafficking, increasing public safety and security and promoting social justice.
SKYE
SKYE, or The Skills and Knowledge for Youth Employment, program was a direct result of this initiative. It is funded by USAID, managed by the Education Development Center and works with private sector partners, government ministries, community agencies and NGOs.
Their goal is to train and educate the community’s youth in the areas that have been identified as priorities by public and private sector employers in Guyana. Those areas are communications, personal development, local labor laws and financial literacy.
SKYE works with the local youth that are school dropouts, youth who have completed formal education or training but do not have the necessary skills to find employment, and youth involved in the juvenile justice system. Not only does SKYE train these youth, but it sees them into the working force through the use of “employment coaches.”
It is often easy to train the youth, but to see them into the workforce is the daunting task. That is why many employment coaches stayed paired with their youth until they find work. As of June 2014, more than 1,100 youth have completed SKYE’s work readiness training and 400 graduates have already found employment.
Popularity and Success
The program has become so popular and received such a reputation for producing work-ready employees with positive attitudes that BK Quarries, one of the region’s largest employers, recently asked for twenty more SKYE graduates after hiring fourteen.
An April 2004 SKYE graduation ceremony, in which 57 youth graduated, was led by the U.S. ambassador to Guyana, D. Brent Hardt. In the ceremony’s opening speech, he said that SKYE was focused on “strengthening an environment that facilitates youth development, supporting the reintegration to society of high-risk populations, supporting Guyana’s youth in their efforts to find employment or start their own businesses, and supporting the greater engagement of young people as active Guyanese citizens.”
Fiona Wills, who directs SKYE, credited the program’s success to its emphasis on providing youth with one-on-one support and letting each one decide on a path that interests him or her: “Everything we do is about empowering young people to help themselves.”
With this momentum, the program will only continue to move forward at its empowering pace, as it is targeting the right demographic. For there to be a better tomorrow, in any country, we need to focus on breaking the preconceived notions of the youth.
Poverty, and the constraints it invokes, needs to be shown to be breakable. If the youth of a country can’t break free of the poverty cycle through employment programs and other aids, then that country is permanently stuck in poverty’s grip. With programs like SKYE in effect, the world has a better chance of elevating all of its citizens to a place where they can provide their own food, shelter, and clothing.
— Frederick Wood II
Sources: InterAction, Guyana Times, Embassy of the United States, USAID Blog
Photo: Flickr
Jeffrey Sachs: Sustainable Development after MDGs
In a presentation at the United Nations University earlier this month, Jeffrey Sachs gave updates on the Millennium Development Goals and projections for after 2015. Sachs, one of the developers of the Millennium Development Goals and Professor of Sustainable Development at Columbia University, discussed the post-2015 future of sustainable development. With the expiration of the MDGs set for 2015, attention is turning to the Millennium Villages Project and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
Despite the progress of many nations agreeing to the framework of the MDGs, there is still room for improvement. In the midst of the Ebola crisis, the interdependency of the MDGs, especially focusing on maternal health, epidemic diseases and education, has emphasized a need for equal attention to the goals.
With expectations for exponential increases in global GDP and population, the need for advanced poverty relief is greater than ever. Under the new SDSN framework, set to be instituted by the United Nations after 2015, new goals will be created to target financial responsibility and climate change. In 2015, three conversations will take place in both developed and developing nations to tackle the next phase after the MDGs.
Jeffrey Sachs is seen to be among the frontrunners of the next several decades of continued development. Though the concrete plans implementing change are still yet to be solidified in the post-2015 meetings, cooperation between developed and developing nations is still going to be in the center of the plans.
In an article written in Horizons, Sachs writes, “Ours is a world of fabulous wealth and extreme poverty: billions of people enjoy longevity and good health unimaginable in previous generations, yet at least one billion people live in such abject poverty that they struggle for mere survival every day. The poorest of the poor face the daily life-and-death challenges of insufficient nutrition, lack of healthcare, unsafe shelter, and the lack of safe drinking water and sanitation.” The gap between the OCED and developing nations is growing, and Sachs is acutely aware that the growing rate of the global economy will only aggravate the poverty gap. Achieving a basic standard of living will not eliminate the poverty gap, but will ease the daily struggles of the bottom quintile.
The sustainable development framework is working to achieve a universal standard of living. Though it was intended to reach this standard by 2015, realistically, additional work under a revised viewpoint will follow in the subsequent years.
– Kristin Ronzi
Sources: UN U, UN, UNSDN, Millennium Villages, CIRSD
Photo: Flickr
mHero and Mobile Phones Help Stop Ebola
With more and more people in danger of contracting Ebola, officials believe that information is key to preventing the spread of the disease. Mobile phones and new technologies such as mHero (Health Worker Electronic Response and Outreach) are now playing a big role in the fight against Ebola.
Even in some of the poorest regions, many people have access to mobile phones. Because of the presence of mobile phone users, data scientists believe that this may be the easiest and most efficient way to distribute health information to people in West Africa. Officials are now using phones to collect activity data from citizens in disease-prone areas.
Mobile data allows organizations like the CDC to determine where citizens are making the most health service calls and therefore the best locations to assemble treatment centers. The data has also helped officials with traveler screening in order to prevent the spread of Ebola.
Additionally, user data has played a large role in helping to track population movements and foresee how the virus might spread. In the past, analysts only had access to on-the-ground surveys and police and hospital reports to determine the movement of diseases. However, mobile data has been a tremendous help in tracking Ebola and predicting its movement. Many believe that this is the most effective way to keep Ebola contained.
mHero is a new form of communication for Ministry of Health personnel that uses mobile phones to send important information to healthcare workers. The system works by releasing text message reports on Ebola diagnosis, treatment and prevention in addition to caretaker safety information. mHero also allows those working on the frontline and in remote areas to stay in contact and receive important Ebola updates.
mHero provides instantaneous access to health workforce data such as mobile phone numbers. “Officials can use mHero to conduct real-time monitoring, complex multi-path surveys and detailed analyses,” says IntraHealth Technical Advisor, Amanda Puckett. mHero launched in Liberia last month and currently has over 8,000 Ministry of Health members connected through its system.
Healthcare workers are also beginning to use mobile phones for interactive voice response technology. Systems such as these allow for higher user content limits and also provide solutions for literacy and language barriers that many healthcare workers face in foreign nations.
Mobile phones and technology are extremely beneficial tools that have been helping citizens and healthcare workers in the fight against Ebola. Researchers hope that this technology combined with other current methods will help to prohibit the spread of the virus and to provide infected patients with necessary care.
– Meagan Douches
Sources: The Guardian, VITAL, BBC
Malala Wins Nobel Peace Prize
By the age of 17, if a teenager has secured a part-time job, a driver’s license and takes home a good report card, they typically feel pretty accomplished. But 17-year-old Malala Yousafzai has already experienced and accomplished more than most do in a lifetime. On October 10, she added another accomplishment to her list: the youngest person to ever receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
Yousafzai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with Kailash Satyarthi, “for their struggle against oppression of young people and children and children’s right to education,” Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Thorbjorn Jagland said.
To get to this monumental point in her life, Yousafzai has been through incomprehensible trials, including threats against her life. But through it all, this young girl has been a beacon to the girls in undeveloped countries, in particular Pakistan.
Yousafzai’s story began in 2009, when the young girl took to a blog to transcribe her thoughts and feelings of the world around her, in her native home of Swat Valley in northwestern Pakistan. The Taliban announced an edict that no girls were to be educated. Yousafzai, whose father is a schoolteacher, knew the value of education and chose to attend school, even after the edict was issued.
While journaling her days online, Yousafzai started to receive death threats from the Taliban. On Oct. 9, 2012, the threats came to life.
CNN reported of her attack, “[Gunmen] halted the van…demanded the other girls in the vehicle to identify her…she was pointed out. At least one gunman opened fire, wounding three girls.” The two girls survived the shooting and Malala sustained shots to the head and neck.
Malala underwent a surgery to remove the bullets, and doctors had to remove a part of her skull to reduce brain swelling. She was eventually taken to Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital in the U.K. via helicopter. This young girl who fought for her right to be educated now was fighting to recover from what could have been life-ending injuries. After close to three months, Malala was released from the hospital to rehabilitate in her family’s new home.
Word spread globally of the young heroine, resulting in the United Nations creating a global education campaign entitled, “I am Malala,” even proclaiming November 10 to be Malala Day, focusing on “’Malala and the 32 million girls like Malala not in school.”
Yousafzai recovered from her wounds and returned to school at Edgbaston High School for Girls in Birmingham, England. Since the ordeal, she has become a light for girls all over the world.
Yousafzai has created the Malala Fund, which focuses on educating girls in Pakistan, Kenya, Nigeria and the girls who are Syrian refugees in Jordan. She has also published a book entitled “I am Malala.”
This advocate for education and most recent recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize still has work cut out for her. A CNN infographic from 2012 showed over 4.5 million girls are still out of school in Pakistan.
Even though the statistic is staggering, Yousafzai’s influence can be seen in young girls in her home country. Ahmad Shah, who was an aide to Yousafzai’s father and an educator himself, asked a young girl what she wanted to be when she grew up. Her reply? “I want to become Malala Yousafzai to work for education and peace,” Shah recalled.
The world has its eyes on Malala Yousafzai for now and for the foreseeable future because she is sure to change the world, one little girl at a time.
– Kori Withers
Sources: CNN, CNN 2, The Washington Post, Nobel Prize
Photo: Flickr
Infant Death from Malnutrition
Malnutrition can originate from all sorts of sources: lack of funds, lack of access to food or even negligence. According to the World Health Organization, 45 percent of infant deaths are caused by a lack of nutrition. And malnutrition may not always be the direct cause of death in these children. Often they may pass from things like malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea, all of which stem from a lack of nutrition.
In areas like South Africa, malnutrition is an issue affecting 64 percent of infants. UNICEF has made significant efforts to pervade the country and educate mothers on the benefits of breastfeeding. It seems the primary source of a lack of nutrition has been mixed-feeding practices. In these cases, supplemental food is certainly less than enough from a nutritional standpoint. Nevertheless, 53 percent of infants in South Africa under six months of age are mix-fed.
UNICEF has taken initiative by directly corresponding with the Department of Health in South Africa in order to improve policies and education. They have also taken the approach to focus malnutrition on HIV transmission. With babies more severely undernourished, they are much more apt to receive HIV from their mothers because they are weak and unable to grow.
Deaths under the age of five occur in very specific regions, precisely sub-Saharan Africa and Southern India. The good news is that the rest of the world has seen a drop from 1990 from 32 percent to 18 percent in the percentage of infant deaths under the age of five.
While infants in certain parts of the world suffer from malnutrition due to a lack of finance or education, it seems almost everywhere in the world malnutrition can happen as a result of negligence. For example in 2010 a baby died in South Korea after only a three months of life at a mere 5.5 pounds. CNN reported that the couple was too engaged in online gaming to have paid attention to their newborn. Ironically the game they were playing involved raising a virtual child.
In northern France this year, an infant died of malnourishment at 11 months of age. Parents magazine reported that the vegan couple was only breastfeeding the infant. At this age babies should be introduced to more solid foods, and especially in the case of a vegan couple. Because the infant’s mother was not receiving enough protein, she died with both a Vitamin A and B12 deficiency.
Regardless of what may cause malnutrition in infants, it is something that clearly needs to be monitored. It gives us hope that certain statistics are falling, but the world needs to send its focus more so to the problem areas. We can give our donations, but best of all we can give our wisdom and our health knowledge to prevent more infants from unnecessarily leaving this earth.
– Kathleen Lee
Sources: WHO, Parenting, CNN, UNICEF
Photo: Flickr
Education in Togo
Along Africa’s west coast is a strip of land called Togo. From 1991 to 2007, Togo experienced a socio-political crisis due to the education system’s lack of progress. The situation became increasingly violent when its veteran leader Gnassingbe Eyadema died in 2005 after 38 years in power. Since then, Togo has been seeking financial help to develop better public services, primarily the education system.
In order to improve Togo’s education, the country has set a list of primary objectives. These include, recruiting and training teachers, improving classrooms and other education facilities, providing free books and abolishing all fees for preschool and primary school. According to Education in Crisis, the number of students taking part in education has increased by 40,000 during the last decade.
Schools are state-owned, and are either Christian or Islamic. Schools take six years to complete. While the number of students has increased, about 10 percent of children are not enrolled in schools.
Secondary schools take an additional six years to complete. There are very few facilities, and most of them are near the Capital City of Lomé. The curriculum used in these schools are closely linked to what France uses.
UNICEF helped Togo a lot with an action plan on how to help the education system regain its strength. In 2007, thanks to UNICEF, 67 schools received 2,000 table-benches and 380 sets of tables and chairs for the classrooms. Also in that same year, 10,400 students from 40 different schools were given new school books.
Objectives moving forward for Togo are to maintain focus on education and make sure that the children have equal and easy access to free education. Also, Togo and UNICEF want to raise the rate of schooling from 75.7 percent to 90 percent by 2015 to meet the Millennium Development Goals of Education.
– Brooke Smith
Sources: Classbase, Education in Crisis BBC, UNICEF
Photo: Flickr
Female Farmers Aided by Simple Tools
In order to earn a living in developing countries, many women have turned to farming. According to a recent report done by the Purchase for Progress program (P4P), women are responsible for 60 to 80 percent of food production in developing countries.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has helped these women with opportunities through its P4P program. Through this program WFP uses its purchasing power to bridge the gap for farmers who work on smaller scales. The program provides agricultural training and markets that will be reliable and profitable for their crops. Developed five years ago, P4P has since helped thousands of female farmers in 20 developing countries.
Five women have shared their personal involvement with P4P. After the death of her husband, Chaltu Bultom Ede of Ethiopia became the head of the household. Through P4P, Ede learned basic business skills, received a loan and consequently was able to afford oxen and other necessities, like seeds and fertilizer for her farm.
Generoza Mukamazimpaka from Rwanda learned how to produce higher quality crops and through WFP she was able to sell them in competitive markets. With her money that she earned, she bought a cow and uses its waste to make biogas, which in turn is used for cooking.
Carmelina Oloroso has also benefited from P4P. She has learned how to use effective agricultural techniques in Guatemala. Her new skills have tripled her production rate. She stores her profit in a savings account, which she recently used to buy extra land.
Koné Korotoumou, from Mali and Esinta Jickson, from Malawi have both experienced the empowerment and independence that P4P provides women. Like Jickson put it, “We know we’re equal to the men, and that has improved our standing in the community.”
– Brooke Smith
Sources: World Food Programme, ONE, World Food Programme 2
Photo: Flickr
Hunger in Kazakhstan
The problem of hunger in Kazakhstan is no longer considered urgent. As of 2004, the country has successfully achieved the first target, within the framework of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) one: halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger. However, the larger issue remains that a majority of the proportion still suffers from poverty and lacks access to a balanced nutrition.
In Kazakhstan, four percent of children under five are underweight, while almost one percent are severely underweight. Another 13 percent are stunted for their age, illustrating measures of both acute and chronic malnutrition. Hidden hunger, or deficiencies of vital vitamins and minerals in a diet, is common among children in Kazakhstan and often leads to their morbidity and mortality.
In related news, women are likely to obtain iron-deficiency anemia, with almost 50 percent of reproductive age women suffering from the condition. High rates of anemia during pregnancy have led to large numbers of children in Kazakhstan suffering from slow brain development, stunted growth and a decrease of intellectual capacity. Mothers who suffer from iron deficiencies also create a greater chance of death for their child during pregnancy and childbirth.
Lack of Vitamin A for pregnant women has also caused concern in Kazakhstan, due to the fact that roughly 20 percent of children are born with depressed immune systems. Consequently, the children are more prone to infectious diseases without the capability of fighting it off.
Poverty, especially in rural areas, is to blame for the remaining starvation in the country. Levels of rural poverty are currently twice as high as urban poverty, leaving many children in remote villages with inadequate food intake. Children in West Kazakhstan are more likely to be underweight than any other children in the country. However, the percentage decreases depending on the level of education of their mothers.
Although hunger in Kazakhstan is well on its way in being eliminated, the country still has work that needs to be done. Kazakhstan is active on the regional and international arena in achieving development goals and objectives. Given Kazakhstan’s success within the framework of MDG 1, this bodes well for social service delivery in the future.
– Leeda Jewayni
Sources: UNDP, UNDG
Photo: Flickr
Weather Disparities Due to Climate Shift
Recent studies have officially linked a variety of extreme weather disparities to climate change. According to a report in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, nine of 2013’s 16 key weather abnormalities were in direct relation to shifts caused by long term human activity. This is arguably the most definitive assessment of direct weather effects climate scientists have made.
The most absolute circumstance explored in the report was Australia’s ruthless heat wave. Five individual groups of researchers studied the trends in the country last year. All concluded the abnormal heat was a direct result of long term climate shifts.
“We can say that this was virtually impossible without climate change,” said climate scientist from the University of Melbourne, David Karoly.
The 2013 heat wave was so intense that the Bureau of Meteorology added a completely new color to the top of its charts. The heat, which often scorched Australia at 111 degrees Fahrenheit, led to the country’s harshest recorded drought and devastating wildfires.
In that same year, the severity of heat waves and/or droughts in New Zealand, China, Korea, Japan and Western Europe could all be attributed to climate change, according to the report.
The California droughts were also explored, though the results were not definitive. The state, which has endured its driest year on record, was studied by three separate teams of climate scientists. One study, conducted by a group from Stanford University, found human activity was responsible. The other two were inconclusive. All agreed, however, that climate change intensified the drought.
Abnormally heavy rains across the Midwest were confirmed as products of manmade climate change, according to the report. These rains caused flooding in the region, delayed plantation of crops and at one point halted shipment down the Mississippi River.
On the other hand, two 2013 weather abnormalities were deemed less likely to occur under the effects of climate change. Research concluded the U.K.’s cold spring and Colorado’s heavy rains weren’t in congruence with expected trends. In Colorado’s case, there was limited data and scientists say further study is necessary.
– Ellie Sennett
Sources: NY Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, The American Meteorological Society
Photo: Flickr
UK Moves Away From Dependence on Fossil Fuels
On October 9, Glasgow University set a precedent for the UK, following suite with other parts of the world. The university announced that it will sell any of its shares invested in companies who produce fossil fuels. This translates to the withdrawal of £18 million of investments over the coming years.
David Newall, secretary of the university’s governing body, made a statement, “The university recognises the devastating impact that climate change may have on our planet, and the need for the world to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels.
A heavily involved student campaign of over 1300 students championed for these efforts. The campaign included rallies and even fake oil spills. The campaign is taking other active steps in reducing harm to the environment. For example, their carbon consumption will be significantly reduced.
The universal campaign is gaining support not only from Glasgow, but from 13 American universities who have also pledged to divest any support from fossil fuel companies. Fossil Free’s website provides a comprehensive list of various religious organizations, cities, counties, and universities in the U.S. who have also pledged to divest any investment in the fossil fuel industry.
In fact, Seattle, Washington, home of The Borgen Project, was the first U.S. city to do so. Their commitment took place near the end of 2012. Other universities who have done so include Stanford University and the University of Dayton in Ohio.
According to a Sept. article by The Guardian, even heirs to the Rockefeller oil fortune have chosen to divest. Thus $50 billion will be redirected from fossil fuel investments, sending a tremendous example to the rest of the world.
With less of a reliance on fossil fuels, the world can change its focus to safer, more efficient and more economical energy sources. The more the world learns to rely on solar and wind energy to power our cars and our homes, the more energy can be a resource for more of the global population.
People living in more poverty-stricken areas of the world do not necessarily have the funds for oil, but with the purchase or donation of a solar panel that could last a lifetime, they will finally have electricity opportunities that could in turn lead to a furthered education, a more literate population, healthier people and longer life spans.
So far, despite this activism, little effect has been seen on the trillion dollar franchise of the oil industry, but with increased participants and awareness this is likely to change. It’s promising that a majority of this change is beginning with the voices of our young people. And with people like those members of the Rockefeller foundation on board, these young people now have a means to make their influence known.
– Kathleen Lee
Sources: BBC, Fossil Free, The Guardian
Photo: Flickr