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#GirlWithABook

Last month, the creators of #GirlWithABook, a project advocating for girl’s education, had the opportunity to meet Malala Yousafzai, their inspiration. #GirlWithABook, the hashtag coined by college students Olivia Curl and Lena Shareef, has caught the attention of leaders and advocates worldwide.

Students at American University in Washington, D.C., Curl and Shareef shared the world’s reaction of astonishment and disgust after 14-year-old Pakistani Yousafzai was attacked on her way home from school in October 2012.

Malala Yousafzai survived after she was shot in the head by the Taliban, and when United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon admonished the Taliban in an address to the world, his words stuck with the two American girls. Ki-moon explained that what frightens terrorists the most is “a girl with a book.”

Curl and Shareef decided to start a campaign based on those words. They sent out a call to action, asking their female friends and family to pose for photos with books and flood social media with the pictures accompanied by the hashtag #GirlWithABook.

“Stand with Malala Yousafzai and show the Taliban that there’s no way they can stop us girls from getting an education,” their website reads. “Post a picture of yourself reading a book or holding a sign of support.”

Just a month after the project had begun, hundreds of photos flooded in from notable figures around the world. Ki-moon is pictured reading to his granddaughter, violinist Midori sent in a photo and even scientist Jane Goodall participated in the campaign.

The overwhelming response from women’s education supporters worldwide prompted Curl and Shareef to compile all the photos into a book. The Secretary-General presented Yousafzai with the book on her 16th birthday, when she visited the United Nations headquarters in New York.

A year has passed since #GirlWithABook was published, but the excitement over the movement continues.

Recently, Curl and Shareef were invited to participate in a conversation about the Millennium Development Goals as a part of the U.N.’s 500 days of action. On August 18, the girls spent the day at United Nations headquarters, along with 500 other young people.

They had the opportunity to meet face to face with Yousafzai and her father, who showered the girls with words of encouragement to continue their advocacy efforts.

Lena Shareef speaks on behalf of her partner when she describes the future of #GirlWithABook: “If Malala wants us to keep going, then there’s no question that we will.”

– Grace Flaherty

Sources: UN
Photo: UN

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How Carbon Can Power Solar Energy

According to the World Bank, renewable and efficient energy are key to overcoming global poverty. Researchers have recently found that carbon-based materials can offer some of the most effective sources of renewable solar energy.

The first source is an all-carbon solar cell developed by researchers at Stanford University. As the name suggests, the cell uses carbon to replace traditional silver and indium tin oxide, which are far more expensive.

What proves most beneficial about the cell is the consistency. The prototype is a thin film, and because of this, it can be placed on top of existing equipment to gather energy. This means new windows or panes do not need to be retrofitted to the new design. Instead the film can simply be placed on top and the energy will generate.

The product is still in the developmental stages, thus not yet reaching the levels of silicon solar panels. This is partially because the carbon-based material needs infrared light to function. While this is problematic, researchers are confident that they can adjust the material to make it a potent form of energy that can be used around the world.

Another carbon-based material has also been found as an excellent steam generator. Solar-powered steam is effective for electricity, but there are other uses that make it ideal for areas of the world whose only natural resource is sunlight. These include refrigeration, sterilization, chemical purification and waste treatment.

Despite its many beneficial uses, it will be hard to pass these on at a commercial level. While it might take a while, it seems that the researchers at MIT are confident about solar energy.

The verdict on both of these carbon-based materials seems to be similar: they can be quite effective but are still in nascent stages. However, the research that has happened up to this point has proven to be very promising. Researchers have looked into several different solutions to each of the unique problems posed.  The big incentive backing it should be enough cause to act.

– Andrew Rywak

Sources: The Economist, Scientific American, Gizmag
Photo: Gizmag

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Corruption Kills Millions, Steals Trillions

In a report released by ONE, an anti-poverty organization, it is estimated that corruption causes 3.6 million unnecessary deaths and costs poor countries $1 trillion each year.

Using three different methodologies to calculate the cost of corruption, all three measures indicated that the loss was either $1 trillion or $2 trillion.

In what is called a “trillion dollar scandal,” corrupt business practices, “anonymous shell companies, money laundering and illegal tax evasion” all serve to severely reduce the effectiveness of poverty relief efforts.

While extreme poverty has been reduced to half its original level over the past 20 years and has the potential to be completely eradicated by 2030, corruption is putting much of that progress at risk.

While corruption is damaging in almost all countries, it is especially dangerous in poorer and developing countries and mostly affects children. It is estimated that millions of deaths could be avoided if corruption was combated and recovered funds were reinvested in essential fields.

Furthermore, the money that is siphoned out of poor countries is not from international development aid, which has helped make a considerable improvement, but rather directly from businesses in these countries. The money is generated by domestic businesses and illegally extracted out of the country. The largest source of financial drain is the illegal manipulation of cross-border trade.

The organization found that even recovering a small amount of the money lost to corruption could dramatically affect development. In Sub-Saharan Africa, a small amount of recovered funds could provide an education to an additional 10 million children each year; pay for an additional 500,000 primary school teachers; provide antiretroviral drugs for more 11 million people with HIV/AIDS and buy nearly 165 million vaccines.

The report stresses action that serves to end the secrecy that allows corruption to thrive. If specific policies were implemented that increased transparency and combated corruption in the four areas of “natural resource deals, the use of phantom firms, tax evasion and money laundering,” developing countries could considerably stem the financial drain.

Natural resources in particular can provide a vital source of funds that could greatly increase economic growth in many developing countries. Corruption concerning natural resources is particularly bad, with approximately 20 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa rich in natural resources but receiving few benefits from these reserves.

Specifically, One calls for mandatory reporting laws for the natural resource sectors and publish open data so citizens are able to track where travels from and to, ensuring that the funds are not lost to corruption.

Published in anticipation of the G20 meeting in Brisbane, Australia in November, the organization stresses the importance for the G20 nations to address the issue. Now that the cost of corruption has been defined in real terms, the fight against corruption can become more directed and effective.

— William Ying

Sources: ONE 1, ONE 2, ONE 3, BBC, The Guardian, ABC News, Yahoo News
Photo: Blogspot

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Helping Hand for Relief and Development in Action

Helping Hand for Relief and Development
Ninety percent of the Helping Hand for Relief and Development’s (HHRD) funds are spent on the programs and services it delivers. HHRD is a nonprofit based out of Detroit, Michigan and prides itself on being known as a group of “Muslims for Humanity.”

The organization responds to emergencies and disasters all over the world with a focus on those living in poverty. Apart from disaster relief programs, HHRD also works on long term projects including economic empowerment, livelihood, orphan and widow support and skills development.

Founded in 2005, the HHRD believes in the Islamic principle of helping those who are in need. The organization works to strengthen the human condition regardless of gender, religion or ethnicity. Their core values seek to recognize the innate worth of all people, ensure equity and justice, increase transparency and advocate mutual respect.

In the event of a natural disaster, HHRD provides food, clothing and medical relief to the troubled area. It does not simply come in to provide relief and then leave once the chaos of the disaster has been subdued. Following a catastrophe, the nonprofit supports physiotherapy and donates artificial limbs for victims in need. It rebuilds homes and schools in affected areas, as well.

It also sponsors rehabilitation centers, supports home construction and contributes to career programs. The organization has scholarships available for students in need. Apart from direct contributions, HHRD also raises awareness through campaigns such as its walk for tuberculosis.

Partnering with organizations ranging from small community support groups to international relief programs, HHRD is funded predominately by private donors. In addition, it receives funding from big names including the World Food Program and the World Health Organization. Corporations such as Microsoft serve as match partners, agreeing to match HHRD’s private donor gifts.

This nonprofit works all over the globe—particularly in areas considered under the poverty line, such as Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

With the current events surrounding ISIS and other terrorist organizations, the religion of Islam often gets unfairly labeled as a violent religion. HHRD’s mission and life-altering work is the perfect example to prove the negative stereotype wrong.

– Caroline Logan

Sources: HHRD, Charity Navigator

Photo: Helping-hand-online

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The Benefits of the LifeStraw

In the United States, the LifeStraw is a popular tool for those interested in backpacking and hiking. But while these uses might be popular, it was never intended to be the primary function of the plastic device.

For those unaware, the LifeStraw is a plastic personal water filter designed by a company of the same name. The product allows an individual to take contaminated water and clean it. According to studies, the device removes a minimum of 99.9999 percent of waterborne bacteria and can fit into a pocket. Additionally, the LifeStraw contains no moving parts or batteries, which increases its longevity.

In addition to the regular LifeStraw, there is a LifeStraw Family. The latter is capable of filtering up to 18,000 liters of water, an amount that would be able to sustain a four-person family for three years. The individual product can filter 1,000 liters, and can sustain an individual for one year.

The LifeStraw was introduced and field-tested in 2005 as an on-the-ground relief for humanitarian crises. Feedback was positive and it is now available in the United States since it passed EPA standards for clean water.  Shortly after the test period ended, the product was honored with the TIME magazine invention of the year award.

The LifeStraw is hailed as one of the most cost-effective and eco-friendly ways to bring water to the 884 million people who do not have access to a clean water supply, but is not meant to supplant other, more traditional humanitarian solutions.

One LifeStraw success story comes from an island nation of Kiribati, located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. Around one in 20 infants do not survive due to malnutrition that is often caused by dehydration.  In a response to this, Carol Armstrong started the Island Rescue Project. While the campaign has traditional, large-scale methods of curbing this high death rate, it also encourages the use of low-tech simple solutions.

To no surprise, the LifeStraw is among the highest rated of these. Armstrong commented on the ability of the device to sustain an individual for up to a year. It was especially promising compared to the other solution—the “sodi method.” This method involves putting water into an empty plastic bottle and letting UV rays hit it. After seven hours, the water should be clean to drink.  However, the water will only be clean for a few days and it will not clean the water to the standard that the LifeStraw does. But it’s a solution that anyone can do, and at virtually no cost.

– Andrew Rywak

Sources: ABC, Men’s Journal, Digital Journal, Hills News
Photo: Future of Cities

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How Gandhi Utilized Advocacy

Gandhi Utilized Advocacy
Martin Luther King Jr. once referred to Gandhi’s philosophy as “the only morally and practically sound method open to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom.” Mahatma, or “Great Soul,” Gandhi was an advocate for human rights and is largely known for initiating the idea of nonviolent resistance.

Gandhi’s journey as an advocate began in South Africa. As a young legal adviser, he saw firsthand the damage caused by race-oriented laws and class-based oppression.

This is when Gandhi began to teach his philosophy of passive resistance. Gandhi’s organization of the Indian community in South Africa began widespread social change.

When Gandhi returned to India in 1915, he began working as an advocate for various local struggles concerning working conditions. Four years after his arrival home, British authorities passed the Rowlatt Acts, which allowed imprisonment without trial of any Indian accused of sedition.

Gandhi advocated through a national day of fasting and a refusal to work. He termed this as an act of Satyagraha, or love-force.

Gandhi eventually transformed the Indian National Congress into a large movement committed to nonviolent resistance in support of India’s independence, otherwise known as the non-cooperation movement.

As a consequence of his activism, he was arrested in March of 1922 and served two years for sedition.

Eight years later, in 1930, Gandhi organized 80 volunteers for a 200-mile march to the sea where the volunteers made salt out of seawater in protest of British Salt Laws. The movement eventually grew to 60,000 Indians who were all arrested and imprisoned for their defiance until Gandhi negotiated a truce with representative Lord Irwin.

After Irwin left office and his successor continued the oppressive measures taken against Indians, Gandhi began his movement once again and was immediately imprisoned. In prison, Gandhi began fasting in protest of a new Indian constitution, which was to include different representatives for the “untouchables” or members of India’s lowest level on the caste system.

His fasting gained international attention and was the precursor to the 1947 resolution, which made the discriminatory practice illegal. Britain left India that same year. Gandhi had won his country’s independence back, without the use of violence.

Gandhi’s approach to advocacy inspired many leaders, from Nelson Mandela to Martin Luther King Jr. The Dalai Lama, a follower of Gandhi, expressed, “As Mahatma Gandhi showed by his own example, nonviolence can be implemented not only in politics but also in day-to-day life. That was his great achievement. He showed that nonviolence should be active in helping others.”

– Christopher Kolezynski

Sources: Stanford University, New York Times, MSN News, The Borgen Project
Photo: Wikiphotos

Uganda Criminalizes HIV Transmission

This August, Uganda passed a landmark HIV bill which criminalizes HIV transmission. Experts say that with this law, the dreams of an “AIDS-free generation” have evaporated. With threats of fines and jail times, many HIV positive people will be dissuaded from taking proactive measures for their health.

According to the new bill, HIV sufferers cannot be legally charged with a crime if they didn’t knowingly infect someone with HIV. Thus, many people are now refusing to get tested as a loophole around the law.

Despite the United States, a large funder of HIV programs in Uganda, publicly denouncing the bill since its conception, the Ugandan president has still signed it into law. Even with these multinational efforts from the U.S. and elsewhere, the HIV infection rate has been steadily increasing in the past several years. The overall HIV positive rate is approximately 6.5 percent of the population, but higher among certain at-risk groups.

Among those specifically targeted by the bill are sexual assault survivors and pregnant women who are required to undergo routine blood testing for HIV. Pregnant women with HIV have been the victims of forced sterilization in the past, and the lack of privacy concerns are causing fears that these cases will increase.

While there are measures directly targeting women in this bill, the effects on both men and women are troublesome. Experts warn of the slippery slope of discrimination that this bill will cause. HIV/AIDS is already highly stigmatized in Uganda and this bill is thought likely to worsen the stigmas, shame and misconceptions surrounding the disease.

Many global health advocates view this bill as a setback for the HIV awareness community in Uganda. With a steady increase in the past few years of HIV positive rates, this law is projected to exacerbate the problem.

– Kristin Ronzi

Sources: Africa Science News, Human Rights Watch
Photo: Devex

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The Much Needed Release of Child Soldiers

Since 2013, various countries have taken steps to end child soldiering in order to meet international human rights standards.

In accordance with these standards, the Tatmadaw, the Myanmar Armed Forces, has released 176 child soldiers since signing a joint action plan to end the recruiting of children for military service.

Earlier this year, Yemen signed an action plan with the United Nations to end recruitment of child soldiers and by doing so, “formalized its commitment to protect its future generations,” says Leila Zerrougui, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.

Similarly, UNICEF and partners arranged for the release of over 1,000 children from military service in the Central African Republic after the country made headlines earlier this year for having over 6,000 children involved in armed conflict.

It is estimated that there are 300,000 child soldiers in the world today, and 40 percent of armed forces around the world use children to fight in their battles. Although the thought of a child soldier is foreign to Americans and citizens of developed countries, it is all too familiar to those of undeveloped nations. Child Soldiers International has reported that since January 2011, the use of child soldiers has been found in 19 different countries.

Children are taken by militias to fight because children are far more malleable than adults. They are also less costly due to the fact that they are given fewer resources and smaller weapons – although they are more likely to be seen on the front lines. Because of this, children are more likely to die in battle than adult soldiers.

Children who survive have lasting psychological effects, which include PTSD and stunted mental development. When there is failure to integrate back into society, there’s a likely chance these once child soldiers will return to battle because it’s all they’ve known.

If the children are released from duty with the help of UNICEF, like in the Central African Republic, they meet with social workers, are taken to a transition center where they can receive an education or learn a vocational skill and are given help in locating their families.

Upon the release of the child soldiers, UNICEF Representative in the Central African Republic Souleymane Diabaté said, “Every single child we spoke to said they wanted to leave the armed group and return to school. We cannot fail them.”

– Kori Withers

Sources: Child Soldiers International, Child Soldiers International: FAQ, Forbes, United States Institute of Peace, UN News Centre, UNICEF Press Centre 1, UNICEF Press Centre 2, UNICEF Connect
Photo: UN

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History of Advocacy 101

History of Advocacy
John Wilkes, a man from England born in the 18th century, is credited as the forefather of modern advocacy. Wilkes was critical of the Treaty of Paris that ended the Seven Years War and was imprisoned for libel shortly thereafter, although he was later acquitted. After Wilkes’ act of defiance, a pro-abolition movement arose in England, effectively ending slavery in England.

The beginning of the 19th century was relatively quiet, but in the middle of the century, a philosopher coined the term social movement. The term was only used to describe relatively smaller events at the time.

Around the turn of the century, advocacy began to make progress. The socialist movement and the labor movement were the most popular, and were soon to be the model of contemporary advocacy. Out of these movements, the communist and democratic parties were born.

Following World War I, there was a renewed push for activism. This period led to a new classification of groups—the new social movements. The post-industrial economy gave way to a large number of groups, including women’s rights, gay rights, civil rights, the peace movement and the environmentalist movement. These movements stayed fairly static in terms of organization. More groups, such as the anti-nuclear movement, joined toward the middle of the century.

With the advent of the television, advocacy began to see incredible progression, which only foreshadowed the contemporary movement. The 1960s, in particular, were heavily influential, as civil rights took center stage.

The next step occurred around the 1990s. This period marked the era of global social activism, spurred on by the rise of the Internet. E-mail replaced postal mail and e-bulletin boards replaced traditional ones. The transition from analog to digital communication proved to be more effective in gathering support and more effective in increasing awareness. Groups that once couldn’t afford traditional publishing began to use the web as a platform for their activism.

Beyond Internet activism is the rise of social media and the role it plays in the history of advocacy. Popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter have begun to be utilized as platforms for advocacy. Sites like these allow people to connect and interact in ways that were previously impossible.

– Andrew Rywak

Sources: University of Michigan, Mashable, Academia.edu, The Borgen Project
Photo: GuardianLV

Protesters in Yemen Call for New Government

Thousands of protesters flooded the streets of Sanaa, the capital city of Yemen, on August 18. The protesters in Yemen were marching in support of the Houthi movement, which is the largest opposition group in the country. The Houthis are a religious group and social movement, but also they also have an armed wing.

The leader of the group, Abdulmalek al-Houthi, initially called for the protesters to occupy various public areas in Sanaa and elsewhere across the country. The protests are largely considered to be an attempt to rekindle some of the energy that was sparked in 2011 during the Arab Spring Revolutions.

The protesters cited a variety of reasons for their most recent march. They demanded that fuel subsidies be reinstated, which were significantly cut earlier this July. The subsidies led to an increase in fuel price, which spiked at a 90 percent increase from prior rates. The new fuel prices drastically increased the cost of living for its population, which is the poorest in the Arab world. The protesters also demanded the current government to disband in favor of a more representative cabinet.

According to organizers between 10,000 and 100,000 people joined in the demonstrations, which included demonstrators that were bused in from other provinces of Yemen.

Many are concerned that the protests will spark conflicts between the Houthis, who are Shia, and the Islah party, which currently controls the government and is Shiite. One government official speaking on the condition of anonymity said “They [Houthis] build a presence, provoke violence and react with violence.” A spokesman for the Houthi movement responded by saying the protest was “aimed at meeting our goals, which are the goals of everyone in Yemen” and that the protests will be peaceful.

The protest has also attracted some people who are not members of the Houthi party but who wish to voice their general discontent with the current government. However, no other major political party in Yemen has backed the protests as of this writing. The effects of the protest remain to be seen, but many are watching the protests closely to see how (or if) they will cause a change in government or society.

– Andre Gobbo

Sources: Al Jazeera 1, Al Jazeera 2, Middle East Eye
Photo: NYTimes