Raphael Lemkin first conceived the term “genocide” in 1944 in reaction to the Holocaust during World War II. The term was first used in a legal setting during the charter of the International Military Tribunal in 1945. In 1946, the United Nations General Assembly made genocide a crime punishable under international law. According to the U.N., Dr. George Stanton of the Department of State first outlined the stages of genocide in 1996.
Recognizing and being aware of stages of genocide are imperative for its prevention. The first six stages are considered the warning signs, and if governments wish to successfully prevent genocide, they must act during the first six stages.
8 Disturbing Stages of Genocide
1. Classification
Classification refers to a division of the population into racial, religious and ethnic divisions. In Rwanda, the population was divided into Tutsi and Hutu, an ethnic divide in which the Tutsi were considered nobility. The stark divide between culture and ethnicity in Rwanda created an environment prone to conflict. According to Genocide Watch, recognizing this, finding and closing the divide is a successful preventative to genocide.
2. Symbolization
Symbolization refers to labeling the classified group. The groups dividing society are identified by a certain name, language, type of dress, uniforms or religious symbol. In Cambodia‘s Khmer Rouge, people from the Eastern Zone were required to wear blue scarfs. Similarly, Nazi Germany required Jews to wear a yellow star. The symbolization of a certain ethnicity, race or religion easily and visibly differentiates that group, and the gap between two groups widens.
3. Dehumanization
Dehumanization, as the word suggests, is a process by which a particular group is marked as sub-human. This includes describing them as animals or disease. The process of dehumanization often involves negative propaganda campaigns. The U.N. provides the example that a Rwandan newspaper labeled the Tutsis as “cockroaches.” Currently, the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar are referred to as illegal immigrants, and many government leaders refuse to recognize even the existence of the Rohingya. The process of dehumanization allows the government to violate the human rights of the targeted group without the widespread criticism of the country’s people, just as long as the propaganda efforts are successful.
4. Organization
Organization refers to the planning of action, as genocide requires both collective action and group identification. In the case of Nazi Germany, the Nazi’s created a “final solution.” However, the level of organization differs by group. For Nazi Germany, the genocide was highly bureaucratic. Genocide also argues that states employ militias, such as the Janjaweed in Darfur and Interahamwe in Rwanda, in order to avoid blame.
5. Polarization
In the polarization stage, groups are further driven apart by extremists. Those who did not participate in the previous stages are forced to separate themselves by the targeted group through intimidation by extremists. The U.N. cites Kristalnacht, when hundreds of synagogues were burned in 1938, as an example. In this stage, Dr. Stanton argues, moderates are key to preventing the furtherance of genocide. Involvement of outside groups would include providing security for these moderates and combating the extremists.
6. Preparation
In preparation, further planning takes place. For instance, “death lists” are created or people are segregated into camps. At these camps, the targeted groups are subjected to starvation and disease, mimicking the consequences of extreme poverty. Weapons are stored and, as the U.N. states, death camps are built. In this stage, Stanton recommends international military intervention but notes this only occurs if there is significant political will. In many instances, intervention, if any, only occurs during the extermination stage.
7. Extermination
The extermination stage is genocide. In Rwanda, almost 1 million moderate Hutus and Tutsis were killed in 100 days. During the Holocaust, five to six million Jews were killed. The Khmer Rouge killed nearly 2 million people in Cambodia. According to the UN, there have been over 70 million deaths due to genocide and politicides since its founding. These numbers evidence the importance of prevention in the first six stages of genocide. The willingness to intervene and political will must overcome doubts or fear of political costs.
8. Denial
In the final stage, the perpetrators attempt to cover up their crimes or refer to reports of genocide as overstated. In some cases, those who violated the human rights of another group refer to the conflict as a “civil war.” The failure of international crime tribunals or individual nations to refuse to recognize the denial perpetuates future genocides. Hitler justified his extermination of the Jews by referring to the unpunished Armenian genocide.
In many cases, those who are not subjected to direct violence by the perpetrators of violence are victims of extreme poverty, as their economic prospects are extremely limited by government abuses and bias. The key to preventing further genocides is to both punish perpetrators after they occur and intervene as the initial stages are occurring. However, this requires the political will to combat human rights abuses before violence and “extermination.”
– Tara Wilson
Sources: History Channel, UNITAR, Genocide Watch 1, Genocide Watch 2, New York Times, SURF Survivors Fund, World Without Genocide
Photo: Modern History Project 2012
How to Get Into Philanthropy
As defined by Merriam-Webster, philanthropy is the giving of money and time to help improve the lives of others. Despite the straightforward definition, philanthropy can relate to a broad range of actions, which is why a question many of us ask is how does one get into philanthropy?
When exploring this question, ask yourself, “What causes do I care about most?” With numerous organizations supporting a variety of causes, it can be difficult to choose among hundreds of philanthropic organizations.
As a result, many donors are strategic in their giving, meaning that they ensure that their donations will yield the best results coinciding with their beliefs. To help realize what causes you care most about, rank organizations according to the categories that they address, such as people, places, issues or philosophies.
Sites like CharityNavigator.org and GiveWell.org are helpful when researching and ranking organizations. Don’t be shocked if your rankings change over time. Like everything else, this is a learning process, so allow yourself some time to learn the best ways to donate.
Although monetary donations keep organizations working toward their specific cause, giving time is just as important as giving money. Organizations are always looking for volunteers and even full-time employees dedicated to the organization’s cause. The most popular position people typically apply for in a philanthropic organization is that of program staff member, whose main responsibility is grant-making; but there are so many more positions available that applicants may typically overlook.
Employment opportunities typically available at a philanthropic organization include: member of the foundation board, senior management, finance, programs, communications, administration/human resources, donor relations, research and grants management. All of these positions play a major role in an organization’s daily operations and in the achievement of its core mission.
An increasing amount of volunteers are serving the world’s poor in both the U.S. and foreign countries. Although the common perception of volunteers is that they are merely young and inexperienced college students or graduates volunteering to simply pass the time, volunteers are just as important and influential as employees. With the timing of assignments ranging from weeks to months to even years, volunteering can directly correspond with one’s schedule.
Volunteering has become more than just an easy way to assist international development efforts or humanitarian relief work; anyone can learn new skills and share their knowledge with others. With various opportunities available across the world, finding a volunteer position that is related to your interests or expertise is easy, thanks to sites like Volunteermatch.org and Idealist.org.
Even though philanthropy is commonly associated with donations, it goes beyond donating money. While considering how to get into philanthropy, remember that every action helps, whether you contribute your finances, time, or even your gifts and talents.
– Meghan Orner
Sources: Merriam-Webster, Philanthropy New York, Devex, Bridgespan
Photo: MillanCPA
Cholera Outbreak in Haiti: The UN Responds
He also introduced the “Total Sanitation Campaign” that will attempt to lessen the impact of future cholera outbreaks in Haiti by addressing the absence of proper sanitation in rural areas. “As secretary-general of the United Nations, I want to assure you that the United Nations and its partners are strongly committed to ending the epidemic as quickly as possible,” said the Secretary-General.
Before the current epidemic, which has killed over 8,500 and infected 700,000 since 2010, Haitians had not seen a recorded case of bacterial infection within their borders for a century. Evidence suggests that U.N. peacekeepers from Nepal first brought the disease to Haiti in response to the 2010 earthquake that affected 3 million in the area.
Despite its claim of legal immunity, the UN must now defend itself against three lawsuits brought forth on behalf of the victims. Critics denounced the Secretary-General’s visit, stating that the UN must accept legal responsibility for the outbreak and compensate the Haitian people.
Cholera quickly spread throughout Haiti due to inadequate sewage systems and polluted water sources. While extreme poverty fell by seven percent from 2000 to 2012 nationally, poverty rates remained largely the same in rural areas where half of all households lack adequate sanitation and where more than half of the total population resides.
Of the rural population, 40 percent uses unprotected water sources, which lead to increased risk of contracting cholera. The economic gap between rural and urban populations in Haiti has grown, with 70 percent of rural households classified as chronically poor compared to those of urban areas at 20 percent.
The World Health Organization defines cholera as “an acute intestinal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.” Symptoms include watery diarrhea that if untreated, can dehydrate and kill a patient. Yet the 75 percent of those infected who do not develop symptoms, can still infect others. Those with low immunity to disease, such as malnourished children and people with HIV, have an increased likelihood of infection.
Almost all families displaced by the earthquake four and a half years ago have since left temporary camps — a sign of increased progress in a burdened nation. As families continue to reestablish normalcy, the UN’s campaign plans to initially aid three million citizens over the next five years. According to the Secretary-General, “Cholera rates are declining and the battle is slowly being won. We must, however, intensify these efforts. And we must focus on the wider quest to ensure access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.” For now, anxious Haitians await both new donors and and initiative from the U.N. to take legal responsibility.
– Erica Lignell
Sources: UN, World Bank, BBC, ABC News, WHO, CBS News
Photo: Unsplash
New Purpose for the Irish Potato: Vita
Almost 170 years after the first crops began to rot in what is now the Republic of Ireland, an Irish nonprofit, Vita, hopes to give the potato a new purpose in alleviating hunger in the Horn of Africa. Working with Gama Gofa Zonal Administration, the International Potato Centre, Arba Minch University, Teagasc, Wageningen and the Irish Potato Federation, Vita founded the Potato Centre of Excellence in 2013. The Centre, based in Gama Gofa, Ethiopia, plans to help over 100,000 Ethiopian farmers grow potatoes as a staple crop within the the next five to 10 years.
Potatoes have long sustained the Irish population, and as Vita highlights, potatoes “use less water per nutritional output than all other major food sources and can be grown in Africa.” The Centre will give a bag of potato seeds to individual farmers with the idea that the farmers will return two bags of seeds the following year. Vita is in the process of introducing new strains of potatoes with the hope of increasing crop yields in the Horn of Africa.
Mother Teresa, Father Kevin Doheny and Father Norman Fitzgerald founded Vita in 1989 with the mission of tackling “…household food insecurity through community-led sustainable agriculture projects, which are scalable and replicable, with a special focus on women as the key enablers of sustainable development.”
The organization, located in Dublin, has also worked to further the efforts of the Potato Coalition of six countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The United States Agency for International Development has help to fund the Coalition, which has already brought aid to over 10,000 farmers in Southern Ethiopia since its inception in 2013. The Coalition aims to eventually help four million potato farmers in Africa by connecting researchers, the private sector and local organizations.
The diversity of the new potato crops remains key to the success of potato farming across the region in order to protect against the Phytophthora infestans that causes the kind of potato blight seen in the 1846 to 1852 Irish famine. An estimated 1 million Irishmen died from starvation or epidemic as a result of the famine, and an additional 2 million left Ireland for better economic opportunity elsewhere.
Although the naturally occurring disease was disastrous on its own, many historians today point to the policies of the British government under Prime Minister Lord John Russell as massively negligent at best, genocide at worst. Influenced by new liberal ideas on the free market economy and long-held bigotry against the Irish, the Whig administration’s response was to introduce arbitrary public work projects and inadequate food rations via the Irish Poor Acts.
As then assistant secretary to the treasury, Lord John Russell claimed, “The judgement of God sent the calamity to teach the Irish a lesson, that calamity must not be too mitigated. …The real evil with which we have to contend is not the physical evil of the Famine, but the moral evil of the selfish, perverse and turbulent character of the people.”
In 1997, Prime Minister Tony Blair formally apologized for the British government’s role in the famine.
Even with continued tensions with the British over the status of Northern Ireland, the Irish now have the opportunity to evolve the potato from a painful reminder to a symbol of hope for a sustainable future.
– Erica Lignell
Sources: Vita, Vita’s Facebook page, Vita Annual Report, The Economist, University College Cork-Multitext Project
Photo: The Daily Spud
How Fair is Fair Trade?
Fair Trade is a system in which a deal is worked out between artisans or farmers in developing countries and businessmen or a middleman to sell products in more affluent countries for a price in which those producing the items get fair wages for their work.
The goal of these fair trade companies is to replace continual aid (in which the receiving end oftentimes feels helpless,) with a system where the “receiver” is able to create a sustainable lifestyle by utilizing their talents in a business. Over time, Fair Trade companies can build long-lasting relationships with their suppliers.
Paul Rice, CEO of Fair Trade U.S.A., says “The corporate community is increasingly realizing that this model and models like it are a way to align sustainability with profitability, they want a resilient and sustainable supply chain.”
A problem these companies are currently having is that they are not well known among their potential market. Consumer awareness for these products is currently at 55 percent, improving from the 34 percent that it was a few years ago. Consumers are increasingly questioning where their food and products are coming from and becoming thoughtful in their purchases.
Another problem dealing with this issue is the companies themselves. While there are standards for producers, labor, production and the economics behind the transaction, the producers still don’t always seem to receive a sustainable amount.
Ndongo Samba Sylla, a Senegalese development economist, studied common fair trade companies to find that most of the producers are coming from less poor areas rather than the very poor one, crop farmers, and calculated that for each dollar paid by a consumer, only about 3 cents more are given back to producers in fair trade programs than other producers.
Although the percentage comparison is not always favoring the producers in the way we would hope, many companies of this kind do charge more for their products, therefore more money would go to the producer in the end.
Aside from the prices, the standards for this model go beyond economics. The World Fair Trade Organization and the Fair Trade Federation Principles designed regulations for any company that calls themselves fair trade, many of which are not strictly economic.
The standards involve transparency and accountability between the client and the buyer, where the client cannot be taken advantage of. This kind of company must assist the producer, whether it be financial, educational, or market information, in order for the producer to sustain their business. Prompt payment is required, so the producers are able to have consistency, and equal payment between genders for equal work is also a necessity.
Although harder to define, fair trade companies must also be environmentally conscious and respectful of the producer’s culture. The companies are encouraged to use recycled materials (also more economically sustainable,) and companies must respect the manner in which the products are being made by not discouraging indigenous traditions and techniques if the producers do not wish to change them.
Overall, these companies work toward letting producers become sustainable partially through higher wages, but also empowering them through equality and respect they may not be receiving otherwise. Beyond economics, the business practices being upheld by these companies will still benefit the producers and help them succeed.
– Courtney Prentice
Sources: The Economist, The Guardian, Fair Trade, Fair Trade Federation
Photo: Tufts Now
Tanzania’s Struggle for Potable Water
As the largest country in East Africa, about one-third of the land in Tanzania is waterless. A little under 50 percent of Tanzania’s citizens do not have access to clean water, totaling around 21.6 million people.
Although there are three lakes that surround Tanzania, it is extremely difficult for individuals to find access to potable water if they do not live near one of these bodies of water.
While there have been attempts to address the situation, there has not been much success. In 1971, the Rural Supply Program was introduced in the hopes that the government would be able to provide free, clean water to the citizens of Tanzania. A lack of donors and technology have led to the low success rate of this project.
In 2002, Tanzania began major reforms in the water sector, and still insists that by 2025, it will have more comprehensive access to safe, clean water. Reforming the water sector has recently made the country a target for foreign donor support. Germany’s state aid agency is one donor that has been extremely involved in providing Tanzania’s water sector with aid.
Private sector donations are also coming from various types of companies. H&M, a Swedish retailer, has created a three-year program that will pair with Wateraid to “improve water provision and sanitation facilities in 36 schools in the rural Manyara district. As well as immediate assistance, H&M hopes the intervention will influence government thinking about water-related issues in schools.”
Wateraid is also working to solve the sewerage issues in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania’s largest city. The initiative is a for-profit one that removes waste from latrine pits for a small charge in order to reduce disease and improve quality of life in the city.
As a country, Tanzania has become a guinea pig for “water stewardship approaches that involve the wider business community.” The Water Futures Partnership (WFP) has been instrumental in this endeavor.
Although many attempts have been made to rectify the water situation, public awareness still remains a pressing issue. People are accustomed to disposing their waste in the river and unfortunately still fail to recognize that they are not only contributing to the lack of potable water but are also facilitating the spread of water-borne diseases.
In order to make sure the program has a chance of success, there needs to be more open communication and collaboration between the organizations trying to improve access to potable water and the individuals in the populations they are trying to help.
– Jordyn Horowitz
Sources: The Water Project, allAfrica
Photo: Wikimedia
Economic Inequality in Brazil
As the curtain of the World Cup comes down, the fever and enthusiasm for soccer are going to be put aside for a while. In addition to hosting a seemingly successful World Cup, Brazil is facing numerous social issues such as economic inequality.
Brazil has one of the highest Gini Coefficients, which indicates how unequal the nation’s social distribution is. The richest 10 percent of population is controlling 42.7 percent of the wealth, while the poorest 34 percent own only 1.2 percent. According to the figures of IBGE (Brazil’s government statistics bureau), approximately 16.2 million people (8.5 percent of the country’s population) live under around $1.30 per day.
The disparities are too obvious to ignore. People can feel the inequality right away by standing in front of the expensive beachfront apartments, with favelas (a Portuguese term for a slum) next to these displays of wealth. “Paradise for the rich” has become one of the nicknames for Brazil. To eradicate this social problem, the government has come out with the Brazil Without Misery program.
The central part of the program is the Bolsa Familia cash transfer program started in 2003, which gives low-income families cash from $15 to $95 per month according to per capita income. In return, the families promise to send their children to local schools.
The second step of the program is to put more people under the protection of healthcare and the benefits of public infrastructure. Third, the Busca Activa (or “active search”) aims to help the poorest who are isolated due to geological reasons or lack of information. The Busca Activa has registered 678,000 families who were previously unnoticed.
The Brazil Without Misery program aims to eradicate poverty by 2014. It is the middle of July, but there are still millions of people remaining homeless, living in slums and under the poverty line. Problems such as corruption still riddle the country.
In 2013, Pope Francis visited the slums in Brazil, scolding the rich and corrupted who put themselves before the people. Just like he said, a “culture of solidarity” should replace “selfishness and individualism.” Clearly, there is still a long road ahead if Brazil is to solve its issues of inequality.
– Jing Xu
Sources: Chaurahha, Reuters, The Rio Times
Photo: Insight Guides
The Education Development Center
In the fight against global poverty, it is important to acknowledge some of the more successful combatants. The Education Development Center (EDC) is one of these. As a global nonprofit, it recognizes the correlation between the lack of education and increased global poverty and helps give those marginalized in the world — either due to poverty or war — the chance of leading a better life by means of education. As their website states, over 100 million children do not attend school, and it is this statistic that the EDC is fighting to combat and reduce.
With offices based in New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Waltham, Mass., the Education Development Center commands a global staff of 1,350 members. It has over a $190 million budget and over 250 programs spread throughout 30 different countries and across all 50 U.S. states.
Through grants from both private foundations and federal agencies, the EDC creates and implements projects to improve educational and economic prospects of those worldwide. According to the EDC, these projects have ranged from “seed projects to large-scale national and international initiatives.”
Notable donors to the EDC include: the Ford Motor Company, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of Education, UNESCO and the World Health Organization. Recently, the EDC has received three grants from the U.S. Department of Education, one for $3.5 million and two for almost $400,000 each, all meant for education development projects within the U.S.
Founded in 1958, the EDC’s first project was to design a new physics curriculum for American high school classrooms. This was partially a reaction to the Soviet Union’s new space program as well as a response to a perceived discrepancy between Soviet Union and American science educations.
Funded by the National Science Foundation, this project became highly successful, and the new curriculum was incorporated into roughly half of American high schools by the early 1960s.
Following the implementation of this first project in the United States, EDC soon began to establish a more global reach. In 1961 and 1966 it began work on advancing mathematics and science programs in Africa. These projects would eventually end up creating, as stated on EDC’s website, “the continent’s first indigenous education research and development organization, Science Education Programme for Africa.”
However, one of its most effective and interesting international projects is the Radio Education or Interactive Radio Instruction.
This radio program that began in 1985 (and still exists today) was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. It uses radios to educate large swaths of people, including adults and children from over 30 developing countries, that would otherwise be unable to receive a basic education, either because of war or poverty.
This dedication to improving the world and combating poverty through education has been sustained throughout the organization’s entire existence. As a result of projects from 1997-2007, for instance, student enrollment in Guinea has doubled.
More recently, the international work of the EDC has focused on reducing youth unemployment in both Rwanda and Macedonia. More vocational training centers, concentrated on teaching technical and interpersonal skills, are being created for these youths.
As 2015 draws near, so does the end of the Millennium Development Goals, eight goals signed in 2000 by 191 countries designed to drastically reduce global poverty. As the international community debates and draws up the next set of goals to target poverty, the EDC will be remembered and depended on for the continued positive change it has enacted since 1958.
– Albert Cavallaro
Sources: EDC 1, EDC 2, EDC 3, EDC 4, EDC 5, IRIN
Photo: Sasaki
Eight Stages of Genocide
Raphael Lemkin first conceived the term “genocide” in 1944 in reaction to the Holocaust during World War II. The term was first used in a legal setting during the charter of the International Military Tribunal in 1945. In 1946, the United Nations General Assembly made genocide a crime punishable under international law. According to the U.N., Dr. George Stanton of the Department of State first outlined the stages of genocide in 1996.
Recognizing and being aware of stages of genocide are imperative for its prevention. The first six stages are considered the warning signs, and if governments wish to successfully prevent genocide, they must act during the first six stages.
8 Disturbing Stages of Genocide
1. Classification
Classification refers to a division of the population into racial, religious and ethnic divisions. In Rwanda, the population was divided into Tutsi and Hutu, an ethnic divide in which the Tutsi were considered nobility. The stark divide between culture and ethnicity in Rwanda created an environment prone to conflict. According to Genocide Watch, recognizing this, finding and closing the divide is a successful preventative to genocide.
2. Symbolization
Symbolization refers to labeling the classified group. The groups dividing society are identified by a certain name, language, type of dress, uniforms or religious symbol. In Cambodia‘s Khmer Rouge, people from the Eastern Zone were required to wear blue scarfs. Similarly, Nazi Germany required Jews to wear a yellow star. The symbolization of a certain ethnicity, race or religion easily and visibly differentiates that group, and the gap between two groups widens.
3. Dehumanization
Dehumanization, as the word suggests, is a process by which a particular group is marked as sub-human. This includes describing them as animals or disease. The process of dehumanization often involves negative propaganda campaigns. The U.N. provides the example that a Rwandan newspaper labeled the Tutsis as “cockroaches.” Currently, the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar are referred to as illegal immigrants, and many government leaders refuse to recognize even the existence of the Rohingya. The process of dehumanization allows the government to violate the human rights of the targeted group without the widespread criticism of the country’s people, just as long as the propaganda efforts are successful.
4. Organization
Organization refers to the planning of action, as genocide requires both collective action and group identification. In the case of Nazi Germany, the Nazi’s created a “final solution.” However, the level of organization differs by group. For Nazi Germany, the genocide was highly bureaucratic. Genocide also argues that states employ militias, such as the Janjaweed in Darfur and Interahamwe in Rwanda, in order to avoid blame.
5. Polarization
In the polarization stage, groups are further driven apart by extremists. Those who did not participate in the previous stages are forced to separate themselves by the targeted group through intimidation by extremists. The U.N. cites Kristalnacht, when hundreds of synagogues were burned in 1938, as an example. In this stage, Dr. Stanton argues, moderates are key to preventing the furtherance of genocide. Involvement of outside groups would include providing security for these moderates and combating the extremists.
6. Preparation
In preparation, further planning takes place. For instance, “death lists” are created or people are segregated into camps. At these camps, the targeted groups are subjected to starvation and disease, mimicking the consequences of extreme poverty. Weapons are stored and, as the U.N. states, death camps are built. In this stage, Stanton recommends international military intervention but notes this only occurs if there is significant political will. In many instances, intervention, if any, only occurs during the extermination stage.
7. Extermination
The extermination stage is genocide. In Rwanda, almost 1 million moderate Hutus and Tutsis were killed in 100 days. During the Holocaust, five to six million Jews were killed. The Khmer Rouge killed nearly 2 million people in Cambodia. According to the UN, there have been over 70 million deaths due to genocide and politicides since its founding. These numbers evidence the importance of prevention in the first six stages of genocide. The willingness to intervene and political will must overcome doubts or fear of political costs.
8. Denial
In the final stage, the perpetrators attempt to cover up their crimes or refer to reports of genocide as overstated. In some cases, those who violated the human rights of another group refer to the conflict as a “civil war.” The failure of international crime tribunals or individual nations to refuse to recognize the denial perpetuates future genocides. Hitler justified his extermination of the Jews by referring to the unpunished Armenian genocide.
In many cases, those who are not subjected to direct violence by the perpetrators of violence are victims of extreme poverty, as their economic prospects are extremely limited by government abuses and bias. The key to preventing further genocides is to both punish perpetrators after they occur and intervene as the initial stages are occurring. However, this requires the political will to combat human rights abuses before violence and “extermination.”
– Tara Wilson
Sources: History Channel, UNITAR, Genocide Watch 1, Genocide Watch 2, New York Times, SURF Survivors Fund, World Without Genocide
Photo: Modern History Project 2012
How Privilege Affects Decision Making
People of low socioeconomic status are often considered responsible for their impoverishment. This mentality—“the poor are poor because they don’t work hard”—is seen so often in those looking from a point of privilege. Even when disregarding hereditary disadvantages, poor individuals are blamed for bad choices that perpetuate poverty, such as smoking and failing to save money for long-term plans.
These judgments, however, are misguided in the way they criticize individuals so severely. Many psychologists, including University of Pennsylvania neuroscientists Joseph W. Kable and Joseph T. McGuire, now believe that poverty influences the way humans—all humans—make decisions. In other words, individuals cannot be blamed before interpreting the psychological wear of poverty.
Complementing their findings, a poignant post on killermartinis.kinja.com, an online forum, acts as a window into the thought process of someone at the bottom end of the socioeconomic totem pole. Here’s an excerpt:
“I make a lot of poor financial decisions. None of them matter, in the long term. I will never not be poor, so what does it matter if I don’t pay a thing and a half this week instead of just one thing? It’s not like the sacrifice will result in improved circumstances; the thing holding me back isn’t that I blow five bucks at Wendy’s. It’s that now that I have proven that I am a Poor Person that is all that I am or ever will be.
“Poverty is bleak and cuts off your long-term brain. It’s why you see people with four different baby-daddies instead of one. You grab a bit of connection wherever you can to survive. You have no idea how strong the pull to feel worthwhile is. It’s more basic than food. You go to these people who make you feel lovely for an hour that one time, and that’s all you get. You’re probably not compatible with them for anything long-term, but right this minute they can make you feel powerful and valuable. It does not matter what will happen in a month. Whatever happens in a month is probably going to be just about as indifferent as whatever happened today or last week. None of it matters. We don’t plan long-term because if we do we’ll just get our hearts broken. It’s best not to hope. You just take what you can get as you spot it.”
This woman’s writing illustrates exactly what Kable and McGuire showed in their experiments. It seems that, contrary to common thought, patience is not always adaptive. Impatience and giving up can be the appropriate action if, for example, the future is unpredictable and may not hold the rewards one is waiting for.
“There are lots of situations, probably the majority of situations, in the real world,” Kable says, “where waiting longer is actually a valid cue that the reward is getting further and further away.”
Patience, which is linked to both intelligence and success later in life, may be a construct of privilege. When one comes from a place of privilege the rewards one waits for are, more often than not, granted. The same cannot be said of the poor, so naturally it is harder to wait when the reward of patience is usually not granted. It is especially hard to plan ahead when one does not have money and giving up is so simple and so instantaneously rewarding—when smoking a cigarette, like the woman on killermartinis.kinja.com continues to say, is the only relief.
“Our environment trains us about the value of persistence. Sometimes, it makes sense to wait,” said Maria Konnikova in an opinion piece for the New York Times featuring Kable and McGuire’s study. “At other times, the adage about the bird in hand begins to make sense.”
The adage goes, aptly, “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” For people of low socioeconomic status this may be not only true, but also adaptive.
– Adam Kaminski
Sources: New York Times, Killermartinis
Photo: Salon
Addressing Food Security In Ethiopia
Ethiopia, Africa’s oldest independent country, with roots stretching back to the 2nd century C.E., is also one of the modern world’s poorest countries. Home to Africa’s second largest population, with over 90 million individuals, Ethiopia suffers from widespread food insecurity.
Suffering from devastating droughts and famines in the 1970s and 1980s and a vicious war with Eritrea in the late 1990s, Ethiopia remains largely impoverished today. Two programs created by the Ethiopian government have been coordinated in an attempt to address this issue. The Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) was created in 2005, and the Household Asset Building Program (HABP) was set up in 2010.
Ethiopia’s troubles with food security are strongly related to its high poverty rates. In 2011, the national poverty rate was at 29.6 percent. This, while a drastic improvement from the country’s 38.9 percent poverty rate in 2004, still shows the high level of financial insecurity that over one-fourth of Ethiopians live with.
Furthermore, in 2013 the World Food Programme reported that, “over 7.1 million people were estimated to live in conditions of crisis and emergency” in Ethiopia. While this figure is partially attributed to the conflict in South Sudan, it shows the necessity of promoting food security in a nation where poverty is so rampant.
Food insecurity in Ethiopia is often related to the over-reliance on rainfall-dependent agriculture. The World Bank reports that agriculture in this nation accounts for roughly 45 percent of its GDP and ensures the livelihoods of 80 to 85 percent of the nation.
Due to this, the World Bank reports that, “Any small variation in rainfall…affects the incomes of 30 to 40 million people and can mean hunger for 10 to 15 million people.” Clearly this over-reliance on factors outside the country’s control demonstrates the need for a safety net for the population.
A safety net is exactly what the PSNP provides. It gives out food or cash to roughly seven or eight million Ethiopians chronically suffering from food shortages. PSNP gives out the food or cash for six months a year as wages for work on small local public works projects. These public works projects are decided by the community and are aimed at strengthening economic development in the area.
Along with this, the program gives out food or money to Ethiopians who can’t work due to age, disability or pregnancy. PSNP, initially made available in the regions of Tigray, Amhara, Oromiya and the Southern Nations and Nationalities People’s Region, soon spread to Afar in 2006 and the Somali Region in 2007.
Due to the limited success of PSNP in providing actual food stability and security to the Ethiopians who have access to it, the government also created HABP in 2010. This program is a companion to PSNP and offers agricultural and entrepreneurial advice. It is designed to educate people in hopes that they can learn to create and maintain their own assets, without remaining perpetually reliant on wages from the PSNP.
Both PSNP and HABP receive 1.1 percent of Ethiopia’s GDP for funding. However, a large amount of their finances come from international donors. Notable donors include the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), UK Department for International Development and the World Food Programme.
So far, working together, these programs have shown success in combating the food insecurity that plagues much of Ethiopia. An evaluation by both the Institute of Development Studies and Dadias Consulting Ethiopia show significant improvements in food security in the regions involved from 2010 to 2012. Furthermore, they showed that, in 2010, PSNP and HABP together created food security 2.5 times more than PSNP alone.
Together, these two innovative and interrelated projects, designed to help promote food security and lower Ethiopia’s reliance on foreign aid, are doing just that. Gradually, Ethiopia’s survival is becoming less contingent on foreign food aid and favorable rainfall.
– Albert Cavallero
Sources: The World Bank 1, World Food Programme, Food Security Portal, IFPRI e-Brary, Institute of Development Studies 1, BBC News – Africa, The World Bank 2, Institute of Development Studies 2, IRIN
Photo: FAO