What Plagues Poverty in Palestine?

For years, the conversation on Palestine and its territories has almost exclusively focused on the relationship between Palestine, Israel and Egypt. For the 1.1 million Palestinians that live in poverty as a result of high unemployment, lagging wages and harmful inflation rates, Israel’s recent military actions in the Gaza strip have hardly encapsulated the extent of Israel’s effect on Palestinians.

Official statistics from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reveal the poverty rates to be 25.8 percent in the Palestinian
Territory, 17.8 percent in the West Bank and a staggering 38.8 percent in the Gaza Strip for 2011, the last year for which statistics are available.

While these rates sound high, there’s more to the story than the statistics suggest.

In a sobering July 2013 report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, it was reported that “the Palestinian Authority suffered its most serious fiscal crisis since 2006” because of less foreign aid and “Israel’s withholding of Palestinian revenue.” In 2012, Palestine’s growth was halved from the previous two years to just six percent due to structural barriers imposed by Israel and the international market.

Israeli restrictions on the movement of Palestinian goods, for example, meant less money returned to the pockets of Palestinians, severely reducing growth and worsening already high rates of poverty. Furthermore, the illegal expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank left Palestinians with fewer options to physically export their goods, and many were simply incapable of accessing the same productive resources because of aggressive Israeli settlement expansion.

In the Jordan Valley, Palestinian workers are forced to take longer roads and go through checkpoints. These actions imposed by Israeli officials increase costs and decrease Palestinian competitiveness in the international market, ultimately reducing employment opportunities and deepening levels of extreme poverty.

Of course, not all of Palestine’s economic woes can be ameliorated with less aggressive Israeli policies. Low labor productivity contributes to poor Palestinian economic performance and leaves less money in the coffers of government officials, who spend large portions of the government’s budget on social spending. Illegal smuggling of economic goods is also a major drain to the taxable actions of Palestinian officials.

Overall, those living in poverty in Palestine make up a significant portion of the population, which consists of about nine million citizens.

While no World Bank data exists to detail the number of individuals living on two dollars a day or less in Palestinian-controlled territories, the research conducted by the United Nations and the statistics compiled by the Palestinian government provide a distressing picture of the state of the poor in Palestine. These poor are large in number, and if international donors do not pledge aid to assist Palestinians or if Israel adopts less-aggressive economic policies in the West Bank, the number of impoverished living in Palestine will surely increase.

– Joseph McAdams

Sources: UNCTAD, PCBS, Reuters
Photo: GIJN

Amped for Education

Since discovering the need for functional schools in Nicaragua, Jeff Pluta has been inspired to combine his love for education and desire to impact the developing world.

In 2009, Pluta started “Amped for Education,” a volunteer organization based in Massachusetts that works with Nicaraguan communities to facilitate the continuation of education beyond the primary level. Five years later, Amped for Education has completed and is working on various projects to improve education in Nicaragua.

Where does “Amped for Education” get its name? Aside from being a catchy tagline, “amped” is a play on words according to Pluta.

In Spanish, “ampliar” is a word meaning “to expand.” Pluta’s organization does just that; it expands educational opportunities in Nicaraguan villages. “Amped” implies the organization’s mission and the founder’s excitement for the projects.

Amped for Education aims to eradicate poverty in Nicaragua through education. Like many other organizations of its kind, Amped believes that education provides people with the tools needed to improve sustainability, create a more competitive job market and integrate into the global economy.

Education to do all of these things cannot happen at the primary level, though.

In Nicaragua, students are required to attend six years of school only. In other words, students only have to complete primary education. Amped for Education’s programs make secondary and tertiary education more enticing to citizens of rural Nicaraguan villages so that they will learn the material necessary to lift themselves out of poverty.

There are several ways to contribute to Amped for Education’s cause. The website includes a link to sponsor a Nicaraguan student.

Many students cannot attend school in Nicaragua because they cannot afford essentials such as backpacks, supplies, uniforms and books. By donating $185 per year, sponsors can send a child in Nicaragua to school with these essentials and dental and eye examinations as well.

Amped for Education asks sponsors to commit to five years of donations so that they can send the same student through the full five years of secondary education. In return, donators receive updates about their students’ grades, photos and letters. Sponsors also have the opportunity to travel to Nicaragua with one of the organization’s service trips to meet their individual students.

Teachers in the United States can donate without having to give any money. The website also provides a link for high school teachers to create lesson plans for teachers in the Nicaraguan schools to use. Because many of the teachers do not have the same degree of training as teachers in the United States need, the lesson plans are very helpful for the secondary schools in Nicaraguan villages.

Amped for Education leads service trips for volunteers to travel to Nicaragua to complete projects and meet the community members. The organization realizes how important tourism is to the Nicaraguan economy and, therefore, attempts to combine tourism with volunteer opportunities. Volunteers may help build secondary schools, create roadways to make the schools more accessible and experience the more typical tourist attractions in Nicaragua.

Pluta is a full-time high school teacher and baseball coach in Massachusetts. As a result, a good number of volunteer trip participants are students from his school. In July, students from his school and surrounding schools traveled to Nicaragua to build houses and play baseball with locals. The students learned from observing the severity of the poverty levels in Nicaragua and carried their knowledge and experiences back to Massachusetts.

The next baseball and volunteering combined experience will take place in February of 2015. Participants will build a new learning center with Amped for Education and play games against teams from Granada and the Corn Islands.

The Nicaraguan educational system has great potential, but it needs support to make the most of that potential. Organizations like Amped for Education can provide necessary support to rural areas of Nicaragua while raising awareness within the United States.

– Emily Walthouse

Sources: Amped for Education 1, Amped for Education 2, MassLive, WGBY
Photo: MassLive

Poverty in Naples, Italy

poverty in naples
There is truth to the common stereotype that Naples, Italy is a poor and dirty city ruled by the mafia. Indeed, organized crime and political corruption have hampered the city’s development for decades.

Despite being a major tourist destination, Naples is one of the poorest cities in Europe. The city has an unemployment rate of about 28 percent, and some estimates even put the rate as high as 40 percent.

Across all of Italy, the economic situation has been on the decline. Ever since the 2008 recession struck, Italy has lagged behind the rest of Europe by a significant margin.

The poverty rate is the highest it’s been in at least 16 years. And matters are far worse in the south — where Naples is located — than in the richer north. Between 2011 and 2012 alone, poverty rose in the north from 4.9 percent to 6.2 percent compared to 23.3 percent to 26.2 percent in the south.

A recent study in Naples showed that only three percent of the population said that it was “easy to find a good job.”

Italy’s economic downfall has hit poor Neapolitans harder than most. The recession has forced a series of spending cuts. In 2010, the Campania region ended its minimum welfare program which delivered over 130,000 families into the clutches of poverty.

And those few Neapolitans who can find legitimate work have found the pay insufficient to support a family. The result has been a shocking increase in child labor.

Thousands of Neapolitan children have been forced to work just to keep their families afloat.

After his father suddenly died of cancer, 10-year-old Gennaro had to drop out of school and begin work as a shop assistant. He wakes up every morning at 7 a.m. and begins his work carrying boxes and crates for less than a euro an hour — which is significantly more than his mother earns.

He and his family live in a tiny 35-square-meter apartment in downtown Naples. Their story is becoming an increasingly common one for the area.

Between 2005 and 2009, 54,000 children in the Campania region dropped out of school, presumably to begin working. Of those kids, 38 percent were under 13 years of age.

As bad as child labor is, the more menacing case is when the kid drops out of school to work for the local mafia. The Camorra crime family — which runs Naples’ lucrative and dangerous black market — is infamous for employing child soldiers.

The mafia in Naples has built up an army of young pickpockets and enforcers. Take for example 12-year-old Marco, who was drafted as a pickpocket when his family fell into debt with mafia loan sharks. Camorra made Marco drop out of school and join their ranks, where he then became addicted to cocaine.

The crime-ridden state of affairs in Naples has made one in five locals say they “rarely or never felt safe” in their neighborhood.

While Italy’s economic crisis has played a large part in the misfortunes of Naples, it is the rampant organized crime that is primarily to blame. For a long-term, sustainable fix to poverty in Naples, the mafia’s grip on the city’s politics must be eliminated.

– Sam Hillestad

Sources: European Commission, Reuters, VoxEurop
Photo: Flickr

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Food Security in Cambodia

A series of 88 hydroelectric dams to be built in the lower Mekong basin of Cambodia by 2030 is projected to put Cambodia’s largest source of food at risk. Cambodians eat 168 more grams of fish daily than the world’s average. The construction of the dams could cut the freshwater fish population up to 42 percent.

The growing demand for electricity in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, China and Myanmar has prompted multi-national developers to begin planning 88 hydroelectric dams. Eleven of these dams will be located on the Mekong river mainstream and the 77 remaining dams will be on the various tributaries of the river.

“Cambodia is going to pay the highest price for dam development basin-wide, to the point of affecting the food security of its 80 percent rural population,” warned Eric Baran, a specialist with the WorldFish Centre.

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister, Ouk Rabun, reported that Cambodia takes approximately 528,000 tons of fish from freshwater fisheries each year.

Fish is the cheapest food option for Cambodians. Consumed far more frequently than beef or poultry, fish is the primary source of protein for a population where a fifth of the citizens live below the poverty line of $17 U.S. dollars a month.

More than 40 percent of national production — about 300,000 tons of fish per year — comes from Tonle Sap Lake. Located in northeastern Cambodia, Tonle Sap is the most productive inland fishery in the world. WorldFish estimates that 1.5 million Cambodians make 95 percent of their income directly from the lake.

Cambodia has exceeded the Millennium Development Goal poverty target, and the poverty rate has halved, from 53 percent in 2004 to 20.5 percent in 2011.

However, those who have escaped poverty are still vulnerable to slight economic fluctuations. Neak Samsen, Poverty Analyst of the World Bank in Cambodia warns, “the loss of just $0.30 (US) per day in income would throw an estimated three million Cambodians back into poverty, doubling the poverty rate to 40 percent.”

The proposed site for the dam construction is the Mekong basin. Of the fish normally caught in the basin, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) found that at least 39 percent are migratory.

Building dams in the Mekong would obstruct the migratory fish from swimming between the basin and Tonle Sap.

According to the U.N. World Food Program’s country director for Cambodia, Edith Heines, “The reduction of fish stocks due to the construction of the dams could have serious implications on the health, and specifically the well-being of malnourished children under five.”

The World Bank projects future generations of Cambodians will rely more heavily on aquaculture and rice field fisheries to meet their fish consumption needs.

However, this change in food source has implications for Cambodians living in poverty, because “the poorest people will not be able to simply shift to different agriculture practices without reallocating water, building infrastructure, or exploiting other water sources.”

Although government officials argue that the money gained from the dams will go toward agricultural development, there have been no guarantees and the impoverished in Cambodia may likely be the ones to suffer the greatest losses.

– Grace Flaherty 

Sources: IRIN, The World Bank
Photo: IRIN

10 Facts About International Disaster Relief

Disasters are indiscriminate when they strike. They can be anywhere, in any country, at any time and they have devastating effects on the communities and countries they touch. Throughout the world, nearly 25.8 million people are affected by a natural disaster each year. This number is only increasing due to effects of climate change, which increases the severity and destruction caused by these disasters.

In the aftermath, communities can face difficult long-term issues such as drought, famine and disease. International relief must not only address the direct effects of disasters, but also the long-term rebuilding efforts that will mitigate the communities from falling into other disasters like disorder, conflict and violence.

  1. Disaster relief addresses everything from hurricanes and earthquakes to conflict and famine.

Disaster /noun/: something that happens suddenly and causes much suffering or loss to many people

The definition of a disaster includes much more than natural events like earthquakes, tsunamis, fires and floods. Other events like a plane crash, famine, AIDS, disease and war are all disasters that warrant international disaster relief.

  1. Disasters are costly on many levels.

Between 2000 and 2012, natural disasters caused $1.7 trillion in damage and affected 2.9 billion people worldwide. During that time, 1.1 million people were killed as a result of natural disasters. With this much destruction, humanitarian disaster relief is crucial for helping communities rebuild.

  1. Climate change, growing populations and environmental degradation all contribute to the increase in frequency and severity of disasters around the world.

The communities that are most prone to natural disasters are often the ones that are least able to cope with the effects. Just as climate change will most severely affect those contributing to it the least, natural disasters will disproportionally affect people living in disaster-prone areas around the world.

  1. There are a multitude of reputable international agencies that engage in disaster relief.

Organizations such as Relief International, Mercy Corps, International Rescue Committee, Lutheran World Relief, Catholic Relief Services, International Orthodox Christian Charities, United Nations High Commission for Refugees and Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) are just some of many organizations that provide services and resources when disasters strike around the world.

  1. The Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (under USAID) is the main U.S. office that responds to disasters around the world.

On average, OFDA responds to approximately 70 disasters in 56 countries every year. These include everything from volcanoes and floods, to drought and conflict. The office coordinates with USAID as well as with regional government offices to address the needs of those affected by disasters.

  1. The International Committee of the Red Cross is the oldest and most prominent disaster relief organization.

Founded in 1863, ICRC has become one of the most important relief agencies in the world. ICRC addresses not only the immediate disaster effects, but also the long, drawn-out effects that tend to arise afterward: competition for resources, migration, urbanization and environmental degradation. Disaster relief goes beyond just rebuilding the broken infrastructure, but on to addressing longer-term issues.

  1. Competition between organizations can be a problem when responding to disasters.

For many years, despite the good intentions of many organizations in the international community, whenever disaster struck, competition would often ensue between NGOs, and inefficiencies in providing aid would become a major problem.

In response to this, following the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, The Sphere Project along with the U.N. and 400 other NGOs came together and created the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response handbook.  The handbook provides minimum performance guidelines and standards that must be met by NGOs working in a disaster area in order to be most effective.

  1. There are 6 internationally agreed upon core standards for disaster relief.

The Sphere Project created the six standards to serve as guidelines for how organizations should approach their humanitarian responses whenever they work in a disaster hit community. Adhering to the standards increases the chances that aid will be most effective and efficient. The standards are:

  • People-centered humanitarian response
  • Coordination and collaboration
  • Assessment
  • Design and response
  • Performance, transparency and learning
  • Aid work performance
  1. The best way to help victims of international disasters is not by collecting goods, but by giving financial donations.

Cash contributions allow relief organizations to purchase what is most needed – without transportation or storage costs added on. By providing a monetary donation, relief supplies can be bought near or at the disaster site, which decreases the time it takes for relief to reach the victims, while also stimulating the local economy. If cash is the preferred method for agencies, it is important that those contributing feel comfortable with the organization. Cash has a much greater impact than goods, so it is a vital part of relief efforts.

  1. Small or large, all donations make a difference

Even a small amount of money can help purchase life-saving antibiotics for disaster victims. In Haiti, $5 buys a life-saving course of antibiotics. In Zimbabwe, $10 provides regular healthcare for 90 people in one year. In Java, $50 provides 1-month food supply to volunteers rebuilding homes for earthquake victims.

– Andrea Blinkhorn

Sources: ICRC, PSAid, UN, Global Corps, Red Cross, Do Something, Encyclopedia.comDisasterium
Photo: Red Cross

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Chiquita: Behind the Banana Republic

The banana company Chiquitawas founded in 1870 by Captain Lorenzo Dow Baker, and since then it has become the largest banana producer in the world. Underneath their popularity and production lies many controversies surrounding the company.

In 1998, the Cincinnati Enquirer published a piece about Chiquita’s business practices, which included the company using illegal pesticides, destroying villages to use their land and even using their transport ships to smuggle cocaine.

The Cincinnati Enquirer later recalled the articles and announced they would pay more than $10 million to avoid being sued by the company. Whether or not their information was true and obtained legally is still under question.

In 2009, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was sent into exile and a coup took place. John Perkins and other activists believed there was a link between Chiquita and the coup.

Recently, the company has been sued by about 4,000 Colombians, who stated that the United Self Defense Forces (AUC), a parliamentary group that has gained funding from Chiquita,  has killed many of their family members. Because of Chiquita’s association with the group and the group’s work, family members of the deceased want the company to take responsibility.

Between 1997 and 2004, Chiquita gave $1.7 million to AUC, a group that the US and EU consider a terrorist organization, and has been held responsible for the torture and death of thousands of Colombians.

Between 1997 and 2004, Chiquita gave $1.7 million to the United-Self Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, a group that the U.S. and EU consider a terrorist organization, and has been held responsible for the torture and death of thousands of Colombians.

Chiquita has already paid a $25 million fine for their work with the AUC, but it is also believed that they were paying a “banana bribe” in order to use their relationship with AUC to control Colombia’s banana industry.

“Chiquita has great sympathy for the Colombians who suffered at the hands of these Colombian armed groups, but the responsibility for the violent crimes committed in that country belongs to the perpetrators, not to the innocent people and companies they extorted,” said Chiquita spokesperson Ed Lloyd.

The United States Circuit Court of Appeals decided that the decision was “outside the jurisdiction of U.S. courts.”

While the company managed to escape the claims against them since their inception, with this new lawsuit gaining attention, it is hopeful that Chiquita will think twice before getting their hands dirty again.

– Courtney Prentice

Sources: BBC News, The Wire, Chiquita, Democracy Now!, Ethical Consumer, FundingUniverse, Gawker, NBC News
Photo: BBC News

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7 Facts About the Assessing Progress in Haiti Act

Almost five years after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the United States Congress is using the Assessing Progress in Haiti Act of 2014 to evaluate how U.S. funds are being used in reconstruction efforts in Haiti.

1. The legislation noted that conditions have not improved enough.

Although more than 90 percent of displaced people have been able to leave camps, around 171,974 people still remain in camps. On top of that, corruption is widespread, the business climate is not ideal, unemployment is high and the government is weak.

2. Aid has been slow to materialize.

The United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, has distributed only 31 percent of its reconstruction funds pledged to Haiti. The vision of thousands of new homes has not happened, which has forced earthquake victims to return to existing housing through a rental subsidy program. The June 2013 report by the GAO saw that goals were not being met and projects were very far behind.

3. The act gives Congress the power of monitoring assistance to Haiti.

The act allows Congress to supervise the $3.6 billion that has gone to Haiti since the 2010 earthquake. The Assessing Progress in Haiti Act passed in the Senate 15 days earlier and it is awaiting President Obama’s signature to be signed into law.

4. The Assessing Progress in Haiti Act of 2014 entails the U.S. Secretary of State submitting an annual report to Congress.

The legislation requires the U.S. Secretary of State to submit an annual report on the condition of development projects and earthquake recovery in Haiti, no later than December 31 each year, through December 31, 2017.

5. The bill was sponsored by U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, D-Fla.

Nelson, like many others, has expressed fear about the transparency in United States foreign aid, and the slow distribution of aid in Haiti. The Assessing Progress in Haiti Act received bipartisan support and the House passed it with no objection.

6. The legislation was applauded by several groups.

The Assessing Progress in Haiti Act has received support from many groups such as the American Jewish World Service (AJWS), which provides financial aid to grassroots organizations and agencies in Haiti.

7. The act states that certain promises are to be met by Haiti’s government.

The Assessing Progress in Haiti Act specifically addresses “transparency, a market economy, rule of law, and democracy.” The bill emphasizes that the situation in Haiti does not depict improved conditions and that the country is far behind in reconstruction.

“In the wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, our government laudably committed a significant amount of aid to help Haiti rebuild, but a lack of transparency made it difficult to understand how U.S. government funds were being used and if recovery efforts were making progress and were being measured,” stated the president of American Jewish World Service, Ruth Messinger. She believes that the “legislation embodies a new commitment to transparency, accountability, and good governance.”

Read more facts about the Haiti Earthquake.

– Colleen Moore

Sources: The Sentinel, McClatchy DC News
Photo: Washington Memo

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Zachary Levi, Comic-Con Support Operation Smile

While many of the conversations about the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) have been about the latest updates and footage from some of the hottest movies, some of the guest panels were doing good deeds.

Zachary Levi, from the television show, Chuck, used the opportunity to entice the fans as well as raise funds for Operation Smile. Some of the “Conversations for a Cause” panels hosted by Levi’s company, The Nerd Machine, included Badass Women, the cast of Orphan Black, and a conversation with Nathan Fillion, among several others. Last year, Nerd HQ, an offshoot of The Nerd Machine, raised around $215,000 for Operation Smile and this year they beat previous fundraising efforts.

Operation Smile is a non-profit organization that helps to pay for cleft palate surgeries in underprivileged areas. The deformity has a high prevalence rate and cleft lip and palates can inhibit a child’s ability to eat, speak, hear and breathe. Unfortunately, like many disabilities, cleft palate is incredibly stigmatized and many people born with it have trouble finding employment.

While Nerd HQ has garnered a reputation for innovation and technology in the four years since its inception, it is also gaining a philanthropic name. Since its partnership with Operation Smile, the non-profit estimates that Nerd HQ has raised over $400,000 to pay for the surgeries.

With many of the attendees noting Nerd HQ’s “Conversations for a Cause” as one of the highlights of the Comic-Con. Over the past two years, attendance and donations have increased so hopefully next year Nerd HQ can continue to increase its philanthropic donations.

– Kristin Ronzi

Sources: The Nerd Machine
Photo: Zachary Levi Star

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FotoKonbit: Stories Through Photography

To an outsider, Haiti is often synonymous with natural disaster and despair. FotoKonbit is determined, however, to show that Haiti’s society is much more rich and complex than its façade of poverty and turmoil. As a grassroots nonprofit organization, FotoKonbit is a photography workshop designed to give Haitians the freedom to tell their stories through images.

Popular media defines Haiti as a nation in crisis, which isn’t far off from the truth. According to the World Food Programme, even before the earthquake 1.9 million people were ‘food insecure,’ meaning they needed assistance to ward off hunger. Some 55 percent of the nation’s nine million people live below the poverty line of U.S. $1 a day.

Though the statistics are undeniable, the founders of FotoKonbit claim that while Haiti certainly faces challenges, it has a beautiful yet untold culture and history. They have thus made it their mission to ensure that this story is told.

In 2010, a group of American and Haitian educators, photographers and artists founded the organization. The project began in Northern Haiti with a group of adult participants, both men and women, from around the region. With a camera in hand, these citizens used skills acquired from the workshop to capture a story of their culture, still unexposed to the outside world. Noelle Therard, one of the founders, took students to various historical sites to snap photos of the grounds on which Haitian heroes fought for independence.

Since its establishment, FotoKonbit has worked with over one hundred students from nine different communities. They are currently working with five diverse communities: a group of adults in the southern agricultural town of Camp Perrin, adults in the fishing village of Labadie, children in the cities of Jacmel and Cap Haitien and a weekly class at the Zoranje school just outside of Port-au-Prince.

Photos taken by students have been featured on National Geographic’s Instagram account, an achievement that the founders did not foresee. However, this type of renowned coverage is exactly what the organization’s founders had envisioned. The stories of local villages, of Haitian fishermen and farmers, are now accessible to a global audience. With the power of social media, FotoKonbit has a bright future.

Images now have a certain potency that they never once had: they can reach millions of people around the globe within seconds. FotoKonbit is painting an alternative history of Haiti for the world to see – one that is indubitably stricken with poverty, but rich with a resilient population.

– Samantha Scheetz

Sources: Kickstarter, FotoKonbit, World Food Programme
Photo: Kickstarter

4 To-Dos While Congress is in Recess

With the end of one of its most unproductive sessions in history, the United States Congress began its five-week recess on August 1. The break – mandated by a 1970 law – means that many representatives will be returning to their home states to campaign and meet with locals.

Here are a few ways to take advantage of the next five weeks:

1. Try to Meet Your Congressmen

Today, many congressmen have a portal on their websites where constituents can request a meeting – usually two weeks in advance. It helps to focus on a specific issue and to meet the congressmen on behalf of, or with,  an organized group. Of course, this will be much more difficult if the congressman is up for election.

To maximize their outreach while on recess, politicians are finding other methods of meeting with voters, like Congresswoman Jackie Speier of California who will hold a town hall on August 16, or Congressman Kevin Yoder of Kansas who has held a series of telephone town hall forums.

2. Send an Email 

Depending on the issue, certain activist groups and charities have pre-written emails that require no more than the sender to fill in his or her name and address and click send. Groups like Amnesty International, Bread for the World and  The Borgen Project use the address information to determine the sender’s representatives and automatically connects the user to his/her congressional leaders’ contact information.

Senders can even personalize the message. The entire process can take 30 seconds or less. Send an email with The Borgen Project here.

3. Make a Quick Call

Congressional offices keep track of how many people call in and for what they request of the congressman. A 30-second phone call to an office, explaining you are a constituent and you wish the congressman to support a certain issue, will likely be filed under a call report.

If a congressman receives a high number of calls regarding an issue, he or she is likely to consider this in making a decision. Activists can program the phone number for the office in his or her phone and call on a weekly basis. It helps to know exactly what you plan to say before making the call. Encouraging friends and family to make the same call can increase support for a cause.

4. Advocate on Social Media

Following back-to-back presidential wins for President Barack Obama, many political experts pointed to the emergence of the social media presence as a major factor in the success of his campaigns. While several other factors also help explain his wins, the fact remains that one month out from the 2012 election, Obama led Governor Romney on Twitter by some 19 million followers and Facebook by over 21 million likes.

Similarly, members of Congress are attempting to use social media to their benefit, which provides constituents another venue through which to contact their congressmen. Sharing articles relating to your issue of choice not only informs your friends and followers, but also reminds your leaders to take action.

Even if you are not quite ready to start a movement, a small effort can spur big change.

– Erica Lignell

Sources: Time, Facebook 1, Facebook 2, Amnesty USA, Bread for the World, Iowa Food Systems Council, NY Times
Photo: Wikimedia