Approximately 1 billion people worldwide live in hunger, despite the fact that there is enough food on the planet to feed all 7 billion of the world’s living humans. Here are five world hunger solutions:
1. Feeding Programs and Food Aid Donations
Probably the most obvious of the five solutions, the most immediate, if not the most sustainable, way to end hunger is to put food directly in the hands of those who are hungry. Feeding programs and efficient food aid donations have proven to be an extremely effective way of doing so.
Getting food to the hungry until they are able to produce it themselves is not a matter of implementing feeding programs and donating food – it’s about making the programs that already exist more effective. For instance, the Food for Peace Reform Act of 2014 that was introduced in Congress on June 3 strives to greatly increase the economic effectiveness of U.S. food aid by ending requirements that food aid must be purchased domestically rather than locally, a requirement that significantly drives up the price of food.
By turning a careful eye to the programs that are in place today and making slight reforms to them where necessary, it is possible to feed millions more people around the world.
2. Education and School Meals
Providing all school-aged children with a proper education is one of the most effective ways of ensuring that they don’t face hunger as adults. By providing kids with the knowledge and skills to procure jobs, education prepares them to be self-sufficient in the real world.
It’s important, though, to make sure that children are fed while they’re in school. Not only does this encourage them (especially those children who do not receive enough to eat at home) to come to school, but it also increases their focus and improves their performance while they’re in the classroom.
3. Sustainable, Practical and Dependable Agriculture
Implementing sustainable, practical and dependable agriculture is a three-fold task: international aid organizations must work with farmers and communities to promote vegetarian diets, embrace GMOs and adopt urban farming practices. Only by accomplishing each of these tasks will hungry communities be able to produce enough food to sustain themselves in the immediate future.
Why vegetarian? It can be a hard sell, it’s true – especially in places where meat is already a large portion of the local cuisine or plays a role in a cultural tradition. While we certainly don’t want to interfere in local cultures, reducing the global demand for meat is an important step toward making more food available for the hungry. It is estimated that for every 100 calories fed to a cow, a human will reap only 2.5 calories from eating its beef. Calorically, raising livestock for the sole purpose of eventually consuming them is extremely expensive. By decreasing the size of the meat industry, we could simultaneously decrease worldwide hunger.
Genetically-modified organisms, or GMOs, are another controversial topic. GMOs indisputably play a large role in helping the hungry, especially in nations where meteorological events are wreaking havoc on the agricultural yield. Some GMOs are specifically modified to be more resistant to droughts or floods than are conventional organisms, making them especially hardy in tropical and arid regions of the world. Planting GMOs in nations with extreme climates makes their populations less vulnerable to hunger. Better yet, many GMOs are nutritionally-enriched.
Urban farming has also captured headlines recently, but is usually cast in a positive light. That’s because the practice makes efficient use of urban space that is often overlooked and underused. Poverty is becoming an increasingly-urbanized affliction, with over 28 percent of poverty worldwide occurring in cities. In Asia, a staggering 50 percent of the impoverished live in urban areas. In order to get food into urban areas, it’s time we start producing food in urban areas. Urban farming is the answer to increasing food security in cities. It’s already proven to be extremely effective at reducing hunger for those living in Indian slums.
These agricultural adaptations certainly won’t come easy in many parts of the world, but implementing these changes even over a period of time is sure to yield major results.
4. Women
Despite making up more than half of the world’s population, women often exercise less agency when it comes to decision-making and have less access to resources such as education than do their male counterparts. These inequalities are just part of the reason why women experience hunger at higher rates than men do. Ironically, it’s women who do most of the world’s agricultural work. In Africa, 80 percent of farm workers are women; unfortunately, though they work with food all day, many of them don’t have enough of their own to keep themselves and their families well-nourished.
Investing in these women, however, is an unexpected way of bringing world hunger to an end. Typically, food goes farther in the hands of women than in the hands of men – it is more likely to nourish more members of the family, especially children. In regards to children, pregnant women are particularly in need of adequate nutrients – healthy mothers bear healthy kids.
Giving a woman food and the power to afford and obtain her own food in the future is the best way of ensuring that she and her family do not suffer from hunger. In Brazil, children are 20 percent more likely to survive to adulthood when their mothers control the family’s income. It’s time to invest in women – investing in them is investing in ending hunger.
Another way the U.S. can invest in women is by making contraception affordable, accessible and understandable to them worldwide. Globally, we’re facing a crisis of overpopulation, and more mouths are more difficult to feed. Lowering worldwide fertility rates is a key part of solving hunger.
5. Infants
Babies are particularly vulnerable to disease and infection, and hunger and malnutrition only exaggerate that weakness. By giving babies a healthy, well-nourished start to life, we give them a greater chance at making it to adulthood.
How does this end world hunger? Healthy children can attend school, grow up to find employment and make better lives for their own children. A healthy populace begins at birth.
World hunger isn’t going to end tomorrow. But by understanding some of the tactics we can use to end it, we might sooner bring about a world where everyone is well-fed, healthy and happy.
– Elise L. Riley
Sources: The Guardian 1, The Guardian 2, Food for Life, Borgen Project, World Watch, WFP
Effects of the Waste Problem in Haiti
Haiti is progressively becoming overrun with mountains of waste in the streets because there is absolutely nowhere to put it.
The trash and waste problem in Haiti is an ongoing nightmare for the people living there, with garbage filling the streets. Haiti has few landfills or dumpsters, and there is no apparent place to dispose of its increasing volume of waste.
The problem peaked in 2012, and imported plastic products were banned. These products were blocking drains and paths and clogging the streets so badly that there was flooding.
This flooding problem subsequently destroyed businesses, homes and other property. Stagnant water posed a serious health issue in the most impoverished areas; it allowed mosquitos to flourish and disease to spread.
The smell of the garbage and the poor overall appearance of Haiti (most specifically the capital, Port-Au-Prince) have destroyed the economy and led to extreme decreases in tourism.
In addition to being odorous and detrimental to tourism, decaying waste produces methane gas. When inhaled, this gas can cause serious long-term lung, heart and brain defects.
Most disturbingly, a report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also predicts that waste-generation rates will more than double over the next 20 years in lower-income countries like Haiti, where trash is already so abundant that people have to climb over or wade through it to get anywhere.
This means that the number of people migrating to urban cities such as Port-au-Prince will increase — a population spike that will manifest itself in the production of a proportionate amount of litter in the streets. This transition will require employment of a vital, comprehensive national management plan.
The most logical step to rid cities like Port-Au-Prince in Haiti of waste is recycling.
Volunteers and organizations in Haiti can gather the waste from the streets and exchange the plastics, papers, etc., for cash to help private businesses overseas. In turn, the waste can also be turned into functional packaging for the future use of Haitian companies.
This means Haitians in impoverished areas can exchange their waste both for profit and cleaner streets that will not flood or draw disease-ridden mosquitoes.
Citizens who take the time to make the streets a little cleaner can often make about $52 a week. This is not a bad wage, considering many of the people in Haiti can live off $1 a day. Their aid in cleaning the city will also help eliminate major disease and illness factors in the area.
A plan has been put in place to get more volunteers to join the fight to rid Haiti of waste before its urban areas become overpopulated. The country’s impoverished people can improve their streets, communities, environment and national economy by simply recycling waste products.
– Cara Morgan
Sources: Aid Volunteers, The Guardian
Photo: Idea Peepshow
PYXERA Global Fights World Challenges
Formerly CDC Development Solutions, PYXERA Global seeks to engage the public, private and social sectors in partnerships that can utilize each sector’s strength to face global challenges.
Although not officially named PYXERA Global until 2013, the organization was founded in 1990 as Citizen Democracy Corps to help the former states of the Soviet Union become strong and free societies following the collapse of communism. Since then, multiple programs to help eliminate challenges worldwide have been created within the organization, such as the Corporate Assistance Program, the Citizens Volunteer Program, the MBA Enterprise Corps and MBAs Without Borders.
The name PYXERA Global is meant to embody the work that the organization does: pyxis means navigator while terra means ground.
PYXERA Global has helped facilitate programs such as IBM’s International Corporate Volunteerism, the Corporate Service Corps, the Dow Chemical Company’s Sustainability Corps and the Richard T. Clark Fellowships for the World Health Program.
PYXERA Global also has two sub-sections: Global Pro Bono and Enterprise and Community Development. On the PYXERA Global website, Global Pro Bono is described as “leverag[ing] the professional expertise of talented individuals as a win-win approach that builds capacity at the local level while meeting the strategic goals of our corporate partners.”
The programs encompassed in Global Pro Bono include International Corporate Volunteerism and MBAs Without Borders. According to the website, Enterprise and Community Development Programs include “bring[ing] together diverse partners and leverag[ing] their abilities, interests, and resources to achieve sustainable development outcomes by enhancing the inherent capabilities of local communities.” Enterprise and Community Development Programs include Integrated Community Development programs and Local Content Development.
In addition, PYXERA Global also has the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy, which helps people form bonds despite their geographical distance or cultural backgrounds.
By helping unite resources around the world, PYXERA Global seeks to continue their 14-year tradition of eliminating global challenges.
– Lily Tyson
Sources: New Global Citizen, PYXERA, 3BL Media
Photo: ICV Online
Reconstruction After Typhoon Haiyan
In November 2013, Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines and devastated hospitals, schools and other public services. With an estimated $12 billion in damages, the disaster killed at least 6,300 people, displaced more than 4 million and destroyed 500,000 homes.
Six months later, the nation continues to work toward long-term recovery, but there have been clear immediate achievements. Most children are back in school, roads have been cleared of debris, 15 percent of homes have been repaired, nearly all hospitals have been reopened and over 120,000 households have received assistance to rebuild damages.
Of the 14 million people affected by Typhoon Haiyan, 6 million lost their jobs. The United Nations, various NGO partners and the rest of the international humanitarian community have helped accelerate the progress of reconstruction and recover long-lasting sources of income. In the meantime, a number of short-term initiatives have been implemented as well. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and several of its partners have helped many Filipinos find short-term employment, job training and micro-enterprise support. Immediately after the typhoon, the UNDP also offered cash-for-work opportunities for those who helped with debris and waste removal in affected areas. Additionally, of the 42,000 people who have secured temporary jobs through the UNDP’s early recovery program in the Visayas, 35 percent are women.
However, millions of Filipinos still require urgent assistance. More than 5,000 households live in evacuation centers. Those who depend on agriculture and fishing for their incomes are suffering as well. The UNDP estimates that over 1 million farming families are in danger of losing their livelihoods. Nearly 33 million coconut trees – which are one of the nation’s leading crops – have been damaged or destroyed, and around two-thirds of the fishing community has been affected by the typhoon, primarily due to the loss of fishing boats. To help alleviate the issue of damaged coconut trees in Roxas and Ormoc, the UNDP has provided six mobile sawmills and funds to support emergency employment, allowing many to generate quick sources of income from processing and distributing the lumber of damaged coconut trees.
In order to lessen the impact of future disasters like Typhoon Haiyan, the Filipino government is planning to implement more sustainable reconstruction strategies. Recently, more than 150 delegates came together at the Asia-Europe Meeting Manila Conference to discuss new policies for disaster preparation. Margareta Wahlström, a special representative from the United Nations, has supported President Aquino’s policy to “build back better” with new technologies and innovations. Other points of discussion during the conference included improving policies to rebuild communities, strengthening the state and other stakeholders and managing international coordination while responding to disasters. The delegates at the conference also toured Barangay Pago, a resettlement area that shelters 40 displaced families, and the Bislig Elementary School in Tanauan.
UNDP Administrator Helen Clark has stated that full recovery could take over a decade for the Philippines. The UNDP has urged the international community to make long-term engagements that address “crises that could deepen inequality and poverty.” In addition to rebuilding physical buildings and structures, the Philippines must take measures to strengthen its resilience against future emergencies and natural disasters.
– Kristy Liao
Sources: India Blooms, UNDP, UNOCHA
Photo: U.N.
5 World Hunger Solutions
Approximately 1 billion people worldwide live in hunger, despite the fact that there is enough food on the planet to feed all 7 billion of the world’s living humans. Here are five world hunger solutions:
1. Feeding Programs and Food Aid Donations
Probably the most obvious of the five solutions, the most immediate, if not the most sustainable, way to end hunger is to put food directly in the hands of those who are hungry. Feeding programs and efficient food aid donations have proven to be an extremely effective way of doing so.
Getting food to the hungry until they are able to produce it themselves is not a matter of implementing feeding programs and donating food – it’s about making the programs that already exist more effective. For instance, the Food for Peace Reform Act of 2014 that was introduced in Congress on June 3 strives to greatly increase the economic effectiveness of U.S. food aid by ending requirements that food aid must be purchased domestically rather than locally, a requirement that significantly drives up the price of food.
By turning a careful eye to the programs that are in place today and making slight reforms to them where necessary, it is possible to feed millions more people around the world.
2. Education and School Meals
Providing all school-aged children with a proper education is one of the most effective ways of ensuring that they don’t face hunger as adults. By providing kids with the knowledge and skills to procure jobs, education prepares them to be self-sufficient in the real world.
It’s important, though, to make sure that children are fed while they’re in school. Not only does this encourage them (especially those children who do not receive enough to eat at home) to come to school, but it also increases their focus and improves their performance while they’re in the classroom.
3. Sustainable, Practical and Dependable Agriculture
Implementing sustainable, practical and dependable agriculture is a three-fold task: international aid organizations must work with farmers and communities to promote vegetarian diets, embrace GMOs and adopt urban farming practices. Only by accomplishing each of these tasks will hungry communities be able to produce enough food to sustain themselves in the immediate future.
Why vegetarian? It can be a hard sell, it’s true – especially in places where meat is already a large portion of the local cuisine or plays a role in a cultural tradition. While we certainly don’t want to interfere in local cultures, reducing the global demand for meat is an important step toward making more food available for the hungry. It is estimated that for every 100 calories fed to a cow, a human will reap only 2.5 calories from eating its beef. Calorically, raising livestock for the sole purpose of eventually consuming them is extremely expensive. By decreasing the size of the meat industry, we could simultaneously decrease worldwide hunger.
Genetically-modified organisms, or GMOs, are another controversial topic. GMOs indisputably play a large role in helping the hungry, especially in nations where meteorological events are wreaking havoc on the agricultural yield. Some GMOs are specifically modified to be more resistant to droughts or floods than are conventional organisms, making them especially hardy in tropical and arid regions of the world. Planting GMOs in nations with extreme climates makes their populations less vulnerable to hunger. Better yet, many GMOs are nutritionally-enriched.
Urban farming has also captured headlines recently, but is usually cast in a positive light. That’s because the practice makes efficient use of urban space that is often overlooked and underused. Poverty is becoming an increasingly-urbanized affliction, with over 28 percent of poverty worldwide occurring in cities. In Asia, a staggering 50 percent of the impoverished live in urban areas. In order to get food into urban areas, it’s time we start producing food in urban areas. Urban farming is the answer to increasing food security in cities. It’s already proven to be extremely effective at reducing hunger for those living in Indian slums.
These agricultural adaptations certainly won’t come easy in many parts of the world, but implementing these changes even over a period of time is sure to yield major results.
4. Women
Despite making up more than half of the world’s population, women often exercise less agency when it comes to decision-making and have less access to resources such as education than do their male counterparts. These inequalities are just part of the reason why women experience hunger at higher rates than men do. Ironically, it’s women who do most of the world’s agricultural work. In Africa, 80 percent of farm workers are women; unfortunately, though they work with food all day, many of them don’t have enough of their own to keep themselves and their families well-nourished.
Investing in these women, however, is an unexpected way of bringing world hunger to an end. Typically, food goes farther in the hands of women than in the hands of men – it is more likely to nourish more members of the family, especially children. In regards to children, pregnant women are particularly in need of adequate nutrients – healthy mothers bear healthy kids.
Giving a woman food and the power to afford and obtain her own food in the future is the best way of ensuring that she and her family do not suffer from hunger. In Brazil, children are 20 percent more likely to survive to adulthood when their mothers control the family’s income. It’s time to invest in women – investing in them is investing in ending hunger.
Another way the U.S. can invest in women is by making contraception affordable, accessible and understandable to them worldwide. Globally, we’re facing a crisis of overpopulation, and more mouths are more difficult to feed. Lowering worldwide fertility rates is a key part of solving hunger.
5. Infants
Babies are particularly vulnerable to disease and infection, and hunger and malnutrition only exaggerate that weakness. By giving babies a healthy, well-nourished start to life, we give them a greater chance at making it to adulthood.
How does this end world hunger? Healthy children can attend school, grow up to find employment and make better lives for their own children. A healthy populace begins at birth.
World hunger isn’t going to end tomorrow. But by understanding some of the tactics we can use to end it, we might sooner bring about a world where everyone is well-fed, healthy and happy.
– Elise L. Riley
Sources: The Guardian 1, The Guardian 2, Food for Life, Borgen Project, World Watch, WFP
10 Ways to Make Every Foreign Aid Dollar Count
Public opinion about U.S. foreign assistance has remained unchanged for many decades. It is still not unusual for people to choose foreign aid when it comes to deciding where to cut funding to reduce the national deficit.
For decades, pollsters continue to show us how most people think that foreign aid accounts for over 20 percent of the federal budget. In fact, foreign aid accounts for only 1 percent of the federal budget. What is more, of that 1 percent, only half is dedicated to helping the world’s poor.
Despite the limited amount of foreign aid, and the fact that it is always in danger of being cut further, there are several ways in which we can make our foreign aid dollars count. Here are 10 ways to make every foreign aid dollar count; some of which are already being put in practice.
1. Engage recipients of foreign aid as part of the solution.
Instead of treating people in foreign countries as “passive recipients” of money and food, it has been demonstrated that it is much more productive to include them in the process of formulating and implementing poverty reduction initiatives.
2. Transfer some of the responsibilities to local authorities.
Following up with the previous point, another way of engaging with aid recipients is to delegate some of the work to local authorities. Involving local authorities in the design and implementation of aid policies promises to create better results.
3. Use technological advances to improve data management.
Putting to work the many tools available is crucial for gathering data and monitoring the achievements of each aid program. For instance, the State Department launched a website called “dashboard” where all foreign aid programs can be monitored.
4. Create new partnerships and strengthen existing ones with private businesses.
Partnering with businesses and nonprofit organizations provides additional funding sources that helps leverage the small amount dedicated to foreign assistance by the federal government.
5. No private without public.
At the same time, it is imperative not to deviate too much from public funding sources. In the last decade there has been a growing notion that private organizations can gather enough funding for foreign aid. However, according to Paul Farmer, no intervention can be brought to a scale large enough to make a difference without some input from the state.
6. Do independent scientific research.
This is another tool to determine what really works and what does not. More importantly, it is a means to disaggregate politically motivated foreign programs from the ones that would create a real impact on poverty alleviation.
7. Centralize data for better monitoring of aid programs.
Creating an integral database for foreign aid helps identify redundant programs, eliminating waste. In addition, it is an effective way to determine goal-based foreign assistance and monitor the achievements accordingly.
8. Move away from one-size-fits all policies.
In countries with relatively stable governments, it makes sense to implement programs that rely on “country ownership” and more “participatory processes.” However, this might not be possible in countries with governance and corruption issues.
9. Tie aid to goals with measurable results.
This way both donors and recipients can be held more accountable for specific achievements. This will require moving away from generalized goals toward specifying the particular quality and scope for each program.
10. Reassess the way in which foreign aid is allocated based on risk factors.
This last point speaks directly to reassessing expectation. It is important to be realistic when it comes to foreign assistance. Under the best circumstances, there are still many factors that can hinder the progress made in poverty reduction programs. However, studying the risk involved in each case specifically can be a way to improve the chances of success.
There is no single answer to development and poverty alleviation. Foreign aid can be a lengthy and risky business. But using the tools at our disposal and learning from past experience is still a good way to achieve a growing number of successes.
– Sahar Abi Hassan
Sources: Politix, Foreign Affairs
Photo: The Economist
How to End Hunger Around the World
Currently, around 1 billion people live in hunger around the world. That’s the same amount as the total populations of the United States, Canada and the European Union combined.
Nearly 98 percent of hunger around the world exists in developing countries, and 62.4 percent of people living in hunger live in Asia and the South Pacific.
However, the number of people living in hunger is not caused by a lack of food. The world produces enough food to feed the entire global population, but the people living in hunger have neither the land nor the money to acquire food.
Poverty is the main cause of hunger, just as hunger is a cause of poverty. When people go without food, it causes the brain to lose functionality so that they cannot contribute to their economy and allow it to grow. Providing the additional calories needed by the 13 percent of the world’s population living in hunger would require just 1 percent of the current global food supply.
There has been some development in terms of reducing hunger — the governments of Brazil and Ghana have significantly cut the number of people living in hunger by providing aid to their poor, raising their minimum wage and investing in small farms, especially those owned by women.
There are ways that global hunger can be stopped, though. One way is to prevent land grabbing. One of the negative aspects of the uncertainty of future food supply are wealthy yet small nations, like South Korea or the Gulf countries, gaining land from developing countries to use as additional farms.
Another way to prevent global hunger is to block out speculators from the global market. Since the financial crisis of 2008, money from investment funds have flooded the commodities market. The automated trading systems make it difficult for traditional traders to keep the prices of food stable and prevent spikes.
Producing less biofuel allows for sugar, maize and other food crops to be used as food, thus increasing the amount of food available to the global population and reduces the price on those items allowing for more people to access them.
However, those solutions mentioned above are short term and also hard to regulate. The most surefire way to end global hunger is to increase education. Less than 1 percent of what every nation in the world spends on developing weapons could put every child in the world in school.
An increase of education does not just help to put food in the stomach of one person, but also helps to increase the economy of the town or city the educated person is living in.
An educated person from an underdeveloped town would then have the means to open their own business and then employ others in their town who could then use their pay to invest in furthering their own education.
Education also provides children access to a stable food source and is a “strong incentive to send children to school and keep them there.” By sending children to school, it also allows families in underdeveloped countries to increase their food security in times of famine.
– Monica Newell
Sources: The Guardian, Do Something, Millions of Mouths, Huff Post, WFP
Photo: Jewels Fab Life
High Childcare Costs in Ireland Cripple Economy
One-third of Irish children are at risk of living in poverty, and many are claiming that high childcare costs in Ireland is one of the reasons.
Childcare costs in Ireland are an outlier compared to the European Union’s average, taking up around 40 percent of the average wage, as opposed to 12 percent in Europe. High childcare costs are very detrimental to the more than 750,000 people living in poverty.
According to a report by the European Commission, which was designed to guild the Irish Government’s budget for 2015, the limited availability of childcare benefits means that parents bear almost the entire cost directly, unlike most other EU countries where childcare benefits are significant.
The report went on to state that the lack of childcare made it difficult for women and single parents to gain employment, thus leaving them without a way to improve their economic situation.
“Child poverty is a specific concern in Ireland and Britain,” said Employment Commissioner Laszlo Andor, “along with inequality, poverty and social inclusion.”
The report recommended changes to the social welfare system, including cutting off payments for a period of nine weeks if a recipient refuses to take a job offer or take part in a training course.
A report from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows that in 2012, 756,591 people were living in poverty. Included in those numbers were 68,740 people over the age of 65 and 220,411 people under the age of 18, only highlighting the effects of a five-year recession on the population.
“The CSO employment data shows that the much talked about 1,00o extra jobs a week has slowed to little more than 1,000 jobs a quarter,” said Fianna Fail finance spokesman Michael McGrath. “We have lost 5,000 jobs in the retail sector in the last three months and the domestic economy remains on the floor.”
Between 2007 and 2012, the number of people in Ireland living in poverty almost doubled, growing from 4.2 percent of the population to 7.7 percent. The number of people who were unable to afford new clothing increased from 5.2 percent in 2007 to 10.4 percent in 2012, the number of people unable to replace old furniture increased from 13.8 percent to 24.5 percent and the number of people who went without heating at some point in the past year went from 6 percent to 12.9 percent.
“The report highlights the critical importance of the social welfare safety net,” said Social Protection Minister Joan Burton, “namely jobseeker allowance, child benefit and state pension payments in protecting people against poverty.”
A new study from the Central Statistics Office shows that, while Ireland’s poverty line is shrinking, the number of people living in poverty has continued to grow. The study also showed that the annual income per household dropped by 5 percent and that there was an increase in income inequality. Those who live in the highest income bracket made five and a half times the amount made by those in the lowest income bracket.
“The report reflects that many of the actions in Ireland’s austerity program are ongoing,” said Economics Commissioner Olli Rehn, “but [they] need to be ended.”
– Monica Newell
Sources: Irish Examiner
Photo: The Guardian
UN to Provide Food Aid to Yemen
Nearly 54 percent of Yemen’s population remains below the country’s poverty line. The rate of unemployment among young people in Yemen has grown to be around 60 percent of the population.
“Preliminary studies show that between March 2011 and March 2013, Yemen’s economy saw a loss of about $4.75 billion as a result of oil pipeline bombings and acts of sabotage targeting some installations,” said Yemeni Minster of Oil and Minerals, Ahmed Abdullah Daris.
Recently, the United Nations food agency has stated that they are scaling up their food aid to Yemen as nearly half of the population is going hungry. More than 10 million of Yemen’s 25 million inhabitants either require food aid due to an inability to find enough food for themselves, or are teetering on the edge.
In 1996, the World Health Organization defined food security as “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.”
Food security is built on three pillars: (1) food availability, or the opportunity to have sufficient quantities of food available on a consistent basis; (2) food access, having sufficient resources to obtain appropriate foods for a nutritious diet; (3) and food use, appropriate use based on knowledge of basic nutrition and care, as well as adequate water and sanitation.
“The country has one of the world’s highest levels of malnutrition among children,” said World Food Programme spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs, “with nearly half of all kids under the age of 5—a full 2 million of them—stunted. A million of those kids are acutely malnourished.”
The problem is difficult to tackle. Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world, has been going through a difficult political transition since the removal of president Ali Abdullah Saleh after a year of deadly protests against his 33-year rule.
At the same time, Yemen is also vulnerable to international hikes in food prices, since it imports around 90 percent of its main staple foods like wheat and sugar. The price hikes, according to the U.N., affect around 90 percent of Yemeni households and may be the reason why nearly 50 percent of children under the age of 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition.
Starting in July, the U.N. agency plans to launch a special two-year “Recovery Operation” aimed at addressing long-term hunger in the region. The Recovery Operation will help to ensure food stability for around 6 million people. Under the program, the U.N. will provide malnutrition prevention and treatment, give 200,000 girls in school take-home rations and will help create rural jobs, improve farms and water supplies.
The program aims to safeguard Yemeni lives and boost food security and nutrition in poverty-stricken areas. The program seeks to reach 6 million Yemeni people from mid-2014 to mid-2016, and will aim to provide solutions for long-term relief instead of short term. The U.N. has announced that their efforts would only offer temporary relief.
The U.N. warns, however, that the aid increase will be costly, with the agency estimating that the two-year program will cost around $491 million.
– Monica Newell
Sources: Gulf News, Press TV, Al-Monitor, Yemen Post
Photo: Care
What is Poverty?
Before becoming an advocate to fight to end global poverty, you should understand what poverty actually is.
What is poverty? There are plenty of textbook and Google definitions for poverty.
Miriam-Webster defines poverty as “the state of being poor.” The definition works, but poverty is so much more than words on a page; it is a living, breathing problem that millions of people live with every single day.
Another dictionary definition for poverty is “the state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount.” When you think about that in terms of human life, it can sound clinical, cold or cruel to refer to other humans as “inferior” or “insufficient” simply because they are living in poverty.
The world works that way. Many people question those who live in poverty and how some of them have “nice” things when they can barely afford simple goods like food or clean water. Other people view impoverished people as dirty or beyond help.
Poverty is people who live on a dollar a day, people who can’t find shelter, people who are dying from curable diseases all because they can’t afford treatment. Poverty is the fear that you will not make it to the next day.
When people think of poverty, they often think about people in Africa or just people who don’t live in their immediate country. However, poverty, even extreme poverty, is not localized to just the African continent. There are people struggling, suffering and barely getting by everywhere.
In America, one in six people struggle to make ends meet; to have just enough food and health care to feed and take care of their families. Over 600,000 people in America alone suffer from extreme poverty; the lack of shelter, food, health care and income.
So, what is poverty, because poverty is more than being poor and it’s more than having nothing to your name. Poverty is being terrified of not being able to make it to the next day without having something else taken from you and not being able to do anything about it.
The image of poverty is often a cruel and unforgiving one, but there can also be hope in the people who hang on day after day.
These people are the reason for the fight to end global poverty. The fight is for the people who hang on to life and struggle for the chance to one day be free of their demons and for the people who couldn’t make it, so no one will ever have to feel like them again.
– Cara Morgan
Sources: Feeding America, Google Definitions, Merriam-Webster, New Nouveau
Photo: Productive Flourishing
Kiva Moves Past Traditional Microfinance
A spinach farmer in Cambodia, a hot dog stand worker in Nicaragua, a fish seller in Uganda, a carpenter in Gaza and a bee keeper in Ghana were microfinance organization Kiva’s initial borrowers in 2005. However, Kiva has grown in scope and microfinance methods by combating global poverty from multiple angles. This week alone, 27,704 lenders made loans through Kiva.
Today, Kiva’s mission to alleviate global poverty through small-scale lending has grown far beyond its original scope. In the eight years since its inception, the nonprofit has sponsored loans totaling over $540 million. These loans fund over 1.2 million borrowers in 73 countries.
In its eighth year, Kiva is a leader in platforms for social improvement and poverty alleviation. The organization aims to empower low-income borrowers around the world to begin their own businesses, invest in home improvement and clean energies and more through small-scale loans of greater than $25.
Lenders are able to browse the profiles of people around the world who are seeking loans, and choose who they would like to support. Lenders then receive updates on the progress of their loan, connecting them to a larger global community dedicated to supporting low-income earners.
This concept of small-scale lending can be defined as microfinance. Microfinance is loans, savings and financial services for the poor or those without access to traditional banking systems, and the idea that these small-scale funds ultimately help to lift low-income borrowers out of poverty.
While effective in many ways, microfinance can also be limited in its reach due to high-risk costs and loans for more impoverished borrowers. In some situations, microfinance may not be the ideal way to assist borrowers, and cannot function as the only tool to fight against global poverty. In order to combat these limitations, Kiva seeks to be a more flexible form of microfinance by moving past economics and deeper into issues of agriculture, education and clean energy.
Currently, only 0.3 percent of microfinance borrowers take out loans for energy solutions. Kiva aims to combat the barriers of high cost and availability faced by low-income earners by taking on more creative, pay-as-you-go lending systems for borrowers. With credit delivered in more flexible ways, users are able to benefit from technologies while making their payments over longer periods of time.
Over the next decade, Kiva hopes to see clean energy products become regularities for its borrowers around the world. The ultimate goal for the nonprofit is the use of sustainable supply chains, improvement of health and well being and falling prices for renewable energy products.
Kiva has also increased awareness of microfinance in educational communities around the world. In August 2013, the organization launched Kiva U, a movement for students and educators dedicated to changing the world through microfinance. The initiative provides toolkits, resources and potential curriculum to promote communities where high school students, college-age students and teachers can connect and share ideas.
In October, Kiva hosted its inaugural Kiva U Summit, where 150 students and teachers came together to connect and discuss microfinance in an evolving world. In the same month, Kiva hit its one million lender milestone.
Through creative mechanisms and user-oriented strategies, Kiva has proven the potential for microfinance success in addressing low-income communities.
“Our approach is to see what works and share the results with a global audience,” Kiva President Premal Shah said. “Ultimately, our hope is to get high-impact products to people who have been too long overlooked, and demonstrate their success to the global market.”
– Julia Thomas
Sources: The Borgen Project, Kiva, Kiva(2), Triple Pundit, MIT Press Journals
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