Currently, 1.3 billion people around the world live in extreme poverty. These people live on less than $1.25 per day, which roughly equates to enough money to purchase food, clean water and fuel for two meals.
The Development Committee of the World Bank set the goal of ending extreme poverty by the year 2030 and there has been some progress toward helping those who live in poverty. In the last 30 years, the proportion of the world’s population that lives below the global poverty line has been cut in half.
This was a steady decline, going from 52 percent in 1980, to 43 percent in 1990, 34 percent in 1999 and the latest numbers state that the percentage of people living in poverty was last at 21 percent.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of people living in poverty has declined from 58 percent in 1999 to 49 percent in 2010.
“Eradicating poverty in a generation is an ambitious but feasible goal,” stated the United Nations General Assembly.
The decline from 1.9 billion to 1.3 billion is a great change, but there are still 1.3 billion people living without the means to properly support themselves and their families.
However, there are tools that can help elevate people from poverty, including education, health care, water and sanitation, economic security and child participation.
When children receive a quality education, they gain the knowledge and life skills that they need to break the cycle of poverty. Studies have shown that a better-educated workforce, along with a highly trained workforce, is more likely to enjoy higher earnings. This can also allow them to access better healthcare.
Poverty and poor health are “inextricably” linked. The causes of poor health for those around the world can be rooted in political, social and economic injustices. Poverty increases the chances of poor health, which then in turn can trap communities into poverty. Marginalized groups and individuals who may be vulnerable are often affected the worst, deprived of information, money or access to health services that can help them prevent and treat diseases.
Diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria account for nearly half of all child death globally, and many other diseases, including HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, have affected over a billion people worldwide, thanks in part to poor water and sanitation.
“Sanitation is a cornerstone of public health,” said World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan. “Improved sanitation contributes enormously to human health and well-being, especially for girls and women. We know that simple, achievable interventions can reduce the risk of contracting diarrhoeal disease by a third.”
Preventing the spread of diseases also helps improve education for children, allowing them to be an added asset to their community. When children take part in their community, it helps engage them as citizens and aids them toward a higher economic prospect.
Allowing people to grow by giving them what every person should have allows them to grow economically, but by also providing ways to prevent and treat preventable diseases, the economies of developing countries will grow as well — thus shrinking the number of people who live in extreme poverty around the world.
– Monica Newell
Sources: Heath Poverty Action, Global Citizen, Prospect, WHO, New York Times
Photo: UN Foundation
Shot@Life Provides Vaccinations for Impoverished Nations
The United Nations Foundation Shot@Life aims to give everyone the shot they need to live a happy and healthy life.
The Shot@Life campaign is almost exactly like it sounds. This campaign works with volunteers to provide much needed vaccinations to the extremely impoverished nations of the world through advocacy and donations.
Shot@Life educates, connects and empowers the American people to support vaccines, and vaccinations are one of the most cost-effective ways to save the lives of children in developing countries.
The campaign is basically a national call to action for a worthy global cause. The foundation rallies the American public and members of Congress to help them understand the fact that together they can save a child’s life every 20 seconds just by expanding access to vaccines.
The global foundation encourages the American public to learn about, advocate for and donate to provide vaccines. Shot@Life aims to noticeably decrease vaccine-preventable childhood deaths and give every child a shot at a healthy life within the next 10 years.
This campaign began in 1998 as a U.S. public charity by philanthropist Ted Turner. The Shot@Life campaign was created in order to build upon the U.N. Foundation’s 13-year legacy in global vaccine efforts as a leading partner in the Measles Initiative and Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
The Shot@Life campaign draws on their core abilities through advocacy, community-building and communications in order to raise awareness for their cause.
There are a few causes in which they already have seen excellent success: the campaigns Nothing But Nets and Girl Up.
The Nothing But Nets campaign is dedicated to providing insecticide treated mosquito nets to impoverished peoples in order to prevent the spread of malaria from mosquito bites.
The Girl Up campaign was started in order to provide aid to young girls in poverty-laden nations. This campaign utilizes the help of teenage leaders in order to raise awareness about how young girls are being treated around the world.
Shot@Life is also partnered with some of the largest names in fundraising, nonprofits and charities. They have received partnerships from UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Lions Club, to name a few.
This U.N. Foundation is uniquely positioned with in-house expertise and leadership to successfully bring Shot@Life to the awareness of an American audience.
The nonprofit also utilizes social media in participation with news companies and webpages to give a portion of its advertising revenue on each company’s behalf for each like or share an article or blog post receives.
Providing vaccinations to the world’s poor is another huge step in the process to end global poverty. Getting vaccinations mean children will not die from diseases that are preventable such as smallpox, measles, polio and tuberculosis.
More children living into adulthood could potentially slow the birthrates and stabilize the life-expectancy of the people living in African nations as well as extremely impoverished parts of India.
The Shot@Life campaign is dedicated to providing peace of mind to all the nations of the world.
– Cara Morgan
Sources: CDC, GirlUp, HuffPost 1, HufFPost 2, NothingButNets, Shot@Life
Photo: Children’s Futures
Can the ICC Spur Change in the DRC?
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)—a country currently at the bottom of the Human Development Index—the sentencing of Germain Katanga at the International Criminal Court (ICC) this past week has brought mixed reactions.
The Court convicted the former commander of the Forces de Résistance for his role in the February 2003 attack on the village of Bogoro in North-Eastern DRC that resulted in the deaths of over 200 people.
Conflict has consumed this area of the DRC, and more specifically the Ituri region, for years. The power struggle stems from the drive to control the local natural resources, namely gold. Approximately 130,000-150,000 persons in Ituri alone mine gold, often working over 12 hours a day.
High gold taxes and exploitation of small-scale miners prevents many from achieving a decent standard of living. This, in partnership with low agricultural production, produces hunger throughout the population.
Of the two convictions the ICC has realized since its inception, both defendants committed their crimes in Ituri. Critics of the Court point to the prevalence of indicted African leaders as an example of political influence. The failure to enforce their indictments, as in the case of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, has weakened the Court’s credibility.
Signatory states to the ICC’s Rome Statute can also refer certain cases to the Office of the Prosecutor, which means governments may use the Court as a weapon against political opponents rather than a source of justice. Critics have also questioned the influence of the West on the Court, considering 60 percent of ICC funding comes from the European Union.
The ICC appears to be arriving at a crossroads between political showcase and legitimate enforcer of the law. Were the Court to gain its intended footing on the international stage, it would have the opportunity to affect change in the DRC. Deterrence aside, criminal trials allow victims to finally describe their experiences, which can help in the process of national reconciliation.
Implementing law promotes the stability that could do little to harm an economy destroyed by years of warfare. Each trial brings media coverage that can be harnessed to advocate for aid to the DRC. Regardless, the relationship between the ICC and the DRC will be interesting to watch in the coming years.
– Erica Lignell
Sources: Brookings, European Commission, International Policy Digest, IRIN, La Presse, World Bank
The Relationship Between Aid and Security
Since the end of World War II, foreign aid and national security have evolved in close proximity. Indeed, in the decade that followed, United States foreign assistance would range between 1.5 percent and 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP.)
Since then, foreign aid has played an important role in advancing national security through several of its components: “bilateral development aid, economic assistance supporting U.S. political and security goals, humanitarian aid, multilateral economic contributions and military aid and assistance.”
However, during the Cold War, this relation began to change. As the U.S. refocused its foreign policy toward containing the Soviet Union, foreign assistance began to drop as a percentage of GDP. But still many development programs remained in place, working toward bringing about political reform and democratization. The dominant logic that political reform and development would create stable and open regimes that could resist communist ideology.
The purpose of many programs did not changed since then: expanding access to healthcare services and education, reducing infant mortality rates, reducing hunger and even protecting the environment. Following the end of the Cold War, the main purpose was refracted; by then, the main target was no longer to contain the Soviet Union but to foment development and economic growth in poor countries.
This also meant that the share of military assistance versus aid also changed. During the Cold War, almost 50 percent of the foreign aid’s budget was allocated to military assistance. By 2001, it had dropped to 24 percent. While the humanitarian and development aid budget increased from 33 percent to 46 percent. The period between the end of the Cold War and the September 11 attacks is characterized by a shift toward prioritizing economic development and opening access to healthcare and education in poor countries. Although no imminent threat existed at the time, national security consideration always remained at the heart of foreign aid.
After the attacks of September 11, this relation between national security and foreign aid changed once more. By 2005, the war on terror had the U.S. engaged in providing foreign assistance to almost 150 countries. Once more the shift was toward containment, but this time of jihadists and extremist activities. Since September 11, the region that has received the bulk of U.S. aid is the Middle East.
Despite the many ups and downs in the road of U.S. foreign aid, the world still looks to U.S. to provide leadership in response to erupting crises around the world. If we are to take a few lessons from this close relationship between aid and security, they are that no matter what the threats are, a key component of national security is a stable world and the best way to achieve is by bringing people out poverty and giving them access to healthcare and education.
Responding to crisis world wide does not have to entail military might. While development and economic aid results can be longer term than military intervention, the long history of the U.S. as a major aid contributor shows that it certainly pays off.
– Sahar Abi Hassan
Sources: Foreign Aid and Foreign Policy: Lessons for the Next Half-Century, The Foreign Policy Initiative
Photo: ForeignPolicy
Rise of Private Education for the Poor
In recent decades, substantial progress has been made in student enrollment in primary schools around the globe. Even in some of the most poverty-stricken regions like Sub-Saharan Africa, enrollment has risen from 54 percent in 2000 to 69 percent in 2011.
However, despite the dramatic increase in the number of children who are in school, just being in a classroom does not translate into students receiving a proper education — one in which they are able to keep up with global standards or are even acquiring the skills they need to be successful.
Challenges like malnourishment, lack of educational resources and teachers who are ill-equipped or ill-prepared to teach, all lead to situations where although students are in school, they are not actually learning.
As a consequence, there has been a rise in private education for the poor, addressing the needs of children in even the world’s most impoverished countries.
For example, in Pakistan, where more than half of the population lives on less than $2 a day, many parents are spending 10 cents a day to send their children to the private schools where they know their child will get a better education.
In India, 28 percent of children attend private schools and, maybe even more revealing, four out of five public school teachers send their kids to private schools.
Private schools are filling a gap in providing an education that ensures students are not just sitting in a classroom idly, but that they are acquiring skills and knowledge. Yet, private schools are not able to truly address the educational needs of a nation and often are only available for those who can afford the cost and who are in the right location.
Despite the fact that literacy has dramatically improved around the world, the rise in private education demonstrates an on-going need to make sure public education is providing students with skills they need to be successful. If all students in low-income countries were able to read at a basic level, 171 million people would be lifted out of poverty (equivalent to a 12 percent cut in world poverty).
Access to free primary education is enshrined in the UN Declaration of Human Rights and therefore is intended to be provided by a country’s government.
Providing strong primary educational opportunities is an investment into the future of a country.
Each additional year of schooling for children can lift the average annual gross domestic product of a country by .37 percent. Education provides skills that open opportunities to jobs and helps boost productivity and economic output.
The rise in private education is a great motivator for governments to make sure that the education they do provide is not only meeting global standards allowing their students to compete and grow the economy, but also that it will provide them with the skills they need to be successful individuals in their local communities.
– Andrea Blinkhorn
Sources: Foreign Policy 1, UNESCO, Cato Institute, The Borgen Project, Global Partnership for Education
Photo: Education News
Victims of Rape in Haiti Stand Up for Justice
Loutchama was just 12 years old when she was a victim of rape in Haiti. Her attacker, a man named Etienne Rene, and Loutchama’s neighbor at the time, reportedly had noticed none of her family members were home on April 30, 2011. After hearing of the rape, a physical altercation between Rene and Loutchama’s mother, Adrienne, would result in Adrienne’s eventual arrest. Yet, while Rene, too, was arrested at his home soon afterward and would eventually be put on trial and sentenced to 15 years in prison, Adrienne feels devoid of justice. Loutchama died on August 26, 2013, and Adrienne believes it to be a direct result of Rene’s sentencing.
It would not be until a year and a half after Loutchama and her mother filed for rape against Rene that he would be sentenced. Haiti’s Minister of Justice, Jean Renel Sanon, says that it usually takes “four months” from the time a rape is reported to make it to court. Yet, all too regularly, cases are prolonged. Inevitably discouraged by Haiti’s judicial patriarchy, cases are usually given up by the victim mere months after their happening.
Poverty is a factor, too. Those with more money can afford to have warrants served expeditiously, guaranteeing them quicker justice. Yet, for the majority of poor Haitian women, their cases — which are at the hands of the judge — can be held stagnant for as long as five years if they are not dropped prior. A UN study conducted in 2012 proved just this. In a sample of 2010 reports, only one of a total of 62 rape cases filed over a three-month period made it to court.
For women like Loutchama, going through the judicial process is a constant reminder of their attack. Many of these women, most who work as street vendors, cannot afford a day off from work to go to trial and, subsequently, resort to unofficial monetary arrangements with their rapists. Of course, this poses a major problem. More often than not, poor rapists cannot actually afford to pay their victims, and zero judicial ties to the promise results in complete injustice.
Now crippled by her daughter’s death and worried for her own safety, Adrienne — who, prior to the case, had never even heard of the term “human rights” — believes Rene’s payback has just begun. “I’m poor,” she said. “And I will never have justice.”
Yet, Rene’s 15-year sentence may just be the long-awaited beginning of said justice for rape victims in Haiti. Through the recent works of Haitian organizations such as the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, more rapists are being persecuted than ever before. In 2011, 13 of 22 rape cases resulted in conviction. While rape culture in Haiti is still all too prominent, many of these women are just beginning to feel secure enough to stand up for their own human rights.
– Nick Magnanti
Sources: IJDH, JJIE, Salon
Photo: Ehowzit
#YesAllWomen Dominates Twitter
In light of the recent Santa Barbara massacre, Twitter users have taken the web by storm through the #YesAllWomen hashtag. The result has been incredible: voices around the world have given personal (yet all-too universal) recollections of misogyny as it exists in their professional, social and familial lives. An example of social media’s power to do good in the world, the campaign is only growing as more than a million posts (and counting) have been spreading around the web.
Elliot Rodger killed six students from the University of California-Santa Barbara last week, and wounded 13 others. Just before the massacre, Rodger wrote a 140-page “manifesto” crippled with misogynistic remarks, claiming that he would take “retribution” for the crimes against him and would punish the world for those women who refused to sleep with him. The media frenzy that followed proved unique: the massacre and its aftermath was about more than just one mentally disturbed man exacting revenge. It is about a culture of misogyny and the detriment it can cause.
Today, more than 311 million working-age women live in countries where sexual harassment is not outlawed in the workplace. In many less-developed countries, a third of women are married or in a union by only 18. Around 60 percent of women have experienced physical or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime, and 2.6 billion women live in countries where rape within marriage is not outlawed.
These statistics are what the campaign #YesAllWomen stands for: across the world and in varying degrees, women are still treated as lesser citizens. #YesAllWomen works to teach that we have remained all-too blind, and it is doing so in strides.
Accessible to most of the world at any time or place, the campaign has brought a unique, understandable perspective of feminism to the most-reached platform in the world: the Internet. Yet despite the campaign’s current popularity, many wonder if it will do any good to solve the problem in the long run, comparing the campaign to short-lived, social media frenzies like #BringBackOurGirls (which has died down in response to the now popular #YesAllWomen.)
These social media phenomenons, some argue, do little to prevent or change the actual circumstances of the problem. Yet it can be argued that their real success is by infiltrating and educating by providing a much-needed lesson as to why misogyny is a serious problem we must work to fix. #YesAllWomen attempts to bridge this problematic gap.
– Nick Magnati
Sources: CNN, Chicago Tribune, UN Women, Foreign Policy
Photo: The Province
Are Global Standardized Tests Hurting Education?
Academics from around the world are questioning the validity of global standardized tests. This concept is not new. Standardized tests have been the center of educational controversy for years. This time, however, a specific global standardized test is being targeted as unfair to the students taking it and detrimental to the education systems administering it.
The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an exam given to 15-year-olds as a way to determine the strengths and weaknesses of education systems. PISA is administered every three years, and it focuses on reading, mathematics and science. It is examined on a national level, allowing countries to evaluate their education systems and make changes based on their students’ performance.
PISA was created by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The initial goal of the survey was to allow countries to learn from the educational policies of other countries that scored well. OECD claims that because the exam is not curriculum-based, it should allow for a true testing of how students can apply their knowledge to real-life situations.
Academics worldwide, however, believe that PISA is hurting the education systems around the world by making countries compete for the top rankings and decreasing the value of education in the long run.
In an open letter to Andreas Schleicher, the President of PISA, academics and school activists from around the globe express their concerns with the test and its consequences on education. The letter has received over 115 signatures.
The letter addresses many concerns about PISA and its long-term effects on education systems. The signatories believe that the rankings provided from the results of the exam cause countries to take drastic action to improve their ranking in three years. This may provide short-term results for a school system, but an entire education system cannot be improved in three years. It can take decades for educational policies to prove their effectiveness. PISA is causing schools to take short cuts to get higher in the rankings instead of creating real policies that can improve the education their students are receiving.
The academics opposed to the test also believe that PISA is causing schools to focus on preparing their students for the workforce, and therefore teaching a very narrowed curriculum. A strong point in their argument states that the goal of education should be “to prepare students for participation in democratic self-government, moral action and a life of personal development, growth and well-being.”
PISA is also being accused of diminishing the importance of the arts, increasing the idea of “teaching to the test” and taking away the freedom of teachers to teach how they choose.
The competition spurred by the exam means that PISA is not doing what the OECD intended for it to do. Instead of learning from other education systems, nations are attempting to drastically change their policies to get ahead in the educational race. As the PISA committee prepares for the 2015 exam, academics hope that a reevaluation of the consequences of the exam will bring a change to the assessment.
– Hannah Cleveland
Sources: Desert News, Diane Ravitch’s Blog
Photo: enseignons
5 Most Successful Education Systems
Most countries around the world claim to make education a priority for their children, but some countries outshine others. The education group, Pearson, created a list of the top 20 most successful education systems. Factors like international test scores, graduation rates, amount of people pursuing higher education and other things are considered. But what is it that differentiates these nations from the average ones? What characteristics of the systems of the top five countries award them their ranking? Let’s take a look at the characteristics of the best of the best.
Top 5 Education Systems in the World
1. Finland- Finland’s success begins with its teachers. They are chosen from the top 10 percent of college graduates and are required to obtain a master’s degree in education. In the classroom, teachers are entrusted with the success of their students. There is not a strictly outlined curriculum; instead, teachers are able to do what is necessary to see their students improve. In Finland, 30 percent of students receive special tutoring .
2. South Korea- South Korea has invested heavily in education over the past decade. By making education a priority, young people are more willing to pursue higher education. The value of an education in South Korea is highly revered. Young people understand that obtaining a degree is the best way to ensure success later in life. A lot of pressure has been put on South Korean students, creating a competitive atmosphere in which each student wants to thrive.
3. Hong Kong- Hong Kong provides 12 years of free public schooling for every student. These schools are very structured and organized, ensuring that each student is receiving the same education. Teachers, administrators and the government are all invested in student success. Hong Kong school systems put a lot of emphasis on parent and community participation in the education of their students. Parents are devoted to helping their children both in the classroom and outside the classroom, including helping with homework and studying for exams.
4. Japan- The Japanese education system is based heavily in producing well-rounded students. From an early age, students take classes in all the regular subjects, but also take art, homemaking, music and physical education. By putting an emphasis on these subjects, students are able to learn a wide range of skills and to apply them to other subjects. The pre-high and high school years are the most important for Japanese students, as this is a time when many exams are taken to secure entrance into the best high schools.
5. Singapore- Much of Singapore’s education system consists of high-stakes examinations. Teachers are encouraged to teach what is going to be on these exams and to do it in a way that students will understand. Students from all of Singapore receive the same education because they take the same exams. Teaching is coherent and effective. Singapore also makes education a financial priority, allowing schools to have the best resources and teachers possible.
– Hannah Cleveland
Sources: CIEB, Education in Japan, Huffington Post, ICEF Monitor, MBC Times, Smithsonian Magazine, The Conversation
Photo: Smithsonian
Solutions For Ending Extreme Poverty By 2030
Currently, 1.3 billion people around the world live in extreme poverty. These people live on less than $1.25 per day, which roughly equates to enough money to purchase food, clean water and fuel for two meals.
The Development Committee of the World Bank set the goal of ending extreme poverty by the year 2030 and there has been some progress toward helping those who live in poverty. In the last 30 years, the proportion of the world’s population that lives below the global poverty line has been cut in half.
This was a steady decline, going from 52 percent in 1980, to 43 percent in 1990, 34 percent in 1999 and the latest numbers state that the percentage of people living in poverty was last at 21 percent.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of people living in poverty has declined from 58 percent in 1999 to 49 percent in 2010.
“Eradicating poverty in a generation is an ambitious but feasible goal,” stated the United Nations General Assembly.
The decline from 1.9 billion to 1.3 billion is a great change, but there are still 1.3 billion people living without the means to properly support themselves and their families.
However, there are tools that can help elevate people from poverty, including education, health care, water and sanitation, economic security and child participation.
When children receive a quality education, they gain the knowledge and life skills that they need to break the cycle of poverty. Studies have shown that a better-educated workforce, along with a highly trained workforce, is more likely to enjoy higher earnings. This can also allow them to access better healthcare.
Poverty and poor health are “inextricably” linked. The causes of poor health for those around the world can be rooted in political, social and economic injustices. Poverty increases the chances of poor health, which then in turn can trap communities into poverty. Marginalized groups and individuals who may be vulnerable are often affected the worst, deprived of information, money or access to health services that can help them prevent and treat diseases.
Diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria account for nearly half of all child death globally, and many other diseases, including HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, have affected over a billion people worldwide, thanks in part to poor water and sanitation.
“Sanitation is a cornerstone of public health,” said World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan. “Improved sanitation contributes enormously to human health and well-being, especially for girls and women. We know that simple, achievable interventions can reduce the risk of contracting diarrhoeal disease by a third.”
Preventing the spread of diseases also helps improve education for children, allowing them to be an added asset to their community. When children take part in their community, it helps engage them as citizens and aids them toward a higher economic prospect.
Allowing people to grow by giving them what every person should have allows them to grow economically, but by also providing ways to prevent and treat preventable diseases, the economies of developing countries will grow as well — thus shrinking the number of people who live in extreme poverty around the world.
– Monica Newell
Sources: Heath Poverty Action, Global Citizen, Prospect, WHO, New York Times
Photo: UN Foundation
No Ordinary Novel: The Drinkable Book
In the age of tablets and e-books, there is one book everyone should have a hard copy of.
It doesn’t matter where you live or who you are, millions of people die each year from drinking contaminated water. That’s why the humanitarian organization WaterIsLife has partnered up with the advertising agency DDB to develop The Drinkable Book.
The Drinkable Book looks normal on the outside and is just a few inches thick with about 20 printed pages, but on the inside the book contains the gift of fresh water.
The book not only contains step-by-step instructions on how to purify drinking water, including simple things like washing hands and not leaving trash near a water source, but its pages are also filters to help purify water around the world.
“One of WaterisLife’s biggest challenges (beyond providing clean water) is teaching proper sanitation/hygiene, so this was a perfect opportunity to not only introduce the new filters, but also to do it in a way that meaningfully addresses both problems,” said Brian Gartside, the senior designer of The Drinkable Book in an interview with Slate.
Each page of The Drinkable Book is coated in bacteria-killing silver nanoparticles and can be torn out and used as a water filter. The pages kill the bacteria that cause cholera, E.coli and typhoid, among other diseases and can last up to a month each time they are used.
“A lot of water issues aren’t just because people don’t have the right technology, but also because they aren’t informed why they need to treat water to begin with,” says Theresa Dankovich, the chemist who developed the filter paper.
To use the book, you rip one of the pages in half and slide it into the filter box — which doubles as a cover for the book — and pour contaminated water through. After a few minutes, the bacteria in the water is reduced by 99.9% and is comparable U.S. tap water.
“Our main goal is to reduce the spread of diarrheal diseases, which result from drinking water that’s been contaminated with things like E. coli and cholera and typhoid,” Dankovich says in the interview. “And we think we can help prevent some of these illnesses from even happening.”
Trying to prevent diseases caused by contaminated water truly aids in the fight against global poverty. Helping those people without access to a clean water source fight contaminants and battle disease means the people who would have previously been ill have a chance to live.
This chance could mean they have the opportunity to work, to open a new business, to expand to new markets or even visit other countries, and have more resources to make life better for themselves and the place they grew up in.
WaterIsLife printed an initial run of 100 copies in English and Swahili to be sent to Kenya and distributed among the impoverished people there, but the brand also plans to distribute The Drinkable Book around the world.
– Cara Morgan
Sources: HuffPost, NPR, Slate, TheGistOfWater
Photo: Design Boom