There are many different ways to make an impact in the fight against global poverty. Volunteering abroad is one option that offers numerous ways to help.
Volunteer abroad programs offer a variety of opportunities to help global communities. Whether you are interested in teaching children, building schools or helping communities establish cleaner water supplies, there is most likely a program to fit your needs.
Cross-Cultural Solutions
“Cross-Cultural Solutions is a nonprofit working to address critical global issues by providing meaningful volunteer service to communities abroad, and contributing responsibly to local economies.” Cross-Cultural Solutions is a volunteer abroad organization that seeks to do just what its name implies: find cross-cultural ways to combat poverty.
The organization only sends volunteers to locations with established relationships between themselves and local organizations and communities, so when you arrive to volunteer, you’re working with people who are invested in improving their community. In each Cross-Cultural Solutions location, volunteers are housed at a home base that provides them with three meals a day, which is what the majority of the program fee goes to.
Volunteer programs can range from a week to three months, so volunteers have a lot of options even if they’re in school or have a full-time job. Additionally, volunteers have the option to take excursions on the weekends during longer trips, or volunteer in multiple destinations in a row, making travel a part of the program as well!
Global Volunteers
Known as the origin of “the volunteer vacation,” Global Volunteers focuses on short-term volunteer abroad programs, making them a perfect fit for students or anyone who cannot commit to a long period abroad.
Global Volunteers works to “engage short-term volunteers on long-term projects” in countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, North and South America. As volunteers only stay for a short period of time, they are working with existing projects, or projects that will continue long after they leave.
An additional focus of the program is that volunteers “work at the invitation and under the direction of local community partners, and one-on-one with local people.” They only do what they are asked to do and work with and under the direction of local people to find out what’s best from the community from the people who understand it best.
WorldTeach
As its name suggests, WorldTeach focuses on sending teachers to foreign countries as they “partner with governments and other organizations in developing countries to provide volunteer teachers to meet local needs and promote responsible citizenship.”
Because the program sends volunteers out to teach, its programs tend to run longer than Cross-Cultural Solutions or Global Volunteers. Full-year programs are available in a wealth of countries around the globe such as Chile, Colombia, Guyana, the Marshall Islands and Thailand, just to name a few.
Similarly, shorter summer programs exist where volunteers can travel to countries like Poland, Nepal and South Africa. For volunteers who prefer to spend a semester teaching abroad, there are programs in Ecuador and Namibia. Before applying, WorldTeach requires applicants choose their country and departure date, unlike some other programs.
Volunteers receive support throughout the duration of their work, and have an alumni network that they can access at the conclusion of their program.
Additionally, volunteers have the opportunity to receive his or her teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) certification through professional development and a $350 fee.
The funds for WorldTeach programs come directly from the organization, the volunteer and the chosen country’s host institution. As such, costs for different programs vary, with some requiring a higher monetary commitment, and a few countries paying in full for volunteer teachers.
No matter which program you choose, there are a few things to keep in mind when seeking to volunteer abroad.
Volunteers are working with a community. That means helping local organizations and communities while being humble about your place there and working to understand the new culture in which you’ve immersed yourself.
Volunteering is about helping people, and even though you will find fulfillment and gain valuable experience, the focus is always on working with your chosen community.
Once you find a program that you are passionate about and that works responsibly with organizations within the community, you’re all set to start your volunteer abroad experience!
– Cameron Barney
Sources: WorldTeach, Global Volunteers, Cross-Cultural Solutions
Photo: The Interpreter
Cambodia’s Virginity Trade
A third of Cambodians live on less than a dollar a day, economic mobility is limited and shark loans are rampant. Many families have been resorting to prostituting their young daughters out of financial desperation. Often times, brokers—themselves once victims of sex trade—would convince mothers to sell their virgin daughters. Debt-stricken and living below the poverty line, thousands of Cambodian girls are sold by their own mothers to be deflowered. The average price for a virgin is $1,500, an equivalent of about 4 years of income for many Cambodians. Some of the victims are often as young as early pubescent. Many clients belong to Asia’s wealthy elite both from Cambodia and other countries.
Cambodia has an unofficial but written ancient code of conduct for women called the Chbab Srey. The dictates of the Chbab Srey are well inculcated into the social fabric. There are still families who do not view their daughters as having the same value as their sons. There is also a pervasive myth in many Asian countries that through engaging in a sexual intercourse with a young virgin, men will be able to enhance their virility.
In addition, imbued with corruption, Cambodia makes for a very difficult environment for police to operate. It is believed that so far no one—absolutely 0.0 percent—has been convicted for statutory rape for engaging in intercourses with virgin girls. Not only that but, due to the aforementioned cultural code of conduct, female premarital chastity is also highly valued. There is even a national saying that “men are like gold and women are like white cloth,” meaning that men are more valuable than women, and if they are stained they can be washed. Unfortunately, there are still people who live by this maxim. Women, on the other hand, are less valuable and once stained, the stain never comes off. Furthermore, among many poor families, the daughter’s virginity is often seen as an asset that can be liquidated.
Thus, girls who are victims of virginity trade are also ostracized by the society. Many of them are stigmatized and find it extremely difficult to escape prostitution to find other jobs or get married. The case of Kieu—a girl who was 12 when her virginity was sold—demonstrates harrowingly and luridly the ordeals girls who have been sold by their parents go through.
At the age of 12, Kieu was sold by her mother—who blamed grinding poverty for her decision—to a man who raped her for two days. Afterwards, her mother sold her to a brothel where, according to Kieu, she was detained as if she was a prisoner. There, she was forced to engage with several men per day. Upon returning, physically and emotionally broken, her mother decided to give her to two other brothels including one 250 miles away on the Thai border. Certainly, Kieu’s heartbreaking tribulations are not unique; every year, thousands of sex tourists make Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand and Cambodia their prime destinations. In Cambodia alone, UNICEF estimates the number of children working in the sex industry to account for a third of all sex workers (40,000-100,000 sex workers in total.)
Although poverty and difficult economic situation are in no way admissible justifications for the parents, the painful experiences of these victims highlights the need to alleviate poverty. The parents themselves—belonging to an aftermath generation of the Khmer Rouge regime—are poor, uneducated and in their view, they are deprived of other means of survival. Consequently, the preexisting cultural prejudices, which devalues girls and women, does not subside due to the overall lack of access to education and the developmental stagnation at the grassroots level. As for the girls, what could they do to protect themselves when their own mothers—the people whom they trust most—are willing to sell their bodies?
– Peewara Sapsuwan
Sources: CEDAW, CNN, The Concordian, The Phnom Penh Post
Kiva: Microfinancing and the Gift of Investment
Interested in empowering the poor? Look no further than Kiva, a San Francisco based nonprofit that has provided over $542,899,850 in small loans to poor entrepreneurs around the world. Founded in 2004, Kiva makes it easy for individuals to lend as little as $25 to provide affordable capital to beneficiaries and help them start or improve a small business.
This practice of lending is known as microfinancing, and Kiva operates under the idea that poor individuals are able to lift themselves from poverty if given access to the proper financial services, such as access to loans and savings accounts.
Kiva keeps things personal and helps prevent the dehumanization of the poor by connecting the lender and the borrower directly. Using a person-to-person setup, Kiva allows potential lenders to browse the stories, pictures and loan proposals of beneficiaries before choosing an individual to lend to.
Kiva loans have a 0% interest rate and 100% of each loan goes directly to the borrower. Kiva does not take a cut, rather, their business operations are funded through donations from various grants, corporate sponsors and foundations.
The lending process begins with the selection of Field Partners in the 73 countries where Kiva works. These partners consist of social businesses, schools, microfinance organizations or other nonprofits that are committed to using credit to empower the poor.
Kiva Field Partners identify borrowers, administer loans and send pictures as well as stories of the borrowers to a team of volunteers that translate the stories and publish them to Kiva.org. Lenders then browse these stories and are able lend anywhere from $25 to the full price of the loan to the borrower they select.
As the borrowers repay their loans, Kiva provides repayments to lenders. Kiva boasts an impressive 98.93% repayment rate over 1.2 million funded borrowers. Once loans are repaid, individuals can re-lend their money to another borrower – and another, and another.
Traditionally, credit is often available to the poor through informal or erratic means. However, in many cases, these informal moneylenders charge such high interest rates that business owners are left with little working capital.
Kiva’s work allows the poor to attain affordable credit, which opens the door to economic opportunity. Studies by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) show that borrowing money helps households manage cash flow and regulate consumption as well as deal with everyday crises that may arise. Tangible impacts seen include households making greater investments in the education of their children, better nutrition and living conditions, and an increase in healthcare services when needed by members of the household.
In summary, using the resources provided by lenders via Kiva allows poor households, “to make the transformation from ‘every-day survival’ to ‘planning for the future.’”
– Madisson Barnett
Sources: Monica Brand: Stanford, CGAP, Kiva
Photo: Kiva
Does Raising Awareness Matter?
When confronted with the horrific suffering and abuse that many of the world’s poor endure on a daily basis, one is likely to feel the urge to “do something.” For those of us who are not development professionals, one of the main options for “doing something” tends to be along the lines of advocacy and raising awareness – making sure our sphere of influence is aware of a specific injustice in the world. But does raising awareness matter, and does it really make a difference for the poor?
Patty Stonesifer, former President and CEO and current senior adviser for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, thinks so. Stonesifer defines advocacy as, “efforts to bring about change through public awareness and activism and/or changes to public policy, public practice, or the law.” During her time as a top executive for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, she saw that a shortage in the availability of game-changing solutions for disease and broken educational systems was not the problem. The problem was that these resources were not being purchased and delivered by donors and governments.
Why? A lack of advocacy. The people these services would benefit – the very young or very old or very sick – did not have the ability to help or advocate for themselves. The people most desperate for healthcare or education did not have the political influence to determine the services they would receive.
Sandy Stonesifer, an advocate for issues related to adolescent girls’ health, states that while not all advocacy organizations are effective, history has proven the massive effects that a group of committed advocates can have on policy – the NAACP, March of Dimes and the National Organization for Women, to name a few. She suggests doing research to determine the organizational capacity and cost effectiveness of individual advocacy organizations to make an informed decision about which organizations to support.
Advocacy certainly accomplishes more than just “making noise.” Advocacy changes government agendas and can raise funds for on-the-ground NGOs to carry out their humanitarian efforts. Addressing issues only by funding direct services overlooks the importance of growing a movement – a group of supporters that will provide financial resources and lobbying efforts, thereby carrying the movement beyond its start-up momentum.
While no injustice will be eliminated simply by raising awareness that it exists, people must be aware in order to take the first step of action.
– Madisson Barnett
Sources: All for One, AECF, Abolishion
Photo: Project Theureka
Suicide a Growing Problem for Chinese Women
Every two minutes a person in China commits suicide. Around a quarter of all suicide cases in the world take place in China. Out of China’s 1.3 billion population, 287,000 individuals commit suicide per year. Suicide is the leading cause of death for teenagers and individuals 15-34 years old.
These numerical statistics are merely numbers and do not reveal the humanity and the root causes of these problems. However, it is difficult to analyze problems without first collecting data and there is a lack of recent accurate official data on suicide rates in China.
Suicide cases in China are quite different from those in other countries. In Western countries, around 90 percent of suicides and attempts are brought on by long term mental illness or depression while only 60 percent of suicide cases in China are caused by mental health problems. Although mental health problems and depression increases the chance of attempts at taking one’s life, these figures demonstrate there are other factors in China causing the high rates of suicide.
In rural areas, there is less access to mental health care facilities and treatment. Suicide rates in the rural countryside are two to three times higher than the rates in urban cities. The most common way to attempt taking one’s own life in rural areas is by swallowing the pesticides used to protect their crops.
Suicide affects every demographic in the Chinese population but it is the number one cause of death for Chinese women. According to the World Health Organization, China is the only country in the world where its women commit suicide at higher rates than its men. Of all female suicides worldwide, 56 percent occur in China.
Why are so many Chinese women taking their own lives? If these women do not have mental health or depression, what spurs on these decisions to end their lives?
Studies cite martial conflict, escaping shame, poverty, pressure from their society and the one child policy as explanations to why so many women in China choose to take their own lives. Perhaps it’s a combination of these economic, social and personal factors that can explain China’s problem with mental health.
People commit suicide because they believe it is the only option available for them. When they are drowning from their problems, from the weight of the world and they want their pain to stop, they can choose to take their own life. From their view, taking their own life offers a way out, for their problems to go away.
But suicide is never the only option. They need someone to tell them that things will get better, that their problems can get fixed. They need someone to tell them that their lives are worthwhile. They need support from their families and loved ones. These women need to be told, whether by their government, their families or their friends, that they are not alone and that suicide is not the answer.
– Sarah Yan
Sources: The World of Chinese, WHO
Photo: Flickr
Luis Solis Wins Costa Rican Election Easily
The dominating two-party system in Costa Rica has finally been broken. Luis Solis, of the center-left Citizen Action Party (PAC), has won the presidential election handily. With most of the votes counted, he won 1.2 million votes, or approximately 78% of the vote.
Even though the other candidate, Johnny Araya, had pulled out of the campaign following a University of Costa Rica poll suggesting a large lead by Solis, his name remained on the ballot and he received 22% of the vote. This win comes despite 43% of the electorate abstaining from voting in the elections, a record figure.
Solis beat Araya in all seven provinces and even beat Araya in his own hometown of Palmares by a ratio of two to one.
The PAC party was founded in 2000 as a center-left party focusing on reducing corruption and promoting civic participation in Costa Rica. Solis ran his platform on building up infrastructure, improving universal health care and pension programs, and promote environmental stewardship. He also focused his campaign platform on his desire to revamp the tax system to include a more progressive tax policy.
Meanwhile, Araya’s campaign was marred by allegations of corruption alongside President Chinchilla after he flew on a private jet owned by the MECO Corporation, which had just won a $65 million contract from the government. Some regional experts have been calling this election a clear mandate against the current administration ruled by the National Liberation Party (PLN) headed by the current President Laura Chinchilla.
One other important fact to observe is the PAC’s current standing in Congress. Despite winning the presidency, the PAC only has 13 out of 57 seats in Congress, while the PLN has 18 out of 57 seats. Although the PLN has sworn to support the PAC in Congress where they can, this might change given the PAC’s stated commitment to cracking down on the corruption of the current administration.
President-elect Solis will be sworn in on May 8.
– Jeff Meyer
Sources: Tico Times, BBC, Blogging by Boz, Tico Times
The Ills of Governmental Control in Venezuela
With an inflation rate at 56% and a scarcity index (percentage of goods available) of 28% over the last year the Venezuelan economy has been suffering the effects of policies implemented in the last decade. Starting in 2003, president Hugo Chavez put in place stringent currency controls. Originally, this was intended to address the severe crisis brought by a major strike of the oil industry. However, after a decade, this control remains in place, pegging the country’s exchange rate to the U.S. dollar and limiting the amount of local currency, the Bolivar, that Venezuelans are allowed to exchange.
Coupled with currency controls, governmental control in Venezuela has included imposing strict price controls for the products within the basic foods basket. Instead of making basic products more accessible, this has actually distorted prices. Hence, this has translated into widespread scarcity and an underground parallel market where basic foods are sold at prices much higher than the government established price.
Both of these policies have not produced the intended results. In the last decade, economic controls have profoundly curtailed the incentives necessary for businesses to produce and import goods. This has crippled the economy in severe ways. While the economy has become highly dependent on imports to supply almost 80% of consumer products, lack of hard currency makes this very complicated to achieve.
These policies are the culprits of the Venezuelan economy being rated as “repressed” by the Index of Economic Freedom. This rating has remained unchanged since 2004. What does this mean? Well, falling within this rating means that corruption is high, and that business, labor and fiscal freedoms are severely curtailed by an interventionist and centralized government. While Venezuela holds the biggest oil reserves in the world, out of all South and Central American countries, it ranks second to last in economic freedom.
These dire economic circumstances have forced many producers to close shop or move their operations to neighboring countries. The difficulty of operating is primarily caused by their inability to access hard currency. Since the only entity allowed to sell USD is the government, businesses are at the mercy of lengthy bureaucratic processes, unless they are willing to pay up to ten times the price of the local currency. But they would not be able to sell their product at a competitive market price due to price controls. Catch 22.
In addition to currency issues, the countless expropriations of private property and interventionist practices by the national government substantially elevate the risk of investing or running a business.
For instance, in November 2013, the government undertook several electronic stores (one of them a national chain equivalent to Best Buy) and forced them to charge what is deemed by the government as fair prices. This eventually was extended to other rubrics, forcing many to close down shop, or simply remain open until their current inventory ran out. Moreover, in January, the government passed the Fair Price Law, which sets a maximum percentage of profit that businesses are allowed to add to their prices.
The picture remains grim as protests that started in February to denounce shortages, among other things, continue unabated. The government has promised to ease some of these controls to allow shelves to be restocked and businesses to reopen their doors. However, as of today no substantial changes in economic policy have been put in place.
– Sahar Abi Hassan
Sources: The Heritage Foundation, The New Yorker
Photo: What’s Next Venezuela?
3 Ways to Volunteer Abroad
There are many different ways to make an impact in the fight against global poverty. Volunteering abroad is one option that offers numerous ways to help.
Volunteer abroad programs offer a variety of opportunities to help global communities. Whether you are interested in teaching children, building schools or helping communities establish cleaner water supplies, there is most likely a program to fit your needs.
Cross-Cultural Solutions
“Cross-Cultural Solutions is a nonprofit working to address critical global issues by providing meaningful volunteer service to communities abroad, and contributing responsibly to local economies.” Cross-Cultural Solutions is a volunteer abroad organization that seeks to do just what its name implies: find cross-cultural ways to combat poverty.
The organization only sends volunteers to locations with established relationships between themselves and local organizations and communities, so when you arrive to volunteer, you’re working with people who are invested in improving their community. In each Cross-Cultural Solutions location, volunteers are housed at a home base that provides them with three meals a day, which is what the majority of the program fee goes to.
Volunteer programs can range from a week to three months, so volunteers have a lot of options even if they’re in school or have a full-time job. Additionally, volunteers have the option to take excursions on the weekends during longer trips, or volunteer in multiple destinations in a row, making travel a part of the program as well!
Global Volunteers
Known as the origin of “the volunteer vacation,” Global Volunteers focuses on short-term volunteer abroad programs, making them a perfect fit for students or anyone who cannot commit to a long period abroad.
Global Volunteers works to “engage short-term volunteers on long-term projects” in countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, North and South America. As volunteers only stay for a short period of time, they are working with existing projects, or projects that will continue long after they leave.
An additional focus of the program is that volunteers “work at the invitation and under the direction of local community partners, and one-on-one with local people.” They only do what they are asked to do and work with and under the direction of local people to find out what’s best from the community from the people who understand it best.
WorldTeach
As its name suggests, WorldTeach focuses on sending teachers to foreign countries as they “partner with governments and other organizations in developing countries to provide volunteer teachers to meet local needs and promote responsible citizenship.”
Because the program sends volunteers out to teach, its programs tend to run longer than Cross-Cultural Solutions or Global Volunteers. Full-year programs are available in a wealth of countries around the globe such as Chile, Colombia, Guyana, the Marshall Islands and Thailand, just to name a few.
Similarly, shorter summer programs exist where volunteers can travel to countries like Poland, Nepal and South Africa. For volunteers who prefer to spend a semester teaching abroad, there are programs in Ecuador and Namibia. Before applying, WorldTeach requires applicants choose their country and departure date, unlike some other programs.
Volunteers receive support throughout the duration of their work, and have an alumni network that they can access at the conclusion of their program.
Additionally, volunteers have the opportunity to receive his or her teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) certification through professional development and a $350 fee.
The funds for WorldTeach programs come directly from the organization, the volunteer and the chosen country’s host institution. As such, costs for different programs vary, with some requiring a higher monetary commitment, and a few countries paying in full for volunteer teachers.
No matter which program you choose, there are a few things to keep in mind when seeking to volunteer abroad.
Volunteers are working with a community. That means helping local organizations and communities while being humble about your place there and working to understand the new culture in which you’ve immersed yourself.
Volunteering is about helping people, and even though you will find fulfillment and gain valuable experience, the focus is always on working with your chosen community.
Once you find a program that you are passionate about and that works responsibly with organizations within the community, you’re all set to start your volunteer abroad experience!
– Cameron Barney
Sources: WorldTeach, Global Volunteers, Cross-Cultural Solutions
Photo: The Interpreter
Polio: A Conspiracy Theory that Kills
Diplomacy saves lives. Not only can good foreign relations prevent the outbreak of war and violence between and within countries, but it also allows for the trust and respect necessary for global development initiatives to work.
In 1988 UNICEF and the Rotary Club International joined forces to eradicate polio across the globe. The project was shockingly successful and, as a result, the number of estimated polio cases decreased from 400,000 to 7,000 between 1980 and 1999. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation contributed to the cause and helped immunize 2.5 billion young people in 200 countries with the help of almost 200 million volunteers. By 2003 only 784 cases of polio remained on the planet.
Yet as promising as these numbers appear, the goal stated in 1988 was to eliminate polio by the year 2000. This did not happen. In 2003, the number of polio cases dwindling, a conspiracy theory transpired. In a primarily Muslim region of Nigeria, a few imams surmised that the polio vaccine contained sterilizing agents that would make their daughters infertile. The life-saving vaccination was conclusively dubbed to be a CIA plot. As this rumor spread to Afghanistan and Pakistan, groups such as the Taliban spoke out against the previously well-received shot. The number of polio cases in children grew to 2,020 by 2006. In 2008 only Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan still had polio circulating through water supplies and infected children.
In 2013 polio cases of the same strain found in Pakistan were discovered in Somalia and Syria. Both countries trained their military’s in Pakistan. Iraq reported its first polio case in 14 years this March 2014, and the United Nations has branded Syria’s climb to 38 reported cases of polio “the most challenging outbreak in the history of polio eradication.” Fears are skyrocketing that the dreadful disease is spreading throughout the Middle East.
Many claim that violence and displacement are primary causes of the setback in Iraq. Polio, an incurable disease, spreads quickly in overcrowded regions prone to poverty and malnourishment. It is preventable, though, and it’s a shame that less than favorable political and ideological relations contributed to its present resurgence.
– Jaclyn Stutz
Sources: Foreign Policy, The Guardian, IRIN
Photo: CNN
Impending Famine in South Sudan
The famine in South Sudan has reached a scale similar to that in Syria. Close to one third of the population of South Sudan is already at severe risk of starvation and, unless something is done soon, the struggle will only get worse. Some are calling it a race against time.
Since the violence erupted this past December, around 255,000 people have fled to neighboring countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, and more than 800,000 people have been displaced inside the country. Some people have even fled north to South Sudan’s recently separated Sudan counterpart. The United Nations coordinator for humanitarian aid in South Sudan, Toby Lanzer, has appealed for the essentials such as food and water, as well as farming tools and seeds. If the South Sudanese are unable to plant their crops by the time rain comes in May, they will face the most disastrous famine in Africa since the 1980s.
According to Lanzer, aid donations have been catastrophically faltering. A United Nations appeal for $1.3 billion was not fully funded and only a quarter of the requested money went though, in an assertion that only $232 million was necessary for the bare minimum of humanitarian aid to the country. But the bare minimum is not enough, as tragic 7 million people in South Sudan are at risk of hunger. People are in such dire need of food and water that one family started boiling poisonous roots for an entire week in order to have something to eat. Many travel for days with no water whatsoever.
Violence in the country has only made matters worse. When weapons were reported to have been found in a UN convoy in March, the government and army in South Sudan understandably felt obligated to increase surveillance and security measures on UN vehicles delivering aid. The issue strained relations between the international agency and South Sudan, subsequently making aid delivery increasingly difficult.
The horrifying conditions in which people are currently living, however, can be changed. Famine implies that people are dying and, while many argue that South Sudan has not yet reached that point, the risk is very real. With enough funding reaching the people of South Sudan in a timely enough fashion, an even worse future can be avoided.
– Jaclyn Stutz
Sources: USA Today, Al Jazeera, The New York Times
Photo: UPI
Agriculture Fails to Entice Youth in Africa
Africa continually fails to produce high agricultural returns, as low government investment translates to low productivity in the field. The agricultural sector employs 60% of its population. Yet it accounts for only 25% of the African GDP.
David Adama of Action Aid International faults politics. “African governments must follow through on their promises and provide more money for agriculture and ensure it is better targeted to help the millions of smallholder farmers,” he asserts.
Those in politics hold agriculture in low regard and as a result, youth do as well. The “unglamorous prospects” of working in the fields drive these young Africans to the cities. Youth constitute the largest and most productive labor force, yet fields across the continent fail to entice them.
The proportion of youth in the African workforce ranks the highest worldwide. Why? More people younger than 20 live in Africa than any continent in the world. An estimated 35% of youth working in Sub-Saharan Africa and 40% in North Africa. In contrast, youth comprise 20% of the European workforce. As the African population continues to grow, the World Bank estimates 60% of the global workforce will lie in Africa between 2010 and 2050.
To champion agriculture, greater investment and commercialization of the sector must occur. Gerda Verburg serves as chairperson of the Committee on World Food Security, and considers this key to attracting unemployed youth. To “reverse the rural mentality” of farming as a last resort, commercialization offers greater employment opportunities and a larger income.
“Private sector finance and agri-industries are helping to modernize agriculture by creating value adding chains that will pay a farmer more for his labor than the local market,” she notes.
The rise of supermarkets accompanies the rise of an African middle class. Large commercials threaten small farmers in regions, such as Lesotho. In this country, more than a million citizens farm. The development of large value chains and supermarkets excludes farmers, threatening their livelihood.
To participate in this lucrative business model, the government must invest in the small farmers. Youth seek food and economic security, yet cannot obtain this without protection against the encroachment of big businesses.
Electricity promises to increase agricultural yield and widening the access to it promises to retain youth in rural regions. As secretary of the Food and Agriculture Organization regional conference, Cheikh Ly cites electricity as a “major contributing factor” for migration. Many youth prefer urban centers because of access to telecommunications and Internet connectivity.
“Electrification is a key need for Africa’s rural economy. Modern agricultural production is not possible without reliable access to power. We will also lose the young who want to be connected and communicate via phones and the Internet if these needs are not met,” Ly remarks.
From Somalia to Ethiopia, food security poses a formidable threat to African youth. Yet these young men and women hold the potential to combat this. More than 50% of fertile and unused land lies in Africa. In addition to these natural resources, foreign investment will likely exceed $45 billion in 2020.
To reap the benefits of this investment, the government must fund an “agricultural renaissance” and help youth to feed future generations.
– Ellery Spahr
Sources: Inter Press Service, Marketplace
Photo: Continent of Riches