Every hour of the day, advertisers try to capture happiness in carefully crafted commercials. Celebrities sell glamour and fame as gateways to contentment. To politicians, a growing economy secures happiness for every citizen.
Yet Borgen, the United Nations and other battling global poverty understand happiness in different terms. On March 20, the U.N. Foundation promotes 24HoursOfHappiness.com to raise donations for its Emergency Response Fund. The U.N. poses this question on its website: “Have you had enough of being made to feel poor in a world that is rich with opportunities to be happy?”
This year, emergencies threatened individuals worldwide. In the developing world, allies sacrificed material comfort to return stability to their lives. At this time, UNICEF, Heifer International and a number of other partners promote monthly donation plans align financial security and personal well-being.
A monthly donation to UNICEF offers a range of benefits to children:
• $15 a month (50 cents a day) provides 20 packets of high energy biscuits for malnourished children
• $30 a month ($1.00 a day) tests 20 children for malaria, a highly treatable disease.
• $75 a month ($2.50 a day) provides basic surgical equipment to under-resourced hospitals
• $100 a month ($3.33 a day) purchases waterproof sleeping mats for 100 homeless children
• $200 a month ($6.66 a day) provides 80 children with a School-in-a-Box kit – this “ready-made educational solution packed with pencils, erasers, exercise books, writing slates, scissors, markers, posters and blackboard equipment.”
A monthly donation to Heifer International advances families’ food security:
• $10 provides one goat
• $30 provides three sheep
• $50 provides five pigs
• $20 provides 12 flocks of chicken
• $42 provides one heifer
• $152 provides a full barn yard
Furthermore, Nic Marks of Happiness Works reports unhappiness threatens the global marketplace. Discontent workers report lower productivity, higher levels of absence and illness, and less motivation to improve performance. Marks and his colleagues seek to align the needs of business with the personal need for happiness.
Global advancements in education, healthcare and business should factor in personal well-being. The materials provided by UNICEF and Heifer offer stability in times of crisis. Coupling these products with personalized support offers assurance of long-term change.
In July 2011, the U.N. General Assembly expressed a commitment to this emotional support. It deemed happiness a “fundamental human goal” and moved to establish a “more inclusive, equitable and a balanced approach to economic growth that promotes happiness and well-being of all peoples.” The world celebrated the first official Day of Happiness in 2013, engaging more 3.5 million in a discussion on global happiness.
Opponents initially stressed the growing hostilities in Syria and North Korea, questioning the need for a Day of Happiness when conflict rages and tensions grow. Yet happiness serves as a “breeding ground for social discontent,” resulting in these cycles of conflict and insecurity.
A happiness campaign demands greater attention to humanitarian efforts. Efforts can do more than help individuals survive trying times; aid, in any form, can help individuals thrive and secure lasting happiness.
– Ellery Spahr
Sources: United Nations, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian
Photo: DeviantART
Ghana’s False Orphans
It took the 2009 report of an eight-month-old boy being raped in an Accra care-house to alert Ghanaian officials that all might not be well with their country’s orphanages. Investigators of the rape discovered to their shock that, of the 32 children living in the orphanage, 27 were not orphans.
Since then, the Social Welfare Department has reported that only eight of the 148 orphanages currently in operation throughout the country are licensed, and that as many as 90% of the 4,500 children living in these homes have not lost both parents.
Young children are highly effective for fundraising. Ghana’s non-profit Child Rights International (CRI) estimates that a small orphanage could pull in as much as $70,000 a year with the vast majority of their funding coming from international donors and NGOs. However, CRI suggests that as little as 30% of yearly earnings are spent on child care.
Ghana isn’t alone in supporting a gross exploitation of children – roughly 28% of the 12,000 Cambodian children living in orphanages have lost both parents, and in Sierra Leone the number of true orphans living in a care-house is a minuscule 7%.
CRI’s Apiah explains that child-collectors target impoverished and rural communities where they “exploit the poverty and ignorance of parents” with promises of cash and an education for their children. There is a practice in some West African countries where poor families will send their children away to be cared for by relatives or caretakers who have the means to provide more for them, and many orphanages exploit this practice by having illiterate parents sign documents that sever all legal rights to their child.
“The problem stems from…systemic failure, which encourages the proliferation of unlicensed and unmonitored orphanage,” Apiah said. “These problems will be there as long as we continue to lack a firm social safety net to support poor parents to raise their children.”
Fred Sakyi Boafo, the National Coordinator of Orphanages and Vulnerable Children (OVC) has been pushing for placing children back in homes, whether with parents or surviving relatives, or with trained Foster Parents. He claims that when children stay in an orphanage rather than with a family unit it actually costs more to send them to school and provide care.
Joachim Theis, UNICEF head of child protection for West Africa, agrees when he says “A range of solutions, from safety nets to foster care to community care, have been shown to work, and re much cheaper than putting children in orphanages. Putting children into institutionalized care instead of a family setting must always be a last resort.”
It is also the responsibility of foreign donors and NGOs to thoroughly research the organizations they give money to as blind generosity is capable of causing more harm than good.
–Lydia Caswell
Sources: Irin News, Ghana Web, Ghana Web
Photo: Orphan Aid Africa
Britain’s Five Richest Families Worth More Than Poorest 20%
Income inequality is one of the biggest issues facing the world today. There is not a nation on Earth that is not affected by it in some way or another. The United Kingdom is currently facing a food crisis of national proportions with hundreds of thousands having to access emergency shelter food. Income inequality is also driving a wedge deeper and deeper in the British economy, making daily life even more difficult for working class families.
According to a study that was published by the charity organization Oxfam, the United Kingdom’s richest .1% have had their own personal incomes grow by over four times what the lowest 90% of Britain’s population have. Oxfam’s study used Forbe’s latest list of billionaires, and goes on to say that the United Kingdom’s five richest families have a total worth of over 28.2 billion pounds while the lowest 20% of the United Kingdom’s population only accumulated 28.1 billion pounds.
The Duke of Westminster topped the list of the top richest families in the United Kingdom. Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor is worth over 7.9 billion pounds and owns over 100 acres in London and Belgravia. The second highest were the Reuben brothers who are deal in extremely profitable metal business deals. Their company Trans World Metals, at its peak, controlled over 5% of the world aluminum supply. The third family on the list are the Hinduja Brothers who are worth over 6 billion pounds. The Hinduja brothers gained their fortunate by creating the Hinduja Group, which is conglomerate that oversees more than 21 companies that range from banks, to transportation systems, to chemical plants.
The fourth richest family in Britain is the Cadogan Family; the Viscount and Viscountess of Chelsea and their net worth of over 4 billion pounds. The fifth name on the list is Mike Ashley, owner of the prestigious football club Newcastle United who brought up the rear at 3.3 billion pounds.
The wealth that these families have accumulated is both astounding and impressive. However, in 2014 one of the biggest issues to both world leaders and citizens alike is the ever present issue of income inequality. The World Economic Forum declared that income inequality is one of the biggest threats that the world is facing today. Jennifer Blanke, the World Economic Forum’s Chief Economist cited the Arab Spring, as well as recent issues in both Brazil and South Africa as examples of how “…people are not going to stand for it anymore.”
The news that the top five richest families in Britain have accrued as much wealth as the bottom 20% is another piece of the income inequality puzzle that needs to be addressed and examined in a timely manner. The continuing rift between the rich and poor in every country around the world must be a main focus for the world’s leaders in order to take steps to address this issue.
– Arthur Fuller
Sources: The Guardian, The Independent, The Independent, The Guardian
Photo: Salon
Consumer Companies Get Creative with Charity
Many consumer companies create social responsibility programs to stand out and make themselves sustainable, creative or innovative. However, when consumer products give back to the community, are consumers more likely to buy them?
1. Puma’s Clever World
Bring Me Back Program
If you have clothes or shoes that you don’t want anymore, Puma will take them, even if they are by another brand. Used or unwanted items are sorted and graded according to more than 400 criteria. Items are either re-worn as is, up-cycled for industrial use or recycled into raw materials for new products.
Films 4 Peace
Films4Peace is a short film commission by Puma featuring contemporary artists’ takes on peace. The works are screened and discussed at educational events globally and online. The short films do not contain any dialogue, thus removing any language barriers and making them widely accessible. Films4Peace celebrates World Peace Day, an international United National day of ceasefire where individuals and organizations can demonstrate acts of peace. World Peace Day takes place September 21 each year. The films are released to the public domain and are free from screening fees, making them a free gift to the world.
2. Honest Company
Baby2Baby
More than 60 members of the Honest Company family joined together with Baby2Baby on March 16 to donate 200 new cribs and more than 108,000 diapers to Los Angeles families in need. For every crib sold on Honest.com, the company promises to donate one crib to a family in need. The Los Angeles donation was the first delivery of cribs as part of that promise.
3. Burt’s Bees
The Greater Good Foundation
In 2007, Burt’s Bees established The Greater Good Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that empowers grassroots initiatives, particularly in the areas of protecting honeybees, supporting sustainable agriculture and supporting the local community. Since its inception, the foundation has donated $233,000 to 23 nonprofit organizations. Through the foundation, Burt’s Bees pledges to donate at least 10% of all web site revenues to its selected well-being partners, including Habitat for Humanity and the Triangle Land Conservancy.
More than 60% of consumers around the world prefer to buy products from companies that have programs to give back to society. 62% would also prefer to work for these companies and 59% would rather invest in companies that make a positive difference in the world.
– Haley Sklut
Sources: Puma, The Honest Co., Burt’s Bees, Nielsen
Photo: Baby2Baby
How Protecting the Environment Alleviates Poverty
A common misconception is that protecting the environment exacerbates poverty in poor nations because it prevents agricultural development and the ability to harvest natural resources. This is far from the truth. In fact, environmental protection initiatives actually help alleviate poverty.
A study done in Costa Rica reveals that ecotourism efforts contribute to decreased poverty levels in regions situated near protected parks and natural areas. Thanks to the economic opportunities provided by the ecotourism sector, these regions have seen nearly 66% reduction in poverty. Paul Ferraro, professor of economics and environmental policy at Georgia State University, finds three triggering factors that show a direct correlation between poverty reduction and environmental conservation.
Triggers of Poverty Reduction Linked to Environmental Protection
A similar study was done by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on protected areas of Thailand and Costa Rica established 15 years ago. The study concluded, “the net impact of ecosystem protection was to alleviate poverty.” Communities around protected areas in Costa Rica experienced a 10% decrease in poverty, while the communities in Thailand saw almost a 30% reduction. As in the previous study, PNAS finds that tourism revenue and job opportunities directly contributed to reduced levels in poverty.
Protecting biodiversity is critical for 75% of the world’s poor who live in rural areas and depend on sustenance farming and fishing for survival. Disappearing or declining species in an ecosystem directly impacts people’s ability to provide food for their families. Local villagers in the Sierra Leone region of West Africa, for example, experienced direct effects of biodiversity loss as a result of overfishing and pollution. As fishing makes up their main source of food, the coastal community struggled to sustain their protein-rich diet with the loss of diversity in fish stocks. The World Bank helped restore the marine ecosystem by improving fishing regulations and introducing sustainable fishing techniques in the area.
The World Bank invests over $1 billion in nature and wildlife protection, and an additional $300 million in environmental and natural resource law enforcement. Moreover, investments in biodiversity help create jobs and raise incomes around the world. The Bank has already helped boost income levels in communities within rural regions of South Africa, Kenya and Honduras. The long-term impacts of these investments contribute simultaneously to two of the eight U.N. Millennium Development Goals:
Eight U.N. Millennium Development Goals:
The protection of natural ecosystems from environmental degradation, such as pollution, deforestation and biodiversity loss, ensures the safety and stability of local impoverished communities that rely on those precious natural resources for survival. Environmental protection has proven to be a key factor in poverty reduction around the world, and it is critical that international organizations, like the World Bank, continue to support global initiatives in hopes of making the UN Millennium Development Goals a reality.
– Gloria Kostadinova
Sources: Nature World News, National Geographic, Triple Pundit, World Bank, United Nations
Photo: Maag-Uma
Human Rights Groups Fear Iraq Child Marriage Bill
After news broke of a child marriage bill in Iraq that would make it legal to marry girls as young as 9 years old as well as require women to be fully submissive to their husbands, human rights advocates were outraged.
The law is called the Jaafari Personal Status Law, based on ideas of a particular school of Shiite religious law. It was introduced last year, but was just approved by the current prime minister’s, Nouri al-Maliki, Council of Ministers. This action is a prerequisite for the law to be voted on in Iraq’s state assembly.
Many believe that this controversial law is an attempt by the government to create laws more representative of the Shiite majority of the population. The Shiite majority had been repressed prior to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that effectively removed Saddam Hussein’s Sunni regime. Since that invasion, many Shiite leaders both political and religious have made efforts to demonstrate the strength of their new regime.
The draft law does not actually state a minimum age for marriage, but instead includes a section on divorce with rules for girls who have reached the age of 9 according to the lunar Islamic calendar. The law would also give a girl’s father the sole ability to accept or refuse a marriage proposal, effectively taking any influence away from a girl’s mother.
It is important to notice that the Islamic lunar calendar is about 10 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar. Therefore the age of 9 by the Islamic lunar calendar is the same as 8 years and 8 months old by the Gregorian calendar. Including these divorce rules implies that it would be allowed for girls as young as 9 to have first been married.
The legal age of marriage in Iraq is 18 years old without parental approval, but younger girls can be married with parental consent or consent of a guardian. Reports show that underage marriage is on the rise, with statistics from 2011 showing that 25% of marriages in Iraq included at least one person under the age of 18.
The draft law would also legalize a husband to have sex with his wife regardless of her consent and would require women to get the permission of their husband before leaving the house. Furthermore, the law would make it more difficult for women to obtain custody of children after divorce and would make it easier for men to have more than one wife.
Rights advocates and many Iraqi citizens alike see the law as a major regression of women’s rights. Many also believe that the law would further aggravate tensions between Shiites and Sunnis in the country.
Joe Storl, Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa deputy director, has said, “Passage of the Jaafari law would be a disastrous and discriminatory step backward for Iraq’s women and girls. This personal status law would only entrench Iraq’s divisions while the government claims to support equal rights for all.” There have also been outcries that the law legalizes the rape of women.
While the reactions to this law demonstrate a fear that Iraq is moving backwards, it appears that the Shiite government is not concerned. Prime Minister al-Maliki’s spokesman Ali al-Moussawi said, “Some media outlets show Iraq as it has gone backwards but this isn’t true. In the west, people are talking about gay marriage. This is something we would never discuss and it is against our religion, our nature, yet we don’t say that they are backwards.”
While protests continue, we can only wait to see what will happen and if this controversial law will actually be passed.
– Julie Guacci
Sources: TIME, The Huffington Post, The Guardian
Photo: Rasoul Ali
International Day of Happiness
Every hour of the day, advertisers try to capture happiness in carefully crafted commercials. Celebrities sell glamour and fame as gateways to contentment. To politicians, a growing economy secures happiness for every citizen.
Yet Borgen, the United Nations and other battling global poverty understand happiness in different terms. On March 20, the U.N. Foundation promotes 24HoursOfHappiness.com to raise donations for its Emergency Response Fund. The U.N. poses this question on its website: “Have you had enough of being made to feel poor in a world that is rich with opportunities to be happy?”
This year, emergencies threatened individuals worldwide. In the developing world, allies sacrificed material comfort to return stability to their lives. At this time, UNICEF, Heifer International and a number of other partners promote monthly donation plans align financial security and personal well-being.
A monthly donation to UNICEF offers a range of benefits to children:
• $15 a month (50 cents a day) provides 20 packets of high energy biscuits for malnourished children
• $30 a month ($1.00 a day) tests 20 children for malaria, a highly treatable disease.
• $75 a month ($2.50 a day) provides basic surgical equipment to under-resourced hospitals
• $100 a month ($3.33 a day) purchases waterproof sleeping mats for 100 homeless children
• $200 a month ($6.66 a day) provides 80 children with a School-in-a-Box kit – this “ready-made educational solution packed with pencils, erasers, exercise books, writing slates, scissors, markers, posters and blackboard equipment.”
A monthly donation to Heifer International advances families’ food security:
• $10 provides one goat
• $30 provides three sheep
• $50 provides five pigs
• $20 provides 12 flocks of chicken
• $42 provides one heifer
• $152 provides a full barn yard
Furthermore, Nic Marks of Happiness Works reports unhappiness threatens the global marketplace. Discontent workers report lower productivity, higher levels of absence and illness, and less motivation to improve performance. Marks and his colleagues seek to align the needs of business with the personal need for happiness.
Global advancements in education, healthcare and business should factor in personal well-being. The materials provided by UNICEF and Heifer offer stability in times of crisis. Coupling these products with personalized support offers assurance of long-term change.
In July 2011, the U.N. General Assembly expressed a commitment to this emotional support. It deemed happiness a “fundamental human goal” and moved to establish a “more inclusive, equitable and a balanced approach to economic growth that promotes happiness and well-being of all peoples.” The world celebrated the first official Day of Happiness in 2013, engaging more 3.5 million in a discussion on global happiness.
Opponents initially stressed the growing hostilities in Syria and North Korea, questioning the need for a Day of Happiness when conflict rages and tensions grow. Yet happiness serves as a “breeding ground for social discontent,” resulting in these cycles of conflict and insecurity.
A happiness campaign demands greater attention to humanitarian efforts. Efforts can do more than help individuals survive trying times; aid, in any form, can help individuals thrive and secure lasting happiness.
– Ellery Spahr
Sources: United Nations, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian
Photo: DeviantART
Happy New Year, Iran
President Hassan Rouhani of Iran inherited an interesting situation upon entering office last June 2013. Elected under the pretense of repairing and improving a broken economy, Rouhani’s shoulders have had to carry increasingly heavy burdens.
Despite denial by various Iranian leaders, a plethora of scholars and academics attest to the claim that the downtrodden economy resultant of sanctions by the Western world significantly contributed to Rouhani’s willingness to participate seriously in nuclear talks. Such willingness has led to an easing of sanctions, ultimately permitting Iran to do business more freely on an international scale. Since Rouhani’s election, inflation in Iran has dropped from 43 percent to 33 percent and the nation’s currency has begun to revive from losing almost 80 percent of its value over the past two years.
Rouhani has helped to stabilize Iranian currency, started a path toward a nuclear deal and greatly reduced inflation. Yet the slow and steady pace of economic revitalization is not fast enough for the people of Iran. Former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad left finances in a despicable state, far worse than suspected. In order to undo what was once done and produce long-term results, Rouhani has had to take short-term steps that have unfortunately made current life worse for many Iranians.
Sanctions as experienced under Ahmadinejad’s rule created a society accustomed to drastically higher prices of everyday goods. People learned to leave out the unnecessary goods and buy only those that were utterly indispensable. Now, however, individuals may experience an increase in gasoline prices, perhaps by as much as 30 percent.
And while the government attempts to keep prices at local markets fair for consumers, many shopkeepers and vendors complain that it is not worth it for them to sell their goods in such regulated arenas. No matter how much they sell, one vendor explained, they will end up losing money.
The Iranian New Year is here, welcomed with the sting of disappointment in the air. Rouhani is doing what he can, but patience is a virtue that financial misfortune makes difficult to uphold.
– Jaclyn Stutz
Sources: New York Times, NPR, Times, Washington Post
Photo: Joojoo
Sex-Ed for Girls in Pakistan
Girls in rural Pakistan are receiving groundbreaking sex education lessons from the Village Shadabad Organization. These lessons range from topics of puberty, sex, marital rape, menstruation, marriage, human rights and self-defense against attackers. These sex education lessons are being taught alongside normal education curriculum in eight different girls schools, which are funded by BHP Billiton, an Australian company.
Lessons on menstruation and puberty teach girls not to be ashamed by their own body, and lessons on marital rape explain that unwilling marital sex is a crime. The girls are taught to scream and fight if they are touched inappropriately, because their bodies are owned by no one but themselves. Uzma Panhwar, a 10-year-old student, declares “My body is only mine and only I have the rights on it.”
These lessons teach girls about their body, and about their sexual health. With greater knowledge and awareness of their bodies and their rights, girls can gain confidence and strike away feelings of guilt and shame thrust upon them by their conservative patriarchal society.
In a country where public discourse on sex is forbidden, these lessons are even more meaningful and relevant for these young girls. It is estimated that 70 percent to 90 percent of Pakistan’s women have experienced domestic abuse. Women in Pakistan experience high rates of sexual and domestic violence, fighting against a justice system that favors their male attackers. Both law enforcement and government officials have proved to be unresponsive towards violence against women.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap report ranked Pakistan as 135th in the world due to its gender inequality. Pakistan has a history of honor killings, child marriages and violence against women. Although the country is making progress in women’s education, women still have little representation in their own government.
The families in these rural villages support sex education, but there are many others in Pakistan, especially from the education sector, who oppose it due to constitutional and religious reasons. The education minister for the Sindh province and the president of All Pakistan Private School Federation have opposed these sex education lessons in the rural villages.
These sex education lessons are important in providing a foundation for female empowerment in Pakistan. While reform and increased legislation on women’s rights from the government will be slow to create change, these lessons in rural villages are impacting transformation of social norms at the local level.
Women’s empowerment has been shown to not only combat poverty, but to promote development and greater well-being. Teaching these young girls in Pakistan to take control over their bodies also teaches them to take control of their own lives. These sex education lessons do not merely educate them about their bodies, it teaches them to respect themselves, and to demand the respect they deserve from their society and government.
– Sarah Yan
Sources: The Guardian, Global Public Square
Photo: Taipei Times
The Abahlali Movement’s Role in Eradicating South African Poverty
Apartheid in South Africa began in 1948 when the National Party was voted into power, favoring the white minority over the black majority. The African National Congress (ANC) then rose up to lead an opposition to apartheid and many ANC leaders, like Nelson Mandela, were imprisoned for years. Eventually the National Party became willing to negotiate a non-violent transition to a majority black rule after numerous protests. Apartheid came to an end after the first multi-racial elections in 1994, bringing the first black president into power: Nelson Mandela. Since then, the ANC has struggled to make the country equal for all races after all of the imbalances the apartheid created with things like healthcare, education and housing.
The Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement (also known as the Shack Dwellers Movement) was created to spread equality and help to fully end the long-lasting effects of apartheid. It started in early 2005 in Durban, South Africa and is still largely located in this port city, but it has become the largest organization of militant poor in South Africa in terms of mobilized peoples. The movement originated with a road blockade near the Kennedy Road settlement that was protesting a local industrialist buying the nearby land that these shack dwellers were promised by the new ANC government in order to create better housing.
This movement has grown rapidly to having over 30 settlements with tens of thousands of shack dwellers supporting them. The movement has suffered over a hundred arrests, ongoing death threats, regular police assault and intimidation from local parties in the last couple years alone. However, it has still been able to progress to the point that it has a persistent voice for inhabitants of informal housing settlements. Against the actions that have thrown thousands of people out to the streets, they have marched on and occupied police stations, offices of local councilors, newspaper offices, municipal offices and the City Hall.
Under the slogan “No Land, No House, No Vote,” the group has organized a very controversial, but extremely effective boycott of the local government elections. The Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement is distinctly against all forms of discrimination, corruption, repression and the concentration of land, wealth and power in any one party’s hands. They stand for a fair distribution of this land, wealth and power and for the right of the city’s inhabitation for every citizen.
Amongst other victories, the Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement has won access to schools, stopped the industrial development of the land promised to the Kennedy Road residents, democratized the governance of multiple other settlements, stopped countless evictions and forced multiple government officials and projects to actually focus on the poor. The movement’s main goal was originally to obtain land and housing in the city, but since it started it has successfully politicized and fought for an end to forced removals and for access to education, water, sanitation, health care and electricity. The movement has even set up gardening projects and sewing collectives for people living with AIDS and for orphans with AIDS.
For more information, address the Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement’s webpage at https://abahlali.org/ or watch the documentary about the movement entitled “Dear Mandela,” with the following webpage: https://www.dearmandela.com/.
– Kenneth W. Kliesner
Sources: Dear Mandela, Abahlali (1), Abahlali (2), CIA World Factbook
Photo: Western Cape
Poverty Levels Increase from Conflict in Eritrea
Situated on the Red Sea, Eritrea is one of the youngest independent countries in the world, but it is also one of the poorest. Eritrea has had to deal with being a small, seriously poor country with many socio-economic problems since it won independence from Ethiopia after 30 years of war in 1993. Like many African nations, the Eritrean economy is largely based on subsistence agriculture with around 60% of its population relying on agricultural activities, like livestock and crop production or fishing, for food and income. In 2003, Eritrea had an annual per capita income of $150 and as a result was ranked at 155 out of 175 countries on the Human Development Index. Food insecurity and poverty are extremely widespread and are increasing; nearly half of their food has to be imported even with adequate rainfall.
More than 50% of the entire country was below the poverty line, and 44% of children under the age of five were underweight between 1990 and 2001. Around 2 million Eritrean people, a large amount of the population, are experiencing economic hardship. The low productivity of their livestock enterprises and crops extremely harm rural households, the most affected by poverty. Nearly two-thirds of all the households in Eritrea lack food security.
Some of the worst droughts in Eritrea’s history threatened the lives of over a third of the population from 2002-2004. Large quantities of livestock perished or were sold fairly cheaply to pay for food and crop production greatly fell by about 25%. Malnutrition levels are very high in Eritrea and the rural people do not have much access to social services like healthcare and purification systems for clean drinking water. Many women are the heads of their households and have to produce food and care for their children. These types of households are largely disadvantaged because they rely greatly on the help of male relatives and neighbors who may not always be available when they are needed.
The mandatory military service and armed conflicts take many men away from their families and villages and this plays a large role on the severity of poverty in the country. The border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia left tens of thousands of people killed and although a peace deal was agreed upon, there are still tensions between the disputed territories. There have been more people condemned to poverty than have been lifted out of poverty from the war in Eritrea, but the government has been working toward diplomatic solutions with Ethiopia. After Ethiopia sent in troops to Eritrea in March 2012, Eritrea remained peaceful and announced that it would not retaliate, rather it would use the proper diplomatic channels to resolve the issue and eventually bring economic growth to both countries.
Though the situation does not look promising for many rural families, Eritrea has traditional ways of protecting the rural poor communities. Wealthier families dispose of assets, like livestock and crops, and then make loans to their poorer relatives and neighbors during times of great stress. A community’s wealthier families will help households that are physically unable to cultivate their own land at different times of the agricultural cycle.
– Kenneth W. Kliesner
Sources: Geneva-Academy, IRIN News, Rural Poverty Portal
Photo: WFP