Customers engage in heated negotiations over tomatoes and beans, chickens cluck loudly, and a thick cloud of smoke surrounds tables. These tables sit on a dirt road, as meat rots in the heat. At this Zambian market, every farmer can sell a product and every customer can barter for a more affordable price.
And, yet few miles from the Bauleni market, customers stroll the aisles of a local Pick ‘n Pay.
The rise of supermarkets in Africa holds the promise of dramatically reducing poverty this region. These stores attract both farmers and customers. For farmers, this business offers a more reliable – and higher – income.
More than sixty small farmers currently produce food for a local Zambian Pick ‘n Pay. Agriculture dominates the economy in Zambia, providing more than 60 percent of the jobs. The manager reportedly receives five or six calls a day from local farmers. To ensure quality products, the company visits each farm, checks the water supply and offers further training.
These chains also offer men and women the opportunity to work in the store. For instance, women often chop and package food for the shelves.
Large commercial farms, however, pose a threat in some African economies. In Zambia, the Farmers Union holds significant political power, and lobbied the government for fair opportunity in the industry. The government negotiated with the supermarket chains and as a result, set the requirements for companies in the region. Chains like Pick ‘n Pay must purchase at least half of the products from Zambian suppliers.
In other nations, though, small farmers face less government assistance. In Lesotho, more than half of the two million residents farm. Yet these supermarket chains import an estimated 99 percent of goods from large South African businesses.
A small minority benefit from this current supply structure. If farmers live more than a few miles from the supermarket, participation is not feasible. Many do not have the refrigeration or transportation capabilities to meet the demands of a partnership. To include these farmers, companies must continue to expand or provide transportation.
One chain, Shoprite supermarkets, increased sales by 28 percent in the year. This chain established 47 new African stores, primarily in Nigeria and Angola. The expansion of may benefit or harm small farmers; more stores offer greater opportunity to sell produce, but also infringe on land traditionally used for farming.
Alone, small farmers cannot meet the quantity or quality demanded by these chains. However, those near a store partner to produce goods for a Pick ‘n Pay or other business. For instance, nearly sixty farmers consolidate produce in an independently-owned storehouse. Men and women from across the region deliver tomatoes, beans or onions in trucks – at times, wheelbarrows – to contribute to the business.
To continue to profit, these South African chains must tailor goods to the economic status of customers. For instance, customers in the cooper belt of Zambia purchase luxury chocolate bars or a sack of maize, a working class staple. The chains must offer a wide range of products, depending on the income of the region.
Six African nations rank among ten-fasted growing economies in the past decade. These supermarket chains help farmers capitalize on existing agriculture, offering a more secure income to those in poverty.
– Ellery Spahr
Sources: Marketplace, The Economist
Photo: Boag World
#NotaMartyr: Lebanon’s New Twitter Revolution
Social media is proving itself once again a vital medium for advocacy. In a movement reminiscent of the 2011 Arab Spring, the younger generation of Lebanon is organizing on Twitter around the mantra #notamartyr. The online phenomenon was sparked by the death of 16-year-old Mohammad Chaar, a bystander in Beirut.
The December 26, 2013 explosion was targeting former Lebanese ambassador to the United States, Mohamad Chatah. It killed Chaar instead, who was hanging out with friends nearby. The press and government authorities immediately transformed him into a figure of patriotic martyrdom, as is customary in such cases.
According to the subsequent outcries from Lebanese activists, the glorification of martyrs is a problem in their culture and disrespectful to Chaar’s memory. They are adamant that he was a victim, and not a martyr. #Notamartyr is a promotion of pacifism and the choice of life. It also demands that the Lebanese government to be held accountable for violent harms perpetrated against their citizens.
Recent times in Lebanon, and especially in the capital city of Beirut, have seen a lot this type of martyrdom. The country still feels a degree of political and economic instability in the wake of their 15-year civil war, which ended in 1990. Violent spillover and ethnic tension from their neighbor Syria has significantly increased this. Beirut has seen six fatal bombings in the past six months, averaging one per month.
Violence has only resulted in breeding further problems for Lebanon, which is quickly declining into an economic crisis. Limited job opportunities have forced more and more Lebanese youth to reluctantly leave their home country.
The #notamartyr movement has now developed into a means of voicing a wide range of dissatisfaction, along with resolutions for the future. Poverty, corruption and human rights violations are just a few topics highlighted. It is also consciously challenging negative media misrepresentations of Lebanese culture.
As the accompanying Facebook group states, “We can no longer desensitize ourselves to the constant horror of life in Lebanon. We refuse to become martyrs. We refuse to remain victims. We refuse to die a collateral death.”
Tweets from Lebanese activists:
@LebaneseVoices: I’m tired of head counting my family every other week to check if they have survived explosions #notamartyr #انا_مش_شهيد #لبنان #Lebanon
@Akananmariam: I want my hijab to represent my faith and my love of peace, not my political affiliation or party.
@Safran3: I want to raise my kids in Lebanon #notamartyr #lebanon
@Hamedleila: I would like to hold my boyfriend’s hand without being afraid of the police #notamartyr
– Stefanie Doucette
Sources: Al Jazeera, BBC, CNN
Photo: Huffington Post
Vertical Farms Will Shape Future Food Security
As developing countries slowly modernize, a whole new set of challenges await them. One of those challenges is increased urbanization.
Urbanization is a symptom of modernity that is usually accompanied by a decrease in overall poverty.
As countries implement 21st century medical care and sanitation systems, populations have increased in well-being and life span, which can result in overpopulated cities. As cities become more and more populated, resources will become more scarce. This is especially true for food availability.
Luckily, a new brand of farming is coming to fruition that will help address the problems associated with increased urban populations; it’s called vertical farming.
Vertical farming removes the farms from traditional fields and places them in warehouses several stories high. This allows producers to place farms directly in the cities and away from the drought and disease that normally threatens reliable crop yields. Utilizing hydroponic water systems and LED lighting, the farms provide the ideal environment for plant growth. The LED lights further allow the farmers to dial in the specific spectrum of light ideal to that plant. Fluorescent lights were initially used but proved to be too inefficient.
As LED lights have become more cost effective, they have created the ideal environment for vertical farms. Farmers are even able to program the light to change throughout the day, mimicking the movement and intensity of the actual sun.
The efficiency of LED lights is not where it could be, however. Many farms currently use lights that operate at about 28% efficiency though engineers are developing LEDs that operate at 68% efficiency.
For example, in the Netherlands, engineers at Phillips have successfully created an LED that operates at 150% efficiency.
The beauty of vertical farms is their ability to be greener, more cost efficient and sustainable. Imagine a world where India has vast swaths of its cities dedicated to vertical farming; the amount of relief that could provide to impoverished individuals is staggering.
An example of vertical farming’s potential can be found in Scranton Pennsylvania. Soon, it will have the world’s largest vertical farm composed of a single story building with racks consisting of six levels. The farm will be able to house 17 million plants.
When one considers the challenges urbanization will bring to developing nations, vertical farming presents itself as a panacea.
The U.N. predicts that by the year 2050, there will be 6.25 billion people living in cities. As such, food production will have to increase 70% globally to sustain 2.3 billion people.
The U.N. also predicts that reliance on traditional, “resource-intensive” agricultural products will continue to grow, consisting mainly of livestock and dairy products.
Vertical farms present an opportunity for the world community to truly address hunger. With billions of people expected to occupy world cities in the coming decades, the demand for food will only increase. Vertical farms growing food locally, in a sustainable environment has a chance to provide food for millions who otherwise would go hungry.
– Zachary Lindberg
Sources: BBC, New Scientist, World Bank
Photo: Amazon
Popinjay Purses Prevent Poverty in Pakistan
How can a purse prevent poverty anywhere, let alone Pakistan? Good question. The answer is Popinjay, a high class handbag company that employs Pakistani women to embroider their products. The company is committed to providing fair salaries and safe working environments for their Pakistani employees. Their handbags are made with expensive leather and silk that is stitched by hand.
Saba Gul is the founder of Popinjay, formerly known as the non-profit organization BLISS. Gul is Pakistani and attended school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before landing a high-paying engineering job. Gul left this job to create Popinjay and simultaneously offer a way out to young female Pakistanis. Popinjay’s founder knew first hand that youths in Pakistan were known to abandon their education in favor of working for whatever wages they could secure.
Gul’s decision to turn BLISS from a non-profit company into a for-profit luxury business was extremely smart both for her and for her employees. Her mission was to make a difference in the lives of Pakistani women; by using economics and business savvy, she has accomplished that more effectively than her non-profit tactics ever have.
Business methods as the solution to poverty is an idea that is gaining more and more momentum in the fight against poverty today. Instead of just giving handouts and donations, people and companies are seeking to use innovative tools and product sales that allow people struggling with poverty to increase their own incomes. Gul researched excel and investor information so she could take meetings with potential donors and shareholders to launch Popinjay in the Pakistani fashion market.
One of Gul’s investors connected her to a high end tannery where she gets the leather for the handbags. Since raising over $200,000 for Popinjay, Gul is now backed by a team of marketers, designers and sales professionals. She is able to give her female Pakistani employees wages two times higher than what they were earning at BLISS and great quality of life through their employment. Gul and Popinjay prove that business ventures can vastly improve the lives of those fighting poverty.
The Popinjay website describes how the fashion brand is a voice in the market for global justice. There is a page on the website specifically dedicated to spreading knowledge of how Popinjay is committed to changing the world for the better through helping their employees. Glamour and fashion aside, it is safe to say that Popinjay does a lot more in the struggle against inequality than an average handbag vendor.
– Kaitlin Sutherby
Sources: Popinjay, CNN, Spades and Silk
Photo: Spades and Silk
The Rise of Supermarkets in Africa
Customers engage in heated negotiations over tomatoes and beans, chickens cluck loudly, and a thick cloud of smoke surrounds tables. These tables sit on a dirt road, as meat rots in the heat. At this Zambian market, every farmer can sell a product and every customer can barter for a more affordable price.
And, yet few miles from the Bauleni market, customers stroll the aisles of a local Pick ‘n Pay.
The rise of supermarkets in Africa holds the promise of dramatically reducing poverty this region. These stores attract both farmers and customers. For farmers, this business offers a more reliable – and higher – income.
More than sixty small farmers currently produce food for a local Zambian Pick ‘n Pay. Agriculture dominates the economy in Zambia, providing more than 60 percent of the jobs. The manager reportedly receives five or six calls a day from local farmers. To ensure quality products, the company visits each farm, checks the water supply and offers further training.
These chains also offer men and women the opportunity to work in the store. For instance, women often chop and package food for the shelves.
Large commercial farms, however, pose a threat in some African economies. In Zambia, the Farmers Union holds significant political power, and lobbied the government for fair opportunity in the industry. The government negotiated with the supermarket chains and as a result, set the requirements for companies in the region. Chains like Pick ‘n Pay must purchase at least half of the products from Zambian suppliers.
In other nations, though, small farmers face less government assistance. In Lesotho, more than half of the two million residents farm. Yet these supermarket chains import an estimated 99 percent of goods from large South African businesses.
A small minority benefit from this current supply structure. If farmers live more than a few miles from the supermarket, participation is not feasible. Many do not have the refrigeration or transportation capabilities to meet the demands of a partnership. To include these farmers, companies must continue to expand or provide transportation.
One chain, Shoprite supermarkets, increased sales by 28 percent in the year. This chain established 47 new African stores, primarily in Nigeria and Angola. The expansion of may benefit or harm small farmers; more stores offer greater opportunity to sell produce, but also infringe on land traditionally used for farming.
Alone, small farmers cannot meet the quantity or quality demanded by these chains. However, those near a store partner to produce goods for a Pick ‘n Pay or other business. For instance, nearly sixty farmers consolidate produce in an independently-owned storehouse. Men and women from across the region deliver tomatoes, beans or onions in trucks – at times, wheelbarrows – to contribute to the business.
To continue to profit, these South African chains must tailor goods to the economic status of customers. For instance, customers in the cooper belt of Zambia purchase luxury chocolate bars or a sack of maize, a working class staple. The chains must offer a wide range of products, depending on the income of the region.
Six African nations rank among ten-fasted growing economies in the past decade. These supermarket chains help farmers capitalize on existing agriculture, offering a more secure income to those in poverty.
– Ellery Spahr
Sources: Marketplace, The Economist
Photo: Boag World
Oxfam Report On Global Poverty
According to the Oxfam Report on this year’s global poverty statistics, eighty-five of the wealthiest people in the world have the same amount of money as three and a half billion of the world’s poor. This enormous difference in wealth and status severely impacts how economies function especially in the light of the billions living on less than two dollars every day.
A disconnect in resources this large can be a danger to the entire economic system in society because too few people are controlling the businesses and market share, making it more difficult for those struggling with miniscule wages to climb any higher than their current status.
While the situation of overall poverty in the world has decreased, it is still having a huge negative impact in people’s lives. The World Economic Forum published a Global Risk Report for the year of 2014 that shows a similar statistic about the eighty-five individuals controlling the same amount of wealth as over three billion poor.
Inequality like this leads to an imbalance of power and stability; political corruption, domestic violence, unlivable working conditions are all risks posed via inequality.
The World Economic Forum’s report looks critically at reasons and solutions for all of these kinds of inequalities in every nation. A great point brought up by the report is the concept that global poverty, hunger, water contamination and more are all intertwined in the way they affect the world. Starving children in Africa, political tyranny in Iran, illness and disease in the Philippines all have after-effects that ripple out and generate real consequences for their foreign neighbors.
Both the Oxfam Report and the Global Risk Report address this damaging gap of incomes between the rich and poor. One of the ways suggested to fix this issue was tax daily transactions that are made across the globe.
UNITAID was a project hosted by the World Health Organization that put a small tax on international flights and donated the proceeds to HIV/AIDS medicine. Large amounts of money can be garnered through initiatives like UNITAID that make a true dent in global poverty and assisting people in need.
Creative ideas that benefit those fighting in the poorest countries and not the wealthy one percent is the reason why innovation will be part of the solution to solving global poverty.
– Kaitlin Sutherby
Sources: World Economic Forum, UNITAID, Huffington Post
Photo: Gender and Health
The Valentine Project: Mining in Uruguay
Protests against mining Uruguay’s large reserves of ore mount, as civil society groups like Uruguay Libre Campaign propose a referendum that will create an amendment banning large scale open-pit mining in the Latin American country. Headed by the mining company Minera Aratiri of the British Zamin Ferrous company, the Valentine Project (named for its location in the Valentine region) will create a mining site 155 miles south of Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital.
A 130 mile-long underground pipeline will be created to transfer the slurry from the mines to a mining port off the Uruguayan coast, Rio de la Plata.The project promises 18 million tons of ore per year from the 2,500 million tons of ore the country houses. Iron ore is used in construction as steel and for developing infrastructure. Presently, Uruguay exports beef and grains but hopes to add iron ore to the list.
The Valentines Project is an investment that can total up to $3 billion.
Previous protests against mining in Uruguay were in 2008 when global mining company Rio Tinto aimed to develop a mining port in Nueva Palmira and Colonia Agraciada.
The project was set to cost around $205 million but was eventually terminated due to the financial crisis in 2009.
Apart from imposing upon localities, the mining in Uruguay project would have destroyed the environment as well as polluting the waters and air of the region.
Similar ecological consequences threaten the environment with the Valentine Project, including land erosion, pollution and poison gas emissions.
Currently, the referendum for a constitutional amendment is pending, an act that is meant to overturn a law that legalizes large-scale mining in Uruguay, which was passed in September 2013.
The September law passed legislature with a 52-30 vote, effectively imposing taxes and setting environmental regulations. Company profits from mining will be taxed 25 percent while all mining projects will be taxed 38 percent.
Whether the referendum will pass or not, large scale mining in Uruguay is here to stay.
– Miles Abadilla
Sources: Earth is Land Journal, Mining.com, Upside Down World, Mines and Communities, Mining.com
Photo: Lemur Project
Covert Drone War Has Killed More Than 2,400
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has released a comprehensive look at the United States’ drone program from 2009 to the present. Sketching its missteps and apparent successes, the United Kingdom-based nonprofit relates the story of the Barack Obama administration’s relationship with drones and brings clarity to an otherwise opaque issue.
Drone strikes began after 9/11, after the passage of the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF.) This law enables the president to “take action to deter and prevent acts of international terrorism against the (U.S.).”
Since the act’s passage, both the George W. Bush and the Obama administrations have launched hundreds of attacks on foreign soil.
By their count, over 390 covert drone strikes have killed more than 2,400 people thus far since Obama took office. Targeting Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan. Both civilians and militants have been killed.
Barack Obama first made use of drones just three days after the start of his presidency. While initial reports deemed it a success, information gathered later indicated that at least nine civilians were killed in the strike while the one 14-year-old survivor was blinded.
Instead of hitting a Taliban hideout, as intended, the drone struck a family household, killing a tribal elder and members of his family.
Although Obama was reportedly dismayed by the news, he has continued using drone strikes in much greater excess than his predecessor, although with greater rates of accuracy.
Under Obama, drone strikes have killed “six times as many people” than under Bush, but the casualties per strike has dropped from eight to six. Similarly, the civilian deaths have decreased as well, from three casualties per strike for Bush and only 1.43 casualties for Obama.
Some argue that drones help more than hinder anti-terrorism campaigns. As one Air Force officer expressed in the New York Times, “using them to go after terrorists not only was ethically permissible but also might be ethically obligatory, because of their advantages in identifying targets and striking with precision.”
Beyond their perceived benefits, mistaken drone strikes still rattle those who consider them immoral. In 2006, CIA drones killed at least 68 children located in a madrassa, or religious school.
Last month, drones attacked a convoy escorting a bride to her wedding. The U.S. has yet to comment on an attack that killed more than 15 civilians.
In September 2013, a law professor’s study found strikes harm global security and encourage other states and terrorist organizations to likewise arm themselves with unmanned weapons. As interest and concern over drones grow and the debate over their moral and unethical merits rage, the U.S. will carefully need to consider the cost of its continued employment.
– Emily Bajet
Sources: The New York Times, Justice, The Bureau Investigates, GPO, The Guardian
Photo: RT
Global Health Problem We Can’t Ignore: Malnutrition
Global Health Fact: 7 million children under 5 years of age die every year
One of the main culprits is malnutrition. When a child’s body becomes malnourished it causes the immune system to become weak. A weak immune system is not a good thing. Especially for children born in developing countries faced with poverty. The immune system cannot fend off the numerous diseases these children face, Pneumonia, Malaria, diarrhea, are just a few of the disease to combat.
Malnutrition occurs when children are deprived of their very basic nutritional needs. Calories, protein, vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats are all essential to a growing body. Food scarcity and poverty is the vital reason these children die every year. Depravation of these basic needs equals malnourishment.
Children who are born premature are at more risk of dying because they were malnourished in the womb. This means they will be born with a weak immune system and possibly become exposed to a deadly disease they cannot fight.
Carolyn Miles, President of Save the Children, stated, “Malnutrition is a largely hidden crisis, but it afflicts one in four children around the world. It wreaks lifelong damage and it is a major killer of children. Every hour of everyday, 300 children die because of malnutrition.”
Here’s a story of a baby girl from Kenya named Umi
This little girl was found at three months old extremely malnourished and on the brink of death. Umi was quickly taken to the closest hospital for medical treatment and eventually recovered.
Months had passed and Umi continued to be nursed back to health. She was recovering from her brush with death and was a happy, healthy, baby for once. She turned two years old and was thriving as best she could.
However, because of her struggling times with malnutrition as an infant, Umi’s immune system never fully recovered and was not prepared to tackle what was waiting for her. The two year old caught pneumonia and diarrhea, the most common killers among children in developing countries. Tragically Umi died.
Umi died — to put it simply — because of poverty. If it wasn’t for her exposure to malnourishment as an infant she might be with the world today. Her fragile immune system might have been able to fight those horrible illnesses. In addition to these factors Umi did not live close enough to medical help. Her family lived in rural Africa without the ability to travel far. This all stems from poverty.
All of these things together stacked the odds against this child to ever survive.
Many children die every year in developing countries because of these reasons. Mothers and babies need to remain top priority for organizations fighting to end these preventable deaths. If solutions to these problems can be made quickly then another child like Umi may be able to survive.
– Amy Robinson
Sources: World Hunger, The Guardian, YouTube, Save the Children
Photo: OMI USA
U.N. Geneva II Communique In, Bashar al- Assad Out
Syria has been in a horrific war for the past three years, but maybe just maybe it will all come to end through what is being called the Geneva II Communique.
The UN, U.S. and Russia, have been trying to convince parities of the Syrian conflict to attend The Geneva II Communique for months. Last week both sides to the Syrian conflict finally agreed to sit down and figure out a solution to end the bloodshed in Syria. The conflicting parties are meeting with United Nations officials and speaking only through a mediator.
“After nearly three painful years of conflict and suffering in Syria, today is a day of fragile but real hope.” These are the words of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki- moon, hoping resolution is in sight.
So far, agreement to release women and children from the war torn town of Homs has been reached. The UN is also requesting the release of the remainder of the citizens, including men. Humanitarian aid will also be sent in to the starving citizens once an agreement is made to do so. There are also talks about the release of the detainees and prisoners being held on each opposing side.
The UN is trying to implement the Geneva I communique aka as (transitional government) which was written in June of the 2013. According to BBC, the communique translates to the following:
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry believes a government transition is the only thing left to do or else Syria “heads closer to an abyss.”
“Bashar al-Assad will not be part of that transition government,” states Kerry. There is no way, no way possible in the imagination, that the man, who has led the brutal response to his own people, could regain the legitimacy to govern.”
The Syrian war started three long years ago when rebel groups began protesting against the inhumane leadership of the Syrian government and shouted for Al -Assad to be overthrown. The protesting then turned to bloodshed between these groups and war broke out. Thus far, over 100,000 people have been killed and over 9 million people have fled their homes for shelter in neighboring countries.
Millions of people are still residing in the city; being held in turmoil. The citizens are literally starving to death with no access to food. Some have even gotten to the point of eating grass and weeds because no food is available. Medical supplies and medicine are also running out for the citizens. All people can do is wait to either die or be saved. By whom, no one knows.
An agreement between these opposing parties must come to an end quickly with imminent improvement of the lives of the Syrian people the first and only priority.<
– Amy Robinson
Sources: United Nations, United Nations, BBC, BBC, BBC, BBC
Photo: The Guardian
Research Ideas for the Humanitarian Student
Developing a research topic can prove quite daunting to a young adult. Once a student is able to narrow down at least a general topic, however, the options become both focused and limitless. School reports do not have to feel like a burden, and instead should be thought of as an opportunity to go beyond the surface and dig deeper into a topic of interest to learn more about its nuances and shades of grey.
The world we live in is rife with a plethora of issues that would make an interesting and thoughtful read. Below is a list of research ideas that will dazzle your teacher and prove a worthwhile and beneficial experience for you:
1. Compare/contrast poverty reduction strategies of U.S. government foreign-aid programs to those of other donor countries, focusing on the end goals of such programs. For example, do the programs aim to increase income? Or, instead, do they focus on improving quality of life? At the end of your school report, analyze the pros and cons of such strategies and develop your own strategy for how you think poverty should be addressed.
2. Explore the structure and strategies of U.S. based non-profit organizations working to reduce global poverty. What do their programs focus on? Who are their top donors? How do they raise funds? Where are their funds allocated? What are their milestones/achievements?
3. The UN General Assembly designation of February 20th as the “World Day of Social Justice.” First explore and analyze the concept of social justice. Then specifically delve into the World Day of Social Justice by answering the questions: What is the purpose of this day? How/why was it developed? What are its achievements?
4. With one more year left until the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target date, discuss what the MDGs are, as well as the various efforts made so far by UN member nations and global development institutions toward achieving the MDGs.
5. Research poverty reduction measures taken by your local elected representatives. How often do they focus on poverty related issues? How much poverty related legislation have they drafted or co-sponsored? Discuss what their primary focus is and why. How can a constituent make poverty a priority for them?
Students should view school reports as a challenge and an opportunity to dig deeper into topics that interest them. The issue of global poverty spans many fields that are ripe with information for critical analysis. The topics listed above are just one of many poverty-related school report ideas to help give you a head start!
– Rifk Ebeid
Sources: UN News Centre, Take Apart, United Nations Millennium Development Goals
Photo: ksvoboda