It’s been a long day at work and you finally have a chance to sit down with a bowl of chocolate ice cream in front of the television. While flipping through channels, you come across a news story about child slavery in the Ivory Coast, where 43% of the world’s cocoa is produced. You pause with a spoonful of creamy goodness on the way to your mouth and think, “Isn’t anything safe anymore? Can’t I just enjoy my chocolately treat in peace?”
At this point, you have two options: you can keep flipping the channels and focus on how tasty your ice cream is, or you can finish reading this post to discover where to buy fair trade, guilt-free chocolate. Although, it really isn’t much of a choice, now that images of child slaves are lugging bags of cocoa beans around inside your head.
Lucky for everyone involved, many companies are making the switch to Fair Trade cocoa. Fair Trade USA, a non-profit that certifies American products as Fair Trade, currently works with more than 800 companies to ensure that their products comply with all international Fair Trade standards. They certify a multitude of products, including tea and herbs, fresh fruit and vegetables, sugar, flowers, nuts, honey, and (thankfully) cocoa.
The following list consists of five companies that are using Fair Trade cocoa, as determined by Fair Trade USA. These are just a few of the many companies from which you buy chocolate that tastes great and makes you feel even better.
For your ice cream fix, go with Ben & Jerry’s. The Vermont-based company is in the process of converting all ingredients to Fair Trade and profiles their progress by flavor on their website. Their Chocolate Therapy flavor is currently made with 71% Fair Trade ingredients, so eat up!
If you need some dairy-free creaminess, meet NadaMoo. This delicious coconut milk ice cream is organic and Fair Trade Certified. With flavors like Java Crunch, Lotta Mint Chip, and Gotta Do Chocolate, you can enjoy pint-sized dairy-free and slavery-free yumminess.
When chocolate-covered treats catch your eye, look for a SunRidge Farms label. Their organic and Fair Trade Certified dark chocolate-coated almonds, cacao nibs, espresso beans, goji berries, and raisins are sure to satisfy your sweet tooth (or teeth).
Looking to build some muscle with chocolate-y goodness? Tera’s Whey Organic Fair Trade Certified Dark Chocolate Whey Protein is your answer. Your endorphin high combined with that warm fuzzy feeling from buying Fair Trade will leave you feeling fantastic.
For your baking needs, try SunSpire’s organic and Fair Trade chocolate chips and baking bars. When making its chocolate products, SunSpire doesn’t use refined sugars, hydrogenated oils, preservatives, or artificial colors or flavors. The company has also made a long-term commitment to its cocoa farmers through their Caring for Cocoa Communities program, which provides hands-on support for growers and helps to foster growth in their communities.
Now that you’re armed with information, it’s time to head to the store and support these companies using Fair Trade chocolate. Who knew doing the right thing could be so delicious?
– Katie Fullerton
Sources: Fair Trade USA, Ben & Jerry’s, NadaMoo, SunSpire
Tourism in the Philippines to Help the Poor
USAID and the Philippines Department of Tourism and Department of Social Welfare and Development recently announced a program to include pro-poor tourism activities in areas of high poverty in the country. The Departments and USAID signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) August 5th. Tourism in the Philippines has significant potential to boost the economy and alleviate poverty.
The program, dubbed “The One-Step Project,” will seek to incorporate pro-poor aspects in the tourism trade in five pilot areas characterized by high poverty and high tourism. These five areas are chosen from the 78 tourism development areas designated by the Department of Tourism. Regional and provincial officers in the five areas will be consulted by a central technical working group. While a project amount has not yet been set, The One-Step Project will take place over four years and will focus on infrastructure, job creation through community-based projects, and private sector engagement.
In 2010, the Philippines received 3.5 million visitors, generating US$2.4 billion from tourism. The Philippine government has focused on the tourism industry in recent years, but, despite its many natural attractions the Philippines, still trails other regional countries in tourism numbers.
A variety of factors contribute to this sluggishness: remote location, susceptibility to natural disasters, and unrest often resulting in kidnappings. However, tourism does hold the potential for new job creation. Including the poor in tourism strategies and job creation is an important development opportunity within this sector. While the Department of Tourism has included these strategies in the past, this will be their first partnership with USAID.
This will not be the first time the Philippine Department of Tourism has focused on pro-poor tourism actions. In 2000, the Department’s regional branch helped villagers in Sta. Juliana organize in order to take advantage of a new influx of tourism.
Residents of the village, suffering from a decade of neglect, struggle to make ends meet. They are hampered by lack of appropriate infrastructure to get their agriculture goods to market and a lack of telecommunications. The regional Tourism department helped the villagers form the Sta. Juliana Tourism Council, Inc. which has educated residents on the trade’s benefits. New jobs and livelihoods evolved to capitalize on this influx.
The One-Step Project falls under USAID’s Partnership for Growth program, running until 2016. Additional projects in the Philippines will be implemented by USAID focusing on tourism. Most of these projects will take the form of technical assistance and policy reform. The USAID Philippine budget reached $102 million for fiscal year 2011. This is distributed across USAID’s four focus areas: democracy and governance, economic growth, health and education, and energy and environment. The US government is the Philippines largest grant donor. The collaborative One-Step Project has great potential to continue tourism-focused aid to the poorest communities in the Philippines.
– Callie D. Coleman
Sources: Business Mirror, CNN, The Philippine Department of Tourism , USAID
Photo: AUSTRONESIA
Top Three Recipients of U.S. Foreign Aid in 2012
With global economic hegemony, many believe it is the inherent responsibility of the United States to project its wealth out unto those who are less fortunate. As the purported “City upon the Hill”, the United States has employed various forms of foreign aid aimed at bringing up less fortunate global actors. As we will see, foreign aid takes on many forms and is directed towards not only the poorer nations. More often than not, foreign aid is funneled to promote American interests, rather than humanitarian ones. The earliest incantation of foreign aid, the 1948 Marshall Plan, is largely responsible for bringing Europe out of the destruction of World War II, yet its inspiration was to stem the spread of communism throughout Europe. Today, foreign aid has proven to be a valuable arrow in our diplomatic quiver in both humanitarian and geopolitical senses. The following list represents the top three recipients of U.S. foreign aid in 2012, and, perhaps, provides some insight into the varying purposive goals of U.S. foreign aid.
1. Israel ($3.075 Billion)
If you pay any attention whatsoever to American politics, it is no secret that the subject of Israel is a weighty one when it comes to U.S. international and domestic political considerations. Moreover, Israel’s yearly position as the top recipient of U.S foreign aid sheds light on the nature of foreign aid. Israel is by no means a developing nation. In fact, the private Israeli sector is spearheading a new age of scientific and technological advancements. Without any doubt, the lion’s share of this aid goes towards beefing up defense and military resources. For example, Israel’s Iron Dome technology, aimed at intercepting incoming missiles, comes with an exceedingly high price tag. The position of Israel on this list sheds light on the subject and nature of USAID. It is clear that the abundance of aid towards Israel serves as a means of protecting US interests in the Middle East and against increasingly aggressive posturing from Russia and Iran.
2. Afghanistan ($2.327 Billion)
Not surprisingly, Afghanistan has come in second on this list. After years of war attempting to stem the tide of terrorism in the region, the U.S. has directed foreign aid to the region to fund both the Afghan military as well as for the purposes of General Chrystal’s Counterinsurgency (COIN) ideology. After funding the Afghan military and police, the remaining aid is funneled towards aspects of soft power. Through building schools and hospitals, the United States hopes to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people, which in turn, is hoped to be effective in preventing further insurgency.
3. Pakistan ($2.102 Billion)
Aid channeled towards Pakistan represents a unique form of Foreign Aid. It is no secret that Pakistan is one of the most potentially volatile regions on the planet. With a seemingly never ending dispute with India and rising Islamic extremism, the prospect of instability is one that must be avoided at all costs. Unlike Afghanistan, Pakistan has nuclear weapons; the prospect of these falling into the hands of the wrong people is something the global community cannot allow. With this understanding the brunt of USAID to Pakistan has gone towards building up a governmental infrastructure suited to international cooperation. With the ever-present possibility of corruption, foreign aid is the proverbial “carrot”, as opposed to the “stick” levied against Afghanistan. After sustained efforts to battle extremism, it is entirely against US foreign interests for the Taliban to gain a political foothold in Pakistan. Through creating an infrastructure not suitable to their political ideology, foreign aid dollars can go much further than they would battling symptoms of terrorism and extremism.
– Thomas van der List
Sources: Washington Post, USAID, ABC News
Photo: The National
Toxic Waste Causing Health Problems in Asia
A study by Mount Sinai researchers lead by Kevin Chatham-Stephens, MD, exposes a largely under-reported health threat to people living in India, Indonesia and the Philippines: toxic waste. The result of this waste is the loss of 829,000 years of healthy lives in 2010, when the study was conducted. These numbers are as staggering as good health years lost to malaria and air pollution in the countries studied. In 2010, people prematurely lost 1.45 million healthy years due to air pollution and 725,000 years were lost because of malaria. Given that toxic waste is the third major cause of loss of good health years, it should no longer be overlooked.
The types of toxic waste people living in India, Indonesia and the Philippines are exposed to include lead, asbestos and chromium. Currently, about 8 million people are exposed to these “industrial pollutants,” which means they are highly susceptible to developing cancer, anemia or heart disease.
An even bigger concern is the effect toxic waste has on children and pregnant women, a demographic that makes up two thirds of the studied population. Dr. Chatham-Stephens explains, “If a woman is pregnant, the fetus may be exposed to these toxic chemicals… the prenatal to early childhood period is the time when individuals are very vulnerable to some toxic exposures, such as lead’s impact on the developing nervous system.” This is extremely pressing since a projected 35 million additional people are likely to be affected by toxic waste sites not included in the study.
However, now that policy makers are aware of this research, they will be better prepared to implement solutions. The removal of toxic waste from sites near communities will drastically improve the number of healthy years lived by the population in that area. As other studies have discovered, one of the keys to alleviating poverty is improving quality of life and healthcare. Once developing countries decrease toxic waste, it is likely that human wellbeing will improve and thus effect economic growth.
– Mary Penn
Sources: Mount Sinai Hospital
Photo: Sci Dev Net
5 Companies Using Fair Trade Chocolate
It’s been a long day at work and you finally have a chance to sit down with a bowl of chocolate ice cream in front of the television. While flipping through channels, you come across a news story about child slavery in the Ivory Coast, where 43% of the world’s cocoa is produced. You pause with a spoonful of creamy goodness on the way to your mouth and think, “Isn’t anything safe anymore? Can’t I just enjoy my chocolately treat in peace?”
At this point, you have two options: you can keep flipping the channels and focus on how tasty your ice cream is, or you can finish reading this post to discover where to buy fair trade, guilt-free chocolate. Although, it really isn’t much of a choice, now that images of child slaves are lugging bags of cocoa beans around inside your head.
Lucky for everyone involved, many companies are making the switch to Fair Trade cocoa. Fair Trade USA, a non-profit that certifies American products as Fair Trade, currently works with more than 800 companies to ensure that their products comply with all international Fair Trade standards. They certify a multitude of products, including tea and herbs, fresh fruit and vegetables, sugar, flowers, nuts, honey, and (thankfully) cocoa.
The following list consists of five companies that are using Fair Trade cocoa, as determined by Fair Trade USA. These are just a few of the many companies from which you buy chocolate that tastes great and makes you feel even better.
For your ice cream fix, go with Ben & Jerry’s. The Vermont-based company is in the process of converting all ingredients to Fair Trade and profiles their progress by flavor on their website. Their Chocolate Therapy flavor is currently made with 71% Fair Trade ingredients, so eat up!
If you need some dairy-free creaminess, meet NadaMoo. This delicious coconut milk ice cream is organic and Fair Trade Certified. With flavors like Java Crunch, Lotta Mint Chip, and Gotta Do Chocolate, you can enjoy pint-sized dairy-free and slavery-free yumminess.
When chocolate-covered treats catch your eye, look for a SunRidge Farms label. Their organic and Fair Trade Certified dark chocolate-coated almonds, cacao nibs, espresso beans, goji berries, and raisins are sure to satisfy your sweet tooth (or teeth).
Looking to build some muscle with chocolate-y goodness? Tera’s Whey Organic Fair Trade Certified Dark Chocolate Whey Protein is your answer. Your endorphin high combined with that warm fuzzy feeling from buying Fair Trade will leave you feeling fantastic.
For your baking needs, try SunSpire’s organic and Fair Trade chocolate chips and baking bars. When making its chocolate products, SunSpire doesn’t use refined sugars, hydrogenated oils, preservatives, or artificial colors or flavors. The company has also made a long-term commitment to its cocoa farmers through their Caring for Cocoa Communities program, which provides hands-on support for growers and helps to foster growth in their communities.
Now that you’re armed with information, it’s time to head to the store and support these companies using Fair Trade chocolate. Who knew doing the right thing could be so delicious?
– Katie Fullerton
Sources: Fair Trade USA, Ben & Jerry’s, NadaMoo, SunSpire
Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa – The Full Story
The World Bank estimates that more than 69 percent of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa lives on less than $2 per day, making it one of the poorest regions in the world. Though the region has experienced strong economic growth during the last two decades, poverty alleviation remains a pressing issue for African leaders.
The numbers appear promising. In its latest African Pulse analysis, the World Bank says that Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic growth should grow to more than 5 percent over the next three years. Foreign investment, rising commodity prices and global economic recovery will all contribute to the region’s rapid development.
Punam Chuhan-Pole, a lead economist in the Bank’s Africa department, said: “If properly harnessed to unleash their full potential, these trends hold the promise of more growth, much less poverty, and accelerating shared prosperity for African countries.”
But questions remain as to whether the region’s economic growth will help mitigate poverty. Statistically, economic growth does not automatically reduce poverty; many resource-rich countries, such as Gabon and Nigeria, have fared worse in terms of poverty reduction than neighboring nations with fewer resources. So, how can Sub-Saharan Africa convert economic gains into poverty reduction?
According the World Bank report, “Better governance will need to underpin efforts to make growth more poverty reducing.” Better governance means more efficient mineral and wealth management, agricultural development and methods for controlling urbanization. It must also include strategies to deal with the region’s growing income inequality, which likely stems from systemic government corruption and a weak middle class.
In 2010, six of the ten most inequitable countries in the world were in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Mozambique, the poorest 20 percent of the population earns 5 percent of total income while the richest 20 percent take home more than 50 percent. The World Bank points out that Mozambique’s oil and gas reserves will be huge economic drivers over the next few years, but, as it stands now, the neediest will benefit the least from any economic gains.
It is difficult to cast economic growth in a negative light. However, Sub-Saharan Africa’s recent expansion has done little to improve poverty and income inequality in the region. Without responsible government and a strong, participatory middle class, economic gains will continue to enrich a small segment of the population. The rest of the people will continue finding ways to subsist on $2 dollars a day.
– Daniel Bonasso
Sources: World Bank, UNDP, Overseas Development Institute
FLOW-AID – Maximizing ‘Crop Per Drop’
As the world population continues to shoot upwards, pressure increases on the environment and farmers across the globe to provide enough food and water to support the growing population. With droughts becoming more common, efficient methods of utilizing water in agriculture could make a significant impact in the access to food and water for the world.
The Farm Level Optimal Water Management Assistant for Irrigation Under Deficit, or FLOW-AID, brings researchers, engineers, and scientists together together to develop innovative new technologies to improve irrigation methods with the purpose of saving water. Their latest project maximizes water usage by decreasing the need for water use by up to 60 percent and simultaneously lessening fertilizer usage up to 30 percent.
FLOW-AID provides water-saving technology, which uses inexpensive wireless detectors that run on solar energy and give data to farmers about which areas of the crops need more or less water. This practice not only maximizes the efficiency of irrigation, but also improves plant health by producing the exact amount of water needed.
Farmers in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands currently utilize FLOW-AID technology. These test countries were chosen partially based off the varying natures of their climates, to determine how to adapt FLOW-AID to meet the different environmental needs of varying regions. Developers of FLOW-AID state that the technology is prepared to handle even the dryer climate of many nations in Africa. They have also pledged to keep the cost of the technology low enough for developing countries to adopt.
According to the United Nations, over 780 million people exist without any access to clean water, and 2.5 billion lack properly sanitized water. The number or people suffering from hunger and undernourishment falls around 870 million people based off the United Nation’s data, mirror the number of people without access to water. With creative technology, such as FLOW-AID, the world could maximize its resources and gain access to more food and water, working to reduce the strains on society from the world’s burgeoning population.
– Allison Meade
Sources: Treehugger, Cespevi, United Nations
Photo: Gizmag
New Hope for the Deaf and the Blind in Kenya
This year, Sense International, an organization targeting sensory disabilities in developing nations, launched its first deaf-blind curriculum in Kenya. The program will formalize education and promote specialized home care for over 17,000 deaf and blind children in a country with no precedent for disability education.
Sense International Kenya has been at work since 2005, when teachers began protesting in earnest to the Kenyan Institute of Education about the lack of programs and metrics to guide and measure deaf-blind education.
Kenya currently has 10 centers of education for the deaf-blind—in a country with a population of 42 million. The great demand for specialized care coupled with a total lack of curriculum has left many classrooms in chaos. Teachers with the best intentions, but no tools, have no recourse.
But the problems have roots far deeper than a lack of curriculum. For many families, the distance is just too great or boarding fees too expensive to enroll their children in the few special learning centers.
Without care or intervention, struggling families often can’t help but marginalize their deaf-blind children. Thousands of disabled people live shuttered, lonely lives due to a lack of education.
Sense International addresses these problems on several fronts. First, it recently pioneered a deaf-blind education program in Kenya, fully equipped with material and performance gauges on every academic level. It built the curriculum based on studiously researched input from parents and teachers of the deaf-blind, as well as established practices from its operations around the world in countries like Romania, Peru, India, and Uganda.
Sense also works with community organizations to ramp up specialized care for children with severe disabilities. They provide home-based education and therapy, train parents to care for their disabled children, and connect families with experts and organizations that offer advanced support.
Yet, perhaps most important of all, Sense advocates for policy geared toward the deaf-blind. For example, Tanzania, one of its countries of operation, currently subsidizes transport costs for disabled children to and from special learning centers. Sense is pressuring Kenya to adopt similar practices.
The notoriously bureaucratic Kenyan government presents another problem in itself. To combat this, Sense is cutting away at the red tape prohibiting reform by maintaining constant contact with leaders on sensitive issues.
“This project has shown just what can be achieved with political will and the expertise of organizations such as ourselves,” reports Edwin Osundwa, the country representative of Sense International Kenya. “We are proud of what has been achieved and are now keen to repeat the process for home-based education.”
– John Mahon
Sources: Sense International, The Guardian
Photo: The Guardian
Charity Navigator 3.0
Charity Navigator is a preeminent non-profit watchdog organization well-known for its consistent and easily understood ratings. With the impending rollout of Charity Navigator 3.0, the organization aims to set the bar even higher by adding new criteria to their formulas.
Charity Navigator focuses on the heavyweights of US-based philanthropy. The charities they evaluate must receive at least $500,000 from the public annually, and their total annual revenue must be over $1 million. They must be public institutions that are tax-exempt and file a Form 990, from which Charity Navigator gathers significant information.
Currently, Charity Navigator uses two primary criteria to generate their ratings: financial health, and accountability and transparency.
Financial health is evaluated based on financial efficiency and capacity. Measures of financial efficiency judge a charity’s management of expenses throughout the year. These measure include fundraising efficiency, or the cost of generating $1 in donations, as well as percentages of total functional expenses spent on programs, administration, and fundraising. Expected percentages vary based on the type of charity. For example, museums are expected to spend more on overhead expenses and less on programs than most non-profits.
Meanwhile, financial capacity is a measure of the charity’s ability to maintain its work even when faced with difficult times. Indicators of strong financial capacity include consistent growth in revenue and programs, and a high working capital ratio. Growth of both revenue and programs is necessary for a charity to effect long-term, systematic change. Consistent development in both areas also instills confidence in givers by sustaining public support for charities’ work.
Charity Navigator calculates growth in revenue and program expenses using data from the four most recent fiscal years. Working capital ratio refers to the length of time a charity could survive financially in the absence of new revenue. This is a reflection of the charity’s preparedness for downward economic trends.
The second primary criterion currently used by Charity Navigator is accountability and transparency. Accountability refers to an agency’s willingness to explain its actions, especially financial ones, to its stakeholders. Meanwhile, transparency refers to an agency’s willingness to ensure the availability of critical data concerning the organization. Charity Navigator gains information for this criterion from two sources: the charity’s Form 990 and their website.
The Form 990 includes data points such as the presence or absence of an independent board, misappropriation of assets, independently audited financial statements, and payments to CEOs and board members. Charity Navigator expects organizations’ websites to list key staff and board members, publish audited financial statements and their Form 990, and have a clear and easily accessible donor privacy policy.
Charity Navigator is in the process of creating a third criterion: results reporting. This new step is meant to emphasize the need for results-driven work. The additional facet of evaluation would focus primarily on “the way charities come to know, use and share their results with stakeholders including donors.”
Specifically, Charity Navigator aspires to examine five elements of results reporting: consistency of spending with stated mission, reasonability of charities’ goals and their intent to measure their progress, validation from outside organizations, feedback from beneficiaries, and regularly published evaluation reports. By adding these criteria to their formula, Charity Navigator aims to encourage charities to demonstrate their efficacy by collecting more data and making that data readily available to the public.
To ensure fairness and consistency, Charity Navigator will not use this data in their evaluations until the necessary information has been gathered for every charity currently in their databases. Given crucial funding and other resources, Charity Navigator expects this effort to be completed in 2016.
– Katie Fullerton
Sources: Non-Profit Quarterly, Charity Navigator
What is Poverty Alleviation?
Poverty alleviation aims to improve the quality of life for those people currently living in poverty. Another term that is often used is poverty reduction.
Innovation Leads Poverty Alleviation
Rudy De Waele, CEO of Nyota Media, a growth agency for entrepreneurs and start-ups in Africa, recently gave a speech at the Mobile Innovations at the OCE Discovery event in Toronto, Canada. His speech, “How Mobile Technology is Transforming Africa” discussed the WOW Generation, mobile energy solutions and 3D printing, among other successful innovations happening on the continent of Africa. He spoke of how the WOW Generation is a new generation of young, talented and driven social entrepreneurs who are not only in it for the money, but who are taking into account a positive return to society as well. WOWers have already helped thousands by working with local entrepreneurs to solve local problems with low-tech solutions.
De Waele also covered a number of mobile energy solutions currently in effect. Angaza Design is a company based in Palo Alto that is currently working in Tanzania, Kenya and Zambia. Using solar panels, Angaza Design has developed pay-as-you-go technology to provide energy that will charge mobile phones in rural areas.
Another project De Waele mentioned does not necessarily alleviate poverty, but does improve the daily lives of people living with a particularly harsh disease in Kenya. The Happy Feet project uses 3D printing to create customizable shoes in an attempt to solve the jigger problem. A jigger, also known as a sand flea, is a small insect that bites and feeds on humans, cats, dogs and domesticated livestock. Though a single bite is not likely to cause damage, complications can arise when a female jigger burrows into the foot of a person. Due to the pain, victims of the sand flea are unable to walk, which means they are also unable to work. In cases of serious infestation, it is possible to lose a nail, in the best case, or whole digits from the hands and feet in the worst case. The worst cases appear in places of poverty.
By creating and using new and inexpensive mobile technologies, there is potential for increased economic growth in developing countries. Not only is there growth, but the positive changes are impacting those living in the worst conditions. While 3D printed, customized shoes will certainly help with jiggers and their detrimental impact on those living in Kenya, projects like Angaza Design?s mobile phone charger will give independence to those living in poverty.
However, like most things, poverty alleviation is not a simple act. The United Nations Development Programme states that simple economic growth will not reduce or alleviate poverty, improve equality or produce jobs, unless said growth is inclusive of all individuals in the economy.
For example, a recent study by the African Economic Outlook showed that economic growth in Nigeria has not resulted in poverty alleviation or the creation of jobs. Despite policies for inclusive growth and employment generation, the report showed a 3 percent increase in unemployment between 2010 and 2011. The report explained that this was because the oil and gas sectors, the areas increasing economic growth, do not have much potential to create jobs.
Though Nigeria projects a 6.7 percent growth in 2013 and a 7.3 percent growth in 2014, there are potential problems. Security problems arising from religious conflicts in certain states, as well as the continued cost of flooding, all constitute potential drags on projected economic growth. The report also said that current reforms that have resulted in price and exchange rate stability should be increased by the Nigerian government to see continued progress in economic growth, a key component of poverty alleviation.
– Jordan Bradley
Sources: The Next Web, UNDP, Camps International
Photo: OxFam
What Is Management Sciences for Health?
Management Sciences for Health (MSH) has one mission: to save lives and improve health of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable by closing the gap between knowledge and action in public health. This global health non-profit organization uses proven approaches to help leaders, health managers, and communities in developing countries create stronger health systems for a greater health impact. Since its founding in 1971, MSH has left its mark in over 150 countries working with policy makers, health care consumers, and health professionals to improve the overall availability, affordability and quality of health services.
The work of MSH is centered on four core beliefs and values: effective local leaders and local institutions are key to creating lasting health impact; health is a basic human right, realized through healthy living conditions and access to health care for all; healthy people and communities are more able to contribute to economic growth and political stability; and better evidence to scale up current methods and technologies will fuel widespread health impact.
Since it’s founding, MSH’s operations have been based on the 3,500 year old Tao (Way) of Leadership, working shoulder-to-shoulder with local partners and colleagues and empowering them to succeed. In the 1960s, MSH’s founder Dr. Ron O’Connor, was taught the principles of the Tao of Leadership by Dr. Noobora Iwamura, a mentor and friend. Dr. Iwamura, as the only survivor of his high school class in the Hiroshima bombing, decided to lead a life of service in the remote, rural areas of Nepal. Through his work he discovered that creating sustainable changes meant much more than medical care on its own: it meant engaging communities actively in their own health needs.
The mission and work of MSH is based on Dr. Iwamura’s concern that communities be empowered with the knowledge of solutions to basic health problems and challenged to take control of their own health. These values are resonated today in MSH’s staff of over 2,400 based in over 65 countries. MSH focuses its efforts on strengthening health systems in the priority health areas: HIV & AIDS; tuberculosis; family planning and reproductive health; maternal, newborn, and child health; malaria and other communicable diseases; and chronic diseases.
In the organizations’ 2012 Annual Report, MSH outlined universal health coverage (UHC) as the framework for maximizing health impact. More than 50 countries have achieved universal health coverage, with an additional 50 countries working towards the same goal. MSH is contributing to this UHC movement through its coordination with local communities to develop health system innovations, such as the scaling up of community health shops, and by directly building local ability to deliver health services through training health workers and staff. There is much work to be done, but MSH is pushing to make effective healthcare available to anyone in need.
– Ali Warlich
Sources: MSH,WHO