ZARUMA, Ecuador — Gold has been mined in the city of Zaruma in southern Ecuador for over 500 years. The area has suffered a complicated history of extraction and exploitation, and now stands as a prime example of the challenges currently facing the Ecuadoran mining industry.
Approximately 10,000 people in the area surrounding Zaruma make their livings from “artisanal,” or small-scale subsistence mining. The work is backbreaking and the profit margins generally narrow. It is hardly the most efficient way to access the country’s estimated 280.4 tons of unmined gold.
Recognizing what the underground stores of gold, copper, and silver worth an estimated $200 billion could mean for a country with more than a quarter of its population living below the poverty line, President Rafael Correa introduced a bill aimed at encouraging new investment in the mining industry. The measure seeks to diversify the Ecuadoran economy, which is heavy in oil and exports, and to attract companies to make big investments in large-scale mining projects.
Unfortunately for President Correa, the pending legislation was not enough to entice one of its major targets, Canada’s Kinross Gold Corporation, into following through with a planned $1.3 billion mining project in southeastern Ecuador. The development of the Fruta del Norte mine was scrapped after more than two years of negotiation, and is now expected to be taken over by Chinese investors.
China has been an increased presence in Ecuador over the past several years, and Chinese investor groups seem eager to continue the expansion. Having already established a strong presence in the oil sector through China National Petroleum’s and Sinopec’s local subsidiaries, investors are keen to deepen their involvement with the mining industry. Last year Chinese-backed Ecuacorriente signed a $1.4 billion deal with the government to open a large-scale mining project in the Mirador copper deposit. The company is currently negotiating another deal to expand their operations to the Panantza-San Carlos copper deposit.
These concessions to major foreign investors with superior capital and technology have not gone unnoticed by concerned indigenous groups. Many groups across the country have protested. Some — like the Shuar — have even marched to Quito. The fear is artisanal miners cannot survive in an industry dominated by huge corporations.
Communities like Zaruma are at the heart of the debate. On one hand, the seemingly inevitable expansion of foreign companies into the area now home to subsistence miners would bolster an important Ecuadoran industry, despite the risk that such an expansion could cause social unrest.
On the other hand, there is the idea that investments should be focused on local mining businesses, like many already operating in Zaruma. The investments would allow these businesses to increase their capital and technology so as to be able to compete for government concessions. Their operations would be smaller projects but would keep the profits in the local community.
The mining of precious metals in Ecuador has a difficult, haunted history, and in many ways the uncertain future of communities like Zaruma demonstrates how complex the issues surrounding the industry remain even today.
– Lauren Brown
Source: BBC, The Financial Times
Photo: Ecuador Times
Challenges for Ecuador’s Mining Industry
ZARUMA, Ecuador — Gold has been mined in the city of Zaruma in southern Ecuador for over 500 years. The area has suffered a complicated history of extraction and exploitation, and now stands as a prime example of the challenges currently facing the Ecuadoran mining industry.
Approximately 10,000 people in the area surrounding Zaruma make their livings from “artisanal,” or small-scale subsistence mining. The work is backbreaking and the profit margins generally narrow. It is hardly the most efficient way to access the country’s estimated 280.4 tons of unmined gold.
Recognizing what the underground stores of gold, copper, and silver worth an estimated $200 billion could mean for a country with more than a quarter of its population living below the poverty line, President Rafael Correa introduced a bill aimed at encouraging new investment in the mining industry. The measure seeks to diversify the Ecuadoran economy, which is heavy in oil and exports, and to attract companies to make big investments in large-scale mining projects.
Unfortunately for President Correa, the pending legislation was not enough to entice one of its major targets, Canada’s Kinross Gold Corporation, into following through with a planned $1.3 billion mining project in southeastern Ecuador. The development of the Fruta del Norte mine was scrapped after more than two years of negotiation, and is now expected to be taken over by Chinese investors.
China has been an increased presence in Ecuador over the past several years, and Chinese investor groups seem eager to continue the expansion. Having already established a strong presence in the oil sector through China National Petroleum’s and Sinopec’s local subsidiaries, investors are keen to deepen their involvement with the mining industry. Last year Chinese-backed Ecuacorriente signed a $1.4 billion deal with the government to open a large-scale mining project in the Mirador copper deposit. The company is currently negotiating another deal to expand their operations to the Panantza-San Carlos copper deposit.
These concessions to major foreign investors with superior capital and technology have not gone unnoticed by concerned indigenous groups. Many groups across the country have protested. Some — like the Shuar — have even marched to Quito. The fear is artisanal miners cannot survive in an industry dominated by huge corporations.
Communities like Zaruma are at the heart of the debate. On one hand, the seemingly inevitable expansion of foreign companies into the area now home to subsistence miners would bolster an important Ecuadoran industry, despite the risk that such an expansion could cause social unrest.
On the other hand, there is the idea that investments should be focused on local mining businesses, like many already operating in Zaruma. The investments would allow these businesses to increase their capital and technology so as to be able to compete for government concessions. Their operations would be smaller projects but would keep the profits in the local community.
The mining of precious metals in Ecuador has a difficult, haunted history, and in many ways the uncertain future of communities like Zaruma demonstrates how complex the issues surrounding the industry remain even today.
– Lauren Brown
Source: BBC, The Financial Times
Photo: Ecuador Times
The Gambia Receives Child Malnutrition Grant
BANJUL, The Gambia – UNICEF has recently committed $300,000 to the nation of The Gambia to fight child malnutrition. The Gambia, a nation half the size of New Jersey and located on the west coast of Africa, has acquired an additional $15 million for the issue of food security out of $1.7 billion UNICEF has dedicated to the Sahel region of the continent.
The Gambia is especially in need of this child malnutrition grant since nearly 50% of its population of 1.7 million consists of children under the age of 18. UNICEF’s work is particularly important to this nation because of its large youth population.
Overall, 34% of Gambians live under the poverty line. Fortunately, however, most Gambians are fully immunized and have access to improved water sources and sanitation facilities. UNICEF is working to ensure that all Gambian children are fully immunized, well-nourished, have access to clean water and sanitation, and receive an education. Ultimately, The Gambia’s future will be greatly impacted by UNICEF’s work, as it not only improves children’s lives now, but it also provides the nation with the tools it needs to have a healthy and productive population in subsequent years.
– Jordan Kline
Sources: UNICEF, The Daily Observer
Income Inequality, Brazil, & World Cup
Income inequality is at the heart of the protests currently raging across several Brazilian cities. Originally, the protests were about the twenty-cent price hike for bus fare. Eventually, however, they turned into protests about everything that’s wrong in Brazil.
Next year’s World Cup has added to the public dissent. Brazil’s rampant political corruption has resulted in huge expenditures. The government has spent twice the amount as Germany and South Africa spent on the World Cup.
It is predicted that FIFA will make over one billion dollars from the tournament, but Brazil will benefit very little. Originally, it was presumed that the Cup would be paid for by private investors and corporations, and that the public funds would go toward bettering the existing infrastructure. But then the Brazilian government lent money to build brand-new stadiums. Essentially, the government is spending billions of dollars on a private event that is so expensive that only the rich can attend.
It has become a bit of a paradox — a country that is a symbol of soccer to many has turned against the sport’s largest event. The huge public expenditure has left the people wondering: why can the country invest millions on a soccer tournament but can’t seem to find funds to fix the broken healthcare and education systems?
The independent protestors have balked at any specific political party that has tried to claim leadership in the demonstrations, preferring instead to remain a party-free dissident entity. Even the large Workers Party was shooed away.
The impact of the country-wide protests have already been felt. President Dilma Roussef went on TV and invited protestors into the head of the government to talk about what’s going on. She met with the Movimento Passe Livre, the university free fare group that started the protests, and ultimately ceded the twenty cent transport fare increase.
While the positive impacts have been felt, it is doubtful that any more progress will be made on the issue. With so little political cohesiveness within the demonstrators themselves, it appears that the dissidence will continue into the foreseeable future.
– Kathryn Cassibry
Sources: Fair Observer, The Guardian
Slavery Slowly Wanes in Timbuktu, Mali
TIMBUKTU, Mali — Though slavery was formally abolished in the West African nation of Mali in 1960, roughly 200,000 people continue to live as modern-day slaves and hundreds more are only now experiencing freedom for the first time.
According to the advocacy group Anti-Slavery International, “descent-based slavery” has existed for generations in Mali but worsened in March 2012 when Islamist rebels gained control of northern Mali. The lighter-skinned Tuaregs and Arab Moors used the ethnic background they shared with jihadists to control darker-skinned ethnic groups.
Many Tuareg and Arab Moor families recaptured former slaves, and those enslaved reported that their treatment worsened during the Islamists’ ten-month reign, during which a highly conservative brand of Islamic sharia law was enforced. A French-led military intervention rid Mali’s northern towns of these Islamists in early 2013, and many Tuaregs and Arab Moors fled the region fearing reprisal for their actions have .
While many former slaveholders have fled the region, the impact of slavery has left a possibly irreparable gulf between Mali’s different ethnic groups. Tuaregs and Arab Moors formerly raided communities of darker-skinned populations in order to acquire slaves for a variety of unpaid roles, ranging from salt mining to sexual slavery. Darker-skinned ethnic groups also entered voluntarily into bondage systems to feed their families because, due to discrimination, they are unable to acquire a better source of income.
These groups have adopted the language and customs of the Tuaregs and Arab Moors, but they are still subjected to unfair treatment and poor working conditions. Those who have managed to escape slavery often come to Timbuktu in order to find employment, but they end up with jobs closely resembling their former experiences as slaves.
Though former slaves celebrate as their longtime captors leave Mali, a guerrilla war surges on. Many slaves have escaped from the families that held control over their bloodline for generations, but the impact of slavery is readily apparent. Today, Timbuktu is a wasteland offering virtually no economic opportunities, even though many of its citizens are finally free.
– Katie Bandera
Source: Antislavery, Washington Post
Photo: The Guardian
Refugees: The Forgotten Problem in Central Africa
In Central Africa and the Great Lakes region, countries with already large numbers of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are burdened with refugee influx from neighboring conflicts. Many of the IDPs and refugees in Central Africa are served by U.N. camps across the region. Others are housed by local populations or public buildings. With recent outbreaks of violence humanitarian services have become unavailable in regions.
In April, a UNHCR spokesman gave the number of Central African Republic (CAR) refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at 30,000. Many of these were forced to flee the violence in the capital Bangui. UNHCR also estimated that the number of IDPs in CAR reached 173,000. While this situation is grim the added strain on refugee camps and humanitarian services is exacerbated by the refugees crossing into CAR. Driven by conflict in the Western Darfur region and recent fighting in the DRC capital of Goma, Sudanese and Congolese refugees are seeking care in CAR. In April UNHCR estimated 21,000 refugees from the DRC and Sudan have sought refuge in CAR.
Despite peace talks currently taking place between the DRC government and the M23 rebel forces, the environment in the DRC remains uncertain and rife with tension. Rebel troops briefly held the capital, Goma, in November 2012 but lost control again to the government after a short period. The current standoff between the two sides has boosted the potential for forced recruitment in the countryside. Citizens fleeing the conflict and young men trying to avoid forcible recruitment spill into neighboring countries. In the last six months of 2012 UNHCR estimates that 60,000 Congolese refugees fled to Uganda and Rwanda. Many more were internally displaced.
Recent violence in the DRC has led the U.N. to deploy troops with one of its strongest mandates yet: counter insurgency operations. Despite a 20,000 U.N. peace force deployed in the region the rebel forces took and held Goma for 10 days last November, committing many atrocities including mass rape. The new U.N. deployment, consisting of troops from South Africa, Tanzania, and Malawi is intended to prevent new atrocities. The effectiveness of this newest deployment is uncertain. Troops will be engaging in joint operations, requiring coordination in an unfamiliar setting and already logistics and bureaucracy have delayed troop deployment.
Other military forces also have a presence in CAR. South Africa deployed 200 soldiers in January this year with the potential to deploy an additional 200. These forces will assist in training the CAR army and are not intended to engage directly with rebel forces. Ugandan soldiers with U.S. Special Forces support are also deployed in CAR. The Economic Community of Central Africa has authorized forces to deploy in the country as well. And France recently boosted their troop presence in CAR from 250 to 600.
The global and regional community recognizes the need for military intervention in the region demonstrated by the troop deployments. Whether this leads to a cessation in violence or even a lasting peace is uncertain.
– Callie D. Coleman
Sources: IRIN, The Economist, UNHCR
Photos: IRIN
Poverty in Liberia
Located on the western coast of Africa, Liberia is a country rich with beauty and natural resources. The lush green landscape is home to many precious gems and metals. Despite this, poverty in Liberia is a large problem. It ranks 174 out of 187 on the United Nations Development Index. Infectious disease runs rampant in the country and the majority of Liberians have little to no education. Two civil wars in the last 30 years have decimated the country’s infrastructure and led to widespread poverty.
Liberia’s population consists mainly of smallholder farmers that struggle to produce enough to feed their families. This has led to poverty in Liberia reaching 68 percent and 35 percent of the population being malnourished. The civil wars have left the country with inadequate roads, water and other basic infrastructure, which has proving a significant barrier for economic growth.
The country’s civil wars also contributed to the over 250,000 Liberian orphans who frequently suffer from malnutrition and are sometimes completely abandoned. Liberia’s education and health systems are both in need of great improvement. The lack of health care access often leads to high fatality rates among those with treatable or preventable diseases. As far as education goes, only half of Liberians are literate, and many Liberian children are kept out of school in order to help on their families’ farms.
The focus of USAID in combating poverty in Liberia is collaborating with the Liberian government to help rebuild the infrastructure and revitalize mining and other utilization of natural resources in the country. Government strategies focus on stimulating the private sector by providing access to credit and infrastructure to Liberians.
The good thing about Liberia is that it has the landscape and resources available to make it a prosperous country. Now that a stable government is in place, infrastructure can be rebuilt and resources can be utilized to their full potential. For this reason, one of the pillars of USAID’s action in Liberia is strengthening Democracy and Governance. Once infrastructure is rebuilt, and this can happen rapidly with the help of USAID, the resources flowing out of Liberia will benefit the global economy and western investment will be paid back in spades.
– Martin Drake
Sources: Children of the Nations, USAID
Photo: UNICEF
Pro Mujer International 101
Pro Mujer International is a development and microfinance organization helping women in Latin America. They provide financial, health, and human development services to help women break the cycle of poverty. Pro Mujer equips women with the tools and resources necessary to build their own livelihoods through microfinance, business training, and health care support.
Pro Mujer is motivated to affect change in Latin American society. They understand the conditions of income disparity and gender inequality. They believe that when women are given the tools to lift themselves out of poverty, they will also lift their families too. According to Pro Mujer, women are more likely to reinvest in their families to provide education, healthcare and to improve living conditions.
The organization is committed to a client-focused approach that actively seeks results. They strive for integrity, transparency, solidarity and they work to maintain commitment to human development. Pro Mujer was founded by Lynne Patterson and Carmen Velasco in 1990 in Bolivia. Their vision for an organization to help lift women from poverty has today become one of Latin America’s premiere development and microfinance organizations for women. Pro Mujer has since been able to allocate over $1 billion in small loans and services including empowerment training, preventive health education and primary healthcare services.
Examples of the financial services provided by Pro Mujer include small business loans, education and housing loans, savings accounts, and life insurance. Their business and empowerment training programs teach women to be more economically independent and informed decision makers as well as teaching basic financial literacy, and empowerment training on domestic violence, communication and leadership skills. Additionally, Pro Mujer is able to provide healthcare assistance including pre and post natal monitoring, family planning, and sexual and reproductive health services to name a few.
Pro Mujer’s current CEO is Rosario Perez. Perez began her career in private banking where she was charged with leading multinational businesses and teams and executing organizational transformations. She is now responsible for Pro Mujer’s portfolio of more than US $100 million and 1,700 employees. Her employees serve more than 2,547,000 clients in Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru.
– Caitlin Zusy
Sources: Pro Mujer, Mastercard Worldwide
Kore Fanmi: Success for Haitian Social Program
In Haiti, many poor and vulnerable families, most of which live in rural communities, lack access to social services, hospitals, and the necessary medical attention. However, the Kore Fanmi project, launched last year, has been successful in providing 15,000 families with increased access to basic services in the Center department.
In partnership with the World Bank, the Haitian Ministry of Finance’s Fund for Economic & Social Justice, and World Vision, the project trains local members of the community as Household Development Agents (HDAs), who then work towards connecting families with the social services they need the most. The project is helping families gain access to fundamental services such as education, vaccines, and latrines.
By training members of communities to be social workers, these individuals also benefit from the program; Dr. Germanite Phanord, the project manager at of the Economic and Social Assistance Fund, said, “This is a social protection program where a model is tested to determine if sectors workers can be transformed into social workers”. After HDAs are trained, they become responsible for 100 families, for which they must prepare a plan, which is based on 28 life goals, such as, “the family must use latrines.” By providing these services, Kore Fanmi is focusing on helping families restore and fulfill their human rights.
In addition, the Kore Fanmi project aims to connect with international agencies and nongovernmental organizations so that they can create a common operational strategy for coordinated and decentralized delivery of basic services. By improving this aspect of public administration, an inter-organizational coordination will allow a HDA to refer a vulnerable family to another organization in their commune, who can provide the relevant medical, food or social program required.
The structure and training program of the Kore Fanmi project are both realistic and sustainable; the grass roots, community approach is aiding rural communities to change attitudes towards family planning, treated water and education.
– Chloe Isacke
Source: World Bank, Partners in Health
Photo: Washington Post
Solar Cookers International
Solar Cookers International (SCI) is a nonprofit organization devoted to spreading knowledge and techniques of solar cooking technology to the poorest parts of the world. The organization works extensively in Chad, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe. Founded in 1987 by a small group of solar cooks in Sacramento, California, SCI began as a small effort by a contingent of people devoted to a single cause: to provide poverty relief through the technology of solar power. By 1999, UNESCO became a beneficiary of SCI by sponsoring regional conferences in poverty stricken countries like India, Kenya, and Honduras. Since its founding, Solar Cookers International has delivered its technology to over 30,000 families in Africa.
Solar cookers are particularly helpful in Africa because they remove the need for African women to leave their homesteads to gather firewood. For instance, Sudanese refugee women in Chad are frequently assaulted by enemy combatants upon departure from their camps, often resulting in severe injury or death. The presence of solar cookers in villages in Chad allows Chadian women to provide for their families while preserving their own personal wellbeing.
So how does Solar Cookers International receive funding for such an ambitious project? Although much of its support base comes from the generous donations of individuals and foundations, SCI also raises money through the sale of solar cookers in the United States and other developed countries. If you are interested in supporting this great cause to alleviate poverty in Africa, visit the SCI website for more information on purchasing a solar cooker. In addition to being energy efficient and better for the environment, the profits will be going towards poverty reduction in some of the poorest areas of the world.
– Josh Forgét
What is the Nanject?
Two students at the University of York are launching a project to develop a pharmaceutical called “the Nanject.” Atif Syed and Zakareya Hussein are currently raising money to crowdfund the research. If successfully completed, the Nanject will allow drugs to be administered without the use of injections.
Syed and Hussein identify the numerous issues associated with injections as one of the motivations of their research. Firstly, all injections carry some risk of infection. And in the developing world, syringes are often disposed of unsafely – kids who live near garbage piles and landfills risk stepping on exposed needles. Perhaps more worrisome is that up to 40% of syringes in the world are reused in the absence of sterilization, according to the WHO. This puts patients at risk of contracting new diseases. Injections also often require professional administration, which can be expensive and make it difficult to administer vaccines and medicine in the developing world. Nanject could potentially solve that problem.
The students plan to start their research by developing a patch-administered nanoparticle cancer treatment. The treatment will hopefully be able to target cancerous cells without significantly damaging healthy cells. Eventually, though, they envision the Nanject being able to administer a range of drugs. By allowing medicine to be administered in the developing world without injections, this technology would potentially improve the lives of the poor.
For their research to actually happen, Syed and Hussein must first raise enough money to buy all the necessary materials. Those interested in supporting their research can visit their crowd funding page at https://www.microryza.com/projects/targeted-drug-delivery-by-using-magnetic-nanoparticles.
– Peter Lessler
Sources: Microryza, Wired