For a young adult series, Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games offers a surprisingly biting criticism of the status quo in the West. Her story is one of a privileged district in society that is altogether indifferent to the suffering going on outside its boundaries. Although Collin disguises it with different names, she has not ventured far from our present reality of global poverty.
The Hunger Games is set in a dystopic future world, where citizens live in an area divided by districts. District One & Two are the wealthiest, and control the majority of the resources. As they spread further and further out, the regions become more impoverished. The heroine of the novel, Katniss Everdeen, is from the last, District 13, and relies on her wits, her will and a crude bow and arrow to support her family. Through its fantastical descriptions, outlandish characters and futuristic technology, Collins’ world manages to appear quite distinct from our own. Yet, in a thinly veiled criticism Collins has painted an unsettling portrait of ourselves and the world we live in.
The Hunger Games: A Lesson on Global Poverty
The parallel escapes many of the fans of the books, but those who live in District One are akin to the top percent in the world: they have enough to eat, access to clean water, safe homes and opportunities for betterment. For this percentage of the world, daily life is not a struggle: it is a thing to be enjoyed, to find happiness and meaning, to indulge in fads and fancies and fashion. Much like the District One in the books, the humans in District One seem bizarre and alien in comparison to those struggling on the fringes. They have none of the same concerns and seem largely unaware of the brutal reality that exists just beyond their borders.
The Hunger Games offers an uncomfortable mirror to our own world. In our daily lives, we often obsess about trivialities: we track celebrities, dedicate time to watching who wore what dress, aim to buy smartphones and cars while the vast majority of the world struggles to scrape a living out of the most dire circumstances.
As audiences, we automatically condemn District One; without even meeting them, we judge everyone in it and see the plot’s revolution as inevitable and cheer for Katniss. In reality, however, we are not quite as benevolent. We are quick to make excuses to preserve self-interest. Poverty and the state of the world do not often rank among our daily concerns, as much as what to wear and what people think of us. On the national scale, US foreign aid consists of less than 1% of the budget; this covers everything from healthcare to military aid to food assistance.
The Hunger Games has captivated a number of readers in the United States; and yet, for some, Collins has posed a very uncomfortable and very important question – what makes us so different from District One?
– Farahnaz Mohammed
Photo: Film.com
West Africa Restoring Healthy Ocean Habitats
As the world celebrated World Environment Day on June 5th, countries in West Africa looked to continue their work to preserve fish ecosystems and ocean habitats that are currently under threat.
Oceans provide food for over 1 billion people globally and provide income for 200 million people in developing countries. Along the coastal regions of West Africa, fishing practices provide half of the fish catch for the entire continent; fish is a source of income and nutrition in West Africa, especially for the poor. The World Bank says that fishing earns these West African countries approximately $4.9 billion per year. As a result, GDP has increased at the national level and provides local communities with an income and greater food security.
However, the marine sources and habitats that support them are being threatened by weak management, declining fish stocks, local exploitation and harmful fishing practices. In addition, foreign industrial ships stalk African coasts and steal fish stocks. To combat this, in 2009 the World Bank launched the West African Regional Fisheries Program (WARFP), which helps governments strengthen ocean management. WARFP has four main areas of focus: good governance and sustainable fisheries management, reducing illegal fishing, increasing the contribution of marine resources to the local economy, and coordination, monitoring and evaluation, and program management. The program helps communities in Ghana, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Senegal.
The program has helped people in these countries to successfully achieve national, regional and local reforms that educate and empower fishing communities to work together and share their resources. By stamping out illegal fishing in Sierra Leone, creating community-based monitoring in Liberia and encouraging locals to engage in fishing in Senegal, World Bank programs have aided in the fight to preserve and maintain the environment and ocean resources that are so vital to fishing.
“Developing partnerships between countries along the coast of Africa is key to promoting the recovery of Africa’s fish resources and preserving the ocean environment,” said Colin Bruce, World Bank Director for Regional Integration. In order to continue protecting West Africa’s marine environment, research and management programs need to continue, which in turn will secure a better future for the fishing communities of the region.
– Chloe Isacke
Sources: World Bank, WARFP
Photo: Knowing South Africa
Countries with High Rates of Child Poverty
3. Romania
After the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Romania struggled economically. Farmers were especially vulnerable, and the impact of the USSR’s collapse is evident today in the status of Romania’s children. Children in rural areas are exceptionally poor, often not receiving the nutrition needed to maintain good health. This results in many physical problems that are left untreated. Many children in rural areas are also deprived of an education.
2. The United States
Yes, you read that correctly. The United States is second place among the developed countries of the world in the percentage of children below the poverty line. This shocking number is due to the stark income equality in America. UNICEF’s research reveals that American children are more likely to fall below the poverty line than children in any other developed country due to the growing wealth gap in the United States.
1. Bulgaria
The Southern European nation of Bulgaria is the developed nation with the highest child poverty rate in the world. Plagued by increasingly low wages and high utility prices, the children of Bulgaria are suffering in families that can no longer afford to put food on the table. The unemployment rate reached 10% in the last year, inciting a wave of protests that threaten the stability of the country. Several desperate Bulgarians, unable to feed their families, have resorted to self-immolation in dramatic protest to get the government to implement changes.
– Josh Forgét
Source: The World Bank, The Washington Post, The Economist
Photo: Press TV
UNICEF Job Openings
UNICEF has job openings across the globe. For information on jobs at UNICEF, visit this link.
Nagaland Citizens Utilize Unusual Food Source
Stink bugs, silkworms, dragonflies, tawny mole crickets, and red ants. To those afforded the luxury of daily meals, these insects are of little significance. But to the people of Nagaland, these bugs are nutritious sources of food sold in local markets to help alleviate hunger.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization released a 200-page report highlighting the benefits of Naga’s insect consumption. The report notes that insects are often full of more protein and nutrients than either fish or meat. The insects can address malnourishment and provide food security, the report also states.
Farmers collect the bugs from forests and rice paddies. Both bees and larvae are expensive commodities in the local markets. The U.N. suggests frying the insects and preparing them in recipes, as they shouldn’t be consumed raw.
Nagaland isn’t alone in their bug consumption. According to the U.N., 1,400 insect species are consumed in almost 90 countries across the globe.
Numerous estimates suggest that 9 billion people will inhabit the earth by 2050. As more and more consumers are added to the planet, resources will have to be used more carefully. Nagaland highlights an effective way of utilizing all resources available. This is one unusual yet effective way of combatting poverty and world hunger.
– William Norris
Sources: The Morung Express, SI Live
Photo: The Morung Express
Civil War and Economy in Sierra Leone
The Sierra Leone civil war destroyed the national economy, making it one of the poorest countries in the world. The civil war that ravaged the small west African nation from 1991-2002 was the impetus for a huge displacement of people within Sierra Leone, leading to a downturn in the economy that left almost 75% of the population living in extreme poverty.
Sierra Leone’s main export is diamonds. Diamonds have created a significant wealth gap in Sierra Leone that has benefited the rich and paralyzed the poor for decades. The country’s dependence on this single mineral resource impedes economic growth. In order for Sierra Leone to lift itself out of abject poverty, the economy must diversify. Economic diversification is exceptionally difficult, however, with around 50% of the adult working population working in subsistence agriculture. Luckily, the IMF set up a program in 2010 to deliver $45 million to Sierra Leone through 2013.
Over the last few years, Sierra Leone has developed its offshore oil resources as another source of income. This, however, does not negate the enormous need for international aid to power the development process and prevent increased in inequalit in Sierra Leone. In order for the economy to stabilize, foreign aid must be delivered on a consistent basis and domestic peace must be preserved at all costs.
– Josh Forgét
Source: BBC News, Rural Poverty Portal, CIA World Factbook
Photo: Human Trafficking Movie Project
Zambian Government Praises USAID Health Programs
A Zambian Government official, Bert Mushala, praised the American government for its foreign aid initiatives at the launch of two new USAID health programs in Zambia in June. According to USAID Mission director for Zambia, Susan Brems, the two projects, Thrive and Mawa, are aimed at strengthening nutrition within small farming households and with those living with HIV. The initiatives would also focus on enhancing economic opportunities for poor households, encouraging crop diversification.
The Thrive and Mawa programs, funded by USAID and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), would benefit 21,500 people in the Eastern Province of Zambia. This runs parallel to USAID’s Feed the Future program which is aimed at assisting 200,000 smallholder farming households rise out of poverty, decreasing the percentage of malnourished children, and augmenting the production and consumption of nutritious crops. Zambia was selected as a Feed the Future country because of its vast capability for agricultural growth, along with its large food insecurity.
The Feed the Future program and the Thrive and Mawa programs are all focused around the Eastern Province due to the high prevalence of poverty there. As the Eastern Province Permanent Secretary Bert Mushala has witnessed USAID health programs in this poor region of Zambia and commended USAID’s support of Zambia.
USAID’s programs in Zambia, working under the US Global Health Initiative, have several other focuses besides nutrition and empowering small farmers. Under PEPFAR, USAID works with the Ministry of Health to prevent mother-to -child transmission of HIV. The amount of infants born with HIV has dropped from 39 percent in 2005 to 5 percent in 2010, and over 400,000 Zambians are now on regular antiretroviral treatments for HIV. USAID has also addressed gender-based violence and supported over 500,000 orphans and vulnerable children.
These USAID health programs in Zambia are all part of a larger network of the USAID initiatives in Zambia. USAID also focuses on economic growth, education, and creating a just and democratic government in the country. These initiatives have led to a longer life expectancy for Zambians along with 12 straight years of notable economic growth. As a country that has such potential for growth, particularly in agriculture, a prosperous Zambia is crucial to stability in a region which includes the war torn Democratic Republic of the Congo.
– Martin Drake
Source: USAID
Photo: USAID
Food Aid Reform Act: The Facts
On Wednesday, June 12 discussions continued on Capitol Hill in an attempt to push forward a modernization of US international food aid policy according to the Guardian’s Cydney Hargis. HR 1983, the Food Aid Reform Act, would remove laws requiring US food aid to be grown in the United States and then shipped to the receiving countries. Instead, it would allow food aid to be purchased in areas local to the countries receiving it. The impact of the Food Aid Reform Act would be twofold: it would eliminate the time and costs required to ship the food, and it would further stimulate the economies of countries or regions that are receiving US food aid.
Under the Food Aid Reform Act, aid could reach the receiving country up to 14 weeks sooner, giving up to 4 million people better access to food. It would also significantly decrease transportation costs of US food aid, which make up 50 percent of the US food aid budget. Right now US food aid has to travel 7,000 miles to reach its destination and that food chain is vulnerable, especially in conflict zones such as what we are seeing right now in Syria.
The other aspect of the Food Aid Reform Act is the stimulation of the local economy where the food is being produced. When the US ships food to developing countries as aid, the US food can crowd out locally produced food. This is especially important considering that most of the world’s poorest and those without food security are small farmers. In shipping food to aid the poorest in the developing world, the US can prevent these farmers from being able to sell their crops at a profitable price, thereby harming the very people which USAID is supposed to be helping.
Purchasing food aid locally will raise the demand for local food, thereby driving up the price and enabling farmers to gain more profit out of the crops they sell. This profit can then be put towards things like better fertilizers, water pumps, and other things which increase the productivity of these farmers. When these farmers increase their productivity their communities will develop their food security, fixing the very reason that food aid would have to be provided to these developing nations in the first place.
The Food Aid Reform Act is a piece of bipartisan legislation that will go a long way to modernize US foreign aid. It will help stimulate developing economies to bring them further towards contributing significantly to the global economy, which will ultimately lead to a more prosperous international community as a whole.
– Martin Drake
Source: The Guardian, House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Photo: ONE
Australian Students Live Below the Line
Recently, students at the University of Melbourne in Australia spent five days on less than two Australian dollars a day in order to raise awareness for those living in extreme poverty.
Students participated in this as part of the Live Below the Line challenge, a program of the Global Poverty Project. The Global Poverty Project is in organization designed to advocate for the world’s poor and get citizens effectively engaged in the fight to end extreme poverty. Their Live Below the Line Challenge, which spans three continents, asks participants to spend five days living below the poverty line in an effort to show solidarity with the world’s poor and to raise money and awareness for their cause.
The challenge of the Live Below the Line campaign is effectively budgeting resources so that participants have the food to last themselves 5 days. Participants are not allowed to take snacks from their pantries or consume anything that had been bought before the challenge unless it was factored into their five day budget. Their diet consisted mainly of pasta, lentils, fruit, and rice for the duration of the challenge, and they were only allowed to drink tap water.
The students at the University of Melbourne raised over $24,000, which is more than any other Australian university. The closest American university to raising this amount was the University of Notre Dame, raising only $3,239. Some celebrities are also involved in the Live Below the Line challenge, ranging from Ben Affleck to Hugh Jackman.
This was an impressive achievement for these Australian students. However, as hard as it seems to buy food on such a low budget, participants still had it better off than the world’s poor. They had access to shelter, sanitation, and healthcare—things that most of those living below the poverty line do not have. It is hard for us in the developed world to imagine the amount of hardship faced by the world’s poor, but the Live Below the Line challenge gives a small peek into the lives of the least fortunate.
Citizens interested in the program should go to www.livebelowtheline.com
– Martin Drake
Source: Live Below the Line, The Age
Photo: VSO
What The Hunger Games Tells Us About Global Poverty
For a young adult series, Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games offers a surprisingly biting criticism of the status quo in the West. Her story is one of a privileged district in society that is altogether indifferent to the suffering going on outside its boundaries. Although Collin disguises it with different names, she has not ventured far from our present reality of global poverty.
The Hunger Games is set in a dystopic future world, where citizens live in an area divided by districts. District One & Two are the wealthiest, and control the majority of the resources. As they spread further and further out, the regions become more impoverished. The heroine of the novel, Katniss Everdeen, is from the last, District 13, and relies on her wits, her will and a crude bow and arrow to support her family. Through its fantastical descriptions, outlandish characters and futuristic technology, Collins’ world manages to appear quite distinct from our own. Yet, in a thinly veiled criticism Collins has painted an unsettling portrait of ourselves and the world we live in.
The Hunger Games: A Lesson on Global Poverty
The parallel escapes many of the fans of the books, but those who live in District One are akin to the top percent in the world: they have enough to eat, access to clean water, safe homes and opportunities for betterment. For this percentage of the world, daily life is not a struggle: it is a thing to be enjoyed, to find happiness and meaning, to indulge in fads and fancies and fashion. Much like the District One in the books, the humans in District One seem bizarre and alien in comparison to those struggling on the fringes. They have none of the same concerns and seem largely unaware of the brutal reality that exists just beyond their borders.
The Hunger Games offers an uncomfortable mirror to our own world. In our daily lives, we often obsess about trivialities: we track celebrities, dedicate time to watching who wore what dress, aim to buy smartphones and cars while the vast majority of the world struggles to scrape a living out of the most dire circumstances.
As audiences, we automatically condemn District One; without even meeting them, we judge everyone in it and see the plot’s revolution as inevitable and cheer for Katniss. In reality, however, we are not quite as benevolent. We are quick to make excuses to preserve self-interest. Poverty and the state of the world do not often rank among our daily concerns, as much as what to wear and what people think of us. On the national scale, US foreign aid consists of less than 1% of the budget; this covers everything from healthcare to military aid to food assistance.
The Hunger Games has captivated a number of readers in the United States; and yet, for some, Collins has posed a very uncomfortable and very important question – what makes us so different from District One?
– Farahnaz Mohammed
Photo: Film.com
Ultimate Value of Millennium Development Goals
Not all of them will be met, but that does not mean that they have not been effective. The deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will expire at the end of this year, and certain goals, like universal primary education and reducing maternal mortality by 75%, won’t be achieved. But the progress towards these goals is undeniable, and, while it may be hard to quantify, these gains likely would not have occurred without the MDGs.
The goals have effectively highlighted certain issues. The U.N.’s developmental outline was embraced by a multitude of countries upon its release in September of 2011. As such, it has been a focus of the international policy and development strategies of many countries, as well as providing a yardstick against which to measure progress.
While progress can be attributed to many diverse factors, including individual countries’ economic growth or political stability, one area where the impact of the MDGs is clearly perceptible is in foreign aid. Global aid reached $128 billion in 2009, twice that of a decade earlier. The majority of that aid is going to the world’s poorest countries, particularly for organizations including the Global Health Initiative, the Global Climate Initiative, and Feed the Future.
These initiatives, as well as all other aid and funding aimed at reaching the Millennium Goals, have already reached millions of people globally. And already in the works is a framework for a new set of development goals, to supplant the current MDG’s. For the long term, the impact of the Millennium Development Goals has only just begun.
– David Wilson
Sources: Christian Science Monitor
Photo: Oxfam