The Comoros consists of four islands located in the Indian Ocean near Madagascar and Mozambique. Affectionately calling their country Masiwa, or “the islands”, the population totals to 1,080,000 citizens. The country, among several other small island states, is considered underdeveloped. Although the country gained independence in 1975, political and institutional crises created sustained instability.
In 2012, the Union of the Comoros, under the leadership of the newest president, Dr. Ikililou Dhoinine, drafted an official Poverty Reduction Strategy, highlighting six distinct goals to reducing their nation’s poverty.
1. Stabilize the economy by building a foundation for strong equity.
Although the external debt of the Comoros is said to remain unsustainable, the country’s external trade has increased from 47.8% in 2010 to 52% in 2011, increasing imports from 8.9% in 2010 to 9.1% in 2011.
2. Strengthen profitable sectors, including institution building and participation of private economic operators.
The Comorian government has set a priority to repair highly damaged roads including 17 km on Ngazidja, 17 km on Ndzouani, and 6.5 km on Mwali, among other main highway repairs.
3. Strengthen governance and social cohesion.
Studies on citizenship, prejudice, discrimination, the roles of women and youth in society, the establishment of 16 peace committees, introducing biometrics into the electoral process, and the institutionalization of a national commission to fight corruption.
4. Improve the health of citizens.
According to the recently drafted strategy, 300 households are currently benefiting from implemented sanitation programs, far surpassing the target set in 2011. A sanitary water network has reached 23 km, active in Djando on Mohéli, Domoni, and Sima on Anjouan.
Fighting against avoidable illnesses has also made significant progress. Through obtaining instruments and equipment, support for training programs, and the installation and management of vaccine distribution. Comorians were able to see high percentages of vaccination effectiveness per antigen.
5. Promote education and vocational training.
The main objective in education was to improve access to educational institutions per capita. Enrollment in professional and vocational roles reported an increase from 3% in 2010 to 8% in 2011. Although this rate is lower than the projected improvement of 15%, there has been a significant increase in admissions at the University of the Comoros.
6. Promote environmental sustainability and civil society.
Priority zones for biodiversity conservation resulted in the completion of five inventories of flora and fauna, exceeding the 2011 forecast. 1,531 citizens were educated in several areas of agricultural management, complying with government-instated goals for sustainable use of renewable resources.
Although one out of two people in the Comoros is considered poor, the Comorian government is taking active steps to reduce their poverty and improve the lives of their citizens.
– Kali Faulwetter
Sources: IMF, Every Culture, Maps of World
Global Poverty by the Numbers
Global poverty is not just about numbers. Statistics in income, wealth distribution, disease, and education never tell the whole story of individual lives in harsh conditions. Poverty affects health, life expectancy, maternal mortality, educational opportunity, environmental risk, and many other factors that contribute to individual and collective well-being. Nevertheless, numbers show a lot about the challenges of global poverty, and better data can inform better solutions to the problem of global poverty.
Reports on global poverty commonly use GDP to determine the relative wealth of countries. Such numbers allow researchers, governments, and relief organizations to determine areas of the world where poverty is most severe. Using 2012 figures from the IMF World Economic Outlook Database, the magazine Global Finance states that Sub-Saharan Africa is home to many of the poorest countries in the world. Indeed, according to those estimates, 19 of the 20 poorest countries in the world can be found in that region. Measured by per capita GDP, the five poorest countries in the world are:
Life expectancy at birth in the poorest countries in the world is 2/3 that of some of the world’s wealthiest nations:
Child mortality rates in these countries where poverty is the worst are also expectedly high. The probability of infant death per 1,000 births is as follows:
In comparison, the average life expectancy in the U.S. and the U.K. is 79 and 80 respectively. The infant mortality rate is 5 per 1,000 in U.K. and 8 per 1,000 in the US. Using the GDP metric, the U.S. ranks 7th on the list of wealthiest nations, with an estimated GDP of over $49,000; and the U.K. ranks 23rd, with an estimated GDP of almost $37,000. The richest nation in the world is the oil-rich microstate of Qatar, with a per capita GDP of over 100,000 dollars. Life expectancy in that country is 82 years. The probability of infant death is also 8 per 1,000 live births.
– Délice Williams
Source: Global Finance,WHO
Photo: Melange
Poverty Reduction in the Comoros
The Comoros consists of four islands located in the Indian Ocean near Madagascar and Mozambique. Affectionately calling their country Masiwa, or “the islands”, the population totals to 1,080,000 citizens. The country, among several other small island states, is considered underdeveloped. Although the country gained independence in 1975, political and institutional crises created sustained instability.
In 2012, the Union of the Comoros, under the leadership of the newest president, Dr. Ikililou Dhoinine, drafted an official Poverty Reduction Strategy, highlighting six distinct goals to reducing their nation’s poverty.
1. Stabilize the economy by building a foundation for strong equity.
Although the external debt of the Comoros is said to remain unsustainable, the country’s external trade has increased from 47.8% in 2010 to 52% in 2011, increasing imports from 8.9% in 2010 to 9.1% in 2011.
2. Strengthen profitable sectors, including institution building and participation of private economic operators.
The Comorian government has set a priority to repair highly damaged roads including 17 km on Ngazidja, 17 km on Ndzouani, and 6.5 km on Mwali, among other main highway repairs.
3. Strengthen governance and social cohesion.
Studies on citizenship, prejudice, discrimination, the roles of women and youth in society, the establishment of 16 peace committees, introducing biometrics into the electoral process, and the institutionalization of a national commission to fight corruption.
4. Improve the health of citizens.
According to the recently drafted strategy, 300 households are currently benefiting from implemented sanitation programs, far surpassing the target set in 2011. A sanitary water network has reached 23 km, active in Djando on Mohéli, Domoni, and Sima on Anjouan.
Fighting against avoidable illnesses has also made significant progress. Through obtaining instruments and equipment, support for training programs, and the installation and management of vaccine distribution. Comorians were able to see high percentages of vaccination effectiveness per antigen.
5. Promote education and vocational training.
The main objective in education was to improve access to educational institutions per capita. Enrollment in professional and vocational roles reported an increase from 3% in 2010 to 8% in 2011. Although this rate is lower than the projected improvement of 15%, there has been a significant increase in admissions at the University of the Comoros.
6. Promote environmental sustainability and civil society.
Priority zones for biodiversity conservation resulted in the completion of five inventories of flora and fauna, exceeding the 2011 forecast. 1,531 citizens were educated in several areas of agricultural management, complying with government-instated goals for sustainable use of renewable resources.
Although one out of two people in the Comoros is considered poor, the Comorian government is taking active steps to reduce their poverty and improve the lives of their citizens.
– Kali Faulwetter
Sources: IMF, Every Culture, Maps of World
Post-2015: A New Millennium for Women
For U.N. members looking to affect real change in reforming the millennium development goals post-2015, one thing is clear: gender equality goals must be at the top of the agenda.
Many argue that a lack of attention to the pervasive inequalities that plague the developing world was the key limitation of the last round of millennium development goals (MDGs) that are set to expire in 2015. While the new set of MDGs now makes achieving greater equality a priority, some wonder if the goals will focus too much on income inequality while overshadowing issues of gender and other social inequalities.
Specifically, human rights advocates worry about the proposal to replace the current, specified gender equality goal with a less defined, overarching goal covering all “inequalities.” Female empowerment advocates disagree with the MDGs’ tendency to treat gender as merely one of the many inequalities that generate poverty. Rather, they say, gender is both the most pervasive form of inequality as well as the root problem that instigates other forms of inequality.
Despite its limitations, however, having the MDGs has proven useful both as a tool to hold governments accountable for their responsibilities to women, and as a line of defense against conservative forces in developing nations that threaten to reverse equality gains. U.N. leaders and stakeholders around the world should use this solid foundation to achieve further, more progressive reforms, like ensuring fairer access to employment opportunities and greater representation in decision-making positions in the public sector.
As it turns out, as rates of gender equality improve, so does a country’s overall well-being. Recent reviews have shown that countries with greater gender equality in employment and education were more likely to experience greater economic growth and human development rates. Thus, fixing the gender inequality problem can consequently help improve the socio-economic inequality problems without necessitating separate initiatives.
The same principle does not apply in the reverse, however. Economic growth does not necessarily contribute to gender inequality if the social structures needed to empower women are not put in place. Gender, then, seems to be the only standalone factor that intertwines itself with every other aspect of the complex issue of global poverty, and thus the issue that must be addressed and corrected before any other reforms can occur.
– Ally Bruschi
Source: The Guardian,Institute of Development Studies
Photo: The Business Finance Store
Rethinking Hunger in Africa
Philanthropists may be tempted to rejoice that recent trends have shown that the total number of people who face chronic hunger has dropped. New surveys, however, caution those working to eradicate global poverty.
The Afrobarometer is an independent, nonpartisan research project that measures the social, political and economic environment in Africa through a series of regularly-repeated surveys. By consistently asking the same, standard set of questions in more than a dozen African countries each year, the Afrobarometer can track trends in public attitudes that can be shared with various public actors in order to create better dialogue between the public and the government.
When asked in a recent Afrobarometer survey how many times in the past year they had gone without food, 16% of survey participants responded either “always” or “many times.” Even as global instances of chronic hunger drop as a whole, Africa remains the exception to the trend. The U.N. suggests that 239 million African citizens, or nearly 23% of the total African population, meet the U.N.’s criteria for being chronically undernourished.
The situation is even more alarming when one considers that chronic hunger mainly affects African children, who may experience stunting (low height), wasting (low weight) or micronutrient deficiency if exposed to chronic hunger conditions between the ages of 2 and 3. Chronic hunger not only puts children at risk for future health complications but can also impair future economic concerns as well. Studies have also shown that undernourished children eventually earn an average of 20% less than their healthy peers.
The current hunger problems in African can be traced back to a reliance on maize. Though maize is highly caloric, it offers mediocre nutritional qualities and thus can exacerbate malnutrition even as it satisfies daily caloric needs. Both Zambians and Malawians report receiving more than 50% of their calories from maize.
Over-reliance on maize is not just stunting the growth of African children, but also the potential of the African economy and agricultural development. By only producing maize, African farmers limit their access to global markets, thus making them too reliant on foreign aid and capital.
Instead of maize, the U.N. and its associated nutritionists suggest a food fortification program that supplies rural grain mills with a range of foods that include added iodine, zinc and vitamin A to provide an extra nutritional boost. Additionally, initiatives like ReSCOPE are using schools and colleges in Africa to teach a technique called permaculture, which uses a version of organic farming to keep nutrients in the soil to promote sustainable, year-round crops that will help local farming cultures flourish like never before.
These initiatives follow the concept of the “teach a man to fish” proverb. By promoting a culture of food self-sufficiency that allows African farmers to create both the quantity and quality of the food needed to meet their local nutritional needs, global aid communities and governments may be giving Africa the long-overdue ability to stand on its own two feet.
– Alexandria Bruschi
Source: Afrobarometer.org,Think Africa Press
Photo: WPHR
Nelson Mandela’s Childhood
Nelson Mandela’s life has been exemplary in many ways. Through his patience, his perseverance, his strength and his courage, he managed to lead South Africa through troubled social and economic times to become one of the world’s largest emerging economies and bring an end to apartheid to establish a new “Rainbow Nation” in honor of its racial diversity.
Nelson Mandela’s childhood is no less remarkable than his career. From a family that was traditionally powerful – his father was in line to be chief until a dispute robbed him of the title – Mandela came from humble beginnings. After his father was dispossessed of his status, his family was forced to move to a small village, where he was raised in a hut and lived a very simple life, eating what they could grow and playing with the other village boys. His first name was Rohlilahla, meaning “troublemaker” (an apt name for the man who would later become the leader of the African National Congress). He adopted Nelson when he began formal schooling and was given an English name.
After his father died, he was sent to live with Jongintaba Dalindyebo, a regent of the Thembu people, who began raising Mandela to assume a position of leadership when he grew older.
Mandela’s interest in African history is said to have started during his lessons next to the palace, where he studied English, Xhosa, geography, and history. He became interested in the effect of the arrival of the Europeans on the nation and the people. Later, in a coming-of-age ritual in the village, Chief Meligqili, a speaker, uttered words that would greatly influence Mandela.
“He went on to lament that the promise of the young men would be squandered as they struggled to make a living and perform mindless chores for white men. Mandela would later say that while the chief’s words didn’t make total sense to him at the time, they would eventually formulate his resolve for an independent South Africa.”
From the village, Mandela would go to boarding school and later university, which would feed the fire of his emerging interest in the rights of South Africans.
Mandela disproves the common conception that one needs to come from an established background in order to be successful; what made the difference in Mandela’s case was the education afforded to him by Dalindyebo, and later through boarding school and university. Mandela’s understanding of his own country’s history and his exposure to multiple facets of life gave him insight into the lives of many of the different citizens of the country.
Much of Mandela’s strength stemmed from a humble background and the early lessons of hardship and the value of each opportunity.
– Farahnaz Mohammed
Sources: Biography.com, History.com
Photo: The Guardian
Arco do Futuro
São Paulo’s visionary new mayor, Fernando Haddad, plans to elevate the city’s sprawling and overcrowded slums out of abject poverty by 2020. His goal is to improve the horrible living conditions of the favelas while also halting their insurgent growth.
The favela slums of São Paulo remain a brazen example of the poverty and income inequality that still lingers in Brazil despite its recent (and remarkable) economic growth. They serve as hotbeds for violence and crime as well as uncontained waste and rampant pollution.
In a campaign promise during last year’s election, Haddad created what will become the city’s main development plan named “Arco do Futuro.” This plan promises to provide more housing and jobs for the favela’s cramped and unemployed populations. He maintains that the improvements will occur as a result of economic growth, government funding, and demographic changes.
Previously, the government’s efforts to develop a 100-acre area around Luz, which is notorious for drug activity and known as Cracolândia, sparked intense protests within the community. According to Haddad, this was because the public did not trust the private companies in charge of the housing programs.
The mayor plans to allow members of the community to have a greater voice in order for the development plan to not be seen as a threat. He emphasized that giving individuals a greater sense of ownership would negate the negative feelings toward the project.
This mentality fits well with the message of the New Cities Summit, which was hosted by São Paulo this year. The message is this: “The Human City, placing the individual and the community at the heart of discussions on our urban future.”
The New Cities Summit, held in São Paulo this year echoed this idea as a way of developing solutions to the challenges of rapid urbanization. São Paulo was chosen to host last week’s New Cities summit because it faces many of the same problems as other metropolises across the developing world. If São Paulo can find ways to alleviate their problems of crime, pollution, overcrowding and waste, then the hope is that other cities can too.
By 2030, it is estimated that 60% of the world’s total population will be living in urban areas. Each year, a million people are added to this figure in China, India and the Middle East. Latin American countries have the highest percentage of urban populations with 87% of the population of Brazil living in cities.
“We need more just cities. Not just playgrounds for the wealthy, but cities where all people can thrive,” said John Rossant of the New Cities Foundation, “This is a global summit to look at problems facing cities in the 21st century, but also opportunities. There are lots of interesting solutions.”
– Kathryn Cassibry
Source: The Guardian,New Cities Foundation,Estado Sao Paulo
Photo: Mind Map-SA
Good News for the Meningitis Belt
Meningitis is an infectious disease that causes the swelling of the protective membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord. The symptoms involve severe headache, stiffness of the neck and sensitivity to light. In 2009, 88,000 people in Sub-Saharan African were infected with meningitis and more than 5,000 died. To alleviate this problem, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has helped develop MenAfriVac.
Paired with the Meningitis Vaccine Project, a nonprofit organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has assisted in developing this new vaccine which costs less than 50 cents per dose. The vaccine is manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and has dramatically reduced deaths from the disease in many countries in the “meningitis belt” – a region of Sub-Saharan African where cases of meningitis are very high.
The most significant development in the MenAfriVac vaccine is the ability to store the drug. MenAfriVac can be stored at a temperature of 40 degrees Celsius for up to four days before use. This, paired with its low cost, has made the vaccine extremely effective in treating meningitis in the parts of the world that suffer the most from the disease.
In addition, the vaccine can be used to immunize infants. Immunizing children with MenAfriVac represents a huge development against the spread and contraction of meningitis in Sub-Saharan Africa.
– Pete Grapentien
Sources: News24, WHO
Photo: Meningitis Vaccine Project
What is the Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index?
Measuring poverty can be tricky. Income is a good place to start, but it does not tell the whole story. A recent graduate can live comfortably on the same amount on which a family of four would struggle.
Researchers have begun to search for more comprehensive measures of poverty. One such measure is the Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index (MPI), created by Sabina Alkire at the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative. This index takes the answers to ten questions – two on education, two on health, and six on living standards – and combines them into a single index. Different questions are weighted differently. Whether your children are enrolled in primary education, for instance, counts three times more than whether you have electricity. Higher scores indicate higher levels of poverty. Households with composite scores over 33% are considered to be in poverty.
One problem with the MPI is that its weightings are arbitrary. Whether access to clean water or access to education matters more is up for debate. Yet despite its shortcomings, the Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index has drawn attention to specifics of poverty that income does not address.
– David Wilson
Source: The Economist
Photo: Inquirer Business
The Role of Rice in the Fight Against Poverty
The USDA plans to address this by researching different strands and genes of rice in order to breed a new strand of white rice that would “hold high concentrations of 14 essential minerals (including zinc, iron and calcium) in the grains instead of in the husk”. Their research is focused on the use of “molecular marker data for use in quickly identifying the high-mineral plants without having to grow them to maturity.”
Up to 1,643 types of rice from around the world have been tested, and “127 gene locations in 40 chromosome regions that indicate high concentrations of minerals” have been identified. The first method for creating this new strain of rice that comes to mind would be genetic engineering. However, it is simpler and more accessible to farmers around the world if the rice is created through reproducing plants with the genes they find desirable.
Helping breeders grow this rice could decrease malnutrition around the world, and refraining from genetic modification would allow the rice to be distributed (exported or imported) without fear of rejection from those who are against GMO foods. This new strain of rice could solve all kinds of food-related issues surrounding poverty and hunger globally, as well as introduce a healthier option for those in Western countries.
– Sarah Rybak
Source: PopSci.com,DVice.com
Photo: Prevention
Profile: the Better World Fund
The Better World Fund was founded in 1998 by media mogul, philanthropist, and humanitarian Ted Turner. The man who brought us the cable station CNN started the Fund as an umbrella organization to facilitate public-private partnerships to address a range of global concerns, including health crises and environmental problems. The fund also serves as an advocacy and outreach organization to support the work of the United Nations and to lobby for the US Government to provide political, financial and sometimes military support for UN humanitarian and peacekeeping efforts.
The major initiative of the Better World Fund is the Better World Campaign, whose publicity and advocacy work currently focuses on what the organization calls its “key issues.” The top three of those issues are climate change, global health, and international security.
In each of these areas, the Better World Fund and the Better World Campaign work to build support for UN initiatives. On climate change, they advocate for the adoption of the Copenhagen Accord, which establishes a registry to keep track of the ways that different nations are responding to climate change. The Accord also commits developed countries to provide up to $100 billion per year by 2020 to reduce emissions and take other measures to address climate change.
In the area of global health, the Better World Fund supports UN education and treatment efforts to combat HIV/AIDS and malaria, and it supports vaccination efforts to eradicate polio. In the area of international security, the Fund advocates for UN efforts to end nuclear proliferation, to combat international terrorism, and to enforce maritime laws governing the activities of governments and businesses, and the management of marine natural resources.
The Fund’s Board of Directors includes former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, civil rights leader Andrew Young, and Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan.
– Délice Williams
Source: Better World Campaign, Charity Navigator
Source: Glogster