When it comes to Global Poverty, there are more than a few questions that are consistently asked. How many people are living in poverty? What kind of progress has been made? How much does it cost to eliminate world Hunger? Is global hunger a solvable problem? While these questions seem difficult, their answers are relatively simple. The World Food Programme has complied a list of 10 things one should know about World Hunger in 2013 to help clarify the problem and launch the world into action to eliminate hunger across the globe.
1. Approximately 870 million people in the world do not eat enough to be healthy. That means that one in every eight people on Earth goes to bed hungry each night.
2. The number of people living with chronic hunger has declined by 130 million people over the past 20 years. For developing countries, the prevalence of undernourishment has fallen from 23.2 to 14.9 percent over the period 1990–2010.
3. Most of the progress against hunger was achieved before 2007/08. Since then, global progress in reducing hunger has slowed and leveled off.
4. Hunger is number one on the list of the world’s top 10 health risks. It kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.
5. A third of all deaths in children under the age of five in developing countries is linked to under nutrition.
6. The first 1,000 days of a child’s life, from pregnancy through age two, are the critical window in which to tackle under nutrition. A proper diet in this period can protect children from the mental and physical stunting that can result from malnutrition.
7. It costs just US $0.25 per day to provide a child with all of the vitamins and nutrients he or she needs to grow up healthy.
8. If women in rural areas had the same access to land, technology, financial services, education and markets as men, the number of hungry people could be reduced by 100-150 million.
9. By 2050, climate change and erratic weather patterns could have pushed another 24 million children into hunger. Almost half of these children would be in sub-Saharan Africa.
10. Hunger is the single biggest solvable problem facing the world today.
-Kira Maixner
Source World Food Programme
Photo The Telegraph
Matt Damon Toilet Strike
Dear Toilet,
It’s not you. It’s us.
Sincerely,
Matt Damon
Matt Damon broke up with his toilet…well at least until everyone has access to clean water and sanitation. The Oscar-winning actor and co-founder of Water.org announced his toilet strike in a comedic video.
The video is a staged press conference with prominent comedians. It highlights society’s ignorance of the world water crisis and the underappreciation of toilets. 780 million people lack access to clean water.
Damon mentions how the toilet has saved more lives than any other invention, yet 2.5 billion people lack access to toilets or basic sanitation. More people own cell phones than toilets. The “Matt Damon Toilet Strike” is designed to be less about him and more about people who lack the luxury of clean sanitation.
U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson released a statement that the world water crisis is something people “don’t like to talk about.” The United Nations aims to double the number of people with toilets by 2015.
The organization’s long-term plan is to “eliminate the practice of open defecation” by 2025. This practice makes unsanitary water the number one killer of people worldwide. In fact, children under the age of five are most likely to die from diarrhea-related diseases.
Water.org traded the traditional public service announcement model in hopes of creating a viral frenzy.
“If Sarah Silverman and I can generate millions of views on YouTube for something ridiculous, then we should be able to do better for one of the most important and solvable issues of our time,” Damon said.
The nonprofit has “been toying with [the idea of comedic videos] for a couple of years.” Damon and the rest of Water.org believe viral videos can “generate new levels of awareness and participation in the cause.”
The announcement video is the first of 12 videos. The strike campaign’s other videos include: Damon breaking up with his toilet, other celebrities joining the strike, and John Elerick fighting to outdo Damon. The video was filmed for free at YouTube’s L.A. studios as YouTube works to educate nonprofits about best practices for video campaigns.
Jessica Mason, YouTube spokeswoman, understands that views should not be the main concern for non-profits. “We want to help nonprofits raise awareness and turn that awareness into action.”
Water.org will continue using social media to further awarness. The website features extensive social media integration. It asks visitors to “lend” their social media accounts and allow Water.org to publish automatically until World Toilet Day on November 9, 2013.
For more information, visit strikewithme.org or tweet questions with #strikewithme.
– Whitney M. Wyszynski
Source: Strike With Me
Let there be Light: Solar Bottle Bulbs Illuminate Filipino Cities
When a group of imaginative students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) first designed an experiment to make light emanate from plastic water bottles, they never imagined that their minimalistic idea would literally and metaphorically light up the lives of over 15,000 people.
The idea seems deceivingly simple: take an empty one liter plastic bottle, fill it with purified water and a few drops of bleach for cleanliness, and cement it halfway through a small metal roof sheet. The plastic refracts sunlight and suddenly illuminates every corner of a dark room.
But while its physics is straightforward, its impacts have been far greater than any of the original designers could have imagined. Many slum homes in developing nations lack proper lighting because of how closely they are constructed in relation to one another, and the families often cannot afford the luxury of electricity. Over three million families live immersed in darkness in metropolitan Manila, a Filipino city where the bottle of captured light has made the greatest difference.
Filipino student Illac Diaz, the creator of the My Shelter Foundation, has made it his personal mission to brighten one million homes in the Philippines by utilizing this elementary yet ingenious invention. He calls his project Isang Litrong Liwanag – A Liter of Light. Today, with the help of various organizations and individual volunteers, Diaz and his solar bottle bulbs have lit up over 15,000 homes in over 20 Philippine cities.
Although it is not a perfect technology because it does not produce light during the nighttime hours, it is surprisingly effective in the sense that it uses inexpensive and locally available materials to illuminate homes that had never experienced the luxury of light before. The MIT students’ science along with Diaz’s motivation have extended this project’s impact beyond providing light.
The success of A Liter of Light is a great model of a sustainable solution for a variety of socio-economic problems worldwide. It is an idea of Appropriate Technologies, a concept that provides a simple, replicable technology that fulfills the needs of developing nations by utilizing the limited resources they have access to.
And the Philippines aren’t the only country. From the jungles of Uganda to riverbanks of Bangladesh, these solar bottle bulbs are continuing to make their mark on countries all over the world. And for those families that now have these makeshift light bulbs in their homes, something that spreads a stray ray into the darkest interior can be much more than a bright idea.
To find out more, visit aliteroflight.org.
– Angie Lou
Source: Let’s Talk Magazine
Child Marriage: A Promise of Poverty
The average teenager worries about hanging out with friends, getting good grades, and fitting in with a group of people—not marrying a stranger and creating a home.
However, child marriage is a reality in the world’s 51 least-developed countries. Half of all girls living in these countries are married before the age of 18, according to the United Nations. Parents arrange the marriage, and the groom can be more than twice the bride’s age. Girls are ripped from their communities and forced into social isolation. These abrupt marriages sever a girl from her support network—a group of people necessary for helping the girl face the physical and emotional challenges of marriage.
Many cultures view girls as economic burdens, subservient individuals, or family mistakes. Marrying girls off as soon as possible alleviates the household expenses and restores the family’s reputation.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) established that the minimum age of marriage is 18 years old. This is considered the upper limit of childhood, and the individual is fit to decide whether to be married. Many countries continue to practice child marriage despite proven physical and psychological effects.
World Vision reported that child marriages are increasing due to the increase in global poverty crises. 14 million girls under the age of 18 are married each year. Child marriages are most prevalent in rural, poor areas and are associated with areas of low education and healthcare. Polygamy is common, and these marriages are bargaining chips between two parties.
South Asia (46%) and Central Africa (41%) are the top areas for child marriages. These regions do not monitor the age of spouses carefully. Girls who live in countries with humanitarian crises are most likely to be subjected to child marriages. Fear of rape, unwanted pre-marital pregnancies, family shame, and hunger are the main motivators for child marriage. Poverty, weak legislation, gender discrimination, and lack of alternative opportunities reinforce these motivations.
Anti-poverty organizations, such as CARE, are working in various countries to combat child marriage. According to CARE, “As levels of education and economic opportunities increase, so does the average age of marriage.” CARE mobilizes community organizers, parents, and tribal and religious leaders to lobby against the child marriage law in Ethiopia. Leaders are constructing savings and loans groups to empower families financially. Though child marriage still exists, this will eliminate one major cause of child marriage. Community forums now focus on the elimination of bride price, bride abduction, and child marriage.
– Whitney M. Wyszynski
Source: NBC News
Nepal Innovates Traditional Compost with Urine
Instead of using the traditional nitrogen-rich fertilizer typically used to encourage crop growth, researchers in Nepal are experimenting with an unlikely candidate for fertilizer: human urine.
Urea, which is typically used as fertilizer, was found by researchers in Nepal’s capital to be inferior to human urine in fertilizing crops. As part of their research, compost was mixed with different types of fertilizer sources, including urine mixed with compost, and the combinations were tested on pepper plants. The plants in which a mix of urine and compost was used grew the tallest plants that bore the most peppers.
Scientia Horticulturae, who released the study, attributed the positive affect of the unique mixture to “reduced nitrogen loss and enhanced availability of organic carbon in the soil.” The researchers conclude that human urine could be a possible alternative to traditional fertilizers in enhancing sustainable agriculture.
The study goes on to point out that although the use of urine may enhance crop growth, the use of it alone is not sufficient to have a positive effect on plants – it must be used in addition to compost. Currently in Nepal, farmers are applying urine directly to soil, which is not efficient.
Urine alone does not contain organic matter to become a viable source of nutrients for crops, but does provide “faster-releasing nutrients that complement slow-release nutrients from compost, which has a higher content of organic matter and beneficial microbes.”
Researchers acknowledge that although the combination of urine and compost is sustainable, efficient, and cost-effective, marketing this to farmers may be difficult due to “cultural factors” and reluctance of farmers to handle human urine. Experts also cite that government subsidies to mineral fertilizers will stand in the way of widespread use of urine in agriculture.
– Christina Kindlon
Source: Guardian
Volunteers Pitch Funding Needs
Coming to a theater near you… or perhaps just your computer screen. Talented Borgen Project volunteers were at the office pitching the cause on Monday.
Coldplay and Oxfam Fight Land Grabs With “In My Place”
Land grabs occur when people have pushed off a tract of land without consultation or compensation because corporations, governments, and banks buy up the land to generate large profits. People are in effect moved off the places they call home. Since 2001, at least 80 million hectares of land deals have occurred forcing many families to find somewhere else to stay. The project is part of the GROW campaign which is working to create a more just and more sustainable world.
Working on the music video is award-winning director Mat Whitecross. Whitecross, using video clips and photos donated by fans and friends of Oxfam, will create a video that very uniquely sends the message of what these land grabs do to poor families all over the world.
“The concept is really simple,” says Whitecross. “I want you to take a room in your house and move it somewhere else, somewhere unexpected.”
Land grabs exacerbate the problem of poverty and hunger by denying people the homes they live in and the land they use to grow their food. With the video, Oxfam hopes to send a message that action must be taken to prevent land grabs and put people before profit.
– Rafael Panlilio
Source: Oxfam
Strategies for Ending Global Poverty
There are many ways to go about reducing and eventually ending world poverty. The Millennium Villages Project (MVP) has implemented several strategies that have proven to be effective at boosting economic independence in African villages. This is the “one village at a time” method. The pith of this method is agriculture reform.
The MVP works with African farmers to improve various aspects of agriculture techniques like what season to plant certain seeds and how to correctly use small scale irrigation, specifically a “gravity drip irrigation system” that is highly cost effective. Soil is also an important topic that farmers are educated about. They learn how to farm without stripping soil of vital nutrients, thus vastly increasing crop yields. Other aspects of soil health include organic farming, fertilizing, and soil conservation.
Education is a huge aspect of the Millennium Project. People working for the MVP train African farmers, and then these farmers can later educate other farmers about efficient agriculture methods. These farming organizations ensure that future generations will continue to produce higher crop yields. When farmers are successful, that means the entire village will flourish. The MVP encourages schools to provide locally grown, healthy foods for their students, especially young children.
Other key strategies being used around the world include: providing vaccines and building schools, shelters, wells, and medical clinics. These are some of the many approaches to help people lift themselves out of poverty. There is no one correct method; rather, it is often the combination of multiple techniques that proves to be the most effective. The Millennium Development Goals’ main objective is to end extreme global poverty by 2030 and with these many strategies will play a huge role in achieving this goal.
– Mary Penn
Source: Borgen Project
Photo: NY Times
Fighting HIV/AIDS in Honduras Through the Arts
The Garifuna people of Honduras have an HIV infection rate of 4.5 percent – higher than any nation in the Western hemisphere, and five times higher than Honduras as a whole. Those affected by the virus are finding new and creative ways to fight HIV/AIDS in Honduras.
According to an NPR report funded by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, the Garifuna are using traditional music and theater to raise awareness of HIV, and to combat stigmas surrounding the disease. Musician and singers perform traditional celebratory Garifuna songs to draw listeners, and then enact a play in which actors put HIV on trial.
Many Hondurans who are HIV-positive are reluctant to seek help, even though HIV clinics provide medical care and antiretroviral medication to patients at almost no cost. They deny having the problem because they fear judgment or ostracization, and for good reason. Lack of education has been a major contributor to high infection rates. Women infected with the virus report being rejected by family and unable to find work.
Widespread poverty and migration also contribute to new infections. In some areas it is socially acceptable to have multiple sexual partners. Testing facilities are not widely used, and communication between sexual partners is nonexistent in some cases.
Participants in the Garifuna theater group believe that theater, music, and other community activities are more engaging than books or pamphlets around such complex social and medical issues. Fighting HIV/AIDS in Honduras, especially among rural populations, is a challenge. But the creative approach is working well so far.
USAID and the Honduran government are funding theater groups like the Garifuna’s. A USAID official reported a decline in the rate of HIV infection among program beneficiaries: the 30 members of the theater group are living safer lives, and encouraging others to do so. The problem of HIV/AIDS in Honduras is not yet resolved, but community engagement through the arts is a step in the right direction.
– Kat Henrichs
Source: NPR
10 Facts About World Hunger
When it comes to Global Poverty, there are more than a few questions that are consistently asked. How many people are living in poverty? What kind of progress has been made? How much does it cost to eliminate world Hunger? Is global hunger a solvable problem? While these questions seem difficult, their answers are relatively simple. The World Food Programme has complied a list of 10 things one should know about World Hunger in 2013 to help clarify the problem and launch the world into action to eliminate hunger across the globe.
1. Approximately 870 million people in the world do not eat enough to be healthy. That means that one in every eight people on Earth goes to bed hungry each night.
2. The number of people living with chronic hunger has declined by 130 million people over the past 20 years. For developing countries, the prevalence of undernourishment has fallen from 23.2 to 14.9 percent over the period 1990–2010.
3. Most of the progress against hunger was achieved before 2007/08. Since then, global progress in reducing hunger has slowed and leveled off.
4. Hunger is number one on the list of the world’s top 10 health risks. It kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.
5. A third of all deaths in children under the age of five in developing countries is linked to under nutrition.
6. The first 1,000 days of a child’s life, from pregnancy through age two, are the critical window in which to tackle under nutrition. A proper diet in this period can protect children from the mental and physical stunting that can result from malnutrition.
7. It costs just US $0.25 per day to provide a child with all of the vitamins and nutrients he or she needs to grow up healthy.
8. If women in rural areas had the same access to land, technology, financial services, education and markets as men, the number of hungry people could be reduced by 100-150 million.
9. By 2050, climate change and erratic weather patterns could have pushed another 24 million children into hunger. Almost half of these children would be in sub-Saharan Africa.
10. Hunger is the single biggest solvable problem facing the world today.
-Kira Maixner
Source World Food Programme
Photo The Telegraph
Hans Rosling’s New Insights on Poverty
Hans Rosling, a professor of global health at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, focuses on dispelling common myths about the so-called developing world, which he points out is no longer worlds away from the West. In fact, most of the Third World is on the same trajectory toward health and prosperity, and many countries are moving twice as fast as the West did.
The statistic of the world has not been made properly available, because of that we still have the old mindset of developing and industrialized countries, which is wrong. According to Hans, Africa has done a great job and it has done better beyond our thinking.
And there are some wrong ideas. Many developed countries say now the problem is that the emerging economies are emitting too much carbon dioxide. The minister of the Environment of India said, “Well, you are the one who caused the problem.” The OECD countries, the highest income countries, were the ones who caused the climate change. So we need to have the right opinion about emerging economies and developed countries.
We can get out of poverty. Rosling spent 20 years researching African farmers who were on the verge of famine. “When you are in poverty, everything is about survival, it is about having food.” To get out of poverty, they need technology. “We hate this mortar to stand hours and hours,; get us a mill so that we can mill our flour then we will be able to pay for ourselves”.
Technology will bring us out of poverty. But there is a need for market to get away from poverty. His 20 years’ experience in Africa has convinced him that “the seemingly impossible is possible”. Africa is not done badly. In 50 years they have progressed from a pre-medieval situation. Africa has a bright future. Even though we are facing many obstacles, “seeing the impossible is possible” if we work together. Then we can make a great Africa.
– Caiqing Jin(Kelly)
Source: TedTalk