The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), more commonly known as North Korea, is one of the most isolated and poorest countries in the world. Under the rule of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, the country has largely closed itself off from the rest of the world, relying heavily on China and Russia for its economic stability.
Many North Koreans suffer from many natural disasters and the lack of basic infrastructure and food systems to live stable, healthy lives. Nearly 40% of its population lives below the poverty line. Almost a quarter of the people lack access to enough food, which is a huge problem for children especially, many of whom are malnourished. Poor health among children because of a lack of food and water is perhaps one of the reasons for the 33% infant mortality rate.
However, because of the government’s strict control over people’s lives and strong sentiment against Western influence, it is difficult for many charities and non-profit organizations to work within the country. Yet, that does not mean North Korea is left alone. Here are five charities operating in North Korea and making a difference in communities.
Liberty in North Korea
Liberty in North Korea is a nonprofit organization that focuses on helping North Korean refugees escape and resettle either in South Korea or the United States. It is illegal for North Koreans to leave the country without their government’s permission, yet some are still risking their lives to escape North Korea’s authoritarian regime. However, if caught, Chinese authorities send them back to North Korea, where they face torture, imprisonment and even death. So Liberty in North Korea has become a “modern-day underground railroad” of 3,000 miles, helping refugees get safely to Southeast Asia and eventually South Korea or the United States.
World Vision International
World Vision International is another charity working in North Korea. It is a Christian relief charity that operates in 100 countries, and it started working in North Korea in 1994. Focusing on fighting poverty around the world, World Vision International has been focusing its relief efforts on North Korea.
Through its Food for Life project, which started in response to North Korea’s food shortage, World Vision International has focused on improving children’s nutrition in the country. It has steadily provided wheat flour, soy products and machines for that purpose. However, its long-term goal regarding nutrition is to equip the country to fulfil its food needs through agricultural development programs and technologies.
World Vision International has also built around 30 clean water systems and hygienic latrines in rural areas of North Korea, to help ensure clean drinking water for communities. And lastly, it focuses on providing emergency relief that includes food, supplies and medicine for the many impacted by the monsoons, landslides and flooding that occur regularly.
Christian Friends of Korea
Christian Friends of Korea is a Christian charity organization that ministers to the North Korean people. While it does strive to help North Korea’s infrastructure and energy systems, it has a very specific focus on treating tuberculosis (TB) and hepatitis patients. The lack of access to clean water has many consequences, including gastrointestinal diseases, malnutrition, weakened immune systems, and tuberculosis. Thus, Christian Friends of Korea has focused its mission on treating the numerous TB and hepatitis patients.
So far, the organization has supported more than 35 care centers, seven TB and hepatitis hospitals and almost 18 TB and hepatitis rest homes. Many of these medical centers are located in remote areas, where clean water is harder to get. Christian Friends of Korea has also given water filter buckets to communities to ensure clean drinking water.
Choson Exchange
Choson Exchange is a nonprofit organization that focuses on raising entrepreneurs in North Korea to enrich lives, drive innovation and financial stability in the country and help North Korea be a responsible global citizen. North Korean college students see business economics as essential for an improved future, but they lack the means and resources for practical experience and high level.
Many foreign professionals lead workshops and mentor young North Korean students to train them into capable, successful business leaders in their country. Many students have gone on to start their businesses or improve the marketing and production of existing products, which is a step in the right direction towards a higher living standard that these college students dream of.
Premiere Urgence Internationale
Premiere Urgence Internationale focuses on humanitarian and developmental programs in North Korea. Food insecurity has become a more pressing issue for North Koreans because of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic sanctions after the country’s nuclear activity. Authorities have been preparing for another famine like the 1990s “Arduous March,” which killed an estimated 1 million people. Nearly 70% of the population relies on food distributions from the government.
To help with this food problem, the charity organization has specifically focused on improving the nutrition of communities. By developing the goat industry on collective farms as well as at agricultural universities, Premiere Urgence Internationale works to diversify communities’ diets and improve their nutrition through goat milk production. It has also done the same through vegetables and soybean products.
For example, one project supplied a glass of milk or yogurt to children in North Korea’s southern Hwanghae Province. After Premiere Urgence Internationale helped build the infrastructure, supply the equipment, train the workers and set up the manufacturing units, since 2015 workers have been keeping up the soy milk and yogurt production without the organization’s help to give to the communities. However, COVID-19 has impacted Premiere Urgence Internationale’s work in North Korea, leaving its work in the country uncertain as of now.
These five charities and others operating in North Korea are helping people to steadily improve their lives. It may take time, but these charities operating in North Korea are proof that there is progress.
– Hannah Chang
Hannah is based in Philadelphia, PA, USA and focuses on Good News for The Borgen Project.
Photo: Flickr
Addressing Child Poverty in Andorra
Data Behind Child Poverty in Andorra
As of 2022, 14% of under 18-year-olds and 14.7% of under 16-year-olds are at risk of poverty and social exclusion. This is an increase from 2018 when 13.3% of those under 16 were at risk of poverty (living with an expenditure below 60% of the national median). However, what is interesting is that when looking at single-parent families with one or more dependent children the proportion of those at risk of poverty increases significantly. In 2019, 24.4% of under 16s in a single-parent household were at risk of poverty, with 17.4% of single-parent households struggling with severe material deprivation.
While there is limited data on hunger or malnourishment in children, data does show that around 0.7 to 1% of children are underweight or thin. However, Andorra boasts a 100% literacy rate, making education’s prevalence very high. This is likely due to Andorra making public schooling free, reducing the impact of poverty on a child’s education.
Tackling Child Poverty in Andorra
Although child poverty is still present in Andorra the general poverty rates are still lower than the EU average of 24.8%. The Andorran Government has also implemented multiple initiatives to tackle child poverty and its sources. One example of an initiative that has helped reduce child poverty in Andorra is the Parròquies Amigues de la Infància (Child-Friendly Parishes) initiative. UNICEF Andorra runs the initiative, operating at the regional level and it promotes children’s participation through child Councils; a dedicated “child-friendly budget;” childhood data collection; and “the development of a national plan for children in conjunction with the state government.”
UNICEF Andorra measures the progress of the individual parishes under this initiative. If reviewed positively it grants the parish “the Child Friendly Parish Recognition”. This initiative has been so successful that UNICEF has claimed that “[a]s of 2023, all the seven parishes in the country are involved in the initiative, reaching almost 14,000 children, making Andorra in effect a child-friendly country.” The effectiveness of the initiative is due to its partnership with organizations such as the Community Association and Ministry of Education, facilitating its focus on educating children about their rights so they are empowered to be able to defend their rights and alter their future circumstances.
Promoting Child Rights
The Andorran Government also plans to carry out dissemination campaigns about child rights so that people are aware of these rights, are less likely to violate them and are more likely to guarantee them. The Child-Friendly Parishes initiative has also been key in involving the voices of children in decision-making so that political decisions affecting them are more likely to take into account their wants and needs, allowing these children to help shape their future.
From 2021 to 2022, 80 children from 9 to 12 years old have been elected as councillors from their respective parishes, and 611 students of the same age have participated in workshops promoting participation. Furthermore, 28 people aged 14 to 16 take part each year in the General Council of the Youth where they discuss and debate different proposals for laws on topics that interest them, replicating the operation of the General Council. All seven communal children’s councils have also maintained Child-Friendly Parish Recognition. according to a 2022 report.
Although there is a significant lack of data on the SDG trackers with 35 out of the 48 child-related SDG trackers lacking data the government still demonstrates effective measures and initiatives to reduce child poverty in Andorra. The most effective means of achieving this is through education, which includes multiple initiatives, such as the Child-Friendly Parishes Initiative. Children have been effectively involved in decisions about their future, educating them on how to change their circumstances and future for the better, enabling them to escape child poverty in Andorra.
– Archie Day
Photo: Wikipedia Commons
Poverty in Upper Egypt
Poverty in Upper Egypt
Also known as the “Sa’id,” Upper Egypt refers to the southern part of Egypt and the Nile River valley, extending from the area south of Cairo to Aswan. Despite its rich heritage of ancient Egyptian civilization, poverty in the region is prevalent, characterized by higher rates of unemployment, illiteracy, limited access to adequate health care and underdeveloped infrastructure. Although comprising only 25% of the population, it is home to 40% of the nation’s poor, totaling 12.6 million people. UNICEF findings reveal that a child in rural Upper Egypt is only half as likely to survive to the age of five compared to a child in Lower Egypt.
Access to clean and safe water is a challenge in Egypt and negatively impacts children. In areas without a piped water network, children, especially girls, are often tasked with fetching water, compromising their education and leisure time and further perpetuating the cycle of poverty.
Barriers to Education
Educational attainment in Upper Egypt has involved challenges; it is often difficult for children, particularly girls, to access schools. Families in this region often reside in small, rural hamlets, which are frequently located far from central village primary schools. Prevailing social influences and the lack of transport facilities has hindered children, especially young girls, from reaching these public schools. In Egypt as a whole, issues such as grade repetition, absenteeism and dropout rates reduce the efficiency of the education system. Consequently, approximately 46% of the working-age poor have not completed primary education, and less than 4% possess a university degree. Upper Egypt particularly shows lower intergenerational improvements in education than the remainder of the country, in 2015, approximately only 38.9% of those aged 25 years or older attained a higher level of education than their parents did.
Agricultural Challenges
In Upper Egypt, the governorates with the highest poverty rates see more than 30% of their workforce engaged in agriculture. The local economy relies heavily on subsistence agriculture, which, with unreliable weather conditions and changing weather patterns, is becoming increasingly unsustainable. Indeed, the country’s 1,000 poorest villages, located in three of these governorates, have 74% of households facing food insecurity. More than 55% of employment in Upper Egypt is agriculture related. Small farms, which fall short of international standards and which use traditional practices dominate this sector. Consequently, the region grapples with significant and persistent challenges, including food and water insecurity and climate variability, resulting in unsustainable livelihoods and hindering economic and social development.
The Ishraq Program
The Ishraq program focuses on out-of-school girls in Upper Egypt representing the most underprivileged, disadvantaged and often overlooked group in the country. When compared to their Lower Egypt and Urban governorate counterparts, they are at a much higher risk of early marriage, poor health outcomes and inter-generational poverty. Through the Ishraq program, Save the Children, in collaboration with the Population Council, provides safe spaces for girls who have dropped out of school helping them learn, socialize and develop life skills. “For more than a decade, Ishraq has served 3,321 girls and 1,775 boys in 54 villages across five of the most disadvantaged governorates of Upper Egypt,” according to the Population Council.
The program was met with high demand at the community level and resulted in improved literacy skills, financial management and health education. The program was launched in 2001 and a 2013 report by Population Council detailed plans to continue expanding the program, for which community demand remains high, and to encourage the development of further programs which support graduate girls as they become young women, who require greater life and livelihood opportunities.
Copts In Need
As a U.K. based charity dedicated to reducing extreme poverty in Upper Egypt, Copts In Need (CIN) undertakes various projects to help the poor communities of Upper Egypt, focusing on housing, child development and microfinance projects. In 2023, CIN constructed 200 houses in Upper Egypt and supported 800 members in starting their own businesses.
Another of their notable projects is ‘Eyes of Assiut’ which aims to address the high prevalence of visual impairment and blindness in the region, particularly among women. CIN has established an eye specialist hospital in the Abnoub district, providing treatment and training to local ophthalmologists and nurses, with support from highly qualified U.K. consultants. In the past year, the hospital has continued to be an effective referral and treating center for all Egyptians within Assiut and its peripheries.
Despite Upper Egypt’s rich cultural heritage, it remains one of the poorest and most underdeveloped regions in the country, exacerbated by ineffective government policies. However, initiatives by organizations like Save the Children and Copts In Need offer hope by focusing on education, health and sustainable development. For real progress, stronger government action and support are crucial to transform this region and improve the lives of its vulnerable populations.
– Asma Issa
Photo: Flickr
Addressing Homelessness in Tajikistan
Additionally, civil wars affected the speed of housebuilding, leaving many stranded on the streets. For those who did have access to a home, warmth and comfort were usually absent as huge families had to live in small dwellings and human beings had no choice but to sit upon hard, cold brick and dirt. Even though the economy was beginning to improve, natural disasters like earthquakes quickly reversed the progress this country had made as they damaged more and more houses and left many homeless, according to Habitat for Humanity. As of 2023, 21.2% of the population in Tajikistan remains in poverty, which is almost 1.25 million people.
Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit organization that has helped countries worldwide including Tajikistan. Since 1999, this organization has been aiming to end homelessness in Tajikistan by building and repairing houses and assisting more than 7,800 families with finding a home.
Earthquakes have always been a constant problem in Tajikistan. The power of this natural disaster is so strong that it destroys the windows and doors of people’s homes, many of which still have not been fixed. With Habitat for Humanity’s help, many people were given loans to build safer buildings and receive training on how to make their structures more stable, allowing families to better withstand earthquakes and other harsh conditions, according to its Country Profile.
Momajon and Karim completely rebuilt their house with the help of Habitat for Humanity. Typically, housebuilding was an extremely long and complicated process: one would have to wait years before constructing another wall due to the rising prices and declining wages. However, these individuals successfully built their houses from scratch, sharing their newly prized possessions with the rest of their family members through low-interest loans from banks and insurance provided by Habitat Tajikistan. The help they received from the organization did not solely help the process of house building but also provided them with a comfortable life.
UNICEF
The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is another organization that has helped tackle the health challenges in Tajikistan. Especially for small children, undernutrition has been a significant problem even to this day. According to UNICEF, “As many as 21 percent of children under five are stunted (have chronic malnutrition), including 6 percent who are severely stunted.”
To aid this issue, UNICEF has made investments in care facilities and hospitals, bringing them medicine, equipment and instructions on how to better help the Tajikistan community. Instead of death being the only option for families to face, the people of Tajikistan now have a form of hope to come to after many fall ill due to malnutrition. To further aid families with younger children and infants, this organization also promotes child care through maternal and child services such as increasing child feeding practices in hospitals and giving out more necessary items to household parents. Additionally, because of this organization’s help, 1.4 million children were able to improve on the status of their health, such as with diseases like polio.
Shelter for Life
Shelter for Life (SFL) is an international development organization that is working to provide humanitarian assistance to developing countries, especially through shared local involvement. Specifically in Tajikistan, there was many harsh weather conditions like flooding that hurt property security for many families, leading to a deterioration of many homes. To address the issue of homelessness in Tajikistan and the destruction caused by natural disasters, SFL created innumerable amounts of shelters and latrines and even created a school building as a form of shelter. Additionally, because of the low funding in Tajikistan, the quality of the houses are poor, allowing for a greater chance of destruction when natural disasters like earthquakes hit. Even though this organization cannot directly stop an earthquake, it can and did implement preparedness training to allow many to better recover from the trauma from earthquakes, allowing the effect of homelessness to take a lesser toll.
There is Hope
As seen through the above organizations, much work has been done to address homelessness in Tajikistan. Though problems of malnutrition, health care, lack of shelter and more may continue, these organizations are making a significant difference.
– Linda Yoonseo Lee
Photo: Flickr
FGM in Somalia and The National Development Plan
Reasons for Persistence
The National Development Plan
The Ninth National Development Plan (NDP9) is a comprehensive governmental framework designed to guide Somalia toward sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction between 2020 and 2024. This plan addresses politics, improved security, economic growth and social development. Furthermore, gender equality and women’s empowerment are pivotal objectives of NDP9. A significant focus is placed on combating harmful practices like FGM.
NDP9 incorporates strategies to combat FGM through laws, public awareness campaigns and education programs targeting both men and women. This includes the Ifrah Foundation’s “Dear Daughter” campaign, which hopes to reduce FGM by promoting personal empowerment and asking parents to pledge that they won’t cut their daughters. The aim is that a three-pillar approach of education, advocacy and action will begin to lay sustainable foundations for FGM eradication.
Comparison with Kenya
With previously high rates of FGM, similar initiatives and legislation in Kenya have seen FGM drop to approximately 15% among women aged 15-49. Effective grassroots activism, education and support from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have led to significant reductions in FGM prevalence, as well as the criminalization of those practicing. Organizations like the Kenyan anti-FGM Board and Amref Health Africa have been instrumental in these efforts. This comparison suggests that increased governmental stability and specific FGM groups can facilitate a quicker eradication of FGM in Somalia.
Activism, Advocacy and Advice
Activists like Shamsa Sharawe have played a crucial role in the fight against FGM in Somalia and Europe. By bringing the attention of international communities to the issue, Sharawe’s advocacy highlights the physical and psychological harm caused by FGM. Her efforts and those of various NGOs have been instrumental in pushing for more robust policies and community-based interventions. They display that this is not an issue of the past. FGM is a continual injustice and attack on female autonomy, dignity and freedoms.
Survivors of FGM, like Ifrah Ahmed (founder of “Dear Daughter“), have become vocal advocates for ending the practice. They emphasize the importance of education, community dialogue and international cooperation. Additionally, by sharing their stories, survivors help break down stereotypes and stigmas associated with female genital mutilation, advocating for survivor support and defending women’s dignity and integrity.
– Olivia Howard
Photo: Flickr
Water Rights: How NGOs Respond to Tanzania’s Water Crisis
Tanzania’s Water Crisis
Tanzania is an extremely dry country, with one-third considered arid to semi-arid. Several large lakes surround Tanzania that provide water for those who live nearby. However, the reality is that many do not have access to freshwater and instead must resort to contaminated groundwater from wells or bacteria-infested surface water. According to the Water Project, water-borne illnesses account for more than half of the population’s diseases due to the lack of sanitary water options, with malaria and cholera being the most common.
Alleviating the Pressure on Children
According to WaterAid, 25.7 million people in Tanzania lack clean water near their homes. That means that two out of five people in Tanzania are required to travel long distances to collect safe water. This task is predominantly placed on women and children.
One young girl, 11-year-old Tausi Katambarai from the Kigoma Region of Tanzania, was tasked with trekking 10 kilometers daily to collect 20 liters of water from a well she would need to carry on her head to carry home. Her responsibility to collect water for her family meant that she could only attend class twice a week, which had an extremely negative effect on her education.
To combat this, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) partnered with Water Mission Tanzania to drill boreholes in the Kigoma Region and piped water to schools and villages. This is part of a larger program of 15 projects that has “significantly transformed the lives of vulnerable groups, including women, girls and children,” according to Eng: Denis Arbogast, Project Manager at Water Mission. Teachers at Tausi Katambari’s school have praised the initiative and reported that class attendance has improved significantly since gaining nearby water access.
The #ClaimYourWaterRights Campaign
End Water Poverty is a “global civil society coalition” that campaigns to fulfill people’s human rights to sanitation and safe water. It works at different levels to advocate for governments to respect and protect what it calls “water rights,” a shorthand for the human rights to water and sanitation.
The #ClaimYourWaterRights campaign was first launched in 2019 and aimed to provide various groups with knowledge and confidence to advocate for water rights using the international human rights framework. The campaign focused on informing governments of their duties and educating vulnerable communities whose rights had been violated and their entitlements as holders of water rights.
Additionally, each year, the NGO grants $1,200-$6,000 to projects that support the campaign through advocacy and community mobilization.
The WaterCredit Solution
Another NGO that hopes to solve Tanzania’s water crisis is Water.org, which has been piloting water and sanitation programs in the country since 2017. According to the initiative, the country’s high demand for water and sanitation has created a dynamic market for water products such as storage tanks, rain harvesting devices and pipes.
The WaterCredit Initiative is Water.org’s loan program, which provides financing and resources to individuals facing water scarcity. Since its inception in Tanzania, the charity has disbursed 13,000 loans, granting more than 230,000 people access to household water and toilet solutions.
Hope for the Future
While the water crisis in Tanzania continues to impact millions of people daily, there is hope that the work of NGOs such as UNICEF, End Water Poverty and Water.org can go some way toward safeguarding individuals’ water rights.
– Carla Messinger
Photo: Flickr
Understanding Poverty in Papua New Guinea’s Rural Highlands
Economic Realities
Central to highland poverty is a complex interaction of economic factors. Subsistence agriculture forms the backbone of rural livelihoods, with smallholder farmers relying on rudimentary tools to squeeze out a living from the land. Poor market access and fluctuating commodity prices compound their vulnerability, trapping many in persistent poverty. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) reports that 70-80% of PNG’s population resides in rural areas, highlighting the crucial importance of addressing rural poverty for the nation’s overall development.
Besides the economic aspects, other factors that contribute to the creation of the poverty experience in the highlands are sociocultural practices and norms. Gender disparities, for example, cut across, with women often marginalized in decision-making processes and sometimes denied access to particular resources. In addition to these models, customary land tenure systems, though important for maintaining an indigenous identity, might be a constraint to development efforts if they interfere with land access for purposes of infrastructure or commercial agriculture.
Health and Education Challenges
Health and education are barometers of development for any society and the highlands would not be an exception. Limited access to medical institutions and professionals causes health inequalities, with preventable diseases like malaria and tuberculosis still endemic. Similarly, educational outcomes lag behind national averages, with remote villages often lacking schools or qualified teachers. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) estimates that nearly 40% of primary school-aged children in PNG are out of school, underlining the need to address this overdue predicament of educational inequities.
Solutions
The past decade has seen the single largest strides toward infrastructure development across Papua New Guinea’s rural highlands. Recently, the European Investment Bank (EIB) Global invested about $50 million to construct roads that can link remote villages to regional markets. This, in addition to other projects, has impacted the lives of about 400,000 residents of PNG’s rural highlands by providing them with easy access to markets and social services.
Regarding health care, several interventions have occurred. For example, government and international health organizations’ collaboration has spearheaded the opening of new health clinics and the deployment of mobile health teams into the underserved highland regions, drastically reducing malaria and tuberculosis cases while providing health care annually.
In education, initiatives have led to the building of new schools and training of local teachers; this has increased the rate of enrollment among children of primary school-going age. Some of the measures supported by organizations such as UNESCO and UNICEF have included expanding education facilities, which have benefited children who did not get a chance to have formal education. This, therefore, drives home a collective effort toward the eradication of education inequity and advancing literacy rates with long-term socioeconomic development in the region.
Pathways to Progress
Addressing poverty in Papua New Guinea’s rural highlands is complex and requires a multifaceted approach. It is necessary to address the basic causes of poverty while empowering communities toward sustainable development. Investment in rural infrastructure, including roads and electricity, opens up economic opportunities and improves access to critical services. Likewise, programs targeting women and the promotion of gender equality are instrumental in benefiting inclusive growth and social cohesion.
Community-driven development programs that draw on local experience and expertise bestow the possibility to inculcate independence and resilience amid adversity.
– Honorine Lanka Perera
Photo: Flickr
Charities Operating in North Korea
Many North Koreans suffer from many natural disasters and the lack of basic infrastructure and food systems to live stable, healthy lives. Nearly 40% of its population lives below the poverty line. Almost a quarter of the people lack access to enough food, which is a huge problem for children especially, many of whom are malnourished. Poor health among children because of a lack of food and water is perhaps one of the reasons for the 33% infant mortality rate.
However, because of the government’s strict control over people’s lives and strong sentiment against Western influence, it is difficult for many charities and non-profit organizations to work within the country. Yet, that does not mean North Korea is left alone. Here are five charities operating in North Korea and making a difference in communities.
Liberty in North Korea
Liberty in North Korea is a nonprofit organization that focuses on helping North Korean refugees escape and resettle either in South Korea or the United States. It is illegal for North Koreans to leave the country without their government’s permission, yet some are still risking their lives to escape North Korea’s authoritarian regime. However, if caught, Chinese authorities send them back to North Korea, where they face torture, imprisonment and even death. So Liberty in North Korea has become a “modern-day underground railroad” of 3,000 miles, helping refugees get safely to Southeast Asia and eventually South Korea or the United States.
World Vision International
World Vision International is another charity working in North Korea. It is a Christian relief charity that operates in 100 countries, and it started working in North Korea in 1994. Focusing on fighting poverty around the world, World Vision International has been focusing its relief efforts on North Korea.
Through its Food for Life project, which started in response to North Korea’s food shortage, World Vision International has focused on improving children’s nutrition in the country. It has steadily provided wheat flour, soy products and machines for that purpose. However, its long-term goal regarding nutrition is to equip the country to fulfil its food needs through agricultural development programs and technologies.
World Vision International has also built around 30 clean water systems and hygienic latrines in rural areas of North Korea, to help ensure clean drinking water for communities. And lastly, it focuses on providing emergency relief that includes food, supplies and medicine for the many impacted by the monsoons, landslides and flooding that occur regularly.
Christian Friends of Korea
Christian Friends of Korea is a Christian charity organization that ministers to the North Korean people. While it does strive to help North Korea’s infrastructure and energy systems, it has a very specific focus on treating tuberculosis (TB) and hepatitis patients. The lack of access to clean water has many consequences, including gastrointestinal diseases, malnutrition, weakened immune systems, and tuberculosis. Thus, Christian Friends of Korea has focused its mission on treating the numerous TB and hepatitis patients.
So far, the organization has supported more than 35 care centers, seven TB and hepatitis hospitals and almost 18 TB and hepatitis rest homes. Many of these medical centers are located in remote areas, where clean water is harder to get. Christian Friends of Korea has also given water filter buckets to communities to ensure clean drinking water.
Choson Exchange
Choson Exchange is a nonprofit organization that focuses on raising entrepreneurs in North Korea to enrich lives, drive innovation and financial stability in the country and help North Korea be a responsible global citizen. North Korean college students see business economics as essential for an improved future, but they lack the means and resources for practical experience and high level.
Many foreign professionals lead workshops and mentor young North Korean students to train them into capable, successful business leaders in their country. Many students have gone on to start their businesses or improve the marketing and production of existing products, which is a step in the right direction towards a higher living standard that these college students dream of.
Premiere Urgence Internationale
Premiere Urgence Internationale focuses on humanitarian and developmental programs in North Korea. Food insecurity has become a more pressing issue for North Koreans because of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic sanctions after the country’s nuclear activity. Authorities have been preparing for another famine like the 1990s “Arduous March,” which killed an estimated 1 million people. Nearly 70% of the population relies on food distributions from the government.
To help with this food problem, the charity organization has specifically focused on improving the nutrition of communities. By developing the goat industry on collective farms as well as at agricultural universities, Premiere Urgence Internationale works to diversify communities’ diets and improve their nutrition through goat milk production. It has also done the same through vegetables and soybean products.
For example, one project supplied a glass of milk or yogurt to children in North Korea’s southern Hwanghae Province. After Premiere Urgence Internationale helped build the infrastructure, supply the equipment, train the workers and set up the manufacturing units, since 2015 workers have been keeping up the soy milk and yogurt production without the organization’s help to give to the communities. However, COVID-19 has impacted Premiere Urgence Internationale’s work in North Korea, leaving its work in the country uncertain as of now.
These five charities and others operating in North Korea are helping people to steadily improve their lives. It may take time, but these charities operating in North Korea are proof that there is progress.
– Hannah Chang
Photo: Flickr
Child Marriage in Lebanon
Poverty and Child Marriage
Poverty affects 44% of the population in Lebanon. Between 2019 and 2021, the GDP per capita in Lebanon fell by 36.5%. In addition, The World Bank re-classified Lebanon from an upper-middle-income to a lower-middle-income country in July 2022. With unemployment hitting 300,000 individuals and a great increase in the intake of refugees, the rate of child marriage has seen growth, according to UNICEF.
Conflict causing a large refugee intake strained the Lebanese infrastructure and finances, resulting in refugees finding themselves undocumented and finding a solution in child marriage.
Those who live in Lebanon have also seen a rise in prices for their most basic needs, with inflation increasing by 200% since 2019, according to Anera. This results in many Lebanese, also non-refugees, having to marry off their daughters to survive.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also led to an increase in child marriage in Lebanon. Since the beginning of the pandemic, up to 10 more million girls worldwide are at risk of being victims of child marriage in the next decade. With school closures during the pandemic, the probability of child marriage could be 25% higher.
A Change Is Possible
UNICEF report shows that an approach to education can change the perception of child marriage. The report shows that 62.3% of girls who go to school are against child marriage, followed by 45% of girls who dropped out and 37.2% of girls with no education.
This demonstrates that there is a relationship between child marriage and education. Therefore, an increase in political pressure on educational policies in Lebanon and the Middle East could have a positive impact by reducing the cases of child marriage.
Lebanon does not have a personal status law that regulates issues like the legal marriage age. Instead, 18 different religious groups are regulating this issue, according to DW. In December 2020, The Sunni Supreme Islamic Council approved raising the minimum age for marriage to 18. Likewise, between November 2020 and December of the same year, Shiite Muslim religious authorities claimed to raise the minimum age of marriage to 15, DW reports.
A Structural Approach
ABAAD is an organization that fights for gender equality in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. ABAAD collaborated with Queens University to study what factors affect child marriage, aiming to obtain through data collection an understanding of why child marriage happens and how its cause(s) can be intersectional.
The study targeted different groups, ranging from mothers of victims of child marriage to community leaders and as was known previously, showed that some of the root causes of child marriage are education, political situations, instability and poverty.
ABAAD’s study, however, also provided a conclusion that is central to future strategies to prevent child marriage in Lebanon. The results demonstrated that female and male participants responded differently to the causes of child marriage, showing that the approach is gendered. From this, ABAAD concluded that future strategies, therefore, can target groups who have a differentiated opinion and aim to shift this gendered narrative. Such as challenging the gendered male narrative of being responsible for a family’s income.
Different factors affect the situation of child marriage in Lebanon. This is seen in how child marriage ranges with nationality, with studies demonstrating that education can impact the approach to child marriage, proving how its perception ranges with different societal groups.
Child Marriage in Lebanon therefore has multiple intersectional causes. With progress from the religious communities and organizations such as ABAAD that target these root causes, one can see a slow but positive shift.
– Daniela Maldonado
Photo: Flickr
5 Charities Operating in Jamaica
Food for the Poor
Food for the Poor (FFTP) Jamaica is the largest charitable organization in Jamaica and it has been assisting since 1982. Through its transformative initiatives, the organization collaborates with more than 1,300 churches and institutions to distribute food, medicine, educational supplies and other essential items. FFTP has successfully executed numerous projects in Jamaica, focusing on education, medical care, housing and agriculture.
One of FFTP’s initiatives is the Build Back the Love for Jamaica campaign, launched to commemorate the charity’s 40th anniversary in Jamaica. The campaign aims to improve socioeconomic conditions by providing shelter, implementing sustainable projects and offering resources and training for individuals and families.
Moms on a Mission
A group of mothers in St Ann, called Moms on a Mission, is addressing period poverty by distributing sanitary napkins to schools in the parish. The group was founded by Marcia Rankinson-Stanley, who was inspired to focus on girls’ needs after learning about Jamaica’s lack of access to sanitary pads. By donating “48 packs of sanitary napkins to the school every month,” the charity’s efforts have significantly impacted students’ lives, reducing absences due to the lack of menstrual products.
SOS Children’s Village Jamaica
Established in 1970, SOS Children’s Villages Jamaica is a private, nongovernmental organization that works with children who have lost parental care. It follows a rights-based approach as defined by the International Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Child Care and Protection Act of Jamaica.
In Jamaica, more than 80% of children experience violent discipline at home and thousands require external care and protection. As part of SOS-Kinderdorf International, the world’s largest private child welfare organization, SOS Children’s Villages Jamaica provides essential care and support to these vulnerable children and young people.
Currently, the organization cares for more than 60,000 children in more than 550 of its village communities, established in 125 countries, including Jamaica. Additionally, it has educated and equipped more than 290,000 underprivileged children in the nations where it operates. The initiative emphasizes the belief that no child should grow up alone and encourages child sponsorship to make a lasting difference in the lives of at-risk children.
Looking Ahead
These charities operating in Jamaica are making significant progress in addressing food insecurity, period poverty and child poverty. Through their continued work, life in Jamaica should only improve.
– Deonna Jackson
Photo: Flickr
3 Organizations Fighting World Hunger
The Hunger Project
The Hunger Project, operating in Africa, Asia and Latin America, employs a three-point strategy to combat world hunger. Initially, the organization empowers women by providing resources, information and personal freedoms, recognizing that regions with more autonomous women often see higher education rates, improved health and increased agricultural productivity. Subsequently, The initiative equips all community members with essential skills to enhance local opportunities, offering training in literacy, numeracy, healthy eating and local laws. This empowers individuals to lead healthy, successful lives and ensures their voices are influential in governance. The final phase involves workshops that encourage community members to propose improvements for their area and assign specific tasks to realize these visions, fostering a sense of self-efficacy and ongoing advocacy. This approach has notably reduced severe hunger by 25% in the regions where The Hunger Project operates.
Action Against Hunger
Action Against Hunger actively combats global hunger, operating in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas. This organization collaborates closely with members of the British Parliament and influential organizations to address the impact of conflict on food security. Between July 2023 and January 2024, Action Against Hunger engaged in strategic discussions with United Nations agencies and government representatives to explore solutions to hunger exacerbated by conflict and identify obstacles to implementing these solutions. In Jan. 2024, the organization participated in discussions with the International Development Committee about the United Kingdom’s efforts to combat world hunger. Additionally, in May 2024, it joined a debate in the House of Lords focusing on food insecurity due to conflict. Beyond advocacy, Action Against Hunger also implements direct interventions, exemplified by its volunteers in Gaza who delivered essential nutrients to 13,000 mothers and babies.
CARE International
CARE International, operating across Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East, employs a five-step strategy to combat world hunger. This strategy includes maintaining healthy ecosystems and securing financial stability, enhancing farmer productivity to increase food availability, ensuring that all community members, particularly marginalized groups and women, have necessary rights and opportunities and equipping communities with the tools to withstand challenges like extreme weather. This holistic approach aims to significantly improve lives. As of 2023, CARE has aided 34 million people through 647 projects targeting world hunger and aims to reach 75 million people by 2030.
Looking Ahead
The fight against global hunger involves concerted efforts from numerous organizations, each playing a vital role in addressing food insecurity. The Hunger Project has made significant strides by empowering women and communities to foster local development and reduce severe hunger. Action Against Hunger collaborates with governments and international bodies to address the impacts of conflict on food security, while CARE International employs a comprehensive strategy to enhance farmer productivity and community resilience. Together, these organizations are fighting world hunger and aiming to create a future where everyone has access to a nutritious diet.
– Sue-Joyce Headon
Photo: Flickr