According to the World Bank, investment in agriculture is one of the most vital steps toward lifting entire populations out of poverty. Not only is the industry a hugely significant employer in many developing countries in Africa, but it also produces the vast quantities of food needed to combat food insecurity.
Adapting to climate-related environmental changes often requires finding innovative solutions, and the rapid expansion of agriculture technology in Africa offers some exciting prospects. Here are three countries that are using promising new tech to achieve this goal.
Seed-Bulking in Zambia
Zambia is a landlocked, largely rural country in southern Africa, and its agricultural sector makes up roughly 20% of its GDP. As in many African countries, Zambian farmers are large producers of cassava, a woody shrub whose root is an excellent source of carbohydrates. However, they were struggling to produce strong crop yields due to a lack of access to high-quality planting materials. The African Development Bank’s program, Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT), had an idea to help solve this problem: seed-bulking.
Seed-bulking is a method whereby farmers keep some seeds from their target crop to grow in a controlled environment. This helps to increase seed production, which means that farmers can then grow more crops and increase their yield.
Fifty-eight seed-bulking farms opened across Zambia in 2020 as part of TAAT’s initiative. It projected that this would allow farmers to produce 43,500 tons of cassava root, which, once processed, would be capable of feeding more than 3.6 million people.
More recently in 2022, the African Development Fund approved a loan of $14.4 million, some of which will be used to provide seeds and fertilizer to Zambian farmers. Alongside the innovative practice of seed-bulking, this could see Zambia vastly improve its yields across all crops, including cassava, and help avoid food shortages resulting from high demand for exports from neighboring countries.
NIR Spectroscopy in Ethiopia
In Ethiopia, where agricultural products make up a whopping 80% of exports, rain is a crucial component of agricultural practices. Unfortunately, droughts have ravaged the country for several years in a row, depleting the soil of its nutrient content and making it harder to successfully grow crops.
Figuring out how nutrient-rich soil is can occur through trial and error, but in such pressing conditions, time and resources cannot afford to go to waste using this method. This is where near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (or NIRS) comes in.
NIRS works by analyzing the amount of light that a material absorbs, which can indicate how much of a certain substance is within that material. This method can help judge the quality of soil based on what nutrients it contains, without requiring the use of environmentally hazardous chemicals.
Understanding the technology behind NIRS devices can be daunting for a layman, but using one is surprisingly easy, even for someone with no background in the sciences. According to AZoM, many models are portable, inexpensive and can provide reasonably accurate results in under a minute.
Despite all the positives, the use of NIRS devices has remained somewhat low as of 2021 – a paper published in the Agronomy Journal suggested that this is partly due to a lack of education about how important the nutrient content of crops truly is.
The use of NIRS devices has the potential to result in better-quality crops, for both people and livestock. Coupled with a public awareness campaign and investment in more NIRS devices, Ethiopian farmers could see more successful crop yields, enhancing their ability to feed their animals and themselves.
Smart Irrigation Systems in Nigeria
In the west African country of Nigeria, 36% of the labor force is employed in the agricultural sector. However, in 2020, a PwC report cited “outdated methods of agriculture” as a critical issue in the Nigerian agricultural industry.
There is definitely room for improvement – investment in modern agriculture technology in Africa as a whole would vastly improve efficiency and allow agricultural workers to produce larger yields. One such technique is irrigation, which is the process of supplying water to crops through channels in the ground; this way, farmers do not have to rely on rainfall to keep their crops growing. As of 2014, only 1% of Nigeria’s farmland was irrigated, according to the Malabo Montpellier Panel.
More recently, though, thanks to an initiative from the International Water Management Institute in partnership with the African Development Bank (ADB), 4,000 wheat farmers in Nigeria received training in effective irrigation technologies, as well as receiving “modern pressurized water conveyance-distribution system[s],” which ensure that less water is wasted during the irrigation process. Smart irrigation is not just environmentally sustainable – it reduces the number of time farmers need to be out in the field and provides improved water distribution to increase crop yields.
According to Further Africa, in August 2022, the Nigerian government approved an investment worth $24 billion for smart irrigation infrastructure. It should significantly reduce water consumption on farms and improve the ability of Nigerian farmers to produce large quantities of crops, a crucial factor in combatting hunger and lessening Nigeria’s reliance on food imports.
Looking Ahead
When it comes to agriculture technology in Africa, the sector is always evolving. Investment in new and efficient techniques and technologies is crucial, not only for adapting to the rapidly changing climates on the African continent but also for combatting the famine that occurs with these changes.
– Abbi Powell
Photo: Flickr
Infinited Fiber Ending the Cycle of Fashion Waste and Poverty
Infinited Fiber is a Finnish start-up company developing new clothing from old materials. The impact of waste management for textiles is more than $1 billion annually, and garment workers globally receive, at best, mediocre pay. Infinited Fiber strives to create longer-lasting clothes to reduce textile waste while paying garment workers appropriate salaries. Longer-lasting clothes will be more cost-effective for the individual and help with the more significant issues of fashion waste management and poverty, including the ever-rising costs in the clothing market.
Poverty in the Fashion Industry
Fashion waste and poverty are significant problems in the fashion industry that Infinited Fiber is tackling. Garment workers are incredibly subject to poverty while working in the fashion industry. There is an overwhelming wage gap between garment workers and their company’s CEOs. The Industry We Want, an organization fighting for fair wages for garment workers, found significant wage gaps between the workers’ earnings and what they should be earning. Globally, garment workers earn only about 55% of the wages they need to have a living wage.
Devastating Fashion Waste and “Fast Fashion”
“Fast fashion” is cheap, easy-to-produce fashion that often goes to waste quickly. Fast fashion is a sector of the fashion market that employs exceptionally cheap labor. This form of fashion marketing took over the global-fashion market when large-name brands like Zara and Forever 21 began expanding business operations. Fast fashion proved to be a profitable market, causing fashion industry markets to see substantial increases in generated income. Despite the promising outlook of fast fashion, due to the quick turnaround in products, the industry will likely see decreases of up to $52 billion in profits due to waste management and textile losses. Management for textile waste costs up to $100 billion annually.
One of the methods for waste management that will also cut costs globally for waste management is transforming the clothing production process. There are calls to improve recycling methods for textiles, beginning with policymakers. Textile recycling is an expanding market for investment in the fashion industry. As of 2021, the textile recycling industry had a value of $4.5 billion in 2021, with expectations for fast economic growth. Thankfully, textile recycling also reduces the costs of dealing with textile waste management. While textile waste costs continue to mount and landfills fill up rapidly, textile recycling benefits all involved by taking the wasted textiles, cleaning them and repurposing them workers create a new product. The repurposed textiles save money in landfill and textile waste management and create new job opportunities as textile recycling grows in popularity. Infinite Fiber’s goal is to end the cycle of fashion waste and poverty through textile recycling.
Infinited Fiber’s Goal to Ending the Cycle of Fashion Poverty
The company’s founder and CEO, Petri Alava, hopes the clothing the company produces will be low-cost for the consumer, long-lasting and reduce textile waste. The company creates “circular fibers” by taking old materials, cleaning them and breaking them down to a polymeric level. The process requires fewer chemicals and leaves less waste than the typical processes of fast fashion.
Infinite Fiber is partnering with large-name brands, such as H&M and Inditex. Inditex is Zara’s parent company and is known not to pay its garment workers a fair wage. As the company is expanding and creating its partnerships, Infinite Fiber is receiving significant investment opportunities that are proving beneficial to the company, and its workers, while spreading its influence of eliminating fashion waste and poverty.
Infinite Fiber recently signed a new deal to develop a partnership with Patagonia, a U.S.-based clothing retailer with operations worldwide. One of the keys to operating with Patagonia is that Patagonia implements safety precautions that many garment factories do not. Patagonia also pays its garment workers fair wages. The connections Infinited Fiber makes with companies like Patagonia prove its commitment to a “Fair Trade” life with improved wages and social and economic improvement is on the horizon globally.
Infinite Fiber’s work creating new textiles is becoming a global operation, presenting job opportunities everywhere the company reaches. In Brazil, Infinite fiber’s work to erase fashion waste and poverty involves taking wood pulp and turning it into new textiles. The company’s goal is to slash fashion waste and poverty that result from waste. Infinite Fiber is dedicated to improving the quality of the fashion industry, which comes with living wages for all workers, minimal waste, and job opportunities worldwide.
– Clara Mulvihill
Photo: Flickr
Economic Improvement in Asia: Improving Digital Skills for Millions of Women
Technological expansion facilitated a globalized community that improved industry and revolutionized society. There are, however, inconsistencies with the level of technological innovation that each country receives. Further inequalities in the field of technology exacerbate issues such as poverty and advancements in education and medicine. Many organizations make goals to advance the utilization of technology and work on economic improvement in Asia.
The Asia Foundation
One prominent organization that provides an inclusive environment for addressing issues related to gender equality, the environment and economic improvement in Asia is the Asia Foundation. The Asia Foundation began making an impact in the world in 1954 when several members from different sectors of society including leaders of corporations, university presidents and writers united to develop the unique organization.
The international nonprofit works primarily in the Asia-Pacific region through its 18 offices as well as its Washington, D.C. office and its headquarters in San Francisco, California. In 2021, the programs of the Asia Foundation provided direct support valued at $82.7 million.
The Upskilling Initiative
On September 9, 2022, the Asia Foundation announced its partnership with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Office of the Trade Representative to begin the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) Upskilling Initiative. Participants include Brunei, India, Indonesia and the Philippines among others. The IPEF is a program that began in May 2022. The program hopes to facilitate economic improvement in Asia to become more connected, resilient, environmentally friendly and fair. The Upskilling Initiative is one way in which the program begins economic improvement in Asia through the implementation of digital skills training for women and girls.
The intention of the project is to expand the middle class by allowing women and girls the opportunities that promote this goal. The initiative is beneficial primarily because it includes partnerships between nonprofit organizations such as the Asia Foundation, governments such as the United States of America and U.S.-based companies such as Amazon, Apple and Microsoft. These private businesses will arrange digital skills improvement opportunities in IPEF countries through 2032. Concrete skills include training in innovative areas like artificial intelligence, cyber-security, business development and digital literacy and content creation.
Digital Literacy and the Economy
Increasingly, the ability to utilize technological resources relates to the improvement of the economy, which is why many organizations throughout Asia emphasize digital skills improvement as one step in economic improvement in Asia. According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), digital literacy falls for those populations that are rural or those in the population minority, and digital literacy is lower for least developed countries in Asia.
Many young people in Asian countries state that digital literacy assists in skills development and education. Examples of the shortcomings of the lack of digitalization include the fact that 61% of South Asians do not use the internet despite installed infrastructure. Likewise, inequalities exist. For example, while Singapore experiences a high level of digital inclusiveness, more than 150 million people throughout South-East Asia are not able to use certain types of technologies. South-East Asia receives a ranking of fifth out of seven regions around the world for digital inclusiveness due to low scores on affordability and digital literacy.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the rate at which the world uses technology to facilitate interactions among various communities. Economic growth in Asia and Southeast Asia is improving significantly with digitization with countries such as the Philippines and Malaysia leading the increase in e-commerce retail. The process reveals new opportunities, especially for the younger generation.
With continued input from partnerships such as the Asia Foundation and the U.S. Department of Commerce, countries in Asia will continue on the journey to improve the lives of the Asian population, especially women and young girls, to become a key player in the world economy.
– Kaylee Messick
Photo: Pexels
Agriculture Technology in Africa
According to the World Bank, investment in agriculture is one of the most vital steps toward lifting entire populations out of poverty. Not only is the industry a hugely significant employer in many developing countries in Africa, but it also produces the vast quantities of food needed to combat food insecurity.
Adapting to climate-related environmental changes often requires finding innovative solutions, and the rapid expansion of agriculture technology in Africa offers some exciting prospects. Here are three countries that are using promising new tech to achieve this goal.
Seed-Bulking in Zambia
Zambia is a landlocked, largely rural country in southern Africa, and its agricultural sector makes up roughly 20% of its GDP. As in many African countries, Zambian farmers are large producers of cassava, a woody shrub whose root is an excellent source of carbohydrates. However, they were struggling to produce strong crop yields due to a lack of access to high-quality planting materials. The African Development Bank’s program, Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT), had an idea to help solve this problem: seed-bulking.
Seed-bulking is a method whereby farmers keep some seeds from their target crop to grow in a controlled environment. This helps to increase seed production, which means that farmers can then grow more crops and increase their yield.
Fifty-eight seed-bulking farms opened across Zambia in 2020 as part of TAAT’s initiative. It projected that this would allow farmers to produce 43,500 tons of cassava root, which, once processed, would be capable of feeding more than 3.6 million people.
More recently in 2022, the African Development Fund approved a loan of $14.4 million, some of which will be used to provide seeds and fertilizer to Zambian farmers. Alongside the innovative practice of seed-bulking, this could see Zambia vastly improve its yields across all crops, including cassava, and help avoid food shortages resulting from high demand for exports from neighboring countries.
NIR Spectroscopy in Ethiopia
In Ethiopia, where agricultural products make up a whopping 80% of exports, rain is a crucial component of agricultural practices. Unfortunately, droughts have ravaged the country for several years in a row, depleting the soil of its nutrient content and making it harder to successfully grow crops.
Figuring out how nutrient-rich soil is can occur through trial and error, but in such pressing conditions, time and resources cannot afford to go to waste using this method. This is where near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (or NIRS) comes in.
NIRS works by analyzing the amount of light that a material absorbs, which can indicate how much of a certain substance is within that material. This method can help judge the quality of soil based on what nutrients it contains, without requiring the use of environmentally hazardous chemicals.
Understanding the technology behind NIRS devices can be daunting for a layman, but using one is surprisingly easy, even for someone with no background in the sciences. According to AZoM, many models are portable, inexpensive and can provide reasonably accurate results in under a minute.
Despite all the positives, the use of NIRS devices has remained somewhat low as of 2021 – a paper published in the Agronomy Journal suggested that this is partly due to a lack of education about how important the nutrient content of crops truly is.
The use of NIRS devices has the potential to result in better-quality crops, for both people and livestock. Coupled with a public awareness campaign and investment in more NIRS devices, Ethiopian farmers could see more successful crop yields, enhancing their ability to feed their animals and themselves.
Smart Irrigation Systems in Nigeria
In the west African country of Nigeria, 36% of the labor force is employed in the agricultural sector. However, in 2020, a PwC report cited “outdated methods of agriculture” as a critical issue in the Nigerian agricultural industry.
There is definitely room for improvement – investment in modern agriculture technology in Africa as a whole would vastly improve efficiency and allow agricultural workers to produce larger yields. One such technique is irrigation, which is the process of supplying water to crops through channels in the ground; this way, farmers do not have to rely on rainfall to keep their crops growing. As of 2014, only 1% of Nigeria’s farmland was irrigated, according to the Malabo Montpellier Panel.
More recently, though, thanks to an initiative from the International Water Management Institute in partnership with the African Development Bank (ADB), 4,000 wheat farmers in Nigeria received training in effective irrigation technologies, as well as receiving “modern pressurized water conveyance-distribution system[s],” which ensure that less water is wasted during the irrigation process. Smart irrigation is not just environmentally sustainable – it reduces the number of time farmers need to be out in the field and provides improved water distribution to increase crop yields.
According to Further Africa, in August 2022, the Nigerian government approved an investment worth $24 billion for smart irrigation infrastructure. It should significantly reduce water consumption on farms and improve the ability of Nigerian farmers to produce large quantities of crops, a crucial factor in combatting hunger and lessening Nigeria’s reliance on food imports.
Looking Ahead
When it comes to agriculture technology in Africa, the sector is always evolving. Investment in new and efficient techniques and technologies is crucial, not only for adapting to the rapidly changing climates on the African continent but also for combatting the famine that occurs with these changes.
– Abbi Powell
Photo: Flickr
5 Local Startups in Kenya that are Improving Living Conditions
Startups in Kenya are notable contributors to its economy, making up 30% of the national value. Home to more than 200 startups, Kenya is a regional leader in terms of a successful startup ecosystem, which is improving the lives of Kenyans by bringing modern and sustainable solutions to society’s biggest day-to-day issues. According to a 2022 report by StartupBlink, Kenya is amongst the top five startup ecosystems in the Middle East and Africa region and is third in Africa.
Startups in Kenya Increasing Capital
Kenyan startups broke their own records in the amount of funding raised yearly since 2019. In 2021, Kenyan startups had $291 million worth of investments in total. A major portion of investments goes to startups operating in financial tech, agriculture and energy industries.
With more than 30% of the population having access to the internet compared to 17% in 2017, Kenyans are able to reap more of the benefits tech startup companies bring. Government support to local tech startups began with the project of Konza Technopolis, a hub for tech companies just outside of Nairobi.
The idea for one of the first startups in Kenya emerged in response to the problem of insufficient systems set up for money transfers. For Kenyans working in the city to send money to their relatives in the countryside, the logistics of money transfers have always been complicated. Startups such as M-Pesa helped facilitate money transfers through mobile phones, eliminating the reality of a commute from the city to the countryside.
M-Pesa
M-Pesa allows Kenyans to use their mobile phones to keep and transfer money, without the need for the internet. Mobile numbers act as account numbers and transactions only need a SIM card to go through, making it more accessible to the communities without internet access. Essentially, M-Pesa’s goal is to achieve financial inclusion in Kenyan society.
Although M-Pesa came to life through the joint partnership of two well-established communication companies, the idea of M-Pesa emerged both from the companies and the Kenyan people to respond to a long-lasting problem that has occurred for a long time.
M-Pesa is currently available and used in 10 countries with 50 million active users in Africa. Analysts estimate the company’s value to be around $3 billion.
M-KOPA
With six global offices and more than 1,000 employees, M-KOPA came alive in 2010 with the dream of improving living conditions for Kenyans by making goods and services easier to attain. The company’s 2021 impact report shows that less than half the adults in Kenya have access to bank accounts, limiting Kenyans’ participation in the formal economy.
With limited access to financial institutions and tools, establishing a credit score becomes a challenge. M-KOPA provides a pay-as-you-go financial model for the ownership of tech products ranging from phones to solar energy home products like TVs and refrigerators. The enterprise further loans cash and an insurance plan called Hospicash.
The startup currently has 20 million customers in its network and has helped 75% of customers earn additional income by making pay-as-you-go devices available for their use to further support their enterprises. Besides finance-tech startups, retail and e-commerce startups in Kenya play a significant role as well, in improving livelihoods by facilitating the integration of sellers into the market.
Twiga Foods
The startup set off by facilitating the selling of bananas from farmers to retailers. The goal of the company is to lay out a durable and modern solution to the insufficient and inefficient supply chain in Kenya. By signing up for the software as a vendor, Kenyans can easily bring together their good with retailers with the facilitation of Twiga Foods startup. A solution as such brings food security to the people and real financial profit to the sellers struggling to safely put their goods on the market. Generating $50 million in income in 2021, Twiga is a great asset to the Kenyan economy.
Lory Systems
Launched in 2016, Lori Systems is an app providing logistics services and controlling haulage across markets. In Africa, more than 70% of a product’s cost is due to logistics, compared to 6% in a country like the U.S. Lori Systems aims to lower the cost of logistics which automatically lowers the cost of the product, making it easier to attain. Lori Systems operates in six countries in Africa and specializes in the transport of goods such as bulk grains, fertilizers, containers steel and bitumen.
Apollo Agriculture
Apollo Agriculture is an agro-tech company that assists small-scale farmers in maximizing their profits. Apollo combines all of a farmer’s requirements, including guidance, insurance, market access and finance for farm inputs in order to provide them with the services they need to grow their businesses and maximize crop productivity.
The startup uses satellite data imagery of farms and machine learning to run the process of determining a farmer’s credit score. Apollo Agriculture is rather new to Kenya’s startup ecosystem, as the company originated in 2016. About 30% of Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) comes from agriculture, making agriculture a notable asset for the Kenyan economy. The creation of startups such as Apollo Agriculture is a big first step in improving livelihoods from the roots. Startups in Kenya raised more money in the first half of 2022 than they did in 2021, coming close to $1 billion, leaving a promising impression for the rest of the year and the future.
– Selin Oztuncman
Photo: Unsplash
Pneumonia Worsens Child Death in Honduras
Child death in Honduras is becoming a significant problem as a combination of factors is creating a crisis of poverty in the country. With the Central American country already being one of the poorest in Latin America as well as having the second-highest poverty rate in the LAC according to the World Bank data in 2020, the children of the country experience the brunt of this poverty. The most significant impact this rising poverty rate has had is pneumonia which has grown due to malnutrition, lack of safe water and sanitation and health care.
Poverty in Honduras: An Overview
Rising Cases of Pneumonia
The worsening poverty rates and resulting poor nutrition have resulted in an increase in child mortality rates in Honduras. One of the leading causes of child death in Honduras is pneumonia, which according to UNICEF is 16% of deaths of children under 5 years of age in 2019. The cause of the rising cases of pneumonia is the amount of malnutrition rising in the population due to the poverty crisis. With malnutrition comes a lack of safe drinking water, lack of sanitation and poor healthcare systems. Some parts of the country, such as the south region, are mountainous areas where finding safe drinking water is difficult and jobs are lacking.
These levels could rise as famine will likely hit the dry corridor of Honduras as well as Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica. In an interview with The Guardian, Ramón Turcios, the southern regional director for the Ministry of Agriculture, places the blame for this rising poverty on the government’s lack of response to the droughts. Although The Guardian reported that the World Food Programme (WFP) is providing supplementary nutrition to children in the Vado Ancho region, many doctors and healthcare providers are concerned about the future. “I’m scared that, as a result of the drought, the situation will get worse and there will be more cases of pneumonia, especially in children under five,” said a doctor at a local health center in an interview with The Guardian.
Hope For the Future
While the future looks bleak, there is hope that Honduras might be able to tackle this crisis and help millions of children. The World Bank currently has 11 projects in Honduras that it has committed $814 million. These commitments aim to address sanitation, health care and food security. The World Bank has pledged $70 million to specifically provide water to the Dry Corridor. It is also working on a new Country Partnership Framework with Honduras as of April 2022. Honduras also partnered with UNDP in 2019 to tackle child malnutrition specifically. Although there are fears for the future, many international organizations are working with Honduras to abate the number of pneumonia cases and reduce child death in Honduras.
– Umaima Munir
Photo: Flickr
The Milaan Foundation Educates and Empowers Girls in India
According to the World Bank, the latest official estimates from 2011 indicated that almost 22% of India’s population lived below the national poverty line. The demographic most vulnerable to poverty is the 120 million adolescent girls in India who are more likely to discontinue their education at a young age and face child marriages. The Milaan Foundation in India recognizes these hardships and helps young girls secure their futures in education and outside of child marriages.
Issues Young Indian Girls Face
Women suffer discrimination and gender-based violence at notable rates in India. According to the National Crime Records Bureau of India, “every hour, at least two women are sexually assaulted and every six hours, a young married woman is beaten to death, burnt or driven to suicide.”
The results of this discrimination have led to deteriorating mental health, high poverty rates and isolation. These gender-based issues start at a young age and are costly for a young girl’s education. According to UNICEF, about 43% of Indian girls have discontinued their secondary education early due to an array of reasons, with child marriage having a significant influence.
India has a significant number of child brides, with about 1.5 million Indian girls committing to marry before the age of 18. Of these girls, 7% are under the age of 15. These child brides lack the maturity and development to handle marital duties, yet their parents see no alternatives, often because marrying off daughters eases the economic burden on the family.
While child marriages appear to be the route toward security and stability, many girls end up enduring early pregnancies. Nearly 14% of adolescent Indian girls in both rural and urban areas have begun childbearing. These pregnant girls’ lives and health are at risk because young mothers are more susceptible to maternal mortality and complications during childbirth.
The Milaan Foundation in India
The Milaan Foundation in India originated in 2007 to aid impoverished girls between the ages of 12-18 regardless of religion, color or caste system. The organization prides itself on having a diverse team with 60% of its board members and 90% of its team members being women from all walks of life.
Partnering with more than 40 organizations and donors, the organization focuses on four goals: continuation of secondary education for girls, prevention of child marriages, prevention of gender-based violence and adolescent health. Overall, the Foundation has impacted more than 40,000 adolescents in four different Indian states.
The Milaan Foundation and Education
The Milaan Foundation consistently encourages girls to continue their secondary education through its Swarachna School. The school is purposely placed in the Sitapur district as 84% of the district’s population lives in poverty. The school currently educates 350 children, all with a passing rate of 100% in 12th-grade board examination classes. The 12th-grade board examinations, also known as the SSC, are crucial for students in India looking to reach higher education and apply to universities.
The Milaan Foundation’s Girl Icon Program
The largest program funded by the Milaan Foundation is its Girl Icon Program. Founded in 2015, the Girl Icon Program is a girl-led leadership program that encourages Indian girls to speak out, spread awareness of gender-based issues, diversify their skillsets and become independent. Indian girls who pass through the program are called Girl Icons with duties to inspire and evoke change.
For example, Kushboo Rasheed, a 2015 Girl Icon, went out into her neighborhood and coaxed parents who doubted the value of education to send their children to school. In the end, she recruited 20 kids to attend school and also tutored these children in her spare time to ensure that they did not fall behind. Rasheed shows the program’s domino effect: Girl Icons learn, they thrive, then, they recruit more Girl Icons who do the same.
So far, the program has implemented 953 social action projects and impacted more than 10,000 adolescent girls, 375 of whom have become Girl Icons. In 2021, all of the Girl Icons continued their secondary education and 80% looked to pursue higher education. As a result, 95% of girls delayed early marriage due to educational ambitions.
The Milaan Foundation and the Pandemic
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, 10 million Indian girls dropped out of secondary school. Despite the pandemic, The Milaan Foundation in India continued its Girl Icon Program, moving its classroom online from January 2021 to March 2021. The Girl Icon Program Virtual Leadership Training proved to be a great success as it reached 5,000 adolescent girls and awarded 201 education scholarships to its girl leaders to support their upcoming projects.
Outside of the Girl Icon Program, the Milaan Foundation has also provided medical resources across India. As the second deadly wave of the pandemic hit India in January 2021, the Milaan Foundation delivered more than 26,000 medicine kits and 39,000 medical consumables to those in need.
Future Visions
By 2030, the Milaan Foundation hopes to impact more than 10 million Indian girls and raise a new generation of girl leaders who leave the world better than they found it. The Foundation also plans on continuing to recruit more children for its Swarachna School and aims to host another Girl Icon Leadership Summit in late 2022.
– Blanly Rodriguez
Photo: Flickr
USAID And Walmart Are Changing Guatemalan Economy
In 2018, the Guatemalan economy produced one new job per every 15 workers joining the labor force. Furthermore, in 2018, 70% of the Guatemalan economy was informal, with workers severely challenged by low wages, low efficiency and a lack of access to economic opportunities. USAID has been in a partnership with Walmart Mexico and Walmart Central America since 2002 to increase economic opportunities in Guatemala and reduce poverty through “the empowerment of women-led small businesses.” This initiative is aimed at creating more jobs, expanding markets for goods produced in Guatemala and making business more inclusive and accessible to all people.
USAID’s Collective Focus in Guatemala
The initiative puts particular focus on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises that have the potential to eradicate poverty and transform the Guatemalan economy. This is especially true in emerging cities in Guatemala, where USAID helps provide vocational training to young and indigenous workers.
USAID’s work in Guatemala does not end with Guatemala’s economy. USAID has also partnered with the local government and local communities to fight food insecurity, chronic malnutrition, environmental protection and biodiversity initiatives. USAID believes that decentralizing key resources and services in Guatemala can be productive for its economy. Moreover, USAID has also tried to drive more civilian participation in decision-making processes and encouraged the people of Guatemala to hold their government accountable.
USAID Partnership With Walmart
Walmart is one of USAID’s top 40 corporate partners and USAID has worked with Walmart in Latin America and the Caribbean since 2002. Since joining forces, the organizations have provided training and granted financial support and market opportunities to small-scale farmers, women, at-risk youth and local entrepreneurs. Moreover, these organizations also launched the “Women’s Economic Empowerment Initiative” in 2011 which focused on women and farmers.
Fighting Infrastructural Battles in Guatemala
Although these commitments have helped to improve Guatemala’s economy, there are still some structural difficulties that need addressing in the coming years. For instance, Guatemala’s population is predominantly young, with more than 60% of the population being below the age of 25. More than half of the local population lives in urban areas and the country continues to urbanize rapidly, however, there is a lack of infrastructure connecting cities.
In 2022, a large number of migrants traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Consequently, this has created a temporary vacuum in the labor market, but USAID and Walmart are working to strengthen their partnerships to help create more jobs and uplift the Guatemalan economy. In spite of these challenges, Guatemala is expected to see a 3.4% growth in GDP in 2022. Although this number is not drastic by any means, it shows that economic growth and poverty reduction are possible when countries commit to creating new jobs, expanding markets and investing in their youth. With the help of initiatives by USAID, Walmart Central America and numerous others, Guatemala’s economy will continue to steadily grow.
– Samyudha Rajesh
Photo: Unsplash
Addressing Ethnic Inequality in Malaysia
Malaysia made remarkable success fighting poverty over the past 50 years, dropping from 50% in 1970 to almost zero in 2014, in large part due to the decreased ethnic and racial differences in living standards. The road that the country laid to get there, nevertheless, has regrettably led to widespread racial or ethnic inequality and violence in Malaysia.
The Disparity in Living Standards Between Racial Groups and the 1969 Riot
Since Malaysia’s independence from Britain in 1957, the Bumiputera have maintained their status as the poorest group with the lowest average income, as a result of the British colonial heritage in contrast to the wealthier minority contingent of ethnic Chinese and Indians. After independence, the government gave emphasis on economic development, but until roughly 1970, it seems that policymakers were less concerned with ethnic inequality in Malaysia.
A Sino-Malay race riot broke out in 1969 when new opposition parties led by Malaysian Chinese gained more votes than the multiethnic Alliance party that had been in power since independence. The government’s lack of concern for the country’s pervasive ethnic injustices and the Chinese-dominated party’s win, which appeared to be further detrimental to the living condition of the Malays, were the primary motives behind the riot. Malaysia then declared an emergency and suspended Parliament for two years as a result.
Malaysia’s New Economic Policy (NEP)
The government created the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1970 as a comprehensive affirmative action strategy in response to the race riot in 1969. Many viewed addressing the enormous racial disparities in the county as essential to accomplishing both its dual goals of eradicating poverty and restructuring society. The NEP officially launched in 1971 and ran for 20 years.
In addition to intending to reduce the poverty rate from 49% to 17% in 1990, the extensive affirmative action favored the Bumiputera by ensuring that they held at least 30% of corporate wealth by that year and that all initial public offerings set aside a 30% share for Bumiputera investors. The Bumiputera were promised preferential treatment when it came to housing, employment opportunities in the public sector, company share ownership and essentially in all other possible fields. By using quotas and university scholarships, the Bumiputera received preference in access to public education.
Next, the objective of greater economic growth allowed the non-Bumiputera sector’s share of the economy to decline while, in absolute terms, allowing non-Bumiputera commercial interests to expand. This was known as the “expanding pie theory” in some circles because it predicted that the Bumiputra share of the pie would grow without the size of the non-Bumiputra pieces of the pie decreasing.
This occurred to help the Bumiputera catch up economically with other Malaysians. To assure this, Malaysia enforced ethnic restrictions on share ownership in public companies. The following eight crucial strategies served as the New Economy Policy’s main drivers.
8 Crucial Strategies that are the New Economy Policy’s Main Drivers
The Outcome of NEP
Martin Ravallion wrote in his paper about ethnic inequality and poverty in Malaysia that this country managed ethnic inequality better than many other nations. From 0.51 in 1970 to 0.40 in 2016, the Gini index of household earnings decreased. About 25% of the decline in absolute poverty was due to lower inequality (a pro-poor shift in distribution at a given mean), and the remaining 75% was due to an increase in mean income.
From 4% in 1970 to nearly 20% in 1997, the bumiputras’ share of global wealth increased. The country’s overall wealth increased as well; the per capita GNP increased from RM1,142 in 1970 to RM12,102 in 1997.
Since 1970, the mean income of the poor Bumiputeras has grown more quickly than that of the Chinese or the Indians, but the difference in growth rates has not been sufficient to close the wide absolute differences in mean incomes between racial groups. Relative mean incomes will continue to diverge if the pattern from 1970 to 2016 holds.
Conclusion
Policies that lessen racial disparities, such as affirmative action, can further social objectives besides eradicating poverty, such as encouraging cooperation and social solidarity. The majority status of the poorest ethnic group in Malaysia led to intense political pressure to rectify racial inequity, at least after the loud voices of dissent were heard in 1969. However, it is understandable that poverty reduction in Malaysia is a key metric for gauging the success of virtually any policies, including ethnically-based redistributive initiatives, in a nation like Malaysia, where there are significant racial disparities and an official poverty rate of close to 50% in 1970. While the official poverty rate has nearly reached zero over the same time period, the government has made significant strides in its fight against poverty, although the previous official poverty level is almost probably too low by today’s standards.
– Karisma Maran
Photo: Unsplash
Unseen Tours and Homelessness
Homelessness refers to people who do not have a secure place to live, or if they did, they could not stay. Homelessness is a symptom of poverty and many organizations have offered help to homeless people by providing financial aid, free meals and shelters. One British organization, Unseen Tours, has acted differently by hiring homeless individuals in London as tour guides offering tours to tourists and locals. This article will discuss the causes of homelessness before looking at the work of Unseen Tours and its accomplishments.
Causes of Homelessness
According to research by Shelter in 2021, nearly 280,000 people were homeless in England; among them, more than 120,000 were children. In addition, the data shows that London had the highest ratio of homeless people with one in 53 people having no place to live. Here are some important causes of homelessness in Great Britain:
Unseen Tours
Established in 2010, Unseen Tours aims to provide a platform for homeless people to tell their stories. The organization wants to change conventional perspectives on the homeless such as the stereotype of laziness. To do so, Unseen Tours employs homeless people as guides in London who offer tours for tourists and locals. This allows the homeless to use their knowledge for the benefit of the city. Not only does the job boost the confidence of the needy, but it also equips them with useful skills.
Moreover, Unseen Tours also works closely with other organizations that share similar objectives. Together, they organize training programs for guides and signpost them to additional support.
Accomplishments
In 2020, Unseen Tours celebrated its 10th birthday and won a Homeless Link Excellence Award. Since the establishment of Unseen Tours, 24 homeless guides have worked with the organization, holding more than 450 tours with more than 6,500 customers.
Overall, homelessness is a common social issue in different parts of the world. A substantial number of organizations have taken steps to help the homeless. While shelter and financial aid are necessary for homeless people, work opportunities are also valuable because unemployment is one of the core causes of homelessness. Moreover, working allows vulnerable individuals to rebuild their confidence and self-esteem. Unseen Tours has taken a novel approach to combat homelessness and their work should serve as a model for other industrialized nations dealing with homelessness.
– Mimosa Ngai
Photo: Flickr
European Roma Persecution Persists Throughout History
Amid the genocide of 6 million Jewish people during the Holocaust in World War II, there existed a simultaneous, lesser-known genocide. The Roma minority in Europe, known derogatorily as “Gypsies,” also became targets of an extermination campaign between 1933 and 1945, with estimates indicating that the Germans and their partners murdered “between 250,000 and 500,000 European Roma during World War II,” according to the Holocaust Encyclopedia. However, the persecution of the Roma, now a population of about 12 million in Europe, did not begin or end in that period of history. Organizations are making efforts to address ongoing European Roma persecution and promote cultural unity.
History of European Roma Persecution
The plight of the European Roma, who originated as a nomadic group from Northern India, began with their enslavement “in the Romanian principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia” from the 14th to 19th centuries. As slaves or serfs to “noblemen, landowners, monasteries and the state,” the Roma “were sold, bartered, flogged and dehumanized” for their artisanship and labor.
Racial discrimination continued during the World War II genocide and continues now with hate crimes. For instance, in June 2021, roughly a year after police killed George Floyd in the United States, a police officer in the Czech Republic suffocated a homeless Roma man to death.
European Roma Poverty
The Roma’s economic plight escalated during Europe’s socialist era in the 20th century. In former Czechoslovakia, in 1958, authorities outlawed nomadism and pushed the Roma into state-assigned housing, often breaking up extended families. Employment was also limited to unskilled labor. In Hungary in the 1980s, the government declared more than 40% of the Roma as “functionally illiterate” and created segregated schools for them to attend, resulting in crowded and substandard educational classes for the Roma.
A cycle of poverty, poor education and unemployment persisted to a point of systemic destitution. Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, European governments used the Roma as scapegoats for inflation, unemployment, crime and “scarcity of goods,” further denying the Roma access to government welfare services.
A survey of 34,000 Roma individuals across nine European countries in 2016 indicates that about 80% of the Roma live in conditions of poverty.
Erasure of European Roma Identity
A major obstacle in the European Roma’s fight to improve their social and economic condition is the inability to achieve the legal status of a minority for many years.
In socialist countries in the mid-20th century, many rights for minorities had come from the official declaration of that group as a legal minority. These rights included receiving schooling and media broadcasts in a minority language.
Because of existing stereotypes, as well as unwillingness to bear responsibility for providing for an ethnic minority, countries such as Poland, Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia decided to regard Roma as an inferior social group rather than a nationality.
Several nations even made concerted efforts to erase Roma’s identity. For example, in the 1960s in Bulgaria, the government banned the practice of Roma culture, including language, traditional music and dance and Muslim religious practices, perpetuating efforts to eradicate their culture and furthering European Roma persecution.
The Fight for a European Roma Nation
In 1948, the Roma in Yugoslavia began to establish themselves politically and culturally. In Macedonia, the Roma secured seats in the Skopje town council and formed a cultural association, Phralipe (translating to Brotherhood). These stand as the earliest steps to establish a sort of safe space for Romani individuals to ensure their representation and preservation within European society.
The first World Romani Congress took place in 1971 in London, setting a precedent for similar congresses to meet and discuss the establishment of a greater Roma identity. These congresses, which continue today, inspired Roma to embrace their identity, establish their status as a minority diaspora with legal protections and created education programs focused on preserving Roma culture and empowering the Roma community.
Looking Toward the Future
Unfortunately, Romani identity and statehood are not quite enough to lift the minority out of their impoverished and marginalized circumstances. Despite the achievements of the World Romani Congresses, poverty rates of the European Roma remain high and both violence and racism persist.
Unfortunately, empowerment or establishing statehood cannot solve these issues that continue to plague the lives of European Roma alone. Rather, the World Romani Congress must look toward substantive economic solutions to uplift the Roma and alleviate their poverty.
Organizations today continue to work to find solutions to the systemic issues forcing Roma into poverty. The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) is an organization that European activists and civil rights lawyers founded in the 1990s. The ERRC advocates for “the elimination of discriminatory structures that prevent Roma from enjoying full equality.” In 2016, the organization elected a Romani president, and in 2017, the ERRC had a majority Roma staff.
Organizations, such as the ERRC, are gradually reforming the institutions that perpetuate European Roma persecution and poverty.
– Alisa Gulyansky
Photo: Flickr