In the heart of Central Asia lies the Kyrgyz Republic. Many consider the country an island of democracy in the region and it sports a comparatively open and competitive economy. It can be surprising then that the average Kyrgyz family earns under $1,000 a year. Its importance in Central Asian geopolitics, combined with economic reforms, has helped make it the top recipient of development assistance in the region. With a presidential election scheduled for January 2021, the new government will have to answer serious questions about which global power it aligns itself to and whether or not that alignment will bring about progress in lifting roughly 23% of the country’s population out of poverty.
Kyrgyzstan emerged from the Soviet Union’s fall with a far different government than its fellow former Soviet states. While dictatorships and tightly-controlled economies rule its neighbors, Kyrgyzstan enjoyed economic and political reforms. This led to an influx of international supporters. Development aid became the crutch upon which Kyrgyzstan’s economy leaned. The diversity of donors has given the country the unique ability to align itself with countries that best suit their interests. The problem has been that the guiding interests have been too often those of the top politicians rather than the population. Much of the blame has gone to former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Bakiyev took over in 2005 and spent five years perfecting a system of crony capitalism that left nearly 34% of the Kyrgyz people under the poverty line, while deeply enriching himself, his family and his friends.
Help in Crisis
Ten years later, the country is still working to shake the lasting economic and political flaws of the Bakiyev Administration. During October 2020, the political landscape was changing on a seemingly daily basis. The leadership future for the country remains uncertain but will require an ability to maintain channels of aid from a wide array of actors. Much of Kyrgyzstan’s help comes from international organizations like the World Bank. Currently, it works to help Kyrgyzstan combat the pandemic with the Emergency COVID-19 Project.
The Kyrgyz Republic received $160.15 million with the bulk of the money focused on helping with recovery from the economic impacts of the pandemic. Specifically, the emergency aid has funded the creation of new hospitals, renovation of 24 existing hospitals, provisions of mechanical ventilators, defibrillators and an assortment of Intensive Care Unit equipment. These aim to not only provide aid during the current pandemic but also laying the groundwork for future health crises. This is, of course, just one example of a meaningful step towards helping the Kyrgyz people. Typically, the majority of that help has come from countries like Russia, China and the United States.
The Great Game
These world powers have been vying for economic and political leverage over Kyrgyzstan since its birth as a nation. Of those powers, Russia has historically been Kyrgyzstan’s preferred suitor. However, in 2001, the U.S. built its most important transit base for the Afghanistan War at Manas airbase, just outside of the capital, Bishkek. This was a landmark move because Kyrgyzstan became the only country in the world to host a Russian and U.S. military base simultaneously. In 2006, foreign aid started pouring in from the U.S. The uneasy relationship between the three nations nearly boiled over in 2009. That year, Bakiyev announced plans to close the U.S. airbase where roughly 98% of coalition forces were passing in transit to Afghanistan. Later that same year, Bakiyev signed a law allowing for the continued use of the Manas airbase after the U.S. agreed to triple the annual rent paid.
Bishkek and Beijing
Relations between the U.S. and the Kyrgyz Republic continued to decline. By 2019, U.S. foreign aid to the Kyrgyz Republic had dropped 37%. Russia’s economic influence also appeared to be waning as China gradually took on the role of the principal donor. While the Kyrgyz population largely dislikes its eastern neighbor, the governments of China and Kyrgyzstan have an increasingly cozy relationship; one built increasingly upon economic dependence. Roughly 32% of the country’s imports come from China including the majority of its oil. That marks a larger percentage than any other country in Central Asia. This statistic is only a window into the economic melding between the two countries.
As of 2017, Kyrgyzstan’s debt to China made up 42.3% of its GDP. Additionally, 26.2% of its Foreign Direct Investment came from China. Kyrgyzstan’s participation in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) largely spurred this. The initiative is a multi-trillion-dollar plan for global infrastructure and trade routes spanning three continents. Kyrgyzstan has become one of the countries most indebted to China since the project’s start in 2013.
The Buckle in the Belt
Dependency on China has only grown. Despite there being serious rifts between the populations of the two nations, for China, this comes down to central Asian geopolitics. Kyrgyzstan controls the Tien Shan mountain range which surrounds the best overland connection between Europe and Asia. As China invests billions of dollars in a global effort to rebuild its land belt of trade, Kyrgyzstan rises as a crucial point of entry between vast mountains. Maintaining a favorable and dependent relationship is therefore essential for Beijing.
The Kyrgyz People
While the world superpowers use the Kyrgyz Republic as a chess piece in the great game of central Asian geopolitics, there is one group that seems left out: the roughly 6 million people living in Kyrgyzstan, 23% of whom still live below the poverty line. Whoever gains control of the government in January 2021 will have to decide how to handle the powerful suitors vying for influence over the country in a way that benefits the Kyrgyz people rather than simply the allies of a particular party or company.
– Scott Mistler-Ferguson
Photo: Flickr
Malala Fund: Increasing Girls’ Access to Education
Malala Fund is working to change education in impoverished countries by focusing on local leadership. Inspired by Malala Yousafzai’s experiences with activists in Pakistan, the foundation created the Education Champion Network to find visionary leaders in Afghanistan, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Lebanon, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey. These leaders are typically local education advocates working on targeted projects that hope to eradicate the hindrance on girls’ access to education in their respective communities.
The Education Champion Network
Nearly all of the Education Champion Network’s target countries do not prioritize girls’ education; not only does this hold girls back from future success and independence, but it also continues the cycle of generational poverty. A root cause of poverty is a lack of education, and all of these countries possess economic troubles and violence. Therefore, increasing education access for girls and other young people not only combats discrimination against girls but also bolsters the economic and cultural state of the nation.
Right now, Malala Fund provides support to 57 Education Champions in eight different countries; all of these local leaders are using different strategies to implement change in their education systems. After potential Education Champions receive a nomination, an intensive analysis takes place with consideration from in-country experts to find the best candidates. The primary goal is to find individuals who have proven that their organizations and projects can result in significant advancement to girls’ education. Once chosen, the foundation provides three-year grants to each recipient to go toward funding their projects and advocacy campaigns. Here are three different Education Champions and their approach to girls’ education.
Rahmatullah Arman – Teach for Afghanistan and Teacher Training
The focus of Arman’s organization, Teach for Afghanistan, is to reduce girls’ dropout rates by increasing the number of female educators. The organization trains young, female college graduates to become teachers and infiltrate Afghanistan’s overcrowded classrooms. Right now in Afghanistan, 57% of educators lack the minimum professional requirements to teach. With a focus in the Nangarhar and Parwan provinces, Arman and his organization are working to keep Afghani girls in the classroom and promote girls’ education in rural communities.
In the Nangarhar province, Teach for Afghanistan has reached over 25,000 girls and 15,000 boys by implementing 270 educators there. Meanwhile, in the Parwan province, the organization has reached over 15,000 children through 70 educators. Additionally, two Teach for Afghanistan’s educators have obtained promotions to principal positions in their schools, increasing the reach of administrators who prioritize keeping girls in school.
Umme Kalsoom Seyal – Social Youth Council of Patriots and Policy Change
Umme is focusing on the southern region of Punjab by working with schools in the region through her organization Social Youth Council of Patriots. She is working to increase girls’ enrollment rates and creating girls’ community schools in areas that lack public education opportunities. Umme has been using the Malala Grant to bring together different community leaders in Punjab to discuss the barriers to girls’ education in the area. This new program creates community groups that deliberate plans and solutions on how to help girls in the area. The program will share these ideas beyond Punjab for implementation in other districts if they prove successful.
The Social Youth Council of Patriots has mobilized its community groups in the sub-district of Muzaffargarh to lobby the government on issues surrounding girls’ access to education. This sub-district, Muzaffargarh, is the poorest area of Punjab with 64.8% of its residents living in extreme poverty. Umme and SYCOP have trained 114 female councilors to identify issues in school facilities, as well as resolve administrative issues in schools by creating school management committees. SYCOP has also been meeting with prominent leaders in the Muzaffargarh area and encouraging them to support girls’ access to education.
Özge Sönmez Vardar – YUVA and Digital Learning
In 2010, Özge created YUVA Association, which works with Turkey and neighboring countries to provide disadvantaged populations, especially refugees, the necessary tools to succeed in their communities. YUVA uses a holistic model to increase awareness of environmental issues as well as education and social issues. Many YUVA programs target the lack of educational and social opportunities for Syrian refugee girls in the country. Through community centers in Hatay and Istanbul, these refugee girls are able to take classes and engage in social activities that will help them re-enter school in their new country. Özge utilizes the Malala Fund grant to fund cultural training for Turkish educators, teaching Turkish as a second language and supporting Syrian refugee girls reintegrate into schools in Turkey.
YUVA has teamed up with the established Hacettepe University to create teacher manuals that illustrate inclusive learning and teaching Turkish as a second language. After being piloted in Ankara, YUVA plans to present the manuals to pertinent public bodies, such as the Ministry of National Education, in order to implement the program nationwide. Just the pilot program alone benefits 400 refugee students who have integrated into Turkish schools, which displays how wide-reaching this program could be for refugee students if it were to undergo implementation nationwide. YUVA has also opened workshops in these areas that provide on-the-job training and employment; the workshops create eco-friendly jewelry, accessories, textile products and shoes and serve as a way for poverty-stricken locals to obtain extra income.
Looking Ahead
Ultimately, focusing on the expansion of education equality in insecure countries can result in increased national stability. Education helps bring countries out of poverty and economic turmoil and secures a better future for a nation. Discrimination against girls’ education is a critical issue in many countries, and the Malala Fund has recognized this and implemented action to combat it through the Education Champion Network. Leaders such as Rahmatullah Arman, Umme Kalsoom Seyal and Özge Sönmez Vardar are working tirelessly to change the future of girls’ education and hopefully create a world in which all girls have an equal opportunity to learn.
– Hope Shourd
Photo: Flickr
India’s Caste System: Dalit Poverty and Inequality
The Indian caste system is a hierarchical social system that Hindu Indians are born into. India adopted the caste system over 3,000 years ago. The system consists of four main categories including Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras. Meanwhile, each group possesses hundreds of castes and subcastes. The Brahmins are at the top of the caste system and consist of intellectuals and teachers. The warrior and ruler class, the Kshatriyas, are next in the hierarchy. Below the Kshatriyas are the Vaishyas who are traders. Lastly, the Shudras are at the bottom of the caste system. These people do unfavorable jobs. However, a group exists outside the caste system that is below the rank of Shudras. These people are known as Dalits or the untouchables. Here is some information about Dalit poverty in India.
The Dalits
While the government officially banned the caste system in India in 1950, its remnants still remain socially. To this day, the caste in which one is born determines their social status, job and marriage under unofficial social guidelines that Hindu Indians follow. Dalits still experience segregation from other castes in many aspects of society including education, healthcare and worship.
Dalits are severely disadvantaged when it comes to education. In fact, only 10-20% of Dalits can read or write and only 2-3% of Dalit women are literate. With over 50% of the general Indian population being illiterate, the education disparity between Dalits and other castes is apparent. Dalit children especially struggle with inequality when it comes to their education. Segregated from the rest of the classroom, other students often bully or ridicule Dalit students because of their caste. Female Dalit students must also perform certain tasks around the school that other students do not have to do like cleaning the bathroom for instance.
Poverty disproportionately affects the Dalits, or untouchables, in comparison to the other castes even though India has disbanded the caste system. About half of the Dalit caste are living in poverty and 60% of Dalit children are chronically malnourished. Most of the Dalit caste work in low-paying jobs that other castes do not look highly upon. Since their jobs do not receive respect, employers underpay the Dalits for the work they do, thus causing the high poverty rate.
Violence, Poverty and COVID-19
Hate crime and violence against Dalit women is very high in contrast to violence towards women of other castes. A woman suffers rape in India every 20 minutes and a large majority of these cases are against Dalit women. In India, people often see Dalit women as inferior and weak in comparison to women of other castes. As a result, men of other castes who see Dalit women as inferior specifically target these women for these violent crimes.
Recently, the women of the Dalit community have been the victims of a surge of rape and murder in India. Authorities make little to no arrests regarding crimes against the Dalit people and the government has not addressed or made any attempts to help end this crisis of violence.
The untouchables are struggling with poverty and inequality, especially in the wake of COVID-19. The untouchables must perform certain jobs that put them at an increased risk of contracting COVID-19. Also, the untouchables have very little access to protective equipment while performing these high-risk jobs. The Dalits live on the outskirts of villages where they have limited access to healthcare resources, making the untouchables more likely to have complications or die from COVID-19.
The Dalit Foundation
Many NGOs are attempting to help the discrimination and poverty-stricken Dalit caste including the Dalit Foundation. Established in 2003, the Dalit Foundation’s main objective is to secure equality for the Dalit caste. The Dalit Foundation provides education, scholarships and empowerment to members of the Dalit caste. This foundation, among many others, strives to help end this discrimination against Dalits until the Indian government can provide equal rights for their Dalit community.
The enforcement and security of equal rights of all Indian citizens are crucial to helping the Dalits end their oppression and poverty. The Indian government has yet to enforce equal rights for the Dalits so they continue to experience violence and segregation. Once the Indian government protects the Dalit people, gives them equal rights and ends segregation, Dalit poverty should reduce and the Dalit people should be able to receive equal pay, work in jobs they desire, marry outside their caste and get a quality education.
– Hannah Drzewiecki
Photo: Flickr
Central Asian Geopolitics: The Kyrgyz Republic
In the heart of Central Asia lies the Kyrgyz Republic. Many consider the country an island of democracy in the region and it sports a comparatively open and competitive economy. It can be surprising then that the average Kyrgyz family earns under $1,000 a year. Its importance in Central Asian geopolitics, combined with economic reforms, has helped make it the top recipient of development assistance in the region. With a presidential election scheduled for January 2021, the new government will have to answer serious questions about which global power it aligns itself to and whether or not that alignment will bring about progress in lifting roughly 23% of the country’s population out of poverty.
Kyrgyzstan emerged from the Soviet Union’s fall with a far different government than its fellow former Soviet states. While dictatorships and tightly-controlled economies rule its neighbors, Kyrgyzstan enjoyed economic and political reforms. This led to an influx of international supporters. Development aid became the crutch upon which Kyrgyzstan’s economy leaned. The diversity of donors has given the country the unique ability to align itself with countries that best suit their interests. The problem has been that the guiding interests have been too often those of the top politicians rather than the population. Much of the blame has gone to former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Bakiyev took over in 2005 and spent five years perfecting a system of crony capitalism that left nearly 34% of the Kyrgyz people under the poverty line, while deeply enriching himself, his family and his friends.
Help in Crisis
Ten years later, the country is still working to shake the lasting economic and political flaws of the Bakiyev Administration. During October 2020, the political landscape was changing on a seemingly daily basis. The leadership future for the country remains uncertain but will require an ability to maintain channels of aid from a wide array of actors. Much of Kyrgyzstan’s help comes from international organizations like the World Bank. Currently, it works to help Kyrgyzstan combat the pandemic with the Emergency COVID-19 Project.
The Kyrgyz Republic received $160.15 million with the bulk of the money focused on helping with recovery from the economic impacts of the pandemic. Specifically, the emergency aid has funded the creation of new hospitals, renovation of 24 existing hospitals, provisions of mechanical ventilators, defibrillators and an assortment of Intensive Care Unit equipment. These aim to not only provide aid during the current pandemic but also laying the groundwork for future health crises. This is, of course, just one example of a meaningful step towards helping the Kyrgyz people. Typically, the majority of that help has come from countries like Russia, China and the United States.
The Great Game
These world powers have been vying for economic and political leverage over Kyrgyzstan since its birth as a nation. Of those powers, Russia has historically been Kyrgyzstan’s preferred suitor. However, in 2001, the U.S. built its most important transit base for the Afghanistan War at Manas airbase, just outside of the capital, Bishkek. This was a landmark move because Kyrgyzstan became the only country in the world to host a Russian and U.S. military base simultaneously. In 2006, foreign aid started pouring in from the U.S. The uneasy relationship between the three nations nearly boiled over in 2009. That year, Bakiyev announced plans to close the U.S. airbase where roughly 98% of coalition forces were passing in transit to Afghanistan. Later that same year, Bakiyev signed a law allowing for the continued use of the Manas airbase after the U.S. agreed to triple the annual rent paid.
Bishkek and Beijing
Relations between the U.S. and the Kyrgyz Republic continued to decline. By 2019, U.S. foreign aid to the Kyrgyz Republic had dropped 37%. Russia’s economic influence also appeared to be waning as China gradually took on the role of the principal donor. While the Kyrgyz population largely dislikes its eastern neighbor, the governments of China and Kyrgyzstan have an increasingly cozy relationship; one built increasingly upon economic dependence. Roughly 32% of the country’s imports come from China including the majority of its oil. That marks a larger percentage than any other country in Central Asia. This statistic is only a window into the economic melding between the two countries.
As of 2017, Kyrgyzstan’s debt to China made up 42.3% of its GDP. Additionally, 26.2% of its Foreign Direct Investment came from China. Kyrgyzstan’s participation in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) largely spurred this. The initiative is a multi-trillion-dollar plan for global infrastructure and trade routes spanning three continents. Kyrgyzstan has become one of the countries most indebted to China since the project’s start in 2013.
The Buckle in the Belt
Dependency on China has only grown. Despite there being serious rifts between the populations of the two nations, for China, this comes down to central Asian geopolitics. Kyrgyzstan controls the Tien Shan mountain range which surrounds the best overland connection between Europe and Asia. As China invests billions of dollars in a global effort to rebuild its land belt of trade, Kyrgyzstan rises as a crucial point of entry between vast mountains. Maintaining a favorable and dependent relationship is therefore essential for Beijing.
The Kyrgyz People
While the world superpowers use the Kyrgyz Republic as a chess piece in the great game of central Asian geopolitics, there is one group that seems left out: the roughly 6 million people living in Kyrgyzstan, 23% of whom still live below the poverty line. Whoever gains control of the government in January 2021 will have to decide how to handle the powerful suitors vying for influence over the country in a way that benefits the Kyrgyz people rather than simply the allies of a particular party or company.
– Scott Mistler-Ferguson
Photo: Flickr
Child Poverty in Taiwan is Almost Eliminated
Taiwan is an island off the coast of China. Globally, it has received praise for its exceptionally low household poverty rate, which is under 1%. While child poverty in Taiwan is rare, further reducing it is a priority for the Taiwanese government.
Measurement Methodology
Taiwan uses an absolute threshold to calculate the poverty rate. The country uses estimated monthly living expenses calculated in each province for its measurement. For example, residents in Taipei, a highly urbanized city, must earn over $337 for them to be over the poverty line. On the other hand, residents only need to earn above $171 monthly on the small island of Kinmen County. Such geographically-adjusted measures help ensure that Taiwanese families in expensive areas can afford basic necessities, including food, clothing and shelter.
Successful Tactics
Economic downturns do not render Taiwan helpless, such as the one in 2013. Instead, the Taiwanese government quickly raised welfare spending to help people who lost their jobs when factories relocated to China. Additionally, Taiwanese banks gave out microloans with extremely low-interest rates to help families start businesses. To this day, organizations outside of the government also participate in the fight against child poverty in Taiwan.
The Taiwan Fund for Children and Families (TFCF) is an NGO dedicated to eradicating child poverty in Taiwan. This fund sponsored 48,601 children in Taiwan, and 66, 417 children abroad. TFCF began helping children in Taiwan in 1964 by building orphanages. It has since introduced Family Helper Programs and other programs to deliver donations to families in need of assistance. Similarly, TFCF has provided thousands of families with cash, supplies, emergency relief, vocational training and house repairs or reconstruction. Already, the TFCF appears to have helped successfully alleviate child poverty in Taiwan.
The global community can learn from Taiwan’s anti-poverty programs, which have almost completely weeded out child poverty in Taiwan. A recent study found that only 6% of Taiwanese children living in poverty — an already smaller group comparatively — experienced persistent poverty compared to 13.8% in the U.K. and 15.9% in Canada.
Room for Improvement
Child poverty in Taiwan is incredibly low due to effective country policies. However, there are a few areas where the state could improve. One problem is that many citizens make just above the poverty rate and are struggling to get by. Some of these families could earn more if they found lower-paying jobs and went on welfare.
Another problem is that a lot of immigrant families, particularly Southeast Asian immigrant families, primarily find low-skilled jobs and experience persistent discrimination. Similarly, many Aboriginal Taiwanese are also victims of racism, which can make it difficult to find jobs. This led to an approximated 60% poverty rate for Indigenous peoples in Taiwan. Every country, Taiwan included, could improve its anti-poverty strategy. Fortunately, the Taiwanese government is actively trying to help many of the groups that experience high levels of poverty.
Taiwan is one of the few countries in the world that retains a low poverty rate, particularly such a low child poverty rate. Taiwan can implement further improvements, but the country is a model for the international community in eradicating poverty.
– Madelynn Einhorn
Photo: Flickr
SWEDD Project Empowers Women in Sahel
Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (SWEDD)
The main objective of the SWEDD project is to increase women and adolescent girls’ empowerment and their access to quality reproductive, child and maternal health services. It also seeks to promote social and behavioral change and reinforcement of advocacy at policy development levels to support these objectives.
Nine countries are currently involved in the SWEDD project, creating an inclusive economy that centers on gender equality issues. These countries are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.
As of 2014, women made up a majority of the population in every country listed in the program. Based on this fact, the future envisioned by policymakers would have to embrace and empower the female population, driving a new paradigm for the Sahel.
SWEDD’s Impact
Through this initiative, the establishment of improved societal, financial and health structures have developed in the region. The benefits of the program are seen in various key development sectors.
Continuation of SWEDD
The impact of the SWEDD project in the Sahel region is substantial. The changes stemming from the initiative, have begun a societal restructuring of communities throughout the Sahel, at a critical moment in African post-colonial history. The overwhelming success of the initiative has been rewarded by continuing well beyond its initial end in 2018 to 2023. Phase two of the program ensures that even more women in the region are empowered.
– Christopher Millard
Photo: Flickr
6 Facts About Mental Health in Brazil
Brazil, a country that many know for the luscious biodiversity in the Amazon rainforest, comprises more than 211 million people. Among the Brazilian population, around 68% of people fall between the ages of 15 and 64, a target age range for both anxiety disorders and depression. Brazil leads in the world in terms of anxiety cases and ranks fifth for cases of depression, but access to public health support for treatment remains low. Here are six facts about anxiety, depression and mental health in Brazil.
6 Facts About Anxiety, Depression and Mental Health in Brazil
Looking Ahead
Although Brazil ranks fifth worldwide for depressive cases, organizations such as the Center for Valuing Life (CVV) are working toward improving outcomes for those suffering from depression. Given that the second-leading cause of death among Brazilians aged between 15 and 29 is suicide, the CVV provides those suffering from suicidal thoughts with assistance over the phone. To ensure accessibility, the service is available 24 hours a day. The CVV affirms that its services have helped with cases every 43 minutes, promoting a sense of support in Brazil.
– Sarah Frances
Photo: Flickr
Providing Skills Training to African Youth
Africa is no stranger to the challenges of an underdeveloped workforce. Africa has a history of economic crisis paired with harsh conditions to yield ample commodities. The trend for unemployment in Africa’s younger generations is trending upward. The rate at which African youths enroll in job-specific training is also rising slightly. As of 2012, 20.4% of young African students had enrollment in training that would benefit them in the workforce. Projections have determined that this number will be approximately 20.8% in 2021; a small but encouraging increase. Here is additional information about employment in Africa and how some are providing skills training to African youth.
The Situation
Unfortunately for young African women in job training, the numbers have dropped from 26.3% in 2012 to 25.8% in 2020. Cultural belief systems continue to be a barrier for young women in Africa entering the workforce.
Since 2012, the youth unemployment rate has declined from 11.8% in 2012 to 11% in 2020, and expectations have determined that it will remain at 11% in 2021. While Africa’s youth unemployment rate is lower than the global average, this is not a good indicator of economic success and a great need exists for skills training in Africa. About 37.6% of Africans in the workforce are living in extreme poverty and earning less than $1.90 USD per day which exceeds the global average of 35.4% in 2020. Research shows that the poverty rates link to the quality of work available in Africa.
Africa comprises 54 countries and is home to 1.2 billion people. Many industries exist that hold the promise of growth for the younger generation in Africa if they receive the proper skills training. Many of the jobs in Africa relate to farming. Projections state that Africa’s agricultural business will grow to $1 trillion USD in the next 10 years. About 50% of all of Africa’s usable farmland has not undergone cultivation yet. With the expansion of agriculture comes the need for jobs in advisory positions, veterinary medicine, management and more. Additionally, a greater need for professional services such as banks, communication companies, construction and technology will emerge.
Currently, African youth earn less than $150 USD per month on average. This statistic is true for youths who have been out of school for as long as five years and is largely due to a lack of skills training in Africa.
International Consultants for Education and Fairs (ICEF)
International Consultants for Education and Fairs (ICEF) recognizes the unique challenges that the younger generations in Africa face and seeks to respond by providing skills training to African youth. About 250 million youths in Africa are preparing to enter the workforce. Projections have determined that that number will rise to 321 million by 2030. Though students do graduate from secondary school, they often find themselves in what the U.S. would consider entry-level or lower careers such as driving a cab.
Even after paying university tuition while studying subjects such as math and science, youths in Africa still frequently lack the skills necessary to secure middle-class jobs. ICEF recognizes the need
for skills training in Africa to include vocational training and apprenticeships as a part of a degree program. Not only would these apprenticeships be beneficial to companies’ labor costs but they would also give students the hands-on experience they need to enter the workforce.
Beginning in 2021, ICEF will be returning to Africa virtually to help increase educational content to institutions in Africa that lack up-to-date academic plans and provide a network for educators in countries such as Rwanda, Nigeria, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ghana.
The last event occurred in Africa in 2019 and was a success at helping those who educate Africa’s younger generation and assist with skills training. About 241 individuals residing in 43 countries participated in the event. Thirteen African markets received representation and many made connections across the international education plane to help bring skills training to Africa and help lift more people out of poverty.
Meeting the job skills training needs of young people in Africa can offer a long-term solution to some of the tragedies that young people on the continent are facing today. With the collaboration of more developed countries sharing their approach and resources, Africa can make progress by providing skills training to African youth.
– Carolyn Lancour
Photo: Flickr
Defining and Eradicating Child Poverty in Kenya
Charitable organizations and the Kenyan government have long recognized child poverty as a dire issue. Due to this recognition, Kenyan child poverty rates have steadily reduced since 2008. Meanwhile, governmental policies and constitutional highlights, along with funding and research headed by establishments like UNICEF, have improved the lives of countless children within Kenyan communities. UNICEF has conducted extensive research on the main causes of child poverty in Kenya. Its hope is that this research will be a basis for child poverty reduction progress. Here are some of the main contributors that UNICEF identifies as factors relating to child poverty rates in Kenya.
4 Major Definers of Child Poverty in Kenya
The Basic Education Act
The government of Kenya has taken many efforts to help with the eradication of child poverty over the years. The 2010 Kenyan Constitution made a point to emphasize that children have the right to basic needs, including shelter, health care and food. It further states that children should have access to free education at the basic level. Since 2010, the Kenyan government-endorsed programs along with the passing of the Basic Education Act in 2013, ensured that educational equality truly occurs within the country. Due to this emphasis, the number of educated children rose by 11% by the year 2014.
The Food and Nutrition Policy
In 2011, the Food and Nutrition Policy emerged in Kenya with the objective of creating food equity for all citizens. This policy has helped improve food access within the country by making it more abundant and making sure that Kenyan citizens receive education about proper food consumption. For infants, the nutrition policy targeted the reduction of women’s workloads so that they could be more available to breastfeed their children. Companies began vigorously marketing breast milk substitutes because of this policy. For children in school, the 2011 policy ensured that government-run educational facilities provided meals during school days. This policy also established programs for young women in need of nutrient supplementation before pregnancy.
Kenya’s National Nutrition Action Plan
Kenya’s National Nutrition Action Plan occurred from 2012 to 2017. This plan focused on the education of governmental policymakers by emphasizing the correlation between food security and the many factors that contribute to child poverty in Kenya. It also highlighted nutrition as a fundamental and constitutional human right.
One key initiative that the National Nutrition Plan promoted was awareness of the benefits of lobbying for greater nutritional funding. This plan included 11 key elements, all of which highlighted the improvement of nutritional status and education on proper nutrition for women and children in Kenya. This plan further ensured that each of its key elements received implementation and support through various agencies, with government planning and budgeting processes accounting for each agency. A result of these implemented strategies included a raise from 39% to 67% of children eating three or more food groups in a day.
Save the Children’s Efforts
Save the Children is a program that has worked toward the direct relief of child poverty in Kenya since 1950. Along with a variety of resources providing services, the organization has worked to establish and grow women and youth programs in Kenya. These programs directly improve income within households, job prospects for children’s futures and overall nutrition among children. Save the Children has also worked to help improve livestock conditions. The prosperity of livestock has a large correlation with sustainable incomes for many households in Kenya. These households are then able to provide stability for their developing children.
Sustainable Development Objectives
While much work has already occurred to help solve child poverty in Kenya, organizations like the U.N. are working to fund initiatives that support its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in order to help eradicate all child resource injustices by 2030 and reduce global poverty overall. With ongoing commitments to upholding the rights of children in Kenya, the nation can reduce child poverty.
– Olivia Bay
Photo: Flickr
ActionAid Works to Reduce Period Poverty in Malawi
For young women in Malawi, their first period means scavenging for some spare cloth, clean paper or even a banana peel–anything to create a facsimile of a pad or tampon. In countries like Malawi, something as commonplace as a period or sanitary protection alters the course of a woman’s life. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world with approximately 50% of its people living below the poverty line. Moreover, for most households, a single sanitation product is equivalent to a day’s working wage. Simply put, it is often not even a consideration to purchase menstrual sanitary products when the compromise would be forfeiting affording food or water. As a result, period poverty in Malawi is prevalent.
COVID-19 has exacerbated period poverty in many countries, but ActionAid is fighting for women’s rights and the end of period poverty in Malawi. ActionAid is an international charity that emerged in 1972 and works on the frontlines with women and girls living in poverty around the world. It has been working to provide aid in Malawi since 1990.
Period Poverty in Malawi and Education
The inability of women and girls to access sanitary menstruation products has led to an increase in infection, disease and a lack of education among women in developing countries. Only 29% of girls stay in school up until reaching Standard Eight of their education.
Around 50% of school-age girls in Africa do not have access to sanitary products. When young women are able to go to school without the hindrance of insufficient sanitary products, the quality of life for women and families in developing countries increases exponentially. Women’s education has a positive correlation to decreased fertility rates, infant mortality rates and maternal mortality rates. A U.N. study ascertained that educating women serves as a critical factor in determining childhood survival rates. In short, tackling period poverty can in turn reduce other side effects of global poverty.
ActionAid’s Work to Eradicate Period Poverty in Malawi
In April 2020, ActionAid donated MK150 million to districts in Malawi that COVID-19 hit the hardest. It also donated hygiene materials such as sanitary towels, soap and clean undergarments. For the past few years, ActionAid has spearheaded projects that train women and girls on how to make their own hygienic and reusable sanitary pads. Poverty causes period poverty but community stigmas regarding menstruation can also women and girls to miss out on school. In fact, UNICEF has estimated that one in 10 African girls of schooling age does not attend school during menstruation. Young women in Africa find it difficult to continue school or attend school during their period due to the burden that comes with having to constantly wash and reuse unsuitable sanitary protection.
In addition to equipping women and girls with the skills necessary to make their own sanitary pads, ActionAid also facilitates girls’ clubs and safe spaces in schools that provide information and assistance. ActionAid safe spaces exist across Africa and provide a private space where women can receive medical help, hygiene kits and emotional support. ActionAid has changed the lives of women and girls in Malawi for the better. When asked how ActionAid has impacted her, one 17-year-old Malawi girl replied, “I am able to stand in class without being conscious of what is behind me and can even play netball. I’m really happy and [ActionAid] helps a lot.”
While ActionAid is not the only organization combating period poverty in Malawi, the work it has accomplished has already transformed the stigma. Moreover, it has improved how people in Malawi treat menstruation and women’s rights.
– Nina Forest
Photo: Flickr
World Food Programme Solutions for 2021
A United Nations General Assembly meeting took place on December 4, 2020. Its primary focus concerned the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic as precautionary measures continued and vaccines emerged. With 2020 nearly over, the resounding political, social and economic effects of the pandemic began to materialize. But all did not disappear despite the grim outlook. A handful of humanitarian organizations are busy strategizing solutions for 2021.
Closing 2020
The last few months of 2020 showed the world that the pandemic is just the beginning. The disease itself constitutes merely one of a myriad of societal problems that a pandemic can bring. COVID-19 has had an unpredictable ripple effect. PPE loans in the United States, damaged food supply chains in Africa and the closings of borders all over the world demonstrate the pandemic’s extent.
Earlier in December 2020, before the General Assembly meeting, the UN estimated that the pandemic, the resulting economic impact and the concurrent precautionary and protective measures that governments were taking had already caused a 40% rise in the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance. What may be the most evident incoming challenge is global famine. David Beasley, chief of the World Food Programme (WFP), warned that famines “of biblical proportions” are imminent for dozens of countries.
2021 Predictions
David Beasley spoke at length at the General Assembly meeting. His prediction for a catastrophe in 2021 made headlines and effectively set the tone for the entirety of the 193-nation conference. The upcoming COVID-19 vaccines constituted a positive note, though greater concerns regarding distribution overshadowed them. Speakers at the meeting warned against a stampede for vaccines that could result in wealthier countries crushing others in the race to eradicate COVID-19. While the pandemic is global, the UN fears that the fight against it may become individualistic and needlessly competitive.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, echoed fears of the COVID-19 vaccine competition. He called for $4.3 billion USD to go into a global vaccine-sharing program, saying “solutions must be shared equitably as global public goods.”
Solutions for 2021
Despite the dire circumstances, Beasley and his organization have the leverage to play a crucial role in manifesting solutions for 2021. The World Food Programme works as more than just an international food bank: it enjoys the global spotlight after winning the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for “bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.”
The achievements that landed the World Food Programme this coveted prize also provided some positivity at the December conference. The General Assembly served as the WFP’s proverbial megaphone to world leaders. Thanks to the publicity surrounding the meeting, the WFP could grab the world’s attention.
As COVID-19 continues to rise and economies across the world take a resounding hit, humanitarian budgets stretching thin. Low- and middle-income countries particularly suffer. Beasley predicts that the WFP needs $15 billion in 2021 to address the global famine conditions that the pandemic has caused. Beasley says that the inability to meet leaders or address parliaments in person may hinder fundraising efforts. It will be difficult to sensitize those in charge of financial allocations.
Nonetheless, the World Food Programme and similar organizations are working tirelessly to raise money and create frameworks for solutions to the pandemic and its concurrent issues. Events as routine as a UN General Assembly meeting have provided the podia necessary for titans of humanitarian aid to make their causes known. With any luck, their solutions for 2021 will keep millions afloat.
– Stirling MacDougall
Photo: Flickr