For children living in India’s urban slums, access to a book can be more than an opportunity to read. Literacy provides the foundation for continued education, employment and economic opportunities, making access to reading materials an important tool in the fight against poverty. In India, mobile libraries are bringing books directly to communities that may otherwise have limited access to reading materials. By using vehicles and portable collections to reach underserved areas, these initiatives make literacy resources more accessible to children outside of traditional educational settings.
India’s Learning Poverty Challenge
India has made significant progress in expanding access to education, but enrollment does not necessarily mean that children are developing foundational reading skills. According to the World Bank, when accounting for children who are out of school, 56% of children at late-primary age are not proficient in reading.
The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024 highlights similar challenges in foundational literacy, although its findings cited here specifically concern children attending government schools in rural India. Among Grade Three children in government schools, 23.4% could read a Grade Two level text in 2024, compared with 16.3% in 2022. While this represents significant improvement, the figures demonstrate that many children in rural India continue to struggle with basic reading skills.
These national and rural findings do not directly measure literacy among children living in urban slums, but they illustrate the broader challenges India faces in developing foundational reading skills. For children in underserved urban communities, access to books and other educational resources may also be limited, making community-based approaches to literacy particularly relevant.
Bringing Libraries to Children
Mobile libraries in India have provided one way of overcoming barriers that have resulted a lack of permanent library infrastructure. The Delhi Public Library, an autonomous organization under India’s Ministry of Culture, has operated mobile library services since 1953, with efforts continually increasing. The service currently uses four mobile vans across 73 areas of Delhi and has 4,275 registered mobile-library members.
The vans bring library services directly to communities with limited access to traditional library facilities. The Indian government has identified slums and resettlement colonies as places that can specifically benefit from mobile library services through its Ghar Ghar Dastak, Ghar Ghar Pustak initiative.
Mobile libraries can also provide materials in multiple languages. The Delhi Public Library’s collection includes books in Hindi, English, Urdu, Punjabi and other Indian languages. This allows mobile libraries in India to respond to the linguistic diversity of the communities they reach.
Bookwallah provides another example of how libraries can operate without relying entirely on permanent buildings, which can be difficult to establish in underserved communities. The organization runs permanent libraries in special schools and orphanages in India, while its portable “Magic Crate” libraries deliver books to locations including crisis shelters, hospitals and child-friendly police stations.
According to Bookwallah, its Magic Crate program has reached tens of thousands of children through first-level interventions. While the program is not specific to urban slums, the organization demonstrates how portable collections can provide books and literacy opportunities to children who face barriers to conventional libraries and education centers.
Literacy as a Tool for Poverty Reduction in Urban Slums
There is evidence that community-based and mobile library initiatives can support literacy among children in underserved communities. In Kolkata, the Little Literacy Library was established in two slum communities, Chetla Lock Gate and RG Kar, providing bilingual English and Bengali books to children ages five to 15.
The initiative was designed to address educational inequalities by bringing learning materials directly into communities where children had limited access to books. According to the organization, the project has reached 45 children across the two sites. Although the initiative is small-scale, it demonstrates how community-based literacy programs can bring reading materials directly to children living in underserved communities.
Wider research also supports the potential of mobile libraries as a literacy intervention, although this research is not specific to India or urban slums. A 2025 study involving 487 mobile-library participants, educators, facilitators and administrators found a statistically significant relationship between mobile library access and literacy improvement. Participants’ reading comprehension scores increased by 3.3 points, while mobile library use accounted for 46.4% of the variation in literacy improvement.
Together, these findings suggest that mobile libraries can do more than provide recreational reading. By bringing books, structured literacy activities and educational support directly into underserved communities, they help children develop the reading and comprehension skills needed to progress through education.
Looking Ahead
For children growing up in urban poverty, stronger literacy can create opportunities that extend beyond the classroom. Literacy can help children engage with further education, develop additional skills and eventually access better employment opportunities. In this way, mobile libraries in India offer a relatively low-cost approach to addressing one of the educational barriers associated with poverty.
While mobile libraries cannot solve educational inequality or poverty alone, bringing books directly into underserved urban communities can help ensure that a child’s access to learning is not determined solely by where they live. Expanding these initiatives alongside investment in schools, teachers and wider educational infrastructure could help more children develop the foundational literacy skills needed to build a pathway out of poverty.
– Amber Bannon
Amber is based in High Wycombe and focuses on Good News for The Borgen Project.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
How Brazil’s PIX Is Expanding Financial Inclusion
Launched in November 2020, PIX is Brazil’s instant payment system created and managed by the Central Bank of Brazil. It allows people and businesses to transfer money between accounts within seconds. The system was designed to increase competition, reduce payment costs and make digital transactions more accessible.
PIX has become widely used across Brazil. According to the Central Bank of Brazil, more than 170 million individuals have used PIX as of 2026, representing about 80% of the country’s population. The system processed more than 7 billion transactions in May 2026 alone.
The scale of PIX expands financial inclusion because the cost of making and receiving payments can affect whether people and businesses participate fully in the formal economy. Traditional payment methods can involve fees, intermediaries or physical infrastructure that may be more difficult for small businesses and low-income consumers to access.
PIX serves as an alternative. Individuals generally do not pay fees to send or receive transactions, while businesses may pay transaction fees. Wire transfers, for example, can cost $1.50 to $3 per transaction. Debit or credit card transfers cost 1.1%-2.2% for a business per transaction. PIX transactions cost an average of 0.22% to 0.33% per transaction for businesses.
For Brazil’s small businesses, these lower payment costs are particularly important. Micro and small businesses account for about 95% of businesses in Brazil and face significant barriers to accessing financing. PIX can help address this challenge by making it easier and less expensive for businesses to accept digital payments.
How PIX is Expanding Financial Inclusion
PIX is expanding financial inclusion by making digital payments faster, less expensive and more widely available. These differences matter for people and businesses operating with limited financial resources. When transaction costs are lower, a greater share of a payment remains with the person or business receiving it. For a small business with narrow margins, reducing payment expenses can make digital payments more practical. Lower costs mean businesses retain more while getting access to the formal financial system. By connecting more people to digital financial services, PIX provides an additional tool to manage money and respond to financial challenges.
Supporting Small Businesses
Small businesses are an important part of Brazil’s economy and are particularly relevant to the connection between payment costs and financial inclusion. Research from Innovations for Poverty Action found that 96% of surveyed micro and small business owners used PIX for either business or personal transactions, while nearly half used it daily. Many business owners also reported using PIX for a substantial share of their non-cash business revenue.
PIX can benefit small businesses in several ways. Entrepreneurs can accept digital payments without relying on some of the infrastructure traditionally associated with electronic payments, while funds are transferred rapidly into an account. Combined with lower transaction costs, money that would otherwise go toward payment-related expenses can remain available for inventory, operating costs or other business needs.
PIX can also help businesses establish a digital record of transactions. That record does not automatically provide access to credit, but it can become useful financial information. Businesses using PIX more frequently were significantly more likely to adopt Open Finance. Open Finance allows businesses to securely share financial information across institutions, potentially helping financial providers evaluate their financial activity. The correlation between PIX and Open Finance suggests that greater use of formal digital finance may create additional opportunities for small businesses to access financial services.
PIX and Access to Financial Services
PIX is a payment system, not a complete financial-services platform. Its primary function is to move money quickly between accounts. However, some additional services are official PIX features. PIX Saque allows users to withdraw cash at participating businesses, while PIX Troco allows customers to receive cash as part of a PIX transaction at participating establishments. The Central Bank introduced these services to expand access to cash and reduce some of the costs associated with cash management.
Therefore, PIX can interact with Brazil’s broader digital financial infrastructure. Through Open Finance, individuals and businesses can choose to share financial information with other institutions. This creates a potential pathway from low-cost payments to broader financial inclusion. PIX makes digital transactions easier, while other financial systems can use its information to develop or evaluate additional financial services.
Financial Infrastructure and Poverty Reduction
PIX reduces some of the costs and barriers associated with making and receiving payments. Those changes can be particularly relevant for low-income households and small businesses, which may have fewer financial resources to absorb transaction fees and other costs.
For households, easier and lower-cost digital payments can make everyday financial transactions more accessible. For businesses, immediate payments and lower acceptance costs can improve the efficiency of receiving revenue and managing cash flow. Thus, PIX is expanding financial inclusion. Its potential contribution to poverty reduction comes from underlying improvements in economic participation.
PIX demonstrates how payment infrastructure can become part of a broader strategy for financial inclusion. The system does not eliminate poverty on its own, but by making financial transactions cheaper, faster and more accessible, it can remove some of the barriers that prevent people and businesses from fully participating in the economy.
– Julia M Kozin
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Addressing Common Bean Disease in Sub-Saharan Africa
The common bean is an integral part of Sub-Saharan Africa’s financial and nutritional security. With the continent accounting for 25% of global output, the cash crop provides employment, income and a healthy diet to both urban and rural populations. Devastating viral diseases threatening the crop, however, are increasing in frequency, putting the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in peril. Here is how the TumainiBeans app is address common bean disease in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Common Beans in Sub-Saharan Africa
The common bean crop in Sub-Saharan Africa is a vital cash crop for the region. With Africa being the second-largest producer of the crop in the world, it brings in an average $3.84 billion to Sub-Saharan Africa per year. Through cultivation, processing and domestic trade, common beans provide income and employment to rural populations, especially to women involved in the trade. The very production of the crop benefits smallholder farmers, naturally enhancing soil fertility and aligning with crop rotations.
Common beans bring not only economic benefits to Sub-Saharan Africa but also nutritional advantages. The beans provide nutritional security for 420 million people in the region. They are high in protein and nutrients like iron and zinc, and are universally consumed in both rural and urban areas.
Crop Loss
Common beans in Sub-Saharan Africa are highly susceptible to a number of crop diseases that devastate yields and pose serious threats to the income and nutritional security of rural populations reliant on the crop.
A 2025 study published by the scientific review, Viruses, demonstrates a continent-wide upsurge in viral threats to the common bean crop. The two major viruses posing a threat are Bean Common Mosaic Virus and Bean Common Mosaic Necrosis Virus. These two viruses are transmitted by aphids or infected seeds and can reduce crop yields by a devastating 80%. Smallholder farmers find it difficult to prevent viral outbreaks, especially in remote areas, where access to disease identification and outbreak prevention resources is often out of reach due to distance and financial constraints.
The TumainiBeans App
The new TumainiBeans App offers an encouraging solution to common bean disease in Sub-Saharan Africa. In a region where traditional expert methods of disease identification are often geographically and economically inaccessible, the Tumaini app allows farmers to upload an image of any part of an infected bean plant and receive a real-time diagnosis. Independent validation saw the app achieve 90% disease classification accuracy. Downloaded onto a smartphone, the AI app is easy to use and can detect diseases even using poor-quality images. Its AI technology renders disease diagnosis accessible and timely, a crucial element in preventing the spread of viruses.
The TumainiBeans app also provides immediate, context-relevant solutions to a diagnosis, such as assistance on treatment options, advice on healthy farming practices like crop rotations and field sanitation, as well as counsel on the selection of disease-resistant crop varieties.
The technology is still new. While adoption rates, connectivity barriers and the question of whether diagnoses lead to improved yields and increased income at scale remain unknown, the Tumaini App shows potential as a useful decision-support tool for smallholder farmers whose disease-management options may be limited. With the capability to identify the problem and the solution, smallholder farmers could use this tool to protect their crops, income and livelihoods.
– Amelia Krone
Photo: Flickr
What Nepal Flooding Reveals About Global Aid Importance
Following the melting glacier that caused floods and destruction across the Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading regions in Nepal in late August, the country now faces the monumental task of recovery: managing a high death toll, continuing search-and-rescue efforts for those still missing, and tackling massive infrastructure damage, while supporting a population facing homelessness, hunger and urgent medical needs. Tragedies such as Nepal flooding demonstrate why international assistance and aid are vital for global development and support.
Nepal’s Floods
As of Sept. 11, authorities had recovered 1,385 bodies and approximately 5,130 people remained missing following the Nepal flooding. Search-and-rescue efforts continue, but relief now focuses on the 93,000 Nepalis affected in its aftermath. Those most severely affected lived in the low-lying Rasuwa district, along the banks of the Trishuli River, a community already impacted by an earthquake in 2015. The flood damaged roads, schools, power districts and water systems across the northern districts, including Rasuwa. Flash floods swept away 32 bridges and 25 roads, leaving many communities stranded. Those in Nepal who faced poverty prior to the flooding now endure significantly worse conditions.
As Stephane Hallegatte and Marianne Fay write in “Natural Disaster, Poverty, and Inequality,” “…many of these impacts of natural disasters accrue disproportionately to poor households…[and] poor households take longer to recover from disasters, and are more likely to face long-term consequences.”
Following a natural disaster of this magnitude, international aid is crucial, especially to help those already in poverty, who now face food and job insecurity, housing insecurity and health risks.
What International Aid Has Provided
Financial Supplies: Monetary support is essential following a disaster, allowing the government to rebuild, lead relief efforts, and provide support for citizens with essential supplies. The Red Cross and the World Bank are among the organizations that provided financial support to Nepal, along with aid from China and the United States, among others.
Personnel: More manpower, from search-and-rescuers to medical staff, is essential after a disaster. The United Nations and Doctors Without Borders, along with South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States, have all provided human support.
Supplies: Following a disaster like the Nepal flooding, medical supplies, hygiene kits and other essentials are often distributed to citizens. The World Health Organization (WHO) sent medical supplies and tents for emergency shelter. The World Food Program (WFP) used drones to send food to communities cut off from services, and UNICEF sent emergency kits with hygiene items, medical supplies and other essentials.
Why Is International Aid Important?
As of Sept. 11, rescuers had saved 13,676 people following the Nepal flooding. This highlights the impact of international aid—countries and international organizations providing financial support, technical expertise, medical and other essential supplies, and infrastructural reconstruction. Nepal flooding exemplifies international cooperation.
– Madalyn Youngbauer
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
How Political Isolation in Bahrain Affects Economic Opportunity
Political restrictions can dictate more than who appears on a ballot. Human Rights Watch reports that political isolation in Bahrain extends beyond elections into civil society and that separate good conduct certificate practices can also affect access to education and employment. In 2018, Bahrain implemented new laws that restrict former members of opposition groups and certain other select individuals from serving on the boards of civil organizations or running for parliament.
Human Rights Watch has documented delays and denials of good conduct certificates among some former opposition members and prisoners. Human Rights Watch has additionally reported that these certificates can be required for employment and university admission. In the absence of official government data, Bahraini civil society groups have used membership lists from dissolved political societies to estimate that 6,000 to 11,000 Bahrainis may be subject to political and civil restrictions. Together, these political and administrative restrictions can affect access to civic participation, education, employment and economic opportunity for some individuals.
Bahrain’s Political Isolation Laws
The 2018 political isolation framework followed the court-ordered dissolution of two major political opposition societies, Al-Wifaq in 2016 and Wa’ad in 2017. In June 2018, Bahrain enacted Law 25/2018, limiting eligibility to run for the Council of Representatives. The law affects multiple groups, including the leaders and members of political societies the government dissolved, people with specific criminal convictions and individuals whom authorities consider responsible for disrupting constitutional or parliamentary life. Bahraini lawyers and civil society groups have interpreted this grouping to include former lawmakers and other individuals who have either resigned or boycotted their elected posts in protest. The U.S. State Department stated that such restrictions on former members of banned political groups limited political participation, while Bahrain has continued to maintain an elected lower legislative chamber and an appointed upper chamber.
In August 2018, Bahrain enacted Law 36/2018, extending eligibility requirements beyond elections to the boards of associations. The law amended Bahrain’s associations framework to require board members to possess full civil and political rights. As a consequence, individuals deprived of full civil and political rights can also be barred from leadership positions in civil society organizations. Human Rights Watch reported that authorities prevented three nominees from joining the Bahrain Human Rights Society’s board in 2022 because of their previous affiliations with Wa’ad. This demonstrates that these restrictions reach organizations operating separately from formal electoral politics and may further limit participation in civic institutions.
Economic Consequences of Political Isolation
A more direct link between political isolation in Bahrain and economic opportunity appears in Human Rights Watch’s reporting on Good Conduct Certificates. Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior handles these documents through the General Directorate of Crime Detection and Forensic Evidence. Human Rights Watch reports that Good Conduct Certificates may be required for employment, starting a business, university admission and membership in social and cultural organizations. The organization documented former opposition figures and former prisoners facing lengthy delays and denials. In one specific case, a former opposition member said he could not accept a position as head of a school because government authorities did not issue the mandated certificate. This documented example shows how a certificate delay or denial can create a direct employment barrier for an affected individual.
The certificate issue overlaps with the 2018 political isolation laws but remains legally distinct from them. The 2018 laws do not themselves deny Good Conduct Certificates to opposition members. Instead, Human Rights Watch has documented certificate delays and denials as a separate issue affecting some of these same politically marginalized communities. For individuals whose employment, education or business activities require the certificate, delays or outright denials can restrict access to jobs, education, and other income-generating opportunities. For affected households, those barriers can make it harder to maintain a stable income.
Recent Steps Toward Reintegration
Recent government measures have expanded prisoner-release and reintegration programs. On April 8, 2024, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa issued a royal pardon for 1,584 prisoners, including some who were convicted on charges related to earlier protests. Reuters reported that around 65% of the released prisoners had riot-related convictions. Separately, Bahrain has also used an alternative-sentencing program that allows select eligible prisoners to finish their sentences through the completion of community service, rehabilitation courses and electronic monitoring. By April 2024, Bahrain’s government reported that nearly 6,500 prisoners had benefited from the alternative sentencing program since its introduction in 2017.
Bahrain’s Open Prison program provides a more direct example of reintegration tied to economic opportunity. According to the U.S. State Department’s 2023 human rights report, the initiative opened in December 2022 and allowed 48 prisoners to reunite with their families while continuing to serve their sentences in a new facility. In 2023, 13 prisoners entered alternative programs and obtained full-time private-sector employment through an agreement between the Ministry of Interior and INJAZ Bahrain. The 2023 agreement was designed to provide training in employment, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and other practical skills intended to support participants’ reintegration into the workforce and civil society.
By December 2024, Bahraini officials reported a 97.5% rehabilitation and reintegration rate and stated that more than 7,600 families had benefitted from the alternative-sentencing and Open Prison Programs. Officials also highlighted partnerships with Gulf University and Applied Science University to provide full and partial scholarships to program beneficiaries.
Political Participation and Economic Inclusion
Political isolation in Bahrain remains in place while the government has separately expanded pardons, alternative sentencing programs and the Open Prison Program. On March 27, 2025, King Hamad granted amnesty to 630 inmates, according to Human Rights Watch’s 2026 World Report, following a series of pardons in 2024. The pardons and reintegration programs operate through mechanisms separate from the 2018 political isolation laws and the Good Conduct Certificate practices. At the same time, the 2018 political isolation laws remain in force. Whether that reintegration translates into broader access to education, employment and civic participation will dictate how far these efforts extend beyond prison walls.
– Elias Haskins
Photo: Unsplash
Mobile Libraries in India: How they Can Improve Literacy in Urban Slums
For children living in India’s urban slums, access to a book can be more than an opportunity to read. Literacy provides the foundation for continued education, employment and economic opportunities, making access to reading materials an important tool in the fight against poverty. In India, mobile libraries are bringing books directly to communities that may otherwise have limited access to reading materials. By using vehicles and portable collections to reach underserved areas, these initiatives make literacy resources more accessible to children outside of traditional educational settings.
India’s Learning Poverty Challenge
India has made significant progress in expanding access to education, but enrollment does not necessarily mean that children are developing foundational reading skills. According to the World Bank, when accounting for children who are out of school, 56% of children at late-primary age are not proficient in reading.
The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024 highlights similar challenges in foundational literacy, although its findings cited here specifically concern children attending government schools in rural India. Among Grade Three children in government schools, 23.4% could read a Grade Two level text in 2024, compared with 16.3% in 2022. While this represents significant improvement, the figures demonstrate that many children in rural India continue to struggle with basic reading skills.
These national and rural findings do not directly measure literacy among children living in urban slums, but they illustrate the broader challenges India faces in developing foundational reading skills. For children in underserved urban communities, access to books and other educational resources may also be limited, making community-based approaches to literacy particularly relevant.
Bringing Libraries to Children
Mobile libraries in India have provided one way of overcoming barriers that have resulted a lack of permanent library infrastructure. The Delhi Public Library, an autonomous organization under India’s Ministry of Culture, has operated mobile library services since 1953, with efforts continually increasing. The service currently uses four mobile vans across 73 areas of Delhi and has 4,275 registered mobile-library members.
The vans bring library services directly to communities with limited access to traditional library facilities. The Indian government has identified slums and resettlement colonies as places that can specifically benefit from mobile library services through its Ghar Ghar Dastak, Ghar Ghar Pustak initiative.
Mobile libraries can also provide materials in multiple languages. The Delhi Public Library’s collection includes books in Hindi, English, Urdu, Punjabi and other Indian languages. This allows mobile libraries in India to respond to the linguistic diversity of the communities they reach.
Bookwallah provides another example of how libraries can operate without relying entirely on permanent buildings, which can be difficult to establish in underserved communities. The organization runs permanent libraries in special schools and orphanages in India, while its portable “Magic Crate” libraries deliver books to locations including crisis shelters, hospitals and child-friendly police stations.
According to Bookwallah, its Magic Crate program has reached tens of thousands of children through first-level interventions. While the program is not specific to urban slums, the organization demonstrates how portable collections can provide books and literacy opportunities to children who face barriers to conventional libraries and education centers.
Literacy as a Tool for Poverty Reduction in Urban Slums
There is evidence that community-based and mobile library initiatives can support literacy among children in underserved communities. In Kolkata, the Little Literacy Library was established in two slum communities, Chetla Lock Gate and RG Kar, providing bilingual English and Bengali books to children ages five to 15.
The initiative was designed to address educational inequalities by bringing learning materials directly into communities where children had limited access to books. According to the organization, the project has reached 45 children across the two sites. Although the initiative is small-scale, it demonstrates how community-based literacy programs can bring reading materials directly to children living in underserved communities.
Wider research also supports the potential of mobile libraries as a literacy intervention, although this research is not specific to India or urban slums. A 2025 study involving 487 mobile-library participants, educators, facilitators and administrators found a statistically significant relationship between mobile library access and literacy improvement. Participants’ reading comprehension scores increased by 3.3 points, while mobile library use accounted for 46.4% of the variation in literacy improvement.
Together, these findings suggest that mobile libraries can do more than provide recreational reading. By bringing books, structured literacy activities and educational support directly into underserved communities, they help children develop the reading and comprehension skills needed to progress through education.
Looking Ahead
For children growing up in urban poverty, stronger literacy can create opportunities that extend beyond the classroom. Literacy can help children engage with further education, develop additional skills and eventually access better employment opportunities. In this way, mobile libraries in India offer a relatively low-cost approach to addressing one of the educational barriers associated with poverty.
While mobile libraries cannot solve educational inequality or poverty alone, bringing books directly into underserved urban communities can help ensure that a child’s access to learning is not determined solely by where they live. Expanding these initiatives alongside investment in schools, teachers and wider educational infrastructure could help more children develop the foundational literacy skills needed to build a pathway out of poverty.
– Amber Bannon
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The Fight Against Tuberculosis in Timor-Leste
To much of the developed world, tuberculosis may seem like a distant threat. In 2024, however, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 10.7 million people developed TB worldwide and 1.23 million died from the disease. The WHO South-East Asia Region accounted for 34% of global TB cases, making it central to efforts to reduce the disease burden. Recently, efforts have increased to combat tuberculosis worldwide.
Why Tuberculosis in Timor-Leste is So Prevalent
The circumstances facing this small Southeast Asian nation demonstrate the challenges surrounding tuberculosis in Timor-Leste.
Timor-Leste is a small, ethnically diverse country on the Malay Archipelago, about 400 kilometers north of Australia. Following the 1999 referendum that began its transition from Indonesian rule, Timor-Leste has struggled with extreme poverty, with an estimated 44% of the population living on less than three dollars a day.
When a person becomes seriously ill in Timor-Leste, location and income limit options. About 70% of the population lives in rural areas. That means in order to get to a hospital, a would-be patient must make a journey of several hours, most likely on foot. With a lack of paved roads and a steep, mountainous environment, travel can be taxing. Accounting for the intense heat of the dry season and the flash floods of the rainy season, the trip becomes almost impossible for an ill person to endure. For many Timor-Leste citizens, reaching a hospital when illness strikes is not a realistic option. These barriers help explain why access to tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment remains challenging in Timor-Leste.
Efforts to Address Health Care Access in Timor-Leste
Since the pandemic, a time when many nations became attuned to the state of their health care systems, some organizations implemented efforts to fix this issue in Timor-Leste. In 2020, for example, the IOM—a branch of the UN’s migration offices—developed a program to train health care workers in Timor-Leste to use new diagnostic technologies. The program aimed to strengthen tuberculosis diagnosis and build the skills of health care workers in Timor-Leste. In 2024, IOM reported its successes: they had trained six radiographers, 60 medical doctors, and three laboratory technicians to detect tuberculosis with sophisticated new technologies, as well as educating 700 health care workers on tuberculosis diagnostic guidelines, according to an article on their website. These figures represent improvement, but the fight will not end without help from allies abroad.
International Efforts Against Tuberculosis
Combatting tuberculosis in Timor-Leste requires support. By providing the resources necessary to make health care accessible, hundreds of lives can be saved every year. With this in mind, on June 11, 2026, Senators Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire) and Todd Young (Indiana) officially reintroduced the End Tuberculosis Now Act. The bipartisan bill would make tuberculosis elimination a U.S. foreign-assistance priority and strengthen coordination around research, diagnosis, treatment and prevention.
Senator Young stated: “Tuberculosis is preventable, treatable and curable, yet it continues to claim far too many lives around the world. The End Tuberculosis Now Act will strengthen efforts to expand access to diagnosis and treatment, support the development of new tools and vaccines and improve our ability to detect and respond to future infectious disease threats. By helping countries combat tuberculosis before it spreads further, we can save lives, strengthen global health security and better protect Americans from emerging infectious diseases.”
It remains to be seen whether Congress will pass the bill. The legislation is one example of international policy efforts aimed at reducing the global burden of tuberculosis.
– Madison Hoar
Photo: Flickr
How Community-Led Housing Strengthens Economic Security
For families living in informal settlements, finding an affordable home can be about more than having a roof overhead. Without secure land or housing, families can face eviction, overcrowding and limited access to basic services. Community-led housing offers a different approach. Instead of governments or private developers making every decision, residents organize themselves to help design, finance, build and manage their own communities. Projects in countries including Thailand, Kenya and Brazil demonstrate how this approach can give low-income communities greater housing security and control. While community-led housing is not a standalone solution to global poverty, these examples suggest that giving residents greater control over housing can contribute to economic security, affordability and stronger communities.
Thailand Shows How Communities Can Lead
Launched in 2003, Baan Mankong places low-income communities at the center of housing development. Through Thailand’s Community Organizations Development Institute (CODI), organized communities can access financial and technical support to purchase land, construct homes and improve infrastructure. Rather than moving residents away from informal settlements and replacing them with government-built housing, the program often allows communities to determine what their neighborhoods need. Residents can form cooperatives, save money together, negotiate with landowners and decide how their housing should be developed.
The approach has operated at a significant scale. According to CODI, Baan Mankong had reached 142,763 households by 2026. There is also evidence of potential economic benefits for participating households. CODI’s recent Social Return on Investment research found that the proportion of respondents reporting family savings increased from 38.28% before moving into Baan Mankong housing to 76.90% afterward. The research also found that 58.62% of respondents said the program had reduced their housing expenses. These figures help illustrate an important principle of community-led housing: people experiencing housing insecurity can also be part of designing the solution, while individuals can connect access to secure housing to broader household financial security.
Kenya Uses Community Land Ownership
In Kenya, the Tanzania-Bondeni Community Land Trust in Voi has provided an alternative to conventional individual land ownership. The community land trust model places land under collective ownership while allowing residents to have secure rights to their homes. This distinction is important because inexpensive housing can become unaffordable again if properties are later sold at market prices. Community land trusts can help protect affordability by separating ownership of the land from ownership or use of the buildings on it. The model has therefore attracted attention as a potential way to provide long-term housing security for low-income communities. The International Center for Community Land Trusts identifies Tanzania-Bondeni as an important example of the community land trust model in the Global South.
Latin America Demonstrates the Power of Collective Action
Community-led housing and collective land ownership have also developed across Latin America. The Caño Martín Peña Community Land Trust in Puerto Rico provides a prominent example. The trust originated to help residents of an informal settlement obtain collective land security while improving housing and infrastructure. Instead of treating residents as passive recipients of housing, the model gives the community a formal role in managing its future. Collective ownership can also help residents remain in established communities rather than being displaced as land values increase. Further, research into community-led housing in Brazil, Nepal, Malawi and Zambia, drawing from more than 100 sources and case studies, has found that resident participation can contribute to improvements in housing, social inclusion and local governance. Together, these examples show how collective action can connect housing improvements with community decision-making and longer-term security.
More Than an Affordable House
The examples demonstrate that community-led housing can provide benefits beyond reducing the cost of a home. Residents can gain greater control over decisions that affect their communities. Cooperative structures can help people pool savings and access financing. Collective ownership can also help protect land and housing from speculation. Community-led housing can strengthen existing social networks as well. Instead of relocating residents away from their communities, some projects allow people to improve the places where they already live. Environmental improvements can become another benefit. Projects can incorporate green spaces, improved infrastructure and more efficient use of land.
The approach does not mean that communities must solve housing problems without outside assistance. Baan Mankong demonstrates the importance of government financing and technical support, while other community land trust projects rely on partnerships with nonprofit organizations and local authorities.
A Model With Global Potential
Community-led housing is not a single type of building. It is a way of organizing housing around the people who live in it. Together, the examples above suggest that addressing housing insecurity does not always require communities to wait for a developer or government agency to provide a finished solution. With access to land, finance and technical support, residents can become active participants in creating and managing affordable housing. For communities facing poverty, that shift can mean more than a new home. It can provide greater housing security, greater control over local decisions and, in some cases, a stronger foundation for household economic security.
The experience of Baan Mankong provides evidence that community-led housing can operate at substantial scale, while community land trusts demonstrate ways of protecting collective land security. Community-led housing is therefore not a simple answer to global poverty. But by putting residents at the center of decisions about land, housing and community development, it offers one approach to strengthening the security and resilience of low-income communities.
– Lilia Clark
Photo: Flickr
Education Initiatives in Libya: Supporting Children
Libya’s education system has faced years of disruption following the 2011 revolution and subsequent conflict. Before 2011, Libya had achieved near-universal primary and secondary enrollment with equitable gender enrollment, but conflict, displacement and economic crisis have since restricted access to education. Education Cannot Wait reports that hundreds of schools have been targeted, destroyed or repurposed, while many children and adolescents remain out of the classroom.
The current challenges remain significant. UNICEF reports that about one in 10 households rely on child labor and that almost one in five families have at least one child out of school. UNICEF also continues to support vulnerable children, including children with disabilities, displaced children and children on the move, through education and protection programs. Here is some information about education initiatives in Libya and what they are doing to help.
The Good News: Education Initiatives in Libya
Several education initiatives are working to improve education and student well-being in Libya. In June 2026, the Libyan government and UNICEF launched two complementary initiatives: the National Community Health Program and the National Strategy for School Health and Nutrition (2026–2030). The school strategy addresses priorities including nutrition, mental health, water, sanitation and hygiene, digital referral systems and school clinics. Partners also plan to train school-health personnel and expand mental-health services over the five-year strategy.
This follows earlier efforts to strengthen Libya’s education system. In 2013, the European Union funded a two-year UNICEF initiative, led by Libya’s Ministry of Education, to improve teacher management and training. The €3.1 million project was designed to support teacher qualifications, in-service training, recruitment, management and deployment.
Other Initiatives
UNICEF also supports education in Libya through cash assistance, non-formal education and digital learning opportunities. In partnership with the Ministry of Education, it helps re-enroll out-of-school children, trains social workers and school counselors, supports teacher development and provides remedial or catch-up classes for children who have fallen behind.
Education Cannot Wait (ECW) also supports primary and secondary education in Libya. Its programs rehabilitate damaged schools, improve water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, support parent-teacher associations and provide cash transfers, scholarships, accelerated learning, remedial lessons and vocational training. ECW also trains educators to create more inclusive learning environments, particularly for girls and children with disabilities.
ACTED has also used Quick Impact Projects to address immediate problems in Libya’s education system. In 2018, 15 projects that UNHCR funded distributed school supplies, IT equipment and furniture and supported school renovations. ACTED reports that the projects supported around 3,300 students and contributed to community stabilization by creating safer educational environments that encouraged families to return.
The Road Ahead
Libya’s education system continues to face serious challenges, but domestic and international initiatives are expanding access to learning, improving school environments and supporting vulnerable children. Current programs from UNICEF and Education Cannot Wait sit alongside earlier efforts from organizations such as ACTED and the European Union, showing several approaches to strengthening education in Libya.
– Sebastiano Brussato
Photo: Flickr
How Alternative Credit in Kenya Empowers Borrowers
Understanding the Credit-Access Gap
Poverty in Kenya is multidimensional, consisting of food insecurity, lack of access to clean drinking water and unemployment. More than 15 million people, approximately 30% of Kenya’s population, live in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs). Between July and October 2026, around 2.7 million people in the ASALs were experiencing Crisis or worse acute food insecurity. More than 883,300 children aged 6-59 months in the ASALs and refugee camps were expected to require treatment for acute malnutrition between April 2026 and March 2027.
Economic pressures affect both rural and urban areas. According to World Bank assessments, approximately 800,000 young people enter Kenya’s labor market each year, while fewer than 100,000 secure formal, labor-law-protected jobs. Furthermore, World Bank economic projections warn that inflation and higher commodity prices carry the scenario risk of pushing between 1 million and 2.4 million additional Kenyans below the poverty line.
For many small-scale business owners, securing capital from traditional commercial banks remains difficult because of documentation, collateral requirements and a lack of formal credit history. Consequently, informal enterprises and self-employed individuals often operate without access to traditional banking channels.
How Alternative Credit and Digital Scoring Operate
Alternative credit is a type of non-traditional financing that is for borrowers who cannot normally access traditional bank lending. Several organizations are creating alternative credit routes in Kenya, helping small business owners and entrepreneurs receive access to funds for their businesses and ventures.
Conclusion
Expanding financial inclusion and alternative credit options can provide micro-entrepreneurs with capital to manage cash flow and invest in their ventures. However, credit also carries repayment obligations and financial risks. Rather than viewing borrowing as an automatic solution to poverty, responsible alternative credit can provide a potential pathway to livelihood support and economic participation.
– Lara Lewis
Photo: Pexels
Refugee Funding Diversification
For decades, the United States (U.S.) has been the world’s largest donor to UNHCR, enabling the organization to coordinate funding for emergency shelters, health care and refugee education. However, in recent months, uncertainty about future U.S. funding has intensified, prompting governments and humanitarian organizations to seek new partnerships and approaches.
Gulf States: A Growing Source of Global Support Funding
Gulf States have long played an important role in humanitarian assistance, ranking among the largest donors. As uncertainty over future U.S. funding persists, these expanding partnerships are increasingly viewed as an important part of a broader effort to diversify the global refugee funding base.
Despite their growing financial support through the years, none of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states officially recognize the legal concept of refugeehood, as they have never signed the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol. Instead, they provide support through partnerships with UNHCR, Islamic philanthropy initiatives and bilateral aid programs.
UNHCR’s Refugee Zakat Fund, launched in 2017, has grown into a trusted global funding source for refugees, distinguished by its strong commitment to transparency. Zakat, an obligatory form of almsgiving in Islam, channels charitable giving to those in need.
The fund is an example of refugee funding diversification, receiving more than $23 million in Zakat in 2025 and assisting nearly 580,000 eligible refugees and internally displaced people across 17 countries. Overall, the fund raised $39 million through Islamic philanthropy and reached more than one million displaced people across 25 countries.
The European Union’s Role
The European Union (EU) and its members, including Germany and the European Commission, are among UNHCR’s largest donors, providing substantial financial support for humanitarian assistance and refugee protection.
Alongside direct global refugee funding, the EU supports neighboring host countries, such as Jordan and Türkiye, to improve access to education, health care and employment opportunities for refugees. It also provides financial support to frontline countries, such as Greece, to strengthen asylum systems and refugee integration.
Diversifying refugee funding can strengthen assistance by bringing together governments, international organizations and philanthropic partners. Balancing these demands will be key to strengthening refugee funding diversification and determining the level of additional support the EU can provide to the global refugee funding system.
Conclusion
Governments and humanitarian organizations are realizing the importance of increasingly diversifying funding sources and expanding policies that promote refugee self-reliance. Initiatives such as UNHCR’s Refugee Zakat Fund demonstrate how Islamic philanthropy can complement government contributions and reach vulnerable communities. At the same time, continued support from major donors such as the European Union remains essential.
Together, government funding, philanthropic giving and policies that promote refugee self-reliance can help humanitarian organizations respond to growing needs while reducing reliance on any single source of funding.
– Clara Iglesias Romero
Photo: Unsplash