In 2015, the World Bank launched the Africa Climate Business Plan. The Plan marks a strategic effort to accelerate low-carbon, climate-resilient development in sub-Saharan Africa. A great success, the World Bank is now in its first stages of rolling out the Next Generation Africa Climate Business Plan, building off of lessons learned from the first installation. The new plan is ambitious, but necessarily so—with climate impacts on the rise and less than a decade left to achieve the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Africa must rapidly deploy climate-smart, inclusive development projects. The Next Generation Africa Climate Business Plan stems from the World Bank’s greater commitment to placing climate at the center of all development efforts. It works toward carving out green paths to prosperity.
A Continent in Crisis
By and large, sub-Saharan Africa has contributed the least to greenhouse gas emissions. Despite this, it suffers some of the most devastating impacts of environmental challenges and changing weather patterns. The year 2019 was the third-warmest year ever on record in Africa.
A sample of 30 African countries found that two-thirds were warming quicker than the whole world on average. Poorer countries are more vulnerable to weather challenges due to the limited adaptive capacity of rural economies. Though Africa’s engines of growth are diversified, agriculture is still its largest economic sector. Agriculture makes up 15% of the continent’s GDP. It is highly climate-sensitive. Changing weather patterns and natural disasters like droughts and cyclones have directly impacted productivity.
Africa boasts a variety of climate types from arid to rainforest or temperate, so changing weather manifests differently in different regions. Effects can range from rising sea levels and coastal erosion to extreme floods, landslides and even desert locusts. These events threaten food and water security, as well as the overall socio-economic development of the continent. Changes in weather reverse development gains, undermining the health, safety and stability of communities. Climate-informed development is urgent; without it, an estimated 43 million additional people in sub-Saharan Africa could fall below the poverty line by 2030.
Strategic Focuses
The Next Generation Africa Climate Business Plan is all about thinking ahead for the future, but this does not mean that the World Bank is not looking to the past for guidance. The new and improved Climate Plan is building on the successes of its predecessor, the original Africa Climate Business Plan. This plan supported 246 projects with more than $33 billion in World Bank financing over the course of its six-year tenure. As the largest financial sponsor of climate action in Africa, the World Bank plans to ramp up existing efforts and institute new initiatives as part of the Next Generation Plan. With the plan, it will work to cooperatively tackling changing weather and promoting development within African countries.
The Next Generation African Climate Business Plan is essentially a sustainable development blueprint with five Strategic Directions. These include:
- Food Security
- Environmental Sustainability
- Clean Energy
- Resilient Green Cities
- Climate Shocks
The plan also has two Special Areas of Emphasis including Climate-Informed Macroeconomic Policies and Green and Resilient Infrastructure. At its core, it aims to scale up climate resilience as part and parcel of development efforts to reduce poverty and grow economies.
The Plan in Action
Until recently, Adwoa Adezawa, a resident of the Cape Coast of Ghana, lived in a community entirely without power. However, Adwoa, along with thousands of other Ghanaians, could purchase a mini solar grid thanks to the $220 million Ghana Energy and Development Access Project (GEDAP) financed by the World Bank. GEDAP focuses on inclusive access to renewable energy through the deployment of off-grid solar products. The project includes subsidies to make energy more affordable. It also collaborates with local financiers like rural banks to support access to financing. Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal Sierra Leone and Togo have all rolled out similar solar programs.
Given that sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest energy access rates in the world—electricity reaches only around half of its people—such programs are critical. Efficient, affordable solar energy is a pillar of the Next Generation Africa Climate Business Plan. Furthermore, the World Bank has been scaling up such projects each year.
Other cruxes of the plan include outfitting cities with low-carbon urban planning approaches and promoting climate-smart agriculture. The World Bank already supports modern agriculture projects in Ethiopia, Niger and Zambia. Additionally, it currently works to target 28 million farmers to ensure food security across 20 countries. The World Bank aims to train farmers on climate-smart agricultural approaches and expand integrated landscape management to more than 60 million hectares. Overall, expectations have determined investments in new projects will reach $22.5 billion by 2025. Treating development and climate action as interwoven, interdependent goals, the World Bank is pushing for growth that not only minimizes environmental impact but actively corrects past and future trends of environmental degradation.
– Margot Seidel
Photo: Flickr
3 Countries Investing in Rights-Based Drug Policy
Rights-based drug policy has been increasing in popularity in recent years. In 2019, the U.N. Development Programme and the International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policies collaborated with legal and scientific experts on a three-year project to develop guidelines for a rights-based drug policy approach. The International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy laid out recommendations that nations should follow regarding criminal justice, addiction treatment and pain relief accessibility in order to be in accordance with international humanitarian law. These recommendations include:
Worldwide, the most common approach to addressing drug use and trafficking relies on punishment. This is often in lieu of providing care to those affected by addiction and violence relating to the drug trade. According to the International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy, punishing drug users and withholding addiction treatment and harm reduction services are violations of human rights.
Some nations have been reforming their drug policy to address community needs and uphold humanitarian practices. Here are a few success stories.
Britain: Controlled Treatment for Opioid Dependence
In 2009, the British government undertook a four-year trial where doctors used injections of the opioid diamorphine, in addition to counseling, to stabilize addiction patients who had not responded to conventional treatments. After just six months of diamorphine injections, three-quarters of the trial participants stopped using street heroin. Crimes that the group committed dropped dramatically.
Today, many British citizens suffering from extreme opioid addiction are qualified to receive diamorphine through the National Health Service. From 2017-2018, 280 patients received this treatment to recover from addiction. However, conservative attitudes about the treatment threaten to cut services. Experts warn that patients who are no longer able to receive diamorphine may return to street heroin.
Scotland: Saving Lives with Naloxone
Naloxone, also known as Narcan, is a nasal spray that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. Scotland began providing communities with take-home Naloxone kits in 2011 and issued 37,609 kits between 2011 and 2017.
The Scottish Ambulance Service recently rolled out a program to send Naloxone kits home with the friends and family of users after an overdose and train them how to administer the medication before an ambulance arrives to reduce the risk of death. Some Scotland police officers are beginning to carry Naloxone, though many are resistant to the practice.
Portugal: Humane Treatment for Users
In 2001, Portugal decriminalized drug use. Instead of jail time, drug users receive fines or have to complete service hours and/or addiction treatment. Drug trafficking remains a criminal offense.
To replace incarceration, Portugal increased treatment programs. As of 2008, three-quarters of those suffering from opioid addictions were on medication-assisted treatment. Since the policy shift, opioid deaths have fallen dramatically, as well as HIV and Hepatitis C infections. In addition, U.S. research studies indicate that spending money on treatment returns more than investing in traditional crime reduction methods. Portugal also implemented a needle exchange program to provide intravenous drug users with clean needles, which experts say returns at least six times its expenses in reducing costs associated with HIV.
Decriminalization did not lead to a rise in addiction and Portugal’s prison population is lower now than before decriminalization. Rights-based drug policy has flipped the script on addiction in Portugal. Criminalization exacerbates issues related to addiction, such as poverty. Rights-based drug policies are better at breaking the cycle of addiction and thus, alleviating poverty.
Rights-based drug policy means treating users with respect and providing communities with the resources they need to address the devastation drugs can cause. Adopting legislation in line with The International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Policy is a crucial step towards a scientific and rights-based approach to combating the worldwide drug crisis.
– Elise Brehob
Photo: Flickr
Children with Disabilities in Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan is a small nation in Central Asia. It is west of China and south of Kazakhstan. In 2019, this former Soviet country ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (CRPD). Kyrgyzstan is now part of it along with 180 other countries. The approval of the CRPD showcases the progress that various organizations have made in recent years toward creating a more inclusive Kyrgyzstan. This is of vital importance to more than 31,000 registered children with disabilities in Kyrgyzstan who often lack basic civil rights.
Barriers to Inclusion
Since Soviet rule, the prevailing mindset in Kyrgyzstan is that people with disabilities require fixing. This has led to the development of stigmas against people with disabilities, and in turn, their exclusion from daily life. This can take the form of the children not receiving an education, and having limited access to health and rehabilitation services and institutional placement. According to UNICEF, in 2012, more than 3,200 children and teenagers with disabilities were living in institutions. Here, they often face inhumane treatment. For example, Human Rights Watch documented that staff use “psychotropic drugs or forced psychiatric hospitalization to control children’s behavior and punish them.” This kind of treatment is harmful and can result in an overdose.
Learning Better Together
In 2018, the Kyrgyzstan government launched several initiatives with the intention of fostering inclusion. One of these initiatives is the Learning Better Together Initiative. This is a partnership between USAID, the Ministry of Education and Science of Kyrgyzstan and UNICEF. UNICEF is responsible for placing children with disabilities or special needs in local schools. Teachers received training on how to work with children with disabilities and how to identify areas in which students need extra help.
There were 20 schools that participated in the pilot program. Each one received grants to use as they best saw fit. For example, the school in Kok-Sai used the grant to build a dance room and purchase exercise equipment to help children with disabilities improve their physical health.
While the main focus of the Learning Better Together Initiative is children with disabilities, it also implemented multilingual education. At least 20 school settings practiced this concept during the pilot program. These programs are important for a multiethnic nation like Kyrgyzstan.
Open the Door to the Child!
“Open the door to the child!” is a UNICEF public campaign. It is in partnership with the Osh and Bishkek Mayor’s office that informed the public about children with disabilities in Kyrgyzstan. Billboards displayed advertisements that talked about accepting those with disabilities. Similar posters and banners hung on bus stops and city lights. The stories of children with disabilities in Kyrgyzstan, including their trials and victories, aired on local television throughout the Osh Oblast (region).
Additionally, kindergartens handed out bilingual pamphlets to parents, outlining how to connect with children with disabilities. Psychology and sociology students came to kindergartens to teach how to make friends with others, including those who have disabilities.
UNICEF’s Early Identification and Early Intervention Programme for Children with Disabilities is a program that sends health care workers to homes with newborns and children to screen for health issues and disabilities. Currently, UNICEF is striving for early detection in children 8-years-old and under to ensure they get adequate health services. UNICEF is also aiming to prevent a child’s health from worsening.
Buchur
Buchur is a daycare center in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, which specializes in working with children with disabilities. Founded by UNICEF, the city now runs and finances the daycare center itself. Here, children with disabilities between the ages of 2 and 16 can learn skills and interact with one another instead of facing isolation at home. Furthermore, it facilitates a smooth integration into kindergarten or school. Buchur also tutors children from mainstream schools who need help with homework. Similar facilities are uncommon in Kyrgyzstan.
Basketball for All
Inspired by a similar Ukrainian program, Basketball for All teaches kids with down syndrome or autism the skills and teamwork needed to play basketball. Administered by World Link and FLEX alumni, this is the first project of its kind in Kyrgyzstan. Organizers integrate parent and student feedback into the program to ensure it has the desired effect on students. Though the COVID-19 pandemic cut the initial run of the program short, the organizers have expressed interest in continuing the program after the pandemic.
Kelechek Plus
Kelechek Plus is an organization that focuses on issues surrounding children with disabilities in Kyrgyzstan. One of its programs focuses on building inclusive playgrounds for children. These playgrounds help expose non-disabled children to children with disabilities and vice versa. This is important to the mental and emotional needs of the children. Kelechek Plus has built playgrounds in various cities around Kyrgyzstan, such as Osh and Karakol. A wheelchair-accessible merry-go-round is an example of the type of structures that parents could find at one of Kelechek Plus’ playgrounds.
The progress that Kyrgyzstan has made over the last few years has been valuable in regard to the inclusion of children with disabilities in Kyrgyzstan. However, most NPO and government initiatives affect mainly the cities, leaving the rural areas in need of social and academic services. Government assistance in rural areas needs to occur. However, the success of current inclusive programs could serve as a roadmap throughout Kyrgyzstan.
– Riley Behlke
Photo: Flickr
How Insects Can Combat Extreme Hunger in Kenya
A Promising Solution
The massive inundation of locusts in regions where food is scarce also served as a concrete reminder of the relative abundance of biomass from insects in Africa. This abundance of biomass from insects presents a promising solution for Kenya — use insects to combat hunger by converting them into food products.
Eating insects has a long history in tropical and subtropical climates due to the large populations of insects. Kenya is no exception. Though locusts were long considered a valuable food source, they should not be eaten now due to the widespread usage of insecticides to curb locust outbreaks. However, other related insects like grasshoppers can be eaten. Countries like Kenya can potentially use insects to combat extreme hunger.
Nutrition
Among the millions of undernourished people in Kenya, lack of protein is the main cause and one of the most important areas to focus on to reduce malnutrition.
According to the Global Hunger Index, 24.2% of people in Kenya were undernourished in 2018. In the same year, roughly 26% of children under the age of 5 had experienced stunted growth due to malnourishment.
Insects are an extremely good source of proteins and essential amino acids. Insects like grasshoppers and locusts contain more protein per ounce than traditional forms of protein like beef, chicken or sheep.
Stable and Efficient Production
The production and harvest of insects for consumption provides a stable and efficient method of food production. It takes only three months for crickets to grow to their fully matured state.
Studies have also shown that insects are as efficient as poultry in converting feed into biomass. In addition, insects can feed on waste byproducts such as manure. Both of these facts mean that insect farmers in Kenya will not need to spend much time or money on providing feed to their insects.
Environmentally Sustainable
The cultivation of insects consumes less water and results in lower greenhouse gas emissions than the cultivation of other sources of protein like livestock. Furthermore, contrary to popular belief, insect cultivation is believed to be less likely to result in zoonotic infections.
In Kenya, where insects such as termites are already commonly foraged for consumption by humans, the mass production of insects could combat extreme hunger. Insect cultivation has the potential to provide a cheaper, more efficient and stable solution.
More research and development must occur before entrepreneurs and activists in Kenya can roll out products like insect protein powders, cricket-based flour or just plain fried insects to Kenya’s hungry. Nonetheless, the value of insects presents a possible solution that can be considered to combat extreme hunger in Kenya.
– Willy Carlsen
Photo: Flickr
The Equal Rights and Access for the Women of South Sudan Act
H.R. 116
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee introduced H.R. 116, also known as the Equal Rights and Access for the Women of South Sudan Act, to the House of Representatives on January 4, 2021. It is currently under review by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. The bill requires “that activities carried out by the United States in South Sudan relating to governance, reconstruction and development and refugee relief and assistance support the basic human rights of women and women’s participation and leadership in these areas.”
Women consist of 60% of the population in South Sudan but still face the most hardships. Furthermore, more than 80% of Sudanese women are illiterate and 50% of girls under the age of 18 are married, contributing to a higher rate of maternal mortality. Gender-based violence is prevalent for women in South Sudan and abortion is still illegal even in circumstances of rape. The law of the country does not protect women due to the prevalent use of customary law, which often discriminates against women and minorities.
Current Challenges in South Sudan
South Sudanese women still face a violation of their human rights but continued support from the U.S. can ensure that women’s progression, since July 2011 when the Republic of South Sudan gained independence, will continue. The U.S. has already made considerable contributions to emergency relief and humanitarian efforts in South Sudan. Still, to ensure the protection and advancement of women as well as overall stability in the country, there needs to be a long-term investment in the development and reconstruction of South Sudan. A significant concern is that inadequate healthcare in the country means a high maternal and infant mortality rate. The maternal mortality rate is 1,054 deaths per 100,000 live births, one of the highest rates globally.
South Sudan faces issues with its infrastructure, which hampers human development and marginalizes women. Due to high illiteracy rates in the country, it is essential to secure and inform women of their rights. International aid can support local women’s organizations and can include equality in efforts for the country’s development. Humanitarian and development programs that the U.S. sponsors can help girls and women exercise their human rights. The U.S. can also help South Sudan include more women in politics.
Proposals of the South Sudan Act
South Sudanese women should be integral to policy-making efforts relating to the governance of South Sudan. This equates to the involvement of more women in all legislative bodies and ensuring that women’s rights form part of the constitution and other legislative policies. Furthermore, regarding post-conflict reconstruction and development, the U.S. should guarantee that a significant portion of U.S. developmental assistance and relief aid goes to women’s organizations in South Sudan.
The U.S. should also promote female-centered economic development programs, including programs that support widows, female heads of household, rural women and women with disabilities. Furthermore, it is important to “increase women’s access to ownership of assets such as land, water, agricultural inputs, credit and property. ”
These are just some of the directives of the Equal Rights and Access for the Women of South Sudan Act. Overall, the Act calls on the U.S. as a global leader to take action to prioritize women in South Sudan so that women can advance and progress. Women form an integral part of poverty reduction, which is why gender equality is so important. Uplifting women in South Sudan means reducing poverty in the country. For truly lasting global change, women’s empowerment is essential.
– Nyelah Mitchell
Photo: Flickr
Child Homelessness in Cameroon
A violent civil crisis over regional separatism, known as the Anglophone Crisis or Cameroonian Civil War, has decimated the Central African nation of Cameroon since 2017. One of the most disheartening consequences of the conflict is the extreme number of homeless children. As of 2019, Cameroon had over 900,000 internally displaced people, 51% of whom were children. Child homelessness in Cameroon has been a serious problem for many years, but the government has redoubled its efforts to combat housing shortages and population displacement.
Street Children
Homeless or impermanently housed “street children” are a growing problem in the urban centers of many developing countries. In Cameroon, where about 37.5% of the population lives below the poverty line, street children have been a prominent humanitarian concern for years. The escalation of the Anglophone crisis has produced significant increases in the number of children fending for themselves on the streets of Cameroon’s cities. In the past 10 years, the number of street children increased from around 1,000 to over 10,000.
A study that researchers at the University of Kwa Zulu-Natal conducted found that most street children in Cameroon subsist on less than $0.85 USD per day. Many street children rely on begging, drug use and sex work to survive their harsh conditions. Less than 1% of the street children who the researchers surveyed considered the public’s attitude toward them to be supportive. These children are dangerously vulnerable, especially in active war zones. Conflict-induced devastation is one of the most significant causes of child homelessness in Cameroon.
Impact of COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit Cameroon, worsening conditions for all citizens but hitting street children especially hard. Urban centers are less sanitary and more harmful than ever before, something that the homeless and under-housed feel most keenly. Over 40,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have occurred in Cameroon and over 600 deaths.
Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated the worst impacts of the Anglophone Crisis. As the global health crisis distracted the international community, both the military and armed separatist groups enacted more violence on civilians. This behavior endangers civilians directly but also causes many to flee their homes out of fear for their safety, increasing the number of Cameroon’s homeless dramatically. This surge in displaced individuals also stretches Cameroon’s already thin resources even more direly, worsening conditions for those already homeless.
Though the pandemic has increased the instability of living conditions for those on the streets, it has also given Cameroon’s government a stronger incentive to house street children, accelerating existing plans to provide housing to those who violence or poverty have displaced.
Initiatives to House Street Children
Cameroon’s Ministry of Social Affairs is partnering with the Ministry of Health to house and support thousands of street children while screening them for COVID-19 in the process. It began clearing the streets in April 2020, with plans to find housing for 3,000 street children in the near future.
The children will either return to their families or enter housing or job training programs to develop skills like cooking and sewing. Regardless of their specifics, this program will provide shelter, safety and opportunities to thousands of street children. This initiative will house not only displaced or abandoned children but also orphans and children who are seeking asylum from nearby countries.
Street Child, a U.K. charity, is also working in Cameroon to help provide protection and education for homeless children. The organization emerged in 2008 and operates by partnering with local organizations in areas with high rates of child homelessness to make education more accessible. Street Child has helped over 330,000 children go to school. Now the initiative is working with local organizations and the Cameroonian government to help provide COVID-19 relief, and developing specific programs to improve the wellbeing of children who the conflict has directly affected. Street Child focuses on expanding access to education and alleviating the symptoms of child homelessness in Cameroon.
– Samantha Silveira
Photo: Flickr
Combatting Human Trafficking in Uruguay
Uruguay has recently increased its national response to violent and organized crime after seeing an increase has included the smuggling of drugs, weapons and people. To help end human trafficking in Uruguay, the government is taking steps to increase awareness and identification about the practice and its victims.
The United Nations defines human trafficking as the transfer of persons through the use of force or coercion for the purpose of exploitation, often involving forced labor or sex work. Around 10% of human trafficking occurs in Latin America, accounting for over $1 billion of the money traffickers make throughout the world.
Where Uruguay Stands
A small country of over 3.4 million bordering Brazil and Argentina, Uruguay has historically had one of the lower crime rates in South America. Despite this, the 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report categorizes Uruguay as a Tier 2 country, which it has been for the last five years. The report, which the U.S. State Department publishes, consists of three primary tiers. The first denotes that a country is making sufficient effort to end human trafficking and the third signals that a country is making little to no effort.
In 2019, Uruguay identified 83 new victims of human trafficking; this number is down from the 95 victims it identified in 2018. Shelters and other services are available for victims, however, most resources like these are only in the capital of Montevideo. Victims identified in other areas of the country face additional challenges because of this.
Most victims of human trafficking are women and girls, who are often from vulnerable communities. Poverty is one of the leading risk factors that experts associate with human trafficking, meaning that in addition to direct responses to human trafficking, reducing poverty can also be a form of prevention.
What Uruguay is Doing
As a Tier 2 country, Uruguay still has room to improve its handling of human trafficking but is making significant efforts to advance the quality of its response and resources for victims. Primary among these is the country’s National Action Plan in 2018, which involved the creation of a committee focused on ending human trafficking in Uruguay.
Besides raising public awareness about the issue, Uruguay is also training law enforcement and other officials on how to recognize human trafficking when it occurs and provide help. A national hotline is also now available 24 hours a day. Uruguay is also providing access to shelters and services for victims outside of Montevideo as an ongoing effort to end human trafficking in the country.
Civil society and the public have also made their voices heard on the topic, including former victims. In the summer of 2019, Sandra Ferrini, who experienced trafficking as a teenager, made a powerful statement as she led the country’s first march against human trafficking.
Potential Improvements
The efforts that Uruguay is enacting to prevent and educate about human trafficking have improved the country’s situation, but it still needs to do more work. The Trafficking in Persons report made several recommendations for Uruguay to continue improving its efforts.
One area the recommendations focused on was improving the long-term support for victims. Suggestions included more funding for shelters, particularly in areas outside of the capital Montevideo. Programs for social reintegration are also a promising form of support, including those that focus on vocational training.
The report also recommended that Uruguay pursue more prosecutions of the people running human trafficking. Cases against traffickers have increased in the last few years, with 18 cases undergoing prosecution in 2019 compared to just 10 a few years before. Increasing prosecution can further hold perpetrators accountable and decrease trafficking in Uruguay.
With further engagement on the issue from both the government and the public, Uruguay can improve services for victims and significantly reduce human trafficking within its borders.
– Nicole Ronchetti
Photo: Wikipedia Commons
Factors of Child Poverty in the Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a major tourist destination, reeling in an estimated 6.5 million visitors in 2018. However, it also hosts a largely divided society with 40% of its population falling under the poverty line. Due to this poverty, Dominican children struggle considerably, dealing with several issues that do not allow them to succeed and confine them to a life of poverty. Here is some information about child poverty in the Dominican Republic.
Limited Access to Proper Education
One of the hardest struggles Dominican children must deal with is a lack of proper public education. These children in poverty attend public schools which often provide low-quality education with a lack of resources and poorly trained professionals. Due to a lack of financial resources, these schools also suffer from ill-suited scholastic programs and buildings in need of repair. Consequently, “more than 40% of Dominican children are uneducated,” and just 60% of enrolled children complete their primary education. Another problem worth addressing is the Dominican Republic’s high rate of repetition, especially in rural areas, with 44% of students in grades one to five, being three or more years older than the appropriate age and 60% of students in grades six to eight, again being older than the age they should be.
Child Labor
These children are then must work in order to support their struggling families. In fact, 2.1% of Dominican children from ages 10-14 are obliged to join the workforce. In fact, 28.1% of working children work in agriculture, 8.6% work in industries such as construction and producing baked goods and 63.4% have employment in public services. Many of these jobs are unsafe for children and some even suffer sexual trafficking and exploitation, especially Haitian children who traffickers frequently send to the Dominican Republic.
Mistreatment and Abuse
Due to a lack of enforcement and prohibition, Dominican children frequently suffer from abuse. As of 2014, reports determined that 62.9% of children experienced physical or psychological mistreatment by their caregivers. This treatment of children in the Dominican Republic is concerning and leads to adults who deem it right to use violence to solve conflict and gain power. In fact, 8% of Dominican men from ages 15 to 49 consider it justified to physically abuse their wives for at least one reason, while 2% of Dominican women in the same age range agree with this justification of abuse.
Child Marriage
Another significant issue young Dominican women struggle with is the regularity of child marriage. In fact, 36% of Dominican girls must marry before they turn 18 and 12% marry before they turn 15. Furthermore, as of 2014, 21% of girls from ages 20-24 reported having given birth before the age of 18. These marriages are harmful to these young women, who must place their own education and goals to the side to become wives and mothers against their will.
Lack of Identity
Another huge problem for Dominican children is the number of births that are not on the official record. “More than a quarter of births in the Dominican Republic are not officially reported,” concluding in a large number of children with no identity or nationality. This leads to huge difficulties for these children who will never be able to fully enjoy their rights as citizens. For example, the Ministry of Education requires students to have a birth certificate to graduate high school, forcing all unidentified children to be unable to get a degree, leaving them with the least amount of opportunities to succeed.
Solutions
Several organizations have emerged and the Dominican Republic is passing legislation to aid and raise awareness on these critical issues regarding child poverty in the Dominican Republic. Some of these organizations include Save the Children and UNICEF, which raise money to support poor communities by providing potable water and promoting health and hygiene.
Save the Children also focuses on improving education for Dominican children, using its platform to refurbish school buildings, build gardens, enhance teacher’s knowledge and improve sanitary infrastructure. It has protected 1,665 children from harm and provided 27,318 children a healthy start to their lives. Furthermore, The Ministry of Labor has increased the number of hired inspectors from 148 to 205 in 2019, demonstrating moderate improvement in decreasing child labor. More than anything, the Dominican Republic has made considerable improvements in healthcare, providing healthcare to 366,236 poor citizens who had previously lacked it through the Health Sector Reform APL2 (PARSS2). These improvements target the Dominican Republic’s most critical issues, including education, child labor and sanitation, helping alleviate the prominent issue that is child poverty in the Dominican Republic.
– Juan Vargas
Photo: Flickr
COVID-19 in the Democratic Republic of Congo: How Big Data Is Helping
The COVID-19 Situation in the DRC
While this nation has faced many struggles since the rapid spread of the virus in the summer of 2020, big data provides hope for a more organized and effective response to COVID-19 in the DRC. The DRC has not had a census since 1984 and since then, the nation has split its 11 provinces into 26, leading to an even more disjointed understanding of the DRC’s population. Big data via mobile companies could allow for updated population estimates and health infrastructure data leading to a better COVID-19 response.
UNICEF has improved mass media communication in the DRC and trained nearly 100 media professionals on warning signs of COVID-19 to allow professionals to inform the public on COVID-19 better. Since these efforts, 25 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo were reached by mass media to prevent the spread of the disease.
How Technology Can Help Slow the Spread
Ongoing advancements in big data and the availability of technology worldwide have allowed many countries to make better forecasts for the spread of COVID-19. These advancements allowed the DRC’s government to make more information-based policy decisions.
Oxford University’s Big Data Institute has studied the benefits of using mobile apps to provide data on a nation’s citizens that would allow for a more efficient and succinct response to COVID-19. Nearly half of COVID-19 transmissions happen before symptoms arise, which means mobile apps that notify individuals who may have been exposed provide a quick and widespread response to stopping the spread.
Mobile Big Data and the DRC’s Fight Against COVID-19
In May 2020, mobile operators in the Democratic Republic of Congo, namely Africell, Organe and Vodacom, agreed to collaborate to use their big data analytics to provide information for the government’s response to COVID-19. This agreement led to a nationwide dashboard that allows health authorities to track mobility among the population and across different health districts to trace the spread of the virus.
Since the introduction of COVID-19 in the DRC, the virus has spread quickly from the central, populated districts to other provinces. Utilizing big mobile data to track this spread will allow better informed policy choices from the government. Analysis of this data has also led to updated information on the stock levels and needs of health care facilities in the DRC.
An example of the utilization of this big data is when the DRC’s government took confinement measures and prevented travel to the province of Gombe. Big mobile data companies in the DRC have provided the government with call detail records (CDRs) that have shown a 70% drop in travelers to Gombe after implementing the rules, showing high adherence to government recommendations.
Future Measures to Use Technology to Stop the Spread
Big mobile providers are working with the Ministry of Health to predict hotspots for COVID-19 in the DRC in the future using data that tracks population mobility. Looking beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, big data analytics provide hope for more efficient government policies and a strengthened relationship between healthcare facilities and the Ministry of Health in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
– Tatiana Nelson
Photo: Flickr
The World Bank’s Africa Climate Business Plan
In 2015, the World Bank launched the Africa Climate Business Plan. The Plan marks a strategic effort to accelerate low-carbon, climate-resilient development in sub-Saharan Africa. A great success, the World Bank is now in its first stages of rolling out the Next Generation Africa Climate Business Plan, building off of lessons learned from the first installation. The new plan is ambitious, but necessarily so—with climate impacts on the rise and less than a decade left to achieve the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Africa must rapidly deploy climate-smart, inclusive development projects. The Next Generation Africa Climate Business Plan stems from the World Bank’s greater commitment to placing climate at the center of all development efforts. It works toward carving out green paths to prosperity.
A Continent in Crisis
By and large, sub-Saharan Africa has contributed the least to greenhouse gas emissions. Despite this, it suffers some of the most devastating impacts of environmental challenges and changing weather patterns. The year 2019 was the third-warmest year ever on record in Africa.
A sample of 30 African countries found that two-thirds were warming quicker than the whole world on average. Poorer countries are more vulnerable to weather challenges due to the limited adaptive capacity of rural economies. Though Africa’s engines of growth are diversified, agriculture is still its largest economic sector. Agriculture makes up 15% of the continent’s GDP. It is highly climate-sensitive. Changing weather patterns and natural disasters like droughts and cyclones have directly impacted productivity.
Africa boasts a variety of climate types from arid to rainforest or temperate, so changing weather manifests differently in different regions. Effects can range from rising sea levels and coastal erosion to extreme floods, landslides and even desert locusts. These events threaten food and water security, as well as the overall socio-economic development of the continent. Changes in weather reverse development gains, undermining the health, safety and stability of communities. Climate-informed development is urgent; without it, an estimated 43 million additional people in sub-Saharan Africa could fall below the poverty line by 2030.
Strategic Focuses
The Next Generation Africa Climate Business Plan is all about thinking ahead for the future, but this does not mean that the World Bank is not looking to the past for guidance. The new and improved Climate Plan is building on the successes of its predecessor, the original Africa Climate Business Plan. This plan supported 246 projects with more than $33 billion in World Bank financing over the course of its six-year tenure. As the largest financial sponsor of climate action in Africa, the World Bank plans to ramp up existing efforts and institute new initiatives as part of the Next Generation Plan. With the plan, it will work to cooperatively tackling changing weather and promoting development within African countries.
The Next Generation African Climate Business Plan is essentially a sustainable development blueprint with five Strategic Directions. These include:
The plan also has two Special Areas of Emphasis including Climate-Informed Macroeconomic Policies and Green and Resilient Infrastructure. At its core, it aims to scale up climate resilience as part and parcel of development efforts to reduce poverty and grow economies.
The Plan in Action
Until recently, Adwoa Adezawa, a resident of the Cape Coast of Ghana, lived in a community entirely without power. However, Adwoa, along with thousands of other Ghanaians, could purchase a mini solar grid thanks to the $220 million Ghana Energy and Development Access Project (GEDAP) financed by the World Bank. GEDAP focuses on inclusive access to renewable energy through the deployment of off-grid solar products. The project includes subsidies to make energy more affordable. It also collaborates with local financiers like rural banks to support access to financing. Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal Sierra Leone and Togo have all rolled out similar solar programs.
Given that sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest energy access rates in the world—electricity reaches only around half of its people—such programs are critical. Efficient, affordable solar energy is a pillar of the Next Generation Africa Climate Business Plan. Furthermore, the World Bank has been scaling up such projects each year.
Other cruxes of the plan include outfitting cities with low-carbon urban planning approaches and promoting climate-smart agriculture. The World Bank already supports modern agriculture projects in Ethiopia, Niger and Zambia. Additionally, it currently works to target 28 million farmers to ensure food security across 20 countries. The World Bank aims to train farmers on climate-smart agricultural approaches and expand integrated landscape management to more than 60 million hectares. Overall, expectations have determined investments in new projects will reach $22.5 billion by 2025. Treating development and climate action as interwoven, interdependent goals, the World Bank is pushing for growth that not only minimizes environmental impact but actively corrects past and future trends of environmental degradation.
– Margot Seidel
Photo: Flickr
The Fight Against Homelessness in Italy
Italy is located along the Mediterranean coastline. The European country has a population of more than 60 million people with an average of 95 million tourists visiting every year. What many are not aware of is that immigrants, women and children are especially vulnerable to experiencing homelessness in Italy. The fight against homelessness in Italy has become a more prominent issue. Police began fining homeless people in the street for not following the lockdown measures that the country implemented. Thus, the Italian Federation of Organizations for Homeless People has appealed for greater leniency from the state.
The organization wrote, “They cannot stay at home because they do not have a home. There is an economic sanction which they cannot pay, and they have to go to the magistrate. They are not on the street for fun.”
Historical Context of Homelessness in Italy
Though worsened by the pandemic, homelessness in Italy has long been an issue. Italy is a developed nation with a GDP that expectations have determined will be around $1920 billion in 2021. However, homelessness has worsened due to the economic crisis. In 2016, homelessness impacted 50,724 people in Italy. Since 2013, this number has increased by roughly 3,000. Furthermore, 5.1 million people were living in extreme poverty in 2017. Due to its geographical location, Italy receives an influx of immigrants. As a result, 58% of Italy’s impoverished population are immigrants. In 2017, 117,153 people arrived in Italy by ship. About 67% of these migrants use Caritas, a counseling service offering advice regarding homelessness. Homelessness impacts the region of Lombardia in northern Italy the most. According to Italian Caritas, there is an increase in youth homelessness as well.
The Good News
There are various organizations that are striving to fight homelessness in Italy. For example, the Baobab Experience is an organization that previously aimed to find shelter for 120 people who slept in Piazzale Spadolini (Tiburtina Station) and has continued to provide hospitality for the homeless population in Rome. Additionally, it has advocated that the homeless receive health checks, beginning with migrants who do not have residency permits. Many of these migrants avoid hospitals in fear of detainment, so this would allow them to check their health without those consequences.
The Baobab Experience emerged in 2015 as a result of a migratory emergency when 35,000 migrants passed through Baobab, located in Via Cupa, Rome. More than 70,000 people have passed through the camps that the organization has since established. Thanks to private donations, the Baobab Experience also supports individuals with medical and legal assistance. Furthermore, the organization provides water, food, clothing and an opportunity for leisure. Many of the migrants travel through Italy to reach other countries, however, others are asylum seekers, often must wait in the streets for months before any legal practice can begin.
Further Efforts
Other NGOs such as Asgi, Naga, Magistratura Democratica and Fondazione Migrantes have called on the government to protect vulnerable migrants and homeless people. The organizations argue that these people lack sufficient protection from COVID-19 and protecting them will improve public health. Additionally, the NGOs have requested authorities shut down large migrant reception centers, enable access to the international protection system, accept homeless people into appropriate facilities and create alternatives to detention centers.
Although the fight against homelessness in Italy remains a serious problem, especially for marginalized groups such as migrants, women and children, NGOs and similar organizations keep the government accountable and provide hope for all of those impacted. By supporting such organizations that positively impact the lives of thousands, we can all contribute to eliminating homelessness in Italy.
– Marielle Marlys
Photo: Flickr