To understand human trafficking in Botswana, the following rudimentary information may prove useful. Human trafficking, or modern slavery as some call it, is a worldwide problem. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), more than 40 million people fell victim to modern slavery in 2016. One can break this number down further into 16 million people exploited in the private sector, 15.4 million in forced marriages, 4.8 million in involuntary sex work and 4 million in state induced labor, such as forced labor during incarceration.
About the Victims of Trafficking and Violation Protection Act (TVPA)
In 2000, the U.S. government passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (TVPA). This law outlined the minimum requirements necessary to end human trafficking worldwide and created an office in the State Department to measure the U.S. and other countries’ progress in fulfilling this goal.
To track this progress, the State Department partners with foreign governments to collect data on the effectiveness of anti-trafficking efforts globally. The State Department then uses this information to create profiles for individual nations. The State Department ranks these profiles in a four-tier system. In descending order, the tiers are Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 2 Watch List and Tier 3. Tier 1 indicates that a country’s government meets the TVPA’s minimum requirements, while Tier 3 indicates that a country’s government fails to meet the minimum requirements and is making little effort to do so.
The State Department publishes these rankings annually in the Trafficking in Persons Report. In each government’s profile, the State Department provides recommendations to help a government improve its ranking and eliminate trafficking. As such, the TIP Report is an important informational tool for U.S. State officials, NGOs and advocates when creating action plans to combat trafficking.
The Situation in Botswana
Botswana, a country north of South Africa and east of Namibia, meets the criteria for a Tier 2 country ranking. This means that, while the country does not meet all of the TVPA’s standards, it is making progress in eliminating trafficking.
There are two main types of human trafficking in Botswana. The first is the international variety. On this level, Botswana is a starting, middle or endpoint in human trafficking. Traffickers take Batswana (Botswana natives) to neighboring countries like Zimbabwe, while they take others, such as Ethiopians and Tanzanians, through or to Botswana.
One of the most common types of human trafficking to occur involves the sexual exploitation of women. In Botswana, the female unemployment rate was at 21.76% in 2020 (more than twice the unemployment rate during the Great Recession in the U.S.). Traffickers exploit this weakness through fake job offers and advertisements on social media.
The second type of human trafficking in Botswana is more culturally ingrained. It is not uncommon for the rural impoverished to send their children to stay at an affluent relative’s place under the assumption that the relative will provide the child with care and education. In reality, the relative usually exploits the child for free labor while denying the child an education. According to Madoda Nasha, deputy manager of Botswana’s Department of Trafficking in Persons, Batswana people view this type of behavior as natural and, as such, hardly ever report it.
A New Beginning
A cornerstone of the government’s ability to combat human trafficking in Botswana is the Anti Human Trafficking Act, which criminalized sex and labor trafficking as well as child labor. This law established protective services, such as care centers and a victim fund. Finally, it set up the Human Trafficking Prohibition Committee, which oversees the implementation of these services.
Although the Anti Human Trafficking Act shows great progress, it is not without its faults. This act can impose a 25-year prison sentence, a fine or both. Because a trafficker can get away with only a fine, the consequences are far more lenient than punishments for other violent crimes, such as rape. Furthermore, judges and prosecutors often lack knowledge of this law, which impedes efforts to convict traffickers to the fullest extent.
Recent Advancements
To address some of the failings of the Anti Human Trafficking Act, the government amended the law in 2018 to include higher fines and life sentences in prison terms. The same year, the government amended its penal code. The Penal Code Amendment of 2018 raised the age of consent to 18 and introduced harsher sentences for violent crimes. Lastly, victim protection services have seen an increase in government funding in recent years, rising from $41,930 in 2017 to $346,100 in 2019.
Furthermore, Botswana actively participates in fighting human trafficking at the international level. For example, between April 1, 2019, and March 31, 2020, Botswana identified 31 foreign trafficking victims in its country and worked with countries as close as Zimbabwe and as far as Nigeria. Additionally, because Botswana is a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), it also participates in the organization’s data collection and sharing efforts as well as public outreach and awareness efforts.
Lastly, the Mandela Washington Fellows (MWF), the flagship program of the United States’ Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), has implemented projects to fight human trafficking in Botswana. It has launched a website aimed at aiding civil society organizations and NGOs by providing them with international standard operating procedures for dealing with human trafficking victims. This allows for these groups to fast-track response and victim care. Additionally, MWF is a prominent force in raising awareness through community projects, social media and its work with the government of Botswana.
Despite all these advancements, there is still room for improvement, as outlined by the TVPA’s standards. However, if the last six years are any indicator of what is to come, Botswana could have a safe, slavery-free future.
– Riley Behlke
Photo: Flickr
Dogs Can Detect Crop Pests and Diseases
Containment of these diseases can only occur once the diseases become detectable. By this stage, the damage has already affected significant amounts of crops beyond the point of recovery and containment. One disease alone can cause financial losses in the hundreds of millions. A single outbreak of Karnal bunt fungus in North Texas caused a $250 million loss in revenue in 2001.
More Food, More Pests?
The world’s food supply faces increased biological threats due to climate change, increased travel between countries and increases in large-scale food production. The need for food increases each year as well, with a predicted 9 billion people in need by 2050. Mass agriculture of staple crops, such as wheat, rice, palm, cassava and various fruit and vegetables, face dangers unique to each crop:
Additionally, the loss of staple foods to crop pests and diseases can contribute to livestock malnutrition. Roughly 36% of the world’s crops are grown for feeding livestock. In some developing countries, these animals are essential to meeting a minimum caloric intake. Thus, famine in developing countries can commonly be exacerbated by a secondary loss in crop-dependent food supplies, such as cattle or goats.
However, a potential solution to the malnutrition of both humans and livestock lies in an unforeseen place.
Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks
A dog’s sense of smell is consistently strong, with some odors detectable in parts per trillion. The scent abilities of the world’s four-legged canine friends have an ancient history of benefits. This includes successful applications in hunting, national security, border patrol, medicine and agriculture. This skill also makes dogs well suited for training in detecting crop pests and diseases.
Dogs have a particular knack for new scents, described as a form of neophilia. “This technology is thousands of years old – the dog’s nose; we’ve just trained dogs to hunt new prey: the bacteria that causes a very damaging crop disease,” says U.S. Department of Agriculture Researcher Timothy Gottwald.
Agricultural scientists approve of this new application (detection of crop pests and diseases) of a canine’s olfactory system. Equally important to note is the cost-saving potential of training dogs over traditional identification and lab processing as money is a pivotal issue in developing countries when eradicating crop diseases.
Conclusion
Food security, the increase in crop pests and diseases and the costs of testing for agricultural diseases is a dynamic problem combination in need of unique solutions. To date, dogs have been successful in identifying crop diseases such as clubroot, wheat rust and citrus greening. The sensory abilities of dogs also show promise in early and accurate detection. These early successes imply that training canine companions can be a worthwhile and life-saving venture for millions of food-insecure people in the future.
– Katrina Hall
Photo: Flickr
How Investing in Transportation Can Aid India’s Poor
There is a lack of reliable transportation in India. This causes a variety of problems such as health risks, time consumption and is not viable for many who are disabled.
Commuting to India’s Populous Cities
India’s large cities are filled with clustered streets and congested traffic. Still, about 37% of the urban population commutes by foot every day. For those who cannot afford a car, or another form of transportation, finding work can be a challenge. In this sense, the city is not inclusive to disadvantaged groups as they cannot feasibly get around for work or any other reason. This type of system makes it increasingly difficult for the poor to make their way out of poverty as constantly commuting by foot limits opportunities as well as causes problems.
Additionally, in most areas throughout the cities, there are no clear lanes for those not using motor vehicles. For transportation in India, all modes of travel share lanes which causes great disorder and danger for commuters on foot.
Poverty and Transportation
Roughly one-quarter of India’s urban population lives below the poverty line. These are the people who are in need of new ways to commute around the city. Several Indian cities have tried to implement a metro or rail system to alleviate traffic issues in their main corridors. However, this solution still does not reach those in need because oftentimes the route does not include the more impoverished areas, and further, the rates are too expensive for most to afford.
However, this is not always the case. The Delhi Metro is the country’s largest metro system and has also been the most successful, carrying around 2.8 million people every day. The Indian government has also been working to revamp the bus system, looking to add up to 504km of new lines for the new Rapid Bus Transit System between 2009 and the now. This process has been greatly aided by allowing private companies to have access to these routes in exchange for providing the resources necessary for this huge project. It is estimated that this initiative will increase ridership from 120 million to 150 million per day.
These changes to transportation in India will be crucial in reaching lower-income areas so that they may commute more easily to work. Transporting people from the outskirts of the city into the center gives them better access to sanitation, healthcare, food and work. There is much potential in a project like this to integrate as many people as possible into the flourishing of a city. Currently, those without reliable transportation are excluded from many of the necessities for rising out of poverty. Hopefully, with these new projects, that can change.
– Jackson Bramhall
Photo: Flickr
Path to Eliminating Human Trafficking in Namibia
Measuring Human Trafficking
The most widely accepted and comprehensive measurement of human trafficking is the annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report released by the United States Department of State. The report measures countries on how well they prosecute human trafficking offenders, protect human trafficking victims and prevent human trafficking from occurring in the first place. This system divides countries into three tiers and ranks them based upon what minimum standards of compliance they meet.
Firstly, Tier 3 countries do not meet minimum standards and do not attempt to comply. Tier 2 countries do not meet all of the minimum standards but actively work toward them. Ultimately, Tier 1 countries comply with the minimum standards to eliminate human trafficking. Still, that does not mean human trafficking completely ceases to exist in these countries. These tiers are diplomatic tools as well as a guide for the allocation of resources. For example, a Tier 2 county needs more international assistance than a Tier 1 country, while a Tier 3 country may face negative consequences such as trade restrictions.
Namibia’s Path to Tier 1
The United States Department of State identified Namibia as a “Special Case” in the 2008 TIP report. This designation means observers suspect the country of having a significant amount of human trafficking but there is not enough reliable data to determine its tier ranking. The specific concern with Namibia was that the country was engaged as both a source and destination for child sex and labor trafficking.
In 2009 Namibia moved up to Tier 2 sitting on the Watch List from 2012 to 2015. Namibia was removed from the Watch List but stayed at Tier 2 from 2016 to 2019. Since then, Namibia has taken significant steps toward eliminating human trafficking.
During the TIP reporting period for 2020 rankings, Namibia made sufficient improvements to move from Tier 2 to Tier 1. These improvements include:
In 2020 alone, Namibia arrested 31 individuals for sex and labor trafficking and has 29 open investigations, compared to the investigation of nine cases in 2018. The government was also able to identify 30 victims of human trafficking, including 20 children. NGO shelters cared for all the victims.
Looking to the Future
Even countries with Tier 1 ratings have work to do to continue making steps toward the complete elimination of human trafficking and prevent backsliding. While Namibia has made dramatic improvements, the United States Department of State noted that training for frontline responders was not always adequate. Furthermore, there was some miscommunication between different government and civil sectors. To continue on its current path of progress, the Department of State recommends that Namibia improves training and coordination. The Department also recommends that Namibia’s government should continue to prosecute offenders and provide for victims. By continuously improving its services, Namibia can get closer to eliminating human trafficking and provide safer living conditions for its citizens.
– Starr Sumner
Photo: Flickr
Poverty and Income Diversification — The Escape
Farming
There is an issue of volatility that is inherent in farming. Variability in conditions can adversely affect crop yield, which ultimately impacts the income received by farmers. According to Farm Europe, competition can also be problematic. If all the poor in a given region take up farming as a means of earning income, then at some point, the supply outweighs the demand. When that happens, either crop prices will either decrease or crops will waste away in storage. This effect is further amplified when governments are unable or unwilling to offer adequate compensation for farmers’ excess crops.
Even in the United States, abundant in resources and well-developed in agricultural techniques, farming is a constantly changing industry. The USDA reports a wide fluctuation in income earned by a typical commercial farmer between 2000 and 2014. As a result, there is a need for income diversity worldwide, and this is particularly illustrated by some of the success stories in impoverished countries.
Vietnam
Since the 1990s, Vietnam has experienced high rates of economic growth. Researchers with the IFPRI (International Food Policy Research Institute) assert this is due in large part to income diversification.
Vietnam’s highest concentration of poverty is located in the Northern Hills. An analysis of the region suggested that those able to earn income by way of agricultural production, as well as non-farming activities, experienced the highest spike in their earnings over time. However, where does that leave those solely reliant on farming?
Residents limited to farming only managed to earn a living by applying the principle of diversification to their crops. They deviated from the typical crop grown, rice, and added cash crops, like coffee and tea, to their output. The cash crops yielded a much higher profit per unit of sale and required less land, labor and resources to grow and maintain. Even so, their spike in income did not match that of those who participated in both farming and non-farming activities. Nonetheless, the practice of diversification provided a much more stable source of income overall.
Niger
Niger currently ranks as the fifth most impoverished country in the world, and it is actively striving to end its poverty issue. People are seeing positive results attributed to the dynamic between poverty and income diversification.
A study conducted on over 600 smallholder rice farming families in Niger revealed that those who also participated in non-farming wage employment were better off than those who strictly farmed or were self-employed in some capacity related to farming. An important effect of a second stream of income was the ability to maintain the size of a given farm. The ancillary job could generate enough profit during a poor season to cover overhead costs for the following season.
Conclusion
The relationship between poverty and income diversification has become a central focus for policymakers across the globe. It is an effective way for individuals to mitigate the impacts of poverty. Empowering impoverished families to earn steady income can solve many issues embedded in poverty. If a family can individually afford food and water, they can pay to keep their lights on or go for a visit to a doctor. Moreover, the idea of attaining an education or further developing their current form of income becomes a realistic possibility. Diversifying income creates a pathway to not only sustaining livelihoods, but lays the groundwork for prosperity.
– Christian Montemayor
Photo: Flickr
Human Trafficking in Botswana
To understand human trafficking in Botswana, the following rudimentary information may prove useful. Human trafficking, or modern slavery as some call it, is a worldwide problem. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), more than 40 million people fell victim to modern slavery in 2016. One can break this number down further into 16 million people exploited in the private sector, 15.4 million in forced marriages, 4.8 million in involuntary sex work and 4 million in state induced labor, such as forced labor during incarceration.
About the Victims of Trafficking and Violation Protection Act (TVPA)
In 2000, the U.S. government passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (TVPA). This law outlined the minimum requirements necessary to end human trafficking worldwide and created an office in the State Department to measure the U.S. and other countries’ progress in fulfilling this goal.
To track this progress, the State Department partners with foreign governments to collect data on the effectiveness of anti-trafficking efforts globally. The State Department then uses this information to create profiles for individual nations. The State Department ranks these profiles in a four-tier system. In descending order, the tiers are Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 2 Watch List and Tier 3. Tier 1 indicates that a country’s government meets the TVPA’s minimum requirements, while Tier 3 indicates that a country’s government fails to meet the minimum requirements and is making little effort to do so.
The State Department publishes these rankings annually in the Trafficking in Persons Report. In each government’s profile, the State Department provides recommendations to help a government improve its ranking and eliminate trafficking. As such, the TIP Report is an important informational tool for U.S. State officials, NGOs and advocates when creating action plans to combat trafficking.
The Situation in Botswana
Botswana, a country north of South Africa and east of Namibia, meets the criteria for a Tier 2 country ranking. This means that, while the country does not meet all of the TVPA’s standards, it is making progress in eliminating trafficking.
There are two main types of human trafficking in Botswana. The first is the international variety. On this level, Botswana is a starting, middle or endpoint in human trafficking. Traffickers take Batswana (Botswana natives) to neighboring countries like Zimbabwe, while they take others, such as Ethiopians and Tanzanians, through or to Botswana.
One of the most common types of human trafficking to occur involves the sexual exploitation of women. In Botswana, the female unemployment rate was at 21.76% in 2020 (more than twice the unemployment rate during the Great Recession in the U.S.). Traffickers exploit this weakness through fake job offers and advertisements on social media.
The second type of human trafficking in Botswana is more culturally ingrained. It is not uncommon for the rural impoverished to send their children to stay at an affluent relative’s place under the assumption that the relative will provide the child with care and education. In reality, the relative usually exploits the child for free labor while denying the child an education. According to Madoda Nasha, deputy manager of Botswana’s Department of Trafficking in Persons, Batswana people view this type of behavior as natural and, as such, hardly ever report it.
A New Beginning
A cornerstone of the government’s ability to combat human trafficking in Botswana is the Anti Human Trafficking Act, which criminalized sex and labor trafficking as well as child labor. This law established protective services, such as care centers and a victim fund. Finally, it set up the Human Trafficking Prohibition Committee, which oversees the implementation of these services.
Although the Anti Human Trafficking Act shows great progress, it is not without its faults. This act can impose a 25-year prison sentence, a fine or both. Because a trafficker can get away with only a fine, the consequences are far more lenient than punishments for other violent crimes, such as rape. Furthermore, judges and prosecutors often lack knowledge of this law, which impedes efforts to convict traffickers to the fullest extent.
Recent Advancements
To address some of the failings of the Anti Human Trafficking Act, the government amended the law in 2018 to include higher fines and life sentences in prison terms. The same year, the government amended its penal code. The Penal Code Amendment of 2018 raised the age of consent to 18 and introduced harsher sentences for violent crimes. Lastly, victim protection services have seen an increase in government funding in recent years, rising from $41,930 in 2017 to $346,100 in 2019.
Furthermore, Botswana actively participates in fighting human trafficking at the international level. For example, between April 1, 2019, and March 31, 2020, Botswana identified 31 foreign trafficking victims in its country and worked with countries as close as Zimbabwe and as far as Nigeria. Additionally, because Botswana is a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), it also participates in the organization’s data collection and sharing efforts as well as public outreach and awareness efforts.
Lastly, the Mandela Washington Fellows (MWF), the flagship program of the United States’ Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), has implemented projects to fight human trafficking in Botswana. It has launched a website aimed at aiding civil society organizations and NGOs by providing them with international standard operating procedures for dealing with human trafficking victims. This allows for these groups to fast-track response and victim care. Additionally, MWF is a prominent force in raising awareness through community projects, social media and its work with the government of Botswana.
Despite all these advancements, there is still room for improvement, as outlined by the TVPA’s standards. However, if the last six years are any indicator of what is to come, Botswana could have a safe, slavery-free future.
– Riley Behlke
Photo: Flickr
Protests in Thailand: Inequality and Poverty
Since February 2020, protests in Thailand have been underway calling for a restructuring of the Thai monarchy and demanding that King Maha Vajiralongkorn relinquish his assets to the people. Thailand performs well in many areas that are criteria for consideration as a developed country, including the enrollment of school-aged children and access to water and sanitation. However, the nation suffers from a severe discrepancy in income distribution. Now, four years after the King has taken the throne, the Thai people are calling attention to the country’s struggles with inequality and poverty.
The Many and the Few
With the COVID-19 pandemic bringing the world’s economy to a screeching halt, including shutdowns and travel bans, Thailand’s tourism industry crashed. Since then, poverty has skyrocketed. Meanwhile, Thailand’s high society can do most anything inconsequentially – the monarchy more than anyone else.
Most of Thailand’s elite are highly educated citizens living in the capital city, Bangkok. With Thailand’s long and frequent history of coups, there is widespread distrust surrounding politics and the government. However, the elite has historically leveraged its wealth to preserve its own interests, disregarding the needs of the majority.
Two student groups galvanized anti-governmental support that spurred the 2020 protests in Thailand. The protestors, most of them young, called for change and openly criticized the monarchy. This cry for reform mobilized tens of thousands of protestors to rally in support of the demands made against the crown.
Among the demands made, which included legal equality for all and the un-dissolution of the Future Forward Party, the people also criticized the monarchy’s handling of the pandemic. Despite Thailand’s success in stanching outbreaks of new infections, subsequent economic devastation plunged middle-class and poor populations deeper into poverty. This undid much of the progress that Thailand’s poverty-mitigating measures made in the past few decades.
Thailand’s Fortune
Thailand garnered most of its existing fortune during the 20th century through real-estate holdings, maintaining an estimated 40,000 rental contracts. All of this adds up to over 16,210 acres of land across Thailand.
In 1948, Thailand began declaring its assets the property of the Thai people. The Crown Property Bureau (CPB) managed these assets for the next 70 years. However, in 2018, Thailand’s courts then declared these assets to be directly under the control of the King. The protests in Thailand stem from the skepticism of this approach. King Vajiralongkorn, who has ruled since 2016, has been deeply unpopular and controversial throughout his reign. He succeeded his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who many saw as a man of the people. Thailand’s current struggle with poverty, and the monarchy’s inability to alleviate the situation, has exacerbated the contrast between the two kings. Poverty and the pandemic have called citizens’ attention to the role that the monarchy plays in Thailand’s economy and thus the role it plays in the struggles of the people.
Give2Asia
The protests in Thailand have called attention to what many NGOs have been working toward alleviating for many years. Since 2001, Give2Asia, a San Francisco-based NGO that works in 23 countries, has helped 2,500 charities attain more than $342 million in grants to carry out their missions. The organization focuses on empowering individuals and teaching vocational skills to women and children.
In Thailand, Give2Asia is partnering with several organizations and foundations to provide medical supplies in response to the pandemic. The country’s handling of the pandemic is a major grievance that the 2020 protests in Thailand are attempting to highlight.
Give2Asia and its partner groups also circulate information regarding the prevention and control of COVID-19 in the most vulnerable populations. They do this by distributing information in an easy-to-understand format and by providing care kits for elderly, orphaned and disabled people. Raks Thai, while furthering Give2Asia’s initiatives in empowering women, also offers support for migrant workers and their families by offering vocational training workshops and supplementing income.
Efforts like those above call attention to the protests in Thailand and the challenges the nation will face moving forward. Hopefully, through continued efforts, Thailand will be able to reach a higher level of equality in the future.
– Catherine Lin
Photo: Flickr
The World Bank Group Announces a $12 Billion Initiative
A Multitude of Goals
Since early March 2020, the World Bank Group has provided grants to low-income countries to help with the distribution of health care equipment. Recognizing that the pandemic disproportionately impacts the impoverished and has the potential to push up to 115 million more people into poverty, the World Bank Group has been active in financing an early, timely response to the COVID-19 pandemic in low-income areas. As of November 2020, the World Bank Group has assisted more than 100 developing countries in the allocation of medical supplies and technologies.
With the spread worsening all across the globe, the next step is to administer vaccinations. This new initiative hopes to strengthen health care operatives while also providing economic opportunities within those communities. Other expectations are increasing awareness of public health, training health care workers and focusing on community engagement. As a result, the four primary goals of the World Bank Group’s Crisis Response are to save lives that are endangered by the COVID-19 virus, protect the impoverished and vulnerable, retain economic stability and facilitate a resilient recovery to the pandemic.
Moreover, the World Bank Group has extensive experience with dispersing vaccines, specifically for combating infectious diseases like tuberculosis and malaria. Through these experiences, the World Bank Group understands the importance of quick, tailored distribution based on individual country needs. As a result, countries will have flexibility in how to receive and administer vaccines — for example, through the improvement of health care infrastructure, procurement with the support from varying, multilateral mechanisms or reshaping policy and regulatory frameworks.
Partnerships and Funding
Funding for this project will consist of “$2.7 billion new financing from IBRD; $1.3 billion from IDA, complemented by reprioritization of $2 billion of the Bank’s existing portfolio; and $6 billion from IFC, including $2 billion from existing trade facilities.”
The IDA will provide grants to low-income countries while the IBRD will be supplying grants to middle-income countries. The World Bank’s private sector arm, the IFC, will be the main donor for continued economic stability within its clientele. The IFC’s support will specifically aid in the continuation of operating and sustaining jobs. The total funding will cover a broad scope to strengthen the health care sector. These solutions hope to reduce the harmful economic and social impacts of COVID-19.
World Bank Group president, David Malpass, has been working extensively with these institutions on this project. Malpass pointed out that the need for economic backing is significantly important when it comes to receiving this vaccine. Manufacturers might not deem these low-income communities as important as those in more advanced economies. Hence, it is extremely important to provide this funding to ensure global vaccine equity.
Moving Forward
Many countries have been able to discover viable vaccine treatments. It is important to distribute future doses globally and equitably as COVID-19 pushes more and more people into extreme poverty. Malpass wrote, “The pandemic is hitting developing countries hard and the inequality of that impact is clear … The negative impact on health and education may last decades — 80 million children are missing out on essential vaccinations and [more than] a billion are out of school.”
As the number of global cases increases each day, it is becoming even more important to provide relief to all countries. Low-income countries and communities are the most vulnerable. For this reason, the World Bank Group makes it transparent that its main mission is to provide extended relief to these countries during the pandemic.
– Natalie Whitmeyer
Photo: Flickr
Tackling Elderly Poverty in Egypt
Egypt’s poverty levels and its elderly population are increasing. UNFPA reported that 20.2% of the Egyptian population will be aged 60 and over in 2050. Meanwhile, the World Bank Group reported a poverty rate of 32.5% at the national poverty line in 2017. According to this, the amount of old persons in poverty is growing. To better understand what this means, it is necessary to know about some key aspects regarding elderly poverty in Egypt. These include what tools Egypt is fighting elderly poverty with, what the reality is for elderly Egyptians in poverty and what the future outlook for elderly poverty in Egypt is.
Egypt’s Tools Against Elderly Poverty
Due to the steady increase in elderly poverty over recent decades, Egypt implemented multiple initiatives to combat it. Some include a national policy on aging, national committees on aging in public and private sectors, health insurance to the poorest elderly, cultural and entertainment services and directives on public accessibility and mobility.
Cash transfer systems, like the Social Aid and Assistance program (SAA) and the more prominent safety net program Takaful and Karama (Solidarity and Dignity), also aid elderly poverty in Egypt. Takaful and Karama, which the Egyptian government and the World Bank Group established in 2015, aims to improve access to health and education for poor and vulnerable populations. The implementation of the World Bank’s project involved an initial $400 million in funding to positively influence 1.5 million persons with disabilities, families with young children and the elderly. Karama directly protects and promotes poor elderly persons’ wellbeing through unconditional monthly pensions.
Multiple elderly Egyptians earn an income through Egypt’s allowances for the standard retirement age. Although the global typical retirement age is 60, Egyptian judges, researchers and academics can work until 70. This ensures steady financials for many, keeping elderly poverty levels at bay.
The Reality of Elderly Poverty in Egypt
Though Egypt’s efforts to tamper elderly poverty are extensive, they do not tell the full story for the country’s poor elderly individuals. For example, cash transfer programs are often inaccessible or experience poor implementation. Applications for SAA are strictly in person, making it harder for old persons to physically access, apply for and benefit from the program. Under Takaful and Karama in 2018, a small number of impoverished elderly persons actually received pensions — only 3.5% according to an article that the UN published.
In previous years, many impoverished elderly individuals disclosed dissatisfaction with their knowledge of and access to services. Sarah Sabry, a member of the Arab Learning Initiative, conducted interviews with people in poor and vulnerable positions in El-Ezba and El-Zelzal in Cairo to reveal their living conditions. Among the interviewees were elderly persons living alone and an elderly widow living with her daughters and grandchildren. They communicated issues like little to no access to free health services, insufficient infrastructure, distance to the nearest health facility and lack of preventative health care.
People also conveyed a lack of knowledge regarding services available to them — a woman who applied for SAA recounted receiving a rejection without explanation. Overall, many indicated uncertainty regarding what documents they required to apply for aid.
In response to these circumstances among others, additional efforts emerged. The monthly beneficiary pension through Karama extended 100 Egyptian pounds (EGPs) to 450 EGPs to assist with price increases, and many recent beneficiaries are elderly — about 18% out of some 2.5 million. As of 2020, at least 2.5 million families actively benefit from the World Bank’s and Egyptian Government’s Takaful and Karama safety net program. Although there are undoubtedly gaps in the scope and accessibility of these programs, it is hard to ignore the reality of elderly lives reached and improved.
Looking into the Future
Twelve percent of Egypt’s elderly persons experienced impoverishment in 2017. With the projected growth in the elderly population, elderly poverty in Egypt will surely grow. There are clearly effective mechanisms in place to address elderly poverty, but just as clearly, those mechanisms do not have perfect reach given this expected growth. The World Bank asserts that amplifying projects like Takaful and Karama and food subsidy allowances can combat the rise in poverty. As a result, the expansion of services today will likely improve tomorrow for Egypt’s elderly individuals.
– Claire Kirchner
Photo: Flickr
Hurricanes in Honduras: 7 Responses to Eta and Iota
Poverty in Honduras
Nearly half of Honduras’ population lives in poverty. The poverty rate is higher in rural parts of the country than it is in urban centers. Whereas half of all Hondurans who live in the countryside subsist in varying states of poverty, less than half of all Hondurans who live in urban areas lead lives plagued by poverty,
The disparity between rich Hondurans and poor Hondurans is overwhelmingly large. A robust middle-class has yet to take shape in Honduras so Hondurans filter into one of two polarized class groups. A high rate of violence makes life treacherous for the poor.
Seasonal flooding has a detrimental effect on economic growth. Flooding from Hurricane Eta and Hurricane Iota combined with seasonal flooding make 2020 one of the worst years in Honduras’ history. Livestock and farmlands were swept away and Hondurans have had to search desperately for other means to feed themselves.
Homelessness and Hurricanes in Honduras
In 1998, three million Hondurans were made homeless by Hurricane Mitch and tens of thousands were forced to flee to the United States. The devastation that was unleashed by Hurricane Mitch is the closest analog to the combined effects of Eta and Iota. Reports on the rate of homelessness in Honduras after Eta and Iota remain incomplete, but it is undoubtedly high, similar in scope to the rate of homelessness in Honduras after Hurricane Mitch.
7 Responses to Hurricane Eta and Hurricane Iota
Public Investment in Infrastructure and Social Programs. Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez plans to engage “four times the nation’s annual budget in infrastructure and social programs to help Hondurans recover from devastating storms.” His plan will put thousands of Hondurans to work rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure, so it works on two important levels. First, his plan creates jobs for Hondurans whose livelihoods were lost as a result of the hurricanes. Second, it will lead to necessary rebuilding projects.
USAID Funding. By the beginning of December 2020, USAID had committed close to $50 million for humanitarian aid to meet the needs of Honduras’ relief efforts. Funding goes to securing “emergency food, shelter, urgent medical care, clean water, sanitation and hygiene.”
USAID’s Honduras Emergency WASH and Shelter (HEWS) Program. In mid-December 2020, USAID announced that it will send packs of materials to “select families” through its HEWS program, which families can use to rebuild damaged or destroyed homes. Experts will also be sent to teach families how to use the material that has been sent and to work alongside families during the initial stages of the rebuilding process.
Project HOPE Emergency Medical Teams. In remote villages, where poverty rates tend to be highest, villagers have scarce access to medical services. Project HOPE medical teams focus on these locations because unsanitary water supplies have been identified there. Also, cases of COVID-19 have been reported.
Project HOPE WASH Program. Potable water is provided to 3,000 families through Project HOPE’s WASH program. Additionally, resources for sanitizing water, including chlorine and training materials, are provided to families so that water purification practices can be carried out indefinitely.
AMDA Emergency Relief. Relief supplies, including food, coverings and hygienic supplies, were distributed to several dozen families through a partnership between AMDA and AMDA-Honduras. The rate of homelessness in Honduras is so high that many people have taken shelter in nursing homes. Hondurans who lost their homes as a result of Eta and Iota live side by side with Honduras’ elderly. Similar AMDA relief packs were distributed throughout such facilities.
Distribution of KN95 and Surgical Masks. Concerns about the spread of COVID-19 have accompanied the disastrous effects of Hurricane Eta and Hurricane Iota. Project HOPE distributed hundreds of thousands of KN95 and surgical masks to activists, doctors and frontline workers throughout Honduras to help contain the spread of COVID-19.
Hope on the Horizon for Honduras
Hurricanes in Honduras coupled with COVID-19 created severe consequences for people living there. Long-term concerns include the effect that lack of adequate health services will have on mothers, pregnant women, newborns and young children. Many humanitarian organizations are prioritizing aid to remote parts of the country to mitigate the effects of isolation. The spread of disease is an additional concern. A comprehensive solution to the crisis at hand will involve combined efforts.
– Taylor Pangman
Photo: Flickr
The Forgotten Fijians: Elderly Poverty in Fiji
The small island of Fiji has seen a significant jump in life expectancy in the last 50 years. Where once the highest age people expected was 55 years old, Fiji’s population is slowly growing older with residents living to the age of 70 and on. While medical advancements and improved sanitary conditions have extended the residents’ lives, the government has left little economic room for the island’s elderly citizens. As a result, elderly poverty in Fiji is prevalent.
The Situation
All formal Fijian workers have a mandated retirement age of 55 years old leaving many without sufficient income for the decades to follow. As a result of this outdated system, more and more of Fiji’s older residents are sinking into poverty in their final years.
While the retirement age affects all citizens, ethnicity and marital status are two of the most influential factors in elderly poverty in Fiji. Indo-Fijians, residents of Indian descent, are more likely to have received a secondary education, owned their own business and maintained a more stable income. Meanwhile, ethnic Fijians, residents of Fijian descent, are more likely to fall into poverty because they were often informal workers and only received primary education.
The Fijian National Provident Fund (FNPF)
The Fijian National Provident Fund (FNPF) is a government-funded pension for the workers of Fiji. Both employees and employers contribute 8% of employee wages to this fund. Unfortunately, the fund does not pay out large enough sums to the growing elderly population that is living longer and longer each year and as a result, it is having little effect on elderly poverty in Fiji. While other government schemes are attempting to assist such as the Government Social Pension Scheme (SPS), The Family Assistance Program (FAP) and The Poverty Benefit Scheme (PBS), they still come up short.
In addition to the inadequacy of pension payments, 72% of Fijians do not qualify to receive a pension because they were part of the informal work sector. Informal work is typically jobs that are less stable and consistent and often have lower wages. Informal workers have a difficult time preparing for retirement because of the nature of this work and suffer the most when forced into retirement.
Marital Status
Most elderly Fijians who are married continue to live with their spouse and children. This tradition of the elderly leaning on their children and family for financial support has come to be expected, but not guaranteed.
Single citizens and those who have separated or divorced or become widowed are more likely to reside alone and have to rely solely on their pension or welfare payments. Additionally, they are often unable to afford to live independently forcing them to co-reside with others.
Women
Women are most vulnerable to falling into elderly poverty in Fiji. Halima Bibi, a 72-year-old Fijian woman that has been living alone and without electricity for 20 years, scrapes by on a combined $170 a month that she receives from welfare and a religious organization. Although women are responsible for 52% of all work on the island, they disproportionately receive 27% of the total income that Fijians collect. Women experience exclusion from the economy and tend to outlive men by several years, often leaving them without the financial support of their spouses. As a result, many Fijian women such as Bibi go without basic comforts and struggle just to survive.
A recent change in values and priorities has diminished the family safety net that many Fijians, and especially women, rely on. Many elderly Fijians live just like Bibi and struggle to survive retirement relying on measly welfare checks and the charity of their community or family.
The Fijian Government’s Efforts
The Fijian government is continuously amending policy restrictions and improving income security to combat elderly poverty in Fiji but as the country’s life expectancy continues to increase, it is struggling to keep up. If the government can monitor the population and maintain accurate statistics on elderly poverty, it will be able to amend these policies to help a greater number of impoverished elderly.
If the Fijian government can modify these pension schemes to account for the extra hardships women endure as well as the neglected workers of the informal sector, elderly poverty in Fiji could reduce. An affordable health care system and financial educational programs would greatly benefit the elderly as well, resulting in them keeping more money in their pension and being more prepared for retirement.
Organizations Providing Aid
While the government attempts to widen the safety net for Fiji’s elderly population, organizations including Habitat for Humanity or the Peace Corps are trying to reduce the financial burdens of the older population. The Fiji Council of Social Services (FCOSS) is an agency that receives donations from the state that other countries have given as aid. The FCOSS allocates the funds where necessary with an emphasis on the elderly. It also provides the HelpAge program that targets struggling elderly and directs assistance towards them to alleviate hardships.
Most importantly, the government must increase the retirement age to allow the elderly to continue to earn income and also guarantee an effective pension for the future. Even with new schemes directed at the chronically impoverished and volunteer organizations’ efforts, it is essential that Fiji changes the retirement age and allocates proper funds to the older population to ensure they can enjoy their golden years.
– Veronica Booth
Photo: Flickr