Many people know about large aid organizations like the World Food Programme, Oxfam and HOPE International. Often, young non-governmental organizations (NGOs) fly under the radar while still fostering social and economic growth. Encompass: Reaching the Philippines established in 2019. This young NGO has started several projects aimed at reducing food insecurity and improving opportunities.
Poverty in the Philippines is almost overwhelming, and certainly so by U.S. standards. The Asian Development Bank believes that roughly a sixth of the population lived below the national poverty line in 2018, while 2.9% of Filipinos lived below the international poverty line of $1.90. Poverty directly impacts food security. About 13% of the people are undernourished, with stunting affecting around 30% of young children.
Several organizations are helping the Philippines reduce food insecurity in various ways. Encompass: Reaching the Philippines is taking a sustainable approach to building economic and food resilience. Dr. Paul Helton, associate professor of Psychology at Freed-Hardeman University, started Encompass in 2019 after several trips to the country. This faith-based organization has funded several community start-ups and social development projects.
The Need for Engagement
The Philippines has a long history with the United States. Since 1946, the U.S. has aided in the development of economic growth, education, infrastructure, environmental protection, health and government in the Philippines. In 2018, the U.S. invested $275 million in aid to the Philippines. As a result, the U.S. and the Philippines maintain an important partnership in development, trade and security.
The Helton family similarly has a history with the Philippines. Helton lived there for two years as a child and has traveled back to the country several times throughout his life. After one recent trip, he noted the need for engagement. We “have to do more than wait for them to ask us” for help, he told The Borgen Project. The Filipino people “can be in dire need and still not ask you,” since their culture frowns on asking for outside assistance. He said this creates a cycle of harm, where their economic positions and health decline, and yet they refrain from asking for help.
Help from Encompass: Reaching the Philippines
In light of this, Helton founded Encompass: Reaching the Philippines to find and meet community needs. It currently operates a feeding program for children in two locations, feeding about 60 kids weekly. Helton has also helped out individual families with food, dental and medical supplies, including a full-body wheelchair for a 21-year-old suffering from cerebral palsy. His family can now take him to the beach or to church without difficulty.
Encompass also helped a family of four with the capital costs of starting a pig farm. Helton informed The Borgen Project of the success of the pig farm. Despite a virus killing a few of the animals, about a year after its inception the operation is almost self-sufficient. COVID-19 delayed its self-sufficiency, but Helton is confident it will meet that goal in the near future. This farm, he said, would provide revenue to the family and the community at large. Interestingly, manure is the farm’s most lucrative product, as locals buy it for fertilizer.
The Emotional Impact of Poverty
Commenting on the emotional impacts of poverty, Helton told the story of a family trying to send their daughters to college. As college loans are not readily available and the several hundred dollar tuition was not something the family could front at once, they turned to a loan shark. After their oldest daughter graduated, she took a teaching job in Hong Kong and contributed to her sister’s college fund, as the family eked out loan payments. Helton said existence in the Philippines, for many, is a day-to-day endeavor.
Future Plans for Encompass
Encompass has plans to further its support to families and communities. Some of its funding went to buy a piece of property, on which the locals constructed a community center and may eventually build a church. The organization is looking at assisting an aquaponics startup as well.
Again noting Filipino culture, Helton said that he founded Encompass: Reaching the Philippines not because the Filipino people asked, but because some people in the U.S. noticed the need for a “proactive organization” in the country. Its efforts have certainly been proactive and will undoubtedly continue to make small-scale, definitive progress.
– Jonathan Helton
Photo: Flickr
Uganda: MamaOpe Smart Jacket for Pneumonia
Effects of Slow Diagnoses and Misdiagnoses of Pneumonia
Studies show that patients are often wrongfully diagnosed with malaria. Over-diagnosis of malaria means that other life-threatening conditions, such as pneumonia, are not treated. Misdiagnoses end up contributing to the death rate associated with other ailments, including pneumonia. Children, in particular, are adversely affected as pneumonia accounts for 15% of deaths among children under the age of five. Every year, one million children under the age of five die from pneumonia. Pneumonia causes more deaths than malaria, diarrhea and HIV/AIDs combined. In 2015, more than 490,000 children died from pneumonia in sub-Saharan Africa.
Between 2001 and 2016, childhood pneumonia deaths had fallen by only 50% relative to an 85% decrease in childhood deaths due to measles and a 60% decrease in childhood deaths due to malaria, tetanus and AIDS. According to UNICEF, slow or limited progress in the diagnosis and treatment of pneumonia is associated with poor funding for preventative care and treatment management. In 2011, for every dollar spent on global health, just two cents went toward pneumonia.
MamaOpe Provides a Solution
The MamaOpe smart jacket, which was shortlisted for the prestigious Africa Prize for Engineering in 2017, is designed specifically for children from the ages of zero to five who are particularly vulnerable to pneumonia. “Mama” is shorthand for “Mother,” and “Ope” means “Hope.” MamaOpe thus signifies “Hope for the Mother.” It is also a reference to the 27,000 children in Uganda who die of pneumonia annually.
In order to monitor patients’ chests and heartrates, listen to their lungs and check their breathing rates and temperatures, MamaOpe utilizes a stethoscope, which is embedded in a jacket that patients wear. The jacket covers the patients’ entire chests and sides. It is made from polymer, a material selected to reduce the risk of spreading infection when the jacket is shared among patients.
The jacket itself is connected to an android application on a mobile device via Bluetooth. The technology helps eliminate human error. According to the company, measurements made by the device assist doctors in diagnosing pneumonia three to four times faster than when doctors use a normal stethoscope. MamaOpe displays the results after three minutes of tracking a patient’s vitals.
Hope for the Future
The MamaOpe smart jacket is still in its prototype and testing phase but reports suggest that the company plans to bring the product to market in 2021. The current cost of the jacket is $60 and the price will likely decrease when full-scale manufacturing begins and the jacket tests successfully in Uganda.
As MamaOpe strives to prevent cases of pneumonia misdiagnosis and decrease the child death rate associated with pneumonia, the company is proving just how important innovation can be in combatting deadly illnesses. If governments ramp up support for pneumonia prevention, management and treatment, the lives of hundreds of thousands of children can be saved annually.
– Zoe Engels
Photo: Flickr
Fighting Period Poverty in Tanzania
Periods and Poverty
Over 50% of the Tanzanian population does not have access to improved sanitation and clean drinking water is often limited. Without access to menstrual hygiene products, information and adequate sanitation services, women and girls are at risk for poor physical or reproductive health. Lack of proper sanitation contributes to lower girls’ attendance in school and limits opportunities and potential for women in Tanzania.
Fighting Period Stigma
Ending the taboo around menstruation is an important step toward ending period poverty. There is a lot of misinformation about periods and Tanzanian women are made to feel ashamed about themselves and their bodies. Due to period stigma, girls are often ridiculed when their periods catch them off guard.
Education on menstrual and reproductive health is one of the most empowering tools to combat period poverty in Tanzania. Many organizations have made it their mission to end gender-based discrimination and destigmatize female hygiene. For example, the Maji Safi Group aims to teach young girls to embrace their bodies and help them reach their fullest potential as academics and as mothers. The organization’s comprehensive approach includes community outreach, after school programs, employing Tanzanian women as community health educators and providing learning materials.
Affordable Products
Managing menstruation is expensive and disposable sanitary products are a luxury that vulnerable women in Tanzania cannot afford. In recent years, world leaders have committed to creating change in the country by investing in the menstrual hygiene product industry. For instance, the World Bank partnered with an entrepreneurial enterprise called WomenChoice, which manufactures and distributes affordable menstrual hygiene products. WomenChoice further empowers women from low-resource backgrounds by offering vendor, sales agent and volunteer positions. The micro-enterprise serves as a model for other organizations seeking to keep girls in school and end period poverty in Tanzania.
Impact of COVID-19
The closing of schools in Tanzania due to the COVID-19 pandemic may compound the challenges of period poverty throughout the country. Worldwide disruptions limit access to essential sanitary products in the country as well as information about sexual and reproductive health. However, UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, has made the fight against period poverty an essential part of their pandemic response efforts by maintaining open access to its centers, information and services in the country during COVID-19.
Continuing the Fight Against Period Poverty
The government of Tanzania has partnered with UNICEF and pledged to dramatically increase access to sanitation over the next five years. This step will not only help keep girls in school but also help them reach their fullest potential and escape period poverty. While there is still much more work to be done, ongoing efforts by the government, international partners, communities and organizations help make a brighter future possible for Tanzanian girls and women.
– Rachel Moloney
Photo: Flickr
Paani Project Improves Water Access in Pakistan
The Water Crisis in Pakistan
The Paani Project is addressing one of the most acute water crises in the world today. With a population of 212 million, poor water management, climate change and intensive agriculture, access to clean water can be scarce. An estimated 40% of deaths in the country are linked to unclean water.
Pakistan also has a shocking disparity in water access between its urban and rural areas. With up to 70% of rural regions having no access to clean water, millions in Pakistan’s more remote areas face a severe risk to their health and livelihoods.
Origins of the Paani Project
In order to combat this critical issue, four University of Michigan students decided to launch the Paani Project. The mission began on a local scale. For three months, on their way to class and around campus, the students would sell doughnuts, slowly collecting enough funds to build their first well in a rural region of Pakistan’s southeastern province of Sindh.
Since funding their first well, the team has put hours of effort, collaboration and organization into the project, creating a fully functioning nonprofit that has seen widespread success.
The Paani Project Impact
With over 850 wells built across rural areas as of 2020 and more than $300,000 donated, the Paani group has made an undeniable impact in improving water access in Pakistan. Their work has spread from Sindh to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, serving rural needs across the country.
In addition to building wells, the project has also diversified its mission by leading a number of different humanitarian efforts around the country. In Azad Kashmir, Paani led a winter coat drive and in Karachi, the group operated a dental clinic to provide care for those that would not have access otherwise.
The organization has also provided relief from the COVID-19 pandemic by providing food to thousands of workers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh who rely on daily wages to support their families.
Other Initiatives
Paani also believes that education is an important step in combatting poverty and increasing water access in Pakistan. With every well that has been built, Paani has held “hygiene education seminars” to teach community members about proper sanitation practices and how to maintain the well. The group has also helped develop education curriculums in Sindh, through which they hope to increase knowledge about the water crisis and proper hygiene practices.
Although Pakistan’s water crisis is one that continues to make headlines and threatens the lifestyles of millions of people across the country, work by organizations such as Paani has helped to turn the tide. With tens of thousands of people directly reaping the benefits of Paani’s wells, the group’s contributions are sure to be much more than just a drop in the bucket in the fight for universal water access in Pakistan.
– Shayaan Subzwari
Photo: Flickr
German Companies Combat Africa’s Energy Poverty
In an effort to place German companies at the center of Africa’s rising market, Germany has allocated $1.1 billion in the Development Investment Fund. According to the executive chairman of the African Energy Chamber, using German companies’ technology and capital will allow Africa to build a sustainable energy model.
Three Pillars of the Development Investment Fund
The Development Investment Fund comprises of three components. These components are AfricaConnect, AfricaGrow and the African Business Network. Each project aims toward a different aspect of growth for German companies as well as the African market. One aims toward larger businesses, one toward small and medium enterprises (SME) and one towards SMEs as well as foreign investment and development.
The isolation of individual African countries due to COVID-19 has caused them to start building necessary gas and power projects. These projects provide energy to those who are out of reach. More than 600 million Africans lack access to electricity. This prevents them from utilizing all the resources available to pull them out of poverty. The investments come at a time where the continent is already working to reshape its energy infrastructure. The AfricaConnect program has incorporated additional provisions due to COVID-19 in order to boost the African and German economy.
AfricaConnect
The AfricaConnect initiative contains 400 million Euros to go toward German businesses for projects in Africa. Companies receive loans between $845,000 to $4.5 million if the projects are ecologically and socially sustainable. German companies have to benefit African markets by creating jobs, introducing new technology or doing other groundwork.
AfricaGrow
Additionally, AfricaGrow aims at SME businesses in Africa. This fund aims at African businesses rather than German businesses along with African venture and equity funds. With around $188 million in the fund, it is meant to close the existing financial gap. It also allows the African economy to comprise of many SMEs that will create sustainable jobs for the future.
African Business Network
Furthermore, the third prong of the Development Investment Fund is the African Business Network, which aims at trade promotion. By boosting development cooperation, German SMEs are able to participate in the African market, expanding the role of German businesses in these fields. This initiative provides support to German companies through advice by stakeholders. It also acts as a means of holding SMEs in the market. The African Business Network focuses on 12 African countries in particular. These countries are Ethiopia, Egypt, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo and Tunisia.
German Companies and Energy Poverty
Due to the lack of a sustainable energy source in many parts of Africa, African businesses in the energy sector have struggled with maintaining power. In South Africa, the electricity company Eskom had to fly out German technical experts to help with building sustainable energy grids due to the fact that around 80% to 90% of their power came from coal power plants, according to The South African. As a result, South Africa turns to solar energy. It launches an Integrated Resource Plan which calls for six gigawatts of solar by 2030.
How Germany is Helping Africa
This lack of sustainable energy is exactly what German companies entering the energy industry look to solve, thereby harnessing the full power of the African consumer market. Senegal was one of the first African countries to begin this, seeing German support for around 800 SMEs. Germany has more than 200 million Euros invested in projects focusing on providing electricity throughout the country. This electricity is provided through renewable energy and better harnessing pre-existing energy sources. Power plants that produce 25 megawatts of energy are placed outside of Dakar. This pushes African energy sources forward.
The funds also gave rise to multiple German companies in the energy sector including Pfisterer Unternehmensgruppe. Pfisterer Unternehmensgruppe has already begun placing offshore wind farms and building a variety of generators to hold the power in smaller spaces. Smaller companies such as AfricanSol aim to build solar panels across the continent with the initial panels built in Eritrea. However, these efforts slowed down as countries shut down due to COVID-19.
Energy poverty is one of the largest obstacles that Germany and a number of African countries will work together to tackle. However, the funds will also give rise to better technology for a growing market that is involved in the larger world. As Africa’s trade deals connect it to the global market, millions of consumers enter and a trillion-dollar economy opens up. For both Germany and Africa, investing now will lead to huge payoffs. With the rich natural resources of the country combined with front-running German technology, poverty in Africa might see huge decreases in the near future.
– Nitya Marimuthu
Photo: Pixabay
Encompass: Reaching the Philippines Fights Poverty
Many people know about large aid organizations like the World Food Programme, Oxfam and HOPE International. Often, young non-governmental organizations (NGOs) fly under the radar while still fostering social and economic growth. Encompass: Reaching the Philippines established in 2019. This young NGO has started several projects aimed at reducing food insecurity and improving opportunities.
Poverty in the Philippines is almost overwhelming, and certainly so by U.S. standards. The Asian Development Bank believes that roughly a sixth of the population lived below the national poverty line in 2018, while 2.9% of Filipinos lived below the international poverty line of $1.90. Poverty directly impacts food security. About 13% of the people are undernourished, with stunting affecting around 30% of young children.
Several organizations are helping the Philippines reduce food insecurity in various ways. Encompass: Reaching the Philippines is taking a sustainable approach to building economic and food resilience. Dr. Paul Helton, associate professor of Psychology at Freed-Hardeman University, started Encompass in 2019 after several trips to the country. This faith-based organization has funded several community start-ups and social development projects.
The Need for Engagement
The Philippines has a long history with the United States. Since 1946, the U.S. has aided in the development of economic growth, education, infrastructure, environmental protection, health and government in the Philippines. In 2018, the U.S. invested $275 million in aid to the Philippines. As a result, the U.S. and the Philippines maintain an important partnership in development, trade and security.
The Helton family similarly has a history with the Philippines. Helton lived there for two years as a child and has traveled back to the country several times throughout his life. After one recent trip, he noted the need for engagement. We “have to do more than wait for them to ask us” for help, he told The Borgen Project. The Filipino people “can be in dire need and still not ask you,” since their culture frowns on asking for outside assistance. He said this creates a cycle of harm, where their economic positions and health decline, and yet they refrain from asking for help.
Help from Encompass: Reaching the Philippines
In light of this, Helton founded Encompass: Reaching the Philippines to find and meet community needs. It currently operates a feeding program for children in two locations, feeding about 60 kids weekly. Helton has also helped out individual families with food, dental and medical supplies, including a full-body wheelchair for a 21-year-old suffering from cerebral palsy. His family can now take him to the beach or to church without difficulty.
Encompass also helped a family of four with the capital costs of starting a pig farm. Helton informed The Borgen Project of the success of the pig farm. Despite a virus killing a few of the animals, about a year after its inception the operation is almost self-sufficient. COVID-19 delayed its self-sufficiency, but Helton is confident it will meet that goal in the near future. This farm, he said, would provide revenue to the family and the community at large. Interestingly, manure is the farm’s most lucrative product, as locals buy it for fertilizer.
The Emotional Impact of Poverty
Commenting on the emotional impacts of poverty, Helton told the story of a family trying to send their daughters to college. As college loans are not readily available and the several hundred dollar tuition was not something the family could front at once, they turned to a loan shark. After their oldest daughter graduated, she took a teaching job in Hong Kong and contributed to her sister’s college fund, as the family eked out loan payments. Helton said existence in the Philippines, for many, is a day-to-day endeavor.
Future Plans for Encompass
Encompass has plans to further its support to families and communities. Some of its funding went to buy a piece of property, on which the locals constructed a community center and may eventually build a church. The organization is looking at assisting an aquaponics startup as well.
Again noting Filipino culture, Helton said that he founded Encompass: Reaching the Philippines not because the Filipino people asked, but because some people in the U.S. noticed the need for a “proactive organization” in the country. Its efforts have certainly been proactive and will undoubtedly continue to make small-scale, definitive progress.
– Jonathan Helton
Photo: Flickr
5 Advancements in Agricultural Technology
Agriculture is a salient cultivation practice, enriching the quality of life for generations upon generations of people since the first civilizations formed on Earth. Today, agriculture is essential for stimulating the global economy and can lead to higher job creation, especially when considering national poverty reduction efforts. Advancements in agricultural technology can make agriculture more efficient and help reduce poverty levels around the world.
More agricultural productivity means greater income for farmers, lower food prices, increased food supplies and more job opportunities in rural and urban areas. Consumer demand for goods that non-agricultural sectors produce also increases as income increases; this connection between growth in the agricultural sector and other constituents are what have allowed developing countries to diversify the products and services available within their own economies and the global economy.
Food Insecurity and Agriculture
Today, over 800 million people globally are undernourished and approximately 700 million people are severely food insecure, though there is a falling trend in malnourishment as time passes. This is demanding for all, but especially for children, who are the most vulnerable, as they are still developing both physically and mentally. Poor nutrition, even for a short time, can stunt development in the long run and produce adverse effects on children’s futures.
Despite these harsh realities, the FAO has been a key player in reducing global hunger, assisting countries in assessing various constraints on land use with the goal of achieving an optimally sustainable usage and allocation of resources and empowering people to make informed agricultural decisions for their communities. In the last 20 years, the FAO reports that undernourishment fell from 18.7% to 11.3% globally, and from 23.4% to 13.5% for developing countries.
Advancements in Agricultural Technology
In order to further mitigate the adverse effects of food insufficiency and insecurity, countries must rely on technological innovations in the agricultural sector to keep up with increasing food demands. Here are five advancements to agricultural technology that aim to shift the paradigm of hunger and malnourishment for generations to come.
As the world shifts into a time where innovation is the prevalent driver of change, humanity’s oldest sustainable cultivation practices are also shifting to meet the dynamic array of global needs. Advances in agricultural technology are necessary to meet the increasing demands of food and sustainability for future generations. And while finances are difficult to procure for any investment in innovation, there is a culture of empowerment—especially in the nations who need these advancements the most—which instills a socioeconomic structure regarding the social context of innovation, necessary to inform and encourage the younger generations to further improve the world.
– Sarah Uddin
Photo: Flickr
New Ghanian Research and Training Center Aids African Supply Chains
USAID recently announced its plans to invest $15 million in the development of a state-of-the-art research and training facility in Ghana that aims to improve African supply chains. Supply chains constitute the path that goods take as they go from a mere idea to a concrete purchase. Goods move through supply chains from companies to manufacturers and finally to buyers. Supply chains often operate on a global scale as communication and technology have progressed. Struggles to join capital-building and international supply chains prevent many African economies from experiencing serious growth.
According to Arizona State University research, healthy, efficient supply chains are essential for economic development. Furthermore, healthy supply chains are crucial to providing widespread access to necessary goods such as medicine and sanitary products. To grow African economies and expand access to resources, USAID is sponsoring a groundbreaking research and training facility in Ghana. It will be named the Center for Applied Research in Supply Chain-Africa. This facility aims to strengthen supply chains across the African continent.
A Research and Training Facility Rooted in Innovation and Education
The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and University Technology in Ghana and Arizona State University, who have successfully partnered on projects in the past, will spearhead the Center for Applied Research in Supply Chain-Africa, also called CARISCA. Accordingly, the research and training center will function as a facility to “connect African researchers, practitioners, and businesses to supply chain assets around the world.” Additionally, the partnership between Kwame Nkrumah University and Arizona State University is a facet of USAID’s BRIDGE-Train program that seeks to connect American and African institutions in order to strengthen international relationships in education. Thus, the training center will not only connect business professionals but students and educators as well.
The Center for Applied Research in Supply Chain-Africa intends to boost economic autonomy in African countries. As a result, it focusses on providing marginalized populations with the opportunity to join expanding supply chains. USAID has committed itself to investments that will stimulate long-term growth. These will consequently reduce global poverty and decrease the need for international aid.
An African Free Trade Agreement
With the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area in 2019, the research and training facility in Ghana will likely prosper. The agreement will permit free trade between 28 African countries. Moreover, it will remove barriers that previously hindered movement through African supply chains. In 2016, only 18% of exports were intra-regional, meaning that relatively little trade is taking place between African countries. Researchers believe that by increasing intra-regional trade, many African economies could grow in order to make the whole continent a more dynamic force in international markets.
The development of the Center for Applied Research in Supply Chain-Africa in Ghana is a major investment in African economic growth. It will hopefully provide opportunities for innovation in African businesses.
– Courtney Bergsieker
Photo: Pixabay
How Microfinance Empowers Women
How Do Loans Help Women?
Women account for 74% of the clients of microfinance institutions, which provide credit to almost 20 million people around the world. These loans help women in developing countries gain autonomy while also positively impacting their children and the opportunities available to them. When women gain financial security, they are more likely to invest money in their children’s education or medical expenses. Microfinance for women can also have positive impacts on entire communities. For instance, through the prioritization of education and reduction of gender inequalities.
Women’s Empowerment Benefits the Economy
Microfinance enables women around the world to start businesses and act on ideas that they would not be able to achieve without a loan. FINCA, a Microfinance institution, has stated that 72% of its female clients were able to provide for their families and send their children to school. Gender inequality has significant economic implications. According to Kiva, another Microfinance institution, there are 1 billion women around the world without access to a savings account and necessary credit. Women earn 63% less than men on average and over twice as many men are involved in the early stages of business planning. Kiva loans have helped 2.7 million women in 94 countries, and 83% of the institution’s loan recipients are women. Additionally, these loans impact communities by building confidence in young girls. Estimates have determined that by 2025 the global GDP would grow by $12 trillion if women equally contributed to the economy.
Women’s Empowerment and Healthcare
Microfinance programs often require women to meet on a weekly or monthly basis to repay loans and deposit money. This allows women to come together and simultaneously provides financial security while building support systems. These meetings also create an opportunity to provide health education to women who lack insurance and access to health care. Specifically, HIV/AIDS prevention programs can increase the reproductive and sexual health of marginalized women.
Therefore, in many different ways microfinance empowers women. It not only allows women to gain independence financially but it increases opportunities for children and positively affects entire communities. Enabling women to gain financial security and empowering young girls can help decrease gender inequality around the world and combat poverty. From this, it is clear that microfinance has a far greater impact on poverty and female empowerment than simply providing a loan.
– Maia Cullen
Photo: Flickr
Female Empowerment through UN Partnership
When Gaby Aghion founded the French fashion brand Chloé in 1952, she desired to give young women control of their destinies. While Aghion attached destiny to elegant clothing, Chloé’s recent partnership with UNICEF will expand her company’s mission. Chloé seeks to mobilize young women beyond the runway by endorsing UNICEF’s #GirlsForward campaign. All this, to increase female empowerment through U.N. partnership.
What is #GirlsForward?
The #GirlsForward campaign will optimize educational opportunities for 6.5 million girls. Chloé’s partnership with UNICEF will equip young women “with [the] digital and technology skills, entrepreneurial capacity, spirit and confidence” they need to succeed in the workforce. In March, UNICEF began implementing the #GirlsForward program in Bolivia, Jordan, Morocco, Senegal and Tajikistan.
Both UNICEF and Chloé recognize global gender disparities and will attempt to correct them through quality education. UNICEF claims that “one in three girls are not enrolled in secondary school” as “girls aged 10–14 tend to spend 50% of their time doing chores.” Their families do not prioritize their education but confine them to domestic spaces.
As girls mature and grow, they remain outside the educational system and do not receive equal employment opportunities. If they dare venture into the workforce, Chloé contends that women remain segregated from networks and capital, receiving only 77% of what men earn. Chloé’s efforts to remedy this disparity center in female empowerment through U.N. partnership (specifically, with UNICEF) — and seeking to amend these systemic barriers by making girls’ education a worldwide priority.
Voices of Youth Pushes for Girls’ Education
Chloé hints that “supporting girls education could help us all;” however, the organization Voices of Youth specifically outlines the potential benefits. Like Chloé and UNICEF, Voices of Youth believes girls’ education is a lifeline to their development. An affiliate of UNICEF, Voices of Youth argues that supporting girls’ education will:
A Promising Future for All
The #GirlsForward campaign understands these benefits and yearns to educate every adolescent girl in the developing world. As Voices of Youth suggested, education will ultimately improve the lives of young girls and their communities. Chloé’s initiative to support young girls in the developing world pushes forward the agenda of female empowerment, through U.N. partnership. With UNICEF as a partner, Chloé’s mission stretches beyond fashion and will help transform young women into successful entrepreneurs, scientists and coders.
The three-year partnership began on International Women’s Day during the Paris Fashion Week — a fitting time for Chloé to expand its mission statement. Although its goals might be shifting from clothing to education, Chloé will hold fast to the teachings of its founder, helping young women around the world gain control of their destinies.
– Kyler Juarez
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Rihanna’s Clara Lionel Foundation
While people may best know Rihanna for her music, she has also used her fame and influence to become a powerful force for global change. In 2012, she launched the Clara Lionel Foundation. This philanthropic organization works to strengthen vulnerable communities in Africa and the Caribbean. Here are a few ways the Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF) has fought against global poverty.
Emergency Response
Every year, natural disasters around affect over 200 million people worldwide and push 26 million into poverty. In the wake of a natural disaster, donors and organizations often rush to provide support and resources to impacted areas. However, after donors eventually lose interest, these regions are left helpless; furthermore, numerous organizations trying to help can become ineffective if they do not communicate with each other.
The Clara Lionel Foundation’s climate resilience and emergency preparedness plan proactively helps vulnerable communities prepare for environmental disasters. Rather than focusing on reactionary rebuilding, they can get ahead of future problems. In 2018, the organization worked to strengthen existing infrastructure in the Caribbean to withstand future disasters and eliminate the need for extensive rebuilding.
The Foundation recognized that women’s health centers often go unincluded in typical emergency response assistance initiatives. Therefore, it partnered with the International Planned Parenthood Federation and Engineers Without Borders to improve access to reproductive health clinics in vulnerable Caribbean areas.
Additionally, the CLF issued a $25 million grant for emergency equipment at the beginning of the 2018 hurricane season. This money helped ensure that relief organizations could distribute these supplies whenever necessary. The aim of this proactive emergency response model is to turn the Caribbean into the world’s first climate-resilient zone, a strategy that could eventually scale up and adapt to protect other vulnerable communities around the world.
Global Education
The Clara Lionel Foundation has worked since 2016 to provide access to education for vulnerable children in the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on Malawi, Barbados and Senegal. CLF partners with the Campaign for Female Education in Malawi to support girls’ secondary education. They provide financial assistance and transportation. CLF also provided paid internships for secondary school graduates to become trained HIV testers. This initiative created employment opportunities and helped to address a prominent health crisis. In Senegal, CLF invests in repairing and constructing classrooms for children who lack a safe place of education.
In 2016, Rihanna and the CLF joined the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) to advocate the importance of accessible education. As the GPE Global Ambassador, Rihanna visited impoverished schools in Malawi and encouraged world leaders to increase support for global education initiatives.
COVID-19
As communities worldwide face the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Clara Lionel Foundation has stepped in to help. The foundation donated $6.2 million in partnership with Jack Dorsey and the Shawn Carter Foundation to help marginalized communities in the U.S., Africa and the Caribbean fight COVID-19. This funding fueled frontline organizations such as Direct Relief, Partners in Health, the International Rescue Committee and the WHO’s COVID-19 Response Fund. CLF’s donation allowed for increased testing capacity, more personal protective equipment and the development of medical facilities equipped to handle the virus.
Through the Clara Lionel Foundation, Rihanna uses her fame to be an advocate, ally and role model in the fight against global poverty. Her actions have transformed the lives of many vulnerable people throughout the world. Rihanna and CLF will continue to have a wide impact as others hopefully adopt her philanthropic spirit.
– Allie Beutel
Photo: Flickr