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Faith-Based Organizations Offer Care

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Faith-based organizations make up about 20% of agencies working to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa and are responsible for over 40% of healthcare in some developing countries. However, faith-based care is not discussed in the world of global health academia, because it is not coming from a strictly scientific angle. But in many ways, the compassion involved in these organizations allows them to work all the more effectively.

For example, the U.S. charity Catholic Relief Services has over launched 164 sustainable agricultural projects in 34 countries, built over 700 water sources serving 2.1 million people and has provided treatment to 700,000 HIV patients worldwide. They also strive for accountability and efficiency, priding themselves on their Guidestar status, their transparency and their Pledge to Donors.

The American Jewish World Service raises over $50 million a year. They sent emergency aid to organizations that educated over 30,000 households on how to prevent becoming infected with the Ebola virus.

Tearfund, a Christian organization, has helped over 17 million people through community development projects and has helped to change over 175 policies that kept poor communities from receiving justice.

Islamic Relief USA has received several awards from charity and business auditors, including GreatNonprofits and the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance.

A recently published report called “Keeping the Faith” showed that religious leaders were able to reach many places that NGOs and governments could not reach during the Ebola epidemic because they were a trusted source of information. For example, many communities attached to the traditional burial practice were only willing to switch to the practice of cremation (to stop the spread of the disease) once faith leaders began to participate in this safer alternative. A UN staff member called their involvement “a real game-changer.”

Science and religion will always diverge on certain points. But they can absolutely work side by side. And despite the tendency for religion to be viewed as less practical and more archaic, there are areas in which religious principles can be applied quite practically.

For example, the concept of subsidiarity is the idea that help should be provided at the lowest level possible because situations can be handled more effectively by those who are closest to the problem.

Even with different ideologies, religious and secular organizations can work together towards the same noble goals (such as ending severe poverty and promoting sustainability). The truth of it is, they work best when taken together. Statistics, cures and data are important in a different way from how genuine kindness and heartfelt aid are. Both can transform the outlook and life of a person in poverty.

At a conference held in July which discussed building partnerships between policymakers and religious groups, Marin Mauthe-Kaeter, head member of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, said, “This has given us a chance to think differently about development– not just about financial and technical issues, but about values.”

– Em Dieckman

Sources: CRS, Guidestar, Scidev, Tear Fund, The Lancet, World Bank
Photo: Newswire

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Global Public Goods: A Case for Funding Development

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Garnering political support and securing the funding to put a substantial dent in global poverty is proving to be a frustratingly tricky endeavor.

At a UN General Assembly meeting 45 years ago, leaders of developed countries agreed to funnel money, in an amount equal to 0.7 percent of their GDP, towards developing countries. This money was to promote “economic development and welfare of developing countries” and is referred to as Official Development Assistance, ODA for short. The 0.7 target, which is non-binding, has been repeatedly agreed upon and consistently undershot.

The closest that developed countries have come, as an aggregate, was 0.51 percent of GNI back in 1963, seven years before the UN agreements (The data uses GNI instead of GDP, but lack of substantial difference between the two should not significantly skew the data). Wavering between 0.36 and 0.21 percent of developed country GNI between 1970 and 2014, perhaps a novel strategy for the provision of ODA is needed. Enter Global Public Goods.

Global Public Goods, a more calculating, if a less emotive method of funding global development, rests its case on the idea that there are some goods, which when consumed, have positive impacts that extend beyond the consumer. Because all of the positive impacts are not accrued to the person who pays for the good, some people can avoid paying yet still receive the benefits, known as free-riders. This leads to the good being under-supplied. Therefore, the government steps in to provide more of the good, funded through a tax, making everyone that benefits pay their fair share.

Some classic examples of public goods include education, national defense and immunization programs. What is important is that the increase in the goodwill have benefits for all of society, and outweigh the cost of the tax, making everyone better off.

This idea, which is founded on the fact that costs and benefits spread out over society from individual actions, is gaining significance in an increasingly networked and connected global economy. Many economic decisions and consequences have widened in scope and have necessarily transcended nation-state boundaries and legal systems. Few are isolated from the complexity and interdependence of global forces, and individual nations are not equipped to properly deal with the effects. In short, the market is now global and attempts to correct the market should be also.

Corrective solutions for global problems like “international security, financial stability, eradication of epidemics and the dissemination and sharing of knowledge” as well as pollution and loss of biodiversity, require cooperation on an international level. According to the Global Public Goods school of thought, funding for the institutions that would provide these goods should be paid for by all that benefit, in other words, everyone. The technical details of provision and funding (for example, would the funding come from a supranational tax authority or existing national revenue collection agencies that coordinate where and how the funds are spent) are still being worked on. Still, this avenue promises to correct a global imbalance of public goods and bads, providing more of the former and minimizing the latter, making everyone better off.

Currently, the dependence on voluntary contributions and the free-rider pitfall that the 1970 UN agreement did nothing to address are two explanations for the lack of ODA funding, which stood at 0.29% of developed country GNI in 2014, instead of the agreed-to 0.7%.

As problems of global insecurity and climate change are on the rise and roughly two billion people will be joining us in the next 35 years, a traditional approach to solving these problems may prove to be prodigiously expensive. Rethinking global development through the lens of Global Public Goods can have a greater impact on poverty reduction and development, and its solid economic underpinnings may make its funding more politically palatable.

– John Wachter

Sources: French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Global Policy Forum, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, United Nations Millennium Project
Photo: NRF

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What Bernie Sanders Could Mean For Global Poverty

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Bernie Sanders has been dubbed the “underdog Democrat” in this presidential election. As a committed ally to labor unions and the middle class, Sanders is determined to run a campaign financially unaffiliated with American billionaires.

When he announced his bid for the U.S. presidency, many doubted that he could gain enough momentum to really compete with Democrat likely, Hillary Clinton. However, after raising $15 million in 2 months and pulling 10,000 people into a campaign rally, many are seeing him as a potential threat to Clinton.

For his entire career, Sanders has dedicated himself to being the voice of the average person. He speaks for those who are not often heard due to their lack of capital. Often being described as a socialist, Sanders’ economic policy reflects his constituents’ desires, creating a world that truly gives everyone the chance to be a part of the “American Dream” regardless of race, gender, class or religious affiliation.

Because Sanders’ potential presence in the Oval Office is positive for the U.S. working class and those subject to abject poverty in America, it would also be great for global poverty abroad.

Sanders has, for a long time, rejected poverty, seeing it as something that could be eliminated by congressional help. Sanders is likely to translate his stance on American poverty to global poverty, then, under his administration, global poverty could forever change.

The Sanders administration is likely to expand its foreign aid budget, positively impacting global health and introducing proper legislation to eradicating global poverty.

To a farmer in Kenya, this could mean the ability to make a sufficient living. To women in the Philippines, this could mean greater access to family planning resources.

Bernie Sanders’ presence in the White House could not only greatly impact those living in the United States, but also those abroad. His aggressive approach to eradicating poverty would be a great asset to those subject to absolute poverty in developing countries.

– Erin Logan

Sources: Bernie Sanders, Forbes, Huffington Post 1, Huffington Post 2

Photo: Breitbart

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5 Ways to Ensure Effective Health Aid Dispersal

Health AidNot all aid is created equal. In the fight against global poverty, ensuring sufficient funds for aid programs is only half the battle. The other half is ensuring that aid is results-oriented, transparent, expedient and cost-effective.

During the second High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Paris in 2005, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries formulated the Paris Declaration. This declaration was meant to set benchmarks for how to measure the five key categories of effective aid: ownership, alignment, harmonization, results and mutual accountability.

While these five categories are intended to measure the effectiveness of all kinds of aid, they are particularly pertinent to health aid. Developing public health infrastructure in poorer countries is the “gift that keeps on giving,” ideally continuing to serve local populations well after aid has ceased. Thus, a robust public health outcome is an ideal metric to judge the quality of aid using the five categories of the Paris Declaration.

1. Ownership

Ownership, according to the Paris Declaration, involves partner countries exercising “effective leadership over their development policies and strategies.” This category is a measurement of how much aid recipients are involved in developing and executing programs that actually take advantage of the aid they are receiving. Aid strategies have traditionally assumed that once a country reaches middle-income status, it will have sufficient resources and self-interest to invest in public health, but unfortunately, this is not always the case.

For example, Nigeria is technically a middle-income country, but it spends less on public health than Rwanda, which a low-income country. Health aid can really only be considered effective if countries take ownership of health programs that outlive donor support as the country transitions into middle-income status.

Ownership is especially important given a recent estimate by the World Health Organization that predicts that in the next few decades, there will be a global health workforce shortage of up to 12.9 million. Aid programs need to ensure that recipients are developing adequate long-term strategies, especially when it comes to investing in health training and education.

2. Alignment

The dimension of alignment measures how well aid matches up with recipient strategies for dispersal and development. Development experts often criticize “tied” aid. This is aid that is contingent on the recipient procuring health products from the donor country, using their distribution infrastructure, employing foreign personnel or involving some other condition which is often not the most cost-effective or desirable for the recipient. Alignment essentially means “untying” aid to make sure that it aligns closely with the national development strategy of the recipient country.

A topical example of the alignment of health aid in the Global Food Security Act of 2015. This bill, currently introduced to the House and awaiting consideration, encourages local procurement of food aid for U.S. aid programs (among other things). Traditionally, food aid dispersal from the U.S. has been tied, requiring that a certain percentage of that aid be procured from the U.S. and dispersed using the U.S. merchant marine.

However, this bill seeks to do away with those requirements and favors recipient-country producers. This encourages the growth of local agriculture and health aid infrastructure, rather than out-competing them. Additionally, local procurement is faster, and in the event of a humanitarian emergency, recipient populations would not have to wait as long for foreign aid to reach them.

3. Harmonization

Harmonization involves cutting down on the plurality of programs that may have the same goal yet interfere and undermine each other. An aid recipient country may be host to dozens of organizations or programs that target public health outcomes yet do not communicate with each other, thus creating redundancies or inefficiency.

Harmonization is especially critical to public health, more so in emergencies. Currently, there is no standard system whereby donors can track and share how much and to where health aid is going, making it difficult to determine where it is most needed. The recent Ebola epidemic was a particularly disastrous indication of the need for better logistics and donor coordination; it is difficult to tell if health aid has even reached a recipient population, much less if it is redundant, or necessary.

4. Results

Just as it is important to harmonize aid efforts, tracking the progress of health programs has also been an ongoing challenge for donors and recipients. Health aid, despite good intentions, can be totally ineffective when it isn’t results-oriented. Tracking public health outcomes generally involves better data collection and census practices, which can be incredibly difficult to implement in developing countries that lack basic infrastructure.

Very recently, the Girls Count Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives. This act directs the Secretary of State as well as the United States Agency for International Aid and Development (USAID) to work with developing countries to build adequate civil registration systems as well as create economic and social policies that are deliberately inclusive of women and girls. The idea is that better demographic data and inclusive policy can help traditionally marginalized populations (such as women) take advantage of existing social safety nets. Additionally, better demographic data would lead to more effective health aid, as donors often lack access to accurate census information and thus may be unaware of vulnerable populations, or unable to determine the impact of aid.

5. Mutual Accountability

The final category calls for recipients and donors to exercise “mutual accountability and transparency in the use of development resources.” This emphasis on accountability stems from a history of aid inefficiencies due to a lack of transparency, or even outright corruption in recipient countries. For example, millions of dollars in aid money were simply pocketed by corrupt dictator Mobutu Sese Seko of the Republic of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) during the ’70s and ’80s.

Conversely, donor countries must be transparent about where aid flows are going in order to provide recipient countries (as well as other donors) with accurate information they can present to their citizens. In general, developing genuine partnerships between donors and recipients is crucial in ensuring that resulting health and development programs are effective and long-lasting.

– Derek Marion

Sources: Reuters, Devex, Partners in Health, OECD
Photo: OECD

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Wireless and Emergency Communications Tech in Disaster Relief

Wireless and Emergency Communications Tech in Disaster Relief
When disaster strikes, as it did in April 2015 in Nepal, there is an immediate need for life-saving aid; the distribution of food, water and shelter becomes paramount to relief efforts. However, in the 21st century, technology is becoming an increasingly necessary facet of day-to-day functionality. As the world’s rural regions develop and technology becomes cheaper and more efficient, the more people rely on that technology to function. Today, even in the world’s most remote and impoverished regions, things like Internet access and mobile phone service are just as important to survival and well-being.

In addition to providing life-sustaining resources, aid workers are now being called upon to provide things like Wi-Fi access and cellular support. The leading provider of emergency communications is the United Nation’s Information and Communication Technologies Task Force (ICT). Within 48 hours of a disaster, ICT deploys its Emergency Telecommunications Cluster, or ETC.

The ETC is a series of connected balloons that act like cell phone towers and routers that can be set up to provide wireless Internet and cellular service in disaster zones. These services enable survivors to contact family or other outside assistance, find routes out of the disaster zone, or transfer vital funds. Those providing assistance benefit from these services as well, for they can receive vital information from the survivors themselves on the exact situation on the ground.

Today’s digital world makes it nearly impossible to do any work without staying connected. By repairing or installing communication networks, aid workers help themselves as much as they help survivors. With Wi-Fi and cell service, workers can more effectively communicate and coordinate their efforts, and thus deliver crucial assistance quicker.

Wi-Fi is not the only advanced technology being utilized in disaster relief. Drones have recently been implemented to aid humanitarian missions. Drones can access remote areas quickly and survey locations with cameras, which would otherwise be dangerously inaccessible. In fact, the ongoing relief efforts in Nepal have seen the largest deployment of drones in the history of disaster relief. The devices are currently being used to survey the damage, search for signs of survivors, and help relief organizers further coordinate their efforts. Drones, when used in a humanitarian capacity, have the potential to produce a significant impact. Perhaps in the not-so-distant future, autonomous drones will be able to drop food, medicine and water far more quickly than actual aid workers.

– Joe Kitaj

Sources: ICT, ATISW, Direct Relief
Photo: ICT

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The Sebastian Foundation Fights Poverty in Australia and Globally

povertyAustralia is considered a developed nation with rather good development indicators: children in school, high life expectancy, higher than average gross national income and the ability to be an agent of change. Yet, like most countries, there are still people living in poverty or at a disadvantage.

Guy Sebastian and his wife Jules have started a foundation to directly combat poverty in their native Australia as well as branch out and help others living in poverty abroad.

In the United States, Guy Sebastian is best known for the song “Battle Scars,” released in 2012 with Lupe Fiasco, but his musical career began when he won the first Australian Idol title in 2003. His wife Jules is a celebrity stylist and a copartner in The Sebastian Foundation.

Sebastian’s humanitarian work started very early in his musical career when he took a tour of Africa, specifically Uganda, as an ambassador for World Vision. During his time there, he saw the debilitating effects that poverty can have on a person, and he has worked for awareness surrounding poverty from that time on.

When the Sebastian’s family started to grow, they became even more involved with helping children and families in Australia and the world. Through this desire, The Sebastian Foundation was formed.

The Sebastian Foundation states, “Our focus is people. Our love is people. We want to see the need and meet the need. We want to help in any way we can and we hope you join us in our mission.” With this thought in mind, they form collaborations with like-minded organizations to work with as partners.

Recently, much of their work has centered on local initiatives such as Big Brothers and Big Sisters, dance programs for youth with Downs Syndrome and children’s hospitals. They have also partnered with Sam Moran, the Yellow Wiggle as of 2006 and a UNICEF Goodwill ambassador; Sam works to help “Australian children who are sick, disadvantaged or have special needs.”

The foundation has global poverty in mind as well. Especially because of Sebastian’s time as a World Vision ambassador, The Sebastian Foundation focuses on families in regards of “poverty, poor health and disease, empowering women, educating children and giving them a chance at a better future [and] community.”

One way to be involved with this great foundation is to donate and, in return, one can receive a gift heart bracelet with the word “joy” on it. Or they have a shop where one can purchase a beautiful print of a photo taken by Sebastian, and all proceeds are a donation for the foundation.

Overall, the Sebastian family has used their celebrity status in Australia to help those who need it most in their home country. But through their global work, and Sebastian’s breakthrough on the U.S. music market, their reach can spread even farther than before, helping so many people in need around the world.

– Megan Ivy

Sources: Guy Sebastian, The Sebastian Foundation, The Sebastian Foundation Facebook Page, The World Bank, YouTube
Photo: Jules Sebastian

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10 Jewelry Companies that Help Reduce Global Poverty

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Today, many socially conscious companies work to reduce global poverty. They help the poor either by donating directly to charities or by providing jobs and fair wages for those in need. Many of these organizations make jewelry. Here are 10 companies that sell jewelry products in order to help the global poor:

1. Article 22 — Article 22 sells jewelry made by bombs, plane parts or other materials leftover from the Vietnam War. Their first collection, Peacebomb, uses Vietnam War Era bombs and is crafted by Laotian Artisans. Article 22 helps the poor by providing jobs to Laotian Artisans who may have been ignored or forgotten. Also, each Peacebomb item funds the demining of land that is littered by bombs.

2. 31 Bits — The 31 Bits mission statement is “using fashion and design to empower people to rise above poverty.” They work with women in Uganda who earn an income from the jewelry they create. The women also receive counseling, finance training, health education and business mentorships. Each purchase from 31 Bits funds their work in Uganda.

3. Half United — The purchase of any Half United product gives seven meals to children in need in the United States, Fiji, Cambodia and Madagascar.

4. Indego Africa — Indego Africa works with women in Rwanda in order to help them flourish as independent businesswomen. They partner with female artisans and sell their products in their shop. One hundred percent of their profits go toward job skills training programs for their artisans in business management, technology, entrepreneurship and English and Kinyarwanda literacy.

5. Kurandza — Kurandza works with HIV positive women in Mozambique. Many of these women do not have the money necessary for transportation to the hospital and are therefore not able to obtain the medicine that they need. Kurandza works with these women, and the proceeds from the skirts and jewelry that they make go toward transportation to the hospital and other household items, such as schoolbooks for their children.

6. Purpose — Purpose is a fashion jewelry brand launched by International Sanctuary. International Sanctuary was an organization found in 2007 that works to help those who escaped sex trafficking, in both Mumbai, India and Orange County, California. Survivors are placed in mentoring programs and given an education, medical and dental care, scholarships and microloans. In 2014, International Sanctuary founded Purpose as a way to give survivors employment, financial stability and a brighter future.

7. The Starfish Project — The Starfish Project was founded in 2006 in order to help exploited women in China. It works to give them alternative employment and holistic care services and provides them with counseling, vocational training, language acquisition, family education grants, healthcare access and housing in a women’s shelter. The Starfish Project wants to raise awareness about violence against women and its goal is to restore hope for each woman that enters its doors.

8. The Purple Buddha Project — Like Article-22, the Purple Buddha Project works to help demining. As they say, more tons of bombs were dropped on Cambodia than on Germany and Japan combined during World War II. The Purple Buddha Project uses remains of weapons in Cambodia in order to make jewelry, providing jobs to Cambodian artisans. The purchase of each piece goes toward the demining of land in Cambodia or Laos. Many of the Purple Buddha Project bracelets contain positive messages.

9. Mujus — Mujus works to give back to Peru. They pair fair wages and provide health insurance to Mujus artisans in Peru in order to help provide social change to communities around Lima. (Mujus also works with the ALS association in the United States, and has a special collection designed to help raise money for those with Lou Gehrig’s disease).

10. Colorful Minds — While Colorful Minds does not sell specific jewelry pieces, they do sell jewelry boxes and pouches (which you can use to keep all the jewelry you purchased while helping the global poor). Colorful Minds works with vocational centers in India that serve those living with disabilities. They market the products that are made at the vocational centers in order to help those with disabilities to integrate into society, increase self-esteem and motivate them to use their creativity. They also execute a grant program that provides necessary items, such as prosthetics or supplies, to vocational centers.

– Ashrita Rau

Sources: Article 22, Busy Mommy, 31 Bits, Half United, Indego Africa, Kurandza, Purpose Jewelry, Starfish Project, The Purple Buddha Project, Mujus, Colorful Minds
Photo: The Big Piece of Cake

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Ireland: Closer to International Development Aid Target

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Countries around the world have been revamping their anti-poverty efforts in preparation for the establishment of new Sustainable Development Goals in September. Although Ireland has not yet met its target of allocating 0.7% of Gross National Product, or GNP, to overseas development aid, it is making improvements.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan recently stated his confidence in Ireland’s aid program. In fact, at the launch of the Irish Aid annual report for 2014, he described the program as one of the most effective in the world during tough economic years. He believes that the 0.7 percent target will soon be reached.

The report revealed that Ireland provided more than 85 million Euros in humanitarian assistance and 269 tons of critical humanitarian supplies like blankets and tents in 2014. Flanagan boasted of the Irish people’s engagement with development assistance, saying that they take pride in the collective Irish effort.

According to Flanagan, Ireland’s overseas aid program is lifting millions of people out of poverty and hunger. In order to evidence this claim, he broke down the program’s contributions to its Key Partner Countries—Ethiopia and Mozambique.

Flanagan pointed out that the program has worked to reduce the number of mothers dying during childbirth. In Ethiopia specifically, support for maternal health services for poor women contributed to a 70 percent reduction in deaths during childbirth.

In terms of education, support for training and recruiting teachers has helped to increase the number of girls enrolled in school. In fact, in Mozambique, the development program’s assistance contributed to a nine percent increase in the enrollment of girls in school.

Minister of State for Development Seán Sherlock has pointed out that 2014 was a year of unprecedented levels of humanitarian crises worldwide. He stressed the effectiveness and efficiency of Ireland’s response to such crises, and maintained a confident, yet realistic outlook on the program’s ability to respond similarly in the future.

As just one example, Sherlock claims to have personally witnessed the impact of roughly 18 million Euros in funding provided to Sierra Leone and Liberia during the Ebola crisis. This is the type of crisis that no one could possibly have planned for, and yet Ireland rose to the occasion, paving the way for other contributors during crisis.

Sherlock provided additional evidence for the effectiveness of the Irish Aid program by pointing to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s, or OECD, review. According to Sherlock, the OECD concluded—through thorough assessment—that the Irish Aid program was one of the most effective of its kind worldwide.

Sherlock echoed Flanagan’s re-commitment to reaching the 0.7 percent target, but he confessed candidly that this goal will not be reached in 2015. To clarify, this does not mean that Ireland is not on the right track, or that it has not carried its weight thus far in terms of the anti-poverty and sustainable development effort.

Both Sherlock and Flanagan have reassured the general public that with time, Ireland will proudly allocate 0.7 percent or more of GNP to overseas development aid. Until that time comes, the Irish Aid program will continue to combat poverty and improve the lives of the world’s most suffering people.

– Sarah Bernard

Sources: Irish Times, Irish Mirror, Irish Examiner
Photo: Flickr

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Good Books Gives Retail Profit to Oxfam

International Good Books Gives Retail Profit to OxfamThe tangible gift of a book gives the intangible gift of learning. When one gives The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or To Kill a Mockingbird, a young person learns about race relations in the United States. Or maybe a child’s imagination can expand through classics such as The Chronicles of Narnia. What if you could give that gift to a loved one and at the same time help the education of someone in poverty?

It’s possible through the Auckland, New Zealand based company, Good Books. Just by shopping for books on their website, one can directly help the world’s poor through an automatic donation to Oxfam New Zealand, a partner of the general Oxfam family.

This is possible through a business plan by Good Books, which includes several partners that can donate their time or services to make the operation have zero operating costs.

For example, all the workers directly associated with Good Books are unpaid. The organization’s book distributor, Paperback Shop UK, handles the actual moving of the merchandise and supplies the website and management services. Also, the organization is able to build the company’s brand through media support and customers spreading the word.

But this specific labor is for a great cause since all retail profits are sent to Oxfam, an organization that works on many fronts trying to end global poverty.

Oxfam’s work is varied; the Oxfam America website specifically says the following about their work which is indicative of the organization’s work as a whole:

“No one should go hungry.”

“We all have the right to clean water.”

“All people deserve to live safely.”

“Women and girls are crucial to reducing poverty.”

“We all deserve the opportunity to earn a decent living.”

“People have a right to participate in decisions that affect their lives.”

“We must help poor communities cope with climate change.”

“Poverty is not inevitable.”

“People have the power to end poverty.”

While the purchase/donation cannot be earmarked through the Good Books’ website, purchasing the books matches well with the statements, “women and girls are crucial to reducing poverty,” and “we all deserve the opportunity to earn a decent living.” Both of those ideas hinge on education for the masses to move people out of poverty.

Oxfam New Zealand says that “every extra year a girl spends in school could reduce child mortality by ten percent.” So, much of their good work is built around education initiatives to help the community.

Oxfam and their partners have helped rebuild schools in Pakistan, get clean water for students in Nairobi, teach about women’s rights in Guatemala, and even giving goats to families in Ethiopia where the selling of offspring and goods provides money to send daughters of poor families to school.

By buying books from Good Books, consumers can use their purchasing power to help all the areas listed above. Specifically though, one can use their money to directly aid the fight against poverty while also reading a book that can change the mental attitudes for those in developed countries. Awareness and change concerning poverty can be worked on in two very distinct ways through the purchase of books.

– Megan Ivy

Sources: Good Books, Oxfam America, Oxfam New Zealand
Photo: Oxfaminternation

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Aid Worker Attacks Decline After Worst Year on Record

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Newly released data for 2014 shows a drop in worldwide aid worker attacks.

The report was published by Humanitarian Outcomes, a research institution that specializes in the international humanitarian system. The team collected the data through public sources and partnerships with the United Nations and major NGOs.

Humanitarian Outcomes has been tracking aid worker attacks and data since 1997. According to the group, more attacks occurred in 2013 than in any other year on record.

There were 190 major aid worker attacks in 2014, 74 less than in 2013. Still, an estimated 328 aid workers were affected last year with kidnappings, shootings and use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) – all common types of attack.

In an innovative, joint project, Humanitarian Outcomes and Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) created an interactive map that details all major aid worker attacks since 2000. The organizations state that their database is “the sole global open-source of this data.”

Some experts say that last year’s lower attack figures reflect the efforts that aid agencies have taken to improve security. Many agencies have stepped up their efforts to gain community support and use new technologies to keep workers safer.

Other experts believe that fewer aid worker attacks have occurred because international humanitarian groups are choosing to withdraw from volatile regions. As some organizations make the shift to “remote management,” which allows staff to oversee the agency from outside the conflict zone, they rely on local NGOs to deliver assistance. Analysts caution that these local groups are usually even less capable of providing security for their workers.

More than 3,000 aid workers have been attacked in the last 15 years. Of the 27 countries where these aid worker attacks took place, Afghanistan, Syria and South Sudan have the highest rates of violence. Many aid agencies feel pressure to maintain a presence in areas of conflict, even as violence worsens

In early June 2015, armed gunmen stormed an Afghan compound of People in Need, a Czech NGO that has worked in Afghanistan since 2001. The attackers shot aid workers “execution-style,” killing nine. Some were shot dead as they slept.

Afghanistan is the most dangerous country in the world for aid workers; nearly a quarter of all aid worker attacks occur in the conflict-ridden country.

Aid worker attacks have also been startlingly high in many central African countries, including in the Central African Republic (CAR). The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in CAR recently denounced the country’s growing trend of violence against aid workers. The July 22, 2015 statement came just days after the driver of a U.N. food convoy was shot dead while traveling on a major supply route.

“Humanitarian access continues to be hampered by various constraints in the country, particularly violence against civilians and humanitarian workers,” stated coordinator Marc Vandenberghe.

Years of civil war and sectarian violence have displaced an estimated 450,000 people in CAR. Many internally displaced persons are in desperate need of the humanitarian assistance aid workers provide.

Vandenberghe called on all conflicting parties in the CAR to cease the attacks on aid workers: “Allow them to do their jobs and save lives safely in the whole country.”

– Caitlin Harrison

Sources: IRIN News 1, IRIN News 2, IRIN News 3, The Guardian, Humanitarian Outcomes, UN News Center, Aid Worker Security Database
Photo: Huffington Post