Information and stories addressing children.

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International Social Service USA

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The International Social Service USA making a historic attempt to aid foreign countries in need is a perfect example of the benefits of foreign aid. The ISS has played a historic role in helping new immigrants, such as after World Wars I and II, when waves of immigrants struggled with adjusting to their new life in the USA after suffering shock and trauma. They also help with inter-country adoptions, helping children find safe and stable homes.

The organization’s international status allows all the national branches of the International Social Service to work together to optimally help the populations of countries with unsafe environments. After the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti in 2010, the U.S. branch stressed the importance of ceasing the adoptions during the critical time. Helping rebuild Haiti was the primary focus, and the ISS felt it was important not to interrupt or interfere with that process. They also felt that after suffering such trauma (both physical and mental), it would be better to let the children recover before they could be potentially adopted.

The ISS also is involved in helping to find missing family members or tracing birth families. The ISS-USA newsletter tells of Andrea von Barby Patterson’s search for her birth mother. Adopted at a young age from Germany by a family in Colorado, she was too late to meet her birth mother, who passed away, but was able to find other relatives including a half-sister, thanks to the organization.

While the ISS doesn’t directly impact poverty, the organization certainly does help people in extreme poverty find homes in better conditions. Global poverty in different countries are similar in the big picture—children are considered a burden to parents who can barely take care of themselves. Basic necessities like water and food are unfulfilled, and having a child is an added burden. More often than not, the parents (and in some cases, it’s a single parent) are unable to take care of the child. This leads to high infant mortality and also high rates of child kidnapping and trafficking. In nations rampant with poverty, smuggling and kidnapping are other monsters to fear. Children are offered to be smuggled into other countries, or even kidnapped to be trafficked into other countries. In cases like these, the ISS also helps out a great deal by reuniting families. The ISS also helps childless couples in wealthier nations adopt these needy children.

Since the 20th century, the USA branch of the International Social Services has been helping improve the conditions of children all over the world by helping them get adopted, helping them connect with birth families, and helping track down missing kidnapped or smuggled children. The much valued institute has contributed greatly to the global population with its charitable social work and continues to do so today.

– Aalekhya Malladi

Sources: International Social Service USA, ISS-USA Newsletter
Photo: International Programs

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Women’s Disempowerment in Yemen

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In Yemen, the custom of early marriage just met a vocal challenger.

Going viral last week was a video of 11-year-old Nada al-Ahdal ranting about her parents’ decision to forcibly marry her off to a much older man. “What have the children done wrong? Why do you marry them off like that?” she asks the camera. Her powerful words have touched a delicate nerve amongst Yemenis, some of whom have upheld and continue to practice the custom of early marriange for generations. According to a 2006 joint report by the Ministry of Public Health and Population, the Pan-Arab Project for Family Health and UNICEF, this tradition is still widely practiced: 52% of Yemeni women and girls are married by the time they turn 18.

The recent video highlights Yemen’s history of early marriage laws and the government’s and society’s unwillingness to modernize conceptions of marriage. In 1994, the official age for lawful marriage stood at 15. Five years later, the law was abolished on religious grounds, eliminating a minimum age for early marriage. A brief legislative effort in 2009 to amend the situation was ultimately stalled and aborted, despite that fact that Yemen is party to multiple international treaties that require married couples to be at least 18 years old. Overall, the issue remains to be addressed, leaving countless children susceptible to premature marriage and the social and economic disadvantages that come with it.

Interviews with Yemeni girls and women reveal troubling facts. In rural areas, some girls were married off at the age of 8. Once married, women often have little power in their marriages which can also mean they have limited control over the timing and spacing of children, which increases the risk of reproductive health problems. Early marriage also diminishes the chance that wives will return to school to complete their education, putting them at a distinct social and economic disadvantage. Verbal and physical abuse against women is also prevalent in early marriages in Yemen.

In some ways, Nada al-Ahdal’s words do not just refute the practice of robbing girls of their childhood and sexual purity; they also underline the crucial “cycle of poverty and early marriage” that plagues tens of millions of women around the world. Poverty and early marriage tend to be mutually reinforcing phenomena: girls born into poverty are more likely to have mothers who ‘transmit intergenerational poverty’ and lack social assets and networks. In addition, early marriages greatly increase the chance that young girls will live in poverty. The cycle, parallel to the strong customary tradition of early marriage most prevalent in rural areas, reinforces young women’s roles as undereducated child-bearers with limited social networks.

Nada al-Ahdal eloquently defends her decision to flee from arranged marriage. But behind her words lies Yemen’s ugly reality of women’s disempowerment and its central role in the country’s greater puzzle of poverty reduction and economic growth. As one of the poorest nations on earth and a hotbed of terrorist activity, poverty in Yemen has resulted in a globally destabilizing situation. Instituting a minimum age for marriage could be a key policy for addressing women’s inequality and poverty. In doing so, Yemen would have a more solid foundation for development and more human capital to support its economy.

– Zach Crawford

Sources: BBC, Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), Human Rights Watch, Save the Children’s “Champions for Children” report, Washington Post
Photo: Washington Post

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Landfill Harmonic: A Recycled Orchestra

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‘The world sends us garbage. We send back music,” said Favio Chávez, the conductor of the Landfill Harmonic Orchestra.

The Cateura Dump, in the Bañado Sur area along the Paraguay River, is surrounded by seven neighborhoods. 2,500 families live in these neighborhoods, and the majority rely on the landfill to survive, sorting through the 1,500 tons of waste delivered daily and reusing whatever can be found. Poverty has forced many children to work with their families instead of attending school, resulting in inadequate education and a low level of literacy. The area also faces frequent flooding, as well as problems with sanitation and clean drinking water. It is from these troubled beginnings that the Landfill Harmonic originated.

Whilst working in the area, Favio Chávez, an ecological technician decided to teach music to some of the children. Chávez had previously trained as a musician and initially used his own instruments to give lessons. But he soon had too many students and not enough instruments. It was then that the idea to create instruments from recycled materials first struck him. The result was “Los Reciclados” (the Recycled Orchestra) was born using oil cans and scavenged wood, forks and kitchen utensils to create orchestral instruments.

Since its beginnings, the Recycled Orchestra has toured the world, performing in Argentina, Brazil, and Germany, and will be the subject of an upcoming documentary, “Landfill Harmonic.” And while the orchestra may have been created to “educate the world and raise awareness,” as Chávez says, the profound impact on individual lives is very apparent. Chavez continues, “…even though these students are in extreme poverty, they can also contribute to society. They deserve an opportunity.”

One of the orchestral members stated, “My life would be worthless without music.” For children living in poverty, and in an environment where the potential for education and advancement is slim, being given the opportunity to study music and travel the world can be invaluable.

“People realize that we shouldn’t throw away trash carelessly,” Chávez says. “Well, we shouldn’t throw away people either.”

– David Wilson 

Sources: Time, Notes on the Road, UNICEF
Photo: MSNBC Media

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South Sudan Focuses on Reducing Youth Poverty

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The issue of poverty in South Sudan is very complex, however, the organization Plan International is adamant that a key component to poverty reduction is concentrating on decreasing poverty among young people in the country. A 2009 Southern Sudan Household Survey disclosed that 50.6% of the population survives on less than $2 a day. In addition to income limitations, poverty also brings a lack of healthcare, food, sanitation, and clean water.

In order to improve these conditions, Nigal Champman, the Chief Executive Director of Plan International, suggests focusing on children as a financially small investment. He explained, “We all know that young people can play an important role in national development if provided with the right tools, the learning and capacity to employ those tools, and a supportive environment in which to use them.” However, these children can just as easily continue to live in the poverty cycle if they are not provided with education, healthcare or proper nutrition.

The organization has invested $30 million in South Sudan since 2006 and is planning on providing another $30 million in the next three years. Plan International will utilize this money by working with government officials to implement policies meant to keep children in school. Other ways Plan International contributes to the reduction of poverty in South Sudan is through food and clean water distribution, supporting agricultural developments, peacekeeping programs, and providing access to health services.

In a country where 50% of the population is young children or adolescents, about 60% of the poor belong to this demographic. In addition to the previously mentioned disadvantages, these young people also struggle because many are orphans of parents who have AIDS or victims of conflict or child labor. While South Sudan may be a convoluted situation, organizations like Plan International are working to ensure that poverty is a thing of the past by investing in children, who are our future.

– Mary Penn

Sources: All Africa, Youth Policy
Photo: Doctors without Borders

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Spotlight on INMED Partnerships For Children

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Youth around the world, primarily in Latin America, Southern Africa and the United States, have an ally with INMED Partnerships for Children. This organization is dedicated to helping children who have been devastated by “disease, hunger, abuse, neglect, violence or instability” and works with them to build a healthy and successful future. Rather than simply focusing on curing immediate threats to children, although INMED does that too, the group is adamant about treating the root causes of their struggles.

INMED transforms the lives of children in harmful environments by developing programs to target the specific needs of villages, regions, or entire countries. These programs include Health and Nutrition, Education and Skills Building, Adaptive Agriculture and Aquaponics, Youth Development, and Family Services. All of these programs create an opportunity for youth to change their lives for the better.

Children are not the only ones affected by INMED’s development programs. As children begin to change many aspects of their lives, these changes carry over to their families and communities. As these changes become dominant in communities, more and more people are lifted out of poverty and have the opportunity to create a better life. INMED calls for “sustainable change that crosses generations,” not just helping a few children for a brief amount of time.

The numerous success stories of INMED Partnership for Children show that this organization is making a difference in the world. By focusing on “long-term opportunities for children’s success in life” and community outreach, INMED is doing what all similar organizations should be striving towards: improving the future of impoverished children. INMED’s programs will likely be implemented in communities long after the organization leaves, which is the key to true progress.

– Mary Penn

Sources: Guide Star, INMED Partnerships for Children
Photo: Hands for Latin America

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MDG 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education

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This is the second in a series of posts reviewing the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. The MDGs are a set of eight targets agreed upon by almost every country in the world, based on a shared commitment to the improvement of the social, economic, and political lives of all people. They are to be achieved by 2015 and, with two years to go, it’s time to see how far we’ve come and what is left to be done.

The second of these goals is to achieve universal primary education. All children, regardless of gender or socioeconomic background, deserve the opportunity to receive a high quality education. Because of concerted efforts to meet this goal, more children are attending primary school today than ever before, with 570 million children enrolled in school. From 1999 to 2006, the number of out-of-school children fell from 103 million to 73 million, and primary school enrollment in developing countries increased from 83% to 88%. Primary school enrollment continued increasing, reaching 90% by 2010. However, progress is slowing with the number of primary school aged children out of school falling by only 3 million between 2008 and 2011.

Despite significant progress, children in sub-Saharan Africa are the most likely not to attend primary school, with the net primary school enrollment ratio there increasing to only 71%. This leaves roughly 38 million children without a primary school education. On the other hand, 90% of Southern Asian children attend primary school. This represents excellent progress, although it still leaves 18 million children without the basic reading and math skills they would learn in school.

Inequities in access to primary education represent the main barrier to reaching the second MDG. The UN estimates that, without accelerated progress, 58 of the 86 countries that have yet to achieve universal primary education will not do so by the 2015 goal date. Despite progress in many areas, girls are still significantly more likely to drop out of school than boys are. Children from poorer households and from rural areas also have increased dropout rates.

It is important to note that enrollment numbers are not the only indicator of success or failure when it comes to MDG 2. There is no point in getting children to school if there are inadequate teachers or supplies, or if the learning environment is hostile. Therefore, it is vital to consider the quality of the education as well as the number of children attending school. We must ensure that teachers are trained and well equipped, and that children feel safe at school. Students that attend school on a regular basis should graduate with at least basic reading and math skills. They should also graduate on time, giving them a greater chance of attending secondary school.

Many countries have made significant progress using a variety of programs. Nine countries have increased primary school enrollment by eliminating school fees. These include Ghana, where public school enrollment in impoverished areas skyrocketed from 4.2 million to 5.4 million in 2004 alone, and Kenya, where primary school enrollment jumped by over a million students in just one year. However, abolishing school fees inevitably means less school funding, which presents challenges when it comes to providing adequate school buildings and well-trained teachers.

In Haiti, a $70,000 donation from famous soccer players Ronaldo and Zidene allowed for incredible improvements to schools in a severely impoverished area. UN agencies and NGOs partnered with the Haitian government to promote school attendance, conduct training for teachers, and provide 33 schools with necessary supplies. This positively changed the lives of 4,300 children by significantly improving the quality of their education.

Despite significant progress, 123 million youth, aged 15 to 24, still lack basic reading and writing skills. In a reflection of the persisting gender gap in primary education, 61% of these youth are female. Clearly, there is still work to be done. The UN provides several suggestions for continued efforts on this front. More funding, both from governments and from aid organizations, will be needed to achieve universal primary education by 2015. Annual aid dedicated to basic education in developing countries increased from $1.6 billion in 1999 to $5 billion in 2006, representing a step in the right direction. However, it is estimated that $11 billion will be needed annually to achieve universal primary education by 2015. These funds are needed to train teachers and to ensure that they have all the materials they need to do their job well.

In order to prevent unequal access to education based on socioeconomic status, school fees should be eliminated. At the very least, scholarships should be readily available for children from poorer families. Children should also be provided with free transportation to and from school if needed and with free meals and basic health services at school. Proper nutrition and health services will improve children’s overall well being, and these services would help reluctant children and families to see school as a worthwhile investment. An even more drastic step could be to entice low-income families with cash transfers conditional on their children’s school attendance. This could be especially useful in convincing families to educate their daughters, not just their sons.

A high quality primary school education can set children on the right track, giving them necessary skills to succeed in their personal lives and in the workplace. Primary school education has the power to break the cycle of poverty and to empower disenfranchised social groups. This makes the world’s progress towards universal primary education extremely exciting, and compels us to continue working towards this goal.

– Katie Fullerton

Sources: UN Fact Sheet, UN
Photo: Pakistan Today

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Poverty in Kosovo

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Since the end of the war in 1999, the Republic of Kosovo has experienced consistent economic growth. Now a lower-middle-income country, it is one of only four countries in Europe that recorded positive growth rates during the economic crisis between 2008-2012, averaging about 4.5% each year. Despite its rapid growth, Kosovo continues to struggle with high rates of poverty and unemployment.

Joblessness is estimated to be at about 40% and remains a central economic-policy challenge. Youth and women are disproportionately affected by the difficult labor market conditions, creating an environment that undermines the country’s social fabric. Kosovo is one of the poorest countries in Europe with a per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) of about €2,700 and about one-third of the population living below the poverty line and approximately one-eighth living in extreme poverty.

Recent studies by UNICEF Kosovo showed that children are at higher risk of living in poverty in Kosovo compared to the general population. The greatest risk of poverty is for children who live in households with three or more children, children between 0 and 14 years of age, children of unemployed parents, children in households receiving social assistance, and children with low levels of education. Whereas, the risk of poverty is much lower for children in a household with at least one employed parent.

The European Union is mainstreaming an effort to fight child poverty by  recognizing the multi-dimensional nature of the issue. Child poverty and exclusion have high social and individual costs. Children in poverty are at high risks of low educational attainment, poor health, and an inability to find work later in life. Investing in children, therefore, is important not only for the well being of current children living in poverty, but also for the health, productivity, and engagement of future adult citizens.

Kosovo declared independence in 2008, however only 98 of a total 193 UN member states have recognized Kosovo’s independence. The lack of agreement remains a central obstacle to achieving the country’s goals for political integration and socio-economic development.

To help reverse joblessness and build a long-term economic growth plan, the World Bank, along with ten other donors, recently awarded Kosove 61 million Euros, mostly in the form of grant money. The Sustainable Employment Development Policy Program (SEDPP) funds were disbursed from the end of 2011 to the middle of 2012. The funds have supported reforms and improved transparency throughout many sectors in the country.

– Ali Warlich

Sources: World Bank, UNICEF, World Bank
Photo: SOS Children’s Villages

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Poverty in Uruguay

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18.6 % of the population is below the poverty line in Uruguay. Although the majority of this poverty in Uruguay is not extreme, it is still problematic. Like many of other South American countries, Uruguay struggles with alleviating extreme poverty for the poorest sections of its population. The country is also trying to prevent those who are only slightly below the poverty line from plummeting further into the category of the extreme poor.

The small South American nation experienced an economic boom in the early 1990’s followed by a damaging recession in 1995. This recession left a lasting impression on the economy, which to this day continues to suffer. The recession caused a widespread loss of jobs across the country and an increasingly wide income gap. The poverty is not debilitating, but it is significant enough to render notice from the international community. According to the World Bank’s 2001 report on Uruguay, “reduction in poverty is highly dependent on growth, and pockets of poverty and unemployment still exist and in recent years have shown some increase.”

Uruguay also struggles with the high number of children who are born into poverty. The World Bank reports that “children have become a significant portion of the poor with about 40% of Uruguay’s children born into poor families, pointing to a potentially serious problem of inter-generational poverty.” This threat of continuing, irreversible poverty is very concerning. The longer poverty continues to ravage Uruguay, the more entrenched it will become as it roots itself in disenfranchised communities.

The poverty problem in Uruguay is not the most dire in the world, but it requires confrontation. In order for the poverty problem in Uruguay to be eradicated, the economy must be fundamentally changed and social welfare programs must be instituted.

– Josh Forgét

Sources: The CIA World Factbook, The World Bank
Photo: Tico Times

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What Causes Child Poverty in Wealthy Nations?

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Today, when most people think of poverty they do not think of nations like the United States and the United Kingdom. Nonetheless, these two countries face serious problems regarding child poverty. Up to 20% of children in the U.S. live in poverty, while the United Kingdom faces some of the world’s highest child poverty rates. In spite of being two of the world’s wealthiest nations, both nations are struggling to address the causes of child poverty.

 

Leading Causes of Child Poverty

 

Of the many root causes of child poverty, most sources point to an absence of one parent, particularly the father, as having the greatest impact on a child’s future. In the U.K., 23% of children in two parent families live in poverty, while over 40% of children in single parent households fall into the same category. As women generally earn less in the same professions as men, children in single parent households where the father is absent face an even higher rate of poverty.

Children living with only their mother are

  • 5 times more likely to live in poverty
  • 9 times more likely to drop out of school
  • 37% more likely to abuse drugs
  • 2 times more likely to be incarcerated
  • 2.5 times more likely to become a teen parent
  • 20 times more likely to have behavioral disorders
  • 32 times more likely to run away

Ethnicity has also been linked to higher child poverty rates in both the U.S. and the U.K. Part of the reason for the correlation between ethnicity and child poverty in the U.S. is due to the level of crime in minority communities. Not only are families in these communities more likely to be the victims of crime, but they are also more likely to have a parent, more often the father, incarcerated than families in areas with less crime. A child whose father has been incarcerated is five to seven times more likely to be incarcerated in their lifetime.

Although unemployment is a major contributor to child poverty, it is not the only problem. In any economy, poor adults often find they are forced to take dead-end jobs, without advancement opportunities, while middle management and other placements are given to college graduates whose families could afford higher education. In these situations, the wage-earning adult from a poor family is only offered part-time work or the position they currently occupy pays too low a salary and the family suffers.

Clearly, the issues related to child poverty are not limited only to less developed nations. Indeed, child poverty rates are surprisingly high in the world’s most developed nations, including the U.S. and the U.K. If we are unable to address these issues in our own countries, how are we to act as role models for the rest of the world?

– Herman Watson

Sources: Child Poverty Action Group, The Future of Children, Fight Poverty, The Guardian, Barnardo’s

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5 Facts about Child Poverty

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Child poverty is a multifaceted issue whose impacts are far-reaching and pervasive. While adults may fall into poverty for a period of time, children in poverty are often trapped forever. Seldom are they able to start anew because their poverty that lasts a lifetime. Furthermore the depths of child poverty often lead to greater entrenchment in social inequality. Thus governments and individuals must commit to understanding and tackling global child poverty.
Child Poverty is real and it is poses a threat to millions of children. Here are 5 key facts about child poverty.

  1. According to UNICEF, 1 billion children are living in poverty throughout the world. Of these children, 121 million are out of education and 22,000 die due to poverty each day.
  2. 30% of the children in developing nations live on less than $1 a day. Of this 30%, 270 million children have no access to health care services.
  3. The result of this dangerous poverty is extreme malnourishment. 27-28% of all children in developing countries are underweight or stunted in growth. In 2011 alone, 165 million children under the age of 5 were stunted due to hunger and starvation.
  4. Child poverty does not only affect developing nations. In a report by the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United States ranks 34th amongst 35 countries examined for child poverty rates. In fact more than one in five American children live below the poverty line today.
  5. Sadly, the Millennium Development goal to halve the proportion of underweight children will not be reached if current trends continue. The mark will be missed by 30 million children due in large part to slow progress in Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Though these facts are bleak, the truth is that child poverty can be fought. For example, in the year 2000 it would have cost an estimated $6 billion a year to place every child in school. Though the cost may have fluctuated since then, such a seemingly large amount was only a tiny fraction of how much the world spent on weapons alone. Eliminating child poverty is indeed a feasible goal.

– Grace Zhao

Sources: Global Issues, UNICEF, Do Something, The Washington Post
Photo: Wikimedia Commons