Archive for category: Developing Countries

Information and stories about developing countries.

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The Importance of UNESCO

Importance of UNESCOThe United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization, better known by its acronym, UNESCO, is under scrutiny after the United States stated it will withdraw from the organization by December 31, 2018. Founded in 1945 in response to the horrific aftermath of both World War I and II, the organization currently has 195 member states and 10 associated states.

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said the U.S. withdrawal would be a loss to the U.N. and “a loss to multilateralism…At the time when the fight against violent extremism calls for renewed investment in education, in dialogue among cultures to prevent hatred, it is deeply regrettable that the United States should withdraw from the United Nations agency leading these issues…”

“Building peace in the minds of men and women” is UNESCO’s slogan and is rooted in efforts to coordinate international cooperation in its named components: education, science and culture, as well as communication. These efforts made by the United Nations agency have a goal to mobilize societies across the globe so that each child and citizen “…has access to quality education; a basic human right and an indispensable prerequisite for sustainable development. May grow and live in a cultural environment rich in diversity and dialogue, where heritage serves as a bridge between generations and peoples. Can fully benefit from scientific advances; and can enjoy full freedom of expression; the basis of democracy, development and human dignity.”

The importance of UNESCO is highlighted by an interview with Jaroslava Moserova, president of the General Conference in 1999, who was convinced of the role that the organization could play in a post-Cold War world. She said in the interview that “The aim of UNESCO is to improve the quality of life. It is not a political organization at all… the main pillar of UNESCO is education, access to education. When you hear the delegates from different parts of the world, different cultures, different traditions, there is one thing all of them agree on, and that is that the only tool for better or worse is education.”

The note Moserova made when acknowledging that education is an indispensable tool is only one of the ways to see the importance of UNESCO. The other pillars of UNESCO also point to the significance of their work and efforts. When considering that preserving heritages and promoting scientific advancement are the other focuses of the organization, the importance of UNESCO and the benefits of the agency can be subtle. Seeing as how encouraging positive cultural experiences, scientific development and educational growth are all components that lead to overall poverty reduction and socioeconomic advancement for countries.

UNESCO puts an emphasis on children, and as UNICEF reiterates, reducing poverty begins with children and the things that improve their quality of life. Education is one of the most important pieces, and UNESCO’s efforts to improve it benefit people the world over.

– Gabriella Paez

Photo: Google

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Education Superpowers and What We Can Learn from Them

Education_SuperpowersIn 2015, 72 countries participated in The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OCED) triennial Programme for International Student Assessment. The test examines 15-year-olds’ aptitude in reading, math and science. Singapore, China, Japan, South Korea, Estonia, Canada and Switzerland are consistently among the top 10 performing countries in all subjects, with Singapore ranking number one across the board.

Science

  1. Singapore
  2. Japan
  3. Estonia
  4. Chinese Taipei
  5. Macao (China)

Reading

  1. Singapore
  2. Canada
  3. Ireland
  4. Estonia
  5. South Korea

Math

  1. Singapore
  2. China
  3. Japan
  4. South Korea
  5. Switzerland

What makes these countries different from low performing ones? Four notable components emerge from experts’ conversations about what makes education superpowers successful.

  1. Equality and a strong education policy
  2. High-quality instructors
  3. Parental involvement
  4. Objectivity

Equality and education policy
There is only a narrow socioeconomic discrepancy between schools in the top-ranked countries, proof of a remarkably consistent educational system. For example, Canadian students score high regardless of being an economically advantaged or disadvantaged student.

In Macao and Vietnam, students with unfavorable socioeconomic conditions still outperform advantaged students internationally on PISA exams, citing a successful and consistent educational framework as one of the reasons for this.

High-quality teachers
The support and training for teachers in education superpower countries is extensive. These countries tend to have high salaries and comprehensive policy frameworks that support teachers and reflect the importance of teacher quality and preparation.

In a three-year study, the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education’s leading researcher Linda Darling-Hammond found that countries that best prepare their students focus on two things: building an effective and long-term educational system and professionalizing the teaching career.

The qualifications and training process of becoming a teacher are denser, but systems are in place to make this a more affordable process. In Canada, teachers are paid salaries comparable to that of engineers and other societal professionals. Singaporean primary school teachers earn an average of S$51,000 annually.

Parental involvement
In a comparative study reading parents’ involvement in the learning process between American and Chinese students, Cecilia Sin-Sze Cheung and Eva Pomerantz found that parental involvement was positively associated with the child’s achievement in both countries, especially in the education superpower of China.

Andreas Schleicher, OECD’s education director, argues that Singapore’s success is in part due to the high priority that parents in Asian countries put on education. This ultimately contributes to their child’s educational success and achievements.

Education superpowers don’t buy into the myths
Contrary to popular belief, a high rate of immigrants does not necessarily contribute to a lower success average in schools. In Canada’s case, embracing immigrant students has contributed to the overall success of the Canadian educational system.

OCED acknowledges that counties with high immigrant student populations are not associated with poor student performance.

The cost of being an education superpower
The top-performing countries also rank high on the World Health Organization’s adolescent suicide rate chart. Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea all near the top of both lists. Countries such as Albania and Peru that are among PISA’s lower test performers have a higher proportion of students who enjoy school.

Though preparing students for a global economy and cultivating abilities to compete on a universal level is worth applauding, it may be at the cost of happiness. The most important things for education superpowers to work on are reducing the stress put on students and making their education enjoyable as well as enriching.

– Sloan Bousselaire

Photo: Flickr

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Education in Cabo Verde Successes: Enrollment

Education in Cabo Verde

Cabo Verde is a small nation that consists of a group of islands just under 400 miles off Africa’s northeast coast. Nine of the 10 islands are inhabited and they are divided into two groups. The Barlavento group in the north includes the islands of Santo Antão, São Vicente, Santa Luzia, São Nicolau, Sal and Boa Vista. The Sotavento group in the south includes the islands of Maio, Santiago, Fogo and Brava.

According to a 2014 report by the World Bank, 3 percent of primary school aged children were not enrolled in school. Girls were less likely to receive an education in Cabo Verde; only 1 percent of primary school aged boys were not in school compared to 4 percent of girls. The rate of completion of primary education in Cabo Verde is 99 percent, which shows that the small nation is making progress towards its goal of universal primary education.

Compared to other low to middle-income nations, access to education in Cabo Verde ranked among the 85th percentile, but it only ranked at the 61st percentile in learning. Despite this, the literacy rate of the youth population was 98 percent, which was higher than the average in other lower to middle-income nations. This is good news for education in Cabo Verde, because literacy is a necessary skill for accessing higher levels of education.

Although Cabo Verde has made great strides in access to education, there are still some obstacles to overcome. One problem for education in Cabo Verde is that many students and teachers alike speak Creole at home and have a weak command of Portuguese, which is the language used in the academic setting. Aside from that, there is not enough spending on supplies, books and lunches, and there is also a high rate of repetition. Students are more likely to repeat grade two during their primary education. The rate of repetition in grade two was 18 percent in Cabo Verde, which was double the average of other primary grades.

Cabo Verde‘s high enrollment and literacy rates show that education is a priority in the country. By addressing its students’ obstacles to learning, it can ensure that they get the most out of the education they are receiving.

– Fernando Vazquez

Photo: Google

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PMI Expansion Malaria Treatment for 90 Million More People

PMI ExpansionIn late September, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced that they would be leading an enterprise to expand the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI). The PMI expansion is expected to bring life-saving malaria prevention and treatment to four additional countries: Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire, Niger and Sierra Leone. With these additions, PMI will have programs operating in 24 Sub-Saharan African countries where malaria poses a genuine public health threat.

Launched in 2005, PMI is an interagency initiative in collaboration with USAID and in conjunction with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. PMI was originally established with the goal of cutting mortality caused by malaria in half across 15 African countries. This came during a time when the U.S. decided to put malaria control at the forefront of its global aid agenda. It seeks to approach this goal by increasing concentration on four essential malaria treatment and prevention measures: insecticide-treated mosquito nets, indoor residual spraying, accurate diagnoses and preventative prenatal treatments. With its focused strategy, PMI has contributed to the aversion of 6.8 million malaria-related deaths between 2001 and 2015. In 2016 alone, PMI protected over 16 million people by spraying homes with insecticide and distributed 42 million bed nets.

In total, approximately 480 million people have benefited from the work being done by PMI. This latest PMI expansion will bring malaria treatment and prevention to an additional 90 million people. This is spectacular news given how life-threatening the disease still is, even after so much progress has been made. Today, malaria still takes the life of a child every 30 seconds, amounting to a staggering 3,000 children every single day. Though heartbreaking, this statistic should not come as a surprise, considering 40 percent of the world’s population lives in high-risk regions for malaria. With the continued effort aid agencies like PMI and USAID, that number is projected to decrease significantly. Hopefully, sometime in the coming years, the world will witness the complete eradication of malaria.

– Micaela Fischer

Photo: Flickr

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Organizations Working to Relieve Hunger in Guinea

Hunger in GuineaSituated in West Africa, Guinea is a country populated with around 12 million people. As in many impoverished countries, hunger and malnutrition are issues primarily affecting the rural areas of the nation. Over half of the population lives in extremely poor conditions, and 17.5 percent are food-insecure. Coupled with poor socioeconomic conditions and a weak government, natural disasters and disease further add to the chronic malnourishment issue. There are several programs, however, that have contributed to alleviating the consequences of hunger in Guinea over the past few decades.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has been working on reducing hunger in Guinea since the mid-1960s. In the time the organization has spent in Guinea, WFP has effectively improved nourishment by promoting education programs in schools, providing nourishment to women and children specifically with HIV, tuberculosis and Ebola and promoting locally grown foods. Another area of focus for food insecurity that the WFP is addressing is access to healthcare supplies by supporting government incentives for air transport.

Similarly, Action Against Hunger (AAH) is helping Guinea move forward in food security and nutrition. AAH began work in the mid-1990s and has worked to fight disease such as cholera, while also promoting better practices relating to hunger in Guinea. AAH assisted 264,124 people in 2016.

Earlier in 2017, two native Guineans were celebrated on International Women’s Day for their contributions to the fight against hunger in Guinea. The food security, resiliency and archeology project team of the Stop Hunger foundation awarded the two women for their work in involving local parboiling in schools in rural areas that experience food-insecurity. Supported by local government, the program is an excellent example of mobilization of local communities and the effectiveness that larger nonprofits have in sparking efforts toward reliving hunger in Guinea.

– Casey Hess

Photo: Flickr

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Suny Clean Water Solar Still

Suny Clean WaterWater is one of the most basic human necessities, yet millions of people lack access to clean drinking water. Fortunately, researchers are coming up with new solutions every day to help create purified drinking water in impoverished countries to help resolve this issue.

Throughout the years there have been many methods implemented to purify water such as heating, distillation and boiling. Researchers at the State University of New York have created a fast and cheap solar still that could potentially provide drinking water to those who currently don’t have access.

The solar still is first set on top of any body of water. After a few minutes, the water that goes inside the still heats up, begins to evaporate and becomes trapped in the clear topping. Once the trapped evaporated water cools down, it is then collected in a vessel free of impurities.

The method itself is not that innovative. Solar stills have been around for thousands of years. What makes the Suny Clean Water solar still different is how efficiently and cheaply it purifies water.

A large number of solar stills use solar nanomaterials on the bottom to collect heat and energy from the sun. Unfortunately, these nanomaterials can end up making the solar still cost up to $200 per square meter. At that price, it cannot be sold in impoverished countries. Not only that, these expensive solar stills do not efficiently use solar energy and can only lead to one liter of water a day. These issues prevent the stills from effectively purifying drinking water in impoverished countries.

Suny Clean Water has found a solution to both of these problems. The biggest issue is the cost of creation. Given that the nanomaterials drive up the price, the researchers looked for a way to bring it down. The solution they found was a black fiber-rich paper, similar to what is used to print money. It functions similarly to the nanomaterials, absorbing sunlight to assist in evaporating the water.

This black material is much cheaper than the nanoparticle. It would only cost about $2 per square meter, which is 1/100th of the price of the nanoparticles per square meter. That low cost could lead to each unit of this solar filter costing only $5 once it is completely put together using the black fiber paper.

Not only is this solar still model cheaper to produce, it is also energy efficient. The Suny Clean Water solar still has 88 percent thermal efficiency to evaporate the water. According to Qiaoqiang Gan, the lead author of the study, that is nearly three times as efficient as natural evaporation. Due to how efficiently water is evaporated, this new solar still can end up providing up to one liter of water an hour.

This new solar still took all the issues that previous stills faced and conquered them. It is cheap and provides water relatively quickly. Currently, it is not commercially available but Suny Clean Water hopes that will soon change. Once it becomes available, creating purified drinking water in impoverished countries will become affordable and easy.

– Daniel Borjas

Photo: Pixabay

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Child Vision: Glasses for Children in Impoverished Countries

Child Vision: Glasses for Children in Impoverished CountriesThere are 100 million young people in the world that have poor vision, and about 60 percent of them lack access to corrective glasses. Glasses are considered a luxury in these parts of the world. This has a big impact on kids in school, as they cannot see the blackboard clearly and lose about half a year of schooling as a result. Child Vision glasses are a cheap alternative to normal prescription glasses for children in impoverished countries.

Child Vision glasses are different from conventional glasses because they are adjustable. Each lens is actually two lenses with space in the middle. After taking a simple eye chart test, kids put on the Child Vision glasses and they can adjust it themselves. They cover one eye and turn a knob that will adjust the glasses.

The knob adjusts the liquid that is inside the lenses. The liquid causes the lenses to expand or contract, thus adjusting the prescription of the glasses. Kids turn the knob until they can see clearly. Once they can see clearly, they take off the adjustors to seal the prescription. Unfortunately, that means that kids only have one opportunity to correct their vision, but it seems that the success rate is high.

Out of all the users of adjustable glasses, 92 percent of them were able to correct their vision. One of the main reasons why glasses are considered a luxury is because of their price. The average price for glasses is about $196. The creators of Child Vision recognized this problem and worked to make the adjustable glasses affordable for those in the developing world. The average cost for Child Vision glasses is €16, or about $19.

One of the best things about these glasses is that they do not need an optometrist to correct their vision. Anyone with basic training can administer an eye chart exam to help kids learn if they need glasses.

Thanks to Child Vision, glasses for children in impoverished countries are now available. These low-cost adjustable glasses are easy to adjust and give to kids. Child Vision is giving kids the glasses they need so they can better participate in school and make the most of their education.

– Daniel Borjas

Photo: Flickr

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10 Educational Obstacles Throughout the World


In a perfect world, education would be free and easily accessible for citizens of all countries. As education seems to be unattainable for a lot of people in certain countries, there are a lot of people and organizations that want to help, but just do not know how or they  may not understand the many obstacles to obtaining an education. Here are 10 obstacles that citizens around the world struggle with when trying to obtain an education.

Classrooms
Finding an adequate space to teach students can be one of the major issues countries find when looking to start a school. Often, without a large enough teaching space, there are overcrowded classrooms or teachers are forced to teach outside, in which case they are not in a proper learning environment. The existing classrooms and buildings are sometimes poorly built and falling apart, lacking proper facilities such as toilets and water.

Learning Materials
Tools and materials students need access to in order to have a decent education are hard for them to obtain, often because living in poverty means that their families simply cannot afford them. A lot of textbooks are old and in bad condition and may be shared by six or more students. Not only do the students need proper materials, but the teachers often lack these supplies as well. Lesson plans and chalkboards may seem like basic materials, but a lot of countries lack these essentials for the classroom.

Expenses
Fees for tuition, school uniforms, transportation, supplies and any other fees add up very quickly. For families living on a low household income, this means that school is not an option for them; aside from this, these families often require their children to work instead of spending time in school.

Gender
Females are about two and a half times more likely to not attend school than males in conflict-affected countries. Therefore, even being born a female can prevent a student from obtaining an education. Often times this is due to the risk of a violent attack when attempting to attend class, an early marriage or pregnancy or discrimination. Some countries discriminate against women and girls from going to school because of longstanding social beliefs that men dominate women.

Rural Living
Children and students living in rural areas are at a disadvantage when it comes to their education. The distance is much farther than those who live in the city and closer to the schools, and it can be hard to find proper transportation to and from class.

Funding
A lot of poor countries do not receive enough government funding to establish a school, and often, the existing schools are not well built or sanitary. In some instances, there are not even private restrooms for females to use and this can prevent them from attending school.

Disabilities
Developmental disabilities are common of children in developing countries. Due to these – often cognitive – disabilities, families often suffer from an economic and social disadvantage. These children may not be able to learn and retain information properly, and therefore may have a hard time keeping up in school. This can prevent the child from attending school in general.

Teachers
Filling teaching positions is one of the many educational obstacles that countries face. Unfortunately, for there to be universal primary education, there would need to be 28.5 million new teachers by the year 2030. A lot of educators are given a class that contains way too many kids, with a variety of languages being spoken and not many materials to use.

Hunger
Malnutrition is known to make children very ill and hurt their immune system. Hunger can also cause things like anxiety and depression as well as behavioral problems, which can result in difficulty focusing. Not eating enough can impair childrens’ development and their achievement and can cause psychological problems.

War Zones
Education becomes less important when living in a war zone. An estimated 28 million children – 42 percent of the world’s total – do not have access to education, as they are living in war zones. Governments often donate and help with food, water and shelter, as the primary needs during an emergency, and education is an afterthought.

Although there are many obstacles prohibiting educational attainment around the globe, many of them can themselves be prevented. There are so many different organizations that people throughout the world can choose from to contribute their time to or donate to. Save the children, an organization founded in the U.S., was able to help over 13 million children receive an education in 2016. This is evidence that our donations and contributions through charities are indeed effective and changing lives, and that we are able to tackle these obstacles one by one.

– Chloe Turner

Photo: Flickr

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Innovations for Poverty Action Conducts Life-Changing Study

Innovations for Poverty Action Conducts Research That Changes LivesWhen people donate money to nonprofits, they want to know that their money is being used well. The same goes for governments allocating funds for international aid. While money intended for alleviating poverty is rarely wasted, there are many different ways the funds could be used to help those in need. Sometimes, it is not clear what program the money should be put towards. Thankfully, there are organizations such as Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) that are dedicated to researching how to best help the poor.

IPA finds evidence of what works to help the poor and helps turn that evidence into better programs and policies. Working with top researchers in the field, IPA conducts randomized controlled trials. This method allows researches to isolate the effects of a program from other factors. Researchers will assign participants to separate groups, at random. One or more groups, known as “treatment” groups, receive a program and another group functions as the “control” group.

IPA develops strong connections in the countries in which they conduct research. These partnerships, along with a knowledge of local contexts, help make their research projects successful. Their teams work in 20 countries, with various NGOs and government institutions. IPA has more than 1,000 research staff who conduct research on the ground. Studies can last from a few months to years or even decades.

Jeffrey Mosenkis, a policy communications manager at IPA, told the Borgen Project that one IPA study in particular strikes him as particularly influential: a study on school-based deworming conducted from 1998 to 2001. The study took place within 75 primary schools in Busia, Kenya. The school-based deworming reduced serious worm infections by 61 percent and reduced school absenteeism by 25 percent. The study only cost $0.60 per child per year. A long-term follow-up study found that the deworming increased the rate at which girls passed their secondary school entrance exam by 9.6 percent and increased the likelihood that men would work in higher-wage jobs than their peers or engage in entrepreneurial activities. School-based deworming campaigns have expanded into Ethiopia, India and Kenya, reaching over 200 million children. Since then, researchers have also discovered that treating kids for parasites also helps their siblings do better in school.

“I think it was also an eye opener for the field of development, says Mosenkis, “because it showed that one of the most cost-effective education interventions was actually a health intervention, and helped sparked interest in using data and evidence to find the most effective programs, which might not be the ones we’d normally think of.”

Other important studies conducted by IPA include improving financial behavior with a tablet app, improving math skills in Paraguay, reducing child mortality with health promoters in Uganda and using mobile technology to fight malaria. These and other studies are conducted in places all over the globe. Sometimes the exact location of the study can present unique challenges. “It’s not just the country but the local area,” says Mosenkis, “how good the infrastructure, like the roads are, or electricity and phone access, that makes more of a difference in our day-to-day work collecting data than the national picture.”

IPA was started by Dean Karlan, after traveling throughout Latin American before grad school. What began originally as an idea pitched by Karlan to his graduate advisers at MIT became a nonprofit organization bridging the gap between academia and development policy in practice.

IPA plans to continue building on what it has already achieved. The plan is to continue creating useful evidence to answer the questions of decision-makers at the front lines of development. The work of IPA has been and will continue to be instrumental in improving the lives of the global poor.

– Brock Hall
Photo: Flickr

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Seven Things to Know About Education in Myanmar

Education in Myanmar

Due to a variety of factors, the access to quality education in Myanmar is generally poor. Below are seven things everyone should know about education in Myanmar.

  1. The amount of money invested into education in Myanmar is low. Only 1.3 percent of the country’s GDP is allocated to education. This is lower than the average reported by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Myanmar now ranks 164th out of 168 by the U.N. Human Development Index for public spending on education.
  2. In the 1940s and 1950s, Myanmar had one of the highest literacy rates out of all of the countries in Asia. Compared to its counterparts, Myanmar was expected to be one of the fastest developing areas in the region. However, a lack of funding has since decreased the access to quality education in Myanmar.
  3. Students do not get to choose what they study. Even if students choose to pursue secondary education, they have little choice in terms of their area of study. Students will be assigned to study a subject based on their previous test scores, even if the area they are forced to go into does not provide many job opportunities.
  4. Education in Myanmar is only mandatory for five years. After the five required years, many students drop out of school due to family financial struggles. At 50 percent, the number of kids enrolled in secondary education in Myanmar is about half of the enrollment percentage of secondary school students in the United Kingdom.
  5. Politics play a significant role in access to quality education in Myanmar. After trying to pass an education bill proposed in 2014 – that would give citizens less autonomy over their education – many students protested against the government. Though their behavior might have had them arrested in the past, they were successful in getting the government to reconsider the education bill, which was passed in 2015.
  6. The Quality Basic Education Program (QBEP) and UNICEF are working to improve access to education for all children in Myanmar. The QBEP strives to provide quality education services to 34 areas in Myanmar. Of QBEP’s aims, one of them is to provide help to children and communities that are the most disadvantaged.
  7. Over recent years, investment in education has improved. In a span of only two years, from 2012 to 2014, public spending on education in Myanmar increased by 49 percent.

Though the investment in education in Myanmar has improved in recent years, there is still a lot of progress to be made within the country’s education system. Many organizations, such as QBEP and UNICEF, are taking steps in the right direction by working to provide better access to education for all children in Myanmar.

– Haley Rogers

Photo: Flickr