Archive for category: Developing Countries

Information and stories about developing countries.

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Using Cell Phones to Measure Poverty in Developing Countries

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A new study published by the University of Washington and the University of California, Berkeley reports that mobile cell phone information can be used to measure levels of wealth and poverty in developing countries.

Historically, poverty data in developing countries has been difficult to measure because information is captured through door-to-door surveys.

“[Cell phones] could be a useful policy instrument to estimate the geographic distribution of poverty and wealth,” said Joshua Blumenstock, one of the study’s authors, in a NY Times interview.

Blumenstock and his colleagues used anonymous data from 1.5 million subscribers of Rwanda’s largest mobile phone network. The team analyzed billions of interactions which included the time and length of phone calls as well as text messages. Cellphone towers helped them get a rough idea of geographic location.

During the study, the researchers also interviewed 850 cell phone owners. The respondents were asked about their housing situations, the assets they had access to and other indicators of wealth or poverty.

The researchers used this information to create an algorithm that predicts a person’s wealth based on their cellphone usage. Using this model, the team was able to answer more specific questions including whether a house has electricity.

Notably, the resulting wealth and poverty maps closely mirrored the findings of the Rwandan government’s door-to-door surveys.

The researchers are trying to conduct similar work in Afghanistan because certain areas are dangerous or too difficult to access and door-to-door surveys are not possible.

“We do not think this method is the be-all or end-all, but in the absence of good information, this is better than nothing,” said Blumenstock. However, the researchers’ approach could lead to new ways to quickly analyze poverty at a fraction of the cost of other methods.

– Jordan Connell

Sources: PC Tech Magazine, The New York Times
Photo: Flickr

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Heifer International: Donate a Cow for Economic Stability

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75 percent of the world’s poor make a living in rural areas and most people depend on agriculture for survival. The recently-implemented Sustainable Development Goals aim to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture” by 2030.

Alleviating poverty in rural areas is the mission of Heifer International. The organization furthers agriculture by helping small-scale farms achieve empowerment and financial security.

When founder Dan West arrived in Spain to provide relief for refugees of the Spanish Civil War, he found families living off of a single cup of milk per day. West realized that in order for people to recover from the war, they needed more than a cup of milk. They needed the entire cow.

With the help of donors, Heifer International delivers livestock to rural areas, along with a team of volunteers to provide guidance and training. Animals such as cows, chickens and bees do double duty in the fight against global poverty because they provide both food and reliable income through agricultural products.

In less than 70 years, Heifer International has achieved widespread success. Participants give the first female offspring of their livestock to the next family in need, as well as share the training they received. Entire communities transform into thriving, self-sufficient farms within a few seasons.

Furthermore, reducing poverty in rural areas positively impacts education and women’s empowerment, which further reduces hunger. Educated farmers produce twice as many consumer goods as their non-educated counterparts, according to Farming First.

Likewise, if women had equal access to education and resources, malnutrition would decrease by as much as 17 percent.

With the holidays around the corner, now is the perfect time to donate in honor of a friend or loved one. In 2011, 79 percent of Americans reported that they would rather have a charitable donation in their name than receive a gift they probably won’t use. Why not consider donating a cow?

– Sarah Prellwitz

Sources: World Bank, Farming First, Heifer, Red Cross
Photo: Flickr

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Maternal Death Rates Plummet Worldwide

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Maternal deaths have been cut nearly in half since 1990 according to a new report by the United Nations and World Bank. Thanks to increased access to reproductive and family planning health services, mortality rates have shrunk to 216 per 100,000 live births in 2015 from 385 in 1990.

East Asia made especially notable progress, reducing its mortality rate from 90 to 27. Nine countries: Bhutan, Cambodia, Cape Verde, East Timor, Iran, Laos, The Maldives, Mongolia and Rwanda have cut rates by up to 75-90 percent.

While optimistic, experts warn that progress has been inequitable among developing countries and has fallen well short of the Sustainable Development Goal to achieve a worldwide reduction of maternal deaths of 75 percent.

“Many countries will make little progress, or even fall behind, over the next 15 years if we don’t make a big push now,” said Executive Director for the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF), Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin.

Nearly all maternal deaths occur in developing countries, 70 percent in sub-Saharan Africa alone, and most cases occur in rural and remote communities where women face inadequate access to medical care.maternal_death_rates

Common causes of maternal death include infections, severe bleeding, high blood pressure during pregnancy and complications during delivery – risks that health officials urge are entirely preventable.

That’s why the World Health Organization (WHO), within the framework of the newly launched UN Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescent’s Health, has begun a vigorous campaign to address the disconnect between expectant mothers and well-trained healthcare providers in impoverished communities.

Under the mandate of the Global Strategy, the WHO will partner with local governments to ensure that every mother has access to prenatal and antenatal care, that health care providers are performing at globally set standards, and that healthcare systems are receiving the resources and funding they need to respond to the patient needs.

The organization has designed and implemented training materials and is offering public policy guidance and progress tracking programs.

To achieve the Sustainable Development Goal, however, the U.N. and WHO acknowledge that their strategy will need to couple delivery of care with educational initiatives.

They will engage women in marginalized communities, teaching them practices to maintain their health and the health of their babies – lessons that the organizations believe will challenge traditional and cultural modes of thinking about healthcare.

The World Bank has expressed confidence in these efforts and has reported receiving increasingly reliable birthing data from local governments. “Ending maternal deaths by 2030 is an achievable goal if we redouble our efforts,” said World Bank Senior Director of Health, Nutrition and Population, Dr. Tim Evans.

– Ron Minard

Sources: Reuters, UN, WHO, World Bank
Photo: Pixabay, Flickr

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Lottie Moon: A Southern Belle

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Why do citizens in the poorest states give the most to charity? When it comes to statewide charitable funds, this question seems to arise time and time again. As for the reason – research has suggested the answer lies in religion.

In 2013, Southern Baptists gave approximately $153,000 to the International Foreign Mission Board through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Each Christmas, Southern Baptists participate in this tradition through donations. Who is Lottie Moon, and how does she continue to fight global poverty?

Charlotte Digges “Lottie” Moon was born on Dec. 12, 1840, to a wealthy Virginia family. She cherished education and became the first woman to obtain a master’s degree from a southern college. Around age 18, she became a Christian and desperately desired to become involved with foreign mission work. At the time, this field was closed to single women.

Moon’s sister, Edmonia, began writing to the secretary of the Foreign Baptist Foreign Mission Board, Henry Tupper. Surprisingly, he agreed to let them help, and in 1873 at age 32, Moon and her sister arrived in Tengchow, China.

Moon wasn’t there simply to teach her religion, she was a reformist. She taught school and was a strong advocate for women. Moon fought ardently against the women’s practice of foot binding. In foot binding, a woman’s toes are forced to curl down into her heel, producing a crescent shape. Even though foot binding was a symbol of the elite, it was painful and harmful to the body.

Even though many other missionaries fled, Moon remained in China during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. Starvation surrounded her, so she took in children and animals, even refusing to eat if they could not.

She wrote home suggesting a week of prayer and offerings be set aside for missions during Christmas. People responded and the Women’s Missionary Union was born. The union is alive and productive in the South today; it collects more than $20 million annually for Southern Baptist mission work overseas.

Eventually, Moon herself fell ill. She did not want to leave China, but her colleagues sent her home on a ship. She died in 1912 on Christmas Eve, and there are conflicting stories about her exact cause of death.

Nevertheless, Lottie Moon has become a beloved friend of Southern Baptists and a martyr among missionaries. Sandra Spears, a Southern Baptist from Mississippi, said she learned about Lottie Moon as a child and has given to the cause for more than 50 years. It’s a tradition.

It should be noted that even though the donations received for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering are designed for mission work, they aren’t solely spent on building churches and supporting missionaries. Some of the work could be considered “humanitarian” as the missionaries provide meals, medical resources and a host of other critical needs that exist in developing countries.

A 7-year-old boy who was growing up Southern Baptist in the Deep South asked his mother, “When does Lottie Moon ever get paid off?” A humorous question from a child, but when it comes to lifting others out of poverty and giving to help others, the possibilities seem endless.

– Dana McLemore

Sources: BDC Online, History’s Women, The Pathway, Cornell University
Photo: Wikimedia

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Millennium Development Goals Successes

Millennium_Development_GoalsAs 2015 comes to a close and the world takes a look at the progress that has been made in global poverty relief, it is clear that significant progress has been achieved. The list of what has been accomplished is extensive, but here are some of the top Millennium Development Goals successes:

  1. Between 1990 and 2015 the number of people living in extreme poverty went from 1.9 billion to 836 million people. That’s 1,090 million people who no longer live in poverty.
  2. The number of primary school age children who were out of school dropped globally from 100 million to 57 million. That’s 43 million more children able to go to school.
  3. In 1990, for every 100 boys that attended school in Asia, there were only 74 girls attending. That number has now risen from 74 to 103 girls.
  4. The number of infant deaths under age 5 has declined from 12.7 million to in 1990, to 6 million today.
  5. In 1990, only 2.3 billion people had access to clean drinking water. That number has now climbed to 4.2 billion.
  6. 99 percent of all countries have more women in parliament than they did in 1990.
  7. The child mortality rate has been reduced from 90 deaths per 1,000 live births to 43 deaths per 1,000 live births, and it continues to fall.
  8. The number of people living on only $1.25 a day has gone from 47 percent in 1990 to 14 percent in 2015.

While the Millennium Development Goals have had many successes, some goals have not been reached. World leaders have come together once again to decide on the new long-term sustainability goals, building on the past successes.

According to the UN, The Sustainable Development Goals, “will break fresh ground with ambition on inequalities, economic growth, decent jobs, cities and human settlements, industrialization, energy, climate change, sustainable consumption and production, peace and justice.”

– Drusilla Gibbs

Sources: The Guardian, UN
Photo: Flickr

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Education for Girls in Developing Countries

supporting education for girls in developing countriesMichelle Obama recently spoke on the importance of education for girls in developing countries at the 2015 World Innovation Summit for Education in Qatar.

According to EFA Global Monitoring Report, there are 66 million girls out of school globally. There are 33 million fewer girls than boys in primary school.

Michelle Obama is traveling through the Middle East discussing the importance of education for girls in developing countries in order to promote “Let Girls Learn,” her girls’ education initiative. She encouraged men in developing countries to support the cause of educating girls in order to improve their societies.

 

Health Benefits of Supporting Education for Girls in Developing Countries

 

Education is one of the most significant ways that women can empower themselves, and educating women provides many benefits to developing countries.

Girls with eight years of education are four times less likely to be married as children. Women who are educated marry later and, therefore, have fewer children. Multiple studies show that an extra year of schooling for girls reduces fertility rate by five to 10 percent.

The children of an educated woman are more likely to survive. In addition, a child born to a literate mother is 50 percent more likely to survive past the age of five.

Educated women are better at understanding and managing health issues, which reduces infant and maternal mortality.

 

Economic Benefits of Supporting Education for Girls in Developing Countries

 

Educating women also benefits the economy. According to chief Japan strategist and co-head of Asia Economics, “educated women contribute to the quality, size and productivity of the workforce. They can get better paying jobs, allowing them to provide daily necessities, health care and education to support their families.”

A girl with an extra year of education can earn 20 percent more as an adult.

Bloomberg Business estimates a “growth premium” that would raise gross domestic product growth by 0.2 percent per year for countries such as Vietnam, Nigeria and Pakistan that put greater investments in female education. Narrowing the gender gap could raise income per capita 20 percent higher than what is projected by 2030.

According to The World Bank, if India enrolled one percent more girls in secondary school, its gross domestic product would rise by $5.5 billion.

Educating girls provides many significant benefits to developing countries and can help lift areas out of poverty. Education for girls will continue to improve conditions in developing countries across the globe.

– Jordan Connell

Sources: Bloomberg Business, CNN, Girl Rising, UNICEF
Photo: Flickr

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UN World Toilet Day is Here!

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The name might result in a few giggles, but the importance behind the U.N.’s World Toilet Day is no laughing matter.

The annual day of action was established in order to bring awareness to sanitation issues around the world. It is estimated that 2.4 billion people — or approximately one out of every three people in the world — still do not have access to adequate sanitation.

Furthermore, around 1 billion people are forced to practice open defecation, due to a widespread lack of toilets and proper sanitation in several developing countries.

Poor sanitation and open defecation pose obvious and significant health risks, spreading diseases such as diarrhea, cholera and dysentery. It is estimated that approximately 1,000 children under the age of five die every day due to diarrhea and chronic undernutrition attributed to poor sanitation and hygiene practices where they live.

The lack of public toilets is also linked to violence against women, as women are more at risk of sexual assault when they must venture out alone into secluded places after dark to relieve themselves.

Sanitation is often termed a “silent crisis” as it has evaded the extent of media coverage and awareness devoted toward other key development issues. World Toilet Day seeks to address this lack of attention and was established with the exact purpose of dispelling the taboos, disgust and discomfort associated with discussing and addressing global sanitation issues.

World Toilet Day was initially established by the World Toilet Organization, a group whose main mission is “raising a stink for sanitation” on the world stage. The Organization was founded in 2001 and held its first annual World Toilet Summit on Nov. 19 of that year.UN_World_Toilet_Day

Every year thereafter, the organization has been steadily working to disseminate information and create awareness for sanitation as a topic of conversation on the global development agenda. Jack Sim, a retired Singaporean businessman and founder of the World Toilet Organization, has been hailed for his efforts through the organization to help dispel the taboos associated with openly talking about toilets, sanitation and human waste.

In recognition of the need to emphasize global sanitation issues, the U.N. General Assembly passed the “Sanitation for All” resolution in 2013 designating Nov. 19 to be the official U.N. World Toilet Day. UN-Water has taken the lead in working with governments and stakeholders to expand World Toilet Day in scope and recognition.

The message behind World Toilet Day has found widespread support across the globe, especially within countries currently struggling with serious sanitation issues.

India is one such country, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently launched a campaign tackling sanitation issues. Accordingly, India has set an ambitious target to build enough toilets for more than 600 million people by 2019.

In the past, World Toilet Day has had a different focus every year. This year, the theme is “Sanitation and Nutrition,” particularly emphasizing the importance of toilets, clean water and proper hygiene in supporting nutrition and health.

The theme for 2014 was “Equality and Dignity” and in 2012 it was “I Give a Shit, Do You?” Every year, several communities around the world take part in World Toilet Day, hosting awareness and fundraising events in line with the theme, such as the “Urgent Run” marathon-style event.

World Toilet Day is certainly one of the more provocative commemorative days, and it has been an all-around success in using humor and light-heartedness to reframe how we discuss toilets and sanitation issues that still cause trouble for billions.

As the World Toilet Organization notes, “[Today] is the day to stand up (or sit down or squat if you prefer) to do something about it.”

– Jace White

Sources: The Guardian, Sustainable Sanitation Alliance, UN 1, UN 2, UN 3, UN 4, Voice of America, World Health Organization, World Toilet Organization 1, World Toilet Organization 2
Photo: Wikimedia, Flickr

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Cooking Up a Solution to Poverty and Malnutrition in Haiti

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A chef connects solutions to poverty and malnutrition in Haiti with cooking.

Chef José Andrés has discovered a new approach to solving poverty in Haiti, and it starts in the kitchen.

In Huffington Post’s recent feature on Andrés, Lifestyle Blog Editor Zoë Lintzeris details Andrés’ love affair with Haiti, describing his innovative ideas to improve the country’s cooking conditions and, subsequently, save it from poverty.

Andrés’ solution focuses on improving cooking apparatus to decrease safety hazards in the cooking process with his “clean cook stoves.”

Cooking safety hazards in the region include the use of “dirty” firewood and coal, two fuel sources that are unsustainable and not very profitable.

These dangerous methods have gone hand in hand with deforestation and pollution in the region. Erosion of soil, extreme and frequent flooding, degradation of water resources and habitat destruction are some forces linked to socioeconomic turmoil.

“Haiti has the highest rates of deforestation of any country in the world — a mere 2 percent of Haiti’s original forests remain,” says TriplePundit.

In turn, deforestation is responsible for a large portion of Haiti’s increasing poverty rate. Haiti’s real GDP growth has slowed down in the past two years, going from 4.2 percent in 2013 to a forecasted 1.7 percent in 2015, according to the World Bank.

GOOD Magazine suggests that “efficient stoves can help in the meantime, according to Jean Kim Chaix, the founder of the Charcoal Project, which aims to become a clearinghouse on charcoal alternatives and a consultant for green entrepreneurs.”

The Charcoal Project has undertaken a project to provide an energy efficiency program for schools, to teach them to produce fuel for cooking and lighting.

The project utilizes wood and stoves that reduce smoke and save fuel, which is just what Andrés is shooting for with his clean cookstoves.

The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, hosted by the UN foundation, is Andrés’ initiative to save lives and protect the environment by creating a global market for “clean and efficient household cooking solutions.”

The Alliance has set out a 10-year goal to foster the adoption of clean cookstoves and fuels in 100 million households by 2020.

Andrés also discussed Haitian cuisine in his PBS special, “Undiscovered Haiti with José Andrés.” In the video, he describes the deep ties between the food and the country’s history and culture.

Andrés’ relationship with Haiti has led him to uncover a revolutionary solution to a problem that has a long history. Perhaps economic prosperity really can start in the kitchen.

– Ashley Tressel

Sources: Huffington Post, Good.is, TriplePundit, World Bank, Charcoal Project, Clean Cook Stoves
Photo: SCINet

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Kids are the Future: Increasing Youth Employment Rates

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The youth unemployment rate in developing countries does not reflect the same trends as in developed economies. Increasing education and improving job quality are proven solutions to this trend.

Globally, youth employment rates have increased since 2012. However, the progress does not seem to be reflected in developing countries.

“The jobless rate…increased in most of Asia and the Pacific, the Middle East and North Africa,” as compared to the EU, Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa.

According to the International Labour Organization, global youth unemployment has plateaued from 2009 to present, hovering around 13 percent. Unsurprisingly, the countries with the highest rates include North Africa (at 30.5 percent, 2014 expected) and the Middle East (at 28.2 percent, 2014 expected) and those rates are actually on the decline.

The most recent report done by the ILO, Global Employment Trends for Youth 2015, argues that the youth markets in developing countries suffer from instability and structural issues.

The report highlights a lack of participation in education, poor quality of jobs and gender gaps as key issues that need reform.

Most importantly, the report places an emphasis on education and training opportunities for youth.

“Ideally, these [findings] will shape future investments in youth employment as countries continue to prioritize youth in their national policy agendas,” says the ILO.

The ILO calls for macroeconomic policies and fiscal incentives that support employment, as well as demand-side interventions, among numerous other concrete solutions.

Yellowwood, an independent brand consultancy in South Africa, has started a project to confront local youth employment challenges. Called Harambee, the project prepares first-time employees for work through an intensive bridging program that leads to permanent jobs.

“Harambee provides a model for a long-term solution to youth unemployment, by showing the importance of business and government working together to address the problem.”

Using Harambee as an example, both developing governments and businesses should work together to find solutions to the youth unemployment crisis.

– Ashley Tressel

Sources: VOA News, ILO 1, ILO 2, McKinsey On Society
Photo: Flickr

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5 Largest Slums in the World

Biggest Largest Slums in the World
As the world continues to urbanize and globalize at the most rapid pace in modern history, the global population of slum dwellers also continues to grow tremendously. UNHABITAT estimates that there are currently around one billion people living in slums, largely in developing countries. In fact, nearly one-third of all city-dwellers in developing countries live in poor-quality housing settlements known as slums. Urban slums are the world’s fastest-growing human habitat. Since accurate statistics on the demographics of slum areas are nearly impossible to come by, below is a list of the largest slums in the world ordered by estimated populations.

 

5 Largest Slums in the World

 

1. Khayeltisha, Cape Town, South Africa
Khayeltisha’s population is projected to be around 400,000, with a striking 40 percent of its residents under 19 years old. This township was developed during the collapse of apartheid system in South Africa.

2. Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya
The largest urban slum in Africa, Kibera is estimated to be housing anywhere from 200,000 to one million people. It has faced attention from news outlets, NGOs, the UN and celebrities from all across the world, but still remains overwhelmingly underdeveloped despite many rehabilitation efforts.

3. Dharavi, Mumbai, India
Also famous among journalists and development organizations, Dharavi is home to somewhere between 600,000 and one million people. Unlike most slum areas, which are concentrated on the outskirts of large cities, Dharavi is located squarely in the heart of Mumbai. This has contributed to its surprising multi-religious, multi-ethnic diversity. Fun fact: Dharavi provided the backdrop to the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire in 2008.

4. Orangi Town, Karachi, Pakistan
In recent years, Orangi has crept up in notoriety as the largest slum in Asia, compared to its long-time predecessor, Dharavi. With a population of over one million, Orangi was once the center of ethnic conflict between the Pathan and Bihari gangs. Since then, the area has become known for its self-financed sewage system and its booming cottage industry.

5. Neza-Chalco-Itza, Mexico City, Mexico
With around four million residents, Neza-Chalco-Itza barrio has been considered the largest slum area in the world. Unique to this area is its diversity in housing arrangements. While most residents live illegally on authorized land, some live in former mansions-turned low-income apartments that were abandoned by wealthy families.

– Tara Young

Sources: International Business Times, National Geographic, The Hindustan Times
Photo: Wikimedia