How Identification Closes The Gender Gap

Empowering women has long been acknowledged as a key ingredient in reducing poverty and improving economic development. The United Nations (U.N.) has set 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and gender equality underlies almost all of them. More specifically, the fifth SDG is set to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. As the World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes, these goals are interdependent, meaning gender equality is essential not only to the economic prosperity of the communities but for other important issues like health and sustainability as well.

Even today, gender inequality persists worldwide, depriving women of basic human rights and equal opportunities. In poverty-stricken communities around the world, an estimated 90 percent sustain long-standing social practices that devalue women.

Need for Identification

Breaking these modes will require great efforts. Both legal and cultural strides need to change in order to counter deeply ingrained discrimination throughout societies. Studies by the U.N. and UNHCR found that women in conflict and poverty affected regions do not have adequate identification documents. These documents are necessary for achieving the benefits of civic and public life.

Access to identification closes the gender gap in the developing world, but a lack of awareness around the documents prevents women from obtaining them in some cases. Many believe that identification cards are only necessary for exceptional circumstances when in reality they are needed to make the most of social programs and civil rights.

Having personal identification cards in the developing world acts as an important stepping stone. In having the ability to access decisive services and claim entitlements as citizens, women are able to increase their voice and agency through civic participation, access to finances and voting. In assisting women’s social engagement, identification closes the gender gap.

Example of Myanmar

All factors of the country development are intertwined. Women’s documentation is often essential to the peace process in some countries. Resolving the issue of land rights, for example, is crucial to the current conflict in Myanmar, and gender inclusion in the peace process is fundamental to reaching a genuine peace accord. The laws in this country allow women to register and co-register for the property even if they are not head of the household.

While progressive laws have been enacted, there lies a major gap between the law and the reality that women face. Cultural conventions exclude women from participating in land governing let alone a peace accord, making it essential that their names are registered to partake in community meetings. The decisions affect both women and men, making identification an important transition step in transforming cultural norms in poverty and conflict-stricken regions.

Problems with Women Identification

In 2012, four out of every 10 infants born worldwide were not registered with civil governments or authorities. Globally, 750 million children lack identification. A 2013 UNICEF survey found that there is no major disparity between the birth registration of boys and girls.

Evidence suggests that adult women, however, face gender-specific barriers to getting identification documents. Women must provide proof of marriage, additional family signatures and conduct many other steps in the process to obtain identification that men simply do not have to deal with. Unmarried women especially face discrimination as, without a male counterpart or marriage certificate, obtaining identification documents (IDs) is often impossible. IDs are also optional for women, although essential to accessing civic opportunities and required for men.

Increasing access to identification closes the gender gap by helping international organizations better plan and target gender inequality in poverty. The incompleteness of civil registration for women has generated holes in statistics and data for organizations like the World Bank to measure the progress of women in the developing world.

Changing Cultural Barriers

Equality is fundamental to building strong societies. Having active members at every level of a community makes the plight of poverty that much easier to conquer. Gender equality is no different. Ensuring that more than half of the population can do its part must remain at the foremost of poverty reduction endeavors.

While the legal framework with these notions in mind has changed for the better, an uphill battle in the mindset of the communities is much needed. Obtaining identification is the first step in employing available programs and in realizing the agency needed to transform the cultural barriers that devalue women.

– Joseph Ventura
Photo: Flickr

What Role Can the Private Sector Play in Poverty Alleviation?

The private sector constitutes a large portion of wealth and job creation in most countries, rendering it a powerful social tool that can be used to alleviate poverty and promote the wellbeing of the general public. Unfortunately, historically, this tool has been used to promote the interests of private actors.

The interests of private actors and the interests of the public have often come in contradiction, particularly as the world has globalized. However, the alignment of public and private interests is possible when you consider that those living in extreme poverty represent a largely untapped and mismanaged resource for a lot of private actors. When determining what role the private sector can play in poverty alleviation, it must be understood that poor corporate labor practices have contributed greatly to global poverty and proper practices have the ability to reverse it.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Those living in poverty, particularly extreme poverty, are often surrounded by economic deprivation, including unemployment, low wages and a lack of investment from private actors. Corporate social responsibility is one of the many avenues that can be taken to bring the structures and goals of the private sector in line with the needs of the public.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a business model of private accountability to the public, meaning that businesses and corporations incorporate practices that create positive social impacts domestically and throughout the world. CSR is a broad concept, allowing it to manifest itself in several different ways. There is certainly room for error in the implementation of CSR practices, but when carried out effectively, CSR can serve as a sharp tool for alleviating poverty while also increasing a corporation’s bottom line.

Patagonia: A Model for Effective Corporate Social Responsibility

The apparel industry is one of the most competitive in the private sector. With that competition, there has historically been a “race to the bottom.” Organizations have looked to manufacture in places with the most lenient regulations on worker rights, wages and environmental waste. These places, non-coincidentally, tend to be the most impoverished. However, this has not been the case within Patagonia.

Patagonia has been integrating CSR into its business model since its conception in 1973. The corporation operates in several nations around the world, with portions of its manufacturing happening in Sri Lanka, Mexico, Thailand and more. The company has prioritized its Fair Trade Certifications, paying a premium on top of the costs that they already incur. This money goes straight into the hands of factory workers who get to vote on its use. This not only ensures that Patagonia’s workers are well compensated but also that the most pressing needs of the community are met.

At the Hirdaramani Mihilia CKT Factory, workers decided to spend their premium on a daycare. For many women in the factory, employment would not be possible without it. The piece of mind workers get from knowing that their kids are not only safe but progressing in their development, allows for more diligent and quality work in the factory.

What Role Can the Private Sector Play in Poverty Alleviation?

Fair Trade USA CEO, Paul Rice, stated that the organization has to “prove that fair trade is good for business.” Patagonia is one of its partner companies that is doing just that for them. Patagonia has more Fair Trade Certified styles than any other apparel brand, and it is expanding every year. In 2017, 30 percent of its product was fair trade certified, indicating that there is plenty of room for further expansion, but also that expanding the scale of CSR practices can be sustainable for business as well—even when its competitors do not engage in the same practices.

Consumer awareness of the Fair Trade Certified seal has almost doubled to 63 percent since 2008. As the world has globalized and the reality of billions of people living on less than two dollars a day has become common knowledge, consumers have begun to pay greater attention to how their goods are made. Corporate responsibility is becoming the standard, and as consumers, governments and most importantly corporations themselves continue to promote and enforce that standard, the number of exploited and impoverished workers will fall.

Today, transparency and responsibility translate into dollars. More consumers are willing to pay for goods that they know were made ethically, employee turnover is lowest at corporations that integrate CSR and workers in developing countries perform better when their wages and standard of living are adequate. More than 1,250 corporations have recognized this to be true and that number is sure to increase in the coming years. So what role can the private sector play in poverty alleviation? The answer is, quite simply, a large one and one that can also benefit their business as well as the public.

– Julius Long
Photo: Flickr

Developing Asia and Technological Progress

Over the past 25 years, developing Asia has annually created 30 million jobs in industry and services. Job creation improves productivity, raises earnings for workers and largely reduces poverty.

The Impact of Technological Progress

Shifts in employment from sectors with low productivity and pay, typically subsistence agriculture, to sectors with higher productivity and pay in the modern industry are contributing to this process of raising wages. Productivity improvements come from technological progress within sectors, such as diverse high-yielding crops, innovative machine tools in manufacturing, information and communication technology in the service industries.

A common concern with technological progress affecting the economy is the predicted accompanying job displacement; However, recent studies invite a more optimistic prediction of productivity gains that will generate a positive feedback effect of creating more jobs than are being lost. Furthermore, industries that improve productivity with new technology will lower production costs in industries that depend on them, creating a ripple of higher demand and employment in other industries.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) supports the power of rising demand with data from 90 percent of the region’s total employment spanning 12 developing Asian economies between 2005-2015. The analysis predicts an 88 percent increase in employment, which is equal to an annual addition of 134 million jobs with rising incomes.

The ADB has also reported that jobs that necessitate cognitive and social skills and use information and communications technology have increased 2.6 percent faster than the total employment rate annually over the last decade. The wages associated with these jobs also increase faster than those of manual jobs.

Reasons For an Optimistic Outlook for Technological Progress in Developing Asia

The ADB emphasizes that most new technologies are implemented in only some aspects of a job, usually routine tasks, so that they create more time for complex tasks for workers. For instance, ATMs allow bank tellers to prioritize customer relationship management. The more obvious benefit entails the job creation to manage these new technologies.

In the last decade, 43 percent to 57 percent of jobs in India, Malaysia and the Philippines were in informational and communication technologies. The category of India’s craft and related workers is expanding to include specialized technicians who manage machines. Moreover, job sectors that would incorporate technological progress have a large capacity for growth.

Healthcare and education jobs make up 15 percent of jobs in The U.S. In lower and middle-income economies in developing Asia, healthcare and education jobs make up 3.5 to 6 percent of jobs, and business services jobs make up 1.5 to 6 percent of jobs, indicating a high potential for expansion.

Technology in the farming industry can have a positive impact on agriculture. In developed countries, waiters tend to receive the poorest wages; whereas in developing Asia, the agricultural workers receive the poorest wages. Technological progress can help farmers the most directly.

Mobile applications such as phone apps or text messages can assist farmers with tracking agricultural inputs. The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have been supporting farmers in Afghanistan, Bhutan, Fiji, Laos, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Sri Lanka to implement emerging technologies.

The Necessity of Job Creation

Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (KP) has suffered from instability and militancy for several decades with increasing out-migration and shrinking private industries. Since 2014, the government, in partnership with The World Bank, has recognized the demand for job creation, especially for the half its population of 30.5 million that are under the age of 30.

Turning to the opportunities of the digital revolution in 2018, the government created a program, Digital KP, that directly addressed this youth unemployment issue by preparing the younger generation for occupations in the technology sector. By supporting the youth with advancing technology, the region is on its way to stability and success.

Many educational programs are being implemented to provide foundations for learning necessary skills. Another strategy involves increasing local IT and digital businesses and attracting investment for them through tax relief programs, promoting co-working spaces and sponsoring annual tech events such as The Digital Youth Summit.

Addressing the Potential Issues

As developing Asia is expected to grow by 6 percent in 2018 and by another 5.9 percent in 2019, governments are aware of the potential challenges presented by increasing new technologies. Some businesses might not overcome the displacement of jobs.  

“ADB’s latest research shows that, on the whole, countries in Asia will fare well as new technology is introduced into the workplace, improving productivity, lowering production costs, and rising demand,” said Yasuyuki Sawada, ADB’s Chief Economist.

“To ensure that everyone can benefit from new technologies, policymakers will need to pursue education reforms that promote lifelong learning, maintain labor market flexibility, strengthen social protection systems, and reduce income inequality.”

Benefits of the ADB

The ADB offers different strategies, such as tax policies that will fight against income inequality. The same technological progress that may cause issues to workers could also foster skills, job-match and provide social protection. For the unemployed, the government can create programs that support them as they navigate the new labor market.

Developing Asia also benefits from the technological progress as it allows older workers to continue participating in the labor force past current retirement age. Artificial intelligence can either substitute or complement physically demanding tasks.

To maximize the benefits of technological progress while compensating for any losses, governments must adapt to the situation with policy changes. Technological progress can then become an optimistic gateway to reducing poverty in developing Asia.   

– Alice Lieu
Photo: Flickr

Using the Internet for Development Worldwide

If you are reading this, you are lucky enough to have something that 4.1 billion people go without every day- internet access. And while the internet may be used for a variety of frivolous and silly things like cat videos, memes and gifs, it has also become an indispensable part of daily life in the developed world. The internet also has the potential to drastically improve life for the world’s extreme poor. One study estimated that guaranteeing internet access for everyone would lift 500 million people out of poverty and add over $6 trillion to the global economy. Some people are already taking action. Here are six countries that are using the internet as the most important mean for development.

1. Colombia.  Thirty-nine percent of Colombia’s citizens live under the poverty line, with the poorest living on under $2 a day. In response, the government has taken steps in using the internet for development by ensuring internet access for 96 percent of this tropical nation’s population. In three years, this infrastructure development raised at least 2.5 million people out of poverty. As the Minister for Technology, Diego Molano, said in an interview with The Guardian: “When we connect, for example, a rural school to Internet, when we connect a small school in the middle of the jungle to Internet, those kids in the middle of nowhere have effectively the same opportunity to access the whole of information society — just like any kid in New York, London or Paris.”
2. China. While crowdfunding is common in the United States, it is usually not used on a such a wide scale as in China. The Chinese government has recently released an online program called Social Participation in Poverty Alleviation and Development, designed to lift at least 47 million people out of extreme poverty. Essentially, it uses social media platforms such as WeChat to allow normal citizens to help struggling families. At least $3.45 million has been raised for various projects that cover education, agriculture and more important social and economic issues, using the internet as the basis for development.
3. Kenya. Private industry can make a difference as well. In Kenya, online banking systems such as M-PESA have helped to lift citizens out of poverty. Tavneet Suri, an economist at MIT decided to study the impacts of this phenomenon. She found that for 10 percent of families living on less than $1.25 a day using a mobile banking system was enough to lift them out of extreme poverty. The effect was even more marked amongst women. The mobile system allowed female-led families to save 22 percent more money than before.
4. Bhutan. The small country of Bhutan located high in the Himalayan mountains has been isolated from the outside world for most of its history. The onset of the digital age changed that. The government has actively encouraged its citizens’ adoption of the internet by moving bureaucratic processes. With the support of the World Bank, information communications technology will continue to expand. In 15 years alone, the number of internet users in Bhutan grew by over 300 thousand.
5. Rwanda. Though Rwanda may still be known in the international community for its horrific ethnic genocide, in recent years, the country has taken multiple steps towards development. The government has launched an effort called Vision2020 to cultivate an entrepreneurial, tech-savvy middle class. Internet connections are widespread throughout the country and are used for innovative purposes. One philanthropist started the Incike Initiative, an annual crowdfund that provides health care for the survivors of the genocide. Another entrepreneur started a platform called Girl Hub that allows women to give their opinions to local news sources. Rwanda fully utilizes the internet for development.
6. Peru. With support from the international community, the Peruvian government is making efforts to connect more than 300 thousand people in rural areas to the national electric grid and, through this, to the internet as well. This connection has wider implications, especially for education. Students in these isolated areas can now be exposed to ideas in the wider world. This encourages engagement. A teacher in one of these villages, Teresa Uribe says that the kids now want to learn more, thanks to the technology.

These stories show the power of the internet to enact positive change in the developing world. If you too are interested in using the internet for development, take this opportunity to email your representatives about anti-poverty legislation. The internet’s potential should not go wasted.

– Lydia Cardwell
Photo: Flickr

Benefits of Smart Cities in Africa

Interestingly, the common perception of Africa doesn’t tend to include sprawling urban metropolises; rather, a person typically visualizes a past version that is an incomplete picture of Africa today. While the majority of Africans still live in rural areas, the continent is one of the most quickly urbanizing regions in the world. 

Urbanization

By 2050, 2.5 billion more people will live in cities and almost 90 percent of those people will be from either Africa or Asia. Three African cities have already grown beyond a population of 10 million and are formally considered megacities.

More cities will gain that title in the coming decades. This rapid urbanization provides opportunities for many African nations and their citizens, but it also poses serious long-term problems if not handled properly. With these concerns in mind, several countries have begun developing what has become known as smart cities in Africa.

The Problem with Cities

Many African cities have not been as able to cope as well with the massive increase in urbanization as other cities around the world. Perhaps the most obvious problem is housing. More than 60 percent of the continent’s urban population live in informal settlements where poverty and poor living conditions are rampant.

While the very poor are most affected, African cities’ weak infrastructure affects all of their residents. Some common difficulties that these cities face are:

• Lack of water and electricity due to limited resources, high costs and poor utility management.
• Poor access to sanitation facilities affects urban and rural Africans alike. Only a third of the population of sub-Saharan Africa has access to proper sanitation.
• Heavy traffic congestion that leads to massive daily losses of productivity.
• Difficulty fighting crime and disease, especially in underdeveloped urban areas with high poverty levels.

Developing smart cities in Africa has the potential to help address these problems.

Smart Cities in Africa

Broadly speaking, smart cities aim to use new data-collecting technology and modernized infrastructure to provide safer and more efficient services for their citizens. This can take a variety of forms, many of which have already begun to be used around the continent.

Cape Town is a good example of such a solution. The South African city has partnered with network providers to acquire data from sensors placed around the city. This data helps the city run more effectively in several ways ranging from traffic monitoring to waste management, crime detection and fire response.

Some countries are taking another route toward smart cities by proposing satellite cities — new urban areas built in areas near pre-existing cities. Kenya, Rwanda, Nigeria and other countries all have such projects in the works. Many of these satellite cities would provide thoroughly modern infrastructure and luxury amenities to attract tech-savvy entrepreneurs.

Smart, Safe and Sustainable

While satellite cities have faced some criticism for being created well out of reach of the millions of poor Africans already living in cities, they are only one facet of a movement toward better urban areas across the continent.

Smart cities in Africa are still in their infancy, but they have an advantage. While many cities in the developed world have to maintain outdated infrastructure, African cities can build updated services and facilities from the ground up.

As African economies continue to grow, these modernized cities will be able to make more sustainable use of resources, respond better to crises and adapt to a world racing forward in the field of technology.

While smart cities will not fix Africa’s urbanization problems overnight, they are certainly a step toward both providing better living conditions and being able to compete with other cities around the world in the global economy.

– Joshua Henreckson