Archive for category: Development

Information and stories on development news.

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The Educational Challenges of the Dominican Stateless

Educational Challenges of the Dominican Stateless
The Dominican Republic denies thousands of children access to education due to nationality laws rendering them stateless. The educational challenges of the Dominican stateless, many of them of Haitian descent, are both varied and continuous.

Since the 1990s, many Dominicans of Haitian descent have encountered difficulties proving their citizenship. A court ruling in 2013 exacerbated these struggles by retroactively declaring immigrants and their descendants to be noncitizens from 1929 forward. This left generations of Dominican people unable to receive healthcare, education or employment, most of which require proof of citizenship.

A report from the Georgetown Law Human Rights Institute gathered information about the educational challenges of the Dominican stateless through interviews and analysis of the Dominican Republic’s education policies. According to the report, schools refuse to enroll students or administer state examinations without birth certificates or proof of nationality. Bureaucratic hurdles and arbitrary enforcement of the nationality law stall the efforts to remedy this.

A consequence of the Dominican stateless’ inability to attain an education is a lack of high-quality jobs. The Guardian discusses how many migrant descendants work in menial jobs like domestic work by force. Employers also often subject them to abuse or long hours due to the lack of legal protections.

The educational challenges of the Dominican stateless especially affect young people. Yolanda Alcino, a young Dominican descended from Haitian migrants, told The Guardian how she and other Dominican stateless are “discriminated against, and without education, without work, life is more difficult in almost every way.”

In response to this issue, Dominican stateless have protested for their rights. Young people have met with government officials and developed petitions that implore the government to uphold equal rights.

International governments and organizations have also condemned the Dominican Republic for its actions and inaction. As reported in Refugees Deeply, although the country has adopted the New York Declaration, it has not honored the Declaration’s requirement of providing education to all youth.

The domestic and international response to the educational challenges of the Dominican stateless has helped influence the Dominican Republic to modify nationality laws. According to Refugees Deeply, the country will acknowledge the children of undocumented immigrants as citizens if they have a verified birth certificate or go through the process of naturalization.

Despite this, the processes have the same problems: they require too much time and are arbitrarily applied. With the legal, vocational, economic and educational challenges of the Dominican stateless, the Dominican Republic has a lot to remedy.

– Cortney Rowe

Photo: Pixabay

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3 Reasons Why Contraception Reduces Poverty

Contraception Reduces Poverty
Overpopulation is a growing concern for both developed and developing countries alike. The rate at which the global population is increasing is alarming. While it took thousands of years to reach the world’s first billion people in 1804, it only took 123 years to add another billion and only 12 for the most recent billion. It is imperative to curb population growth now to prevent the spread of global poverty due to overpopulation. This solution should be as efficient as it is effective. Contraception reduces poverty, and it also ensures a more resourceful future that better meets the needs of the world’s population.

Here are three facts about the relationship between contraception and poverty reduction:

  1. If women who currently lack the means to sexual health information, as well as proper contraception, were allowed access to these reproductive tools, an estimated 35 million abortions and 76,000 maternal deaths would be prevented each year. Given that abortions far exceed the price of standard birth control, these women could instead spend this money to provide for their families and improve their quality of life. Saving women from premature death from unwanted pregnancy due to a lack of reproductive education and resources is not only beneficial in regard to humanitarian measures, but it also strengthens the economic security of the household.
  2. More people being integrated into the workforce, followed by a decrease in the number of dependents, provides a boost to economies worldwide. Populations dense with working-age individuals often live in more developed countries given the surplus of people contributing to the respective economy. Contraception reduces poverty in this sector because adults who either choose not to have children or delay the rate at which they have children have more time and resources to earn better-living potentials when compared to those who must use their income to provide for their families.
  3. While education and international aid offer clear benefits in the fight against poverty, the growth of an excessive population counters these measures. Given the current population’s exponential growth, the economies and civil services of developing countries already lack the capacity or resources to provide for the influx of people to come. The ways in which global poverty is combatted today may no longer be effective in the future if contraception is not accessible.

Family planning means more than just preventing unwanted pregnancies. According to the former executive director of the UN Population Fund, the late Babtunde Osotimehin, “It is a most significant investment to promote human capital development, combat poverty and harness a demographic dividend, thus contributing to equitable and sustainable economic development.” Funding family programming can ensure that contraception reduces poverty, and it will remain effective for generations to come. Additionally, it will help the planet utilize its limited resources more effectively.

– Kaitlin Hocker

Photo: Flickr

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Technology Developed in Asia

Technology Developed in Asia
Asia is the largest and most populous continent in the world. The continent has vastly different economies from Japan, Korea and China to Indonesia and India, and habitually brightens the world with its latest innovations, which are about to cultivate promising changes in global poverty fight. It’s widely thought that the most interesting digital market in Asia is actually not the likes of Korea and Japan, but is more China, Indonesia, and India. These are the markets that are really pushing the boundary and innovating the most.

Here are a few examples of new technology developed in Asia that will assist the world of poor:

  1. Life Saving Dot
    According to the World Health Organization, iron deficiency anemia is one of the most widespread nutritional disorders in the world. Millions of women across rural India suffer from breast cancer, fibrocystic breast disease and complications during pregnancy and most of these cases are linked to iodine deficiency.In order to fight one of the most common causes of breast cancer, Talwar Bandi in association with Grey Singapore developed Life Saving Dot. A little iodine patch, meant to replace a bindi — a traditional red dot worn on the center of the forehead, commonly by Hindu and Jain women as a celebration of femininity and beauty — and consists of 150-220 micrograms of iodine. This amount is a daily norm for women that dramatically increases chances to prevent breast cancer.

     

  2. Eco Cooler
    Eco Cooler is another revolutionary technology developed in Asia, namely in Bangladesh. It is a cheap and environmentally-friendly zero electricity air cooler developed by Grey Dhaka. The technology uses re-purposed plastic bottles cut in half and put into a grid, in accordance with available window sizes. Depending on wind direction and airflow pressure, the Eco Cooler is decreasing the temperature inside the house. The invention is critical for the country, where the temperature often rises up to 113 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer period. 
  3. Vodafone
    About 47% of the labor force in India is involved in agriculture. In April 2016, the Indian government revealed that about 330 million people across the country were affected by drought.Vodafone is rolling out rainwater-harvesting billboards, invented in India and meant to help drought-affected farmers by harvesting rainwater. The billboards store up to 2,000 liters of water in U-curved aluminum sheets that can be distributed to farmers. Water sensor technology alerts collection teams who transport the rainwater to rural farms when tanks are full.
  4. 30-minute Ebola Tests
    Researchers from Nagasaki University in Japan are collaborating with colleagues from Eiken Chemical to develop a 30-minute Ebola virus detection kit. The technology developed in Asia uses short DNA sequences called primers to amplify DNA unique to Ebola. Samples become cloudy if the patient has the Ebola virus. The team is currently working out ways to make its technology available in countries stricken by Ebola. 
  5. RainSprout
    Grey Group Malaysia has developed innovative protection against Dengue fever, a mosquito-borne tropical disease. The RainSprout locates on a top of an umbrella and uses rainfall to distribute larvicide into the very puddles where mosquitoes can breed. The technology developed in Asia was distributed for free in central Malaysia.The RainSprout works via a replicable patch at the base which is impregnated with a non-toxic larvicide. When rain hits the patch, it mixes with the larvicide and runs off the umbrella into the puddles. Harmless to all other living organisms, the larvicide starves the mosquito larvae before they develop.
  6. Flo
    Mariko Higaki Iwai has designed an affordable solution to improve the lives of adolescent girls living in poverty. She designed a kit that allows girls to wash, dry and carry reusable sanitary pads.Flo will allow girls from Asia and Africa to go to school during their periods, where females often drop out of school due to the absence of sanitary pads and tampons. The innovation promises to improve the situation by helping girls to avoid embarrassment, attend school during the period and prevent reproductive infections and illnesses in the countries where young women were.

Asia varies greatly across and within its regions with regard to ethnic groups, cultures, environments, economics, historical ties and governments. There is much significant progress coming out of this continent to help the world’s poor with new technology developed in Asia.

– Yana Emets

Photo: Flickr

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Making Poverty Illegal

Making Poverty Illegal
Imagine a world where poverty is illegal. These are not lost lyrics to a John Lennon song but a radically simple and pragmatic approach to eliminating global poverty through legal action. As the 70th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights nears in 2018, this new legal paradigm of making poverty illegal is being proposed to the United Nations to revolutionize how the world responds to extreme poverty.

Italian economist Riccardo Petrella’s idea that the law should ban poverty has found an unlikely alliance far from Rome. An Italian Vicar stationed in southern Chile has been a vocal advocate of the idea, and he has led the campaign mobilizing Argentine academics, Patagonian mayors, notable press associations and left-wing student organizations amongst others in the region to sign onto the pledge “We Declare Poverty Illegal.” Two Chilean municipalities have already declared poverty illegal in hopes of giving momentum to this concept throughout the country.

Participants in the region’s “From Utopia to Action Conference” on poverty discussed the pledge and demand that poverty is viewed as a systemic product, not an accidental one. They also noted that their Native Mapuche ancestors didn’t have a word in Mapundun language for poverty. However, the movement to make poverty illegal has been gathering momentum in other countries such as Canada, Belgium, Malaysia and the Philippines.

By giving a moral problem a legal solution, society can compel governments to action. Of course, passing laws alone will not end poverty or any other unwanted social ill, but it can give definitive guidelines of how and when the international community must address the most extreme forms of poverty. As Thomas Hobbes wrote in his revolutionary book Leviathan, which influenced the writers of the U.S. Constitution, “the law is the public conscience.”

What would making poverty illegal look like? It might mean guaranteeing access to clean drinking water. Other ideas that are being discussed to add to the “make poverty illegal” charter include making famine illegal. While the UN has acknowledged that clean water and food are basic human rights, they have not made mechanisms to require them to take action when confronted by these disasters. International organizations like the United Nations are continually monitoring countries at risk for famines. However, there is no current legal mechanism that mandates a response to any of the four countries currently at extreme risk of famine. In the past, delayed reactions to food insecurity and famine in places like Somalia led to thousands of preventable deaths.

By incorporating famine into the legal system, it would replace the traditional response to so many preventable deaths. Conventionally, places at risk of mass hunger need even more massive campaigns to build the alliances and awareness necessary to spur international action (think George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh or LiveAid).

Instead, the legal approach more efficiently uses measurable indicators of poverty that are already established by the UN, like the Human Development Report. The HDR focuses on numerous outcomes and deprivations to create a multidimensional view of poverty such as the infant mortality rate, malnutrition and illiteracy rates to determine where the global community should be compelled to intervene, even if there is no armed conflict.

The Civil War changed American slavery from a moral deficiency into an illegal institution. After the Holocaust, a convention established laws to prevent future genocides. While neither of these developments eliminated slavery or genocide entirely, a culture of the rule of law around these behaviors has evolved, making them entirely unacceptable and punishable by law. By making poverty illegal, we can relegate it to the same dustbin of history’s worst ideas as we did with its predecessors.

– Jared Gilbert

Photo: Pixabay

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Turkey’s Tourism Industry Slowly Gains Back Visitors

Turkey's Tourism Industry
Turkey’s tourism industry is vital to the country’s economy. After declines in the past two years, Turkey now reports an increased number of foreign visitors again.

Domestic and international political tensions dramatically intensified the downward trend. Numerous terrorist attacks in late 2015 and throughout 2016, which were partly attributed to Kurdish militants and partly to ISIS, claimed hundreds of lives, including many foreigners.

In July 2016, a bloody military coup against the government of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was quelled but led to the declaration of a state of emergency by the government that persists until this day. The situation has been used to justify an extensive crackdown on civil servants and civil society, including the closure of media outlets and non-governmental organizations and the detention of journalists, members of the parliament and human rights activists. The violence and political instability left tourists worried about their safety in Turkey.

The neglect of human rights and democratic values has also chipped away from the image of the country’s leader in Europe – an unfavorable image only further deteriorated by the “war of words” he has been waging with EU leaders. Recently, Erdogan has repeatedly made negative headlines throughout Europe, not only with his domestic policies but also with his hostility toward several members of the European Union, whom he accused of Nazism and fascism, for instance.

Visitor numbers from Russia also saw a steep decline in 2016. A diplomatic crisis had emerged between the countries, after Turkey shot down a Russian military jet close to the Syrian border in November 2015. The Russian government reacted by banning charter flights to Turkey and barring tour companies from selling deals to Turkey. Prior to the crisis, Russians had made up the second-largest group of visitors to the country, generating $34 billion in revenue in 2014 by themselves.

According to the Istanbul Culture and Tourism Directorate, the numerous crises amounted to a total drop of 25.9% of visitors in 2016 compared to the previous year, amounting to losses of billions of dollars in the industry, which is vital to the country’s economy: a report from the World Travel & Tourism Council stated that the travel and tourism sectors had generated 12% of Turkey’s 2014 GDP, based on its direct, indirect and induced GDP impact.

However, last year, many beds, beaches and restaurants stayed empty during the summer months, which in turn forced many businesses to drastically lower their prices. This tourism crisis threatens the livelihood of the eight percent of the workforce employed in Turkey’s tourism industry, as well as other businesses dependent on foreign consumers.

After the Russian government’s crackdown on travel to Turkey has ended, Russian tourists now flock back into the country. In April 2017, visitor numbers finally increased again compared to April 2016, but they still remained lower than pre-crisis levels.

Additionally, Turkish hoteliers hope to make up for some of their losses with domestic tourism, but visitors from within Turkey tend to spend less than tourists from Europe or the U.S. The German Tagesschau quotes a hotel operator in saying: “It is not only about increasing the number of visitors and filling up hotels. If the room rates remain low, our problems remain, too.” Despite recently increasing revenues, a challenging time still lies ahead for Turkey’s tourism industry.

– Lena Riebl

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New UN Report on Environmentally Sustainable Development

Environmentally-Sustainable Development
On July 14, 2017, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) published a new report addressing global initiatives towards environmentally sustainable development. The Green Finance Progress Report assesses the progress made by the G20 and other countries in creating policies and financial reforms that are sustainable. Despite many countries falling short in the amounts of capital they invest in sustainable development, the UNEP highlighted many promising institutional changes that have taken place in recent years.

In 2015, the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development found that developing countries lacked investments by approximately $2.5 trillion in implementing environmentally sustainable development initiatives. While this financial goal is still largely unmet, the report noted that the majority of G20 countries have undertaken significant projects and proposals that suggest positive steps towards green finance. Thus, financial shortcomings aside, environmentally sustainable development is becoming a profitable and high-priority investment for many countries.

According to the report, both public and private sectors have shown great improvements in laying the groundwork for green finance plans. With global initiatives in place such as the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, climate change has become of major importance in terms of global cooperation. This has greatly accelerated recently, with more developments in green finance taking place in the last year than any one-year period in history. Most notably, the number of green bonds, or money issued towards environmental projects, increased by 100 percent in 2016.

The plans underway are primarily large-scale, ambitious overhauls that will require careful and swift mobilization in upcoming years. According to the UNEP report, the majority of changes in the financial market have included developments to “reallocate capital, improve risk management, enhance transparency and clarify responsibilities of financial institutions.” The challenge is now to set these plans in motion and continue incentivizing projects towards environmentally sustainable development.

Achieving these goals requires global leaders to continue diverting funds toward sustainable development. This presents a huge opportunity for private market innovation, as the report emphasizes the need for businesses that, “support our sustainable development objectives and create commercially viable green businesses for decades to come.”

According to the UNEP, there are many ways businesses can meet investors’ increasing preference for sustainable projects. Primarily, the report suggests that providing investors with clear, accessible data on environmental impact is extremely important. Negative environmental impact is no longer a risk that can be overlooked, and a shift towards green finance is imperative in addressing climate change.

– Julia Morrison

Photo: Flickr

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Factors Contributing to Morocco’s Poor Human Rights Record

Morocco's Poor Human Rights Record
Morocco is a north African country situated on the Atlantic coastline of the African continent. The country is governed by a constitutional monarchy headed by King Mohammed VI. Although the government features an elected legislature and other democratic institutions, Morocco’s poor human rights record indicates that the country is still far from egalitarian.

Morocco’s government possesses many authoritarian aspects that favor the monarch, often at the expense of the population. According to the Moroccan constitution, the King can dissolve parliament, dismiss government officials, demand elections and unilaterally create laws at his whim.

Even though the King’s broad executive power gets shared with the prime minister, the King has the authority to choose the prime minister in the first place. Unsurprisingly, the King’s executive dominance and de facto legislative ability leave civil rights and civil liberties in Morocco vulnerable at all times.

Not only is the Moroccan government structurally ill-equipped to defend human rights, but the government also suffers from procedural failure.

The right to due process gets often violated in Morocco, with numerous reports of mistreatment, failure to abide by the rule of law, and even torture on the part of Moroccan authorities. Prisoners and people in pretrial detention are subject to abuse and inhumane conditions. Also, the Moroccan judiciary often denies the accused of their right to a fair trial.

Aside from Morocco’s inhumane justice system, the people of Morocco face oppressive legislation and blatantly authoritarian policies. The rights to free speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of the press are strictly limited in Morocco. Under Moroccan law, the people are forbidden from criticizing or demonstrating against the monarchy, Islam, the state’s official religion, all due to fear of imprisonment.

Additionally, women in Morocco do not possess equal rights. According to the 2004 Family Code, women do possess neither the same rights of family inheritance nor divorce as men. Although the legal age of marriage has been raised to 18, Moroccan authorities continue to permit marriage to underage girls.

Morocco’s government also victimizes the LGBT community. In Morocco, same-sex intimate relations are considered illegal, and many queer couples face jail time as a result.

Despite Morocco’s poor human rights record under King Mohammed VI’s government, the state of human rights in the country is better than in previous reigns. During the infamous “Years of Lead” period in the late 20th century, politically motivated killings and unaccounted disappearances were rampant.

There were no documented instances of such violence in 2016, according to the State Department’s annual report. Also, the government has ended the practice of trying civilians in military courts. Similarly progressive, Morocco has become more accepting of refugees and migrants and plans on revamping their current asylum policy.

Overall, Morocco’s poor human rights record harms the legitimacy of Morocco’s government and the quality of life of its people. On a more positive note, the country is slowly making progress in correcting these shortcomings and transforming Morocco into a more just and free nation.

– Isidro Rafael Santa Maria

Photo: Pixabay

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Water Quality in Oman Improving in Recent Years

Water Oman
Oman is an Arab country located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf with a population of 4.5 million. Due to its booming oil industry, Oman is growing rapidly and both standards of living and water quality are improving. According to World Bank data from the last 20 years, the percentage of people with access to an improved water source has increased from 81% to 93.5%. While water quality in Oman has improved, questions remain surrounding future water supply, especially in rural areas.

The Public Authority for Electricity and Water (PAEW) has been responsible for much of Oman’s improving water quality and access to potable water in the last decade. Founded in 2007, the PAEW has put emphasis on renewable energy solutions and has made a concentrated effort to expand water piping throughout the country, especially in rural areas. One of the PAEW’s main goals for this decade is increasing its water assets and service coverage, aiming to supply piped water to more than 90% of the Omani population.

In response to recent growth, particularly in urban areas such as Muscat, the PAEW and the Omani government launched a $3.4 billion program in 2016 to massively expand its potable water network. With projects such as these, PAEW looks to increase the supply of potable water to 98% of the population by 2040.

With an economic growth rate averaging four percent per year between 2000 and 2016, Oman is one of the fastest-growing countries in the Middle East. This growth, combined with a 9.5% annual increase in consumption, has had a profound effect on Oman’s demand for water in both urban and rural areas. This growth has increased agricultural demand and thus a demand for renewable water resources and infrastructure such as stormwater facilities.

Problems with supply and water quality in Oman in recent years have centered around drought and other environmental issues. Oman faces a serious environmental hazard in coastal pollution caused by oil tanker traffic in the Gulf of Oman. While the Omani government has made strides in promoting renewable water sources and energy, they still lag behind in regulating other environmental issues such as pollution.

One of the biggest threats to water quality in Oman in the future will be extreme weather conditions such as drought and limited rainfall. Though the PAEW is primed to deliver clean potable water to the country’s rapidly growing population, the Omani government must be ready to face other challenges to ensure the health of its citizens.

– Nicholas Dugan

Photo: Flickr

 

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Huawei Partners With South Africa to Boost Development

HuaweiThis month, Huawei pledged to support the South Africa National Development Plan (NDP) to eliminate global poverty by 2030. Huawei proved their commitment by announcing their partnership with African governments, operators, and private companies towards advancing development. The announcement arrived at the GSMA Mobile 360 Africa Conference in July 2017.

As the leading global Information Communications Technology (ICT) provider, Huawei plans to alleviate global poverty through advancing mobile broadband (MBB). The company intends to collaborate with African operators and lend them their support. Huawei’s goal is to optimize cost of operation, shorten Return of Sales (ROS), and increase site efficiency.

With help from their partners, Huawei aims to “enhance MBB penetration and narrow the digital divide between rural and urban areas.” Doing so will bolster national competitiveness, capacity for innovation and productivity through improving Africa’s national and global connection. The company proposed “Three-Star Site Solutions,” which are various programs that are unique to different scenarios.

Huawei named PoleStar, TubeStar, and RuralStar in particular. Each will overcome a specific obstacle. PoleStar is for urban areas that cannot afford to deploy broadband base stations. For example, technicians can install the program on lampposts and other locations simply and efficiently. RuralStar is useful in rural areas because it decreases power consumption by 85 percent and cost by 70 percent. These solutions will make sites simpler, faster and more cost efficient to access.

Over the next 5 years, the GSMA predicts there will be “720 million smartphones in use and up to 60 percent MBB connections in African markets,” giving Africa a significant economic boost. In addition, expanding MBB will also improve education, healthcare and social development.

Aside from supporting network development in Africa, Huawei also has “identified three business and industry alliances.” The first is content aggregation, which is the collection of information under a specific topic, such as video cloud. Second, they will establish a site ecosystem alliance. Finally, a fiber to the home alliance will provide internet connection to individual buildings.

Mobile broadband is an increasingly important economic and social asset, making its advancement in Africa and other developing regions a priority. With support and collaboration from organizations like Huawei, there is hope that poverty in Africa will disappear by 2030.

– Haley Hurtt

Photo: Flickr

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The War to Lower the Poverty Rate in China

Poverty Rate in China
Over the past several decades, China has made a remarkable effort to decrease its poverty rate. Consequently, the nation has seen an exponential decline. This marks a dramatic and obvious shift in the country’s efforts to eradicate poverty.

According to data from The World Bank, approximately 756 million people were living in poverty in China in the year 1990. At the time, the total population of the country was 1.14 billion. In 2013, this number has decreased to around 25 million, while the total population has increased to 1.36 billion. This marks a decrease in the poverty headcount ratio from 67 to about 2%.

The number of people living under the poverty line has thus decreased at a nearly improbable rate. Additionally, the pace at which the number is dropping is picking up.

According to Reuters, approximately 12 million people in China in 2016 moved above the poverty line through the investment of 230 billion yuan into anti-poverty efforts. This equates to $33.5 billion.

The Chinese government is using these funds in an attempt to completely eradicate poverty by 2020.

When examining the tremendous progress made by the Chinese in the fight against poverty, it is important to note that the primary method has been a higher issuance of loans.

By allowing people to take out loans that typically work as microloans, the Chinese government is giving impoverished Chinese citizens the opportunity to pursue continued education opportunities and create small businesses. These are two essential factors for a growing country.

Despite continued efforts to fight poverty, this remains a major issue. According to The China Daily Newspaper, approximately 43 million people are living below the poverty line of 2,300 yuan per year, which is equivalent to $335.

This number is slightly above the poverty line that the Chinese government acknowledges. Consequently, these people are not technically impoverished, despite being unable to sustain a decent life with an income of this level.

China should definitely be proud of its advances in lowering the poverty rate in China. However, it is important to remember that fighting poverty is a war that will require constant support and effort.

– Garrett Keyes

Photo: Flickr