Archive for category: Education

Information and stories on education.

Top 10 Facts about Girls’ Education in Mexico

Top 10 Facts about Girls’ Education in Mexico
Educating girls is known to boost the economy and social development indicators. When a girl is more educated, she is more likely to have fewer children, work full-time, have an increased life expectancy and her children are less likely to die young. In developing countries like Mexico, issues like these are of the utmost importance for the development of the country. In the text below, top 10 facts about girls’ education in Mexico are presented.

Top 10 Facts about Girls’ Education in Mexico

  1. Mexico mandates free primary and secondary education for children. After secondary school, students can choose between college and technical school. Women tend to outnumber men in technical schools.
  2. Mexican girls who live in rural areas tend to be less educated than their male counterparts. This is because of the prevalence of poverty, a marked lack of access to health care and social services and inadequate infrastructure provisions such as roads, water systems and telephone services. Parents might also be more reluctant to educate their daughters due to the cultural priority placed on getting married.
  3. Many girls in Mexico get married young, leading them to have many children instead of staying in school. The BBC reported that more than 320,000 girls between the ages of 12 and 17 were cohabiting with a man. More than 80 percent of these girls who were formally married left school. More than 90 percent of those who lived informally with the man dropped out of school.
  4. Although the literacy rate for women between the ages of 15 and 24 years old is 98.5 percent, women still overwhelmingly carry the burden of household chores and looking after children instead of pursuing higher education or advancing in their careers. Most girls drop out of school and become housewives instead of being incorporated into the workforce.
  5. Indigenous girls in Mexico face perhaps the most barriers to the attainment of even advanced primary level education. The poverty of many indigenous families conditions them to view their daughters, let alone their education, as a heavy economic burden. Mayan girls usually help with their parents’ income through agricultural work and household chores. Thus, they must drop out of school in the early stages.
  6. Although there are scholarships and programs to alleviate the cost of their daughters’ educations, many parents aren’t aware of them. There is a clear informational asymmetry regarding this question. Even if the parents did know of the existence of these programs and scholarships, they would not know how to apply for them.
  7. Indigenous girls also face a language barrier when learning the national curriculum. For example, girls from the Yucatan Maya community speak the Mayan language but are taught in Spanish. For this reason, they participate minimally in class and are often overlooked by teachers.
  8. Some Mayan girls report facing discrimination from their teachers and peers at school that obviously hinders their education. During interviews researchers conducted with some Mayan girls, they expressed feeling humiliated and discouraged when their classmates and even teachers called them derogatory names related to being darker-skinned or having trouble speaking Spanish.
  9. Rural Mexican girls have difficulty getting to school safely because of how remote their villages are. Unpredictable transportation often means walking long distances in desolate areas, leaving girls exposed to threats of physical or sexual violence on the roads.
  10. Mexico is a member of the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI). This initiative is committed to narrowing the gender gap in education through the enhanced focus on marginalized and excluded groups, reduction, or in best case elimination, of school-related gender violence and improved learning outcomes for girls.

Mexico still has a long way to go before it eliminates the drastic gender gap in education, particularly for rural and indigenous women. However, with efforts such as the UNGEI, the situation appears hopeful and is changing for the better.

– Maneesha Khalae
Photo: Flickr
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Top 10 Facts About Girls’ Education in Nepal

Top 10 Facts About Girls' Education in Nepal
Nepal is one of nine Asian countries carrying the status of “least developed.” Any instability the country faced was intensified by the 2015 earthquake that killed over 6,000 people. One of the sectors tied to country’s much-needed development is, of course, education. To get a sense of the status of the education system in the country, in the text below the top 10 facts about girls’ education in Nepal are presented.

Top 10 Facts about Girls’ Education in Nepal

  1. In 2015, 48.05 percent of women older than 15 did not have any form of education. Of the total population aged 15 and older, 36.15 percent did not have any education. This rate increases with age as 91.61 percent of women in the age group from 60 to 64 did not have any form of education.
  2. Gender-separate bathrooms are only available in one-third of schools in Nepal. This deters some from attending school over concerns of modesty or, sometimes, inability to follow religious guidelines that require separation of toilets.
  3. A project conducted in recent years found that 72 percent of students in Nepal saw their peers involved in gender-related violent situations though only 55 percent took action against it. Thus, schools cannot be considered a safe space for female students.
  4. Forty-one percent of Nepali women between ages 20 and 24 are married before the age of 18. Child marriage is most prevalent among less educated, poor women. Improving female education may improve the childhood marriage rate.
  5. The practice of chhaupadi often prevents women from attending school. Chhaupadi involves the banishing of girls who are menstruating to sheds where they are forced to suffer alone and risk catching illnesses. This dangerous practice, which was legally banned in 2005, still persists.
  6. Only about 11.8 percent of Dalit (lowest caste in Nepal) women are in secondary school. This indicates that education is both an issue of gender and class division.
  7. In Nepal, 44 percent of primary school teachers are female. This is the most encouraging fact about girls’ education in the country since this suggests that there is something near gender equality in teaching professions. This fact may be encouraging to young school girls.
  8. Only about 25 percent of women in Nepal enroll in higher education and their presence is particularly weak in technical and vocational education programs. Instead, there are large numbers of women in, for example, health-related professions such as nursing. In other words, professions are somewhat gender-segregated in the country.
  9. Though the quality of education in Nepal is not high, school enrollment rates are increasing across genders. Since 1990, the primary school enrollment rate has increased from 64 to 96 percent. Nepal is working to improve its education system by providing wider access to education.
  10. The Government of Nepal has developed the School Sector Development Plan (SSDP) that will last from 2016 to 2023. This plan is part of the country’s goal of graduating from the status of a least developed country by the year 2022. The plan will look to instigate growth in the Nepali education program and ensure quality education for all citizens.

In recent years, Nepal has faced great hardship. After the 2015 earthquake, the country faced the unwieldy challenge of rebuilding much of its infrastructure, including education facilities. Organizations like USAID supported this effort by helping the government establish temporary learning centers across the country.

Though Nepal faces great challenges, many are encouraged by some of the country’s efforts toward bettering its education system and promoting gender equity.

These 10 facts about girls’ education in Nepal suggest that though the country has a long way to go before being considered as well-developed, progress is being made in the education sector.

– Julia Bloechl

Photo: Flickr

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Top 10 Facts about Poverty in Sudan

Top 10 Facts about Poverty in Sudan

Located in Northeast Africa, Sudan is the third largest country of the African continent with a current population of more than 41 million people. The biggest problem country is facing is the poverty rate that is currently about 46.5 percent and continues to increase. This does not only affect men and women living in Sudan but children as well. In the text below, 10 facts about poverty in Sudan are presented.

Facts about Poverty in Sudan

  1. In 2018, about 7.1 million people in Sudan are currently in need of humanitarian assistance, while 5.5 million experience food insecurity and are in danger of starvation, according to the USAID. The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) also reports that almost 50 percent of refugees in the country are experiencing food insecurity. Because of this, malnutrition rates continue to increase, growing not only above the emergency threshold, but even higher. Around 32 percent of Sudanese children are chronically malnourished.
  2. Sudan’s climate conditions such as soil erosion, desertification and recurrent droughts, according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), are also causing low and variable productivity since agriculture produces 40 percent of GDP and employs over 70 percent of the labor force in rural areas of Sudan.
  3. USAID states that the consequences of the economic crisis are also fuel shortages, currency depreciation and high inflation levels. These issues have increased transportation costs and food prices, obstructing humanitarian operations in Sudan. The shortages could also increase not only food production costs but curb yields in upcoming harvest seasons.
  4. Almost 550,000 breastfeeding mothers and babies in 2010 were lacking needed additional nutritious foods. In 2015, maternal mortality rate involved 311 deaths per 100,000 live births while the mortality rate for children was 65.1 deaths per 1,000 live births.
  5. Sudan remains a high-indebted country that has accumulated sizeable external arrears. IFAD states that by the end of 2014, Sudan’s external debt was $43.6 billion in nominal terms, and around 85 percent of this amount was in arrears.
  6. In response to the rise of food insecurity and hunger in Sudan, USAID happens to be the largest donor of emergency food assistance to Sudan. The Office of Food for Peace (FFP) partners with WFP and UNICEF to provide emergency assistance to those in need. The FFP assistance currently supports more than 2.5 million food-insecure people in Sudan per year.
  7. According to the UNICEF, 3.2 million people were internally displaced, including almost 1.9 million children in 2016. UNICEF provided access to the drinking water supply through operation, maintenance and water chlorination services to about one million displaced persons and refugees.
  8. IFAD has prioritized Sudan for more than 20 years and their loans help increase agricultural production through environmental practices and distribution of improved seeds. Their activities include promoting land reform, harmonizing resources for nomads and farmers as well as promoting equitable distribution of resources. They also ensure representation of both women and youth in grass-roots organizations and guarantee access to microfinance for women. This is very important since 24.7 percent of women in Sudan are unemployed.
  9. WFP, thanks to the E.U. Humanitarian Aid, has been able to provide five months of nutritional support to 86,600 children under the age of five and to pregnant and nursing women in 2017.
  10. Global Partnership for Education (GPE) started the educational program that began in July 2013 and continues to improve the learning environment in Sudan, providing and distributing almost six million textbooks and strengthening the education system. Almost 1,000 additional conventional and community classrooms have been built through this program which benefits over 52,000 students. Over 3,400 communities and 4,800 students in the country also received school grants.

These top 10 facts about poverty in Sudan bring not only the awareness of the people’s lives but reflects how much change and development is being brought to the country. These issues can be solved and poverty rates can be improved.

Organizations, including the few listed in the text above, will continue to develop and come together, bringing not only hope to the people but also dedication, ensuring a better future for the people in the country.

– Charlene Frett
Photo: Flickr

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Top Factors that Lead to Poverty

Poverty
People in this world understand what poverty is and how devastating it is for individuals and communities. However, the factors that lead to poverty are not as clear as the way in which poverty affects people. The question of why does poverty exists has been asked many times yet the ultimate solution continues to evade the world due to the multifaceted issues of this problem. These are the top factors that lead to poverty today.

Top Factors that Lead to Poverty

  1. One of the obvious factors that lead to poverty is the lack of clean water. There are many people in the world who take access to clean water for granted. However, 2.1 billion people worldwide lack access to safe, readily available water and 4.5 billion people lack safely managed sanitation. This factor is crucial to poverty because not only does inadequate sanitation and lack of clean water leads to preventable diseases like diarrhea or something more serious like typhoid but the cost of mitigating this issue is increased as time goes by. The efforts to survive through these illnesses can ultimately force the individual to be stuck in poverty for a longer term. This happens because these people spend little money they have on transportation to a clinic and to medical costs. Considering that it is nearly impossible to live without water, many people are spending precious hours and energy to reach a water collection point. People in poverty in rural communities have the greatest risk for falling into this vicious circle.
  2. Poor education is also one of the key factors that can lead to poverty. This is because education is one of the greatest assets a person can have, and poor or no education often leads to poverty. Education provides protection against poverty in a way that it acts as a great equalizer. Being educated provides people with the means to reach for more ambitious career and life goals. For instance, 35 percent of people who have the educational attainment of less than a high school are likely to be impoverished, compared to 5 percent of people with a bachelor’s degree or higher. UNESCO estimates that 171 million people could escape poverty if they had basic literacy skills.
  3. Another factor that leads to poverty is the unreliable labor market. Extreme poverty is defined as the situation in which someone is surviving on less than $1.90 a day. Sadly, about 11 percent of the world’s population is classified as living in these conditions. The reason why these people are troubled is directly related to the conditions of the jobs that they have and job opportunities. The unreliable availability of jobs and the insufficient wages make it difficult for people to take themselves out of poverty. This also relates to the factor of the education, as people who do not have specific skills or experience have a hard time to secure themselves with a stable and high-paid job.
  4. The unequal distribution of the wealth in the world also contributes to poverty. In 2005, it was estimated that the wealthiest 10 percent of the world accounted for 59 percent of a total private consumption. Meanwhile, the poorest 10 percent consumed only 0.5 percent. The people who are struggling in poverty have little and consume little. This pattern will continue endlessly unless this distribution is equalized to some extent. An example of this inequality can be seen in the net worth of different individuals. In 2006, the 497 billionaires in the world had a net worth of $3.5 trillion. This is nearly triple the net worth of low-income countries that have 2.4 billion people and net worth of $1.6 trillion.
  5. Poor infrastructure is also a large factor of poverty. Impoverished people generally live in isolated communities in rural areas. This means that these people do not have easy access to electricity, water, roads and reliable transportation. For example, more than 85 percent of the population in the Central African Republic lacks electricity and connectivity. As a result, isolation is limiting the ability to education or work opportunities.

Many factors that affect poverty are not mentioned above. Poverty is not only an issue for people affected but it impacts the entire world. It can come as a result of many other factors, therefore, it is difficult to truly eliminate it. This requires the international cooperation and understanding on how to overcome these factors.

– Jenny S. Park
Photo: Flickr

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Top 10 Facts About Poverty in Poland

10. Top 10 Facts About Poverty in Poland
Poland’s future is in jeopardy. More specifically, the future of Poland’s youth is in jeopardy. While the country is dealing with difficult poverty issues, the youth of Poland face uncertainty in job perspective. Detailed in this list of the top 10 facts about poverty in Poland are the contributing factors to today’s crisis, as well as possible improvement in the future based on the projected increase of foreign aid to Poland.

Top 10 Facts About Poverty in Poland

  1. The CIA World Factbook estimates that 17 percent of Poland’s population is under the poverty line. The World Data Group defines the poverty line as earning anything below $1.90 per day. Poland’s total population is 37.95 million people, which means that there are 6.4 million people in poverty. To put this into perspective, that is the number of people that currently live in Indiana.
  2. According to the World Bank Data, unemployment in Poland is around 14 percent and among the young population, it is 25 percent. This level of unemployment was reached in small towns like Tarnobrzeg due to leaders prioritizing failed tourist attractions over the actual sources of employment and money. For example, the leaders of Tarnobrzeg shut down their mines to replace them with an artificial lake. The lake was only able to be used during the two warmest months of the year, hurting the town’s economy badly.
  3. While the average salary of Polish citizens is at an all-time high (around $963), the minimum wage is less than half of the average. Average rent across Poland ranges from $272 to $816.
  4. Many citizens give a large chunk of their paycheck to heating companies to stay warm during Poland’s harsh winters, resulting in a lesser amount of money to meet other survival needs. The average cost of heating in Poland is $180.
  5. Young people in Poland struggle to keep long-lasting employment because many agencies use temporary work. In the World Bank Data coverage of poverty in Poland, the story states that 27 percent of the young population faces “junk contracts” that do not help their living situations. “Junk contracts” are temporary contracts for workers that do not offer a stable income, a source of long-term financial stability or any health benefits. These job prospects are so terrible that around one million people between the ages of 15 and 24 travel abroad to earn higher wages. Between 2009 and 2011, only 40.3 percent of temporary workers were able to get permanent jobs, according to the Social Diagnosis survey.
  6. Education is becoming the important focus for young people in Poland. Despite 80 percent of the youth population attending schools that lead to higher education, future employers are uninterested in these dedicated students and fail to train them instead. Social Europe’s report on youth unemployment in Poland claims that less than 23 percent of Polish companies cooperated with a school or a center for practical training.
  7. World Bank Data claims that Poland’s economy grew 81 percent between 1990 and 2010. However, the wage gaps between the wealthy and those below the poverty line also grew. Scientific Research Journal found that “rising income inequalities were exacerbated as Poland’s economy grew and private ownership expanded”.
  8. Approximately 35 percent of children under the age of 17 rely on government assistance. Not only that, but World Socialist Web reports that 3 percent of families with more than one child cannot afford to feed all members of the family. The Polish government only plans on allowing approximately $220 million in government funding each year until 2020.
  9. In 2015, World Bank Data released a report claiming that spending programs in support of low-income families in Poland are well targeted and that they mostly benefit low-income households. While this is a great start, Poland must expand its assistance to the poor. World Bank Data stated that a solution to this problem would be for the government to investigate the causes of this high poverty level and start there. Some government assistance programs realize that this is an important step and have suggested the implementation of a family cash bonus entitled Rodzina 500+. This step will also look into how to restructure the system so that low-income families are the first to receive support.
  10. According to USAID, the U.S. gave Poland approximately $13 million in 2016. However, a large portion of the funding is going towards the military. The amount of aid going to Poland has substantially dropped in the last 15 years. On average, the U.S. gave between $50 million and $80 million until 2015. In 2016, $11 million went to military aid and a grand total of $6,400 went to maternal and child health.

Poland’s poverty crisis is not quite at a catastrophic level. The people are surviving and the government is acknowledging the crisis. These top 10 facts about poverty in Poland attempt to show the spectrum of issues and possible solutions for Poland. Poland’s government, as well as the U.S.’s foreign aid system, can help the underprivileged and prevent this situation from worsening.

– Miranda Garbaciak

Photo: Flickr

Two Organizations Bettering Girls’ Education in Grenada

Grenada
In Grenada, education does not differ much between boys and girls. The gender parity index (GPI) was only 0.98 in 2015, which means that there was only a slightly larger number of boys, compared to girls, enrolled in primary and secondary education in Grenada. However, because violence against women and girls is a big issue in Grenada, girls are often deprived of the education they deserve and need in order to survive.

There are several organizations and individuals who are working to better girls’ education in Grenada. These organizations assist girls through helping to implement effective programming for their education, as well as giving them resources to use whenever needed.

The Girl Guides Association of Grenada

Girl guiding was introduced to Grenada in 1925 when the first Guide company was established at the Church of England High School. Guiding is now very active in Grenada, mostly through schools, with a few through churches and communities. In 2017, there were more than two thousand girl guides helping young Grenadian girls recognize their full potential.

Kisha Miller has been a member of this organization and a girl guide for the past 20 years. She is now a Unit Leader and an Assistant District Commissioner at Boca secondary school in Grenada. Miller believes that education can be used to change how women are treated in her country, especially in terms of gender-based violence.

Miller also believes that non-formal education is important for girls. She is excited to use the Voices Against Violence curriculum in her country, which will provide her with the tools to start important conversations about the main causes of violence against women and girls with the group of 35 girls she teaches, as well as with all the girls within the Girl Guides Association of Grenada.

Room to Read Accelerator

This organization was established to spread their knowledge of girls’ education to a wider audience in order to maximize their impact around the world. The focus of this offshoot of Room to Read is to offer technical assistance and to share resources and expertise by providing training materials, workshops, periodic support and monitoring. These projects typically last two to three years and will provide girls with all the support and necessities they need to progress through school.

In 2015, Room to Read Accelerator started a three-year long partnership with Grenada. This partnership is through Grenada’s Ministry of Education, Human Resource Development and Grenada Schools, Inc. Their goal is to design a wide-reaching, cost-effective and sustainable program by 2018 that forms good reading habits and skills at all 56 of Grenada’s government primary schools. This program will benefit 11,000 students throughout this Caribbean country.

Organizations, like the Girl Guides Association of Grenada and Room to Read Accelerator, provide girls with the knowledge and tools to be able to progress successfully through school, as well as have what they need to succeed in life. Girls’ education in Grenada has been enormously improved by these establishments because of the large number of girl guides that are in Grenada and the large impact that the Room to Read Accelerator program has had on Grenadian students.

– Megan Maxwell
Photo: Flickr

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Digital Education in Rural Schools

Education in Rural SchoolsEducation is now moving beyond paper and whiteboard. Thanks to a vast network of online learning tools, education has become more attainable particularly to groups in Africa that are suffering from the highest rates of educational exclusion.

Already, $8.15 billion has been invested globally in the first 10 months of 2017 into edtech companies. Realizing the new opportunities made feasible by the advent of educational technology, communities in Africa have incorporated a new digital teaching system that changes education in rural schools.

Ligbron E-learning System (LES)

The rising Ligbron E-learning System facilitates an online network of mathematics and science lessons. Two South African schools, Jabavu and Thubalethu high schools, in the Eastern Cape recently joined the community that is growing close to 39,000 learners with 5,400 being in grade 12.

Since its inception in Mpumalanga in June 2015, 31 secondary schools have been supplemented with this system with great success. The overall pass rate of Umzimvelo Secondary School in Mpumalanga has increased from 38.3 percent in 2009 to 94.5 percent in 2016.

The system connects students in rural areas using live streaming and video technology in virtual real-time classes. Students can communicate with teachers using SMART boards, computers and laptops as well as audio equipment. Prior to each class, they would have full access to class notes and other learning materials via Dropbox.

This program provides teachers the resources for a full curriculum including daily lesson plans, pre-recorded video lessons and more. The live stream lessons can all be saved and replayed for convenience as well. Education in rural schools has suddenly become more exciting and achievable for students.

The productivity of the students and quality of the education have both undergone significant improvement courtesy educational technology. After analyzing this system in Mpumalanga, studies show that it was successful in contributing to the Department of Education’s mandate to increase education, particularly that of math and science.

The Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) has been particularly interested in the mission of the Ligbron E-learning System and hopes for its success to materialize in the Eastern Cape as well. “We were very heartened when we partnered with LES on this initiative to hear that learners gain 34.5 percent more knowledge after a 40-minute e-learning maths class, with a 19 percent spike in knowledge after a science class,” said the Head of Community and Stakeholder Partnerships (CCBSA), Nolundi Mzimba, in his speech after the launch of the Ligbron E-learning System’s sponsorship.

The growth of education is inextricably linked to the growth of the economy. Increasing the level of education in Africa will increase the pass rate in important subjects. The community would then have opportunities to acquire the skills they need for better jobs.

The Ligbron Academy of Technology is adamant about being up-to-date with these educational technologies to prepare students and teachers in this new century of technological boom. Its staff members travel to speak with congresses in South Africa on a regular basis to keep the lines of communication open and active.

Africa can bring about a positive change in its education system, especially in rural schools, and eventually resolve the poverty crisis by taking advantage of educational technology.

– Alice Lieu
Photo: Google

Top 10 Facts About Education in Afghanistan

Top 10 Facts About Education in AfghanistanAfter the war with the Soviet Union and the subsequent takeover of the country by the Taliban, access to education in Afghanistan was limited. Moreover, the education system that was in place in that period was less than adequate. However, since the overthrow of the Taliban in late 2001 and the installment of a more democratic government in Afghanistan, the nation’s education system has seen improvements.

Facts About Education in Afghanistan

  1. In 2002, after the Taliban were overthrown by a U.S.-led coalition army, it was estimated that only about one million children were attending school. Of that number, the vast majority were boys.
  2. Prior to 2002, any education that children received was dominated by religion. Children were educated through the Quran and the teachings of Mohammed. Little attention was paid to courses in science, technology or liberal arts.
  3. Under the Taliban government, girls were pretty much prohibited from obtaining an education. Little education that girls did receive was based on scripture from the Quran, and basic reading and writing skills.
  4. College enrollment was also minimal while the Taliban controlled Afghanistan. In 2001, only 1% of college-aged students were enrolled in an institution for higher education.
  5.  After the Taliban regime was overthrown, the number of students enrolling in colleges and universities increased. According to USAID (United States Agency for International Development), over 9.2 million students are currently enrolled in a higher education institution, and 39% of those students are female.
  6. Public and private universities (excluding technical or secondary schools) enroll around 300,000 students. Of that number, about 100,000 are female students.
  7. Access to education has also increased in recent years. As of 2016-2017, over 119,000 children in rural areas had access to education.
  8. In recent years, there has also been an emphasis on training and equipping teachers on how best to serve and educate the expanding number of students. USAID has trained over 154,000 teachers. Of that number of educators, over one third are women.
  9. The American University of Afghanistan (AUAF), the first private, independent, non-profit university in Afghanistan strives to expand educational opportunities for women. Its’ current student body is almost 41% female. This is quite impressive, given Afghanistan’s history of denying education opportunities to women and young girls.
  10. While the above facts showcase some of the accomplishments that have occurred in Afghanistan in the last 15 years, much work still needs to be done. For example, the overall literacy rate is still sub-par for most of the nation and many students still do not have easy access to schools. Also, many Afghan children cross the border to go to Pakistan so they can be taught in madrassas’, where Islamic fundamentalism is rampant.

Much has improved in the last several years regarding education in Afghanistan. Hopefully, this text will inspire you, the reader, about the necessity and importance of continuing the work of groups like USAID in helping in much-needed areas and countries. With international aid and support, the gains that Afghanistan has made in recent years, in education and in other areas, will not be in vain.

– Raymond Terry
Photo: Flickr

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Key Facts About Poverty in Indonesia

Top 10 Facts About Poverty in Indonesia

The sovereign archipelago of Indonesia is on track to rapid urbanization; in fact, it is the largest country in Southeast Asia, the world’s third most populous democracy and is ranked 16th in GDP. Indonesia also happens to possess the sixth worst inequality of wealth in the world. The nation’s boom in economic viability has been beneficial for some, but Indonesia still persists as a developing country marked by profound wage disparity. The following facts about poverty in Indonesia offer insight on the various forces surrounding the country’s income inequality.

Top 10 Facts About Poverty in Indonesia

  1. The statistics. Indonesia has a population of 261 million; of those, 28 million citizens live below the poverty line, with approximately 10 percent of the population making significantly less than the median income.
  2. Hope in relativity. These statistics may seem indomitable, but poverty in Indonesia has been cut by more than half since 1999. The country has proactively worked on addressing relative poverty — those that generate less than the median income — with the brunt now lying in absolute poverty (those that live below the poverty line). The alleviation of Indonesia’s poorest is more challenging, as they are frequently moored to rural environments that lack proper support.
  3. Rural poverty. Indonesia’s rural communities are typically much poorer than the urban ones, with poverty rates ranging from 13.2 percent to a startling 29.15 percent. Rural poverty focuses on just subsistence, but even this becomes difficult without infrastructure. The people living in these isolated villages often lack access to healthcare, markets and agricultural extension services, and are not equipped with the vocational training needed to succeed in urban communities.
  4. Urban poverty. Poverty reduction efforts can be seen most in urban hubs. In the last year alone, the urban poverty rate improved from 7.72 percent to 7.02 percent. Unequal dispersion of wealth remains starkly apparent in the cities, but momentum continues today with World Bank’s National Slum Upgrading Program (KOTAKU) bettering the lives of more than 9.7 million of Indonesia’s urban poor. KOTAKU accomplishes such a feat by actively improving city infrastructure.
  5. Health access. Nonpartisan groups are currently working to provide mobile clinics and health training to the areas that need it the most. Comprehensive access to healthcare is hopefully on the horizon, as Indonesia launched an ambitious single-payer healthcare program in 2014. The program intends to offer coverage to every Indonesian by 2019.
  6. Lack of education reinforces the poverty cycle. Education in Indonesia has steadily increased in accessibility, but rural districts are typically limited to one public primary school with a rare secondary school. Net enrollment in such areas remains below 60 percent; moreover, the quality of education offered often suffers from politicisation and unqualified teachers, allowing little opportunity for meritocratic mobility.
  7. Children in poverty. Children comprise about 30 percent of Indonesia’s population. As dependents, they are one of the most vulnerable demographics in society. Indonesia has made strides in protecting their basic rights and needs, including cutting the child mortality rate in half and implementing child-focused resources, such as the Family Hope Program.
  8. Food instability. Protectionist food policies leave the country’s poor vulnerable to domestic price hikes. Due to food import quota, licensing and tariff activity, up to 70 percent of an Indonesian household’s income ends up being spent on food alone. In times of duress, such as escalated rice prices in 2015, the poor risk malnutrition while those marginally above the poverty line end up falling below it.
  9. Gender inequality. Women in Indonesia are statistically rated with a lower life expectancy, education and per capita income than Indonesian men. Despite this, women-led enterprises not only contribute 10 percent of Indonesia’s GDP, but they also reduce the volatility of local economic downturns. Gender equity and poverty reduction are critically linked.
  10. Solutions. President Joko Widodo continues to address poverty in Indonesia by channeling welfare aid to targeted households. Affordable Food for the Poor, launched in 2015 by CIPS, focuses on the long-term by publicising policy recommendations on food security. With the development of sustainable infrastructure, better access to a competitive education system and steps towards gender equity, regional and entrepreneurial gaps will fill and bring forth a more prosperous people.

Potential for Growth

These top 10 facts about poverty in Indonesia provide a salient foothold into the country’s current state. Indonesia is projected for great growth and under the right dispersion of assets, national poverty reduction efforts can continue to succeed.

– Yumi Wilson
Photo: Flickr

Girls’ Education in The Gambia

Girls' Education in The GambiaIn addition to its status as the smallest country in mainland Africa, The Gambia boasts impressive improvements in educational gender parity over the past twenty years. While structural barriers to education that affect girls disproportionately still exist, significant strides have been made to make education accessible to the girls across the country.

Primary schools have achieved gender parity

The Gambian school system consists of a basic education of nine years, broken into six years of primary school and three years of upper basic education.

Hopes for girls’ education in Gambia are high, especially for the youngest ones. Since 2007, there has been an equal number of Gambian boys and girls enrolled in primary school. A significant portion of this success can be attributed to the Education for All initiative, led by UNESCO and implemented in 2004. The initiative aimed to achieve gender parity in primary school enrollment, and it obviously succeeded.

While the primary school enrollment gap has disappeared, primary school completion is a different picture. For every 100 boys that complete their basic education, only 74 girls do the same. Additionally, out of the girls that do complete basic education, only few will go to the secondary school. The secondary school enrollment rate for girls is very low, as girls constitute less than half of all secondary school students. From the social expectations placed on girls to the financial burdens of education, the structural barriers that prevent girls from continuing with their education are complex and numerous.

Social expectations of girls

In deciding whether or not to send their female children to school, families consider the opportunity cost. Girls in school cannot perform the domestic labor traditionally expected of them, which means they cannot provide immediate income for their families. Other direct costs, such as textbooks and uniforms, often present way to big of a burden on poor families.

This economic burden has long kept girls out of schools. As of September 2013, however, the Global Partnership for Education partnered with the World Bank and the Gambian Government to eliminate school fees for primary school. For families who could previously not afford to send their daughters to school, the primary school became accessible. As of September 2014, this was extended to upper basic and secondary schools as well. Before school fees were abolished, there were also scholarships specifically for girls available to encourage poor families to send their daughters to school.

Improvement of hygiene in schools

When feminine hygiene is inaccessible, girls are unable to attend school consistently. Historically, women period has forced girls to take time off school, making it difficult to keep up with coursework. To address this, the Education for All initiative began providing free sanitary pads at schools. A study done by The Gambia’s Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MoBSE) showed that this initiative significantly increased girls’ self-confidence and school attendance rates. After sanitary pads were supplied, girls’ attendance increased from 68 percent up to nearly 90 percent.

Community supports girls education

Dedicated Gambian mothers are standing up for their girls. Across The Gambia, numerous Mothers Clubs are raising money and awareness for girls’ education. UNICEF has provided them with labor-saving machines, such as milling machines, which lessen the female labor burden. Less time working means more time for school. UNICEF also provides some seed money for the women to embark on income-generating projects, which support their local schools and alleviate the indirect and direct costs of girls’ education.

An engaged community, driven by mothers and mobilized by foreign aid, is challenging the status quo to shape a brighter future for Gambian girls. Girls’ education in The Gambia has become a national priority. While social expectations for girls still impose barriers to education, the Gambian government, aided by UNICEF and UNESCO, has made education significantly more accessible to girls in this little country.

– Ivana Bozic

Photo: Google