Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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WASH in Serbia: The Good News

WASH in Serbia
Water pollution in Serbia is primarily caused by the inadequate discharge of wastewater. Unequal practices of waste removal disproportionately impact rural and Roma communities, as these groups tend to rely on wells and local waterways that are often exposed to industrial contamination. In fact, 22% of the Roma population does not have access to improved water sources, making them especially susceptible to waterborne diseases. Although there is still much work needed to ensure that everyone in Serbia has access to adequate Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), the situation is far from stagnant. Here are nine facts about how WASH in Serbia is improving.

9 Facts About WASH in Serbia

  1. The OM Christian church started a non-governmental organization in 2014 to assist vulnerable populations in Serbia and other Mediterranean countries. As part of its religious beliefs, the church has enacted a variety of humanitarian work, including establishing adequate sanitation facilities.
  2. The Serbian government has implemented a national program dedicated to the improvement of WASH. Furthermore, the Republic of Serbia now recognizes WASH as a fundamental human right. Through their national program, the government implemented a variety of initiatives promoting hygiene in schools and health facilities. The government has also implemented long-term initiatives dedicated to the sustainability of water supplies.
  3. The United Nations Developmental Agency (UNDP) implemented the Protocol on Water and Health in 2013, which is currently active in 170 countries, including Serbia. Through this program, the organization aims to establish a variety of sustainable development goals in Serbia by 2030. Specifically, goal 6 of the program aims to provide clean water and improved sanitation facilities for all Serbians.
  4. In 2019, the European Investment Bank (EIB) gave a 35 million Euro loan to the Serbian city of Belgrade to fund improved sanitation and a wastewater treatment plant. The EIB has been supporting Serbia by loaning money for WASH development projects since 2000. This latest donation is expected to improve the living conditions of more than 170,000 people in the region.
  5. The KFW Development Bank is working to assist Serbia in funding a variety of infrastructural projects. Through their Financial Corporation, the bank is providing improved WASH facilities for 20 Serbian towns, which sustain a collective population of more than 1.3 million people. In early 2020, Belgrade constructed a water treatment plant through the KFW Development Bank’s funding.
  6. The European Union’s Water Framework Directive is working to improve water quality and ensure the proportionate distribution of water from the Tisza River, a major tributary of the Danube and one of the primary water sources for Serbia and four other European countries. The organization aims to carry out this project through a three-step initiative. These steps include traditional water resources planning, structured participation and collaborative computer modeling.
  7. USAID has been present in Serbia since 2001. In 2014, the organization donated $20 million to create a new reservoir in Preševo, which helped provide water to residents of this region.
  8. Serbia has been a member of the Open Government Partnership since 2012. The country has committed itself to be more transparent about its environmental information and budget allocations, which will promote accountability for the government to improve its water and sanitation facilities.
  9. Ecumenical Humanitarian, a Christian organization, has been assisting the Roma people, Serbia’s most vulnerable population, since 2007. The NGO has been working to build sustainable housing and sanitation units for this marginalized group.

Although there is still much progress to be made, the initiatives and improvements implemented over the past years demonstrate that there is hope for improved WASH in Serbia. Moving forward, these organizations must continue to make water and sanitation in the nation a priority.

– Kira Lucas
Photo: Flickr

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How the Cape Town Water Crisis Was Averted

Cape Town Water Crisis
Cape Town, South Africa’s legislative capital, has a population of about four million, which is nearly 8% of the entire South African population. South Africa has been successful in cultivating a democratic country, but it has a persistent inequity issue. In 2015, the bottom 60% of the country only held 7% of South Africa’s net wealth. Although more than 55% of South Africans live below the poverty line, 93% of black South Africans live in poverty. Cape Town, although not exempt from issues of inequity, is a thriving metropolis to South Africa. When the Cape Town water crisis rose to a peak in 2017, it became imperative for the city to make some serious changes before they ran out of water completely. Here is how Cape Town recovered from its devastating water shortage and a look at where the city is today.

How the Crisis Began

Cape Town has long been praised for its award-winning water management achievements and efficient use of the city’s six largest reservoirs, which can hold up to 230 billion gallons of water. The city was well aware of the impending climate changes and took measures to decrease overall water consumption.

Despite their efforts, Cape Town neglected to factor in the steady decreases in annual rainfall. This oversight was minor at the time and the city’s reservoirs were full in 2014. However, a sudden three-year-long drought drained the reservoirs to only 26% capacity by 2017. The city declared they would shut municipal water taps off when they reached 13.5% capacity.

City Measures

The term “Day Zero” became the name for the day that water taps would be shut off city-wide, essentially the day Cape Town would officially run out of water. With Day Zero looming and reservoirs draining, the city and its residents sprung into action to avoid the ultimate Cape Town water crisis.

At the beginning of 2017, the average city resident used 600 liters per day. City officials lowered that daily limit to 50 liters per day. To put that number into perspective, the average Californian used 321 liters of water per day during the 2016 drought. If a household went above that 50 liter limit, it faced hefty fines and a meter installation to shut off the water automatically once it exceeded the daily limit. The city also implemented severe quotas for agricultural and commercial institutions.

Residents Doing Their Part

The Cape Town water crisis could not have been averted if not for innovative action from the residents themselves. People began to recycle shower and washing machine water as well as limit toilet flushes to once a day. Farmers diverted their water supply away from their own farms for the city to use. Swimming pools and lawns were no longer essentials and residents no longer used water for such amenities. Social media played a key role as well by being a platform to share advice with a large audience. Local restaurants and bars started competitions to see who could refrain from washing their clothes the longest. The combination of these efforts is what saved the 4 million people from ever having to experience Day Zero.

The Role of Poverty

Although the Cape Town water crisis affected the entire city, it hit some residents much harder than others. South Africa is already a country known for its inequity issues, and the water crisis exacerbated that fact. Wealthy residents found ways to get around the restrictions by hiring companies to dig $6,000 wells for them, buying large amounts of drinkable water at inflated prices, and even installing filtration systems to make groundwater drinkable. Poor residents, on the other hand, were at the mercy of the city and had to sacrifice buying food to be able to buy water.

Where is Cape Town Today?

Cape Town finally experienced an average rainy season in January 2018, allowing the city to postpone the arrival of Day Zero indefinitely. After the immediate crisis had been averted, the city began planning for ocean water desalination and groundwater extraction as backup water sources. These are more long-term solutions, but they present issues of their own such as the affordability of such intense installations and the impact on local ecosystems.

Limits on water usage have been loosened slightly; however, they still exist and are strictly enforced. This continues to negatively impact the city’s poorest residents. Perhaps the most helpful action taken since the crisis has been the weekly reports on dam capacities. As of July 2020, all the dams are holding steady at around 80% capacity.

Although the Cape Town water crisis never fully culminated in a citywide water shutoff, the impact of the event still resonates with the poor. Moving forward, efforts need to be made to ensure equal water access for all residents.

– Natalie Tarbox
Photo: Flickr

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5 Facts About School Fees In Africa

School Fees in AfricaSchool fees are a major barrier to widespread, effective education in Africa. Many children in impoverished families simply cannot afford to pay the required fees to attend school. As a result, they never receive a proper education. It is important to know basic facts about the issue because the first solutions that come to mind are not always the best ones. For example, removing fees altogether isn’t necessarily a solution because that can lead to overcrowded and underfunded schools. Here are five facts about the complicated topic of school fees in Africa.

5 Facts About School Fees in Africa

  1. School fees have been common in Africa since the 1980s. Structural adjustment programs in the 1980s urged schools to move to “user fees” to fund many public necessities, such as education, instead of paying for these necessities through taxes. Not long after fees were implemented, poor families began struggling to send their children to school. A 1986 study found that in 33 of 63 developing countries, the poorest 40% of families would have to spend over 10% of their yearly income to send two children to primary school. This statistic shows the harmful effects of the implementation of school fees on poor families in the 1980s. However, school fees in Africa today are still too high for many families to afford. Many children in Africa are not getting the education they need. For example, one out of every five children between the ages of 6 and 11 are out of school in Sub Saharan Africa. Between the ages of 12 and 14, the proportion increases to about a third. School fees contribute heavily to education exclusion. When fees are eliminated, African schools see a huge increase in pupils. For example, Kenya eliminated primary school fees in 2003 and as a result, enrollment rose by 2 million students.
  2. Yet, abolishing fees can cause further problems. When schools abolish fees, the immediate results are a drastic increase in students, as occurred in Kenya. This increase can be counted as positive. On the other hand, it can leave many schools without enough funding to support the new pupils. Space, supplies and teachers face the most stress from the increase in students. A 2015 study found that primary schools in Sub Saharan Africa that had fees also had a smaller student to teacher ratio. In many African countries, tax bases are small and the government alone is unable to financially support education; thus, the abolition of fees leaves some schools drastically underfunded. Dr. Jay Kaufman, who worked on a study about school fees in Africa, spoke to The Borgen Project about some of the issues that eliminating school fees caused. “Basically, in many countries that removed fees, there was no further investment in the educational system. So the result was classes jam-packed with students, many students sharing a single desk and therefore no successful education whatsoever,” Kaufman stated.
  3. Fees are only part of the problem. There are many more financial barriers keeping students out of schools in Africa. Many African schools require uniforms, and procuring them can be too high a cost for many families. The cost of books, school supplies and transportation can impede children seeking education as well. Additionally, having students in school and not in the workforce can put a financial strain on families, especially once their children reach their teens.
  4. COVID-19 could spark increased fee rates. Many African countries had high gross enrollment rates in the 1960s, 70s and early 80s. However, many of these rates had fallen by the mid-1990s due to economic downturns. Based on this trend, economic crises pose a threat to students who may already be struggling to pay fees. Given the economic fallout caused by the pandemic, many countries in Africa may struggle to maintain the same rates of funding to education. This could potentially result in increased fees. This, along with families’ inability to make money during the pandemic, could subsequently result in more students dropping out of school.
  5. Nonprofit organizations can provide long-term solutions. Aid For Africa is an alliance of NGOs working to support elementary school students financially in Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. BEADS For Education sponsors girls in Kenya from fourth grade through college, easing the financial burden on their families. Currently, the organization sponsors over 300 girls. The Maasai Girls Education Fund focuses on getting girls from the Maasai tribe in Kenya into schools. The organization provides these girls with scholarships to assure that they have the means to attend school.

Moving Forward

The exclusionary education caused by school fees in Africa is a complicated, multifaceted issue that does not have a single, clear solution. Nonetheless, it is a pressing issue that affects children across all of Africa. Knowing some key facts about the situation is essential if interventions are to be effective in opening up educational opportunities to impoverished children. Such knowledge is also key to making changes that are sustainable in the uncertain post-COVID-19 era.

– Sophia Gardner
Photo: Flickr

5 Facts About Poverty in Comoros

5 Facts About Poverty in Comoros
Comoros continues to struggle today with extreme poverty, unemployment and a severe wealth gap. The country has undergone more than 20 successful or attempted coups, as well as facing a devastating cyclone. Poverty in Comoros continues to require immediate attention. Here are five facts about poverty in Comoros.

5 Facts About Poverty in Comoros

  1. Poverty in Comoros affects almost half the population. The African Development Bank Group reports that 44.1% of people in Comoros live in poverty and they typically earn only 25,341 Comorian francs or less monthly. In addition, 23.5% of people in Comoros live in extreme poverty. However, data from The World Bank places “Comoros ahead of other low-income countries and 30 percentage points ahead of other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.”
  2. Rural areas suffer disproportionately compared with urban areas. Comoros’s economy relies primarily on agriculture. Its three main export crops are vanilla, cloves and ylang-ylang. Additionally, agriculture accounts for 50% of Comoros’s GDP and supports most of its workforce. However, the country’s rural areas are typically its poorest and about 50% of Comoros’s people do not have enough to eat.
  3. Education in Comoros faces challenges. In 2018, Comoros reported a secondary education enrollment rate of 59.47% of all eligible children. In addition, only 58.82% of people in Comoros older than 15 years old could claim literacy in 2018. This is low compared to the global average of 86.3% for this age group.
  4. Relief efforts for Cyclone Kenneth could improve poverty in Comoros. When Cyclone Kenneth passed through Comoros in 2019, 345,000 people felt its effects. As a result, seven people died, and 182 experienced an injury. Moreover, 19,372 people found themselves displaced, and the cyclone completely destroyed 213 classrooms. This natural disaster further damaged an already insufficient economy and educational system. In response to this disaster, CERF allocated $13 million to relieve those that Cyclone Kenneth affected. The money is going toward providing food, shelter and other necessities to those suffering the effects of Kenneth, and rebuilding schools. UNICEF has also stepped in to help, joining efforts with Educate a Child to educate more than 3.3 million children in numerous African nations, including Comoros.
  5. Tourism could have a positive impact on Comoros. For years, as a result of its history of unrest and political instability, the world economy has neglected Comoros’s tourism sector. However, with its beautiful beaches, Comoros stands to gain much from an increase in tourism. This change would allow the country to become less reliant on its agricultural sector. Additionally, it might help provide food that the population desperately needs. Comoros exports 70% of its food, a number that could decrease with a rise in tourism.

Looking Ahead

Comoros is still recovering from the effects of its deeply-rooted poverty and of Cyclone Kenneth. The country faces poverty-related challenges in rural areas as well as in the education sector. Cyclone Kenneth exacerbated existing conditions. However, organizations like UNICEF and CERF are stepping in to help address the impacts of the cyclone. Increases in tourism also appear to be an untapped economic sector that could lead to positive changes in Comoros. 

– Will Sikich
Photo: Flickr

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How Urban Gardening Is Helping to Fight Poverty

Urban Gardening
If one walks around major world cities today, they might see that an underutilized parking lot or sidewalk has become a lush, green garden. In dense, overcrowded cities around the world, local citizens are taking control of their nutrition and choosing urban gardening over the grocery store.

What is Urban Gardening?

Urban gardening,  or alternatively “urban agriculture” or “urban farming,” is an umbrella term for “the process of growing plants of all types and varieties in an urban environment.” In this niche agricultural field, a variety of techniques, such as container gardening, indoor gardening, community gardening and even “guerilla gardening” — a term for the process of taking over abandoned city structures or roads and creating gardens in their place — have arisen. Now, with 32 of the world’s cities hosting populations over 10 million, urban agriculture is a widespread trend across the globe.

Urban gardening is not a new concept, however. Even though the world’s population continues to grow at a rate higher than at any previous point in history, one can find evidence of urban farming in the world’s first big “city,” Mesopotamia, in 3500 B.C. Farmers in this ancient civilization “set aside plots in their growing cities,” laying the foundation for today’s urban agriculture.

The Reason Urban Agriculture is Important

So, why is urban gardening an attractive idea? To put it simply, it has a ton of benefits. In addition, life in the big city is not always as promising as some sometimes make out to be, especially in developing countries. In fact, “rapid urbanization is increasingly shifting the impacts of malnutrition from rural to urban areas” in low-income countries.

However, many migrants in developing countries are choosing cities due to “persistently high levels of rural poverty.” This creates a paradox in that “much urban poverty is created by the rural poor’s efforts to get out of poverty by moving to cities.” For example, in the case of sub-Saharan Africa, rapid urbanization and an annual 4% urban population increase are toppling governments’ abilities to sustain the urban populations. This has created a massive housing backlog of 51 million units in Africa and widespread urban poverty due to overcrowding and a lack of resources. In many developing cities, the demand far outweighs the supply.

Many factors contribute to why people in low-income nations are moving, including “distorted government policies, such as penalizing the agriculture sector and neglecting rural (social and physical) infrastructure.” In addition, many rural areas are simply uninhabitable. For example, 95% of the population in Egypt lives in a lush area around the Nile River that represents only 5% of the country’s total land. The rest of the country is desert.

Just as this overpopulation strains developmental resources in big cities, it also strains food and agriculture. Because 96% of the population growth through 2030 will occur in urban areas, this expansion is likely to seriously harm many of the world’s farmlands. Many low-income nations will likely bear the brunt of this agricultural depletion as well, as projections have determined that more than 80% of global cropland loss will come from Africa and Asia.

How Urban Gardening is Helping Big Cities in the Developing World

Urban gardening reduces the strain on natural resources in cities that overpopulation and crowding have hurt. Doubling as a mechanism of empowerment, urban gardening can involve anybody who wants to take their livelihood into their own hands. The benefits to impoverished communities are plentiful:

  1. Urban gardening takes away environmental strain. Because overpopulation places so much stress on the natural environment, including agriculture and water, small-scale urban gardening projects can reduce the environmental harm of mass production. In addition to the vast amounts of water used on major outdoor farms (which can easily just evaporate and go to waste in hotter climates), another issue is that mass transportation to grocery stores burns large amounts of fuel. Food transportation itself is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions because a great deal of produce now moves across longer distances (even requiring air travel in many cases). Furthermore, produce loses key vitamins and minerals through lengthy transportation. Thus, growing food locally ensures freshness from soil to plate.
  2. Urban gardening is often cheaper than buying food. Living in big cities is expensive, putting a vast amount of financial stress on low socioeconomic classes. In addition, malnutrition and obesity from cheap fatty foods and fast foods are a major problem in the developing world. Oftentimes, impoverished people cannot afford fresh produce and healthy food due to their higher prices. However, creating an individual garden is both cost-effective and healthier.
  3. Urban gardening can be year-round. One of the most beneficial components of urban gardening is the ability to create an indoor garden. Indoor gardening does not need to be expensive, either; simply using old food containers to grow your seeds and having a source of light and water is all you need. In addition, hydroponic gardening uses about 90% less water than traditional farming. Herbivore Farms, “Mumbai’s first hyperlocal, hydroponic” urban gardening company, has perfected the indoor gardening method on a large scale, delivering fresh, pesticide-free produce to customers across Mumbai. In addition, the company’s process uses 80% less water than outdoor farming due to its recirculating irrigation system.
  4. Urban gardening bonds communities. Aside from scientific and health benefits, gardening also bonds communities when members of a neighborhood or family build a garden together. Guerilla gardening also beautifies areas of cities, making people’s local areas more habitable and welcoming.

In a 2013 TED Talk, Ron Finley, founder of the Green Grounds urban gardening organization in South Central LA, said, “Food is the problem and food is the solution.” Urbanization in the developing world is not going to stop anytime soon. However, urban farming is a hopeful and promising contender as the next best solution to poverty around the world.

– Grace Ganz
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

5 Facts About Healthcare In Spain

Healthcare in SpainSpain is a beautiful country with exquisite landscapes and a rich culture. This country is known for its delicious, elaborate dishes such as paella. Healthcare is usually not the first thing that comes to mind when typically thinking about Spain but it definitely should be. Spain is world-renowned for its amazing healthcare coverage and for the way the Spanish citizens are usually able to stay healthy throughout their life.

5 Facts About Healthcare in Spain

  1. Spain is the healthiest country in the world. In 2019, the Bloomberg Healthiest Country Index evaluated and ranked over 150 nations based on their life expectancy, environmental factors (ex: access to fresh, clean water) and health risks (ex: obesity). This study gave Spain a grade of 92.75 based on the aforementioned criteria and ranked the Iberian country first out of the listed countries.
  2.  Spain has a free, public healthcare system. Spain’s healthcare system is financed by taxes which means that residents have access to free or very low-cost healthcare, provided they pay for social security. According to HealthManagement.org, 99.7% of the Spanish population takes advantage of the public healthcare system, and only 3% of the population decides to go with the private sector. This is indicative of the Spanish healthcare system’s high quality, as the vast majority of the country decides to be covered by it.
  3. Cancer and circulatory system diseases are among the most common causes of death in Spain. The data found at statistica.com attests that “diseases related to the circulatory system and neoplasms (cancer) ranked as the main causes of death, both with over 100 thousand cases in 2017.” In addition to this, Spaniards also suffer from chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).
  4. Mental health is taken very seriously in Spain. Taking care of one’s mental health has become a major topic recently, but Spain has always valued the mental health of its citizens. Spain started to realize the importance of mental health in 2006 and has since worked to assist Spaniards with that issue. Spain offers amenities and services including free prescription drugs and has dedicated a portion of its health budget to mental health. For example, according to the WHO, Spain dedicated 5% of its total healthcare budget (6 million euros) to mental health expenditures in the year 2011.
  5. Child healthcare in Spain is taken equally seriously. Along with Spain’s amazing healthcare coverage for adults, this country also offers equally superb healthcare opportunities to children. According to expatica.com, “the healthcare offered to children in Spain includes prenatal and postnatal care, pediatric care up until age 15 (and standard care from a general practitioner afterwards), free vaccinations until age 14, dental care until age 15, access to 23 different types of speciality practitioners, prolonged benefits for children with physical or mental disabilities and free emergency services”.  Evidently, children are taken care of very well in Spain and have access to many amenities and medical opportunities throughout their entire life.

Spain is a country that is home to beautiful landscapes, exquisite cuisine, wonderful people and an amazing healthcare system! It truly earns its spot as one of the best healthcare systems in the world. Spain is a great place to live if someone is looking for a free healthcare system that fully covers all aspects of the medical field.

– Kate Estevez
Photo: Flickr

5 B Corporations You Should Know

B Corporation

B Corporations are businesses that give back to the community by following a set of guidelines for transparency, accountability and that pledge a certain amount of profits for a greater purpose.

Five B Corporations You Should Know

  1. Salt Spring Coffee, Canada
    B Impact Score: 118.4/200
    Salt Spring Coffee is a fair-trade organic coffee company that works with the Nicaraguan farmers to sustainably farm, sell and serve the highest grade of coffee beans on the market. Salt Spring hopes to pave the way for the coffee industry in producing eco-friendly packaging and contributing meaningful donations. The company does this by donating to innovative, eco-conscious projects through their 1% for the Planet fund.  These donations have allowed the company to co-found a Canadian waste-reduction initiative, help install solar panels for isolated Nicaraguan farmers and assist a women-run Ugandan farming co-op.
  2. Hora Salud, Chilé
    B Impact Score: 117.8/200
    Hora Salud is a simple user-friendly app for the rural Chilean populace that allows individuals to schedule and cancel appointments and check-ups online without wasting time. The app uses SMS to schedule and cancel doctors appointments. This allows already-sick individuals to avoid the burden of traveling to a Health Center and waiting in line for hours to book an appointment. Hora Salud may also be used in tandem with other markets to spread relevant information including weather, national emergencies and public policies. Their mission is to “Improve the quality of people’s lives, optimize service delivery and decision making with reliable and quality data.” As one of many B Corporations, Hora Salud promotes healthy business practices and opportunities for rural Chilean people.
  3. BioCarbon Partners, Zambia
    B Impact Score: 177.3/200
    BioCarbon Partners (BCP) operates in and outside of Zambia to offset carbon emissions in the atmosphere by sponsoring payment for eco-friendly business operations. BCP is an African leader in the reforestation carbon offset program. With a mission to “Make conservation of wildlife habitat valuable to people,” BCP is cultivating an ecosystem that protects one of Africa’s largest migration sanctuaries. The company prioritizes community engagement and partnership to incentivize forest protection through long-term habitat protection agreements. BCP calculates the amount of carbon that is not released into the atmosphere due to its project and generates sales of these forest carbon offsets through independent external auditors. BCP then reinvests this revenue into conservation and development projects in local communities that rely on wildlife habitat for income. BCP has created 87 jobs for Zambians and continues to create opportunities for wildlife and humanity alike.
  4. Avante, Brazil
    B Impact Score: 136.1/200
    Avante is the largest benefactor of small businesses in Brazil with more than $200 million invested to serve “micro-companies” that are typically pushed out of the financial industry. Avante functions as a non-conventional financial technology service that uniquely combines credit, insurance and payments. It is currently the largest MFI in Brazil. Avante’s mission is to “humanize financial services,” through a combination of empowerment, ethical business practices and acknowledgment that small businesses are the foundation of a strong economy.
  5. Alma Natura, Spain
    B Impact Score: 153.8/200
    Alma Natura established B Corporation status in 2013 to give back to the Sierra de Huelva community of Spain. The first institution of the business began as a nonprofit. It eventually evolved into a limited partnership as Alma Natura continued to invest in rural businesses, guiding them towards a more sustainable and ethical future. With their increased profits, Alma Natura gave back by funding education, technological development and sanitation, ensuring financial equality and sustainable practices in towns with less government funding. Not only has Alma Natura functioned as a business consultant to guide rural communities towards a more equitable economic future, but their commitment to preserving the planet and providing care and education to disadvantaged agricultural centers places their ranking high among businesses that take responsibility for the betterment of humanity.

– Natalie Williams
Photo: Pixabay

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Domestic Violence and COVID-19: What the Together For Her Campaign is Doing

domestic violence and covid-19

More than 50 female celebrities have pledged funds and support to actress Charlize Theron’s Together For Her Campaign. The campaign’s goal is to address additional cases of gender-based violence that could result from the lockdowns around the globe. When quarantine began, Charlize’s thoughts immediately turned to the people in her native South Africa. Theron had concerns regarding women and children experiencing domestic violence and how COVID-19 could potentially worsen conditions for these women and children.

Domestic Violence and COVID-19

According to the United Nations Population Fund, “Significant levels of lockdown-related disruption over 6 months could leave 47 million women in low- and middle-income countries unable to use modern contraceptives, leading to a projected 7 million additional unintended pregnancies. Six months of lockdowns could result in an additional 31 million cases of gender-based violence.” Although estimates, these numbers reveal the startling consequences that women could face.

There are two main ways the pandemic has led to increased domestic violence. The first is through the disruptions in services provided to prevent abuse and help those who have experienced it. The second is that the lockdowns are tying women down at home where their abusers are.

There have already been increases in abuse. In only the first two weeks of quarantine, calls to the National Hotline on Combating Domestic Violence increased by a reported 25%. Ghadeer Mohammed Ibrahim Qara Bulad, the director of the Women’s Development Project at the Islamic Charitable Association in Homs, Syria, has seen cases firsthand. While raising awareness for disease prevention, she witnessed husbands beating their wives, sometimes openly in front of their children.

Together for Her

Charlize’s organization, the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project (CTAOP), partnered with the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) and CARE to address increased domestic violence during COVID-19. Both were very supportive of the cause and Together For Her. So far, the CTAOP has donated $1 million to fighting the coronavirus, with $500,000 going to the Together For Her Campaign.

Funds from the Together For Her campaign are being distributed to “shelters, psychosocial support and counseling, helplines, crisis intervention, sexual and reproductive health services, community-based prevention and advocacy work to address gender-based violence,” said Charlize in an interview with Vogue.

The campaign has united women across the fields of film, entertainment, sports and more. Some figures that have pledged their support include Octavia Spencer, Amy Schumer, Lauren Conrad, Reese Witherspoon and Viola Davis. Many are survivors of abuse themselves. Viola Davis stated “I am a child survivor of domestic violence. It is the last of the acceptable abuses. It thrives on silence and metastasizes into lifelong trauma that can’t be quantified. The abused have been physically, emotionally and financially incapacitated as a result. They stay…. They are continually abused and, in a lot of cases, killed. Providing funds to give them the means to get out and the emotional support to know they are worthy is everything. They are worthy of better, of real love.”

In the midst of a chaotic pandemic, issues like domestic violence are often overshadowed. Fortunately, Charlize Theron’s Together For Her Campaign is working to ensure that victims of abuse can receive the help and protection they need.

– Alison Ding
Photo: Flickr

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4 Organizations Improving Education in Sierra Leone

Education in Sierra LeoneMany important improvements in educational outcomes have occurred in Sierra Leone since 2015, especially for women and children. The country is bouncing back from the civil war, Ebola crisis and other serious challenges. This progress is partially owed to organizations that help children go to school. Several NGOs and community-based actors support education in Sierra Leone. Here is a small glimpse into the work of many.

4 Organizations Improving Education in Sierra Leone

  1. Street Child: Street Child’s goal is to improve the educational prospects of the world’s poorest and most marginalized children. Since its founding, the organization has helped more than 250,000 children escape poverty and go to school.  It originally started by improving education in Sierra Leone, where it began a project for 100 children in a small northern village. It has since expanded to serve children in ten other countries. Some of its work involves providing young girls with school supplies and giving families financial support. The organization also trains teachers and supplies classroom materials.
  2. Mother’s Club: After setbacks and challenges from the Ebola outbreak, mothers in Sierra Leone began organizing to ensure their children would receive a full education. Mother’s Clubs are village and community-based networks that sell products to fund their children’s schooling. Profits from farming, tye-dyeing, gardening and soap making pay for school supplies, books and uniforms. Thanks to these self-starters, with aid from international partners like UNICEF, communities can help drive positive educational outcomes.
  3. Girls Access to Education (GATE): Funded by U.K. Aid and its partners, Girl’s Access to Education (GATE) aims to help girls from disadvantaged households go to school and enables out-of-school girls to resume their education. Importantly, it also empowers communities to create their own solutions. The net enrollment rates in both primary and secondary education have consistently increased since 2013, due in part to their work. Where the literacy rate for girls ages 15-24 was less than 40% in 2005, that figure rose to 62.7% in 2018. The gap between male and female literacy rates continues to drastically decrease as well. This speaks to an overwhelmingly positive impact on Sierra Leone’s children and youth.
  4. Teach for All: Teach for All is a network of education partners and nonprofits who work together to help inspire change on a global scale. The organization announced Teach for Sierra Leone as its latest partner in July 2020. Similarly to other actors, Teach for Sierra Leone is community-driven and recognizes educational disparities in the country as an urgent issue. They aim to bridge education gaps by recruiting women and teachers from under-resourced schools whose efforts will help break the cycle of global poverty.

A Brighter Future

Overall, these organizations play a critical role in improving access to education in Sierra Leone. Currently, many schools have been disrupted due to COVID-19, but now radio lessons bridge the learning gap until reopening. So long as outside actors continue to provide foreign aid, assist in educational outcomes and empower communities, children in Sierra Leone will be able to reach their fullest potential.

– Rachel Moloney
Photo: Flickr

The Sustainable Guar Initiative Through COVID-19

Sustainable Guar InitiativeGuar is a bean that South Asian farmers have cultivated for centuries. The grain is the source of guar gum, a key ingredient in many products, ranging from condiments to cosmetics. The Sustainable Guar Initiative was launched in 2015 with the goal of improving the livelihoods and incomes of smallholder guar farmers in the Bikaner region, India.

The Sustainable Guar Initiative

The NGO TechnoServe leads the initiative’s on-the-ground implementation. Solvay, L’Oreal, Henkel and HiChem serve as partners of the program.

The initiative benefits more than 7,000 guar-farming households in Bikaner and operates across 36 villages. TechnoServe has facilitated the launch of a farmer producer company, which helps connect guar farmers with potential buyers. The initiative has built a traceable supply chain, which ensures that everyone from the farmers to their crops’ consumers benefits from the exchange.

Additionally, the initiative features social programs aimed at improving the well-being of farming households. One way the initiative achieves this is by educating the families on growing kitchen gardens.

The Impact of COVID-19

As of July 30, India has seen over 1,600,000 people tested positive for COVID-19. Over 40,000 people have tested positive in the state of Rajasthan and, just in the city of Bikaner, over 1,900 contracted the disease.

The Indian government declared a national lockdown on March 25 given the complexity of the situation. Since then, life has changed significantly for smallholder guar farmers in Bikaner and for the people working to support them through the Sustainable Guar Initiative.

TechnoServe’s team in India told The Borgen Project that guar farmers now face various challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many farmers can no longer sell their crops, disrupting the incomes they rely on. Lockdown measures also prevent farmers from finding daily wage labor to supplement their incomes. These farmers face a shortage of resources necessary to continue growing guar, like tractors, seeds, laborers and working capital.

These challenges could pose a real threat to Bikaner’s farmers. Though Rajasthan, the state where Bikaner is located, has made progress toward reducing poverty compared to India’s other low-income states, 15% of Rajasthan’s population still lived below the poverty line in 2012. With their incomes stagnating, guar farmers and others throughout the state could fall into (or deeper into) poverty as the COVID-19 crisis drags on.

Virtual Engagement

TechnoServe and their partners are working to keep smallholder guar farmers from this unpleasant fate. To do so without spreading the virus, TechnoServe has been engaging virtually with farming households since March 2020.

As the TechnoServe team in India told The Borgen Project, the virtual engagement strategy involves multiple communication methods. The team uses text messages, audio calls, video calls and conference audiovisual calls to communicate with households. Local personnel delivers training through digital platforms. Guar farmers who have both good communication skills and access to smartphones are then tasked with disseminating the training information throughout the villages.

Since May 2020, the TechnoServe team has reached approximately 4,959 male farmers and 1,238 female farmers through phone calls alone. The team reported technical difficulties in the switch to virtual engagement but they have been able to work around these challenges and develop closer ties with the farmers through one-on-one virtual interactions.

The TechnoServe team said that after six months, they will review the efficacy and efficiency of these virtual engagement strategies and their impact. The team will also evaluate the state of the COVID-19 outbreak. Based on these two areas of concern, the team will decide whether to continue with virtual engagement through the end of the fiscal year (ending April 2021) or to adjust training methods.

Supporting Farmers

TechnoServe and its partners are also taking larger steps to further the goals of the Sustainable Guar Initiative amid the pandemic. Here are five ways that the initiative is supporting the farmers in the longer term:

  1. Kitchen Gardens: Solvay and L’Oreal established a COVID-19 relief fund. TechnoServe identified over 534 farming families whom the COVID-19 pandemic has made vulnerable. Tapping into the relief fund, the TechnoServe team has facilitated the distribution of seeds to these families. The families can plant these seeds in kitchen gardens, which provide them with more diverse food options and give them a potential second source of income. Growing food at home also allows women to avoid shopping in crowded markets, where they could become infected with COVID-19.
  2. Farming Equipment: TechnoServe is providing 534 vulnerable farming families with weeding, plowing and hoeing equipment for the approaching monsoon season. This equipment will enable the families to continue growing guar once the season starts.
  3. Protection Against COVID-19: TechnoServe is raising awareness about social distancing and safety protocols while providing the smallholder farmers with ways to protect themselves against the virus. The TechnoServe team said they plan to provide Sanitary Protection Equipment to the 534 vulnerable farming households.
  4. Guar Sales: To help farmers who cannot sell their crops during the pandemic, the partners of the Sustainable Guar Initiative have worked together to help peasants sell their guar above the local market price. This allows farmers to pay for daily expenses and invest in another year of crop cultivation.
  5. Price Floor Implementation: Solvay and L’Oreal proposed implementing a price floor for guar. This means that farmers would be guaranteed a reasonable price for their crops. While the initiative’s partners work out the arrangement’s details, Solvay has been offering a price for the farmers’ guar above the market rate.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, so do challenges for the smallholder guar farmers of Bikaner. But thanks to TechnoServe and their partners, the Sustainable Guar Initiative persevered through the crisis. The initiative provides needed support for a vulnerable population during unstable times.

– Emily Dexter
Photo: Flickr