Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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5 Organizations Fighting Child Marriage in Nepal

Child Marriage in Nepal Despite becoming illegal in 1963, child marriage remains a common practice in Nepal. Almost 40 percent of girls in Nepal will be wed before the age of 18, and 10 percent of girls will be married before the age of 15. These statistics place Nepal with the 17th highest prevalence rate of child marriage worldwide. As of 2017, there were 587,000 child brides in the country. The vast majority of these marriages are arranged, sometimes with significant age differences. Furthermore, the brides in child marriages are more likely to experience domestic violence and rape.

Activists claim that prevalence rates are increasing in some districts of the country. This is occurring despite the government announcing in 2014 a target to eradicate child marriage by 2030. However, there are a plethora of organizations working to combat child marriage in Nepal. Many of these organizations are working in tandem with the government to ensure that the 2030 goal is achieved. Keep reading to learn more about the top five organizations fighting child marriage in Nepal.

5 Organizations Fighting Child Marriage in Nepal

  1. UNICEF: The humanitarian branch of the United Nations has been instrumental in both raising awareness and tackling the problem of child marriage in Nepal. In 2016, UNICEF launched the Global Program to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage, focusing on Nepal and 11 other countries. This program manifests through training community religious leaders to advise against child marriage. In addition, efforts include building health posts that protect child brides by teaching them about reproductive health, as well as mobilizing adolescent girls.

  1. Girls Not Brides: Girls Not Brides and UNICEF worked in tandem to craft Nepal’s National Strategy to End Child Marriage in 2016. The plan includes six components: implementing laws and policies, empowering girls, providing quality education for girls, engaging men, mobilizing families and communities to change norms and providing services. One tangible action taken thus far includes raising the legal marriage age to 20. Another action includes providing cash incentives for families to support their daughters’ educations. Girls Not Brides also works closely with a variety of grassroots organizations that address the issue on the ground including Sakcham Rural Nepal, Loo Niva Child Concern Group and Janaki Women Awareness Society.

  2. Kapilvastu Integrated Development Services (KIDS): A partner organization of Girls Not Brides, KIDS works in Kapilvastu, a district in Nepal, to improve women’s health services. Some of its projects include Safe Motherhood through WASH. WASH targets recent mothers, including child brides, to promote hygiene mothering practices such as hospital deliveries. Another project is the Women’s Health Program, which informs poor adolescent girls about their reproductive health to protect young brides.

  3. Loo Niva Child Concern Group: Another Nepali organization, Loo Niva specializes in children’s rights. The organization protects vulnerable children from exploitative practices, such as arranged child marriages. In particular, the organization has worked in the southern Lalitpur rural area. There, the organization promotes intervention education programs about the dangers of child marriage and how it contributes to issues such as school dropouts.

  4. Human Rights Watch: Although not involved in grassroots and community efforts, Human Rights Watch plays an instrumental role. The organization’s efforts hold the Nepali government accountable for its goal to end child marriage. Additionally, it has consistently surveyed the Nepali government’s actions and reported when, for example, the Nepali government delayed releasing in its strategic plan in 2016. This exposure is necessary to pressure the Nepali government to achieve its target.

– Chace Pulley
Photo: Flickr

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5 Modern Innovations Addressing Food Scarcity

Innovations Addressing Food ScarcityFood scarcity is a major problem in the world today. Roughly 795 million people (this equates to one in 9 people) do not have enough food to survive. Specifically, developing countries face the highest levels of food scarcity These statistics, paired with the fact that 1.3 billion tons of food go to waste annually, necessitates reformation. Around the world, people have been working to help resolve this crisis and ensure that the hungry do not starve. These are five modern innovations addressing food scarcity.

5 Modern Innovations Addressing Food Scarcity

  1. SAP Digital Farming: SAP is a company that is working to combat global food shortages through revolutionary technology. After implementing state of the art sensors in crop fields, farmers would download SAP’s digital farm app. Then, the app would relay necessary information to the farmer. This information includes the supply of fertilizer, water needs, soil moisture and crop growth. Importantly, this information makes the agricultural process more efficient by helping the farmer realize optimal harvesting and planting times. Further, these additional benefits will maximize yield while minimizing costs.
  2. M-Farm: M-Farm serves as a tool to help farmers in Kenya. Often, in the case of farmers in developing countries, intermediaries between the producer and consumer will reap the rewards for a task they had very minimal involvement in. Further, the farmers will have a vast amount of their earnings usurped and will be charged ridiculous prices for necessities, carrying on the cycle of poverty. M-Farm enables Kenyan farmers to SMS the number 3555 to get relevant information. This information includes the price of their products and the ability to purchase the necessary equipment for affordable prices. Additionally, M-Farm also relays crucial trends in the local market for farmers to enhance their judgment. The app collects this information independently through location services and analysis.
  3. Share the Meal App: Developed by the World Food Program, the Share the Meal application on iOS and Android phones works to combat starvation across the world. In 2015, four years after the start of the Syrian Civil War, the organization sought to mobilize technology to feed starving children in refugee camps in Jordan. Additionally, the app enables people to donate 50 cents that will go toward securing meals for these children. Currently, the app has enabled over 48 million meals to be distributed to those in need.
  4. Plantwise: Launched in 2011 by the global nonprofit, CABI, Plantwise is a program that helps farmers understand tactics to increase efficiency and yield. CABI established a global plant clinic network that provides farmers with information about plant health. Qualified plant doctors advise farmers on techniques that will reduce the number of pests and diseases that afflict their crops. Plantwise works to disseminate information to farmers in rural areas that have little access to useful information regarding their agriculture. The goal is to emphasize healthy plant habits so farmers lose less yield and are effectively able to produce more food.
  5. Digital Green: The last of these five modern innovations addressing food scarcity, Digital Green uses modern technological advancements to uplift impoverished farmers. The project began in 2008 in India, where workers trained credible officials in villages to use video technology to convey crucial information, including agriculture techniques and market conditions. This effort was widely successful, as Digital Green reached a total of 1.8 million farmers in over 15,000 villages. In addition, this prompted the organization to expand into Ethiopia. There, almost 375,000 farmers were reached, which led to the commencement of initiatives to help farmers in countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Niger and Tanzania.

Finally, it is undeniable that technology plays a very prominent role in society today. Technological innovations have revolutionized the lives of people across the world. Further, these innovations addressing food scarcity are prime examples of this rapid paradigm shift. Progress necessitates change and change is only possible through people working together to absolve adversity in the most effective way possible.

– Jai Shah
Photo: Flickr

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8 Facts About Education in the United Arab Emirates

Facts About Education in the United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates started focusing on building a modern, mass-scale education system after its independence from Britain in 1971. In the past 50 years, the country revolutionized its education system aligning itself both with a modern and Western approach. Below are eight facts about education in the United Arab Emirates.

8 Facts About Education in the United Arab Emirates

  1. The UAE achieved universal education which was part of its ‘Education for All’ initiative, thus focusing on a new challenge for its UAE Vision 2021, that is, quality education. Its primary goal is to create a ‘first-rate education system,’ intended to enable students in the UAE to rank among the best in the world in the fields of mathematics, reading and science. To achieve this, the government proposes a transformation of the education system and intends to use Smart systems and devices as a basis for new teaching methods. In doing so, the UAE aligns its own national agenda to the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, aiming to achieve quality education as its Target 4.
  2. The UAE now focuses on ways to develop the economy outside the hydrocarbons sector and sees education as the key to do so. The core mission of the Ministry of Education’s Strategic Plan 2017-2021 is to develop an education system adapted to generate a high-skilled and knowledge-based competitive economy. The founding father of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, stated that the “greatest use that can be made of wealth is to invest it in creating generations of educated and trained people… [T]he prosperity and success of the people are measured by the standard of their education”.
  3. Literacy is a powerful tool against poverty, and the literacy rate in the UAE has increased from 54 percent among adult men and 31 percent among adult women in 1975 to almost 95 percent for both genders in 2019. Besides this considerable improvement, the government is now working on increasing the inclusivity of the education system to migrant workers too, in order to further close the wealth gap in the UAE.
  4. The education system in the UAE comprises both private and public education. Public education, from primary school through university, is free for all Emirati citizens and is entirely funded by the government. The primary language of instruction is Arabic and English is often taught as a secondary language. Public school enrollment is also accessible to non-UAE citizens, provided they pay a tuition fee, however, only 26 percent of the total enrolled students in the UAE are enrolled in public schools.
  5. Approximately 74 percent of students are enrolled in private schools, representing a huge part of the education system. This is mostly due to the transient nature of the expatriate population that opts for international schools. There is an increasing demand for private-sector education in the UAE, and according to the Boston Consulting Group, there is an expected growth in the education market from $4.4 billion in 2017 to over $7 billion by 2023.
  6. The UAE aims to improve considerably its tertiary education system in order to retain a higher number of Emirati citizens in enrolling in tertiary degrees, as well as attract students from abroad. The UAE has an extremely high outbound student mobility ratio, as 7.1 percent of UAE nationals enrolled in tertiary degrees abroad in 2016. Moreover, its inbound mobility ratio is one of the highest in the world, attaining 48.6 percent in 2016.
  7. The UAE emphasizes the importance of inclusiveness and quality education for all and has signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Optional Protocol in 2006. The government strongly supports people with disabilities/special needs and has included federal laws to protect the rights of people with special, guaranteeing equal education opportunities. In addition, the UAE aims to increase the inclusiveness of special needs children in mainstream educational environments, through various initiatives and as a part of its 2020 agenda.
  8. In 2019, the UAE allocated a $2.79 billion budget to Education, representing 17 percent of its total federal budget. A part of it will go towards the establishment of an Education Support Fund to incentivize partnerships and involvement with the private sector, in order to achieve its upcoming goals and priorities.

 

These eight facts about education in the United Arab Emirates illustrate the achievements and progress made in the country’s education system and highlights the ambitious aims and goals the UAE has for the future.

– Andrea Duleux
Photo: Flickr

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4 Countries Affected by the Measles Outbreak in 2019

Countries Affected by the Measles OutbreakIn 2019, countries around the world faced a significant increase in measles outbreaks. Besides cases in the United States, people in places like the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Brazil, the Philippines and Somalia have suffered from a resurgence of this preventable disease. There are many causes of the global measles outbreak including the mistrust of vaccines, inadequate access to health care and the global childhood immunization gap.

Measles is caused by a virus and spread through respiratory transmission. It is highly contagious but mostly preventable through childhood vaccinations. Mild symptoms of measles include high fever and a rash. More severe effects of the disease include pneumonia, diarrhea and even deafness.

4 Countries Affected by the Measles Outbreak

  1. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC): In the DRC, measles has killed 5,000 people so far in 2019, which is more than twice as many people as Ebola. More than 90 percent of these deaths are children under the age of 5. Further, the measles outbreak has spread throughout all provinces. Lack of access to health care and a shortage of measles vaccines contribute to these deaths. Additionally, weakened immune systems in malnourished children, deficiencies in vitamin A and diseases such as HIV/AIDS also lead to death. UNICEF and other NGOs have distributed more than 1,300 measles kits containing antibiotics, rehydration salts and other drugs to the most impacted areas. UNICEF has also advocated for a longer-term strategy to address the outbreak.

  2. Brazil: Though Brazil had been deemed free of measles in 2015, as of November 2019 the country has had an estimated 50,000 cases of the disease. The highest concentration of measles cases occurred in Sao Paulo, the state with the highest population. Brazilian officials are concerned that people in an isolated tribe in the Amazon may have contracted the disease. This is of particular concern since these people have a low resistance to measles and other diseases. Health officials in Brazil have implemented a measles vaccination campaign to vaccinate millions of young people between the ages of 20-29 in order to contain the outbreak.

  3. The Philippines: Yet another country that has faced a measles outbreak due to distrust in vaccines is the Philippines. The New York Times reports that measles vaccination rates in the country declined from above 80 percent in 2008 to below 70 percent in 2017. Officials have reported nearly 44,000 measles cases in Manila and the surrounding areas as of November 2019. In response to the measles outbreak, along with outbreaks of polio and dengue, the Philippines Red Cross has sought to expand its efforts. This will require recruiting and training some 2,600 volunteers. In the long-term, the Department of Health aims to increase immunization coverage so that 95 percent of children are vaccinated.

  4. Somalia: According to a November 2019 U.N. article, there have been 3,616 suspected cases of measles in Somalia in 2019. In particular, people in IDP camps (for internally displaced people), areas with high population density and nomadic communities are at greater risk. The illness is particularly deadly for children under 5 in Somalia. Unfortunately, one in seven of these children dies before they turn 5. To combat this outbreak, the Somali government has partnered with UNICEF and the WHO to launch a campaign to vaccinate 1.7 million Somali children.

Several countries have faced measles outbreaks in 2019. Increased immunization coverage during childhood could prevent these outbreaks. As these countries affected by the measles outbreak show, access to vaccines and health care is vitally important. In fact, these ailments are often a matter of life and death. Fortunately, NGOs and governments are working together to prevent future measles outbreaks.

– Sarah Frazer
Photo: Flickr

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What is Global Fragility?

What is Global Fragility

Global fragility is a compelling global phenomenon. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has defined it as, “the combination of exposure to risk and insufficient coping capacity of the state, system and/or communities to manage, absorb or mitigate those risks. Fragility can lead to negative outcomes including violence, the breakdown of institutions, displacement, humanitarian crises or other emergencies.”

The 2030 Agenda

Rising global challenges such as climate change, global inequality, the development of new technologies and illegal financial flows, are all aggravating global fragility. Now more than ever before, these challenges most severely affect low and middle-income countries. Global fragility is a pressing issue as poverty is increasingly present in fragile areas and those affected by conflict. It is estimated that by 2030, as much as 80 percent of the world’s extreme poor will be living in fragile areas, becoming both a threat to global security and a prominent barrier to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030.

Within the 2030 Agenda, SDG 16 outlines achieving peaceful, just and equitable societies. Additionally, this SDG emphasizes the importance of sustaining peace and conflict prevention. Peace and conflict prevention are not achievable with increasing global fragility risks and inefficient responses. Indeed, 2016 was the year affected the most by violence and conflict in the past 30 years, killing 560,000 people and displacing the highest number of people in the world since World War II. Moreover, countries that are part of the 2030 development agenda all committed to leaving no-one behind, stressing the need to address fragile areas.

Addressing Global Fragility

Taking into account the elements mentioned above and the existing consensus on the matter, it is fundamental for countries and international organizations to address global fragility and take action by joining efforts. International institutions faced some blame for inadequate performance in fragile states. Recently, efforts began focusing on developing frameworks and tools to address fragility more efficiently. At the core of the solution to global fragility lies resilience. Additionally, this comprises of assisting states to build the capacity to deal with fragility risks and stabilize the country.

For example, the World Bank launched the Humanitarian Development Peace Initiative (HDPI) in partnership with the U.N. to develop new strategies to assist fragile countries. Under this initiative, the U.N. and World Bank will collaborate through data sharing, joint frameworks and analysis, etc. Additionally, the European Commission changed the way it approaches fragility, now concentrating more on the strengths of fragile states rather than their weakness, to assist them in resilience building and empowering them to do so.

All these efforts revolve around a set of core principles, stemming from lessons learned from the past. These mainly include empowering local governments and helping them escape the fragility trap. Another principle revolves around achievements in the long-term. Long-term achievements will ensure sustainability, as transforming deep-rooted governance takes time for effective implementation. Inclusive peace processes prioritizing the security of citizens, along with inclusive politics, are essential in the transformation of fragile states.

The Global Fragility Act

On December 20, the Global Fragility Act was passed as a part of the United States’ FY 2020 foreign affairs spending package, to address fragility more effectively. The Act emphasizes interagency coordination regarding development, security and democracy. In addition, the Act also highlights a more efficient alignment of multilateral and international organizations. As the first comprehensive, whole-of-government approach established by the United States, the efforts plan to prevent global conflict and instability.

The numerous actions and initiatives launched recently illustrate a significant step forward in addressing the threat of fragility. The common consensus between donor countries, multilateral and international institutions must now be translated into concrete actions.

– Andrea Duleux
Photo: Flickr

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Zenvus: Nigerian Startup for Farmers

Zenvus Nigerian startup for farmers
Nigeria is a country located on the western coast of Africa. Unfortunately, Nigeria has the highest number of people living in extreme poverty in the world with 86.9 million. People can attempt to deal with such poverty by making improvements to agriculture. Nigerian startups such as Zenvus have already begun to take initiative. Zenvus is a Nigerian startup for farmers that aims to fight poverty by improving farming conditions.

Products Zenvus Provides for Farmers

Zenvus is a Nigerian startup for farmers that aims to fight against extreme poverty. This company is able to do so by providing an app as well as services that lead to better crop yields and farming productivity for its customers. Farmers can attain better farming productivity through a range of products that Zenvus sells.

Some of the products that Zenvus sells include SmartFarm and Yield. SmartFarm is an electronic sensor that is able to keep track of important soil components such as humidity, temperature, pH, moisture and nutrients. This product collects data on a machine that is solar-powered. The machine sends information to the user’s desktop or mobile device. Being able to receive this information at any moment will enable farmers to be able to grow healthier crops.

Yield is a camera that one can use to capture images of their crops. The app can take these images and provide helpful information in regards to dealing with stressed crops, droughts, outbreaks, pests and diseases. This camera allows for farmers to prevent situations that could significantly weaken their profits. The information provided through data that the SmartFarm sensor and camera from Yield give will allow for much less guessing when it comes to farming in Nigeria. The further productivity that the Zenvus brings should improve the economy.

What Services Does Zenvus Provide?

Along with the products that Zenvus sells, it also provides a number of services. These services include zCapital, zCrowdfund, zInsure and zMarkets. All of these services aim to improve the lives of farmers and their crop yields. In order to raise money for their efforts, farmers can use zCrowdfund to get loans from local people in exchange for food. This app also makes selling one’s products much easier. Through zMarkets farmers can use the app as a digital market to sell their food. Farmers can buy farming insurance through zInsure in order to protect their assets. As these services go to show, this app aims to allow for larger profits in terms of agriculture.

Why is it Necessary?

A Nigerian startup for farmers such as Zenvus is important to have in Nigeria. Zenvus aims to fight against extreme poverty by improving agricultural production. A focus on agriculture is so important due to the amount of potential it has to improve people’s lives. The U.S. Government’s Global Hunger & Food Security Initiative reported that agriculture employs 75 percent of Nigeria’s total labor force.

One of Nigeria’s most grown products is cassava. Nigeria is the largest producer of cassava in the world, accounting for 20 percent of the world’s total production. As these numbers go to show, agriculture is already quite present throughout the lives of many people in Nigeria. This goes to further show why apps that aim to improve farming, such as Zenvus, are so important.

Within recent years, the production of agriculture in Nigeria has increased. Since 2010, Nigeria has seen an increase in quarterly profits from agriculture. In the first quarter of 2010, numbers were as low as ₦’2,594,759.86, whereas, in 2019, there were reports as high as ₦’5,408,978.92 in the third quarter. From the years 2011 to 2014, the national food production in Nigeria grew by 21 million metric tonnes. During this period, a rise in jobs related to farming also occurred. From 2012 to 2014, 3.56 million jobs related to farming emerged.

These numbers show that agriculture has the potential to help fight poverty and create jobs throughout Nigeria. A Nigerian startup for farmers such as Zenvus can make a significant amount of farming in Nigeria easier. Zenvus claims to be providing the same products and services as big brands for 10 percent of the cost. Another major thing that Zenvus’s products are able to accomplish is a 70 percent reduction in water usage for crops.

Since first coming out in 2014, the SmartFarm has been able to reach over 500,000 farming entities throughout Nigeria, Botswana, Ghana and Rwanda. Zenvus has been able to reach a large number of people throughout western Africa at reasonable and low costs.

Agriculture already plays a significant role in Nigeria and has the potential to grow even further. As of 2017, agriculture was the third-largest part of Nigeria’s GDP, at 20.85 percent. In order to deal with the pressing issue of poverty, it would be smart for the government to invest in agriculture as well as a Nigerian startup for farmers, such as Zenvus, that provides innovative products and services.

– James Turner
Photo: Flickr

Energy Improvements in Peru

Energy in PeruAccess to electricity is oftentimes the precursor to further development of a region or country. Without electricity, there can be no significant upgrades in sanitation, health care, education, productivity, cooking, modern technology and internet access. Many of the sectors listed require development; however, much of Peru does not have access to these modern standards. As a result, Peru has begun to critically focus on energy accessibility in recent years.

Energy Access in Peru

The population percentage that has access to energy in Peru has increased from around 65 percent of people in 1992 to 95 percent in 2015. Much of the increase has come from Peru’s transition to mixing its energy sector with crude oil and natural gas thermal plants. Previously, Peru operated mainly on domestic hydropower plants.

Peru’s natural gas reserves primarily come from domestic sources. This includes sources such as the Camisea field and imports from Ecuador since the Andes have gas in abundance. Following natural gas, Peru’s oil sector is largely reliant on U.S. imports. From 2008 to 2014, the amount of crude oil imported from the U.S. has increased threefold.

Problems with Energy in Peru

Transitioning to a greater fossil fuel dependence is harmful to the environment; however, it has given the Peruvian population better access to electricity and has made energy in Peru much cheaper. Currently, the average price of electricity in Peru is around $13.4 c/kWh. Comparatively, the average price of electricity in the U.S. is about $13.19 c/kWh. Theoretically, once people have better access to electricity, their quality of life will improve. Additionally, incomes should increase, as well as further infrastructure development with greater energy access.

The biggest disparity of energy access is prevalent in the same regions with the biggest wealth disparities: rural areas. Only about 76 percent of those who live in the Peruvian countryside have access to electricity, as compared to 100 percent of those who live in cities. While 24 percent may not seem like a large number, this equates to about 1.6 million people that are still without electricity in rural areas.

Energy Improvement Initiatives

This does not mean that Peru is doing nothing to address the energy situation in rural areas. One such infrastructure overhaul initiative is the Peru Second Rural Electrification Project (RE2). This project follows up on RE1, which had already contributed to the increased regulation of the energy sector. RE1’s efforts also allowed for much more stable electricity access in rural communities. This was done through subsidizing solar home energy systems (SHS) and through developing online resources for private energy sources in order to more efficiently manage energy consumption.

RE2 expanded on RE1’s plan to increase physical electricity connections and promote self-sufficient energy sources like SHS’s. This is in addition to totally upgrading the Peruvian rural energy structure to grid extension and off-grid solar extensions. Ultimately, the plan brought electricity to more than 160,000 new people with roughly 48,000 of these people using SHS’s. The project, funded through the Peruvian government, loans/grants from NGOs and a $50 million loan from the World Bank, also takes the socioeconomic impact of increased electrification into account. Through the project’s provisions, those who have never used electricity in an extended manner before were educated on safe electricity use and how to limit consumption. In addition, 12,300 training kits were distributed to rural communities that have new access to electricity.

Future Access

Through efforts from the Peruvian government and international organizations, energy access in Peru has continued to improve over the past three decades. Not only is electricity more easily accessible for Peruvians, but it is also cheap enough to adequately distribute. By properly educating the rural population on the safe use of electricity, Peru has also better ensured a low level of electrical accidents. In this way, Peru is doing all the right things to facilitate a quicker, safe and ethical development of its rural communities that will ensure a better future for all Peruvians.

– Graham Gordon
Photo: Flickr

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The Impact of the 2011 Somalia Famine

The Horn of Africa is the easternmost region of Africa. It is comprised of four countries: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia. In 2011, the countries in the Horn of Africa were severely impacted by what was known as the “worst drought in 60 years.” Somalia was affected the worst due to a combination of extreme weather conditions and civil disorder. On July 20, 2011, the U.N. declared a famine in southern and central Somalia, specifically in Lower Shabelle, Mogadishu and the Bay area where acute malnutrition rates among children exceeded 30 percent. People were unable to access basic necessities. More than two people per 10,000 were dying daily. Inevitably, the famine led to high mortality rates. Nearly 260,000 people died by the end of the 2011 Somalia famine with more than half of the victims being children under five years old.

Cause and Effect of the 2011 Drought

Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, cited poor rainfall for two consecutive seasons was the cause of the severe 2011 East Africa drought. Crops in Somalia are typically planted when the first rain of the season occurs in either March or April. However, the rains were late and inadequate, which caused late planting and harvesting.

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network had predicted the harvest in southern Somalia to be 50 percent below average. In addition to this, pastures were sparse due to the intensifying drought, which ultimately led to the rapid loss of livestock. Crop failure coupled with poor harvests and limited livestock reduced food availability. As a result, food prices increased substantially. This ultimately intensified the severe food crisis in Somalia.

Government vs. al-Shabaab

Due to limited resources, a conflict began to grow over food and water. Additionally, civil disorder worsened the famine conditions as the militant Islamic group, al-Shabaab, was at war with the government over control of the country. Food aid was delayed in south-central Somalia—two al-Shabaab controlled regions—because the terrorist group banned numerous humanitarian agencies from distributing food and assistance to starving citizens of the region.

Al-Shabaab threatened citizens with brutal punishment, including execution, if they dared try to escape the region. Despite these terroristic threats, 170,000 citizens of southern Somalia fled to Kenya and Ethiopia to escape the famine conditions that plagued the country. Unfortunately, this resulted in a substantial number of deaths due to severe malnutrition, overpopulated and unsanitary living conditions.

Foreign Aid to Somalia

The United Nations estimated that 3.2 million people in Somalia were in need of immediate help. At least 2.8 million of those citizens were inhabitants of south Somalia. Numerous United Nations agencies, including the World Food Programme (WFP), the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), united to provide relief to the victims of the 2011 Somalia famine. Although the conflict between rival groups initially left the south-central region of Somalia isolated from foreign aid, humanitarian agencies persisted in helping the citizens of Somalia.

The United Nations assisted in raising more than $1 billion for relief efforts across the region to reduce malnourishment and mortality rates. In addition to this, heavy rains in the fall season replenished the land, allowing a successful crop season and a bountiful harvest. In February 2012, the lethal conditions that once swept across the nation had improved. The United Nations declared the famine that plagued Somalia was finally over.

Where Does Somalia Stand Now?

In June 2019, the United Nations declared that countries of the Horn of Africa were at risk of another famine due to another drought. Five million people were at risk of this potential famine with Somalians accounting for a majority of the at-risk population. The Under-Secretary-General and emergency relief coordinator, Mark Lowcock, stated that he allocated $45 million from the U.N. emergency relief fund to help purchase food and other basic necessities. A majority of the $45 million was allocated for Somalia as 2.2 million people could face another severe food crisis similar to the 2011 Somalia famine.

The United Nations recognized that Somalia has suffered from several occurrences of food insecurity. The organization has taken the initiative to prevent another famine from occurring in Somalia by acting early, allocating funds and raising awareness about the issue.

– Arielle Pugh
Photo: Flickr

The Impact of Cash Transfers in sub-Saharan Africa

Cash Transfers in sub-Saharan AfricaCash transfer programs have expanded dramatically in the last decade in the sub-Saharan Africa region. It has become the key to social protection strategies and economic empowerment in developing countries. These programs can be either conditional or unconditional, with the majority of the programs’ objectives to improve health, educational status and food security in the most impoverished populations, particularly for children.

Skepticism of Cash Transfers

Even though the social objectives of these programs are respectable, many feel skeptical about their effectiveness. The common concern about giving cash to the poor revolves around the recipient living off and becoming dependent on the cash assistance without actually addressing the root of the problem.

Cash transfers in sub-Saharan Africa target extremely poor and labor-constrained households. The purpose of these cash transfers is to stimulate positive changes in behavior and increase demands for services. The transfers are also distinctive from programs in other regions due to their “soft” conditions. This means no penalties for nonfulfillment and low monitoring due to the associated cost of enforcement.

Benefits in the Long-term

A study looking at six countries, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho and Malawi, found positive livelihood impacts from cash transfers in sub-Saharan Africa. They found that a small amount of cash allows the beneficiaries to make better choices, which leads to better livelihood outcomes in the long-term.

In particular, cash transfers reduced negative risk-coping strategies. This included begging or taking children out of school, in Malawi, Ethiopia and Lesotho. Beneficiaries of cash transfers are also able to support other households or receive better social protection systems and manage risks.

Much of the research seems to confirm the general positive impacts that the cash transfers have in sub-Saharan Africa. Cash transfers not only alleviate poverty by redistributing resources to the poor but also foster an individual’s economic autonomy and self-sufficiency. Additionally, research also finds an increase in school attendance for the beneficiaries; however, the quality of education does not necessarily increase.

Working Less?

Further, there is limited evidence suggesting that cash transfers would contribute to adults working less. On the contrary, cash transfer programs can lead to more productive labor activities. The cash transfer program in Zambia led to a 34 percent increase in the use of agricultural inputs. This, in turn, led to a 50 percent growth in the value of overall production. Similarly, cash transfer programs in Lesotho, Ghana and Malawi also brought about an increase in investment in livestock ownership and other agricultural activities.

Nonprofit Efforts

A nonprofit organization, GiveDirectly, has been distributing cash to the poor in sub-Saharan African countries for a decade. Recently, researchers partnered with the organization and conducted an experiment to study the impact of cash transfers in sub-Saharan Africa by giving $1,000 to more than 10,500 households in a Kenyan village over the course of eight months. Findings indicated that every $1 of cash delivered generated $2.60 in additional spending or income in the area. Consequently, cash transfers benefited not only the individual recipients but the overall economy in each locality.

The research on the impacts of cash transfers in sub-Saharan Africa supports the positive effects of these programs. Further, these benefits extend to both beneficiaries and their non-recipient neighbors. There is little to no evidence suggesting that cash transfers can reduce labor supply or work efforts of the recipient households. Cash transfers not only provide monetary means to alleviate basic immediate needs, but also allow recipients to make better life choices and invest in productive economic activities.

– Minh-Ha La
Photo: Flickr

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10 Facts About Freshwater and Sanitation in Bahrain

Facts About Freshwater and Sanitation in Bahrain
Bahrain’s name comes from the Arabic al-bahrayn, which means two seas. Two kinds of water surround the country, sweet water and salty water. Meanwhile, Bahrain is located in the Arabian Gulf – one of the largest oil-producing regions of the world.

Despite the surrounding countries’ high oil supply levels, Bahrain has small stores of oil. Instead of oil drilling, the country imports crude oil from its surrounding countries. The country processes crude oil and exports the refined product.

Bahrain has gained increasing wealth from its refined oil exports. This wealth attracts migrants to come and settle in Bahrain as well as other Gulf Cooperation Council states including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman. The level of migration resulted in a 48 percent migrant population and the growing population is increasing strains on the country’s freshwater and other sanitation resources.

Despite the struggle to keep pace with migration, Bahrain’s government says it is making strides toward improving, upgrading and expanding sanitation facilities for its growing population. Below are 10 facts about freshwater and sanitation in Bahrain.

10 Facts About Freshwater and Sanitation in Bahrain

  1. Improving Sanitation: Ninety-five percent of Bahrain’s populace connects to a central sewage network. This is because the country adopted sanitation facilities before many of the other countries in the region. Bahrain’s sewage system structure is old with sanitation facilities dating to the 1970s and making the facilities for wastewater treatment inadequate. To combat this inadequacy, Bahrain added new treatment plants and expanded existing ones. Bahrain plans to construct a deep gravity sewer project to cover large areas of the country. Gulf Construction online stated that the country is making progress with its sewage treatment plant in Muharraq and that it was in the commissioning phase as of 2014.
  2. Oil Pollution: Bahrain developed its oil industry without concern for its fertile land. This lack of concern resulted in the oil pollution of natural groundwater reservoirs. Pollution from this oil development increased during the Persian Gulf War, which resulted in damage to oil facilities in the Gulf Region.
  3. Freshwater: Bahrain contains the lowest endowments of freshwater resources in the world, which affects its freshwater availability. Bahrain’s average annual rainfall hovers around 80 mm and its evapotranspiration hovers around 1850 mm. There are no rivers, continuously flowing streams or lakes. The country obtains groundwater from the lateral underflow of the Dammam aquifer. Freshwater share among Bahrain’s populace is in decline. The share went from 525 m3 per year in 1970 to 100 m3 per year in 2001, placing the country’s freshwater share less than the 500 m3 per year capita water poverty line. These levels are likely to further decline and even halve due to the country’s continual population increase.
  4. Water Salination: Bahrain’s groundwater suffers from degradation in quantity and quality from over-extraction, seawater invasion, oil spills and other industrial discharges. The over-utilization of the Dammam aquifer by Bahrain’s agricultural and domestic sectors causes water salination. As a result, desalination provides at least 60 percent of Bahrain’s freshwater.
  5. Desalination: Desalination plants pose a threat to the environment. The seawater used contains high quantities of boron and bromide. The process used to desalinate removes calcium and other essential minerals. The salt leftover from desalination goes into the ocean increasing the salinity of the water. The increased salinity causes harm to the environment and is among the costliest ways to produce water because of the high amount of energy required. Therefore, higher water and energy costs can also pose a challenge to the people who need it.
  6. Basic and Improved Sanitation Availability: Ninety-nine percent of Bahrain’s population uses basic sanitation resources. Bahrain’s government claims 100 percent of its population is using improved and safe drinking water sources, 100 percent of the population benefit from improved sanitation services and 100 percent of the wastewater receives safe treatment. The CIA said Bahrain improved sanitation access for 99 percent of its population. Index Mundi claimed that the country’s freshwater access improved from 94 percent of the country having access in 1990 to 100 percent having access in 2015.
  7. Unequal Freshwater Access: The Bahraini people’s access to freshwater is unequal. The cleanliness of the water is dependent upon how close or far away the water sources are from the Alkalifa family, the ruling family of Bahrain. East Riffe, the location of the Alkalifa family palace, contains cleaner water than Sitra, Ma’ameer, Duraz and Bani Jamra. These are areas where the Baharna community, a community that has faced a long history of discrimination in the region, live. When the people of these areas drink the water there is a high chance of contracting long-term diseases and other health-related problems.
  8. Water Scarcity and The Green Climate Fund: Since Bahrain is located in an arid environment, estimates determine that water scarcity will increase as the temperature of the planet increases due to sea-level rise. Sea-level rise causes surrounding seawater to intermix with the ground freshwater, which decreases freshwater availability. Bahrain applied to the Green Climate Fund – a fund within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to assist developing countries to take steps to prevent climate change – to address the problems that climate change poses.
  9. Rising Population: Bahrain contains one of the highest population densities in the world and its population is increasing. Eighty-nine percent of Bahrain’s population lives in urban areas. The population level and the continual population increase created a demand for freshwater that exceeds the country’s natural resources.
  10. Waste Generation and Government Initiatives: Bahrain generates above 1.2 million tons of solid waste per year making the country one of the world’s leading per capita solid waste generators. Estimates determine that daily garbage production exceeds 4,500 tons. Waste accumulation increases at a rapid pace. The waste is likely to affect the quality of air, soil and groundwater in Bahrain. Bahrain’s government launched recycling initiatives, a waste-to-energy project and a public awareness campaign in response to combat waste accumulation.

While the rising population and aging sewage system strain the availability of resources, Bahrain’s government is making efforts to address a number of the 10 facts about freshwater and sanitation in Bahrain. Bahrain’s works ministry invited companies to bid for a contract to build new sewage treatment plants in the country in 2014. U.S. companies could also help build effective waste management facilities by bringing ideas on how to improve each of the 10 facts about freshwater and sanitation of Bahrain.

– Robert Forsyth
Photo: Flickr