Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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The Threat that Water Scarcity Poses to Farmers

Water Scarcity Poses to Farmers
How is it possible to grow more food with less water without hurting small-scale subsistence farmers? This was a joint question in 2013 from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and later on, the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of South Africa. The result was the establishment of Securing Water for Food (SWFF) to address the increasing threat that water scarcity poses to farmers, particularly those in poverty.

Securing Water for Food

Securing Water for Food is beneficial to reducing the threat that water scarcity poses to farmers. The program operates as a grantmaker, meaning that it awards business grants to social entrepreneurs based on the viability of their idea and the ability to positively impact individuals in the agricultural community.

Between smallholder farms, families and other customers, SWFF has benefitted more than 6.25 million individuals. It has done this by teaching efficient methods of irrigation, crop rotation and technology to grow more food while using less water. According to USAID, SWFF has exhibited an extremely high return on investment. Each $1,000 of donor funding spent impacted more than 240 end users, enhanced water management on 685 hectares (~1,273 acres), decreased the consumption of water by more than 1.2 million liters (~317,000 gallons), produced more than 400 tons of produce and created more than $350 in future sales. In total, more than five million acres have benefited from improved methods of agricultural production, water storage and management.

SWFF’s Impact

Local innovators have improved lives across Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia, and particularly in areas that are at higher risk for droughts and inconsistent precipitation. Advances such as turning organic waste into renewable energy have benefitted farmers in Uganda. Meanwhile, the adoption of sustainable cattle ranching practices in South Africa have impacted local communities and allowed women to obtain jobs as eco-rangers.

 USAID estimates that approximately 70 percent of all water used goes toward agriculture. This is why the main focus of SWFF revolves around producing higher volume crops more efficiently and with less water. Across the program, farmers have experienced a variety of yield increases—some as high as 186 percent. They have also aggregately reduced water consumption by 18.6 billion liters (~4.9 million gallons) in comparison to traditional practices and bettered water storage capacity by 16.9 million liters (~4.9 million gallons).

SWFF assessments place 63 percent of innovation end-users at or near the poverty line. Additionally, 65 percent of the innovations that SWFF gave grants to aim to reduce poverty. Of the beneficiaries surveyed, 95 percent reported greater water efficiency, 90 percent stated improved access to water, 82 percent reported increased income and 72 percent displayed increased agricultural productivity.

All of these statistics illustrate how Securing Water for Food is effectively fighting to reduce poverty. As evidenced, SWFF has produced success for farmers, but it also provides new opportunities for investments and technological innovation, both of which can go towards further reducing poverty in the future. Innovators from SWFF have used their platform to leverage partnerships with outside organizations, which reduces the amount of funding they will require from aid programs in the future.

Innovators gained $350 in sales from every $1,000 of aid, which shows that aid is not static and provides dynamic benefits after the initial disbursement. Securing Water for Food is an effective example of reducing the threat that water scarcity poses to farmers, and it is just one of the many programs that USAID funds with less than one percent of the federal budget.

– Evan Williams
Photo: Flickr

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3 Efforts to Protect Women’s Rights in Africa

Gender inequality is one of the biggest issues in many African countries. In many regions, women stop attending school when they begin menstruating while others have high rates of child marriage. Many women around the world are also often subject to gender discrimination in the workplace. That said, today, more than ever there are numerous individuals and organizations that have taken a stand to improve women’s rights in Africa.

3 Efforts to Protect Women’s Rights in Africa

  1. Ayisat Yusuf-Aromire and Fellow Female Soccer Players
    In Africa, soccer is seen by many as a man’s profession; as such, female players have an enormous pay gap compared to their male counterparts (female players earn R5,000 (approximately $338) for every game won while men take home R60,000 (around $4,000).Along with a large pay gap, women’s soccer teams also receive less media coverage and funding. Many of these women are also victims of abuse and harassment as a result of being athletes. In response to all of this, many these players have been conducting protests and sit-ins. They have been supported in part by the SheFootball Initiative, a nonprofit organization that aims to empower women by educating and motivating female soccer players in Africa. The founder, Ayisat Yusuf-Aromire (a former soccer player herself), began the organization because she wanted to get rid of the cultural stigma that women should not take part in athletics. So far, Yusuf-Aromire’s work has seemed to pay off, as the organization has become a major voice in women’s soccer in Africa.
  2. Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah
    In many parts of Africa, individuals are not properly educated on safe sex practices, and this can lead to high teen pregnancy and HIV/AIDS rates. To help better educate young people about these issues, Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah, who works as the director of communications for the Association for Women’s Rights in Development, has created a blog called Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women. The blog aims to provide a safe space where African women can discuss sex and sexuality issues and become educated on safe sex. Resources like these are a great first step towards reducing rates of HIV/AIDS and teen pregnancy in Africa.
  3. Kudirat Abiola, Temitayo Asuni and Susan Ubogu
    Child marriage has become increasingly prevalent in Africa, especially in Nigeria, where roughly 44 percent of girls are married before they turn 18. To combat this, Kudirat Abiola (15), Temitayo Asuni (15) and Susan Ubogu (16) began It’s Never Your Fault, a nonprofit organization that aims to reduce child marriage in Nigeria. The organization has started a petition for the government to raise the minimum age for consent to marriage from age 11 to age 18. To date, the petition has gained more than 130,000 signatures globally.

– Chelsea Wolfe
Photo: Flickr

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Female Entrepreneurship in Mexico

Female Entrepreneurship in Mexico
According to a 2016/2017 study by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, Mexico is one of the five countries in the world where the number of women starting their own businesses is equal to or greater than men. This is fantastic news because if men and women participate equally in the economy, Mexico’s GDP could increase by 43 percent or $810 billion. From 2000 to 2010 alone, women’s participation in the workforce decreased extreme poverty by 30 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean. With that increase in female entrepreneurship in Mexico, women are able to become more independent, but many women still face powerful barriers in starting their own business.

Many women, especially in subsistence settings, lack access to training, financing and markets, and face physical, sexual and economic violence. The average female-headed household earns $507 a month in urban areas and $273 a month in rural areas while male-led households earn $780 a month in urban areas and $351 a month in rural areas. The burden of domestic tasks also falls mostly on women. A 2009 survey found that men spend an average of 53 hours a week on economic activities and 12 hours on domestic tasks while women spend an average of 40 to 45 hours a week earning money and 20 hours maintaining the family and household.

The Marketplace Literacy Project

Elena Olascoaga, a gender and development consultant and former project manager for the Marketplace Literacy Project in Mexico, is very familiar with the challenge successful female entrepreneurship in Mexico faces. Olascoaga describes the Marketplace Literacy Project as an initiative to help people in subsistence settings become entrepreneurs by acknowledging the skills they already have in the marketplace and giving them the tools to build on and market pre-existing skills.

According to Olascoaga, the founder of this methodology and workshop program, Professor Madhu Viswanathan, tried to bring this program to Mexico for a long time before finding a U.S. State Department grant intended for breaking cycles of violence against women due to economic dependency. He initially designed the program to be gender-neutral so Olascoaga came in because her background in gender consultancy allowed her to effectively factor the unique challenges female entrepreneurship in Mexico faces to the workshops. She added a new program to the methodology that she called autonomy literacy, because, although the program teaches participants to create their own income, it is often difficult for people in abusive situations to start a business, even if they have the know-how.

The Need for Female Entrepreneurship in Mexico

While Mexico has made great strides to improve gender equality, there is often still a cultural emphasis for women to become mothers and housewives, to a point where Olascoaga describes economic dependence as romanticized. Many consider women lucky if they do not have to work because their husband provides food and shelter. However, this kind of love can be a trap. If the husband is the only provider, then the wife is not building her own savings or gaining experience in the workforce. “If something goes wrong in the relationship, then they have nowhere else to go,” she said.

In an interview by Forbes Magazine, hotel owner Gina Lozada said that “…Most parents don’t educate their girls to succeed in business. On the contrary, it is normal that women are raised to believe that their goal should be to marry and take care of the family.” Often, because female entrepreneurship in Mexico does not receive emphasis, women feel that they do not have many options and lack the confidence to start their own company.

Olascoaga observes that, because women in subsistence settings feel that they cannot strike out of their own, they often stay with their abuser. “A common phrase is no se hacer nada which is I don’t know how to do anything,” she says. Autonomy training, when combined with marketplace literacy training, teaches women that they do know how to do something. For example, they might be good cooks or skilled embroiderers. The methodology of the Marketplace Literacy Project is to build on preexisting knowledge and teach women to recognize their skills and to think strategically about their resources.

Autonomy Literacy

“We want women to be aware that they can create their income,” said Olascoaga. In the workshops, the Marketplace Literacy Project works with women in two age groups, women older than 18 and girls 14 to 18 years old. In her experience, almost all the women older than 18 had been in violent relationships where they stayed with their aggressors because they did not have economic independence. Some among the younger group were already mothers and in violent relationships where they had the potential to work and build skills, but their partners would not let them.

As the younger group went through the program, though, many of them began to realize that their mothers, aunts and other relatives were living in similar situations. One struggle that she noted when working with women is that they will not recognize that they are living in an abusive situation, especially to a group of strangers, so they instead speak in hypotheticals. The participants may know someone in this situation, and if they did, they would express how they could help.

The Marketplace Literacy Project, though, has helped give more than 4,500 women tools for economic independence since its start in 2016. Olascoaga said that those who participate have two major takeaways. The first is that autonomy becomes a very important concept and the second is that they do not need money to start a business. Olascoaga was happy to report that women will often come up to her and say that, after the workshop, they started businesses by selling cookies or embroidering. “It might seem small to us,” Olascoaga said, “but for them, it’s a really big deal.”

With female entrepreneurship in Mexico on the rise, more and more women are not only finding empowerment in their lives but changing the world around them by challenging a culture that often devalues their work.

– Katharine Hanifen
Photo: Flickr

 

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Top 8 Facts about Education in Slovenia

Education in Slovenia

Lying in central Europe is Slovenia, a country known for its mountainous terrain and as the land which once made up Yugoslavia. A small country, Slovenia is rather young and hasn’t made a large splash in global discussion yet. Still, it’s a country with classic European sights and environments that are perfect for an adventurous spirit. The country also has a more industrial side. Its society moves forward through the years and is powered by a productive education system. Here are eight facts about education in Slovenia that show what’s beyond the mountains.

Top 8 Facts About Education in Slovenia

  1. Slovenia has three options for secondary education. They are vocational, technical and general programs. Vocational education specializes in skills that go directly towards the workforce and the degree takes approximately two to three years to complete. Technical education degrees take about four years to complete and vary in topic. General education refers to academic pursuits that precede the international baccalaureate degree.
  2. The education system as a whole is split into three levels. The first is basic education, which is a required foundational portion for all Slovenia citizens and lasts from age six to age 15. At the end of the basic level, students must pass a nationwide exam to move into the next tier, secondary education. The secondary level is split into three groups with only two of them actually taking students further in their academic journey. If they chose one of these options—either general or vocational programs—then they can take another exam and, should they pass, partake in higher education, the final level of the system. Depending on the student’s choice they can participate in either vocational college or university.
  3. The educational system is primarily managed by the National Education Institute of Slovenia (NEI). The organization works with the Ministry of Education to efficiently run the schooling network. The NEI’s primary goal is to improve and maintain the quality, results and overall education for the students. The institute hopes to achieve this through the monitoring of various aspects of the schools themselves, from the encouragement of professional development to regimented operational conditions.
  4. The basic public elementary schooling in Slovenia is fully obtainable by all children due to the country’s compulsory education laws. Tuition is free and includes health insurance and medical examinations. Transportation is provided for younger children if they live within four kilometers of the school building. The schools are also required to provide meals for cost, though children from lower-income families can purchase the food at a reduced cost.
  5. Slovenia’s overall number of students in tertiary education—schooling post the high school level—has dropped in recent years. According to the Republic of Slovenia Statistical Office, the 2016-17 academic year presented 79,547 enrolled students. This is a drop of about 1,000 students from the prior year and a drop of nearly 36,000 students in the last decade. These numbers are similar to the 1998-99 academic year, which shows this trend won’t necessarily continue forward; rather, there could be an uptick in the next ten years, should history repeat itself.
  6. As previously mentioned, tertiary education is split between two categories, vocational and academic schooling. The tuition of this level, in both fields of study, is fully paid for native students. Part-time, post-graduate and foreign students have to pay separate tuition fees. Both vocational and academic study offer a variety of financial aid options, though student loans are not among these choices.
  7. Completion of secondary education, or general high school level, is rising in Slovenia. As of 2003, the completion rate itself was at 90.7 percent and that same year showed that 76.8 percent of all adults aged 25 to 64 had completed high school in their lifetime. The secondary education system prepares a student for two paths: the vocational route and the general studies route. As previously mentioned, general studies refer to academic pursuit of higher education, or in other words, university. The vocational route focuses more on practical skills and prepares a student for more labor-intensive work.
  8. The percentage of women in tertiary education has always been high for Slovenia. In the past ten years, female participation in higher education has increased by 16 percent, going from 40 to 56. Comparatively, the percentage of men has increased 13 percent in the same time span, from 20 to 33. As is evident with the numbers, there are more women in higher education than men—which showcases an empowering trend for women in the system.

Slovenia, despite being a smaller country, has a high functioning education system. The compulsory primary education pushes students out the door and offers opportunities in the exploration of knowledge. The split between vocational and academic study encourages both intelligence and industrialization within the country. As education is fully affordable, students are given the best chances possible to succeed in life. If one were to visit Slovenia, they might be more interested in the sights than the society—but one look at their schooling showcases an up-and-coming force in the world which one ought to pay attention to.

– Eleanora Kamerow
Photo: Flickr

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Using Tech to Fight Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo
With a population of more than 85 million people, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has struggled with political and social instability since the Belgian conquest in the early 20th century. More than 100 armed groups are active in the DRC to this day. The second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, where more than 1,600 people have died, rages against this backdrop of violence. Since the virus’s discovery in 1976, the DRC has had 10 documented Ebola outbreaks, including this most recent one.  Despite these grim circumstances, a group of Congolese tech-savvy youth has developed an unlikely weapon against Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; an app called Lokole.

Ebola is a virus that causes fever, sore throat and muscle weakness and later progresses to vomiting, diarrhea and internal and external bleeding. Patients die due to dehydration and multiple organ failure. Developed during the West African epidemic of 2014-2016 where more than 11,000 people died, the investigational vaccine called rVSV-ZEBOV is currently in use to fight the outbreak in the DRC under the Compassionate Use Clause since no one has commercially licensed it to date.

What is Lokole?

In addition to medical interventions, the Congolese Ministry of Health is seeking technological tools. Through collaboration with Internews and Kinshasa Digital, it organized a hackathon in March 2019 which brought 50 students in communications, medicine, journalism and computer science together. These students divided into teams of approximately seven members, and each team sought to answer the question: “How can Ebola response teams leverage new technologies to achieve their communication goals at the local, national and international level?” Thrown together for the first time, Emmanuel, Ursula, Aurore, Joel, David, Israël and Maria worked for 24 hours and emerged with Lokole, the winning technology.

Lokole is an Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) mobile application that is “designed to facilitate the real-time transmission of data and information between communities and the Ebola response teams” despite poor internet connectivity in rural areas. This team of seven chose the name Lokole because it is the name of a traditional Congolese drum Congolese people use to transmit messages over long distances. With this app, they hope to increase communication about the spread of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

USSD technology is a text-based communication system used by Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) cellphones, which are used in most countries except for the U.S. and Russia. Even though text-based communication might seem outdated with smartphones in the picture, smartphone use across Africa is less than 35 percent and even those with smartphones might not have access to data plans. As such, a real-time mobile to mobile communication platform based on USSD technology is inherently more inclusive, cheaper and more useful.

How Will Lokole Help?

The Lokole app allows community workers to note and document Ebola symptoms through questionnaires, which are then relayed to Ebola response teams and the Ministry of Health.

“Real-time management of information by the different components of the Ebola response will help detect and provide treatment to patients more quickly and deploy resources on the ground more swiftly, which will help lower Ebola mortality rates,” David Malaba, one of the app’s developers, said.

While analog in comparison to smartphone technology, Lokole’s USSD platform offers the potential for real-time communication without having to invest in widespread expensive improvements in its internet connectivity infrastructure. Lokole empowers the everyday Congolese person with the tools to fight Ebola. It is a democratic grassroots health care model. In fact, similar USSD technology which connects the average citizen with a nurse or physician in a matter of minutes powers large-scale telemedicine platforms, such as BabylRwanda in neighboring Rwanda.

The development of the Lokole app is exciting in its fight against Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but the galvanization of local Congolese talent is a game-changer. Hackathons that bring disparate youth together to problem solve big, often overwhelming, issues inspire others to pursue change. Lokole is just the beginning.

– Sarah Boyer
Photo: Flickr

A Look at Credit Access in Moldova

Credit Access in MoldovaThe Republic of Moldova, a small, post-Soviet landlocked country bordering Ukraine to the north and Romania to the south, currently grapples with issues of economic freedom. According to the Index of Economic Freedom, Moldova ranks as the 97th freest economy in the world with Russia at 98th and Burkina Faso at 96th. With 180 countries ranked, the Heritage Foundation categorizes Moldova as a mostly unfree economy. Credit access in Moldova suffers along with its corrupt economic and political culture, affecting the most at-risk individuals in the population.

A Shift Away From the Agricultural Sector

Farming and agriculture once made up the bulk of Moldova’s domestic economy with agriculture accounting for 42 percent of the Moldovan GPD in 2000, according to a multi-national case study including USAID. The CIA World Factbook cites that in 2017, Moldovan agriculture made up only 17.7 percent of the GDP while Services took up 62 percent. In just 19 years, the Moldovan economy has experienced a rapid change. Moldova is transferring from an agrarian economy into a service-based economy, but during this transition, farmers are being left behind and their credit access in Moldova is dismal.

Farmers face the unique challenge of navigating a banking system that is new for their country. Before the year 2000, the Moldovan state owned all agrarian land. A USAID report explains how 800,000 private farmers became landowners and suddenly needed additional financial resources, yet struggled to acquire them since the amounts requested were only a few hundred dollars each–unattractive investments for local banks. The banks refused to work with the burgeoning independent farmer sector, making credit access impossible for many who needed small loans to fund and improve their businesses.

No Access to Investment

Along with the difficulties of learning a new market system, Moldovan farmers also encounter immense corruption in both government and business. The World Bank reports in its Country Partnership Framework (CPF) that “a massive bank fraud in 2013-14 enabled by political interference…led to depreciation of the currency, inflation, financial destabilization and loss of investor confidence.” Those who have no credit access in Moldova also have lower chances of receiving investment from outside the country because the risk of investing in a corrupt country carries too much risk for international investors.

The World Bank CPF explains that “limited access, inefficiency and poor quality have contributed to social exclusion, persistent poverty and vulnerability to shocks, especially in rural areas.” Rural farmers cannot rely on either the state or the banks to offer much-needed investment, and therefore are left without a critical resource essential to operating a thriving business.

The World Bank’s Moldovan Engagement

The World Bank currently sees transparency, accountability and corruption as the most pressing issues to the Moldovan economy. In an effort to stabilize the region and bring economic prosperity, the World Bank has ten active projects in Moldova. The organization cites three objectives: “strengthening the rule of law and accountability, improving access and quality of public services and enhancing the quality and relevance of education and training for job-relevant skills”. The objectives of The World Bank CPF, while broad, would allow for Moldovan farmers to either gain the credit access needed to operate their farms or expand into other sectors of the economy.

Three projects from The World Bank in particular help to solve the issue of credit access in Moldova. To help rural community members that wish to expand their horizons past farming, the World Bank has instituted the Moldova Education Reform Project, which gives out result-based specific loans to certain sectors of Moldovan education to improve the efficiency of the education sector and improve “the ministry of education’s capacity to monitor the reform”.

To help squash corruption and inefficiency, the World Bank also created the Tax Administration Modernization Project which reviews the Moldovan tax code to ensure an equal and comprehensive tax policy that supports the development of small businesses.

In an effort to help all Moldovans, the World Bank’s Moldova Economic Development Policy Operation Project (DPO) helps “to support the government of Moldova in reducing fiscal risks and leveling of the playing field for private sector development [by] strengthening oversight [and supporting] private sector development in access to business opportunities and resources”.

Lessons Learned

While credit access in Moldova is a complex issue, institutions like the World Bank that specialize in economic reform and recovery are getting involved in the country. Supporting institutions such as the World Bank helps the World’s poor help themselves by improving local economies and the governmental and business practices around them.

– Spencer Julian
Photo: Flickr

4 Wildly Underrated African Crops

African CropsGlobally, there are about 7,000 domesticated crops. But, today, just four crops–rice, wheat, soybean and maize–account for two-thirds of the consumed calories worldwide. These crops are incredibly nutrient-hungry and added to the common practice of mono-cropping, which has led to the degradation of a third of the Earth’s soil. It is estimated that the global population in 2050 will increase to 10 billion; food production will have to likewise increase by 50 percent to avoid mass hunger. Many scientists think that previously ignored African crops, aptly nicknamed “orphan crops,” are the answer to preventing the oncoming crisis.

4 Wildly Underrated African Crops

  1. Moringa Trees – Also known as the drumstick tree, Moringa trees are a fast-growing species whose leaves, roots, flowers and seeds can all be used for a variety of purposes including as a dietary supplement, water purifier and food. Eight species of it are native to Eastern African countries and it is also endemic to Southeast Asia. Although completely obscure to most Westerners, it is considered by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to be one of the most economically valuable African crops. The Moringa’s tiny leaves are incredibly nutritious, being filled with antioxidants, iron, vitamin B6 and more, and are generally ground into powders or packed into capsules to serve as a natural dietary supplement. Its seed pods, which can be consumed both raw or cooked, are also exceptionally high in vitamin C: just one cup of them provides 157 percent of the daily requirement. The seed pods can also be processed into a sweet, non-drying oil.
  2. Bambara Murukku – Ranked as the third most important legume of Africa after peanuts and cowpea, the Bambara is grown mostly by subsistence farmers in semi-arid Africa, thus making it known as a poor man’s crop. Its nuts, which are rich in carbohydrates and protein, can be eaten boiled or roasted or ground into a powder to make flour for usage in bread and cakes. Additionally, Bambara groundnut does not require fertilization as it is self nitrogen-fixing, making it an ideal crop for nutrient-poor areas. Furthermore, the plant is drought-tolerant, making it an ideal crop in the face of climate change.
  3. Teff – A staple crop of Ethiopia and Eritrea, teff makes up two-thirds of those residents’ protein intake. Resembling a skinny wheat stalk, its tiny, thin grains are used for making bread and porridges and its straw is often utilized as a construction material for reinforcing mud walls. It comes in a variety of colors, with the white grains considered the most prized and the red grains fetching the lowest price. The demand for teff has been the fastest-growing of all the African crops in this article in recent years with exports rising by 7 to 10 percent annually. This has been largely due to the media hailing it as the next super grain as well as an apt gluten-free flour option. The export of injera, the Ethiopian pancake made out of teff flour, has also enjoyed an upward trend in recent years. Ethiopian companies, such as Mama Fresh, regularly fly their injera overseas to eager customers.
  4. Okra – Although it is disputed whether okra has originated from either West Africa or Southeast Asia, it is generally agreed that it is one of the most important African crops. Grown mainly for their pods and leaves, its fibers can also be used as a construction material, for handicrafts such as baskets or as a kindling fuel. The plant is incredibly adaptable and resilient and can thrive in just about any condition and climate. High in vitamins A and C, iron and calcium but low in calories, the okra has much potential in Western markets as diet food. It has, until recently, been all but unknown outside of its native land. More research and experimentation needs to be conducted on it to unlock its full potential. Currently, researchers are investigating its possibility of being used as a commercial oilseed and medicinal mucilage.

From custard apples to bread trees, there are hundreds more other under-utilized crops in both Africa and around the world. The status quo of the global diet is far too dependent on a mere handful of plants. In order to prepare for and feed the ever-growing population of this planet, people must become more open and adventurous in various culinary tastes by incorporating these orphan crops into daily meals.

– Linda Yan
Photo: Flickr

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Water Access in Angola: The Value of Investment

water access in Angola

Almost half the population in Angola does not have proper access to clean water according to a report by UNICEF.

A country endowed with some of Africa’s most precious natural resources, Angola is frequently victim to external shocks to the market. Oil accounts for roughly one-third of GDP and more than 95 percent of exports. Reliance on a market like oil, which is particularly prone to shocks, means that Angola’s economy is directly affected by external fluctuations. In fact, growth in GDP continues to fall years after a drop in oil prices in 2014. According to the World Bank, annual GDP growth in 2018 was -2.1 percent.

At-Risk Populations

Water access in Angola is an important metric in understanding the distortionary economic effects felt by low-income individuals, women and children. Without clean water and sanitation, too many Angolans are more prone to water-borne diseases like cholera which can kill someone within hours if left untreated.

Outbreaks are more common in rainy seasons when it is easy for the cholera bacteria to survive. Between February and August of 2018, there were 1,046 cases of cholera in Angola, including 21 deaths.

Programs and Initiatives that Increase Water Access in Angola

Luanda, Angola’s capital city, has a population of 7 million, 37 percent of whom rely on connected water service. Private tanker truck services account for 25 percent, public standpipes for 22 percent and illegal water connections or untreated river sources for 16 percent. Increased water access in Angola will contribute directly to labor productivity, economic growth, reduced vulnerability and an overall reduction in poverty.

The valuation of water is incredibly unique—at high quantities, it is an elastic good, but at low quantities it is inelastic. Simply put, it is a basic resource, so when water is unavailable it also becomes invaluable. Investment in water projects can help Angolans reduce time and money spent on acquiring water—especially from tanker truck services which tend to take advantage of the inelasticity of water during a shortage. A number of global organizations are working to increase water access in Angola in order to help provide people with this basic human right.

USAID Development Grants Program

From 2016-2017, the Development Grants Program focused specifically on water and sanitation in Angola. It strived to create affordable water options for consumers, and increase the maintenance of infrastructure. Initiatives such as this help local people reliably manage public resources.

The Institutional and Sustainability Support program began in 2015 to support urban water supply and sanitation services. It proposed infrastructure and development goals with the intention of helping 4.5 million people in seven provinces. This program is ongoing and specifically focuses on those provinces with the highest need for water services: Cabinda, Lunda Norte, Lunda Sul, Kuanza Sul, Bengo, Namib and Cunene.

The World Bank Projects

The most recent World Bank project supports inclusive growth, social protection and water services in Angola. One of its 2019 programs, called the Luanda Bita Water Supply Project, invested $500 million to mobilize government financing for clean water access. Another $500 million was given specifically to protect the poor and vulnerable.

This project comes after a 2017 loan of $200 million to provide 950,000 individuals with piped water services and a 2018 investment of $150 million for the 1.2 million people living in regional cities of Angola.

Women and girls are the focus of many of these investments since reducing their time spent collecting water will allow them to give back to the economy in more productive and impactful ways.

Support from these and other global organizations will help Angola to lower the risk of contracting water-borne illnesses, decrease time spent by women and children collecting water and positively impact the overall economy as a result. A basic resource such as water is often taken for granted by people living in countries with reliable water infrastructure. For those living in Angola who spend a disproportionate amount of time and money on safe water, investments in infrastructure and water supply programs are incredibly impactful. Providing the appropriate resources to aid in water access will help Angolans protect themselves from economic shocks, and give back to the global economy.

– Tera Hofmann
Photo: Wikimedia

The International Development Association and Global Poverty

The International Development Association
The International Development Association (IDA) is one of five institutions that work together to form the World Bank. The IDA’s main goal is to reduce global poverty by working alongside the world’s poorest countries. To accomplish this goal, the IDA issues grants and loans to development programs in impoverished countries. These development programs try to spur economic growth and improve living standards. Currently, the IDA involves itself in a plethora of projects around the world. In the fiscal year 2018, the IDA began 206 new operations.

How the IDA Works

The IDA has managed to raise $369 billion since 1960 to aid underdeveloped regions and it invested all of the money into various development projects. The IDA was able to accomplish this through communication with partner countries and contributions from wealthier nations.

Donor governments meet with receiving countries to discuss funding and a repayment plan and ensure that the development project is feasible and will be successful. The IDA releases reports from these meetings, which publicly allows anyone to learn about the organization’s future projects. The IDA also frequently consults think tanks and civil society organizations to receive feedback on their work. On top of all of this, the IDA reviews a country’s economy and recent history to determine whether it is eligible for a development project. After completing each of these steps, the IDA can determine how to allocate resources appropriately and effectively.

The International Development Association’s Work in Action

The International Development Association continues to change the lives of millions every year. In 2019, farmers in Ethiopia reaped the benefits of the Second Agricultural Growth Project (AGPII). The AGPII aims to improve agricultural efficiency and productivity in Ethiopia by teaching farmers about agriculture, improving irrigation systems and providing fertilizer. The AGPII also helps farmers access new markets which help raise their incomes. Thanks to the AGPII, one farmer increased her potato production by 400 percent and another was successful enough that they could start a family.

Improvements like the ones in Ethiopia are the norm for IDA projects and not rare. For example, in Madagascar, the IDA funded a program titled the productive cash-for-work program (ACTP) in 2015. Since then, many economically vulnerable communities have been able to improve their lives and take advantage of new economic opportunities. The ACTP provides money and training to impoverished people in exchange for work. The program has helped 31,250 households so far and has aided in the creation of small businesses.

IDA funding has had similar effects in other countries. From 2013-2018 new roads in Afghanistan helped create over two million new jobs. In the Gambia, an agricultural project doubled rice yields between 2014 and 2018. Meanwhile, in Kenya, three million people benefited from infrastructure improvements. Overall, between the fiscal year 2011 and 2018, IDA projects led to the building and repairing of more than 140,000 kilometers of roads, the gaining of clean water access for 86 million people and the immunization of 274 million children.

The International Development Association is crucial to global poverty reduction. The IDA has created a system to ensure that the world’s poorest countries receive an appropriate amount of funding and support for future social and economic development. The results speak for themselves as the IDA has changed many people’s lives for the better.

– Nick Umlauf
Photo: Flickr

How Dental Care in the Philippines is Combating Tooth Decay

Dental Care in the Philippines

Dental care in the Philippines is crucial as statistics show that at least 80 percent of Filipinos suffer from dental problems. The current dental system has not been effective in reducing the number of people suffering from tooth decay or cavities. Today, the country is shifting towards adopting prevention methods. Here are three examples of how the Philippines is preventing tooth decay.

Education Programs

Statistics show that 95 percent of 12-year-olds suffer from tooth decay or cavities. Poor oral hygiene is the main reason for children with oral health problems. Building healthy habits is the key to preventing oral disease. To promote prevention measures, the Philippines is integrating oral health as part of the education curriculum in public schools.

The country’s Department of Education released the program, Fit for School as a way to address tooth decay in school-aged children. Every day, students go out to the school courtyard to brush their teeth with fluoride toothpaste. Fit for School not only promotes healthy habits, but it also provides the students with access to clean water and appropriate washing facilities. Today, the Fit for School Approach has become the Essential Health Care Program, which targets about 2 million children in 40 provinces in the Philippines.

Tax on Sugar

Sugar is one of the many causes of oral health issues in the Philippines. There is an abundance of sweet treats and sugary drinks throughout the country. Coca-Cola alone is predicted to spend $5.5 to $12 billion in marketing in Asian and African countries. Obesity and diabetes are diseases have links to high sugar diets. Now, tooth decay is also associated with sugar.

To make matters worse, foods high in fat and sugar are more accessible than a toothbrush. Filipinos living in poverty-stricken regions are the most vulnerable to make poor dietary choices and suffer from oral health issues. Several countries, like Mexico, have seen a drop in sugar consumption after implementing a tax on sugary drinks.

In 2018, the Philippines implemented a sugar tax. The tax raises the cost of sugary drinks by 13 percent. As a result, the Philippines expects to lower soda sales as well as a drop in the number of people suffering from tooth decay. The money collected from the sugar tax will be used to fund health care initiatives and infrastructure.

International Impact

From the United States to Australia, foreigners are flocking to the Philippines for dental care. The affordability of treatments has made dental care in the Philippines one of the most popular dental tourism destinations in the world. Dental tourism refers to the practice of traveling to another country to undergo dental treatment such as implants or teeth whitening.

Due to its popularity, dental tourism is fostering economic growth for the Philippines. However, it has not improved access to oral care for Filipinos. A 2016 report found that Filipinos rarely visit the dentist office and over 7 percent had never been. The report also found that 98 percent of Filipinos experience tooth decay.

Some argue that dental tourism has made dental care even more limited to Filipinos. The price of visiting the dentist is low for foreigners but very costly for Filipinos. Additionally, dentist offices are prone to schedule prioritize foreign patients rather than local ones. However, foreign travelers are also bringing free dental care to the Philippines. For instance, access to quality dental care is limited in Cebu and other underserved regions in the Philippines.

Aid for Dental Care

The University of the Pacific (UOP) is one of many organizations working to increase the accessibility of dental care. Each summer, UOP sends a group of dental students to Canjula Elementary School in Cebu to provide the students with free dental care. Students unable to afford yearly trips to the dentist for cleanings, fillings or extractions now have access to get the care they need. In addition to treatment, UOP also provides oral health information sessions to promote the building of good hygiene habits.

As a whole, dental care in the Philippines has been improving with time. While it is a common critique that treatment is valued over prevention, there have been efforts aiming towards children. Additionally, tourism and higher institutions are working to increase access to dental care in the Phillippines.

– Paola Nuñez
Photo: Flickr