Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

Working to Solve the Housing Crisis in Egypt

Housing Crisis in Egypt
Poverty takes on many forms, but in Egypt, housing is the epitome of substandard living conditions. Dismal mud brick squatter houses with no windows, no doors, no proper roofing and no protection from the environment’s weather and creatures, are the homes to more than 20 million Egyptians.

Although a vital aspect of wellbeing, housing is one the most neglected segments of Egyptian society and, being present for over 7 decades now, the housing crisis in Egypt is one of the leading issues in its country today.

The Root of Informal Housing

Needless to say, no one would live in this setting by choice. However, many Egyptians are under the crippling circumstances of housing production shortcomings accompanied by falling income and rising costs for adequate housing.

In other words, with less housing for a growing low-income population, poor families have nowhere else to turn; instead, they build their own squatter homes absent of essential qualities of safety and sanitation.

The Necessary Action

According to the Egyptian housing ministry, 2.5 million homes need to be built within a 5-year timeline to catch up with its population growth, make up for its backlog of 3 million homes and ultimately, combat the housing crisis in Egypt. Moreover, international investors are concerned with Egypt’s lack of long-term clarity.

Egypt’s government intervenes in housing projects and subjects development plans to their unforeseen policy swings. Therefore, stability both in the market and political atmosphere of Egypt are prerequisites to attracting much needed foreign investments.

The Arabtec Attempt

From 2014 to mid-2015, the Egyptian government and Arabtec, a construction services provider from the United Arab Emirates, underwent a $40 billion deal to produce a million low-cost homes, ideally relieving the housing crisis in Egypt.

The deal fell through after the Egyptian government went against previous land price agreements by demanding more from Arabtec than it could match. Arabtec could not accept this higher price, especially for the building of low-cost homes rather than the more profitable courses of middle to high-income residential projects.

Potential Solutions

Egypt can implement the public-private partnership practice in which the government and a private sector entity reach an agreement to co-develop housing projects with incentives attracting both parties. Land prices can also be deflated to combat current inflated prices and consequently, prevent gridlock or fallouts in large-scale housing developments with foreign investors.

Finally, once development ventures are undergone, other infrastructural facets must be included — such as roads, utilities and transportation — to avoid more disconnected squatter communities from forming and expanding.

The Future

Although Egypt is in the midst of a housing crisis that has fueled the fire of poverty and substandard living conditions, all efforts are focused on extinguishing such strife-ridden issues. In fact, the government formally stated that its central aim is to tackle the prevailing housing issue after the Egypt Economic Development Conference.

Beginning in 2018, it has been reported that 150,000 low-income homes have been built and 260,000 are currently being constructed. Other housing projects are also in execution, and roads have been installed in desolate areas to promote further development.

Egypt, with the rest of the world, awaits the day that it finally climbs out of its poverty-stricken state. In the meantime, all hands are on deck to resolve the housing crisis in Egypt and provide a more prosperous future.

– Roberto Carlos Ventura
Photo: Flickr

10 Poorest Countries in the World By GDP Per Capita

Poorest Countries in the World
The poorest countries in the world are places where the GDP per capita (meaning GDP divided by the number of people in a country) is the lowest. GDP per capita is a better measure than GDP, because GDP does not account for each individual in a country; rather, GDP accounts for a country as a whole. GDP per capita creates a better image of what each individual in a given country is worth.

There are three reputable institutions that measure GDP per capita: The International Monetary Fund, The Central Intelligence Agency and The World Bank. The conclusions these organizations find are similar. A deviation that exists is which one takes Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) into account, as this is a measure of GDP per capita that takes costs of living and inflation rates into consideration.

The CIA list is going to be the most accurate, as it includes the highest number of known countries out of the three, whilst taking into consideration GDP per capita influenced by PPP. All of the estimates of GDP per capita influenced by PPP are as of 2017.

10: South Sudan (GDP Per Capita + PPP = $1500)

Since the creation of South Sudan, a Central-Eastern landlocked country,  in 2011, its GDP per capita has been on a non-linear decline. What largely accounts for this trend is an ongoing civil war which started in 2013.

As a result of this civil war, millions have been declared displaced and as refugees, and famine has ravished several parts of the country. Also, on top of this, both sides of the civil war have both committed a wide range of human rights violations on the citizens of South Sudan.

The conditions of civil war set the stage for poverty. Eighty percent of people living in Sudan are defined as “income poor” and live on less than $1 a day. Eighty-five percent of the population is engaged in non-wage work and one third of the population does not have access to a secure amount of food.

9: Eritrea (GDP Per Capita + PPP = $1400)

Eritrea is a very small country in Africa. Despite being the 9th poorest country in the world, the nation has made vast improvements. GDP per capita in 1992 was under $800, and is now $1400. This is still a staggeringly low GDP per capita for a country that has a population of a little over 5 million people.

The cause of such severe poverty is multifaceted. Environmentally, Eritrea has always faced droughts, and with 80 percent of the population engaged in subsistence agriculture, this makes for very low productivity of food for 80 percent of the people living in Eritrea. There is also a general lack of financial resources in Eritrea, thus leading to a lack of large private enterprises and a very low industrial production growth rate of 5.4 percent.

The government of Eritrea is very unhelpful here, too, as they have been preoccupied with military spending and attempting to figure out how to obtain a coherent policy of a national hard currency.  

8: Mozambique (GDP Per Capita + PPP = $1,250)

The South-Eastern African Country Mozambique has always had a low GDP per capita. Even when it gained independence in 1975, the nation was considered one of the world’s poorest countries. Since its independence, socialist policies and general economic mismanagement have further impoverished the country. Nearly 50 percent of Mozambique’s population lives in poverty.

This has been exacerbated by lack of effort and results in poverty reduction, and slow economic growth of which does not benefit all Mozambique citizens equally, keeping the poor, poor. Potential for improvement in Mozambique is in agriculture, as most of Mozambique’s population works in this field. Also, innovations in tech and other lacking inputs would greatly benefit these workers.

7: Niger (GDP Per Capita + PPP = $1,200)

Forty percent of what constitutes Niger’s GDP is agriculture. Agriculture also provides 80 percent of Niger’s population livelihood. Like all of the countries on this list, Niger’s poverty is accounted for by various factors: increase in population, lack of food security and low levels of educational quality.

Another large sector of Niger’s economy is uranium. This sector has been interrupted in recent years by terrorist activity that has also increased Niger’s government expenditure on security. These issues increased Niger’s reliance on foreign aid as a result.

It is also the case that families in Niger are large (6 per household on average), so what constitutes 80 percent of the livelihood of Niger across generations must be distributed between more and more people. The GDP per capita in Niger is on the rise, but ongoing conflict and rapid population growth makes the economic situation in Niger a difficult hurdle to overcome.

6: Malawi (GDP Per Capita + PPP = $1,168)

Malawi is a landlocked African country that depends heavily on external donors for subpar economic stability. In fact, GDP per capita growth has decreased in Malawi since 1961. Given that Malawi’s domestic economy is dependent upon primarily rain-requiring agricultural, and the geography of Malawi is prone to droughts this makes sense.

Climate change and growing population rates threaten to exacerbate this problem which has caused an increase in food shortages in recent years. However, government corruption is incredibly common in Malawi, which has very frequently led donors to withdraw funds. Amidst the turmoil, child and maternal health have made large strides in improvement. This is due to increases in prenatal care, vaccinations and skilled birth assistance.

5: Somalia (GDP Per Capita + PPP = Unknown)

Somalia is in the middle of this list because the data on their economy is very vague. The GDP per capita is $500 without PPP according to the World Bank. What is known about Somalia is that there is a perverse lack of educational opportunities (less than half of Somali children are in school) and job opportunities (paired with strict-conservative religious influence in Somali culture inclines younger people to turn to extremist groups).

With a rapidly growing population, improvements in recent years are mainly in infrastructure — something which Somalia lacked prior to the 1991 collapse of central authority. Such improvements are peculiar to Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, an indication that rural areas are still in need of improvement.

4: Liberia (GDP Per Capita + PPP = $900)

A large role in how Liberia became such a poor country has been civil war and economic mismanagement by the Liberian government. Post-civil war Liberia (2010-13) seemed to be making an economic comeback, until the 2014 Ebola outbreak which put Liberia back several years. Export prices have yet to return to pre-ebola levels.

Liberia suffers from one of the world’s worst maternal mortality rates (7th in the world) and female death rates are amongst the highest in the world due to a high frequency of female genital mutilation (this effects two-thirds of Liberian women/girls.) According to CIA data, “Significant progress has been made in preventing child deaths, despite a lack of health care workers and infrastructure. Infant and child mortality have dropped nearly 70 percent since 1990; the annual reduction rate of about 5.4 percent is the highest in Africa.”  

3: Democratic Republic of The Congo (GDP Per Capita + PPP = $800)

The Congo’s ongoing conflict makes ongoing economic instability inevitable. Such conflict has decreased output, increased conflict expenditure, increased external debt and has left the inhabitants of the Congo in very poor conditions. Such conditions include chronic food/resource mismanagement, chronic malnourishment, low rates of vaccinations, low availability of adequate drinking water, and very low quality public services (education, police etc.).

It is difficult to measure how improvements are occuring due to obscure data which is accounted for the majority of the DPC’s economy occurring outside of formal/traditional economic sectors (black markets).

2: Burundi (GDP Per Capita + PPP = $770)

In the past 27 years, the GDP per capita in Burundi has changed very little. Burundi, a landlocked African nation, has very little in terms of quality natural resources and manufacturing. Ninety percent of its population is in agriculture, which makes up 40 percent of its GDP.  

Almost half of Burundi’s income is derived from foreign aid and the majority of the rest is dependent upon coffee and tea exports. Production of these goods relies on weather and global coffee and tea prices, which are not constant variables.

Burundi suffers from massive food shortages and lack of clean water, which has resulted in a 60 percent child malnutrition rate. The government has established Vision 2025 in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme and the African Future Institute as it seeks to reduce poverty to 33 percent by 2025.

1: Central African Republic (GDP Per Capita + PPP =$700)

Conflict has caused international donors to withdraw financial support of the Central African Republic (CAR). Ongoing humanitarian crises have created “CAR’s high mortality rate and low life expectancy, elevated rates of preventable and treatable diseases (including malaria and malnutrition), an inadequate health care system, precarious food security, and armed conflict.”

Schools are closed. There is also an ongoing refugee crisis inside and out (mostly to Chad) due to the ongoing conflict which started in the 2012 coup. CAR has one of the most unequal wealth distributions in the world on top of a lacking economy. This is due to various geographical and agricultural reasons, poor economic management, an unskilled workforc  and a poor transportation system that hinders trade.

Aid For The Poorest Countries in the World

Some of the conflict is also over “blood” diamonds. Efforts are being made to make said diamonds no longer of value, by lifting bans on their exports, as a means to reduce conflict and ultimately reduce poverty, by increasing government revenue.

It is clear that all of the poorest countries in the world list are in dire need of help, especially from the international community. Budget cuts threaten current national levels of foreign aid, and this is why supporting efforts like The Borgen Project is important. This organization amongst others actively opposes such budget cuts by calling, emailing and lobbying congress to oppose them. With support like this, powerful change can happen in the ten poorest countries in the world.

– Daniel Lehewych
Photo: Flickr

Prison Reform Reduces Poverty in Central America

Prison Reform
Prison reform is a global imperative. According to the World Prison Brief, 26,734 people are incarcerated in the Dominican Republic as of 2018, and 30 percent of the Dominican Republic’s population of 10.6 million are below the poverty line. The Centre of Excellence on Prison Reform and Drug Demand Reduction in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic was created by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to strengthen criminal justice in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Prison Reform in Central America

This prison reformation focuses on training programs for previously incarcerated people and promotes effective policies regarding healthcare and prison conditions. Many incarcerated people suffer from poverty, which leads to homelessness, crime, drugs and violence.

Prison reform by the Centre includes social reintegration programs post-release, and job and educational resources as well. The Centre will also place more focus on women, juveniles, youth with incarcerated mothers, drug-dependent prisoners and mental health. Since many prisoners cannot afford the Centre’s reformation, the UNODC aims to make these resources within the current prison system affordable. In the Najayo prison, classrooms are built to reach goals of zero percent illiteracy and the provision of college-level courses. Prisoners here are treated more humanely with a bed, desk in classroom and medical attention.

The prison system had to be reformed in the Dominican Republic due to how: previous imprisonment disrupted families, overcrowding promoted the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and prison time encouraged poverty rather than reduced it. The Centre has been so successful in prison reform in the Dominican Republic that inmates’ rate of returning has reduced from 50 percent prior to the Centre to less than 5 percent where facilities have adopted reformation programs.

UNODC’s Global Efforts

The UNODC has also reformed the prison system in Panama by focusing on the health and safety of prisoners in order to properly reintegrate inmates back into society. Panama has a high rate of incarceration, with 400 per 100,000 people as prisoners and a remand rate of 70 percent. Prison reform in Panama looks like IntegrArte, which is a fashion program that rehabilitates female prisoners in Panama by turning their crafts (hand-sewn bags, clothing, etc) into sellable profit.

Participants in the program are very appreciative of such efforts, and say that sewing and IntegreArte as a reformation program in prison helps greatly with the transition back into society. These programs open up micro-financing and housing opportunities and help people escape the confines of poverty.

Costa Rica also undergoes prison reform with WOLA, Advocacy for Human Rights in the Americas. In 2013, Costa Rica had the third highest percentage of prisoners in Central American, and now the nation’s prison reform focuses on education, drug decriminalization and rehabilitation.

In 2016, the Ministry of Justice and Peace reduced prison terms for women who smuggled drugs into prisons to a minimum of three to eight years, if they met certain conditions. The result? One hundred and twenty female prisoners were released immediately in Costa Rica, and have since sought health services.

In fact, Costa Rica just passed a law in 2017 for eliminating criminal records for released people who have served sentences under certain conditions. It is still early to conduct studies of the results of this law, but one can assume that this action can reduce poverty of former inmates by providing jobs.

Mexico, El Salvador and Efforts at Rehabilitation

Mexico and El Salvador are also trying to adopt drug decriminalization and reduce gang crime and violence of poverty-ridden areas by using education and business development to build and strengthen communities. Prison reformation programs by the government  — such as drug rehabilitation and mandatory work trainings — have reduced the number of El Salvador’s homicides from 6,071 to 4,881 between 2015 and 2016.

In addition, rehabilitation and work trainings have reduced Mexico’s incarceration rate dramatically, with 37 percent fewer inmates in 2016 than 2015. A report by WOLF concluded that strict drug legislation and its aggressive implementation are key factors in rising incarceration rates and extreme prison overcrowding.

Prison reform is essential to reduce crime, violence, inhumane prison living conditions and poverty. UNODC prison reform programs such as the Centre are very important in Central America as it helps combat crime, drug trade and poverty for high-crime, low-income neighborhoods.

– Areina Ismail
Photo: Flickr

Mental Health Program mhGAP Provides Healthcare Access to IDPs

mhGAP
After the program’s continued success both outside and within internal displacement camps in northeastern Nigeria, the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) plans its first expansion by training 70 new healthcare workers.

mhGAP

Since the program’s inception in September 2017, mhGAP has trained 64 primary healthcare workers and assisted more than 5,000 people from over 35 different primary healthcare facilities, including local clinics. The project was launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) in partnership with Borno state authorities and the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital of Maiduguri in order to treat mental illness in emergency situations, particularly internally displaced persons and low-income individuals (often times intersecting).

The prevalence of mental health disorders in Nigeria is estimated at around 12 percent, an unproportionately high figure compared to the small number of clinics that offer treatment. Due to the widespread violence in northeastern Nigeria, nearly 7 million people live in camps meant for internally displaced persons and WHO estimates that nearly 1 in 5 of said 7 million may need mental health care, much of which is largely unavailable. In fact, the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital of Maiduguri is the only facility in the region that focuses primarily on mental health.

Prevalence of Mental Illness

Mental illness is particularly prevalent in communities that experience extreme levels of stress and adversity, such as internally displaced persons and those living in extreme poverty. According to WHO, experiences such as abductions, violence, gender-based violence and atrocities can trigger mental illness and other psychological problems.

The prevalence of disorders such as anxiety, depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) have increased by an average of 5 to 10 percent, and the instances of psychosis double on average, according to public data published by the World Bank. These percentages are often higher among children and adolescents, with incidents of PTSD ranging from 50 to 90 percent.

mhGAP Intervention Methods

To combat increased prevalence, mhGAP utilizes programs for intervention and management, focusing on neurological, mental and substance-use-associated disorders such as psychotic disorders, epilepsy, suicide, dementia, alcohol and illicit drug abuse and childhood mental illness.

The program provides access to mental healthcare otherwise unattainable for the majority of those displaced. This lack occurs due to an absence of monetary resources and a scarcity of functioning mental health facilities.

Approximately two-thirds of the 749 known healthcare facilities in Borno have been destroyed or damaged as a result of the Nigerian army’s eight-year-long conflict with Boko Haram. The ongoing violent conflict has also forced over 2 million people from their homes, negating any possibility of regular access to affordable health services — mental or otherwise.

Hope, Help and Knowledge

Borno, accompanied by the majority of northeastern Nigeria, struggled socioeconomically prior to any conflict with Boko Haram. Over 70 percent of Borno’s population lives under the poverty line — almost 30 percent higher than the national average of 46 percent, according to the U.N. Global Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index.

While mental health continues to remain only one of the many pressing issues of internally displaced persons, mhGAP’s success both inside and outside displacement camps demonstrates a positive shift towards the national perception of mental illness. mhGAP’s resources enables the most vulnerable to hope and provides the knowledge that their situations are not permanent.

– Katie Anastas
Photo: Flickr

Printing Homes: Affordable Housing for Disaster-Prone Areas

affordable housingMakeshift tent communities become semi-permanent homes for those who have lost everything to natural disasters. Though housing charities like San Francisco-based New Story have built 850 houses for those affected by natural disasters since 2015, the cost and time it takes to build these houses are hindering the progress.

With plans to build an entire 3-D printed community in earthquake-prone El Salvador by the end of this year, New Story is partnering with ICON to print affordable housing for those that have no choice but to live in tents. Of the 850 houses built so fair, New Story has raised funds for 1,600. Solutions like the 3-D printed house will ensure that available funds are utilized efficiently, transitioning more communities from tents to secure shelters sooner.

Printing 3-D Affordable Housing

The current cost for one New Story house equipped with running water, a sanitary bathroom and concrete floor is $6,500. In March of this year, ICON, New Story’s tech construction partner, printed a 3-D house that only cost $4,000 and was built in 24 hours.

Specifically designed for disaster relief housing, the 3-D printer that built this prototype is made from aluminum, making the printer lightweight and easily transportable. The printer has a generator built in should a power outage arise. Designed to withstand worst conditions, ICON’s 3-D printer is revolutionizing affordable housing solutions, specifically for those devastated by natural disasters.

So far, houses built by New Story have improved the lives of over 6,000 people. Through traditional construction, houses have been built in the following places:

  • Haiti – Leveque, Labodrie, Minoterie, Gonaives
  • El Salvador – Nuevo Cuscatlan, Ahuachapan
  • Bolivia – Mizque

How 3-D Printed Houses Change Lives

Living in a secure shelter helps people out of poverty. Not having the worry of where clean water will come from, the floor turning into mud from the rain or someone robbing the home in the middle of the night allows people to focus on things other than survival.

Prior to living in their New Story houses, a community in Labodrie, Haiti, lived in tents for nearly six years after the 2010 earthquake. Many families were separated due to poor living conditions that were unsafe for children. Living in secure shelters bumped the community’s employment rate up 16 percent and reunited families. 150 homes were built equipped with clean running water, bathrooms and concrete floors.

Also devastated by the 2010 earthquake was Leveque, Haiti. People had been living in tent cities before New Story stepped in. With access to clean water, bathrooms and concrete floors, 75 percent of children in this community now attend school.

In El Salvador, 90 homes were built in Nuevo Cuscatlan and Ahuchapan with the help of New Story. In Nuevo Cuscatlan, 16 percent of homeowners started a business from their home, a playground was built in the community for the children and 66 percent of these children are attending school.

The Future of 3-D Printing

The impact of living in a solid home is the difference between surviving and thriving in a community. With the help of new technology, affordable housing will be built in even more communities than in the past. In addition to helping those affected by natural disasters, 3-D printing homes has the potential to help with a global housing shortage caused by rapid city growth and unaffordable housing prices.

According to City Lab, in some developing nations, “housing costs exceed incomes by more than 3000 percent.”  Disaster area or not, unaffordable housing puts people at risk for poverty.  Continued innovation by companies like ICON and New Story will build stronger, self-sustaining communities in places that are most susceptible to natural and manmade disaster.

– Hope Kelly
Photo: Flickr

How the Media Misrepresents Senegal as Poor and Helpless

Senegal
When reporting on countries like Senegal, major media outlets often reinforce negative stereotypes of the entire continent. This creates a problem in how the media misrepresents Senegal. Our rare interactions with stories from Africa tend to paint the entire continent with a single, wide brush as a cohesive unit rather than distinct countries.

Changing Views

Marisa Peters, a college student who recently traveled to Senegal, told The Borgen Project in an interview that how the media misrepresents Senegal can cause others to dismiss the country and look down on it as well. For many of us, our only exposure to Senegal is through this incomplete media coverage and do-good campaigns. This lack of balance and context leads to a one-sided perspective. Victims of poverty, hunger and disease stare back at us from haunting images and videos on our screens; big eyes and tiny limbs seem to plead for pity, desperate for help. We hear time and again about the violence, corruption and backwards-thinking that plagues the continent.

Perception vs Reality

All of these aspects certainly exist in African countries, many even in Senegal, but this is only one side of the story. There are so many positive aspects of Senegal that people rarely ever see. By failing to report the many distinct and positive aspects of Senegal, the media perpetuates the myth that it is just another “helpless African country”.

Many perceive Senegal as a nation of famine and starvation when, in reality, most Senegalese have plenty to eat. This speaks to how the media misrepresents Senegal as a poor and powerless country.

Poverty, while still a problem, is not an inevitable one in Senegal. They have actually made significant strides in the last decade toward reducing poverty rates. The government has been heavily investing in infrastructure, energy and agriculture which has led to strong economic growth – consistently between six and seven percent in the last several years. This solid fiscal foundation has helped turn Senegal into one of the economic hubs of Western Africa.

A ‘New’ Glimpse at Senegal

This growth has caused the poverty rate to fall by four to seven percent since 2011. In addition, Senegal has one of the largest safety net programs in Africa. However, this progress is rarely a part of the way Senegal is portrayed. Another example of Senegal’s underrepresented progress are the improvements in child health – a result of reducing malaria and malnutrition.

Because of various campaigns by organizations and outside governments, Senegal is misrepresented as a nation that struggles with AIDS. However, the Senegalese were actually able to quickly respond to the disease, and currently have a prevalence rate below 1 percent – a model of success for the continent.

Properly understanding the progress that Senegal has made — largely through government initiatives and investments — can also help dispel notions of corruption and instability that often accompany coverage of Senegal. In fact, Senegal has one of the most stable and democratic political institutions in Africa. Its history of civilian leaders and having only three major political transitions – all of which were peaceful – contradicts how the media misrepresents Senegal.

Debunking Stereotypes

Another media focus point is Senegal’s perceived issue of violence. Petty crime can be a problem in Senegal, but the machine-gun-carrying warlords that enamor Hollywood are nowhere to be seen. Focusing on primitive aspects of Senegal also shows how the media misrepresents Senegal; Westerners often perceive of the Senegalese as backwards. They are stereotyped as practitioners of voodoo and witchcraft, despite Islam being the main religion.

Like many African nations, Senegal is also seen as being technologically limited; in reality, the technology gap in Senegal is being reduced by their innovative youth.

Another one of the numerous ways the media misrepresents Senegal is by omitting many unique aspects of Senegalese life and culture. The capital, Dakar, is a fascinating city that beautifully blends new trends and old traditions. Senegal is home to a vibrant music scene, rich history, delicious cuisine, bustling markets and striking landscapes.

Senegalese Warmth and Hospitality

The Senegalese themselves, contrary to what can be found in most news outlets, are known for their friendliness and hospitality. The warmth of their culture reflects that of the temperate weather — this hospitality is known locally as “Teranga.” Peters said that it encompasses the incredibly kind and welcoming nature of the many Senegalese she met. She particularly remembers their willingness to invest time and energy into one another; in Senegal, “time is people.”

Of course, it is necessary for the media and academics to continue to report on the poverty and problems that African countries such as Senegal face. This is the only way outsiders can make informed decisions and stay up to date. However, this coverage needs to be balanced, and context must be provided or else myths and stereotypes will continue to be perpetuated.

Western media has already made significant improvements in covering more positive aspects of Senegal as well as considering the progress they have made, but as always, more can be done.

– Liesl Hostetter
Photo: Flickr

10 Astounding Facts About Human Rights Violations in China

Human Rights Violations in ChinaSince Xi Jinping began his presidency in March 2013, widespread human rights violations in China have been documented as government constraints have deepened. Such issues also became more apparent after Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo died in police custody in 2017. Some violations include increased internet censorship, lack of women’s and workers’ rights, repression of minority groups and imprisonment of human rights defenders. Here are 10 facts about human rights violations in China as well as what is being done to combat these issues today.

10 Facts About Human Rights Violations in China

  1. Authorities control citizens’ internet use by blocking social media sites and restricting news publications. Any news reporting that “slanders the country’s political system” is typically shut down. The government also adopted Blue Shield filtering software to document websites visited by users. A Cybersecurity Law was implemented in June 2017, requiring all internet companies working in China to regulate content for Chinese citizens.
  2. The government only allows five officially recognized religions in approved religious sites. In February 2018, a revised Regulations on Religious Affairs was established. The revision invests all control over religious activities to the government, including finances, personnel appointments and publications. The law also states a goal of restraining “infiltration and extremism” which could enforce a limitation on religious freedom for Tibetan Buddhists and Uighur Muslims.
  3. Although labor laws allow trade union organization and elections of trade union committees, the government still controls these rights. Workers cannot vote for trade unions while the right to strike usually goes unacknowledged. According to various human rights groups, China violates workers’ freedom of association. This is due to China’s prohibition of independent union organizing and Trade Union Law. This law requires the All-China Federation of Trade Unions to maintain communist leadership.
  4. In 2017, China ranked 100 among 144 countries for gender parity for the ninth year in a row. According to The Party Congress, there is a substantial absence of women in chief political positions. Females in China are more likely to experience domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment and workplace discrimination which can increase their chances of becoming impoverished. However, it is difficult for women to overcome such barriers since the government does not favor women’s rights activism.
  5. Uighurs, Tibet and Tibetan-populated areas endure higher poverty rates, displacement, discrimination and crucial human rights issues. According to the U.N. Special Rapporteur, the situations of Tibetans and Uighurs is deeply problematic. Similar to most Chinese citizens, ethnic minorities do not have the right to freedom of religion, expression and peaceful assembly. Over 150 Tibetans have and continue to protest repressive laws by self-immolation.
  6. Authorities continue to conduct politically motivated prosecutions. After a national crackdown in July 2015, over 250 human rights protesters were detained, nine of which were convicted of “subverting state power.” Some detainees admit to being tortured or forced to confess. Though many have since been released, they continue to be isolated and monitored. Lawyers of protestors are often harassed and intimidated by authorities.
  7. About 500,000 individuals are currently detained without trial, charge or access to legal aid. The government uses Re-education through Labour (RTL) to arrest individuals without a trial. Usual targets of RTL include petitioners, protestors and those practicing an unrecognized religion. “Black jails” and mental health institutions are types of illegal detention that are utilized by authorities.
  8. China is currently the leading executioner in the world. For decades, China imposed the death penalty for nonviolent crimes and unfair trials. In March 2017, the President of the Supreme People’s Court said that capital punishment was only applied “to an extremely small number of criminals for extremely severe offenses.” However, China’s statistics on death penalties remains classified and authorities fail to release numerical data.
  9. China is accepting help from the U.N. in addressing human rights issues. In 2016, the government formed the policy paper, New Progress in the Judicial Protection of Human Rights in China. The policy paper addresses the country’s human rights issues and suggests potential developments. After inviting the U.N. to support the initiative, the U.N. agreed and made visits to China.
  10. Human Rights in China (HRIC) works to promote human rights and hold the government accountable. HRIC is an NGO that uses advocacy and policy engagement to give citizens voices and improve human rights protection. Its advocacy program aids individual casework and long-term reforms. By advocating both domestically and globally, HRIC promotes international NGOs, the business community, multi-stakeholder groups and results-oriented government engagements.

China’s goal is to remove 60 million people from poverty by decreasing air pollution and improving health standards and its judicial system by 2020. The U.N. and organizations like the HRIC provide hope for more human rights protection in the future. Though China is working to form and implement related policies, it is important that the government allows activists and lawyers to support minority groups and give all citizens a voice in order to end human rights violations in China.

– Diane Adame
Photo: Flickr

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10 Important Examples of Gender Inequality Happening Today

Examples of Gender Inequality

The fight for gender equality is an ongoing struggle for men and women throughout the world. Many aspects of gender inequality are events that men will never face, but that constantly shape women’s mental health and opportunities. Listed here are the top 10 examples of gender inequality found in the daily lives of women across the globe.

10 Examples of Gender Inequality

  1. Infant Life Expectancy: In India and China, the two most populous nations in the world, there is significant data that shows a survival disadvantage for girls under five years of age. In China, girls have a seven percent higher infant mortality rate than boys, and in India, a study conducted in the first decade of the 2000s found that the risk of death between the ages of one and five was 75 percent higher for girls than for boys.
  2. Access to Prenatal Care and Maternal Mortality: As of 2017, there are 1.6 billion women of reproductive age in the developing world. Of the 127 million women who gave birth in 2017, just 63 percent received a minimum of four antenatal care visits and only 72 percent gave birth in a health facility. Among women who experienced medical complications during pregnancy or delivery, only one in three received the care they or their newborns needed.

    In 2017, an estimated 308,000 women in developing nations died from pregnancy-related causes and 2.7 million babies died in their first month of life. Many of these deaths could have been prevented with full access to healthcare.
  3. Education: Less than 40 percent of countries offer girls and boys equal access to education and only 39 percent of countries have equal proportions of the sexes enrolled in secondary education. By achieving universal primary and secondary education attainability in the adult population, it could be possible to lift more than 420 million people out of poverty. This would have its greatest effect on women and girls who are the most likely to never have stepped foot inside a school.

    Even once girls are attending school, discrimination follows. One in four girls states that they never feel comfortable using school latrines. Girls are at greater risk of sexual violence, harassment and exploitation in school. School-related gender-based violence is another major obstacle to universal schooling and the right to education for girls.
  4. Illiteracy: There are approximately 774 million illiterate adults in the world and two-thirds of them are women. There are approximately 123 million illiterate youths and 61 percent of them are girls. Women’s share in the illiterate population has not budged in 20 years. These facts not only affect women but their children as well. A child born to a mother with the ability to read is 50 percent more likely to survive past age five.
  5. Economic Independence: Increases in female labor force participation result in faster economic growth, but women continue to participate in labor markets on an unequal basis with men. In 2013, the male employment-to-population ratio was 72.2 percent compared to 47.1 percent for women, and women continue to earn only 60-75 percent of men’s wages globally. It is estimated that women’s income could increase globally up to 76 percent if the employment participation gap between men and women was closed, which could have a global value of $17 trillion.

    Women also carry a disproportionate amount of responsibility for unpaid care work. Women devote one to three hours more a day to housework than men, two to 10 times the amount of time a day to care (for children, elderly and the sick) and one to four hours less a day to income-based activities. The time given to these unpaid tasks directly and negatively impacts women’s participation in the workforce and their ability to foster economic independence.
  6. Violence Against Women, Sexual Assault and Rape: The mental health effects of sexual assault and rape can have jarring results on women’s stability and livelihoods. Women who have experienced sexual or physical abuse at the hands of their partners are twice as likely to have an abortion, almost twice as likely to have depression and, in some regions, 1.5 times more likely to acquire HIV compared with women who have not experienced partner violence.

    The prevalence of sexual assault and violence against women is deep and systemic, making it one of the most important examples of gender inequality. Worldwide, around 120 million girls, a number which represents slightly more than one in 10, have experienced forced intercourse or another forced sexual act in their lifetime.
  7. Female Genital Mutilation: At least 200 million women and girls alive today have undergone female genital mutilation. In most of these cases, the majority of girls were cut before age five. In these instances, proper anesthesia is rarely used or is ineffective, causing severe pain. Excessive bleeding is also possible, resulting from the accidental cutting of the clitoral artery or other blood vessels during the procedure. Chronic genital infections, reproductive tract infections and urinary tract infections are common.Female genital mutilation is also associated with an increased risk of Caesarean section, postpartum hemorrhage and extended maternal hospital stay. All of these subsequent complications along with the shock and use of physical force during the procedure are some of the many reasons why survivors describe the experience as an extremely traumatic event.
  8. Child Marriage: Globally, almost 750 million women and girls alive today married before their eighteenth birthday. Those who suffer from child marriage often experience early pregnancy which is a key factor in the premature end of education. As mothers and wives, girls become socially isolated and are at an increased risk for domestic violence. Child marriage is one the most devastating examples of gender inequality, as it limits women’s opportunities and their ability to reach their full individual potential.
  9. Human Trafficking: Adult women and girls account for 71 percent of all human trafficking victims detected globally. Girls alone represent nearly three out of every four children trafficked. Women and girls are clearly the disproportionate victims of human trafficking with 75 percent trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
  10. Representation in Government: As of June 2016, only 22.8 percent of all national parliamentarians were women. There is growing evidence that women in positions of leadership and political decision-making improve the systems in which they work.

These are 10 of the countless ways in which women are oppressed, abused and neglected. These top ten examples of gender inequality cannot begin to do justice to the discrimination and obstacles that women around the world face each day. Women’s rights are human rights and affect every person in every community.

– Carolina Sherwood Bigelow

Photo: Flickr

People Behind the Purchase: Patagonia and Fair Trade USA

Patagonia and Fair Trade USAFair Trade Certified: recognized by most from a coffee package or chocolate bar. Farmers, however, are not the only workers that benefit from Fair Trade Certification. The disconnect between the source and purchase of a good is one that Fair Trade USA is working to connect.

What Do Patagonia and Fair Trade USA Do?

Patagonia is leading the apparel industry in support of Fair Trade Certified goods. Patagonia and Fair Trade USA have partnered to help over 42,000 workers improve their quality of life since 2014. A solid 75 percent of Fair Trade USA’s disbursements to workers come from business partners like Patagonia, while the other 25 percent comes from contributions from corporations and foundations.

The Patagonia and Fair Trade USA program involves Patagonia paying for use of the Fair Trade Certified label. The money goes directly to the workers making the apparel. Once the disbursement is received, the employees decide how to use it by vote. Over the years, workers who make Patagonia clothing have used their disbursements for household appliances as well as childcare and healthcare.

Examples of Fair Trade Benefits

At the Hirdaramani factory in Agalawatta, Sri Lanka, Fair Trade disbursements provided a free daycare facility for the worker’s children. This ensures that even workers with families continue to thrive.

In addition, the community chose to build a health and hygiene program that provides things like sanitary pads. The health program doubles as a safe space to talk about reproductive health, which is considered taboo in Sri Lankan culture.

In Mexico, 1,500 workers at Vertical Knits factory used their Fair Trade disbursement to buy bicycles and stoves, improving either their work commute or home life. VT Garment Co., Ltd.’s disbursement paid school tuition for 265 children in Thailand and provided a fun community day to celebrate the factories successes.

These partnerships alone improved the lives and communities of over 4,500 workers. According to Patagonia, other benefits of Fair Trade Certification include “maternity and paid leave, no child or forced labor, and additional money back to workers.”

Effects of Unfair Working Conditions

Although partnerships like Patagonia and Fair Trade USA provide endless benefits to workers’ physical and mental health, thousands of workers in the apparel industry continue to work in sweatshops where working conditions are unsafe and wages are not livable. According to War on Want, a worker’s rights charity organization, many are “working 14 to 16 hour days seven days a week.”

Fires and collapsing buildings killed hundreds of workers in 2012 as factories were unregulated. Soon after these incidents in Bangladesh, factories began implementing fire safety and building codes to ensure workers safety. Though improvements are being made, there are still millions of workers being underpaid and overworked in the garment industry.

How Fair Trade USA is Helping Workers

Currently, Fair Trade USA works with over 1,250 companies internationally, helping workers out of poverty by providing safe working conditions and livable wages. As explained in the 2017 Fair Trade Certified Quality Manual, “When shoppers choose Fair Trade Certified goods, they are able to vote with their dollar – supporting responsible companies, empowering farmers and workers and protecting the environment.”

By purchasing goods that are Fair Trade Certified, consumers are ensuring the betterment of the workers’ lives by providing access to things like healthcare, education and modern appliances.  These things would not be accessible if not for programs like Fair Trade USA.

As abstract as it may seem, there are people behind every purchase. Continued support for organizations such as Patagonia and other Fair Trade Certified companies will change the lives of individuals and communities in monumental ways.

– Hope Kelly
Photo: Flickr

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Benevolent Finance: How Development Impact Bonds Work

Development Impact Bonds
Development impact bonds are an emerging financial model that is outcome-based — donors and governments only pay if the proposed interventions achieve set goals for improving the lives of people in poor countries. Original funding for development programs comes from the private sector.

In such a model, impact bond initiatives looking for profit mobilize private capital to invest in service activities, and an outcome founder — donors or governments — pays the original investor if the service activities produce results that meet agreed-upon targets.

The First Development Impact Bonds in Education

UBS Optimus Foundation launched The Educate Girls Development Impact Bond (DIB) in June 2015, the world’s first development impact bond in education. UBS Optimus Foundation serves as the investor who recruited Educate Girls, a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in a remote rural district of Rajasthan, as the service provider. UBS Optimus Foundation directly funds Educate Girls’ programs, which works to help enroll girls into primary education and improve the learning of boys and girls in English, Hindi and mathematics.

ID Insights, a non-profit evaluation firm, serves as the third party that confirms and evaluates service progress. The outcome funder is the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, who pays UBS Optimus Foundation a fixed amount for each unit of improvement in the quality and enrollment of girls’ education.

Satisfactory Results

The DIB functions on a $270,000 budget, and Educate Girls’ services reach 166 schools in 140 villages in Bhilwara. The goal for the program is to help as many as 15,000 children, 9,000 of whom are girls.

By the end of the second year of the three-year program, Educate Girls has achieved 87.7 percent of the proposed total enrollment increase, and 50.3 percent of the proposed total learning progress improvement.

A Focus on Outcome

Precisely because of the program’s outcome-oriented nature, service providers on the ground receive more feedback to help the organization work more efficiently. Safeena Husain from Educate Girls told Brookings that DIB and traditional grant programs are very different: while traditional grant programs only send results to donors, DIB has designed a mechanism over mobile dashboards that allows performance data to circle back to the front line. Thus, more effective strategies could be adopted as early as possible.

As this example shows, development impact bonds best serve those programs that depend on productive human behavior for the delivery of results. In contrast to immunization programs where intended results are almost guaranteed given the availability of vaccines, education programs that require attentive human effort may benefit from the development impact bond model instead.

USAID’s Initiative in India

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has also tapped into the benefits offered by this innovative financial model. USAID administrator Mark Green announced the Utkrisht Bond in 2017, which is a development impact bond for health based in rural India. The investor is again UBS Optimus Foundation, with USAID and Merck for Mothers as the outcome funders.

“What’s most exciting to me is that, if this initiative is successful, which we expect it will be, the Government of Rajasthan will scale the approach throughout the State, which will leave a lasting and sustainable legacy for the people of India,” Green wrote.

These kind of positive, impactful and long-lasting benefits demonstrate the life-changing and, indeed, benevolent outcomes that development impact bonds can bring.

– Feng Ye
Photo: Flickr