Key articles and information on global poverty.
Every year, the citizens of Bangladesh have to contend with monsoon season, a cool, rainy period that usually lasts from June until October. Most parts of the country get at least 2000 millimeters of rain per year, and 80 percent of that falls during monsoon season. Northeastern Bangladesh is typically hit hardest, sometimes receiving over 4000 millimeters per year.
The heavy rains bring another problem: flooding. When rivers flood, they destroy both crops and nutrient-rich topsoil. As flood waters recede, they often leave behind large quantities of sand and silt, which reduces the availability of arable land.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) blames this problem in part for Bangladesh’s malnutrition epidemic. According to USAID, 25 percent of Bangladeshis remain food insecure, and women and children are affected most. Of children under five, 16 percent are acutely malnourished and 41 percent have stunted growth.
But one organization believes it has found a solution. Practical Action, an international NGO that uses technology to alleviate poverty in developing countries, has spent several years experimenting with various “sandbar cropping” techniques in Bangladesh. Their solution? Pumpkins.
Practical Action’s tried-and-true technique for farming pumpkins in the sand is to dig a pit in the sand and fill it with compost and a dozen pumpkin seeds. The pumpkins can grow and be harvested before monsoon season rolls around again.
Pumpkins provide a variety of health and logistical benefits. They can store for a year, providing a stable, reliable source of food. They are also a good source of Vitamin A, a nutrient often lacking in Bangladeshi diets. And in a nation where rivers often change course during monsoons and farmers thus lose their land, sandbar cropping provides more security.
This is why Practical Action started Pumpkins Against Poverty, a project to train 50,000 Bangladeshis with no land of their own to grow up to 600 pumpkins a year. Participants can use the extra income generated by selling the crop to buy livestock or send their children to school. The project will last until March 2018 and has the potential to be replicated nationwide.
Bangladesh is far from the only country to realize the value in farming pumpkins as a solution to poverty. Uganda has also embraced the crop as a profitable, nutritious foodstuff. Pumpkin varieties in Uganda are numerous and include Sweet Cream, Bala, Dulu, Onziga, Sunfish, Anderina and Sugar Pie, among others.
Fatuma Namatosi, founder of Ugandan agribusiness firm Byeffe Foods Company Ltd., decided to center her business on pumpkins, citing them as her favorite crop. The company makes pumpkin porridge, which is popular among children and gives them a vital nutrition boost. Byeffe also helps teach young Ugandans agricultural entrepreneurial skills and creates jobs in the field that employ thousands of young people.
Namatosi founded Byeffe in 2015. Since then, she says, “I’ve provided more accessible and nutritious food options to communities across Uganda, created a variety of agricultural jobs that generate income for families, and empowered more people like me, especially young women, to create their own path in the agriculture industry.” All that progress comes down to pumpkins.
– Chuck Hasenauer
Photo: Flickr
Nearly 15,000 foreign jihadists have moved to join the IS effort, according to a recent United Nations estimate. The actions taken by extremist groups have had devastating effects all over the world. Initiatives, global collaborative efforts and legislative conquests have been directed at minimizing tragedies by stopping them at their source. Experts argue that social inclusion can help thwart violent extremism.
The World Leadership Alliance Club de Madrid, in partnership with several democratic institutions, including the U.S Department of State, meets regularly to discuss global issues and methods of conciliation.
In October 2015, the Madrid Agenda arose from the conversations. The document describes how basal involvement in combination with an engaged society, including local religious and community leaders, youths, families and women is one of the best ways to prevent extremism. The agenda created a 10-point framework based on hundreds of voices that spoke out against recurring themes that give rise to violent extremism in various countries.
The framework focuses heavily on social inclusion. Despite direct causal links between poverty and extremism, combating economic hardship is a moral imperative: “Where systematic exclusion creates injustice, humiliation and unfair treatment, it can produce a toxic mix that allows violent extremism to flourish,” the address explains.
The 10 Madrid Goals Summarized
The Madrid Agenda counseled for accountable and transparent governments that advocate for the rights of all citizens. There is an emphasis on equal access to opportunity and meaningful employment for qualified citizens.
Local leaders are motivated to act as peaceful role models for the disenfranchised and be conduits of communication and adjudicators on a regional level.
The goals similarly promote peaceful and meaningful modes of free expression without repercussion, giving agency to silenced and oppressed voices.
Involving Social Media
Gilles de Kerchove has been the EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator for the past 10 years. In a 2017 interview, the coordinator proposed an initiative that would block IS propaganda that aims to reach and recruit thousands of potential jihadists.
In the wake of the Brussels terrorist attacks, Kerchove mentioned issues of social discrimination and questioning identity. He admits that these injustices often lead to radicalization. Socially polarized individuals often seek out sympathetic companionship and a sense of belonging. What quicker way to find like-minded people than through the Internet?
Kerchove mentioned the collaborative efforts major social media companies have already taken to more efficiently remove and prevent the sharing of illegal content. They have also engaged social responsibility with the empowerment of moderate voices via the Civil Society Empowerment Program.
Digital evidence also plays a major role in securing convictions against extremist recruitment. With more compliance and support of social media apps and means, digital evidence will facilitate the incrimination of recruiters more effectively.
A Hopeful Future
A nation is much like the human body; they are both capable of great things. The body automatically fights pathogens, heals wounds and endures extreme pressures; a well-run nation can fight poverty, ameliorate social inclusion and endure tragedy.
When we get sick, we visit the doctor. We may be prescribed medication or a regimen designed to heal the body and eliminate the ailment. Our first question is not “what can we amputate or lobotomize?” Instead, we ask “where is it coming from, how can we fix it?” In a country, when a source of pain and illness is identified, the best way to fix the problem is by the same means. The strategies outlined by the aformentioned groups aim to do just that.
– Sloan Bousselaire
Photo: Flickr
In the fight to end global poverty, people often think of just donating money and food to people in the developing world. While this is helpful, many other companies see the benefit in creating opportunities for people in impoverished communities throughout the world to earn a sustainable income that allows them to provide for their families and have something to look forward to. These are five companies that give local artists work and help impoverished communities with every purchase.
Pura Vida bracelets
Pura Vida is a bracelet company created by Griffin Thall and Paul Goodman in 2010 during a college graduation trip to Costa Rica. The two bought bracelets from bracelet makers Juan and Joaquin, who were living in poverty and selling bracelets to survive. Paul and Griffin decided to take 400 of Juan and Joaquin’s bracelets back home and they sold quickly, so they decided to partner with Juan and Joaquin to create Pura Vida. The company has since grown, providing full-time jobs for over 150 artisans around the world. The company has partnered with over 190 different charities and has raised $1,500,000.
Serengetee
Serengetee is a company that specializes in t-shirts with bold pockets made from fabrics from artisans in over 25 countries, which supports “artisans, their families and ancient fabric-making traditions.” The company also donates 10 percent of their profits to a range of grassroots causes.
Visible clothing
Visible is a clothing company that makes every step of the clothes-making process transparent, allowing customers to know exactly who made their clothes and know that they are treated fairly. The workers they hire are all from the developing world, because the company feels that since 98 percent of clothes in the United States are outsourced to these countries anyway, having their company work with these people but actually treat them fairly is a good way to help end poverty.
Krochet Kids
Krochet Kids was founded by three men who as teenagers liked to crochet their own hats for ski trips, and eventually began selling them at school. During college, one of the men traveled to Uganda and realized that teaching people in impoverished countries to crochet would allow them to sustain themselves and their families. They then traveled to Uganda to educate women on how to crochet. Since becoming a nonprofit in January 2008, Krochet Kids has employed over 150 people in Uganda and Peru, allowing them to work, get an education and receive mentorship.
Ten Thousand Villages
Ten Thousand Villages sells a variety of products, including pottery, baskets, ornaments, jewelry and clothing, created by people in communities throughout the developing world. Ten Thousand Villages is dedicated to providing good working conditions, long-term partnerships, fair pay, sustainability, and empowerment to their workers. Since being founded in 1946, Ten Thousand Villages’ employees have earned $140 million in sustainable income when they would otherwise be unemployed or underemployed.
By shopping with one of these companies, you can know that your money is going toward the fight to end global poverty while supporting local artists.
– Téa Franco
Photo: Flickr
2.5 billion people lack access to a hygienic toilet. The toilets that they do have often dump human waste into water sources or leave it exposed to the air. Leaving human waste in water or out in the open can cause diarrheal diseases that can kill many people, mainly affecting children under the age of five. Sanergy, the creator of Fresh Life Toilets, hopes to provide toilets for Kenya and alleviate the unhygienic conditions in slums.
These low-cost and high-quality sanitation toilets prevent people in Kenyan slums from using pit latrines or what is known as “flying toilets”, which are non-decomposing plastic bags. What Sanergy offers are not only toilets for Kenya and its communities, but a proper way to dispose of the waste as well.
Sanergy and those in the areas that work with them collect the waste on a daily basis. After they have replaced the waste cartridges, they take the waste to a treatment plant to convert it to fertilizer or a protein for animal feed. These treated products are then sold at a lower price than the competing alternatives offered in Kenya. Essentially, Sanergy is turning human waste into money.
Most of the operations involved with the Fresh Life Toilets are run by local business people. Sanergy is not only creating a more sanitary environment by providing toilets for Kenya, they are also providing jobs. Over 90 percent of Sanergy’s employees are Kenyan and 60 percent of them live in the communities in which they serve.
Currently, 1134 Fresh Life Toilets are active. In 2017, 2467 metric tons of human waste were safely transferred and made into fertilizer. Because of these toilets, over 900 jobs have been provided to Kenyan people.
Fresh Life Toilets not only provide toilets in Kenya, but also a reliable income for the families that own them, created by a small fee that is comparable to the cost of non-hygienic alternatives. By doing this, individuals in the community get both a source of profit and an increase in sanitation, benefiting both the Kenyan people and their economy.
An example of the change a Fresh Life Toilet can make is exemplified by Fresh Life Toilet owner Agnes Kwamboka, who used to sell an illegal alcoholic beverage called “chang’aa” in order to provide for her family. Being an owner of a Fresh Life Toilet has changed that. Now, she is able to make a profit, help the local economy and contribute to a cleaner environment in a safe and legal way.
The Fresh Life Toilets provide Kenyans with a hygienic way to use the bathroom. With the Fresh Life Toilets, they no longer have to use the undignified flying toilets and their communities are much cleaner. Sanergy is able to provide the communities with disease prevention and sources of income with one solution, giving them the opportunity to grow.
– Daniel Borjas
Photo: Flickr
The unforgettable tragedy of the Holocaust committed by Nazi Germany during World War II resulted in the deaths of more than 12 million people in Europe, but Hitler and his party had greater ambitions for an even larger genocide called Generalplan Ost.
10 Generalplan Ost Facts
- Generalplan Ost means “masterplan of the east” and was the Nazi plan for the resettlement of Eastern Europe with German citizens after their victory in World War II, which they presumed was imminent in 1941 when they developed the plan.
- The territories they were prepared to take over and occupy were Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus and parts of Russia and Ukraine. The Nazis believed people from these territories were racially inferior and required extermination in order to make room for the Aryan Germans.
- To exterminate the unwanted people in Eastern Europe, Generalplan Ost called for mass starvation or moving those they wanted to get rid of farther east. Nazi policy in relation to the Generalplan Ost stated: “many tens of millions of people in this territory will become superfluous and will have to die or migrate to Siberia.”
- Heinrich Himmler was in charge of coordinating Generalplan Ost, as he had been appointed Reich Commissar for the Strengthening of German Ethnic Stock, which allowed him to decide the fates of people in Eastern Europe. Himmler had Oberfuhrer SS Professor Meyer-Hetling from the Berlin University prepare the plan.
- The plan called for the extermination or deportation of 31 million people in Eastern Europe, where about 45 million people were residing at the time. Professor Meyer-Hetling’s plan called for the immediate removal of 80-85 percent of Poland’s population and 50 percent of the Czech Republic’s population, as well as the later deportation of 85 percent of Lithuania’s population, 75 percent of Belarus’ population, 65 percent of western Ukraine’s population and 50 percent of Latvia and Estonia’s populations.
- How people were to be “removed” according to Generalplan Ost was based on a racial hierarchy crafted by the Nazis. Those of Slavic origin were “undesirable” and were to be moved into Siberia. The Jews were to be “totally removed,” meaning killed. The rest of the people in Eastern Europe were to be enslaved, “Germanized” or killed.
- Special German einzatsgruppen (“task forces”) led operations to kill Eastern Europeans from the end of 1941 to the end of 1942. They killed over 300,000 civilians in Belarus, Ukraine and the Baltic states alone.
- Hitler argued that he wanted to acquire Eastern Europe for the resettlement of Germans to the territory in order to give Germans “Lebensraum” (living space). The term was coined by the German geographer Friedrich Ratzel in 1901; he believed a country needed enough resources and territory to be self-sufficient and to protect itself from external enemies.
- Hitler was not the first to insinuate racist views towards the Jews, Slavs, and other people of eastern Europe. Multiple early 20th century scholars argued that the resources of the eastern European states were wasted on the “racially inferior” Slavs and Jews.
- Part of Hitler’s inspiration for Generalplan Ost and Lebensraum came from the United States’ westward expansion. Hitler believed Germany’s “manifest destiny” lay in the east.
Thankfully, Generalplan Ost never came fully to fruition. It is hard to imagine that there could have been an even greater genocide than what occurred in the Holocaust. Sadly, genocides continue to occur in the world today. Foreign states must act to stop genocides and prevent them from happening, for if foreign states had not intervened in World War II, Generalplan Ost and the Nazi regime could have succeeded.
– Mary Kate Luft
Photo: Flickr
In less than 10 years, cell phone usage in sub-Saharan Africa has jumped from 5 to 30 percent of the population. Meanwhile, electricity access has barely kept up with population growth.
In the last six years, mobile phone companies have received $44 billion in investment, while electrification companies have attracted less than $100 million, despite the large potential market. There are 125 million energy-poor households in sub-Saharan Africa, who spend around $20 billion annually on energy needs.
Many rural electrification projects have raised hopes but failed to become a scalable solution. Previous projects using electrical grid expansion, solar energy equipment and mini-grids have produced underwhelming results.
The distributed energy service company (DESCO) model may be the solution that defies all the obstacles. This model aims to provide households with customizable energy solutions at a better price than what they normally spend on kerosene, which is the standard energy source for many in sub-Saharan Africa.
The promise of this model stems from its ability to provide energy solutions that are both cheaper and safer than kerosene, while the company is able to make a profit. The capacity of the model to generate revenue transforms the problem into a viable economic investment.
Rather than selling products for a lump sum of cash, the DESCO model installs electricity-generating assets and charges small installments. This payment model is much more affordable for those in poverty.
The DESCO model focuses on providing customers what they need for an affordable price, rather than attempting to maximize their electricity usage as a normal utility company would. This model does not require demand to be created for a new product, but simply for customers to switch to a cheaper energy option.
Utilizing mobile phone data and payment systems allows companies using the DESCO model to keep their operating costs low. Pioneer companies in this field include M-KOPA Solar in Kenya, Off Grid Electric in Tanzania and Mera Gao Power in India.
M-KOPA has given 500,000 homes in East Africa affordable solar power, at a rate of 500 homes per day. The company estimates that their current installments will save customers $375 million in the next four years.
This company has provided jobs for 1,500 sales agents in East Africa. M-KOPA focuses on providing affordable solar energy and allowing customers to pay with convenient payment plans.
Based in Tanzania, Off Grid Electric is connecting 50,000 people per month to sustainable electricity solutions. For every household reached, this company prevents 140 kilograms of carbon dioxide from polluting the atmosphere.
Off Grid Electric creates more than 40 jobs per month for an eager local workforce. The company uses SMS messaging to provide support for their customers at any time.
Some investors are hesitant to pursue off-grid energy solutions because of past failures in this field. However, with recent advancements in technology, the energy needs of sub-Saharan Africa has become a profitable market.
Users of DESCO will create banking accounts to make their payments, and this will spur economic activity, especially in the finance sector. Thus, this model will provide opportunities for economic growth as well as foster great improvements in quality of life for customers.
– Kristen Nixon
Photo: Flickr
Pledging to donate up to $250,000, the French fashion brand, Christian Dior, supports education in Kenya behind ‘WE Charity’, a benevolent division of the Canadian association ‘WE Movement’ with the “Dior Love Chain”. Their movement is in support of work for WE Schools in Kenya.
Executing their advocacy with collaborative programs both globally and domestically, WE Charity is a global charity and educational partner based in Canada.
WE Charity partners with communities to implement WE Villages, a holistic, five-pillar international development model designed to achieve sustainable growth in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Presently providing services in Kenya, rural China, Sierra Leone, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Haiti and India, WE Villages is an advocate for community development in areas where there are excessive amounts of child labor, exploitation of children and a lack of opportunities for the girl child.
Within the five-pillar model they help provide education, installations of clean water sites and health clinics. WE Villages also provides food in school gardens, for families and in schools with help from founding partner PotashCor. Finally, it assists parents, especially moms, by innovating new economic opportunities through leadership sessions, financial literacy workshops and vocational training.
WE Charity’s goal is aimed at providing Kenyan girls with an education. Each post in the Dior Love Chain will offer the opportunity to donate one dollar to WE Charity by the Dior house, Parfums Christian Dior. The Dior Love Chain campaign is using all social media networks as the platform and is up to almost $40,000 worth of uploads.
With a commercial video posted to Twitter, Instagram and Weibo, Dior supports education in Kenya by inviting all social media users to upload their own artistic expression in answering, “And you? What would you do for love?” with a video or photo.
The commercial opens with dialogue exchange as the campaign called to their muses and house friends. Stars featured to advocate the initiative include Rihanna, Carine Roitfeld, Bella Hadid, Natalie Portman, Charlize Theron, Winnie Harlow and Jennifer Lawrence to name a few.
Each post uploaded to the listed platforms and “hashtagged” #DiorLoveChain will be considered for publishing to Dior.com by the campaign and will run up until December 31, 2017.
– Jalil Perry
Photo: Flickr
Even with active funding partners, some development agencies may fall short if lacking internal infrastructure. While funding is certainly an important aspect of achieving sustainable development goals, it may be just as important to ensure that the strategists and support for development projects are up to date and relevant. SNV: Smart Development Works is a nonprofit that works toward providing such resources through an expansive network of professionals in a variety of different sectors. SNV works with policy experts, local governments, private business and institutes of higher learning to provide lasting differences in extremely poor communities.
SNV was founded in the Netherlands in the mid-’60s and has since established itself in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Expertise in sectors relating to agriculture, energy, water, sanitation and health have helped solve problems locally and provide sustainable solutions to poverty. SNV is funded by the Swedish International Development Agency and managed in partnership with BoP Innovation Center and Inclusive Business Sweden.
SNV has several projects on the ground and one in particular worth noting. Innovations Against Poverty is working in the private sector to develop products and services that can aid in fighting global poverty. This particular mission has focused its efforts on younger demographics as well as women in order to empower groups to shift gender and age paradigms. Companies can apply for the Innovations Against Poverty program to get funding that incentivizes innovation, entrepreneurship and consumption of goods and services in their communities.
Innovations Against Poverty was created with the idea that the private sector is a powerful mechanism for creating jobs and increasing incomes while also providing necessary goods and services to a community. Low-income markets in impoverished communities contain business opportunities that can be sustainably exploited with adequate startup funds and resources. Innovations Against Poverty exists to stimulate development where it otherwise would not exist, with financial support ranging from $60,000 to $200,000. Innovations Against Poverty gains a non-reimbursable capital return and provides advisory support for its investors. This support includes training and coaching from international experts. The program also narrows its support to cases that are not seen as “risk free”, thereby investing in businesses that may not receive support in most cases.
Innovations Against Poverty has registered over 1300 companies since its inception and is expected to grow. These innovative solution investments have primarily been made in Cambodia, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Zambia, with a focus in the agriculture and energy sectors. With continued success, Innovations Against Poverty can foster development in more countries all over the world.
– Casey Hess
Photo: Flickr
The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization, better known by its acronym, UNESCO, is under scrutiny after the United States stated it will withdraw from the organization by December 31, 2018. Founded in 1945 in response to the horrific aftermath of both World War I and II, the organization currently has 195 member states and 10 associated states.
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said the U.S. withdrawal would be a loss to the U.N. and “a loss to multilateralism…At the time when the fight against violent extremism calls for renewed investment in education, in dialogue among cultures to prevent hatred, it is deeply regrettable that the United States should withdraw from the United Nations agency leading these issues…”
“Building peace in the minds of men and women” is UNESCO’s slogan and is rooted in efforts to coordinate international cooperation in its named components: education, science and culture, as well as communication. These efforts made by the United Nations agency have a goal to mobilize societies across the globe so that each child and citizen “…has access to quality education; a basic human right and an indispensable prerequisite for sustainable development. May grow and live in a cultural environment rich in diversity and dialogue, where heritage serves as a bridge between generations and peoples. Can fully benefit from scientific advances; and can enjoy full freedom of expression; the basis of democracy, development and human dignity.”
The importance of UNESCO is highlighted by an interview with Jaroslava Moserova, president of the General Conference in 1999, who was convinced of the role that the organization could play in a post-Cold War world. She said in the interview that “The aim of UNESCO is to improve the quality of life. It is not a political organization at all… the main pillar of UNESCO is education, access to education. When you hear the delegates from different parts of the world, different cultures, different traditions, there is one thing all of them agree on, and that is that the only tool for better or worse is education.”
The note Moserova made when acknowledging that education is an indispensable tool is only one of the ways to see the importance of UNESCO. The other pillars of UNESCO also point to the significance of their work and efforts. When considering that preserving heritages and promoting scientific advancement are the other focuses of the organization, the importance of UNESCO and the benefits of the agency can be subtle. Seeing as how encouraging positive cultural experiences, scientific development and educational growth are all components that lead to overall poverty reduction and socioeconomic advancement for countries.
UNESCO puts an emphasis on children, and as UNICEF reiterates, reducing poverty begins with children and the things that improve their quality of life. Education is one of the most important pieces, and UNESCO’s efforts to improve it benefit people the world over.
– Gabriella Paez
Photo: Google
