Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

How to Help People in Uzbekistan

Help People in UzbekistanThe Republic of Uzbekistan was formed in 1991 after declaring independence from the Soviet Union. However, this independence came at a cost. After losing subsidies afforded by the Soviet government, this nation experienced a serious economic decline. Today, not only do 12.8 percent of Uzbekistan’s citizens live beneath the national poverty line, it has a steady unemployment rate of 8.9 percent. With an economy largely based around agriculture, Uzbekistan’s GDP has suffered during the last few decades due to the fragile ecosystem caused by climate change, rapid population growth and environmentally-damaging economic pursuits.

These financial hardships are not helped by the Uzbek government, which has a track record of corruption, non-transparency and numerous human rights violations. Though there have been improvements in terms of income distribution and income rates, the future of this nation is ambiguous, given the likelihood that their high commodity prices will decrease with the current environmental and market disruptions. This places a great deal of pressure to establish a market-based economy, which calls for both higher education rates and outside investors.

As of now, agriculture still employs over a third of Uzbekistan’s population of 31.8 million. In order to achieve a measure of financial prosperity while subsequently lowering poverty rates and raising income rates, this nation must invest in the 58.5 percent of its population below the age of 30. Let’s take a look at how to help people in Uzbekistan.

SOS Children’s Villages in Uzbekistan

One way to help people in Uzbekistan is by donating to SOS Children’s Villages International, or specifically to one of its many bases in Uzbekistan. Founded by Hermann Gmeiner in 1949, this organization worked to provide orphaned and abandoned children with loving families after World War II. Today, this program has placed 577,000 children into healthy alternative care. On top of this, last year 297,000 children were reported to be learning at SOS Children’s Villages’ schools, training centers, and social centers.

In Uzbekistan, many children are forced to drop out of school at a young age and are exploited within the cotton industry. Oftentimes, young children are sent out to live, work and earn for their families. This ends in this nation’s youth fending for themselves on the street in order to survive. Without programs like SOS Children’s Villages, these young people are placed into institutions, which only perpetuates the trend of young adults unable to act independently. Reports relay that the majority of girls leaving institutions marry early, start families young and never achieve the educational and professional potential of which they are capable. Allowing this institutionalization empowers the cycle of poverty prevalent in Uzbekistan. By helping or donating to SOS Children’s Villages in Uzbekistan, you could be a powerful force in the creation of better, safer lives.

The Cotton Campaign

Another way to help people in Uzbekistan is by supporting The Cotton Campaign, a coalition working in the service of human rights and the eradication of both child and forced labor. Each year during the harvest season, the Uzbek government is responsible for forcing adults and children alike out of their jobs, homes and schools in order to contribute to its annual cotton quota. While this is dangerous enough with consideration to the health of these forced laborers, who are more often than not placed into unsafe housing, exposed to harmful chemicals and forced to pick beyond their limits, the power the government holds over these citizens compromises both their education and their profession.

The Cotton Campaign works to help people in Uzbekistan by mobilizing communities, organizations and individuals to advocate against the exploitative terms of citizenship in Uzbekistan. In educating potential lobbyists about the necessary ramifications and laws that need to pass through the Uzbek government, this coalition gives each individual the power to work against this existing inhumanity. By supporting their efforts, you can contribute to the end of modern-day slavery.

Both of these organizations are doing important work to help people in Uzbekistan. By donating, volunteering or raising awareness, you can contribute to improving the lives of Uzbekistan’s impoverished people.

– Briana Fernald

Photo: Flickr

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Bicycle Powered Washing Machine

Bicycle Powered Washing MachineDue to the lack of access to electricity and money, 14-year-old Remya Jose, from Keezhattor, India, created a bicycle powered washing machine. This machine created power through pedaling. As time goes on, this bicycle powered washing machine has the potential to make life much easier for families living without access to electricity.

In December 2014, Frank Clemente, Professor Emeritus of Social Science at Penn State University stated that no nation holds more of the world’s poor than India. At least 300 million people had no power at all and 700 million lacked access to modern energy services for lighting, cooking and water pumping. A simple task, such as washing clothes, is time consuming in India because many lack access to electricity.

It was with this in mind that Jose created her machine. She drew a diagram of it and her father took it to a nearby auto shop and asked workers to build it using his daughter’s instructions. The machine looks like a stationary bicycle connected to a metal box. It is composed of aluminum and has a horizontal cylinder in the center made of iron net wire.

To wash clothes, users put them into the cylinder, fill the box with water and detergent. The user then pedals for three to four minutes which rotates the cylinder at a very high speed with the clothes inside, cleaning them thoroughly. The soapy water drains out, the barrel is refilled and the process repeated.

There are many benefits to using the machine. First and foremost, it doesn’t require electricity in a region where electricity is rare. Second, it saves time. Washing clothes in the region took hours prior to the invention of Jose’s machine. With the machine, it takes about 30 minutes. Third, it can be used for exercising. The bicycle that powers it gives the user a workout. Fourth, it’s cheap. It costs about Rs.2000. Finally, it is mobile. One can pick it up and go. This is very practical for rural areas where it is used.

Unfortunately, the practicality of the machine has made it a turn-off for investors. Investors state that the machine is not commercially viable. So, despite the awards Jose received for the innovative invention, she has been looking for a job.

While investors may be uninterested in backing the bicycle powered washing machine, one thing is clear: Remya Jose made a difference. Her invention saves time and money for several of the world’s poor. In addition, it has inspired others to create improved versions of it to market to people interested in conserving energy. Jose’s story shows that with creativity, one individual can improve the lives of many.

– Jeanine Thomas

Photo: Flickr

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How to Help People in Africa

How to Help People in Africa
There are many ways to help people in Africa. With many of its countries referred to as underdeveloped nations, it is easy to understand why. This is the reason why so many people who want to help turn their attention to the disenfranchised of Africa. For those interested in how to help people in Africa, this article will try to provide a place to start.

 

Water
One problem that affects the people of Africa is the most vital resource of all life—water. Developing nations experience the issue of unclean water most severely, with as much as 80 percent of illnesses being traced back to poor water and sanitation quality. In sub-Saharan Africa, 319 million people are without access to improved reliable drinking water.

An organization that looks to curb this imminent problem is The Water Project, an organization dedicated to providing safe, clean water to all people worldwide. They accomplish this by working with local teams in the affected region and, through this cooperation, create and implement clean water programs.

A person looking for how to help people in Africa can find a great method through this organization. One of the most helpful and readily available ways to help this group is by donating to help The Water Project carry out its projects.

Another way to help The Water Project is by creating a fundraising page. There have been over 3,000 fundraising pages created that have raised more than $3 million. There are even more ways to lend a helping hand, including starting a campaign, taking “the water challenge” and becoming a member.

 

Food and Nutrition
Another problem that many impoverished people in Africa face is lack of proper nutrition, or lack of food altogether. This is especially the case in the Horn of Africa (the peninsula in the east, including Somalia and Ethiopia), where 11 million people are in urgent need of food assistance.

Anyone looking for how to help people in Africa can do so by assisting the World Food Programme (WFP), an organization dedicated to helping the world’s hungry through grassroots methods that has helped over 80 million people in 80 different countries since its inception.

To help, the WFP has listed ten different ways for the average citizen to lend assistance to those in need. These methods include donating both by computer and by text message, spreading the word through sending online quizzes and informational videos, using social media and much more, all of which are simple and easy to do from home.

 

Volunteering Abroad
Volunteering is a great way to get involved in a more grassroots fashion. For those wondering how to help people in Africa in a way that is a bit more involved, volunteering abroad provides an excellent opportunity.

By visiting the Projects Abroad website, one can find a wealth of information about how to volunteer on the ground in Africa. Margot Le Neveu, who worked in Ghana, gives a taste of what it is like to volunteer with orphans in Africa. She says, “Working at the orphanage was my favorite part of my trip to Ghana. The wood market and bead market were nice to visit, however I really loved playing with all the children at the orphanage.”

Projects Abroad offers several different ways to volunteer, including with day care centers and kindergartens, special needs children and at orphanages themselves. This service provides much-needed growth, stability and social interaction to children that would otherwise do without. Volunteers working through the Projects Abroad programs say they feel that they are “really making a difference”.

All of these organizations offer a variety of ways to help people in Africa. No matter which option you choose, you can know that your assistance is making a vital difference in the lives of impoverished people.

– Stephen Praytor

Photo: Flickr

 

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Addressing Causes of Poverty in Côte d’Ivoire

causes of poverty in Côte d'Ivoire
Côte d’Ivoire, or the Ivory Coast, is a former French colony and is located in North Africa. The country’s economy relies heavily on agriculture and processing, with over half of the country’s population working as laborers and farmers. Côte d’Ivoire’s main exports include cocoa, various nuts and palm oil. This low-income country, with 50.9 percent public debt in 2016, has a population estimated at just over 24 million and has a poverty rate of 46.3 percent.

One most recent cause of poverty in Côte d’Ivoire is the production of cocoa which is “highly sensitive to fluctuations in international prices…and to climatic conditions.” Recently, Côte d’Ivoire farmers have been witnessing agricultural diseases among the cocoa plants and trees. Along with decreased crops, around 80 percent of buyers have escaped their contracts with the cocoa farmers, which leaves the farmers with little to no income.

Without payment for the harvested crop, many of these farmers and their families have to survive with nothing. Even if the farmers do receive payment, they earn less than a dollar per day, contributing to the number of people living below the poverty line. Without the proper income, these farmers are facing an inability to buy fertilizers for next year’s production. One farmer states that the soil is old and barren, and without fertilizer, “you can’t grow anything.”

Another cause of poverty in Côte d’Ivoire is the lack of healthcare. Since the civil war in Côte d’Ivoire in 2002, there has been a collapse of resources for people with health issues, including HIV/AIDS. Based on 2016 data, the adult prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS is about 2.7 percent, and about 460,000 people are living with the disease. Côte d’Ivoire is also at high risk of other diseases besides HIV/AIDS.

The absence of sexual education is also to blame for poverty in Côte d’Ivoire. The current rise in population is estimated to continue growing, as about 60 percent of the population is 25 or younger. Furthermore, the fertility rate is approximately 3.5 children per woman, and use of contraception is below 20 percent.

However, there is good news for the country. In June 2012, Côte d’Ivoire received $4.4 billion in debt relief under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative. Since then, the country’s growth rate has risen to among the highest in the world. To tackle the epidemic of HIV/AIDS and other causes of poverty in the Côte d’Ivoire, several mayors of the nation’s communities joined together with the UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé to establish the Paris Declaration, which plans to eradicate the disease in Côte d’Ivoire by 2030.

As for the cocoa crisis, sustainability of the fields for production is essential, as well as paying the farmers a livable income. The French Development Agency and Barry-Callebaut, the global leading manufacturer of chocolate, have founded a sustainability strategy called Forever Chocolate in hopes of getting the crisis under control and providing a better future for Côte d’Ivoire farmers.

Furthermore, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has selected Côte d’Ivoire “to begin developing a five-year compact,” and the company has committed to helping the country fight its poverty. In conjunction with the MCC, The Borgen Project is advocating the passing of the African Growth and Opportunity Act and Millennium Challenge Act (AGOA and MCA) Modernization Act in Congress. This bill will strengthen and extend programs and aid in Africa if passed. For more information or to contact your Congressperson and show support, visit: https://borgenproject.org/legislation/.

– Jennifer Lightle
Photo: Flickr

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How Argentina’s Growing Tech Hub Came About

Argentina's Growing Tech Hub in Latin AmericaArgentina is one of three Latin American countries in the G20 and now has a booming tech industry. Though the industry has been on the rise since the 1980s after a major Argentinian recession, growth in recent years can be attributed to a few key factors.

One reason for Argentina’s growing tech hub is President Mauricio Macri’s new market-friendly policies. President Macri has sought to use the tech sector as a source for both new growth and reduced economic reliance on commodities. Though criticized, the policies Macri has introduced have helped the country reopen access to international debt markets and incentivized entrepreneurship. The Macri administration expects that 1.5 percent of GDP will come from the tech sector because of new policies.

The new law, called Ley de Emprendedores, or the Entrepreneur’s Law, replaces a previous law where approval and financing procedures took nearly a year to complete before entrepreneurs could legally launch their companies. The policy also allocates public funding to co-invest with private funding into businesses, by the means of the Fiduciary Fund for the Development of Venture Capital. This legislation is backed by both the Association of Entrepreneurs in Argentina and the Argentina Association of Private Equity, Venture and Seed Capital.

As such, the startup technological field continues to grow with a new generation of companies. These companies include the Y-Combinater backed Bluesmart, satellite startup Satellogic which raised $20 million last year to build imaging satellites and Affluenta, a peer to peer lending platform, which raised $8 million last year.

The stars of Argentina’s growing tech hub are three internet companies located in Buenos Aires that are worth over a billion dollars: MercadoLibre, OLX and Despegar. MercadoLibre is the only internet company from Latin America that is listed on NASDAQ. As the Huffington Post states, “a startup ecosystem is flourishing” in Argentina.

– Gabriella Paez

Photo: Flickr

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New Program for Free High School in Ghana Looks Promising

Free High School in GhanaIn February 2017, the president of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, stated that the government will begin to fund the cost of public Senior High Schools (SHS) for everyone who qualifies beginning in September. According to The Herald, President Akufo-Addo stated, “By free SHS, we mean that, in addition to tuition which is already free, there will be no admission fees, no library fees, no science centre fees, no computer laboratory fees, no examination fees, no utility fees; there will be free textbooks, free boarding and free meals and day students will get a meal at school for free.”

President Akufo-Addo has followed through on this promise. The equivalent of over $90 million has been set aside by the government with the goal of aiding 424,092 students for the 2017-2018 school year. While the program for free high school in Ghana is for incoming freshman only, it is already a great improvement, as in 2014, only 37 percent of students were enrolled in secondary education.

President Akufo-Addo has been quoted recognizing the importance of education both in general and in terms of developing countries. VOA News reports Akufo-Addo saying that the, “economy for over a century has been depending largely on the production and export of raw materials. This cannot and will not create prosperity for the masses of Ghanaians.”

Though there have been concerns expressed about if free SHS is a sustainable program, if the system will be overburdened or if it will harm the private schooling sector, the worries are thus far unfounded. The beneficiaries of this maiden program will be under the policies of the program until their third year, which gives time for the policies to be further developed and corrected.

The private schooling sector was not affected when free primary school was initiated over a decade ago. In fact, they remain among top performing schools in the nation. Therefore, the same result is more than likely to be expected with the beginning of free high school in Ghana.

As for if the school system will be overburdened with congestion of students and a subsequent drop in the quality of education, the prime minister of education is not concerned. VOA News quotes Minister Matthew Opoku Prempeh claiming, “the government based its calculations on data from headmasters and on the total number of students who passed the entrance exam…We should be able to place everybody.”

With a new and still improving focus on education, the future of Ghana from both an economic standpoint and a more holistic level has room for growth more than ever before.

– Gabriella Paez

Photo: Flickr

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How to Help People in Denmark

How to Help People in Denmark

In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Denmark and other Scandinavian countries gained attention for their extraordinarily equitable economies. Candidate Bernie Sanders often pointed to the Danish education and healthcare systems as models to be followed by the U.S.

Rather than asking how to help people in Denmark, Sanders and other social democrats focused on how the rest of the world could benefit from understanding the ways in which the Danish government already helps its own people.

In addition to free education and healthcare, the Danish government provides all citizens with a minimum income guarantee of about $100 per day. As a result, Denmark has achieved the fourth lowest inequality rate in the world.

Such a world-class safety net is supported by one of the world’s highest tax rates. All sales in Denmark include a 25 percent tax and the highest income earners give upwards of 60 percent of their income to the state.

The high tax rate has motivated some economists like Rasmus Landerso and James Heckman to frame the Danish economy as equitable only insofar as it compresses the range between high and low incomes, not because it has a high index of social mobility.

Indeed, their recent study found that intergenerational social mobility in Denmark mirrors that in the U.S. A child from a lower-class background, for example, whose parents did not finish college in Denmark is just as unlikely to attend college and become middle-class as his or her American counterpart, despite the fact that Danish higher education is free.

The difference, then, between the two countries is that the Danish government compensates for low social mobility by providing significant welfare benefits to the poor.

In the end, while there may still remain a question about how to help people in Denmark ascend out of their generational social classes, it is clear that the Danish people already receive sufficient amounts of help from their own government.

– Nathaniel Sher

Photo: Flickr

Pitch & Flow: Using Music to Promote Development Goals

Pitch & FlowMC Lyte and DJ D-Nice hosted Pitch & Flow, a competition where rappers and social entrepreneurs join together to win money for their causes.

Pitch & Flow was held on Wednesday, September 13, 2017 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. According to XXL, celebrity guests included Stretch Armstrong, Melissa Bradley, Young Paris and Doug E. Fresh.

The Africa Creative Agency, Unreasonable Group and Lowe’s Innovation Labs paired the rappers and the social entrepreneurs together for the competition. The eight rappers weave the goals of their entrepreneurs into stories that encouraged the audience to vote for them. After three rounds, the winning duo won $7500 for their cause.

The causes championed at Pitch & Flow represented many of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Some of the goals illustrated within the causes include uses for solar energy, educating the incarcerated and recyclable material production.

According to CityLab, all of the rappers involved in Pitch & Flow are passionate about social issues themselves. Many of them “double as activists and educators, and are in line with the grassroots vibe of the whole event. One of them even served as a Hip-Hop Cultural Envoy for the U.S. State Department.” The event gives rappers the opportunity to use their skills to promote a good cause.

Pitch & Flow also provides a unique opportunity for the organizations in regards to informing others about what the organization is about. Rap presents the organizations’ values in a creative and concise way that sticks with an audience.

At the end of Pitch & Flow, rapper and Northeastern University math professor Professor Lyrical and Sun Culture entrepreneur Samir Ibrahim won the $7500 prize. Sun Culture is an organization that “provides solar-powered irrigation systems to farmers in East Africa,” according to Essence.

Pitch & Flow illustrates how the creative arts can be used to promote worthwhile global causes.

– Cortney Rowe

Photo: Flickr

Supermodel Lily Donaldson Visits South Sudan

Lily Donaldson is a London-born supermodel famous for her campaigns for Gucci, Victoria’s Secret and Burberry, to name just a few. She has appeared on the cover of all the top fashion magazines, including Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire and Harper’s Bazaar. But the campaign that has a special place in her heart is one far away from the spotlight. This spring, she visited South Sudan to bring hope to those who suffer and to draw the world’s attention to the humanitarian crisis in the country. Supermodel Lily Donaldson is working together with The International Medical Corps, helping both in the field and as an ambassador.

Because of the four-year-long conflict, there are over 20 million people affected by drought and hunger in South Sudan, Nigeria, Yemen and Somalia, with children the most vulnerable. Lily Donaldson saw firsthand the suffering in South Sudan, where 100,000 people are struggling to get just one meal. They do not know when, where and if they are going to eat that day. They need immediate help to get food, shelter and medical supplies.

The International Medical Corps has been working directly in the field since the mid-1990s, but the crisis escalated in 2013, two years after a national referendum in 2011, when South Sudan became independent. Tensions escalated into an armed conflict, and thousands of lives were lost before the formal peace agreement in the summer of 2015. A large number of people are still affected by displacement, hunger and lack of medical care.

Supermodel Lily Donaldson is working with The International Medical Corps to help the most vulnerable populations, mothers and their children, affected by the civil war in South Sudan. The country has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world, and a famine was officially declared in two parts of the country.

During her stay in South Sudan, Lily visited a women’s group that provides help for the survivors of abuse and joined a mother support group. This group brings together mothers to teach them how to prevent their children from becoming malnourished and allows women to connect with each other for support.

In Juba, she spent some time with malnourished and sick children. In the capital’s hospital, the teams of The International Medical Corps are providing day and night care so that every child gets the necessary treatment and can go home to their parents healthy.

Working with The International Medical Corps has become a way of life for a supermodel Lily Donaldson. But she is not the only one. Anna Wintour, Robert Pattinson and Avery Williamson, along with many others, are their global ambassadors. They are all trying to help through healthcare training and development programs in the field, but also by bringing awareness to the people all over the world that every single one of us can and should get involved.

Lily Donaldson’s Twitter page has more about her work with The International Medical Corps, where she has a message to share: “We have the power to save lives!”

There are many ways to help, whether by donating, sharing on social media channels, or even volunteering in the field. There is a way for all of us to help, to bring hope and a message to people affected by war and hunger that they are never alone.

– Edita Jakupovic

Photo: Flickr

Comeback: World Trade and Emerging Markets

world trade and emerging marketsIn an era of global retrenchment and calls for protectionist trade policies in developed countries, the increase in trade in 2017 gives a glimpse of hope for the future, especially for the economies of emerging markets.

Emerging markets are classified generally as countries whose economies are trending toward more liquid and robust markets, similar to those in developed countries, but are not quite there yet. The opportunity for growth in these countries provides a huge opportunity for addressing poverty and development issues. A few concrete examples of emerging markets are India, Russia, China and Brazil.

World trade and emerging markets are closely related. Since declining in 2016, world trade is growing at a faster rate than this time last year, largely on the back of import demand from emerging market economies, especially in places like Brazil and Russia. This is good news as it pertains to poverty in these countries. Between 2014 and 2016 in Brazil, the population living below the poverty line declined by more than 3 percent, or around 6 million people.

Since hitting a low in 2016, the dollar amount of imports has increased drastically in Brazil, with an exceptional bump in July 2017. There is no current data on the poverty level in 2017, but it is safe to assume that it is continuing to decline as Brazil’s economy improves and domestic demand increases, resulting in more trade activity.

General Russian commerce has increased as well, with the EU being the main benefactor of this trend. However, the Russian economy has stagnated and slowed due to a supply glut and subsequent diminishing of prices for fossil fuels. This has actually led to an increase in those living in poverty. However, the upward trend in trade due to demand in this emerging market may spell good news for poor Russians.

The relationship between world trade and emerging markets looked grim in recent years due to a surge in populism and protectionist policies in Europe and the United States. Trade is widely considered to be the reason that certain economies, who otherwise would have experienced stagnant growth and increased poverty, were able to establish more free economies and a consumer-based middle class.

Not only are these economies important in terms of production of consumer goods for developed countries, but are now increasingly becoming destinations for such products themselves. If this trend stays true, not only will poverty in these countries continue to decline, but a middle class will emerge and become vibrant markets for products from developed countries, thus benefiting everyone.

Despite what may look like a grim near-term forecast in terms of global trade resulting from political trends in developed countries, history is on the side of greater integration and raising the standard of living for everyone. World trade and emerging markets will continue to be a catalyst spurring growth and reducing poverty across the globe.

– Daniel Cavins

Photo: Flickr