Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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Land Grabs in South America Fuel Violence

South America
As land grabs fuel violence in South America, the international community’s decision to treat this process as a crime against humanity is a significant step.

Land grabbing, the process of evicting people from their land in order to seize resources, is prevalent in many parts of South America. According to The Guardian, in the past 10 years, tens of millions of hectares of land were seized by various governments.

Land grabs are problematic for a number of reasons. For one, countries may jeopardize their national sovereignty by selling or leasing land to foreign governments or corporations. Most importantly, however, the process of land grabbing fuels violence and poverty in South American cities. When families are forced off of their land, they often move to cities where employment opportunities are scarce. This leads these families to poverty and increases the likelihood that their children will join gangs or engage in illegal activities in order to survive.

Land grabs also contribute to illegal immigration. Many undocumented families are forced off their land in land grabs and are fleeing from violence in urban areas. Between October and July 2014, 63,000 unaccompanied minors crossed the border into the United States. Many of these children cited violence in cities as their reason for leaving. Many of their parents were either dead or in prison.

For those who protest land grabbing, the consequences can be deadly. According to Global Witness, three people were murdered every week while defending their land in 2015. Activist Berta Cáceres was murdered after protesting the building of a large dam in Honduras.

In September 2016, the International Criminal Court responded to the violence of land grabs by making the process a crime against humanity. Activists believe that this could have a significant impact on the future of land grabs.

– Eva Kennedy

Photo: Flickr

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10 Facts About Hunger in Romania


Located at the merging point of central and southeastern Europe, Romania has the seventh-largest population in the EU. However, declining agricultural production and disparities between rural and urban populations have left many Romanians vulnerable to hunger. Here are 10 facts about hunger in Romania.

10 Facts About Hunger in Romania

  1. Hunger in Romania is linked to poverty, with 13.8 percent of the population living in absolute poverty. This is an improvement, however, as the poverty rate was 35.9 percent in 2000.
  2. The Romanian economy has been generally improving since the collapse of the Communist government in 1989. Economic reforms in the early 2000s and Romania’s entry into the EU in 2007 have led to an improving economic outlook.
  3. Poverty rates remain high in rural areas. Approximately 29.6 percent of Romanians in rural areas live in poverty, compared to 9.6 percent in urban areas.
  4. Poverty disproportionately affects single people, single-parent families, families with three or more children, and single people over 65. Roma populations are affected the most, with 58 percent living in poverty.
  5. Romania has an extensive welfare system in order to assist those in poverty. Roughly half the working population receives some kind of welfare, primarily for assistance with heating, electricity, and food.
  6. Hunger in Romania has an impact on children’s physical development. Approximately eight percent of Romanian children under the age of five are stunted. This is a lower rate than Russia, however, it is a higher rate than the Czech Republic and Yugoslavia.
  7. Homelessness also increases vulnerability to hunger in Romania. Approximately 5,000 people live on the streets in Bucharest alone, the majority of whom rely on soup kitchens and shelters for meals.
  8. Agriculture makes up a significant part of Romania’s economy, however, it has declined in recent years due to infrastructure and environmental challenges. While demand for agricultural products has risen, the challenge of getting goods to the markets has led to a decline.
  9. In order to combat agricultural decline, organizations, such as Heifer International, work to help link farmers with markets that are in need of their products, by providing transportation and networking opportunities.
  10. While Romanian schools do not provide free lunches, organizations like the Red Cross contribute meals as an incentive to keep kids in school and to provide them with the nourishment they need to succeed.

While hunger in Romania has declined in certain areas, many Romanians remain susceptible. Increasing programs targeting those who live in rural areas could help reduce hunger in Romania across the board.

– Alexi Worley

Photo: Flickr

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America’s Foreign Aid Spending


Foreign aid has been a part of American culture ever since the end of World War II. Under this modern international order, the U.S. has been able to successfully flourish and spread its message of democracy. Former Secretary of State John Kerry said, “The money we devote to international programs … amounts to just one percent of the total federal budget.”

The main piece of legislation that authorizes the use of foreign aid is the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) of 1960. While this act provides an outline and structure for dealing with foreign aid, Congress decides on most budget decisions and distribution of funds through various bills. This year’s proposals for specific financing have already been laid out in the FAA.

In order to properly finance obligations made in the 1960 legislation pursuant to section 476, more than $1 billion is to remain available until the fall of 2018. This specific bill makes $1.7 billion accessible for assistance to foreign countries. Although this seems like a lot of money, this is an $877 million cut in aid compared to the 2016 foreign aid budget. However, aid to Eurasia will remain the same at $930 million in order to combat Russian aggression in countries like Ukraine.

Congress sets the standard and fosters the responsibility of stabilizing funds responsibly. By enforcing specific conditions on the distribution of foreign aid, international goals can be successful. This affords leverage in critical situations of destabilization, like negotiating democracy with countries that erupt into a military coup.

Destabilization of a nation can reduce access to basic health services. Through the effort of international funding, governments can “control pandemics before they reach our shores.” The current budget that the U.S. Congress has agreed on includes $8 billion toward funding worldwide healthcare initiatives. A portion of this money was used to successfully implement the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR), ultimately ending child and maternal deaths that previously had been unavoidable.

In addition, supporting the international community allows for the stabilization of nations and prevents the spread of terrorist activity. In the current 2017 budget, $71.1 billion is to be distributed in order to combat terrorist networks like the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Al Qaeda.

Through international efforts, nations have been assisted from destabilization and diseases have been contained. The budget plan for foreign assistance this year will be distributed appropriately once budget decisions are finalized and approved.

– Nick Katsos

Photo: Flickr

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Education in Albania

Education in AlbaniaEducation in modern Albania is the culmination of successful economic growth and political reform. However, lingering issues such as geographical disparities and low wages for teachers highlight the continuous need to push for systemic improvement. Seeking solutions to these challenges, various sectors of the Albanian government have partnered with international organizations including UNICEF. They are currently working to ensure higher quality and more accessible education in the near future.

Rural vs. Urban

Geographical inequalities continue to reinforce gaps in education levels and attempted reform. While urban areas benefit from a wealth of public services and industries, rural regions overwhelmingly lack basic infrastructure, employment opportunities and overall economic support that are needed to sustain schools and educational programs. In the peripheral rural areas of Albania, many schools do not have access to adequate equipment, furniture, technology, or facilities directly related to the quality of learning, which has consistently produced low enrollment rates and dwindling numbers of graduates. Only 47% of computers have an internet connection in rural Albania, which is a sharp contrast to 70% in North Macedonia and 94% on average in countries such as the United States and Japan. 

The poor quality of roads and transportation typical of remote rural areas also discourage students from attending school, counteracting long-standing efforts to consolidate schools in the interest of providing better learning opportunities. However, many students in rural Albania are still dependent on these consolidated schools, called collective classes, to support their education. This has become an issue for their parents, many of whom cannot afford to take measures to transfer their children to other schools as collective classes become increasingly unavailable following the Ministry of Education’s campaign to close approximately 350 of them due to poor performance. 

On average, students from urban areas attain two more years of schooling than those in rural areas and demonstrate higher performance in the state matura exam in all categories, including the Albanian language and mathematics.  

Low Teacher Salaries 

Teachers in Albania currently earn a lower average salary than other professions. In 2023, the average gross salary of a teacher was about 71,000 lek ($766), which is around 14% lower than the average salary in the public sector. This issue has worsened considerably, with the salary gap between teachers and the public sector average growing from 11% in 2022.

The lack of financial motivation has translated to lower quality education. Despite improvement in student-to-teacher ratios from 1990 to 2023, the academic achievements of Albanian students in the international PISA test of 2022 were recorded as having been the lowest in two decades. Low wages in education have resulted in hundreds of teacher vacancies and have obstructed recruitment efforts, leaving students to depend on frequent changes to curricula in preparing for state exams. 

In recent years, teachers who have continued to work despite these conditions have begun to publicly express their discontent. On May 1, 2024, several employee unions engaged in peaceful protests outside the Ministry of Education building to call for several changes to the existing education system, including better teacher salaries, public education funding, and compensation covering transportation costs. Protests and strikes are expected to continue in 2024 without substantial reform by the state.

Seeking Solutions: UNICEF 

Today, the Albanian government continues to attempt to reduce challenges to the current state of education, notably with the help of organizations such as UNICEF. On June 27, 2024, UNICEF partnered with the Ministry of Education, central and local government, and civil society to create a more equitable and accessible education system, focusing on preventing school drop-outs by targeting low-performing and at-risk children. By establishing relationships on a national and local scale, UNICEF has been able to bridge government representatives and communities together to better address education infrastructure decision-making. In 2023, a project between USAID, UNICEF and the Ministry of Education and Sports allowed students from various schools to meet directly with mayors from the Korça, Dibra, Roskovec, Elbasan and Gjirokastra municipalities to discuss solutions to pressing school infrastructure issues and educational needs. These conversations have been crucial in pushing for ongoing cooperation with stakeholders to improve the lack of necessary tools and resources for students across the nation. 

Conclusion

Although Albania has made strides in education reform, disparities still persist among rural communities and teachers.

However, with the continued help of international institutions such as UNICEF, education in Albania has great potential to undergo impactful positive change, which will ultimately strengthen Albania’s economy and social welfare.

– Morgan Leahy, Moon Jung Kim

Photo: Flickr
Updated: July 10, 2024

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7 Facts About Poverty in Norway

Poverty in Norway

The European Union (EU) definition of the poverty line are those individuals making 60 percent of the national median earnings — for Norway, that would be about $17,000 a year. Using the EU definition, about 10 percent of Norwegians were considered below the relative poverty line in 2006, two years before the 2008 recession hit. Here are seven facts about poverty in Norway.

7 Facts About Poverty in Norway

  1. The Borgen Project had the opportunity to speak with Researcher Sindre Bangstad of the Frisch Institute in Oslo. He states: “A number of recent studies have shown that socio-economic inequalities continue to rise in Norway. Inequality is due to extensive tax cuts for the wealthiest five percent under the present right-wing government.”
  2. Aside from tax cuts, Norway provides a massive amount of social welfare programs and many regular citizens are able to find help. According to the “Inequality of Opportunity Index,” first put forth by Fransisco Ferreira of the World Bank, only two percent of Norwegians can attribute the lack of social mobility to a factor such as race, gender, birthplace, or disability.
  3. The young and old are both at risk. While inequality hurts youth, especially immigrant youth, the elderly are also facing economic hardships. Norway still needs to pay out the services promised to the older population. The elderly receive a good amount of benefits and make up a smaller percentage of the population in poverty. Contraceptive use is high and keeps birth rates low, so new generations are not as large as their predecessors. Only one in 200 children of Norwegian parents live under the poverty line.
  4.  At the same time, four in 10 immigrant children live in poverty in Norway. According to the CIA World Factbook, more than 27,000 refugees reside in Norway, who arrived from Eritrea, Somalia and Afghanistan. “Poverty is increasingly racialized in that children of immigrants are much more likely to grow up in poverty than children of white Norwegians born here,” Bangstad said.
  5. Many people facing economic trouble are centered in urban areas. Homelessness is a growing concern as housing prices remain high. With the wind, the temperature can be negative 15 degrees Celsius at night. People use shrubbery, churchyards, or sheds as toilets. Norway recently passed a law banning street beggars along with giving municipalities the power to begin making other regulations.
  6. The country’s welfare model makes social programs reliant on oil tax revenue. The decline of oil is a pressing concern for policymakers. According to the CIA World Factbook, this sector comprises nine percent of Norwegian jobs, 15 percent of its GDP and 39 percent of its exports.
  7. Norway has built up the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, stockpiling more than $800 billion. The budget each year is projected to use only four percent of those funds. The Norwegian government said it is willing to increase public spending to avoid a recession but provides many amenities to its citizens already. Perhaps something as simple as offering increased access or outreach to those who need such amenities could boost productivity and halt progress towards an economic recession.

Poverty looks similar and different across the globe. Norway still has challenges to overcome but has a government that continually works for its people. The current problem for social welfare programs fighting poverty in Norway may be hard to solve, but luckily the stockpile the country has accumulated can buy time for all its citizens to continue working towards a more sustainable future.

 

– Michael Rose

Photo: Flickr

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Education in North Korea: Exploring School Systems


Many facets of life in North Korea are kept secret from the world. The business conducted in the nation is very classified, but what about its school systems? How are the youth of North Korea educated?

Education in North Korea is based on socialistic ideals and an efficiency-oriented school system with emphasis on Korean language, mathematics, literature, and the Kims.

Features of the system include 11 free years of education for children from the age of five through 15, no private schools and tight administrative control over the schools by the state administrative system.

Students are given a political education in the “Juche Doctrine” which outlines the Kim Il-sung ideology and revolutionary strategies, illustrating the importance and necessity of collectivistic activities in their nation. Putting these theories into practice are the basis of the North Korean school system.

Not to mention the leader of the communist nation, Kim Jong-un, forces his people to understand the importance of his family. According to a study by the  Korea Institute for Curriculum Evaluation, students learn more about the Kims and their history than any other subject.

Each North Korean student is required to learn about the lives of Kim, his late father Kim Jong-il, his grandfather Kim Il-sung and grandmother Kim Jong-suk for at least 684 hours during the curriculum. Jong-il and Il-sung lessons are roughly 171 hours each, while Jung-suk lessons are only 34 hours.

Why is the combination of Kim’s history and the three bases used? Simple — to help North Korea maintain its oppressive power.

Students as young as four years old are taught about the greatness of the communist ideology and their leaders, past and present, shaping their minds to believe in the North Korean way. There is an emphasis on math in order to help create future technicians, scientists and workers that the government can rely on to help achieve the nation’s goals.

Children are supposed to learn phrases like “Long live Great Leader Generalissimo Kim Il-sung” before “Hello, how are you.”

Uniformity is the most common characteristic among schools in North Korea, comparable to the government. Rather than living up to needs of the youth, education in North Korea more closely relates to the political system. Diversity and creativity in North Korean schools are rarely nurtured.

Overall, instead of producing creative and unique individuals, education in North Korea is based on producing more followers and worshippers of the North Korean regime.

– Mary Waller

Photo: Flickr

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10 Facts About the International Affairs Budget

 

International Affairs Budget

The Trump Administration recently released its federal budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18), proposing deep cuts for the International Affairs Budget. The proposal includes plans to cut State Department and USAID funding by 31 percent and the Treasury International Programs budget by 35 percent. The proposed $37.6 billion total budget cut for the State Department and USAID starkly contrasts the $54 billion increase proposed for the Department of Defense.

There has already been pushback to the proposal, including a letter signed by more than 120 retired generals and admirals against the cuts, and another opposition letter signed by more than 100 faith leaders.

Top 10 things you need to know about the International Affairs Budget

  1. It’s tiny. The International Affairs Budget accounts for less than one percent of the federal budget. The amount spent on foreign aid is often overestimated by the general public. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll published in 2015 asked respondents: “What percentage of the federal budget is spent on foreign aid?” — the average response was 28 percent.
  2. The International Affairs Budget is also referred to as the “150 account.” Foreign aid can be split into two functions: economic and development assistance (151), and security assistance (152). For FY17, the State Department requested $25.6 billion for the 151 account and $16.8 billion for the 152 account.
  3. Seven out of the top 10 recipients of economic and development assistance are African nations. Afghanistan is the largest recipient of economic and development assistance, as part of the ongoing reconstruction of the country after the U.S. military invasion in 2001.
  4. Money allocated to help alleviate global poverty is mutually exclusive from money allocated to help fund domestic poverty-reducing programs. In the overall federal budget, the International Affairs Budget is a completely separate account from the domestic expenditure. Therefore, spending money on global poverty does not have to compete with spending money on poverty here at home. Mattis Foreign Aid Quote
  5. The U.N. suggests that developed countries put 0.7 percent of their Gross National Income (GNI) toward overseas development and assistance. According to 2015 OECD statistics, the U.S. spends just 0.17 percent on overseas development and assistance — missing the U.N. target by 76 percent.
  6. The International Affairs Budget funds vital programs that have profound impacts on major global health threats. USAID assistance helped stall the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa and continues to partner with local governments and organizations to ensure any further outbreaks are mitigated.
  7. USAID is the largest provider of food assistance in the world. Nearly 800 million people worldwide suffer from chronic hunger. Since its inception, around three billion people have benefited from USAID’s assistance programs.
  8. The International Affairs Budget has bipartisan support in Congress. U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) led three of his bipartisan Foreign Relations Committee members in proclaiming that funding for the budget is “every bit as essential to ensuring America’s national security as funding for the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community and law enforcement.”
  9. The soft power of foreign assistance and development is supplementary to the hard power of the military. In 2013, U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis, as Commander of U.S. Central Command, remarked to Congress, “If you don’t fully fund the State Department, then I need to buy more ammunition.” Foreign aid and development can undoubtedly play a role in fostering positive growth and warm feelings toward the U.S. in societies that are at risk of succumbing to terrorist groups.
  10. Spending money on international development is not just a moral decision. In an ever-connected world, funding the International Affairs Budget creates jobs for American workers and boosts the American economy. In 1996, 39 percent of exports went to developing countries. Now, more than half of U.S. exports go to developing economies. Through aid and development, people living in developing economies are becoming more wealthy and more capable of affording American products.

The International Affairs Budget is a tiny component of the overall federal budget, but its impact in myriad areas is enormous. American jobs, economic growth, national security, and global health are just a few areas that will be affected if the proposed cuts by the Trump Administration are implemented.

 

– Michael Farquharson

Photo: Oxfam

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How Foreign Aid Works

Foreign aid
Angus Deaton won the 2015 Nobel Prize in Economics for his research on the effects of foreign aid on economic development in developing countries. The most important message to be taken from his work is that foreign aid is only one small piece of the equation. To say that foreign aid directly translates into economic growth is an oversimplification. Without transparent and effective governmental institutions and sound economic policies, research shows that aid is not always effective.

Foreign aid works when all of these different variables come together. It’s a simple equation. It has become popular sentiment to denounce aid as ineffective, based on specific case studies where all of these variables were not in place and results fell short of their targets. While not all aid is effective, this rhetoric flies in the face of all of the progress that has been made because of aid. The truth is that foreign aid works when all of the variables — effective institutions, policies, and transparency — are in place.

Aid has been especially effective in improving health in Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Malaria rates dropped by 51 percent between 2000 and 2012 after 300 million bed nets were given out by the World Health Organization (WHO). Ten million HIV-infected individuals are now receiving life-saving medicine. Tuberculosis rates have dropped by 45 percent since 1990, and 122 million children’s lives have been saved since 1990. This progress is largely due to the work of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), which has immunized 580 million children around the world. Extreme poverty has been cut in half since 1990, and African poverty rates have dropped by 10 percent since 1999.

These are huge success stories that deserve recognition. Foreign aid works. Not only does it work, but it is also in the interest of U.S. national security. Former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge said, “The programs supported by the International Affairs Budget are as essential to our national security as defense programs. Development and diplomacy protect our nation by addressing the root causes of terrorism and conflict.”

The questions asked in U.S. policymaking circles today shouldn’t be whether to cut aid or not; the question that needs to be asked is how to increase the efficacy of aid and to grow upon our successes. Cutting the International Affairs Budget would discredit all of the hard work and successes that have come out of these operations in recent decades.

– Josh Ward

Photo: Flickr

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10 Facts About Hunger in Libya

Hunger in Libya
Located in northern Africa, the arid country of Libya is known for its large oil reserves and sweeping desert. However, conflict has left the country with a largely displaced population and economic troubles that have fostered food scarcity. Here are 10 facts about hunger in Libya.

10 Facts About Hunger in Libya

  1. Poverty is a key cause of hunger in Libya. Of Libya’s 6.4 million people, 40 percent live below the poverty line.
  2. Economists say Libya is affected by a resource curse. Libya is home to vast quantities of oil, but also to high rates of poverty. This disparity between resource wealth and citizen poverty can be caused by conflict or government control of resources.
  3. Conflict is one of the leading causes of hunger. Approximately 21 percent of the world’s undernourished people are affected by conflict. This is especially relevant in Libya, where roughly 90 percent of the population is affected by violence.
  4. The conflict has cut income per capita in Libya by half in the past two years. It has decreased food availability and increased prices.
  5. Internally displaced people (IDPs) are especially vulnerable to hunger. Due to the conflict, the number of IDPs in Libya has increased. Around 17 percent of IDPs are food insecure, an 11 percent increase since 2015. Overall, 60 percent of IDPs are vulnerable to food shortage.
  6. Many social programs have been shut down due to instability. As a result, families who relied on them are suffering even more.
  7. Hunger in Libya is worsened by a healthcare shortage, as there are fewer than 1500 primary healthcare facilities in the country. This makes it difficult for families suffering from hunger-related diseases to receive the care they need. The shortage also results in higher health care prices, which puts futher financial strain on families.
  8. In order to combat hunger, many families in Libya practice negative coping strategies. These include reducing the number of meals they have each day and cutting back on other necessary expenses such as healthcare.
  9. Hunger in Libya has an impact on child development. Stunting (low height for age) and wasting (low weight for height) affects 21 and four percent of children under five, respectively.
  10. The World Food Programme and the rest of the U.N. run an emergency operation in order to help combat hunger in Libya. Due to conflict, however, the organization runs the program from Tunisia and coordinates with local groups to deliver food to people in Libya.

While food insecurity remains a problem in Libya, increasing food aid to the country and continuing talks to improve the political climate may help reduce hunger in Libya.

– Alexi Worley

Photo: Flickr