Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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Pakistan Reading Project

Pakistan Reading Project
Muhammad Baligh Ur Rehman, Pakistan’s Minister of State for Federal Education, spoke this month of the fundamental importance of reading, citing the first word taught in Quran, ‘Iqra’ which means ‘read.’ The minister’s statement came in response to an education workshop hosted by the Pakistan Reading Project and USAID.

The four-day workshop gathered educators from provincial groups across Pakistan to frame individual Reading Improvement Strategies (RIS) to be finalized and applied to their respective provinces as part of official educational programming. This workshop was just one of many that the Pakistan Reading Project has organized to provide support for provincial and regional departments of education throughout Pakistan. The primary focus is the enhancement reading instruction strategies for children in grades one and two. The $165 million, five-year project is, through such workshops as these, promoting the adaptation and implementation of sustainable policies to improve teaching and education standards.

The Pakistan Reading Project’s strategy is threefold: improve learning environments for reading in the classroom, advance policies and systems for reading instruction and rally community-based support for reading. In doing so, the project intends to reach 1.3 million students in grades one and two with reading interventions, not to mention training more than 23,000 teachers in reading instruction and developing reading curricula for more than 100 collegiate teaching programs.

From scholarships and grants for students pursuing teaching degrees to mobile bus libraries that bring books directly to children and their communities, the Pakistan Reading Program aims to comprehensively integrate reading into the lives of Pakistani children. The holistic approach of incorporating reading into both the institutional and communal lives of Pakistanis ensures the sustainability of the project’s efforts. In this way, children in Pakistan will be developmentally prepared for educational challenges they will face throughout their lives and consequently better able to pursue their goals and break from the cycle of poverty.

– Robin Lee

Photo: Flickr

10 Ways to Respond to Ethnic Cleansing in South Sudan

10 Ways to Respond to Ethnic Cleansing in South Sudan
More than two decades after at least 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda, the situation seems poised to repeat itself in the world’s youngest country. More than one million people have fled South Sudan since violence erupted in the country in 2013, creating the largest mass exodus of any Central African conflict since the Rwandan genocide. In light of a new U.N. declaration that the country is on the brink of disaster and that ethnic cleansing is under way, it is imperative that the international community responds differently than it did in 1994. Here are 10 ways that the international community — from leaders to citizens — can respond to ethnic cleansing in South Sudan.

  1. Impose targeted sanctions and an arms embargo
    The United States has pushed for sanctions and an arms embargo against South Sudan, but the U.N. vote on such measures has been pushed back following opposition from Russia, China and others. However, this measure is imperative as it is the simplest and most effective way for the international community to curb ethnic cleansing in South Sudan.
  2. Establish a death toll
    Ivan Šimonović, the U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, stressed the importance of a death toll in 2014. He said public information had the power to “deter continued violations of human rights” and keep communities informed. “Only reliable reporting can help them to reconcile, knowing that both sides have been involved as perpetrators as well as victims,” he said.
  3. Deploy regional protection force
    The U.N. approved the deployment of a regional protection force in August, and South Sudan finally agreed to the deployment in late November. In an editorial for Al Jazeera, three South Sudanese writers stressed the importance of this force, and suggested that its powers included “monitoring, disarming and demobilizing any armed group targeting civilians”.
  4. Establish a hybrid court
    Human rights organizations have expressed concerns that the focus on ethnic cleansing in South Sudan will allow perpetrators of crimes such as destruction of property, rape and murder to go unpunished. Amnesty International has urged the African Union Commission and the South Sudanese government to establish a hybrid court so that all crimes are appropriately prosecuted.
  5. Ensure that new tools and structures put in place to prevent genocide are followed
    World leaders must put structures in place to ensure an effective response to genocide. In the U.S., President Obama had the Atrocities Prevention Board created to facilitate a multilateral response to atrocities and genocide globally. But it is the job of citizens to ensure that these structures function as intended.
  6. Establish an early warning system
    According to Dr. Gregory H. Stanton, president of Genocide Watch, an early warning system will help prevent further genocides and ensure that countries are able to respond quickly and effectively when a nation is showing warning signs characteristic of genocide.
  7. Confront Power Vacuum
    Experts believe that the perceived power vacuum that will be left after president Obama leaves office could be a trigger for ethnic cleansing in South Sudan. It is the job of the new administration to confront this vacuum and ensure that the security of human rights remains a global priority.
  8. Keep pressure on political leaders to respond to the crisis in South Sudan
    Congressional leaders must continue to fight to hold human rights abusers to account, and promote peace, by passing bills like the recently-approved Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.
  9. Members of the U.N. Security Council- Prioritize genocide prevention in South Sudan
    The United Nations must continue to monitor and prioritize the situation in South Sudan, offering aid, guidance, and resolutions in pursuit of peace.
  10. Media- Prioritize genocide prevention in South Sudan
  11. In 1994, the media failed to give the Rwandan genocide adequate coverage. The media must not make that same mistake by failing to report on the situation in South Sudan.

– Eva Kennedy

Photo: Flickr

10 Facts About Mexican Drug Cartels

10 Disturbing and Terrible Facts About Mexican Drug Cartels
Continual and sensational news coverage of Mexican drug cartels may have desensitized people to the realities and sources of the violence. It is easy to forget how long the crisis imposed by the cartel has gone on and how far it is from over. To place the issue back into perspective, discussed below are 10 facts about Mexican drug cartels and the ways through which the government has attempted to deal with them.

 

Mexican Drug Cartels: Facts and Figures

 

  1. In December of 2006, former Mexican president Felipe Calderon sent 6,500 troops into Michoacán to address the rampant gun battles, execution-style murders and police corruptions which cartel rivalry had unleashed on the community. In so doing, Calderon launched the Mexican war on drugs, a literal war which would involve more than 20,000 troops within the first two months.
  2. Since this war’s inception, 25 of the 37 drug traffickers on Calderon’s most wanted list have been jailed, more than 100,000 tons of cocaine decommissioned and almost 450,000 acres of marijuana plants destroyed, but the violent loss of life remains on the rise. Smuggling routes spread into previously peaceful areas as military involvement increased.
  3. The United States, as home to tens of millions of users, comprises the world’s largest drug market. In fact, in 2013 about 10 percent of the U.S. population over the age of 12 were recent users, and drug consumption remains on the rise. Mexican drug cartels are estimated to earn between 19 and 29 billion dollars annually from U.S. drug sales.
  4. As more of the United States decriminalizes marijuana, illegally-smuggled Mexican product cannot compete with the quality or price of U.S. production. Simultaneously, a prescription opioid epidemic across the U.S. has raised the demand for heroin. As a result, Mexican production of heroin rose by 170 percent between 2013 and 2015, while marijuana dealings have largely diminished.
  5. As part of the United States’ own war on drugs, the government has given at least $1.5 billion to support Mexico’s anti-drug efforts. Concerned critics believe this deluge of cash contributes to corruption in the Mexican military and among police on the frontlines.
  6. Ten years after the Mexican military was deployed to combat cartels, the nation’s top general, Salvador Cienfuegos, said the troops ought not to have been involved and were not trained to pursue criminals to begin with. On December 9, 2016, the Mexican defense secretary said troops surrogating for police was an insufficient, even damaging, solution.
  7. Violence surged across Mexico in 2016, with more than 17,000 homicides reported in the first 10 months. This is the highest death toll since 2012.
  8. Strategically, Mexico has waged its American-backed war by targeting the kingpins, assuming that annihilating cartel leadership would dissolve these criminal organizations. The recent rise in violence throughout Mexico suggests this approach is ineffective. For instance, since Sinaloa cartel chief Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was recaptured by authorities in January, the gang has splintered and multiplied.
  9. Mexico’s decade-long war on drugs has cost about 200,000 lives to date and left 28,000 missing. Reciprocal violence from cartels, police and soldiers has violated human rights and ravaged Mexican communities.
  10. A 2015 poll on the efficacy of Mexican institutions revealed that the police, the president’s office, politicians and political parties rank among the least trusted establishments in Mexico, in large part due to the reign of violent cartels, which has cost so many lives.

By demilitarizing the war on drugs and reestablishing faith in the government, Mexico can begin to heal. The DEA recently emphasized the importance of coupling strategies: the targeting of high-profile cartel members by law enforcement and the provision of community outreach programs to end the opioid epidemic in Mexico and the United States. Long-term solutions must integrate security with social services to pursue prosperity.

– Robin Lee

Photo: Flickr

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Underwear for Hope, by Naja

Underwear_columbiaNaja is a maker of fast fashion trend lingerie with the social responsibility ethos of a slow fashion company. Founded by Catalina Girald, a former lawyer who immigrated to the U.S. from Colombia at age four, Naja is working to empower women to create on-trend products using environmentally-friendly techniques. Its goal is to empower marginalized women by creating on-trend, eco-friendly lingerie.

Fast fashion products are meant to imitate trends from major fashion events, such as New York Fashion Week. Naja’s products are stylish and resemble these trends, but are unique in that, like slow fashion trends, those working to make the products are paid fairly and empowered to create sturdy, quality products.

Female empowerment starts with economic independence. Naja employs economically-marginalized single mothers and female head of households. Fair pay and health benefits are included in the package, but the real beauty of Naja’s model comes in that it offers flexible scheduling and full support for its workers’ children, including paying for school lunches and other necessities. In addition, the company has vertically integrated parts of its supply chain, enabling it to have greater control over conditions for the productive processes.

Naja also combines advocacy with businesses by raising consumer awareness of the difficult realities of living in war-torn and violent countries. The main program it does this through is the Underwear for Hope program. Half of the proceeds from this program are taken home by the women making the products, and the other half is donated to the Golondrinas Foundation, which teaches women micro-entrepreneurship. This is in addition to the two percent of total revenue from all sales Naja donates to Colombian education charities.

Underwear for Hope provides a stable, living income and a chance to work from home for impoverished women in Colombia. The program teaches women to sew, a skill useful both at home for supporting a family and as a primary source of income. The women in the program make the lingerie wash bags Naja includes when a customer orders a bra. This helps to spread the message about Naja’s goals and to humanize the products women wear by matching a face to the product, just as Naja does on its website when customers look at a specific product.

Fast fashion works by attracting a customer base looking for on-trend clothing while supporting a cause. Naja competes for this customer base by creating runway-worthy products with unique artistic designs, showing that fashion can be both slow and trendy. Naja also incorporates eco-friendly materials, such as recycled plastics, and eco-friendly production methods, such as digital printing, to attract and build their socially-conscious consumer base.

– Lucas Woodling

Photo: Flickr

Ten Facts About the Iraq War

Ten Facts About the Iraq War
The Iraq War, also known as the Third Gulf War, began on March 20th, 2003. Causes of the war are the Global War on Terrorism in response to the attacks on September 11th, the intention to eliminate weapons of mass destruction and the intention to arrest Saddam Hussein and then abolish his regime.

Here are 10 facts about the Iraq War:

  1. The Domino Effect: Iraq has the world’s second largest reserves of oil, which makes it a very influential country in the middle east. President Bush hoped that toppling Hussein’s government would catalyze change for the surrounding countries.
  2. Iraqi Casualties: According to a 2011 Iraq Body Count, between 103,013 and 112,571 Iraqi civilians died in the violence.
  3. American Casualties: Four thousand four hundred and eighty-three American soldiers were killed and 33,183 were wounded.
  4. Journalist Death Toll: One hundred and fifty reporters and 54 media support workers were killed throughout the course of the war, the majority of which were deliberately targeted. This is higher than any other wartime death toll for journalists on record.
  5. Bloody Period: March 2003 was a period of invasion that resulted in the highest number of deaths for Iraqis. According to IBC, 3,977 were killed in March and another 3,437 were killed in April.
  6. IDPs: The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that as many as 1.6 million Iraqis, or 5.5 percent of the population, were internally displaced. This means that they were forced to leave their homes but remained within their countries.
  7. Money Lost: The Iraq War cost the U.S treasury 1 trillion dollars, excluding benefits and long-term care for the wounded. Taxpayers collectively spent 1 trillion dollars — $3,200 per citizen — on the war between 2003 to 2011.
  8. Debt to Veterans: $490 billion of war benefits were owed to veterans following the war.
  9. Debt to Iraq: The U.S owed Iraq 4 billion dollars before the invasion and 7 billion dollars after.
  10. State of U.S soldiers after the Iraq war: Twenty percent of wounded U.S soldiers had serious brain or spinal injuries. Thirty percent of soldiers developed serious mental health problems within four months of returning home.

Both the U.S and Iraq suffered severe financial and human life losses by the time the war officially ended in December 2011. Although Saddam Hussein’s government was officially overturned, no weapons of mass destruction were found. Nevertheless, the war has made lasting impacts on U.S. and Iraqi relations for years to come.

– Liliana Rehorn

Photo: Flickr

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Robin Food App Cuts Down on Food Waste and Helps the Poor

Robin Food App Cuts Down on Food Waste and Helps the Poor
Teens in Malaysia won the first Sime Darby’s Young Innovator’s Challenge with the Robin Food App, which connects businesses ready to donate surplus food to local food banks.

The Robin Food App is innovative because it presents a simple solution to two problems Malaysia and many other countries face: hunger and food waste.

Each day Malaysians produce 3,000 metric tons of avoidable food waste—enough food to feed 2.2 million people. About four percent of Malaysians live below the poverty line.

Cutting down on the amount of food wasted worldwide is an essential step to stopping climate change. Agriculture produces more greenhouse gasses than emissions from all cars, trains and airplanes combined.

Grocery stores, hotels, restaurants and other businesses can post on the Robin Food app when they have surplus food. Food banks are then notified of the surplus food in real time, pick up the food and distribute the food to those in need. The app also automatically generates statistics so that users can gain a sense of the impact their donations make.

Robin Food is available both as a web and smartphone app. The mobile app can even be accessed offline in areas that do not have internet access.

The Sime Darby Young Innovator’s Challenge is a new contest that challenges children aged 13-16 to think of a problem and come up with a solution that makes the world a better place. Applicants have the opportunity to participate in regional and national innovation workshops to gain the skills to develop their ideas further. The theme for this year’s contest was tackling poverty.

Sime Darby is a Malaysia-based multinational business conglomeration that has sectors in the plantation, industrial, property, motor and logistics sectors. The corporation is dedicated to bettering society while minimizing the impact on the environment and delivering sustainable development to all stakeholders.

Sime Darby will continue to challenge teens to generate innovative solutions to tackle major issues the world faces with creative solutions. The 2017 Young Innovators Challenge will begin in January. As the Robin Food app saves surplus food and feeds hungry Malaysians, many are excited to see which problems Malaysian teens will solve next.

– Cassie Lipp

Photo: Flickr

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The Five Best Ways USAID Helped Nigeria in 2016

The Five Best Ways USAID Helped Nigeria in 2016
As 2016 ends, USAID has announced encouraging news in regards to their long-time relationship with the country of Nigeria. Going forward, USAID plans to add $92 million to their humanitarian assistance program for the country. This move is symbolic of the year the two partners have shared; one rich with progress in support of refugees displaced and suffering from the Boko Haram insurgency. Here are five more ways USAID helped Nigeria in 2016:

  1. In November 2016, USAID and Chi Farms, which invests in emerging Nigerian economies by making use of local resources, partnered to add roughly 4,000 tons of catfish to the country’s water bodies. Part of USAID’s Feed the Future initiative, the two will also train 6,000 farmers and entrepreneurs in order to establish a more stable backbone for Nigeria’s economy.
  2. One of the most effective ways USAID helped Nigeria in 2016 was through its humanitarian assistance to those affected by the Boko Haram insurgency near the Lake Chad Basin. As of August 2016, more than 2 million people were internally displaced due to the conflict. USAID provides stability for refugees by administering such simple things as electronic vouchers, which cover things like food and household supplies in local shops – not only does the family benefit, but so does the local business. By August 2016, USAID had given $98 million in humanitarian aid to this region of Nigeria.
  3. In June 2016, USAID donated 160 metric tons of seeds to 6,000 Nigerian households, which they now estimate effects the lives of 60,000 internal refugees. Food insecurity has proven an endemic problem since the beginning of the conflict with Boko Haram, and this ambitious initiative lends a great deal of stability to families throughout the country that are now in control of their food supply. The donation of seeds also includes food packets to help sustain families as they await the harvest.
  4. USAID deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) in November 2016 to confront increasingly dire food insecurity in areas affected by the conflict. A study conducted by the organization in October estimated that 20 to 50 percent of children in the past six months suffered from acute malnourishment. The humanitarian crisis currently puts 9.2 million in need of help, and the arrival of DART means assistance can spread to more people, and more quickly.
  5. Assisting with food security wasn’t the only way USAID helped Nigeria in 2016 – they also trained personnel to staff 44 private hospitals for family planning counseling and implementation. As part of their USAID SHOPS project (Strengthening Health Outcomes for the Private Sector), the organization worked to increase quality and accessible family planning services throughout Nigeria. Completed in 2016, the project ran for five years and reached six states, and also trained 115 pharmacists to provide counseling to families. As a result, local healthcare facilities are reporting an increase in the use of effective contraception.

Since 2015, the U.S. has been the largest donor to Nigeria, giving $291 million in the 2016 fiscal year toward humanitarian aid. With the incredible news of their upcoming $92 million increase, USAID has extended help to tens of thousands more people and strengthened a partnership that will continue to improve the lives of millions of Nigerians.

– Emily Marshall

Photo: Flickr

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Girls’ Education in Cameroon: Nurturing Opportunity and Choice

Girls’ Education in Cameroon: Nurturing Opportunity and Choice
Education in Cameroon, although constitutionally guaranteed, falls short in execution. Undeniable disparities hinder educational access for poor, disabled, indigenous and refugee children, particularly disadvantaged girls. Issues ranging from sexual harassment, unplanned pregnancies and early marriages to domestic chores and socio-cultural biases proliferate a trend in which fewer girls attend primary schools than boys. Incongruences between male and female education in Cameroon exacerbate the growing movement of students leaving the country to study and live elsewhere that has been termed the “brain drain.”

Rectifying this gender discrepancy can boost individuals’ capacities for financial autonomy as well as improve the state of the nation overall.

Less than 50 percent of Cameroonian girls attend primary school, and the average adult has only 5.9 years of education under his or her belt. There are many, however, who are working to change that.

The ShineALight Africa initiative was inspired by one Cameroonian woman, Nsaigha Thecla, who risked her livelihood and security to give her daughter the education she had never attained. Borrowing, investing and selling all she had, her children received an uncommonly good education in Cameroon. Years later, Nsaigha’s granddaughter, Leila Kigha, founded ShineALight Africa in that spirit.

ShineALight Africa mobilizes individual women into a cooperative through which they can sell their farm produce as a group, and the profits are dedicated to keeping local community children in school. Participation fosters the skills to help women gain financial autonomy, which provides previously non-existent options regarding marriage and domesticity.

Self-sufficiency and personal livelihood are certainly not all there is to be gained through more available education. Many claim that national security is at stake when education is inaccessible, for “an educated population doesn’t give away to extremism.” As a military campaign against Boko Haram rages in northern Cameroon, mosques in the south resist the spread of Islamist insurgency by providing girls’ education. The director of the Grande Mosque in Briquerterie, Mohaman Saminou, claims girls are at the greatest risk of being radicalized due to their lack of education.

To that end, his mosque provides free classes to girls every weekend in subjects like computer science, sewing and the Qur’an. Other mosques, like the Yaoundé Central Mosque, follow suit, providing girls’ classes in French, English and Arabic to promote the notion of “bilingualism as a gateway to quality education and sustainable development.” This work should broaden opportunities and choices for Cameroonian girls, consequently decrease the likelihood of radicalization.

Improving education in Cameroon can hugely impact both individual lives and national wellbeing. The ability to make financial and social choices is essential to the welfare of the people and the state to which they belong.

– Robin Lee

Photo: Flickr

Ten Facts on the War in Darfur

10 Facts on the War in Darfur
The war in Darfur, a region in Sudan, has been the reason for mass slaughter and rape of Darfuri men, women and children; what the U.S. has labeled a genocide. The war in Darfur has been called the worst humanitarian crisis of the century and its effects are still seen today, specifically the displacement of Darfurians into neighboring countries.

10 Facts about the War in Darfur:

  1. Darfur is a region in Western Sudan, the largest country in Africa, that encompasses an area roughly the size of Texas. Darfur had a pre-conflict population of about six million people.
  2. The killings began in 2003 and continue today as the first genocide of the 21st century.
  3. Following independence from Britain in 1956, Sudan suffered two civil wars between the North and South that lasted for 21 years. Though both sides signed a peace deal that ended the conflict in 2005, they failed to consider the effect it had on Darfur, which remained underdeveloped and racially divided.
  4. In 2003, two rebel groups, Sudan Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/M) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), started a rebellion against the Sudanese government. They demanded an end to the oppression of Darfur’s non-Arabic population and economic marginalization.
  5. Sudanese President Al-Bashir responded by giving governmental support and money to Islamic militias, also known as the Janjaweed — or ‘Devils on Horseback’ in Arabic — to combat the rebels and civilians in Darfur instead of sending the military to intervene.
  6. The attacks have led to the deaths of at least 300,000 people and the displacement of more than 2.5 million others.
  7. In 2009, Al Bashir became the first sitting president to be indicted by the International Criminal Court for directing a campaign of mass killing, rape and pillage against civilians in Darfur.
  8. Around 3.2 million people in Darfur, about half the population, rely on humanitarian aid for food, healthcare, clean water and countless other services, according to the U.N.
  9. In 2007, the U.N. Security Council authorized the A.U.-U.N. Hybrid Operation in Darfur, known as UNAMID, with a mandate to protect civilians. They have deployed more than 18,000 troops and police, but resources are still overstretched.
  10. As of Nov. 3 this year, UNAMID welcomed a unilateral six-month truce by two armed groups and are waiting on Abdul Wahid El Nur, the leader of the Sudan Liberation Army, to make a similar declaration.

Much has been done to help resolve the ongoing conflict in Darfur by the U.N., A.U., N.A.T.O. and the U.S., but hundreds of thousands of displaced Darfurians are still in the necessity of aid. The six-month cessation of hostilities could be the first step towards peace in the region.

– Mayan Derhy

Photo: Flickr

Social Investment Fund Tackles Poverty in Ghana

Social Investment Fund Tackles Poverty in Ghana
Ghana is an African country roughly the size of Oregon and home to around 27 million people – approximately seven times the population of Oregon. In Ghana, around 24 percent of people live in poverty as of 2013 estimates, and the country’s 2012-13 Gini index score of 42.3 shows the country has moved away from economic equality since the 2005-06 score of 41.9. With such a disparity, the people of Ghana need a sound plan for moving people out of poverty. Ghana’s Social Investment Fund (SIF) is meant to do just that by investing in people to promote the projects they need most.

SIF works to directly improve the lives of people living in rural and urban poverty in Ghana, particularly women and children through various regional projects. They support economic and social infrastructure by funding irrigation, livestock raising, family planning services, nutrition and vocational and technical education. Some of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) SIF has worked with include the African Development Bank, the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) and the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA).

The goal of SIF’s work is to put people living in poverty in Ghana in the driver’s seat of poverty reduction, making them “proactive and reactive” partners with “a sense of ownership” in the project.

In order to reach this goal, one of the requirements of the organization’s support includes ensuring donors make a minimal number of interventions in the community, and resources already existent within the community are given priority of use over imports. This policy, similar to import substitution in economics, ensures that when the funding from SIF is no longer there, the people will still have access to the products they need and, just as importantly, the local economy will be stimulated. In addition, the entire community is pushed to be actively involved in an intervention, which helps to build the community’s sense of ownership and empowerment.

To date, since its establishment in 1998, SIF has made over 1000 advances in socio-economic infrastructure and services in areas of education, health, sanitation, roads and income generation. Its microfinance credit schemes have been implemented using NGOs and local banks to grow the revolving fund of one scheme to almost five times the starting amount, reaching 9.34 million Ghanaian cedis (GHC) and 20,000 beneficiaries, 80 percent of them female. In another scheme, 1,583 beneficiaries were lent 3.08 million GHC.

Curiously, while females constituted 89.26 percent of the beneficiaries in this scheme, only 46.3 percent of the funds were disbursed to females. SIF’s website does not offer any reason for this occurrence.

SIF’s current program is the Integrated Rural Development Programme, an OFID and BADEA-funded project targeting infrastructure and agribusiness across several regions of Ghana. The four-year program is projected to benefit around 25,000 low-income households and include targeted funding for socio-economic infrastructure as well as micro-lending and training programs.

Though challenging issues surround poverty, SIF’s strategies have succeeded in raising people out of poverty in Ghana. But funding is not the easiest asset to come by when approaching development issues, and for Ghana to truly succeed on a larger scale than has been seen, it needs steady, programmatic support from the international community, such as is found in USAID programs.

– Lucas Woodling

Photo: Flickr