Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

Four Ways Capitalism Has Helped Alleviate Poverty

Four Ways Capitalism Has Helped Alleviate Poverty
Merriam-Webster defines capitalism as “a way of organizing an economy so that the things that are used to make and transport products are owned by individual people and companies rather than by the government.”

Today, in much of academia, capitalism is portrayed as an inherently corrupt system; the exploitative sweatshops and lack of child labor laws are constantly in the limelight.

Yet in the last 30 years, as capitalism flourished and globalization opened up its gates, 1 billion people have been taken out of poverty. Many remain unaware of and fail to account for global improvements in health, education and living standards.

  1. “Extreme” poverty has almost disappeared in most industrialized countries. Extreme poverty used to be a norm for many people throughout industrialized countries. Currently, however, severe poverty has disappeared in most industrialized countries because of free-market capitalism. Between 1990 and 2010, poverty rates fell by half in developing countries, from 43 percent to 21 percent — a reduction of almost 1 billion people. Compared to the average rate of poverty reduction throughout history, this is an impressive improvement.
  2. Third world countries are moving out of poverty. China and India have made the most progress in the pursuit to alleviate poverty after they began moving toward capitalism. Since the 1980s, these countries have abandoned central government planning, instead expanding and liberalizing trade in global markets, which improved economic conditions. China increased its per capita income 13-fold since the beginning of its economic reforms in 1978. The country pulled 680 million people out of poverty between 1981 and 2010 as well as reduced its extreme poverty rate from 84 percent in 1980 to 10 percent today. In India, income rose three-fold after the country liberalized its markets. Third world nations are experiencing an overall decrease in the rate of poverty as well. Thirty years ago, 50 percent of the people in the poorer nations of the world lived in extreme poverty. In contrast, in 2012, 21 percent of people in the poorer nations of the world lived in extreme poverty.
  3. More aid is able to reach third world countries. Since the beginning of globalization, and with more countries embracing capitalist ways, international and national aid has increased, helping boost development projects such as investments in schools, health clinics, housing and infrastructure, as well as improved access to water. Many more charitable nonprofit organizations have opened up and can now transfer and receive humanitarian aid globally through private companies more easily than ever before.
  4. Standard of living has gone up; more leisure time. Since the agricultural and industrial revolutions, individuals no longer need to spend all day doing manual labor in order to make a living. The standard of living has increased greatly. In the 18th century, being a country with a high standard of living meant having millions in dire conditions. France had the fourth highest standard of living of any country, yet 10 million, almost half the population, relied on some sort of public or private charity to survive, and 3 million citizens were full-time beggars. This poverty no longer exists in developed countries; more than half of the population has the privilege of leisure time, which can be used to further learning.

Capitalism has lessened the severity of poverty over time. Yet there is no hiding the fact that 1.2 billion people currently live in extreme poverty. Many of these capitalist problems stem from too much government regulation. However, we are continuing to gradually alleviate poverty. The report, by Oxford University’s poverty and human development initiative, predicts that “countries among the most impoverished in the world could see acute poverty eradicated within 20 years if they continue at present rates.”

– Marcelo Guadiana

Photo: Flickr

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Low-Income Communities Deserve Sanitary Menstrual Products

Low-Income Communities Deserve Sanitary Menstrual Products
In 2015, 18 percent of Rwandan females didn’t go to school or work because they couldn’t purchase sanity menstrual products.

Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE) recycles trunk fiber from banana farmers to be cut, carded, washed, fluffed and solar dried for menstrual pads. The company supplies farmers with the necessary equipment and training services for production. They offer health and hygiene education to the community through schools.

SHE believes it’s a personal injustice that menstrual hygiene is seen as a luxury item. In Rwanda each year, the country has roughly a gross domestic product (GDP) loss of $115 million for women needing to take sick leave due to their periods. The company is fighting for the removal of value-added taxes on menstrual pads.

“We’re creating a blueprint to franchise globally. It’s a sustainable system that can be rolled out anywhere. We think it’s straight up common sense,” SHE outlined on the company’s website.

Most U.S. food stamp programs do not define sanitary menstrual products as an essential item. In India, people believe menstruation makes women impure. Most of the time females who are on their period are banished from completing their household obligations such as cooking, or even from inhabiting their homes at all.

In the largest slum, Mukuru, in Nairobi, Kenya, a study found that girls 10 to 19 years old were having sex with older men to gain access to sanitary menstrual products, according to Dignity Period.

In Burkina Faso, 83 percent of girls don’t have a sanitary menstrual changing area, and more than half of schools in the poorest countries lack private toilets, according to UNICEF.

Diana Sierra, a founder of Be Girl Inc., created a pair of underwear with a menstrual, mesh pocket that females can fill with any type of recyclable materials, such as cotton, grass or fabric, depending on the materials readily available in their geographic location.

After Sierra finished a master’s program in sustainability management at Columbia University, she traveled to Uganda for her internship. While conducting research on a coffee farm and cultural arts, she was working on the side to create a prototype for the most effective sanitary pad.

“So I said okay I’m going to hack this material with what I have handy. I took an umbrella for the layer on the bottom, I took like a mosquito net and cut it in pieces and stick it all together and created a kind of a universal pocket, a mix-proof pocket for a certain material,” said Sierra.

Sierra took her product to a school and the children found it successful, but they didn’t like the color black because they found it boring. In Tanzania and Malawi, the stigma associated with menstruation is more than a negative connotation. It is considered a curse.

“When we were asking them, they were talking about how they can’t touch an animal because the animal would just drop dead, and they cannot touch a baby because the baby can die. They cannot go through the crops because the crops will die,” said Sierra.

Sierra realized that she spent years working for global companies, designing for about 10 percent of the population with their extra TVs and face steamers, but she wondered about the other 90 percent of the world who feel that they aren’t deserving of a sanitary product.

Be Girl was launched in the U.S. to fiercely distinguish between and within genders. Sierra is mining a conversation of equality worldwide. It’s a product not exclusive to any socioeconomic status. She wants women to educate themselves about their options and teach others in every country so that generations that follow will spread the knowledge.

“They have the same value as a human being, but they’re completely overlooked. So that was the very first thing that I said I have to go and see this for myself and experience firsthand what it is that a designer can do for this type of scenarios,” said Sierra.

– Rachel Williams

Photo: Flickr

U.S. Business and Emerging Markets Partner for Mutual Benefits

U.S. Business Community and Emerging Markets
It was 3:00 a.m. Seamus DuBois had been living in his computer-cramped office for the past few months. He was tired of writing software programs. As he sipped his coffee, he realized how long it had been since he had taken breaks to pursue his passions outside of work.

“It’s time for me to branch out and do something new,” DuBois said.

Having grown up on a farm, he had always been interested in agriculture. In the next few weeks, he conducted rigorous research to explore his options working in the agricultural industry. Through his research, DuBois realized the challenges facing the global food industry. He felt that it was unfair that industrialized countries could benefit so much from developing country products, and yet the populations in those countries were stuck in vicious cycles of poverty.

With this in mind, DuBois contacted the Emerging Markets Development Advisers Program (EMDAP) and began devising a business plan that would benefit local populations and their environment by creating a product he could sell in the U.S. Eventually, EMDAP located him in Madagascar, where he helped local villagers develop a profitable, sustainable business plan to export commercial dry mango to developed countries. This was the beginning of a new venture between the U.S. business community and emerging markets.

The EMDAP provides consulting opportunities for U.S. graduate students to assist local organizations in USAID-funded countries.

For instance, from 2005 to 2006 EMDAP Adviser Robert Haynie, a Georgetown graduate, worked with the Business Development Center in Amman, Jordan. His case examined the security challenges facing the Marriott hotels in Jordan where terrorist bombing gradually became prevalent. The plan Haynie devised highlighted the company’s worldwide approach to security management. Marriott leadership immediately acknowledged the practical contribution of the case and incorporated it into its worldwide security strategies, significantly boosting its managerial capacities.

Since its founding, the EMDAP has provided support to over 200 businesses and organizations in 50 USAID-assisted countries.

The U.S. business community and emerging markets have recognized the potential value of EMDAP advisers to their success in the global marketplace. While local entrepreneurs in developing countries strengthen their business skills and management practices, more internationally competent U.S. business executives are able to assist American companies in capitalizing on trade and investment opportunities in emerging markets.

– Yvie Yao

Photo: Flickr

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Separation of the Philippines

Separation of the Philippines
Relations between the United States and the Philippines date back to a time when the U.S. had a special interest in Southeast Asia for military strategy. Despite a rocky start, the Philippines became one of the closest allies of the U.S. after fighting side by side in World War II against Japan.

To facilitate better relations in Southeast Asia, the Obama Administration developed the “Pivot to Asia.” Shifting American foreign policy from the Middle East, without fully withdrawing, getting more involved in an area with closer ties to China.

As a result, the U.S. provided $175 million for development assistance and $50 million in foreign military financing to the Philippines in 2015. The number for military funding is set to more than double in 2016, with around $120 million intended just for the Philippines.

Despite this long partnership and recently increased support, Filipino President Duterte hints at a separation of the Philippines from the U.S. for growing stronger bonds with China. Many in the U.S. Government are deeply troubled by this news as it could radically change the relationship between the two nations.

As recently as 2011, Clinton was in Manila to verbally affirm American support of the Philippines during a dispute with China over ownership of islands in the South China Sea. Senior Diplomat Daniel Russel is set to travel to Manila for clarification on this separation of the Philippines.

President Duterte is known for erratic behavior, leading many to question whether he can follow through on these claims. With such a large portion of the Filipino population still supporting continued relations with the U.S., a divide between the government’s affairs and the will of the Filipino people could be problematic.

The reality may be that this is the beginning of a Chinese plan to remove American military presence in the region by taking the Philippines out of a partnership with the U.S, in hopes that Vietnam and Malaysian would soon follow suit.

– Aaron Walsh

Photo: Flickr

Beekeeping: The Buzz About Ending Global Poverty

The Buzz About Ending Global Poverty: How Bees Help in Developing Nations
Underemployment and environmental degradation are two factors that contribute to global poverty. This is true in places like Nigeria, and particularly within the Niger Delta region, where there is widespread poverty. Here, most of the working population relies on agriculture, which is becoming a more difficult field to maintain as farmers receive poor yield due to increasing environmental pollution.

But bees can help in developing nations like these. One large way to combat underemployment in developing nations is to create opportunities for workers to engage in activities that increase earnings. One such activity people can engage in to create opportunities for themselves and for their communities is beekeeping.

Beekeeping offers an effective solution for ending global poverty as it requires little money to establish. Hives and equipment can be made domestically, and bees provide themselves with food. Beekeepers are rewarded with healthier farms and with bonus honey to sell.

Fortunately, beekeepers are not the only beneficiaries of this system. With a rapid global decline in bee populations since the 1990s, bee farming provides a symbiotic opportunity for farmers as well as bees. Beekeepers make money off of the bee’s work, and also provide the bees with a place to live while maintaining the surrounding environment to make sure that the bees have plentiful food and ingredients for their hives.

Honeybees themselves are also hugely beneficial towards the environment. They help to keep plants strong and healthy through pollination. Further, when beekeepers plant trees for their bees to gather nectar from, they are simultaneously helping to prevent soil erosion and landslides.

As pollinators, honeybees help to improve the quality and quantity of fruits on nearby farms. This means that not only are the bees and beekeepers benefiting, but toilers on adjacent farms are also aided. Beekeeping also offers others in the community financial opportunities by way of making and providing beekeeping equipment.

There is a great need to raise awareness about the role of beekeeping ending global poverty. Charities like Bees Abroad in the United Kingdom have helped to prove that bees can help in developing nations. Currently, they are working to offer training and support for beekeepers in developing countries. They are currently overseeing projects in Kenya, Cameroon, Uganda, Nepal, Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

– Kayla Provencher

Photo: Flickr

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Educating Children with Disabilities in Laos

Educating Children with Disabilities in Laos
Currently, there are 1 billion people worldwide who live with a disability, and 80 percent of those live in a developing country. To put things into perspective, 1 in every 7 people on this earth have a disability. It has been shown that poverty and disability are intrinsically linked. Those living in poverty are at higher risk of having a physical or intellectual impairment. This is due to factors such as unsafe living conditions and insufficient access to health services.

Unfortunately, the majority of people with disabilities have difficulty participating as equals in their communities and are oftentimes excluded or shunned. The cycle of poverty and disability can only be broken if the rights and needs of people with disabilities are addressed.

Laos, in particular, is a country that has started taking matters into its own hands. It has traditionally been difficult for international non-government organizations to work in Laos. However, Caritas Australia has been able to partner with the Lao Disabled Persons Association (LDPA), which helps both parents and teachers in developing the skills of children with disabilities in Laos.

LDPA is the most prominent and recognized disabled people’s organizations in Laos. These organizations work directly with and serve as a representative for persons with disabilities. In addition, they aim to educate the public about disability rights.

Due to the negative connotations associated with disability, Lao “society is more likely to abandon, ostracize or even hide children with disabilities.” Families receive little or no benefits from registering children with disabilities in Laos. Families who choose to hide a disabled member from authorities affect the government’s ability to improve legislation and living conditions.

That’s where Caritas Australia comes in. The organization believes that disabilities can be both a cause and a consequence of poverty. They aim to make sure all community development programs are accessible to people with disabilities. The organization also funds initiatives specific to people with disabilities to empower them to actively participate in community development and decision-making activities.

Specifically, the LDPA aims to support around 50 children with an intellectual disability attend a volunteer-run school. In addition to that, the association runs a series of workshops for parents and teachers of children with disabilities, led by specially-trained experts.

The Lao Disabled Persons Association’s main goal is to build the capacity of families and teachers to more effectively care for, educate and influence others on behalf of children with disabilities. Along with that, Caritas and LDPA work with parents and teachers towards providing consistency in areas such as behavioral management, teaching methods and social inclusion. Because very little is know about intellectual disability in Laos, the association is working to develop opportunities for schools and families to build a network for mutual support.

In 2010 the government began implementing the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability. This program is well positioned in order to build a growing awareness of disability issues in the country. Though the program is in its early stages, children, parents and teachers involved have already shown great interest and commitment.

LDPA is the first program of its kind in Laos and is currently limited to the Vientiane Province of Laos. However, the program has the potential to expand to other provinces through its wide network of disabled people’s organizations and its connections with the government.

– Keaton McCalla

Photo: Flickr

Weather Prediction Technology in Developing Countries

Weather Prediction Technology
By 2020, 8.5 billion people will reside in developing countries. This reality dictates food security as a critical component of agricultural planning to support this burgeoning population.

With nearly 100 countries lacking early warning systems for weather patterns, the developing world cannot protect crop yields to feed a growing world. While increased food production is an important part of the puzzle, improved food security measures are the missing link.

India’s AgriMet Department of the Indian Meteorological Department is helping to solve this problem by sharing weather prediction technology and satellite data with Bhutan and seven other developing countries including Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, Moldova, Dominica, Peru, Colombia and Burkina Faso.

Within India’s system, weather advisories are sent via text and voice messages to registered farmers. Registration is free and participating farmers have reported increased income. Indian scientists also plan to assist other countries in developing their own models for weather forecasting.

This comes on the heels of a warning from the World Meteorological Organization in March 2016 on World Meteorological Day. The initiative titled, “Hotter, drier, wetter. Face the Future,” recognizes 2015 as the hottest year on record and warning that these trends will continue for the next 50 years making weather prediction technology critical in the developing world.

Droughts, flooding, cyclones and heavy rain hit developing countries harder due to lack of preparation and time to evacuate. The effects of weather events are often cumulative in poor populations, making bad situations worse each time a new event occurs.

Global partnerships in weather prediction are a cost-effective way to address weather forecasting but are difficult to manage when a weather event threatens a smaller region. Global systems can also be more difficult for small, poor countries to access due to issues such as slow internet connections.

This makes regional partnerships for weather events a logical next step in forecasting due to closer proximity and easier methods of accessing a weather warning.

The goal for Bhutan and other developing countries is the implementation of long-range weather prediction technology and use of cost-effective toolkits such as rain gauges and measuring tools for soil moisture. While India will provide training and skills in this project, countries such as Canada and Norway will assist with grant funding to set up the weather station.

– Mandy Otis

Photo: Flickr

Digital Solutions to Adolescent Mental Illness

Digital Solutions to Adolescent Mental Illness
The World Health Organization estimates that as much as 50 percent of people in high-income nations, and as much as 85 percent of people in developing nations, do not receive adequate mental health care. Closing the gap between those who need care for mental illnesses during adolescence and those who receive that care has been an ongoing public health challenge for several decades.

Part of the challenge lies in the nature of mental health care. In the case of natural disasters or disease outbreaks, public health efforts may focus on immediate interventions, allocating emergency resources toward the affected communities for a specified amount of time until things return to normal. With mental health care, treatment may involve a variety of resources like medication, one-on-one consultations, group therapy and other services that are harder to sustain for the duration of an individual’s life.

In recent years, apps have emerged as a versatile public health tool. Although a person’s socioeconomic status can profoundly affect other aspects of health care and who receive them, most people, regardless of income have cell phones.

The 2015 Mobility Report by Ericsson estimates that there are 2.6 billion smartphone subscriptions worldwide. Researchers expect that number to reach 6 billion by 2020, with regions like Africa, Asia Pacific and the Middle East accounting for 80 percent of all new subscriptions. Delivering mental health care through smartphone technology could help improve ease of access for those in developing nations.

Healthwatch Wokingham is an independent group of healthcare professionals working to deliver mental health care to people in South East England through smartphone technology. The program, Appyness, specifically targets teenagers by catering to unique adolescent mental illness needs. Users can learn about different mental illnesses that commonly affect adolescents and their symptoms, access contact information for various mental health care providers, and compare different kinds of treatment.

In some ways, Appyness provides many of the same services as a traditional mental health care provider. With simple language and easy-to-use interfacing, Appyness guides teens in classifying their symptoms, logging their moods and triggers and directs them to additional resources.

Healthwatch aims to reach teenagers through the technology platforms they already commonly use. The goal is to help them form positive self-care habits early on and prevent adolescent mental illness.

– Jessica Levitan

Photo: Flickr

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Mining in Malawi: Understanding the Conflict

Mining in Malawi: Understanding the Conflict
The relationship between the mining industry and the country of Malawi is burdened with complexity. Mining in Malawi promises substantial economic growth, yet it simultaneously has the potential to violate human rights and destroy the natural ecosystem.

Malawi profits through the mining industry, as the country is rich in economic deposits of uranium. Both Malawian granite and sandstone host uranium reserves, such as the Karoo sandstone in Karonga, Malawi.

The district of Karonga lies on the northwest side of Lake Malawi. Lake Malawi is one of the only freshwater lakes on the entire continent of Africa and is a key source of livelihood for over 1.5 million Malawians.

While clearly rich in resources, the country itself is impoverished. Due to this, the government has signed many agreements with extraction companies, hoping to increase exports.

Some national organizations are concerned about the mining industry’s effect on the precious and fragile ecosystem of Lake Malawi, yet the government has prioritized economic interests.

In 2007, a subsidiary of Paladin Energy took interest in Karonga due to a uranium deposit in the district. Due to the immense economic potential of the mine, called Kayelekera, the government agreed to let Paladin extract uranium in 2009. The government was issued 15 percent equity in the subsidiary.

As expected, the mine stimulated a crucial boost to the country’s foreign currency account. Over the following 10 years, the uranium industry overall is expected to raise Malawi’s GDP by 10 percent, account for 30 percent of exports and increase exports by 25 percent.

Due to company promises, many people in Malawi flocked to Karonga, hoping the uranium industry would generate employment, build clinics and increase general infrastructure in the new mining community.

Others, however, were not adequately informed that uranium mining was going to take place around their homes. None were aware that the Kayelekera mine would disrupt their entire way of life.

Reporters from Human Rights Watch conducted research for a year in Karonga, interviewing nearly 80 villagers who had been affected by uranium mining. They found that the general lack of government oversight and corporate responsibility harmed Malawians.

The construction of the Kayelekera mine caused villagers to be evicted from their homes. Many were only notified of the relocation at the last minute. Without any time to find other places to stay, these Malawians found themselves temporarily homeless.

While Paladin did offer compensation for the forced removal, the sum was insufficient to completely cover the cost of buying new land and building a new home. The company offered about MWK 50,000 to each family, which currently equates to about $70.

The uranium mining in Malawi damaged maize crops, dried rice fields and destroyed irrigation channels. As most of the villagers around Karonga live off of subsistence farming, threatened agriculture endangers survival.

Secrecy around the operations of the mine led to Malawian suspicion. When the people in Karonga asked the corporation to test the water for contamination, Paladin claimed to have a monitoring system in place. The company then refused to release any results. This lack of transparency has left many villagers concerned for their health.

As the laws surrounding mining in Malawi have not been updated since the Environmental Management Act of 1996, amendments are well overdue. In order to protect the interests of its citizens, the government of Malawi needs to strengthen regulations over extractive corporations, educate its people about the risks of mining, enforce institutional transparency and take measures to mitigate any damage.

The Kayelekera mine was closed in 2014 for repairs, yet the uranium industry in Malawi is just beginning. Moving forward, the Malawian government needs to enforce corporate responsibility on all companies who wish to extract natural resources from their country.

This conflict over mining in Malawi ignites fundamental questions over the delicate balance between economic development and social responsibility. With a more comprehensive legal framework, the government of Malawi may not have to choose one or the other. After further reform, the government can protect its people while simultaneously fostering social, institutional and economic development.

– Larkin Smith

Photo: Flickr

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Rise Up Belize! Advances Education in Belize

Rise Up Belize! Advances Education in Belize
Rise Up Belize! is a nonprofit organization that promotes the educational development of Belizean children. Education in Belize is unique because all schools are tuition-based. Many children cannot afford to continue their education beyond the primary school level. Nearly 40 percent of the Central American country’s residents are under the age of 18. This places great importance on the education of its youngest citizens.

In 2014, 96.29 percent children of primary school age were enrolled in school. That same year, only 69.33 percent of students of secondary school age were enrolled. This drop of nearly 27 percent can be directly attributed to the fact that secondary school is not affordable for a significant number of families.

Joey Garcia is a writer who lives in Sacramento, California. She created Rise Up Belize! in 2004, after traveling to Belize City for a family funeral. Garcia was born in Belize and feels that the organization allows her to maintain a close relationship with her original homeland.

Each year, Rise Up Belize! selects ten high school girls from Sacramento to take part in an intensive leadership program. Over three to six months the students learn how to develop curricula, manage classrooms, raise funds and run a nonprofit organization. They also study cultural sensitivity and presentation skills.

After completing the leadership program, the girls travel to Belize where they run a week-long academic camp for fourth to sixth graders. The camp is free to attend and at the end of the week, each child leaves with a backpack filled with school supplies. Approximately 150 children attend Rise Up Belize! summer camps each year.

Rise Up Belize! also offers free professional development workshops for teachers. The three-day training program is run by Sacramento area teachers and psychotherapists who volunteer their time and expertise to help teachers in Belize hone their skills. More than 200 teachers in Belize have participated thus far.

Native Belizean students aged 13 to 16 who have completed primary school with a 2.5 GPA may apply for the Rise Up Belize! scholarship program.

Prospective recipients must have either attended a Rise Up Belize! summer camp or be recommended by a Rise Up Belize! staff member. The application process also requires students to write an essay that describes their dreams for themselves and for Belize. With so many young citizens, the future of the country certainly depends on the dreams of its students. Rise Up Belize! helps realize these ambitions by making secondary education in Belize accessible to more children.

– Kate Tilton

Photo: Flickr