Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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

The Five Youngest US Presidents

The Youngest U.S. President: Five Nominants
Next month, when President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in at age 70, he will officially become the oldest U.S. President to take the oath of office. Article two, section one, clause five of the U.S. Constitution states, “…neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of 35 years.”

Since 1789, there have been nine U.S. Presidents inaugurated before their 50th birthday, though none as young as 35. Meet the five youngest U.S. Presidents.

Teddy Roosevelt – 42 years, 322 days (1901-1909)

Roosevelt was sworn in just over one month before his 43rd birthday after the assassination of the 25th U.S. President, William McKinley. After the Spanish-American War, Roosevelt became known for ending a period of isolation and placing the U.S. on the world stage.

Trivia: The Roosevelt Room at the White House was created in 1934 in honor of the youngest U.S. President in the exact location of his original 1902 office.

John F. Kennedy – 43 years, 236 days (1961-1963)

Although only serving two years before his assassination in 1963, Kennedy was the youngest U.S. President ever to be elected to the oval office. In 1961, under Kennedy’s administration, Congress established the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency as a separate entity under the U.S. Department of State’s umbrella.

Trivia: Kennedy attended Harvard University. His application to attend was only five sentences long.

Bill Clinton – 46 years, 149 days (1993-2001)

Clinton was inaugurated in January 1993 on the heels of George H.W. Bush’s peaceful resolution to the conflict between the U.S. and Russia. This made Clinton the first president in nearly a century with little urgency to define U.S. foreign policy with the Soviet Union.

Trivia: Clinton has authored numerous books including his 2007 work about the power of volunteering entitled Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World.

Ulysses S. Grant – 46 years, 311 days (1869-1877)

Taking the oath just shy of his 47th birthday, Grant is the fourth-youngest U.S. President. As the General accredited for leading the Union to victory during the Civil War, Grant is known more for domestic relations than foreign policy. However, he fought in an international conflict under General Zachary Taylor’s command during the Mexican-American War.

Trivia: Both Grant’s mother and father witnessed his inauguration — a first for any U.S. President.

Barack Obama – 47 years, 169 days (2009-2017)

The U.S. President preceding the oldest President-elect also happens to be one of the five youngest U.S. Presidents. Immediately upon taking office, Obama set out to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq. He successfully reduced the total number of troops from 160,000 in 2009 to 150 in 2012. Then, in 2014, he restored diplomatic relations with Cuba. This milestone marked a new beginning toward alleviating economic animosity between the U.S. and its island neighbor.

Trivia: During law school, Obama became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Perhaps this achievement helped set his sights on becoming the first African-American U.S. President.

– Ashley Henyan

Photo: Flickr

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The Unique History of Education in Namibia

The Unique History of Education in Namibia
Real progress in improving education in Namibia did not occur until after their Independence Day on March 21, 1990. The system prior to 1990 was ridden with apartheid generation policies that encouraged institutional racism across all levels of government.

The constitution of the new government guaranteed the right to education for all of its citizens. Specifically, free primary education, grades 1-7, and access to secondary education contingent on the success of the student and ability for that student to pay tuition. Along with guaranteeing education as a right, the new constitution abolished the apartheid-style funding system that had previously existed.

Between 1990 and the early 2000s, the country made great strides in terms of improving education. Enrollment in primary education increased from 60 to 95 percent, there was a 30 percent increase in the teaching workforce, and 3,000 new classrooms were built. But there were still questions about the quality and relevance of the curriculum, the shortage of overall schools, the availability of qualified teachers for those schools, and a lack of enrollment in secondary education due to it being cost prohibitive.

These items were taken into consideration by the government and they responded with the Education Act of 2001 that extended free tuition to all citizens seeking secondary education (up to 12th grade), along with performance standards required to move on from grade to grade.

Even with these increased investments in education, the issue of having quality teachers still was not solved. A UNICEF report that assessed the quality and success of the Namibian education system correlated increasing grade repetition rates to low teacher skills and content knowledge. There is also a lack of consistency from school to school adhering to the national performance standards.

Increasing funding can only do so much, and education in Namibia is at its capacity. It has serious economic concerns that limit the available funding for education spending. Currently, 20 percent of GDP is being spent on education which is far higher than the United States at 6.4 percent or even the top ranked education system in the world, Finland, at 7.2 percent.

Education in Namibia and Namibia as a whole is dependent on economic development. Its economy is not well-diversified and is far too reliant on the mining industry. Global fluctuations in its main commodity exports equate to volatility in the labor market. Unemployment currently sits at just under 30 percent.

A report by the Journal of Economic Structures identifies that Namibia is unique compared to other developing countries, though. It has a positive current account balance, which means there are more savings than investment. Currently, a greater percentage of savings are being exported to foreign markets. The Journal states “if interesting investment opportunities are available, the country has to fund through its own domestic savings.”

The Namibian government is aware of this and wants to use this knowledge to achieve a goal of eradicating poverty by 2025 through investment in local communities. The President of Namibia, Hage Geingob, states this will be achieved through investment in social safety nets, training and skills development, and employment through community development activities.

– Brian Faust

Photo: Flickr

Ten Facts About the Ethnic Violence in South Sudan

10 Facts About the Ethnic Violence in South Sudan
When South Sudan gained independence in July 2011, President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan looked at its future and hoped, “God willing, this state will be stable and develop.” This statement came in reflection after the South Sudanese people had experienced over 20 years of guerrilla warfare with the North, in which nearly 1.5 million people died.

But thus far, independence has only served as a band-aid.

On December 15, 2013, conflict broke out between the country’s two most prominent tribes when President Salva Kiir, of the Dinka tribe, removed Vice President Riek Machar, a Nuer, from office and accused him of attempting a failed coup. Violence would continue among Kiir and Machar’s respective tribes until August 2015, when international pressure resulted in a ceasefire peace deal between the factions. But over the past year, tensions have escalated into greater ethnic violence, leading the U.N. to warn the international community of another Rwandan-like genocide.

Here are 10 facts about the ethnic violence in South Sudan:

  1. Since the beginning of the 2013 civil war to present day, 1.05 million have been displaced in surrounding nations. This is the largest group of people to flee their country in central Africa since the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
  2. Ethnic violence has included hostile rhetoric, killings, and specified rapes on those of rival ethnic groups.
  3. According to the U.N., the majority of ethnic violence is instigated by the “Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), the SPLA in Opposition, militias, and unidentified armed groups.”
  4. About 1.73 million have been displaced internally since the conflict began in December 2013.
  5. The Bidi Bidi refugee camp in Uganda has now become the third largest refugee camp in the world as a result of the crisis in South Sudan. Today, nearly 530,000 refugees have sought safety here; 330,000 of this number fled to Bidi Bidi this year alone.
  6. Nearly 50,000 people have died directly or indirectly from the conflict.
  7. As a result of the ethnic violence, South Sudan is on the verge of famine. Projections estimate that roughly four million people to be in dire need of food and humanitarian assistance. This is over one-third of the population.
  8. The violence has not stayed within ethnic lines: relief operations and its workers have been included in the attacks. This consists of shootings, rapes, and, most grievously, the killings of at least 57 aid workers.
  9. In order to restore peace, the U.N. pressured Kiir to reinstate Machar as vice president. This occurred in April 2016, but he was once again ousted in July, heightening both tensions and conflict.
  10. Adam Dieng, who works for the UN to prevent genocide, recently visited and surveyed the state of South Sudan. In his assessment, he reported to the UN Security Council the likelihood of “an outright ethnic war” that could lead to a “potential for genocide”.

On November 19, 2016, the United Nations Security Council urgently called for proactive measures that would “promote reconciliation among the people” and prevent genocide. The United States has proposed an arms embargo on South Sudan, though this was opposed by Russia and China. While no response has yet been finalized, discussion for peace in South Sudan continues to grow—with the hope that a solution is soon to come.

– Brenna Yowell

Photo: Flickr

How Many Representatives Are There in Each State?

How Many Representatives Are There in Each State?
The United States Congress is divided into two chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives allows for no more than 435 officials to be divided among the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the five U.S. territories (American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marina Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands). Each of the 50 states is guaranteed two senators regardless of population size. However, neither Washington, D.C. nor the U.S. territories have representation in the Senate.

Officials from the House are commonly referred to as congressmen, congresswomen or representatives. How the 435 seats are split is contingent on the population size of the states, and D.C. and the U.S. territories are allowed one seat apiece.

To illustrate how representation is divided, consider New York: The geographical size of New York is hardly a third of the size of Montana, but New York’s population is 19 times greater than Montana’s. This explains why New York (27 representatives) has far more representatives than does Montana (one representative).

Does it matter how many representatives a state has? Yes, for a few important reasons. The first reason is that if a state has a large population and few representatives, then it is likely that not all constituents are being represented fairly. Similarly, if a state with a small population has a disproportionately large number of representatives, then the state will be overrepresented in Congress. The second reason is that the number of representatives plus the two senators in each state is equal to the number of electoral votes the state has in elections. That is to say, the more representatives a state has, the more influence the state can have on the election outcomes. The U.S. House of Representatives website lists the number of officials in each state.

Depending on a state’s population, officials may be assigned congressional districts. For example, Alaska has only one representative for the entire state, while California is split into 53 congressional districts with one representative speaking on behalf of each district. Officials for specific congressional districts can be found here.

The public elects members of Congress to two-year terms to serve in the House of Representatives. It is important to remember that these elected officials are in place to serve their constituents. Asking government officials to support global poverty reduction bills and other important issues is as simple as emailing or calling Congress. It is a representative’s job to listen, so constituents should make their voices heard.

– Catherine Ticzon

Photo: Flickr