Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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Global Poverty Bills You Should Know About

Global Poverty Bills

The Borgen Project advocates for global poverty bills to be passed in the House and the Senate of Congress. The Borgen Project is currently fighting for three bills that could have a massive impact on global poverty.

First, the Electrify Africa Act, introduced in 2015, seeks to provide sub-Saharan African countries access to affordable and reliable power through a plan spanning several years.

The bill has two main goals: create a group comprised of several organizations–including the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), U.S. Agency for International Development, the Trade and Development Agency and the Millennium Challenge Corporation–which will help coordinate the U.S. government regarding creating reliable sustainable energy on the African continent, and effectively utilize the United States’ influence as a world power to build international support for African energy programs.

Next, the Reach Every Mother and Child Act, also introduced in 2015, seeks to end preventable maternal and newborn deaths around the world.

According to WHO, around 830 women around the world die every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, such as severe bleeding, infections, eclampsia/pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure that develops during pregnancy) and unsafe abortions. That adds up to over 300,000 women dying every year, of which 99 percent of those deaths occur in developing countries.

The Reach Every Mother and Child Act would allow the United States to create an interagency group dedicated to ending maternal and child deaths in developing countries, including overseeing maternal and child health and nutrition funding.

Finally, The Borgen Project supports the Food for Peace Reform Act of 2015, which would overhaul the current U.S. programs for providing emergency food aid around the world, involving:

· improving product packaging and storage

· adjusting products to cost-effectively meet nutrient needs of target populations

· adopting new, or improving existing, specifications for micronutrient fortified food aid products to meet a population’s nutrient needs

· evaluating performance and cost-effectiveness of food products and programs for vulnerable groups, such as pregnant mothers and young children

Visit borgenproject.org/legislation for more information on global poverty bills and how you can help end global poverty by contacting your government representatives in the House and Senate.

– Bayley McComb

Photo: ABC News

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Postal Initiative: Helping Rural Africans Receive Remittances

Rural AfricansAlthough remittances are a lifeline for many people in Africa, collecting money from abroad has long been a challenge for rural Africans. Postal systems in remote areas are unable to process money transfers because of operational constraints.

Many post offices in sub-Saharan Africa lack computers, Internet access and other modern technologies necessary to provide financial services. The World Bank has reported that postal employees also often have little to no experience in handling transfers.

In an effort to improve access to remittance payments, the International Federation of Agricultural Development (IFAD) is implementing the African Postal Financial Services Initiative. According to IFAD, the initiative which is being implemented in 10 African countries will provide post offices with the technology, business model and expertise necessary to process remittance payments and offer other services in an efficient and safe manner.

Africa is among the world’s leaders in receiving money from remittances—of the $431.6 billion transferred to and within developing countries from abroad in 2015, Africa received $65 billion. Remittances also make up at least five percent of GDP in 14 African states, including Liberia and Mali.

However, high transaction fees have reduced the value of remittances for many Africans. According to the World Bank, sub-Saharan Africa is the most expensive region in the world to send remittances with an average cost of 9.5 percent in 2015. In Western Africa, the cost of collecting remittances can exceed 10 percent.

The high fees are set by money-transfer operators and are in part a result of a lack of competition in the remittance market. Two of the largest money transmitters, Western Union and MoneyGram, have relied on exclusivity agreements that prevent competitors from partnering with banks and other remittance payout agents.

The overall cost of collecting remittances is higher for rural Africans who must sacrifice time at work and risk their safety to travel long distances to and from financial service providers.

The IFAD and World Bank believe that remittance services would become more efficient and less costly once more postal offices in remote sub-Saharan areas are able to process money transfers.

Unlike commercial banks, which are mainly concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa’s largest cities, 80 percent of post offices operate in sparsely-populated areas where they are more accessible for rural Africans. Post offices also enjoy high levels of trust by people who would rather avoid banks, the World Bank has reported.

Postal systems that process remittances transfers and offer financial services are common and have been beneficial in other developing countries around the world. In India, the India Post has nearly 139,000 post offices in rural areas that offer savings accounts and act as an agent for partner institutions. Brazil’s postal operator, Correios, also has a financial operations branch that process remittances and provides basic banking services.

– Sam Turken

Photo: DAWN

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UNICEF’s School in a Box: A Foreign Aid Success

School in a box
During times of emergency, priorities turn to basic essentials like food, water and shelter. While these are clearly the most important, UNICEF argues that a fourth thing needs to be added as a necessity: education. UNICEF’s school in a box provides an incredible solution.

Education is one of the best ways to preserve normalcy, social resources and safety that is invaluable to primary school-aged kids. They are not alone in this belief; a study by Duke University Professor E. Frankenburg explains that people with access to education are better equipped to handle crises.

 

School in a Box:  Education in Crisis Response

 

How can schools be efficiently supplied after emergency?

UNICEF came up with an answer that is a fast and affordable foreign aid success. Within three days of a tsunami or other crisis, they can deliver a ‘School in a Box’ with three months worth of supplies for one teacher and 40 students. They are perfect for places recently hit with a natural disaster or a sudden influx of students.

It is all inclusive so that a classroom can be set up anywhere. In addition to the classic materials like paper, books and pens, the kit contains toys, a radio, educational posters and can of paint that can turn any flat surface into a blackboard.

Translations are available in most languages and UNICEF has tried to make it as non-culturally specific as possible. Boxes can be supplemented with locally produced materials and lesson plans.

This program was created in the mid-1990s, along with UNESCO’s similar Teacher Emergency Package. Originally, it was used in Rwanda but has spread to at least 12 countries including Pakistan, Haiti, Japan and even the United States. It has been a foreign aid success: in 2014 alone, 106,201 kits were distributed.

These kits can be sponsored for a mere $209.11 on UNICEF’s website. While this program is not a permanent replacement for locally supported schools, School in a Box provides a quick and effective way to give kids education during an emergency.

– Jeanette I. Burke

Photo: The Epoch Times

Five Facts About Living on Two Dollars a Day

Living on Two Dollars a Day
The phrase “living on two dollars a day” gets tossed around with great frequency as researchers, advocacy networks and politicians alike attempt to understand the magnitude and scope of global poverty. However, establishing a global poverty line isn’t so easy, and the information tends to get muddled as data is constantly updated and poverty measurements vary from place to place.

So what does living on two dollars a day really mean? Below are five key facts about what living on two dollars a day looks like and what it means for global poverty:

  1. It is a daily reality for many. As of 2012, when the World Bank most recently updated the global poverty line, it was found that 12.7 percent of the world’s population was living at or below the poverty line. Meaning that 896 million people are living on two dollars a day or less.
  2. The calculations are tricky. The poverty line and the two dollars a day measure are calculated on a cost of living that allow for the minimum nutrition, clothing and shelter needed to survive to be met.
  3. The poverty line can vary widely both within a country and between countries. In India alone, the poverty line ranges from the equivalent of $2.13 per day in rural areas to $3.08 per day in urban areas. Meaning that the severity of living on two dollars a day will look different depending on where you are.
  4. Living on two dollars a day or less is considered extreme poverty for a reason. Though the poverty line in the U.S. is just $15.77 per day, the average daily consumer spending for an American amounts to about $93.
  5. Progress is being made. The number of people living on two dollars a day or less is expected to fall below 10 percent in the coming years, and the World Bank has now set a goal to end extreme poverty within a generation. To do this, they intend to have no more than three percent of the world’s population below the poverty line by 2030.

Measuring the number of people living in extreme poverty across the globe is no simple task. While living on two dollars a day estimates brings us closer to grasping the impact of extreme poverty on the world, it is still possible that the scope of global poverty is not fully understood. No matter how it is measured, global poverty continues to be a significant issue for developed and developing countries alike. Continued support and development assistance will be key to ensuring that one day soon the world is free from extreme poverty.

– Sara Christensen

Photo: The New York Times

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Four Small International Organizations Changing Lives

Small International Organizations

Changing the world starts by impacting one life at a time. One person’s desire to change the world, no matter how small or how insignificant it may seem, can make a world of a difference in the lives of others.

The following four small international organizations — HEED Uganda, Asha India, Ryan’s Well Foundation and Maiti Nepal — all started from humble beginnings and a single vision, which turned into much more.

HEED Uganda

HEED was founded in 2005 when two Washington-based mothers traveled to Uganda and began to provide for 17 orphaned, vulnerable and needy children from a remote village in the Mubende District of Uganda. They did not know how these sponsorships would work or what was in store for them but they knew the kids needed help. After seeing the sheer number of children in these villages that needed help, HEED’s mission grew to have full-time sponsors for 21 children.

The mission continued to grow in 2007 when they started a village school in the Mubende District. Here they hired teachers and supplied school necessities, certain meals and health treatments to give the hundreds of village kids a chance to grow up to be well-rounded adults. In 2009, HEED made further headway when it purchased farmland to provide food and income for the school, then installed a borehole for clean water for the school in 2011.

Schooling is provided to the orphaned and most vulnerable children in the village, regardless of their ability to pay fees.

Asha India

In 1988, Dr. Kiran Martin heard of the cholera outbreak in India’s south Delhi slum and felt compelled to use her medical skills to help Delhi’s poor. Martin went to the slum and borrowed a table in the shade to use as her office and began saving lives.

After seeing the lack of medicine, Martin requested assistance from the Indian government and acquired aides to assist her in expanding her medical help within Delhi’s slums.

Over 25 years later, Asha has helped save more than 500,000 lives within 60 of Delhi’s slums. The organization has expanded to the U.S. and many other countries in which Asha continues to save lives.

Ryan’s Well Foundation

In 1998, a six-year-old named Ryan learned that people were dying in other parts of the world because they did not have access to clean water. Ryan could not believe that people lived in those conditions and begged his parents to help him assist the people living without clean water.

Ryan started by doing extra chores and speaking at service clubs and school classes to raise money to build a well. Finally, Ryan raised the $2,000 needed to build a well at the Angolo Primary School in Uganda.

A few years later, in 2001, Ryan’s Well Foundation was formally created. Over the past 15 years, the foundation has built over 1,000 wells, with no end in sight.

Maiti Nepal

In 1993, school teacher Anuradha Koirala decided to right the world’s wrongs and do something about sex trafficking in Nepal. She started by setting up a home to provide safety and shelter for young children and women who got forced into Nepal’s sex trade.

She wanted to establish a place where people could go when they did not have anywhere safe to be. Her dream of just one safe house has turned into an organization called Maiti Nepal that has established three prevention homes, 11 transit homes, two hospices and a school. Currently, over 1,000 children are receiving service from Maiti Nepal daily, 1,200 sex traffickers have been convicted and 357 rape cases prosecuted, all made possible by one woman’s determination.

The founders of these four small international organizations give impeccable examples of ordinary people who started something small which turned into something extraordinary. Any positive difference, despite its perceived insignificance, can change the lives of people in need.

– Bella Chaffey

Photo: Flickr

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How Can Companies Improve Global Education?

Improve global education

Many CEOs don’t realize that helping improve global education is an investment in the future — not in an abstract future, but in their future. The more educated a country’s population is, the higher its gross domestic product (GDP) usually becomes.

With increased capital, more people can buy more products: someone living on less than a dollar a day will likely not buy Colgate toothpaste or Axe body wash, for example, because that money is reserved for food.

So how can companies help improve global education?

Justin W. van Fleet, director of the International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity, lists five strategies businesses can use when helping improve global education. Two important approaches are discussed below.

Prioritize Global Education

Companies can’t make a difference if they don’t prioritize doing so. Recognizing that alleviating global poverty — whether through health concerns or through education concerns — is investing in businesses’ futures, companies like Coca Cola have already made global poverty concerns a priority.

Coca Cola decided to invest in Tanzania in 1952, and the company has reaped benefits ever since. Coca Cola now has a presence in a previously untapped community.

“Whatever has to do with improvement of the Tanzania community it also touches improvement of, and welfare of, our company,” said a Coca-Cola Kwanza manager.

Education is integral to a healthy community, so businesses that prioritize developing countries’ education prioritize their own futures.

Collaborate with Governments

Governments are the largest sources of funding for education in developing countries. If businesses partner with government programs, then businesses may receive money for improving global education. In addition, not all funding efforts have to be out of pocket for companies.

Businesses and governments can work together in other ways, too. In 2006, for example, the Hess oil company invested $20 million in an Equatorial Guinea national educational initiative. Equatorial Guinea’s government matched that investment.

According to Brookings, “It is estimated that the program has reached roughly half of the students enrolled in primary school in Equatorial Guinea.”

Hopefully, more companies will adopt these strategies and others to improve global education in the future.

– Tyler New

Photo: Flickr

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10 Facts About the Canadian Refugee System

Canadian Refugee System
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), refugees are “people fleeing conflict or persecution. They are defined and protected in international law, and must not be expelled or returned to situations where their life and freedom are at risk.” Below are 10 facts about the Canadian refugee system.

  1. The Canadian Refugee system has two primary sections: the Refugee and Humanitarian Resettlement Program and the In-Canada Asylum Program.
  2. The Refugee and Humanitarian Resettlement Program deals with claims for asylum that come from outside of Canada.
  3. The In-Canada Asylum Program works to help people making refugee protection claims from within Canada.
  4. Initial assistance for refugees coming to Canada comes from the federal Canadian government, a private sponsor (such as an organization or wealthy person), or the Province of Quebec.
  5. Income support for refugees is provided for up to one year or until the refugee/refugee’s family becomes self-sufficient, whichever comes first.
  6. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) funds language training in English and French for incoming refugees who lack the language skills necessary to function successfully in Canada.
  7. Canada has a long history of accepting refugees, stretching back to 1770 when they allowed Quakers (who were being pushed out of America due to their religious practices) to settle in southern Ontario.
  8. Canada’s Immigration Act of 1976 required the government to establish targets for immigration and consult explicitly with provinces regarding Canadian immigration (including refugee immigration).
  9. In 1986, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees awarded the people of Canada the distinguished Nansen medal for their efforts during the Indochina refugee crisis of 1979-1980, wherein Canada helped settle over sixty thousand refugees.
  10. Currently, as part of the #WelcomeRefugees initiative, Canada has been resettling Syrian refugees across the country. As of June 2016, the government resettled upwards of 28,000 Syrian refugees.

– Bayley McComb

Photo: Migration Bureau Corp.

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Issues with Water Quality in India

Water quality in IndiaIndia may be reaching a crisis-level situation in regards to water quality and access. While India’s population continues to grow, access to water continues to dwindle. The country’s future may be greatly affected by the limited water for households and agriculture.

Over 20 percent of the country’s diseases can be traced back to the poor water quality in India. To make matters worse, less than 35 percent of the entire population of India has access to traditional sanitation, further exacerbating the spread of diseases in the country.

Most cities in India produce almost 40,000 million liters of sewage per day, the majority of which is dumped into rivers which feeds into groundwater that becomes used for agriculture or citizens’ homes. In fact, less than 20 percent of the sewage in India is properly treated.

There are almost 76 million people in India who are forced to spend 20 percent of their income on water, and often are forced to use the contaminated water instead, according to Water Aid. Although the groundwater in India is of poor quality, many rural residents have no choice but to use it for daily needs. However, the overall water availability in India is soon running dry.

The water crisis in India can partially be attributed to government corruption and lack of planning, as well as increased corporate privatization, which drives up the cost of clean water. If India is unable to control the water crisis, scarcity is predicted to significantly worsen by the year 2050 and become the main cause of political conflict.

Though many environmentalists are opposed, building dams in India could improve the issue with water quality and scarcity in India. Dams would collect water during the rainy season and provide during the dry season, but building storage dams would potentially submerge forests, disturb habitats, and displace tribal communities.

In order to improve water quality in India, the country needs to place more sewage treatment plants in more cities and towns. Overall, there are only 160 towns with sewage treatment plants out of the 8,000 towns total. As long as factories continue to dump untreated sewage into rivers that run into groundwater, the water quality in India has little chance of improvement.

– Amanda Panella

Photo: Global Moms Challenge

Five Ways to Help End Poverty in the United States

Poverty in the United States
According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2014, 47 million people — or 15% of the U.S. population — were living in poverty. Additionally, poverty in the United States is 2.3 percentage points higher than in 2007, the year before the recession hit in 2008.

Furthermore, 2014 was the fourth consecutive year that the poverty rate has remained stagnant. While conditions are not worsening, they are not improving either.

What Defines Poverty in the United States?

The federal government’s official poverty threshold for 2015 was as follows:

  • Household of four (two children, two adults): $24,444
  • Household of three (one child, two adults): $18,540
  • Household of two (over 65): $14,326
  • Household of two (under 65): $15,871
  • One person (over 65): $11,376
  • One person (under 65): $12,331

Click here to see additional information regarding the poverty threshold.

Who Lives in Poverty in the United States?

Poverty does not affect all demographics equally. Numbers from 2014  show that 13% of men lived in poverty, as compared to 16% of women. Poverty numbers for married couples were at six percent, while single-parent families with no wife were at 16%. Single-parent families with no husband saw a poverty rate of 31%.

As of 2014, 21% of all children in the United States lived in poverty. About 15.5 million children, more than the entire population of Ecuador, lacked the required resources to ensure even a basic level of comfort and freedom from distress.

What Can We Do To End Poverty in the United States?

There are several things that can be done to help bridge the gap between the richest and poorest Americans. Here is a list of five tips to help get you started:

1. Volunteer

Be giving of yourself. Find a local Open Heart Kitchen to work in. You can also volunteer with an organization that provides tutoring or afterschool programs for children living in impoverished areas. Your compassion can help immensely.

2. Donate

Find an organization that helps fight poverty in the United States. Additionally, it is important to find one that expresses values and a mission that you care about. The Borgen Project may be focused on fighting poverty abroad, but the work that they do helps create jobs and stimulate the already-struggling American economy. As nonprofits, these organizations also rely heavily on donations to fund their philanthropic and humanitarian endeavors.

3. Contact Your Congressional Representatives

Congress is supposed to represent its constituents, so contacting them can make a difference. Writing a simple letter or email, or making a phone call to your representative’s office lets them know that you are a concerned citizen. If enough people contact a representative in support of a particular issue, it sends the message that it is something that he or she should fight for. Above all, representatives speak for the people who elected them, so your voice does matter.

4. Support Local Small Businesses

Shopping local helps stimulate the economy in your area. When independent businesses are successful, they create jobs. Donating and volunteering are great ways to help fight poverty, and they can be very fulfilling. But providing a person with the opportunity to work and learn business skills sets that person up for future success.

5. Support and Use Public Transportation

For many people, buses and trains are a primary means of transportation. Getting to and from work and school would be impossible without these things. It is also an industry that employs over 400,000 people and generates $58 billion in revenue annually. According to publictransportation.org, every dollar invested in public transportation yields around $4 in economic returns. In addition, public transportation also creates and sustains 1.1 million each year.

In order to eradicate poverty in the United States, we need to work together. We need to invest in people, providing them with the necessary skills and resources. As a result, they can better provide for themselves and their families. Contact your congressional representatives, serve your community or buy from a local small business. These are all simple things that you can do to assist in the fight against poverty at home.

-Aaron Parr

Photo: Ivarfjeld

Farmer Training in the Dry Corridor

Dry CorridorClimate change and El Niño have left 3.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in Central America’s “Dry Corridor,” according to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras are experiencing extensive deforestation and soil degradation, exacerbated by the drought that has tormented these three dry corridor countries since 2014.

El Niño warms the Pacific Ocean’s surface, creating a hotter and drier environment. The effects of El Niño have only been exasperated by climate change, which causes longer dry spells and more frequent flooding.

While the changing environment presents detrimental challenges to those living in the Dry Corridor, the pre-existing states of poverty and hunger contribute to the problem. Out of the 10.5 million people living in the Dry Corridor, 60 percent are living in poverty, according to IFAD.

Small-scale farmers and rural areas are the first to feel the effects of the drought. With the decrease in crop production comes the risks of reduced dietary diversity, increased hunger among the poor, as well as a rise in malnutrition. There has been a 50 to 90 percent loss of crop harvests and 1.6 million people are food insecure, said FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N.

The United Nations held a meeting on June 30 at the Rome FAO headquarters to discuss the drought in Central America. Various U.N. organizations are training farmers to adapt to climate change and strengthen their food security. Farmers need support planting trees, creating more efficient irrigation systems, advancing rainwater harvesting and growing drought-resistant crops over shorter periods.

FAO is implementing risk prevention methods to help combat the impact of the drought. They are creating early disaster warning systems and assisting national and local abilities in risk management. FAO is also aiding farmers with agricultural rehabilitation and providing seeds for drought-resistant crops.

IFAD is training farmers in El Salvador to improve soil water conservation while helping them to build water-collecting structures. In addition, they are providing communities with the tools to improve basic household functions, like energy efficient stoves and low flow latrines.

The World Food Program (WFP) is distributing Super Cereal Plus to suffering communities in Honduras. The food supplement is enriched with nutrients and vitamins, to help children under five who are in danger of malnutrition. WFP is also giving aid to 600,000 families that are struggling with hunger until the end of August 2016.

Despite these efforts, there is currently a $17 million funding gap in humanitarian aid for countries in the Dry Corridor, according to FAO. An urgent response by the international community is necessary to continue to help small-scale farmers and people living in poverty survive the effects of El Niño and climate change.

– Erica Rawles

Photo: Flickr