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Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

Development, Education, Global Poverty

New Futures Organisation Addresses Poverty in Cambodia

New_Futures_Organisation
New Futures Organisation, a nonprofit established in 2007, dedicates its time to improving conditions in impoverished communities in Takeo, Cambodia by exposing youth residents to education, technology and empowerment. The members of New Futures Organisation establish village schools in communities that normally cannot afford the resources needed to provide children a proper education, as well as drop-in centers for at-risk students and orphans. As the children in the village schools grow up and transition into university, New Futures Organisation continues to help them find jobs and sponsorships they can use for university costs.

While school in Cambodia is free, many families living in rural farmlands lack the funds necessary to pay for uniforms and books. Cambodian schools in the region are typically located in the heart of Takeo, miles away from the villages. During rainy seasons, the dirt tracks taken by children commuting to school become inadequate for walking. Children are also required to help their families with farming duties. All of these factors make it difficult for many children to attend school full time.

There are currently seven village schools in Takeo that provide education to over 100 students. These schools are cost-free to families who live in rural regions, and are centrally located so children can access them even during rainy seasons. Classes are held to fit the schedule that comes with farm work.

New Futures Organisation originally started as an orphanage and drop-in center for at-risk youths. The drop-in center houses many orphaned children while helping them reconnect with extended family members, or find good homes when the first option is not available. The families that take in orphaned children are provided with care packages each month to make up for the additional money, food and toiletries needed to house these children. The drop-in center also remains open for them to work on homework, earn tuition and receive hot meals when their home life is not fit for such accommodations.

Many of the children living at the drop-in center and attending the village schools aspire to attend college. New Futures Organisation helps these students achieve their goals by providing and finding sponsorships from organizations and community members, giving them emotional support and helping them become empowered adults so they can lead in their communities.

Other projects sponsored by New Futures Organisation to alleviate poverty in Cambodia include teaching English classes to children and adults and hosting local blood drive banks at health centers in Takeo. They also help local police officers by teaching them English and helping them communicate effectively with tourists and westerners.

– Julia Hettiger

Sources: Matador Network, Idealist, New Future Organisation
Photo: My Travel Affairs

August 1, 2015
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Education, Global Poverty, Technology

Camara Education and Ending Poverty in Zambia

camara_education
Does your computer process slowly? Are you in need of new software? These are two common reasons why people dispose of computers and laptops. Although they are still in working order, they are tossed away in garbage bins. Is there a sustainable solution? Camara Education thinks so.

Camara Education is dedicated to improving literacy and believes everyone deserves quality education. They collect technology such as computers, keyboards, tablets and smartphones and donate them to developing countries. They hope that by improving education, these communities will be able to lift themselves out of poverty.

Founded in Dublin, Ireland in 2005, Camara Education has been highly successful. Because of their efforts, around 1 million children have had access to technology in classrooms. In the last 10 years, they have shipped 62,000 computers to countries in need.

The organization has donated eLearning centers to over 2,000 schools in Ireland, Africa and the Caribbean. They have installed 40,000 computers, trained over 11,000 teachers to use technology in classrooms and are currently in operation in Jamaica and seven countries in Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Lesotho, Tanzania and Zambia. They also have headquarters in the U.S. and U.K.

Camara Education believes that technology can open up an entirely new world of information for students and teachers. For this reason, they believe it is essential that all children have access to computers and information and communications technology (ICT).

This year, they plan to provide approximately 3,500 computers to students in Kenya.

“There’s no way the schools could afford this on their own,” Chief Technology Officer of Camara Education for Africa Aseidas Blauvelt says. “They could buy from their informal market, but they’d have no guarantee anything would work, they wouldn’t have training from us and they wouldn’t have a server.”

The team members erase all data from donated computers, keeping all personal information safe. The hard drive is wiped using a U.S. Department of Defense program, which makes it impossible to retrieve any data.

Recently, Camara Education has partnered with the Ministry of Education in Zambia to integrate technology and ICT into schools. On July 16, Camara Education in Dublin sent 1,110 computers to Lusaka, Zambia. With this new shipment, the organization has sent over 11,000 computers to Zambia.

CEO of Camara Education in Zambia says, “There is a strong demand from educational institutions for Camara services. Camara Zambia has been working with the Ministry of Education here to expand our reach to schools. The government this year added Computer Studies to the curriculum for grade 8 and 9 students, so there is much more interest in ICT and education.”

Ultimately, the Ministry of Education and Camara Education hope that the technology will teach valuable tech, communication and learning skills, alleviate poverty in Zambia and promote a prosperous and educated society.

Instead of throwing out old computers, visit https://camara.org/give-computers/ to donate and find drop-off locations.

– Kelsey Parrotte

Sources: Camara 1, Camara 2, Camara 3, LinkedIn
Photo: Camara

August 1, 2015
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Global Poverty, Technology

30 Medical Devices Addressing Global Health Issues

medical_devices
Many developing countries do not have the same health resources available to them as developed nations. Healthcare workers must come up with creative solutions to problems. PATH is a nonprofit organization that works to solve world health issue with innovative and creative solutions.

This year, PATH–with support of Norad, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID–published a list of 30 creative solutions to different healthcare challenges in areas such as maternal, newborn and child health; infectious and noncommunicable diseases; and reproductive health. The inventions were submitted by entrepreneurs, investors, innovators and health experts from around the world. Those selected demonstrated sustainability, success in field testing, high numbers of saved lives, and low cost.

There are new forms of oxytocin, used to stop bleeding after childbirth, that are in powder and tablet form. Both the new forms are easier to transport and are safe for lower-level health workers to use than the typical injection. There are also new ways to create typical medical devices used during delivery, for example, the uterine balloon tamponade. It is typically used in wealthy countries to control bleeding, but developing nations often don’t have access to it. The solution was to tie a condom to a catheter which is then inflated with clean water through a syringe.

For combating diseases, there are Malaria vaccines, BPaZ to treat multi-drug resistant TB in three months, and new nucleic acid amplification test for TB. The Polypill is a low-cost pill for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. To treat visions issues which affects 300 million people worldwide, there are new portable devices that low-level health officials can use to diagnose eye issues.

In reproductive rights, innovators created a one-year contraceptive vaginal ring so that women have more control for pregnancy prevention

PATH sees this list of 30 innovations as game changers in addressing global health issues. They are low cost and easily portable and administered by lower level health care officials. The hope is that these drugs and devices will help the world reach the 2030 health targets set out by the UN. To read the full list of innovations, visit PATH’s website.

– Katherine Hewitt

Sources: IC 2030, NPR
Photo: IC 2030

August 1, 2015
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Global Poverty, United Nations

Can $160 Per Year Eradicate Hunger?

World’s Poorest Need Just $160 Per Year to Eradicate Hunger
A new report released last week by the United Nations has predicted that only $160 per year for each individual currently living in extreme poverty is necessary to eradicate hunger in the world by 2030.

The joint report, which was prepared by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Food Program (WFP), and International Fund for Agricultural Development, argued that such funding to eradicate hunger should be provisioned through both the transfer of cash and certain investments considered supportive of impoverished areas.

In order to meet the current base poverty line of $1.25 per day stipulated by the World Bank, the UN hopes that cash transfers will assist in the immediate elimination of hunger. Officials estimate that this undertaking would cost $116 billion per year, of which $75 billion would be designated to rural areas.

The UN has also estimated that an additional $151 billion per year will be necessary to fund “pro-poor” investment projects designed to support the predicted decreases in the frequency of poverty while also encouraging sustainability. Such endeavors could include the expansion of irrigation systems, the construction of more effective sanitation systems or infrastructural repair.

The FAO stated within their report: “Eradicating world hunger sustainably by 2030 will require an estimated additional $267 billion per year on average for investments in rural and urban areas and social protection so that poor people have access to food and can improve their livelihoods.”

The FAO estimates that over 800 million people across the earth still do not have access to adequate and sustainable food resources. A large portion of these people have been found to live in rural areas, a geographical prevalence which has caused many organizations to shift the focus of development projects towards rural regions in recent years.

Noting the necessity for increased efforts to eradicate hunger, José Graziano da Silva, Director General of the FAO, recently stated: “If we adopt a ‘business as usual’ approach, by 2030, we would still have more than 650 million people suffering from hunger.”

Graziano also argued, “The message of the report is clear: Given that this ($267 billion) is more or less equivalent to 0.3 percent of the global GDP, I personally think it is a relatively small price to pay to end hunger.”

The Sustainable Development Goals, which are new objectives designed by the United Nations to replace the outdated Millennium Development Goals, will be completed this fall and currently have created 17 different goals regarding global development. The second Sustainable Development Goal is focused on the issues of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition.

In regards to the structure of plans outlined by the new report, Graziano stated: “We are championing an approach that combines social protection with additional targeted investments in rural development, agriculture and urban areas that will chiefly benefit the poor.”

– James Thornton

Sources: Business Day Online, Reuters, India Times
Photo: NDTV

August 1, 2015
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Global Poverty, Technology

5 Technologies That Promise to Clean the World

clean the worldThe following are five technologies that provide significant contributions to clean the world:

1. Algae

For some, this may not be seen as a technology per se, but algae is actually classified as a biofuel. Making algae involves growing acres upon acres of crops, but they can help clean our planet in a very important way. They can be used to fuel vehicles such as cars and planes. James Murray of the BusinessGreen website says, “those eco-warriors in the US Air Force have already successfully trialed biofuels containing algae, and wider test flights are imminent.”

2. Nuclear Energy

When Albert Einstein reviewed the technology involved with these carbon chains, they were first intended to be used as weaponry. Therefore, he refused to be involved in the Manhattan Project that led to the production of the atomic bomb. However, this same technology has the potential to clean the environment via depletion of greenhouse gas emissions. According to David Doody, writer for GreenBiz, “Nuclear reactor design company Transatomic Power’s Waste-Annihilating Molten Salt Reactor and Bill Gates-backed traveling wave reactors are designed to use byproducts of conventional nuclear power production as fuel.” So, rather than use carbon chains as a weapon or create more greenhouse gases, we would use nuclear energy as fuel.

3. Solar Glass

Normally, the first thing people think about when broaching the subject of eco-efficient technology, they might think of wind farms and solar technology. Solar is, at the moment, the most promising renewable energy source. James Murray of BusinessGreen describes solar glass as lightweight and flexible, and the solar cells can be integrated into clothes and even to car park canopies. Eventually, solar cells could be integrated into almost anything.

4. Chemicals

Awareness is continuously being spread about the downsides of using chemicals to clean water. That being said, it’s also possible to clean water with chemicals. There are is a demonstration plant being built in Pennsylvania that aims to clean the water used in the fracking process. This way, oil is still attainable and the water used to attain it can be cleaned. William Kohl, the head of business development for Advanced Water Recovery, say,s “this firm can desalinate water for 70 percent less than current technologies. Cost is generally the biggest factor, keeping more drought-prone regions from building these plants.” That being said, he’s also planning to move in on projects to make drinking water from seawater.

5. Commercialized Carbon

Nuclear technologies that are carbon-based have already been discussed, but what about pure carbon? It can be put underground, but newer companies can harness carbon with their technology and create products, like baking soda or chairs, that people use in their everyday lives. “Once captured through these companies’ technologies, carbon can be used in industrial or commercial production, to produce low-carbon fuels or for other applications.” Yet another solution that can combat climate change and global warming.

– Anna Brailow

Sources: Buzzfeed, Greenbiz, CNN
Photo: LibreShot

August 1, 2015
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Development, Global Poverty, Refugees and Displaced Persons, Technology

Wi-Fi ‘Saves’ Residents in Jordan Refugee Camp

Wifi in Zataari Refugee Camp, Jordan, Said to 'Save' ResidentsIn Zaatari, a refugee camp located in a desolate area of the northern Jordan desert, Syrian refugees live in a grid of makeshift tents very similar to the other nearly 1 million Syrians who have set up camp throughout Jordan in the past year.

In stark contrast to surrounding refugee camps in the Jordan Valley, such as the neighboring Azraq camp, however, there is one thing which has served to set Zaatari apart: the Internet.

Zaatari, which is home to 100,000 Syrians, started out as a temporary residence in which residents lived in deplorable conditions and frequently complained about the high rate of crime. In the past year, however, the camp has developed into Jordan’s fourth-largest ‘city,’ which boasts an enviable main street by refugee camp standards and is nicknamed the Champs Elysees. The Champs Elysees, which, unlike the rest of Zaatari, has paved roads and functioning street lamps, is also home to a growing number of bootleg charging stations, where customers can pay to refuel their computers and phones with electricity stolen from the camp’s grid. An increasing number of Zaatari residents have begun to tap into the camp’s Internet, using the Wi-Fi in order to stay in touch with family members spread throughout the region, tap into social media, keep up with world news and news about the countries they fled (via trustworthy sources such as the BBC World Service), and even learn English.

The recent influx of Internet users in Zaatari comes despite the fact that the Wi-Fi connection is incredibly clogged, thanks to the influx of thousands of refugees in recent months, which has put a strain on the region’s already slow electricity grid. Refugees hoping to use the Internet for a variety of purposes have to wait hours while a site buffers, even if they upload it in the middle of the night, according to Talash, one of the camp’s electronics vendors.

The success of the Internet and its ability to brighten the lives of Zaatari residents have inspired the United Nations and internet and communications technology (ICT) experts to explore the idea of making Wi-Fi free, and thus widely accessible, to refugees who have been displaced since the crisis in Syria began: a number which currently stands at 4 million.

According to the U.N., free Wi-Fi could bring educational, personal, and career benefits. Syrian refugees in Jordan, for example, who are prohibited from working by Jordanian law, can use the internet in order to tap into a ‘global marketplace.’ Young Syrian children who have suffered from a lack of educational opportunities in the refugee camps are also able to use the Internet to access free classes, thereby helping to circumvent the possibility that the recent crisis has created a Syrian ‘lost generation.’ Free Wi-Fi also offers the added benefit of enabling humanitarian organizations to communicate directly with residents and dispel rumors in the camp, such as the rumor which circulated last year that refugees were all going to be relocated to the less desirable and incredibly remote Azraq refugee camp.

U.N. and ICT officials have acknowledged that installing free Wi-Fi in Zaatari would be a difficult task, especially given the fact that refugee camps hosting Syrian refugees already bear the burden of frequent funding cuts. However, there is precedent for the use of free Wi-Fi accessible to refugees. The U.N. refugee agency’s (UNHCR) innovation team, for instance, recently released a mobile app for Syrian refugees living in Turkey, designed to explain refugees’ legal rights and point them to the nearest U.N. office. Recently, a highly successful app was also created by two Syrian refugees in Turkey for other refugees in the region. The app, which posts jobs that refugees are eligible for, gives them advice about landlords, explains mystifying rules about various camps and has already accrued 11,000 followers.

While U.N. officials consider the idea of installing free Wi-Fi, Zaatari residents have told reporters that they would be ecstatic if it were to come to fruition. Talash, the electronics vendor, told Al Jazeera, “life is comfortable enough here.” But with Internet access, Talash said his time at the camp would be much more tolerable.

“Ya rait [if only],” Talash said, “We’d be so happy.”

– Ana Powell

Sources: Al Jazeera, New York Times

Photo: AljeerzaE

August 1, 2015
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Global Poverty

The Tent School System of Pakistan

pakistanPakistan continues to be faced with the direst challenges as it pertains to its education system. With an estimated 7.3 million children of primary school age being out of school, it is no surprise that the United Nations lists it as the Asian country with the lowest rate of school enrollment.

This issue of low enrollment is deeply rooted in the socioeconomic instability of the region. Many of the children are denied an education as either a direct or indirect consequence of poverty. Parents can neither afford an education for their children to begin with, or they cannot choose a lack of employment in favor of a formal education. UNESCO reports that 17.6 percent of Pakistani children work to support their families. Additionally, some children, especially girls, are denied an education due to social stigmas against female education stemming from poverty and lack of knowledge.

These unfortunate circumstances have led to unequal access to education for many Pakistani children. In areas where the government or nonprofit organizations are attempting to provide schooling for marginalized children, education has often been substandard, as evidenced by the abysmal state of most government-operated free schools.

Recently, a small startup by a college student in Pakistan has garnered some attention for its attempt at a solution to these problems. Named the “Tent School” system after the tents he envisioned as classrooms, the small nonprofit is already making progress in its objectives.

Since 2014, the program is geared towards educating children in impoverished slums of Islamabad, the national capital, and its neighboring areas. The teachers are volunteers, mostly college students, who provide most of the school supplies as well. The program is the brainchild of Zulqarnain Jameel, a software engineer, who combined his passion for universal education with his technological skills to create the Tent School.

The school system, as of yet, enrolls about 30 children from the poorest areas of Islamabad. Classes meet in a small room provided for by the parents, instead of in the namesake tents. The school’s mission is to provide primary education to children who don’t even have the most basic necessities of life, however, it does not skimp on the quality of education whatsoever.

Jameel and his IT developer partner rely on a hands-on teaching experience for the children. They use applications and electronic devices to provide their students with experience learning- a far cry from traditional government schools. Their “online collaborative learning” allows the students to learn from experiences and interactions; they can then apply their knowledge in an “innovation lab” to create their own inventions. The goal of the program is to groom the students’ problem-solving skills while stimulating their curiosity.

The Tent School program is currently operational in Islamabad only, but with increased awareness and contributions, Jameel’s planning to expand it to neighboring areas of the capital as well. But not with any compromise on the quality of education: developing the students’ creativity and honing their ingenuity is to remain a vital part of the program.

The spirited enthusiasm of the program’s founders is a welcome change in the scenery of Pakistani education, which has so far been dominated by behind-the-scenes nonprofits. With appropriate funding and efforts, the Tent School System has great potential in eradicating illiteracy in Pakistan- and ensuring that literacy is not just a numerical statistic, but the promise of a better future.

– Atifah Safi

Sources: UNESCO, Startup Expo, Dawn
Photo: IRC

August 1, 2015
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Food Security, Global Poverty, USAID

USAID Helps Vietnam Boost Rice Yields

USAID Helps Vietnam Increase its Rice YieldsAs climate change affects agriculture across the developing world, food security is a painful reality for farmers who depend on their crops to eat and eke out a meager living. Every grain of rice they grow is valued — USAID is helping farmers in Vietnam to bolster their harvest yields.

USAID, the United States Agency for International Development, implemented the Vietnam Forests and Deltas Program in 2012, aimed at promoting rice production practices that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve livelihoods with Vietnam’s agricultural extension services.

The program is focused on enhancing climate change resilience and working with all echelons of the Vietnamese society, from the community level up to the national level. Farmers are learning new agricultural techniques and are putting into practice climate-smart livelihoods in order to improve quality of life. They are applying new national policies and strategies in response to rising temperatures and changing weather pattern concerns. The program mainly concentrates on environmental conditions in Vietnam’s vulnerable forest and delta landscapes.

The Thanh Hoa and Kon Tum provinces have been selected by pilots for moving green growth strategies. With the implementation of innovative land use planning and training programs including local government, civil society and the private sector are demonstrating measurable improvements in carbon stocks and environmental services.

The Mekong and Red River Delta areas are increasingly falling victim to climate-related hazards such as storms, flooding, drought, salinity and sea level rise. These deltas are home to some of the most heavily populated and economically productive areas of Vietnam, making the region especially important as well as vulnerable to the country’s stability. USAID is working with the government and communities of the Long An and Nam Dinh provinces to help the population identify climate-related risks and how to take action in order to provide long term resilience.

USAID is working in partnership with several organizations including Winrock International, Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, provincial governments, the Netherlands Development Organization, American Red Cross, Vietnam Red Cross and the Center for Sustainable Rural Development.

In Long An province, with training provided by USAID, farmers across the region have boosted rice yields dramatically, in many cases up to 25 percent more. This means that families once struggling with food insecurity and little to no profit from rice sales are eating better and making a better living, improving quality of life.

Before The Vietnam Forests and Deltas Program went into effect, farmers with minimal agricultural experience suffered preventable crop losses due to ignorance such as overuse or imbalance of fertilizers. As a result of the program, people learned how to apply new techniques including development of internal drainage lines and favoring conditions that lead to stronger and healthier rice plants such as rice paddy leveling.

No matter what one’s views of climate change are, it is a very real problem for the poor with real effects on the people struggling to survive in the delta and forest regions of Vietnam. USAID has proved an essential resource in the developing world. With the programs offered by the agency and its partners, poverty could soon be a thing of the past.

– Jason Zimmerman

Sources: USAID 1, USAID 2, Winrock, MARD

Photo: OceanBitesE

August 1, 2015
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Economy, Global Poverty

Costa Rica Looks Beyond GDP in National Happiness Index

Costa Rica Looks Beyond GDP in Gross National Happiness Index

Earlier this summer, the National Teacher’s Cooperative of Costa Rica released its inaugural Gross National Happiness Index. Their results mirror what the Sustainable Solutions Development Network’s World Happiness Report and the Gallup Poll’s 2014 State of Global Well-Being Rankings find: Costa Rica’s citizens are generally happy. However, the fact that this index was compiled and published is of greater significance than the results it contains.

The acute and unwavering commitment to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the ultimate telltale for societal well-being has been distorting policies and steering resources away from sustainable and equitable growth since the Great Depression.

This skewed developmental path has resulted from GDP’s narrow focus on output. GDP, and more specifically its fundamental adherents, has its blinders on an array of other important benchmarks like health, quality of education, altruism and prosocial behavior, environmental health, gender equality, level of social connectivity and support networks, and, of course, financial status.

In other words, the GDP school of thought assumes increased output equals increased income which leads to societies being better off. In a broad, general and abstract sense this seems correct, but it does not hold up in the real world.

A more nuanced approach is required to get humanity back on the right tilt, to allow a better balancing of social, economic and environmental progress. Social scientists are working hard to discover just what makes people happy and societies well off, and how to do so. Their findings may inform a new era of enlightened public policy.

The good news is that when humankind sets a target, we get better at hitting it. We learn how to remove barriers to improvement and shift gears to meet the goals. A whole suite of tools—financial, economic and social—can be tweaked and set in motion to guide and support progress toward an objective.

Costa Rica’s effort to measure their citizens’ happiness marks a trend that has been incubating since 1972, when the King of Bhutan began measuring Gross National Happiness, GNH, instead of GDP. In 1990, the United Nations initiated their Human Development Index, measuring a variety of quality of life indicators. In 2010 Britain declared their intentions to study happiness as well as GDP, and global metrics of happiness and peace, including the World Happiness Report, Global Well-Being Rankings and the Global Peace Index, are on the rise and gaining prestige.

The growing importance of these indicators is a promising sign of a shift. Costa Rica’s high level of happiness and their new effort to measure it should be applauded and replicated by the international community.

– John Wachter

Sources: Foreign Policy, Tico Times 1, Tico Times 2, World Happiness Report
Photo: TicoTimes

July 31, 2015
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Global Poverty, Sanitation

Innovation Countdown 2030

Innovation_Countdown_2030

As many under-developed countries begin to enter the global market, the struggles their people face are becoming increasingly apparent. Luckily, an amazing NGO called Innovation Countdown 2030 is seeking to fund ideas today that may save the developing world tomorrow.

Innovation Countdown 2030 (IC2030) is an NGO that is mainly focused on advancing global health. In collaboration with PATH, one of the leading innovators in global health, IC2030 has created “a platform to identify, evaluate, and showcase high-impact technologies and interventions that can transform global health by 2030.” The ideas that they have supported include technologies that will add vitamins to rice, long-lasting injectable contraceptives, and devices that can help newborn baby’s breathe better. All of these ideas were the result of massive crowd-sourcing efforts and will inevitably help the world towards reaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). People from all over the world submitted their ideas and a panel of expert’s selected 30 innovations which they believed could feasibly change the world in the next 15 years.

For years, innovation has been focused on development. From new types of tractors all the way to robot vacuums, technology development has been focused on developing a better life for those living in developed countries. As the years have gone by, people have become increasingly aware of how reliant we are on one another and the importance of bringing up the developing world in order to benefit the whole world. We are living in a time where children still die from completely treatable diseases and malnourishment, but what if there was a way to provide a sustainable form of nourishment, and a reliable place of medicine? What if people no longer had to worry about basic survival and could instead focus on innovation of their own? This is the philosophy behind many development and global health NGOs, presumably including IC2030, and is one that can only lead to a more prosperous global community.

Much of IC2030’s work focuses on pregnant women and their newborn babies as in line with the SDGs. One invention in particular, a uterine balloon tampon, is predicted to save the lives of over 150,000 pregnant women. The idea was developed in the United States in Massachusetts General Hospital and essentially utilizes water pressure to prevent hemorrhaging in a mother who have just given birth. This device is made out of a simple condom and a catheter and can be filled with water to create pressure. It is low-cost and highly effective, making it an ideal candidate for IC2030’s top 30 devices.

Several of the innovations included on IC2030’s list have already been utilized in more rural areas of Africa and have already begun to save lives. The organization is being led by PATH and has received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.S. Agency for International Development, as well as the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation.

Hopefully this organization gains more support, but so far it has succeeded in carrying out its goal of saving lives and promoting innovation throughout the world.

– Sumita Tellakat

Sources: IC2030, NPR
Photo: NPR

July 31, 2015
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