Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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Gwyneth Paltrow Reflects on Her Experience with Hunger

Experience_With_Hunger

In April 2015, actress Gwyneth Paltrow accepted the #FoodBankNYCChallenge, which required her to live on a food budget of $29 for one week. Now she reflects on her experience with hunger and the challenge.

Celebrity chef and founder of the challenge, Mario Batali, says, “For one week, walk in someone else’s shoes. Knowledge is power, and by truly understanding what our friends and neighbors are going through, we will be better equipped to find solutions.”

Concerned with the cuts Congress was making to food stamps, Batali sought to encourage people around the United States to experience the difficulty of living on a miniscule allowance.

In addition to nominating Gwyneth Paltrow, he nominated celebrities Sting and Deborah Harry, neither of which participated but donated to the World Food Bank.

Soon after accepting the challenge, Paltrow snapped a picture of her purchases for the week. The caption read, “This is what $29 gets you at the grocery store—what families on SNAP (food stamps) have to live on for a week.” The picture showed brown rice, black beans, a carton of eggs and vegetables.

Her food choices received criticism, especially because the items did not offer the average person’s weekly worth of calories. However, her picture showed how difficult it is to eat healthy while living on food stamps.

Chief marketing and communications officer for the Food Bank of New York City, Silvia Davi, says, “Serving fresh produce is a very big part of what our program offers to families. What we distribute on a regular basis is fresh produce, a lot of the things that were in her image and in her photo.”

Paltrow admits that within four days she quit the challenge and ate chicken and fresh vegetables.

Reflecting on her four-day experience with hunger, Paltrow says, “My perspective has been forever altered by how difficult it was to eat wholesome, nutritious food on that budget, even for just a few days—a challenge that 47 million Americans face every day, week, and year.”

By walking in the shoes of the millions who survive on food stamps, Paltrow is grateful that she can afford to feed herself and her children healthy food.

She says, “I know hunger doesn’t always touch us all directly—but it does touch us all indirectly.”

Most importantly, Paltrow recognizes that hunger impacts millions of people around the world. She declares, “Let’s all do what we can to make this a basic human right and not a privilege.”

In addition to participating in the challenge, Paltrow contributed $75,000 to the Food Bank of New York City.

– Kelsey Parrotte

Sources: Daily News, Upstart Business Journal, Huffington Post, E News, Food Bank for New York City, The Wrap
Photo: ABC Today

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Addiction and Poverty Connected

Addiction and Poverty
It is common knowledge that poverty and substance abuse tend to exist in tandem. The direction of causation is unclear, but the link between addiction and poverty is certainly to be considered.

A study by the National Bureau for Economic Research studied the relationship between poverty and drug abuse, specifically marijuana and cocaine. The study found that there was a positive relationship between poverty and substance abuse, even when controlling for various familial factors—implying that substance abuse may even be a casual factor of poverty. A limitation of the study was that it could not account for the drug usage of the homeless and others, which further strengthened the case that drug usage may be a causal factor of poverty.

And yet, it still isn’t that simple. The study had other limitations. The drug usage was self-reported, the population studied was highly biased (mostly poor already), and assumptions on preferences and educational effects (among others) could not be proved. Nonetheless, it seems that there is a definitive relationship between drugs and poverty, and perhaps even some causal effect.

 

Poverty and Addition: Directly or Inversely Related?

 

But could the causal effect also run the other way? Quite possibly. A study from Duke University found that economically stressed children later in life experienced higher rates of tobacco usage (but not binge drinking or marijuana). The researchers attributed this effect to poverty’s impact on self-control. Although the study did not find increases in marijuana usage or other drugs, the causal chain between poverty and eventual drug usage was established.

Although evidence seems to suggest that, to some degree, drug usage can “cause” poverty, extending this logic to an extreme would be absurd. Substance abuse is not the sole driving force behind the worldwide phenomena of poverty; people born into poverty cannot have been driven to poverty by drug usage. There must be more to explain the relationship that clearly exists.

Another research paper suggests that literacy, education, poverty, income equality and unemployment are factors that lead to drug abuse, further complicating the relationship.

Conflicting papers do lead to an obvious but important point. Poverty and addiction are interlinked. Conjoined at the hip, both issues feed off each other and their effects strengthen their respective feedback loops. Poverty leads to mental states which can lead to drug abuse which leads to addiction, which begets crime, which leads to worse employment prospects. A flow diagram to show the effects and directions that these two conditions could lead to would be a huge circular mess, with arrows flying in all directions.

The question then becomes, how does a government fight poverty or substance abuse? Based on existing evidence, perhaps the best answer is that one problem cannot be adequately addressed without also attending to the other.

– Martin Yim

Sources: NBER, Duke Medicine, International Journal of Basic & Applied Sciences
Photo: The Province

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3 Lessons Learned about Eye Care in Rwanda

Eye Care in Rwanda

Rwanda is one African country poised to dramatically improve visual healthcare for its citizens. Since the 1990s, it has improved its mortality rate caused by infectious diseases, doubled its life expectancy and experienced significant economic development. Rwanda created a national vision plan in 2002 when it signed the World Health Organization’s  VISION 2020 initiative. The aim of the initiative is to eradicate preventable and treatable blindness by raising awareness, securing resources and facilitating the planning and implementation of the initiative.

Of the 285 million people in the world who are visually impaired, 87% live in low- and middle-income areas. With 32,700 per million people living with visual impairments, Africa is one of those areas. Still, almost 80% of visual impairments—that often lead to blindness if untreated, such as cataracts, glaucoma, trachoma as well as refractive error (myopia, hyperopia, presbyopia and astigmatism)—can be prevented or treated. If not, blindness throughout the world will double by 2020, and the developing countries will shoulder the burden, according to WHO.

Visual impairments reduce the quality of life and people’s productivity. Eye care is part of a comprehensive primary healthcare plan that helps to reduce injuries, and improve educational outcomes and access to employment opportunities. All these improvements contribute to economic growth and development.

Recently, WHO examined the national plan for eye care in Rwanda, focusing on progress made, as well as current and future needs. The result was a reflection of three lessons learned.

First Lesson: A single national plan optimizes the provision of eye care.

The Ministry of Health coordinates all partners’ efforts to align with the national vision plan. The Ministry makes certain that providers complement each other’s resources and strengths. International nonprofit partners coordinate with each other and private eye care clinics and hospitals to ensure accessibility to a variety of services across the country.

Some of the work that the nonprofit partners provide is funding for disease burden studies, building eye care clinics, supporting scholarships to train eye care specialists and standardizing the eye care curriculum for nurses.

Examples of coordination of services include:

  • Vision for a Nation, a U.K. charity, provides low-cost or free eye glasses to those in need.
  • The Fred Hollows Foundation, an Australian charity, began working in 2004 in the Western Province of Rwanda when the only other available eye care service was a mobile service.
  • The Christoffel Blinden Mission, headquartered in Germany, locates their services in the Southern Province of Rwanda, and among other services, performs specialized pediatric surgery.

Second Lesson: Better access to primary eye care and vision insurance has increased the demand for more advanced eye care at the secondary and tertiary levels.

Most of the population is currently enrolled in the Rwanda Community Based Health Insurance Policy set up in 2010. This policy provides affordable eye care and reimbursement for consumable products.

As Rwandans benefit from accessible primary eye care through insurance, awareness of further eye care needs to grow. Now, there are more instances of cataract operations and treatment for glaucoma.

Treatment for eye diseases, such as trachoma, has risen dramatically in the last five years. In 2009, treatment for eye diseases was not among the top ten reasons for seeking eye care. In 2014, it was the second leading cause of treatment.

Third Lesson: A comprehensive strategy, one that includes prevention of eye disease and a supply chain of glasses and lenses, is still needed.

Rural areas are still underserved. Almost 50% of the population lives in rural areas of poverty and are unable to afford private eye care services. In any case, rural areas still do not have adequate eye care services as most eye care resources are situated in the capital of Kigali. Another startling fact is that for the 10.5 million people in Rwanda, there are only 18 ophthalmologists and most of them live in the capital.

Task shifting is one solution to the lack of trained professionals through the Rwandan three-year ophthalmic technician training course, but more trained eye care professionals will be needed.

The demand for eye care services may be increasing not only due to more awareness and accessibility to services but also due to an aging population, as the life expectancy doubled since the 1990s to age 63. Among the eye problems associated with age is presbyopia, which usually requires prescription lenses such as bifocals.

WHO feels confident that these lessons learned will provide a basis to overcome barriers to progress and continue to improve the planning, implementation and provision of services to meet the eye care needs of the people of Rwanda.

– Janet Quinn

Sources: WHO 1, WHO 2, WHO 3, Vision for a Nation, CBM, Hollows
Photo: The Fred Hollows Foundation

Ferries Between Cuba and Florida Set to Begin

Ferry-Between-Cuba-and-Florida
For the first time in half a century, diplomatic relations between Cuba and the U.S. are being restored. Ferry operators in Florida are quickly receiving the approved licenses to begin offering transit to and from Havana. It is estimated that as early as this coming fall, the once popular U.S. travel destination will no longer be off limits for tourists after more than half a century.

During this time, hundreds of thousands of Cubans have attempted to brave the 90-mile ocean journey between Cuba and Florida. In lieu of proper aquatic vessels, many of these migration attempts have been made on makeshift rafts and old converted cars.

Since the renewing diplomatic discussions, there has once again been a recent surge of Cubans attempting to make the voyage to the U.S. This past year alone, the U.S. Coast Guard detained almost 4,000 Cubans in the waters off the coast of Florida. In fact, during the past two years, the number of Cubans attempting the journey has doubled.

In 1965, Fidel Castro opened the port of Camarioca, which allowed almost 3,000 Cubans to flee, before he suddenly announced its closure and revisited restrictions. Once more in 1980, Castro opened the port of Mariel, and a mass exodus of over 125,000 Cubans took their chances in the open water.

In 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed, a severe economic downfall in Cuba happened. This resulted in hundreds of thousands fleeing the country and making the perilous sea journey. This influx of immigrants and detainees caused President Clinton to amend the Cuban Adjustment Act (CAA) in 1994.

The revisions effectively limited asylum to refugees who were not intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard. Refugees who made it to dry land were allowed to stay; all others were detained and sent back to Cuba. This distinction became known as the “wet foot-dry foot” policy.

In 2013, Cuba altered its own travel policy, allowing Cubans to travel and work abroad for up to two years without losing their citizenship. While this policy provided leeway, it did not provide transportation due to the travel ban, and Cubans were also subject to the “wet foot-dry foot” policy in the U.S.

For a long time, hopeful refugees had been left with few options: brave the seas themselves in homemade water crafts or rely upon human smuggling networks who charge upwards of US$10,000. Since Cuba’s annual GDP is approximately US$6,000, the former option proved to be the most common. Cubans had to wait for months to save enough money to buy parts and to build their own makeshift water crafts.

Like migrants from many poor countries, Cubans have been fleeing their country in efforts to find economic opportunities and escape Communist oppression. Many also have been seeking to provide for their families who still reside in Cuba. These severe risks that come with the journey combined with the adverse conditions clearly state the desperation of Cuban citizens. These ferry services offered are symbolic of the new era of cooperation and could signal the end to a tragic side effect of the 50-year standoff.

Renewed relations between the two nations will provide Americans a chance to visit Cuba, but, more importantly, desperate Cubans will have the opportunity to provide for themselves and their families. One-way tickets will be starting at around US$150. The combination of the relatively inexpensive ticket price coupled with Cuba’s reformed travel policy provides desperate Cubans better chances of economic opportunity.

– The Borgen Project

Sources: Daily Signal, BBC, Miami Herald, The New York Times
Photo: Tampa Bay Times

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The Body Shop Foundation

Body Shop Foundation
Human rights, the environment and animal protection are all causes that The Body Shop Foundation advocates for.

This charitable company works closely with The Body Shop International, a company that sells beauty and makeup products, making many of The Body Shop products an option to donate to charity.

Since 1989, the foundation has been funding and giving money to different projects around the world that focus on working for a social and environmental change.

Besides The Body Shop beauty products, they create various fundraising activities that allow them to manage their three different grant programs: animal protection, environmental protection and human rights.

In the 2011 values report of The Body Shop International, BSI, the foundation’s money, during the years 2009 and 2010, was spent in Asia Pacific, Europe, the Americas and Africa Global.

For this foundation, the natural environment means everything, and fighting to preserve and protect the animals and the environment is an important aspect to conserve the planet. Some of the animal and environment protection organizations that The foundation has supported are PAMS, the World Cetacean Alliance, the Orangutan Foundation and Wateraid, among others.

In the human rights area, The foundation has the belief that all basic rights should be given to everyone. The foundation supports organizations that fight for these means and give a voice to those who do not have one. Some of the human rights organizations that the foundation has supported are Cybersmile, Kaibosh, Changing Faces, Compassionate Hearts and Children on the Edge.

According to the 2014 impact report of the foundation, wildlife conservation, animal welfare, climate change, domestic violence, disability, poverty, child protection, access to water, recycling, forest conservation and water conservation were some of the funded issues by the foundation.

As another option, the foundation also provides volunteer opportunities in the areas of London and Littlehampton as another charitable method to advocate for the humanitarian causes they support.

The Body Shop’s 2015 fundraising product is called “Soft Hands Kind Heart.” The product is a hand cream sold in every The Body Shop store worldwide, and every purchase becomes a donation to the foundation.

For every “Soft Hands Kind Heart” cream sold, The Shop will donate £1.50 (US$2.33) to the foundation, helping it with the creation and success of its charitable programs. This beauty and makeup company is making a difference that contributes with the betterment of the world through charitable activities and fundraising projects.

The BSI, working hand in hand with the foundation, is an example of a company that provides and sells quality products to its customers at the same time as it provides donations to the organization. In tandem, it is also able to support and advocate for their three focuses: human rights, environmental protection and animal protection.

– Diana Fernanda Leon

Sources: The Body Shop Foundation 1, The Body Shop Foundation 2, The Body Shop Foundation 3, The Body Shop Foundation 4, The Body Shop Foundation 5, The Body Shop USA
Photo: The Body Shop Foundation

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US Representative Introduces the Electrify Africa Act 2015

electrify_africa_act_2015
On June 23, 2015, California Representative Ed Royce introduced an updated version of his “Electrify Africa Act” in hopes that, after a year of gaining attention, the bill would have more traction in 2015.

First introduced nearly two years earlier, H.R. 2847 (2014 version, H.R. 2548), known as the Electrify Africa Act, seeks “to encourage African countries to provide first-time access to electricity and power services for at least 50,000,000 people in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

Though certain language has been rearranged and some bill descriptions altered between the years, both versions address the same goal: to have the U.S. Government establish policy to “partner, consult, and coordinate” with the governments of Sub-Saharan Africa and international agencies in order to provide reliable access to electricity.

Findings reported to Congress in the 2014 act showed that an estimated 68% of Sub-Saharan Africans lacked access to electricity as of 2010; with Africa’s rapid rate of population growth, this percentage is likely even higher today. At a minimum, first-time access to electricity must be provided to 50 million people in the region, some 10% of the estimated population lacking power.

Residents of Sub-Saharan Africa living without electricity are forced to use time-consuming and inefficient heating and cooking methods, such as using wood and dung for fuel. In addition to being time-consuming, the fuels utilized in these regions can produce toxic fumes, which, according to the report, cause nearly 3 million premature deaths due to respiratory disease each year.

The Electrify Africa Act of 2015 would establish a precedent in U.S. foreign policy to aid developing nations in creating and expanding their electrical infrastructure in a sustainable and effective way. Expansion of the electrical grid would reduce the prevalence of carbon-emitting and toxic materials being used for heating and cooking purposes, as well as reduce poverty by creating jobs, expanding entrepreneurial opportunities and lowering energy prices.

The bill further calls for a focus on expanding and promoting energy development strategies, including the use of renewable and cleaner energy sources as a way to build the overall economy by increasing investment across the region.

Electrify Africa 2014 (first introduced in June 2013) passed the U.S. House of Representatives with significant bipartisan support and a vote of 297 to 117. However, the bill stalled out once it hit the U.S. Senate floor, where it was read twice before being referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations, as documented on Congress.gov.

The Electrify Africa Act 2015 has since been referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, where it awaits further action. Though the bill has garnered significant support in 2014, the 2015 version will need to raise the bar in order to make it all the way to the President in this legislative session.

– Gina Lehner

Sources: EAA 2014, EAA 2015
Photo: Huffington Post

From a Fishing Village to a Robust Metropolis: The 25-Year Transformation of Shenzhen

transformation_of_shenzhen
Just 30 years ago, visitors to Shenzhen would have watched the fishermen haul in their catches from Deep Bay and return to their sleepy village of 30,000. Today, however, they are more likely to notice the towering high rises and skyscrapers of a burgeoning mega-city 15 million strong.

Shenzhen represents the massive growth experienced by China in the past decades, more than the bustling cities of Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing do. Between the years of 1980 and 2005, Shenzhen’s population grew at a rate of 1,500% while the metropolitan area has grown from a mere 1.2 square miles to 780 square miles. Today, single developments dwarf the total floor area of all of Shenzhen’s buildings in 1979. For those that have moved to this pulsing metropolis, the quality of life is much higher; the per capita income for Shenzhen is eight times the national average.

This transformation began in 1980 when Shenzhen was declared China’s first special economic zone. This spurred a variety of economic reforms that expanded foreign investment and also drew countless migrant workers from across China. While Shenzhen is well within the Canton province of Guangdong, most city-dwellers speak Mandarin rather than the native Cantonese. Although this special economic zone became literally fenced off from the rest of China by an 85-mile-long barbed wire fence, its opportunities seemed limitless. By the 90’s Shenzhen had found its economic niche: technology.

At that time, electronics mobilized the entrepreneurs of Shenzhen and inspired countless start-ups. Hardware flowed between hands in the city’s crowded factories as technology manufacturing expanded rapidly. One such manufacturer, Foxconn, a Taiwanese electronics company, represents this extreme growth. In 1988, Foxconn opened a factory in Shenzhen. Today they have over 400,000 employees producing hardware for Apple products.

For an entrepreneurial engineer, Shenzhen’s abundant hardware manufacturing provides the perfect resources for successful ventures. The San Francisco start-up Helios took advantage of this booming market to manufacture its “smart handle-bars” for bikes. The bars include GPS, Bluetooth and a variety of lighting systems. Large companies like Facebook and Google have also jumped on the bandwagon and have purchased billion-dollar manufacturing companies. This rapid expansion of technology has labeled Shenzhen “China’s Silicon Valley.”

Yet as much as Shenzhen rewards entrepreneurship, it often ignores innovation and creativity: the city is home to the underground culture of Shanzhai, or copycat electronics. Beginning in the 1990s, Shanzhai expanded by feeding off of the increasing abundance of hardware and technology resources. By the early 2000s it had started to focus on producing knockoff MP3 players and video game consoles. Predictably, today Shanzhai has progressed to smartphones; some estimates suggest that they command 25% of the global mobile phone shipment market. According to the Guardian, “the phones that fueled the Arab spring were soldered in the back streets of Shenzhen.”

This rapidfire manufacturing has also raised some concerns. In 2010 a “suicide crisis” occurred, when ten employees of a Foxconn and Apple factory committed suicide. This tragedy prompted investigation into the working conditions of many factories and ended with Foxconn moving 300,000 jobs out of Shenzhen.

While Foxconn and Apple have claimed to have made improvements to working conditions, questions still remain. In 2012, the Fair Labor Association found that a Foxconn factory had violated 50 local regulations at three of its plants. According to an undercover BBS investigation, many Chinese hardware factories have more than 60-hour work weeks. One undercover reporter worked for 18 days in a row, despite requests for leave.

Stories like these mark Shenzhen as a city of extremes. Launching upward from the sea, it has changed drastically to become a world of big success and quiet suffering. No longer a city of fishermen, its aspiring techies have set their sights on caviar. While still a cautionary tale, this is just one way in which the developing world has struck gold in the 21st century.

– Andrew Logan

Sources: Architecture Week, Forbes, The Guardian, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, The Irish Times
Photo: Wikipedia

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Revolutionary Technology Advances Fight Against Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is often forgotten as a global health threat, but recent advances in molecular technology have health officials optimistic about the future.

It is estimated that one-sixth of all annual deaths caused by infectious diseases result from TB. The second-largest killer behind HIV/AIDS, the disease kills an estimated 4,000 people a day. Sub-Saharan Africa experiences the worst of it, as the infectious disease is the most common cause of death among HIV-positive people. Estimates say that over 1,000 people with HIV die from TB every day.

One of the biggest problems when it comes to TB is detection. Currently, HIV-associated TB is being detected in only half of the estimated number of people who have it. Another issue that arises is weak healthcare coverage, which places an economic burden on poor people. Additionally, a lack of healthcare coverage has an effect on people’s vulnerability to TB and health outcomes from the disease.

However, progress in the fight against TB has been seen over the past two decades. The TB mortality rate fell between 1990 and 2013 by an estimated 45%. In that time, over 60 million people were cured from the disease and 37 million lives were saved. Most of the success has been attributed to a rise in new technology. In fact, such interventions are said to not only save lives, but to be cost-effective, because for every dollar spent there is an estimated $30-$43 return.

Cepheid Inc., a diagnostics company based in California, created one such revolutionary piece of technology. Dubbed GeneXpert, the automated molecular technology has been said to be one of the most significant achievements in decades in regards to TB research.

The device is more accurate and faster than traditional diagnosis methods, such as the out-of-date smear microscopy, which was created a century ago. GeneXpert works by allowing health workers to place gathered sputum samples in cartridges, which in turn are connected to a computer. As a result, the DNA of TB bacteria can be detected within two hours. The device can also identify multidrug-resistant forms of TB.

In addition to being endorsed by the World Health Organization, it attracted the attention of global donors. Many poured in donations to help distribute it around the world.

In May, a study conducted in India showed that by using GeneXpert, the number of bacteriologically confirmed cases increased by 39%.

The problem with the technology, however, is its expense.

Poor people in the developing world, those who are most likely to need GeneXpert, have trouble getting necessary access to the technology. While donors across the world are taking care of the $17,000 price tag associated with each machine, countries are struggling to pay for the cartridges. Each cartridge costs $10, meaning some countries cannot purchase them on a large scale because of a lack of funds. Additionally, GeneXpert requires access to electricity, computers and refrigeration, a difficulty for many TB-prevalent areas.

Even with some of these issues, health officials are still excited with the recent activity. The creation of GeneXpert, as well as rather large investments in the device, have led to more companies starting to develop diagnostic technologies. The hope is that some of these technologies will eliminate the downsides of GeneXpert. According to a report by UNITAID, a global health initiative, there are currently 81 manufacturers running tests with almost 200 potential new products having to do with TB diagnostics.

One such company is Alere Inc. The diagnostics company, based in Massachusetts, is working on a transportable test that would be powered by batteries, giving it the capability of being used portably for an entire day. With the test being portable, the company says that health workers would then have the ability to decide about treatments on the spot, the same place where the diagnosis was made.

The company, which received a $21.6 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is also working to make the costs of its machine and cartridges less expensive than GeneXpert.

While questions still remain, as Alere has yet to run any type of trials on its technology, those devoted to the fight against TB are still hopeful about the future. Through boosted investments and partnerships between public and private sectors, revolutionary technology has, and will continue to, aid the fight against tuberculosis.

– Matt Wotus

Sources: The Hill, New York Times
Photo: Dr. Dang’s Lab

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Good School Toolkit Reduces Violence in Uganda

Good School Toolkit Reduces Violence in Uganda-TBP
In the Luwero District of Uganda, the nonprofit organization Raising Voices has implemented the Good School Toolkit in local schools in the hopes of combating violence in educational environments. It was developed as a direct response to the fact that 60% of schoolchildren in Uganda experience continuous violence at school.

The toolkit consists of three packages to guide schools through steps to establish safe and nurturing learning spaces. These packages include information about what it means to be a good teacher, strategies for positive discipline in lieu of the traditional corporal punishment and methods to develop a healthy school culture for all children.

It is accessible and effective because it does not require any monetary expense. The kit relies on the determination of students and teachers to improve the school environment; without their motivation and effort, little to no improvement will be seen. A few of the tools include posters and cartoon booklets that explain how to discipline children in a positive manner to avoid a culture of violence.

The followup study of this program indicated significant changes in the 450 schools that have used the toolkit. There was a 42% reduction of the risk of physical violence by teachers and staff against children. In addition, children were more likely to associate positively with their school, with increased feelings of safety and belonging.

Raising Voices, in partnership with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Makerere University and the Luwero District Education Department, believe that the project created significant change because of shifts in teacher-student relationships, opportunities for student participation and accountability of the school administration.

Moving forward, there is an opportunity for the Ministry of Education and Sports to implement the toolkit in all Ugandan schools. A reduction in violence in schools may correspond with reduced violence in family homes, ultimately fostering healthier, more productive lives in Uganda.

– Iliana Lang

Sources: The Lancet, Raising Voices
Photo: Raising Voices

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Young Social Innovation Around the World

social_innovation
Countries are growing younger than ever. One quarter of the world’s population is made up of adolescents, and more than half of the world is under the age of 30.

Paired with technology and a global trend for social responsibility, the young majority is making headway in addressing youth crises and global issues.

While this demographic change poses potentially destabilizing risks, USAID is working to enable the youth bulge to make positive change in their communities through social innovation.

In Honduras, young people are mapping crime violence along its urban public bus systems. According to USAID, the United Nations and the Honduras National Police tracked 86 homicides per 100,000 people in 2011, the highest in the world. Due to gang violence and armed robbery, busses are ripe for extortion and murder. In June 2012, young Hondurans traveled through Tegucigalpa’s dangerous buses with a global positioning system (GPS) in order to develop blueprints for a public bus map for citizens to follow so they could avoid problematic hotspots. The GPS data was then entered into Google Earth.

This was a part of a USAID-led volunteer program. Members of the national anti-violence youth movement, Movimiento Jovenes contra la Violencia, took part in mapping fifteen of the busiest and most risky bus routes in their area, according to USAID.

The Kyrgyz Republic found USAID support when they experienced significant political and social conflict in 2010. Protests and violence, subsequently, gave way to a cynical youth population.

USAID partnered with Youth of Osh, a nongovernmental, secular organization from Osh, Kyrgyzstan. Youth of Osh leads community development projects in the city. In the October 2011 presidential election, USAID and Youth of Osh applied SMS technology to monitor the elections in more than 70 voting stations. They located approximately 1,300 violations via text. This was a groundbreaking accomplishment in political transparency in the Kyrgyz Republic’s election processes.

USAID continued to support the youth bulge in Haiti. Similarly to Honduras, USAID helped construct a mapping device for the urban St. Marc region. The maps pinpointed post-earthquake refugee spots. Thirty local Haitian youth roamed their streets to draw the blueprints.

USAID’s Frontlines also followed Sri Lanka’s diverse social communities. USAID funded a project that taught Sri Lankan youth how to create and broadcast documentaries about Sri Lanka’s people. Eighteen young reporters practiced in journalism, camera and audio equipment, and production and editing, according to USAID’s Frontlines: Youth & Mobile Technology–September/October 2012 issue. The team developed 45 stories that they called “Development Diaries.” USAID continued to support a second season covering minority voices and post-war issues.

Liberian students enrolled at the Kwame Nkruman University of Science and Technology in Ghana pursued master’s degrees thanks to a USAID program. The program follows a development plan sponsored by the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation Threshold Program, and looks to establish better management of land rights and access.

USAID’s LAUNCH energy forum on November 10-13, 2011, starred Gram Power, an energy tech company based in the United States but servicing India’s poor electricity market. The self-described “micro solution to India’s major energy woes” was co-founded by Yashraj Khaitan and Jacob Dickinson. The men both graduated from UC Berkeley in 2011 with Bachelors in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

The highly selective LAUNCH event led to Gram Power building its first micro-grid installation and electrification in the Khareda Lakshmipura village. They soon brought electricity to 200,000 homes in five years. Gram Power hopes to bring power to 1.4 million people by the end of 2016.

USAID also works in the Philippines, teaching young people at the University of Cebu the prospect of “technopreneurship.” USAID’s Innovative Development through Entrepreneurship Acceleration (IDEA) works with higher education engineering and science programs to engage students on the possibility of bringing their ideas to life.

IDEA offers the Global Entrepreneurship Symposium and Workshop, which teaches young students how to create products, research, understand the global market and work with venture capital, according to Frontlines.

By 2016, IDEA will have garnered more than $2 million, which more than matches the U.S. Government’s $1.5 million investment.

In addition to IDEA, USAID invested $34 million to help higher education in the Philippines. The programs offer study abroad opportunities in the United States and funds for many students to obtain master’s degrees in science and technology.

– Lin Sabones

Sources: USAID 1, USAID 2, USAID 3, USAID 4, USAID 5, United Nations Population Fund
Photo: Creative