Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

Who is my Congressman or Congresswoman?

Who-is-my-CongressmanTo have your voice heard within the government as a citizen voter, it is important to understand how it can be heard. While there are a variety of ways that a single citizen’s voice can be amplified, one of the most effective is to contact your local congressman. But, who is my Congressman or Congresswoman?

The United States Government website database provides information necessary to get in touch with members of Congress. There are two different databases, one for the United States Senate and the other for the United States House of Representatives.

Directly contacting all of the Congressional representatives for your state proves to be the most effective method for having your voice heard.
While it is most effective to contact the representatives by phone, as their official office numbers will be listed on the database, it is also possible to email them.

Voicing your opinion on a current piece of legislature or on current events within your state influences the amount of leverage on votes, thus influencing political leaders to vote in a particular way. There is no limit to how many times you can voice your opinion on any issue.

It is important to learn about who your congressman is as well.

What positions do they hold on certain issues? How have they voted in the past? This can affect how much influence it takes to have your voice heard.

While having less of an influence, you can contact individuals of another state to voice your opinion, as you can be a catalyst to spark a new piece of legislature that could potentially influence the entire world.

A good way to have your voice heard is to get to know who your local congressmen are, as once you understand how you can make a difference, all you need to do is act.

– Alysha Biemolt






Sources: United States House of Representatives, Houston Chronicle
Photo: Flickr

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The Case for Eleanor Roosevelt on the New $10 Bill

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This week, the US Treasury Department announced a woman will replace Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill. While there are many deserving candidates to consider, here’s why Eleanor Roosevelt is most qualified to appear on the note.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced the initiative on June 17. The new 10-piece will enter general circulation in 2020, the 100th anniversary of the women’s suffrage movement in the United States.

“We have only made changes to the faces on our currency a few times since bills were first put into circulation,” said Jacob Lew, Treasury secretary, in a press release, “I’m proud that the new $10 will be the first bill in more than a century to feature the portrait of a woman.”

The theme of the new $10 bill is Democracy in the United States. The Treasury Department is asking Americans for advice as to who might replace Alexander Hamilton. They’ve set up a website to collect ideas: thenew10.treasury.gov.

Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt should be considered an excellent candidate for the new $10 bill for her support of democracy and human rights, both in the United States and abroad.

Roosevelt’s contributions to American civil rights were remarkable. She frequently met with African American leaders and invited many to the White House—at a time when few blacks were welcome at the president’s residence. She controversially broke with her husband’s camp to propose greater racial equality in New Deal programs and to make lynching a federal crime. She was also a passionate advocate for the world’s poor and disenfranchised.

Following her husband’s death, Eleanor Roosevelt worked tirelessly with the nascent United Nations to protect human rights around the globe. She served as the first chairperson of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, now known as the UN Human Rights Council.

Perhaps most importantly, she played an important role in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a foundational document in international law.

The document famously declared, “[that] recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.” It protects several human rights related to global poverty, including fair pay, social security, education, healthcare and access to public services.

For her work on such an important document and for her dedication to human rights around the world, Eleanor Roosevelt should be considered the most qualified woman to replace Alexander Hamilton on the new $10 bill.

– Kevin McLaughlin

Sources: The New 10, United Nations, U.S. Department of the Treasury
Photo: Huffington Post

Where Journalism and Humanitarian Aid Collide

Journalism-and-Humanitarian-Aid
With six GroPros and a whole lot of determination, David Darg, a humanitarian aid worker and filmmaker, went to Nepal to report the aftermath of the earthquake. The film he produced gave people a first hand account of the devastation.

David Darg produced this film, called The Nepal Quake Project, with co-founder of RYOT Films Bryn Mooser. Darg and Mooser are part of a new wave of disaster relief: the collaboration of art and awareness with humanitarian aid. This new type of disaster relief helps those in need while also raising awareness of the problem, which in turn increases funding, support and volunteer involvement.

Darg and Mooser were previously aid relief workers. Mooser was in the Peace Corps and Darg got his start shooting films for a nonprofit, so they understand the ins and outs of disaster relief. This helped them to create relationships with the other aid workers as they filmed behind the scenes footage. “It’s our job to deliver food and water and rice, but it’s also our job to get the story out about what we’re seeing, to inspire people,” Mooser said.

RYOT films is not limited to earthquakes, they also created a behind-the-scenes film following the Red Cross during the Ebola outbreak in Liberia. This film won the 2015 Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival.

The great thing about this journalism-humanitarian aid hybrid is that it combines art and personal expression with positive action in the world. Mooser acknowledges that this type of journalism appeals greatly to millennials because it is an easy and approachable way to open their eyes to a world of problems that their generation will solve in the future.

Since today’s world is reliant on real-time action such as receiving content and information in the moment on mobile devices, this filmmaking activism bridges the gap between humanitarian aid and real-time content. Now more than ever, there are new ways to deliver content.

“That’s what has been really exciting for us: We can now tell these stories that we’ve been wanting to tell in totally new ways,” Mooser says. “You don’t have to have a lot of money to tell a great story — you just have to be a great storyteller.” With this collaborative humanitarian aid and journalism, real-time, important content can reach the volunteers to-be in record time.

– Hannah Resnick

Sources: GeekWire, RYOT Films
Photo: Operation Blessing International

Highest Number of Refugees Recorded

Number of Refugees
The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recently reported that nearly 60 million people were forcibly displaced in 2014, which is the highest number of refugees ever recorded. Of those displaced, over 38 million were displaced within the borders of their home countries. The amount of refugees worldwide is now so high that every 1 in 122 people is displaced or seeking asylum. Of those refugees, only 126,800 of them were able to return home, and over half are children. Additionally, the majority of these refugees live in protracted displacement for at least ten years, and many have children during this time.

So where are the refugees coming from? Where are they going and why?

The majority of these refugees are fleeing the civil war in Syria and most of them are going to Turkey. But with such high rates of displacement, the problem is clearly widespread. People are fleeing from sub-Saharan Africa, Myanmar and Central America. The main driver in the displacement is civil war.

Experts are calling this the worst refugee crisis since World War II. With the advancements we have made globally since World War II, we should not be seeing such record-breaking highs in displacement rates. The situation in Syria is not likely to be resolved anytime in the near future,due to the widespread destruction and Islamic hold on the nation.

As we see a more prolonged period of civil war in various countries around the world, we will continue to see high displacement rates and see these displaced people staying displaced for longer periods. The mass migrations of populations around the world have huge implications on changing culture, foreign relations and the economy.

These displaced people start to make up subpopulations in their own countries or in neighboring countries and bring with them their culture. It is no easy feat to integrate into these other countries and refugees often face harsh discrimination that results in low living conditions, inadequate access to basic services and low employment rates. These displaced people face human rights violations, even after fleeing horrific circumstances, and the governments that accept them are faced with the strain they place on their own nation. We can expect to see more internal and external tension in these countries.

Because 53 percent of all refugees worldwide come from only three countries – Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia – solutions can be targeted. But first these solutions need to be developed. There needs to be an international focus on reducing the rates at which people are fleeing. The most pressing issue is that of civil war because it destroys a nation’s infrastructure on all levels. Civil war often involves widespread human rights violations both during and after the conflict, as the huge masses of people that fled the conflict face additional problems elsewhere.

The problems that arise from civil war, including but not limited to displaced persons, are spread across large geographical areas. By addressing the three major sources of the world’s refugees, we can hopefully prevent the problem from expanding any further. Displacement is largely a political issue and to alleviate it, there must be agreements and regulations set forth by the world’s political leaders.

– Emma Dowd

Sources: CNN, Foreign Policy 1, Foreign Policy 2
Photo: Al Jazeera America

Maternal Mortality Rates in China Plummet

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Fifteen years ago, a summit convened. All member states of the United Nations at the time gathered and agreed on eight international development goals. The Millennium Development Goals (MDG), as they are named, were adopted to better lives in the developing world.

One of the countries highlighted was China, and it has surpassed the world’s expectations, improving health for mothers and their children – ahead of the 2015 target date.

The National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), an organization within the People’s Republic of China that works at the policy level to improve medical conditions for Chinese families, stated that, as of June 10, 2015, maternal mortality rates have dropped dramatically over the past 25 years. This exceeds the fifth Millennium Goal and has made a powerful impact on the lives of Chinese women.

The maternal death rate in China dropped significantly since 1990. In fact, it has plummeted 75.6 percent. In 1990 death rate among mothers giving birth was 88.8 per 100,000 compared to 21.7 per 100,000 in 2014.

Maternal mortality rates can be an important indication of the health of a nation and China’s success, attributed in part to its growing economy, better funded health care and allowances provided for rural women to give birth in hospitals, suggests extraordinary progress.

The gap between urban and rural pregnancies has always been vast in China with rural care significantly lower, but in past years access to medical services in less populated areas has improved as well. The hospital delivery rate in rural families was merely 36.4 percent in 1990 while in 2014, the rate had increased to 99.6 percent.

Additionally, the NHFPC said that in 2014, seven years ahead of the Millennium Development Goals deadline, infant death rates and mortality for children under 5 dropped to 8.9 per thousand and 11.7 per thousand, respectively.

In Nanning, capital of southwest China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region, several health vehicles, with the help of two organizations, were put into operation devoted to impoverished rural women in need of maternal care.

All-China Women’s Federation (ACWF) and the China Women’s Development Foundation (CWDF) donated 30 Health Express for Mothers mobile medical units in 2009 and 10 more in August 2011. During the year before the ceremonial departure on August 4, 2011, over 4,000 maternal women and 500 more critical patients were helped by the service.

Medical units such as the ones in Nanning have helped thousands of women, given training to over 17,000 medical workers and have brought health benefits to millions of rural residents.

China has made leaps and bounds in the care for its women and children. Increased healthcare funding and better medical facilities accompanied with the grass roots efforts of tenacious citizens have demonstrated China’s ability to go above and beyond the world’s expectations, improving life for its people.

– Jason Zimmerman

Sources: Women of China, Women of China, The Lancet, Women of China, China.org
Photo: MedHealthNet

Global Poverty and National Security: Soft Power and Prevention

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Many people view foreign aid programs as acts of charity. However, through “soft power” and preventative measures, international assistance can play an important role in national security as well.

Poverty Reduction as Soft Power

Influential political scientist Joseph Nye coined the term “soft power” in 1990 to describe the ability of one nation to influence another without resorting to force. It’s the alternative to “hard power,” which includes military force and economic sanctions.

Cultural influence and moral authority are important aspects of soft power. When a country is seen as being morally upstanding by the world community, it achieves greater influence. For instance, if a country is strongly democratic, it can influence others by promoting democracy abroad.

In a similar way, soft power can improve national security. In a world that is increasingly democratic and interconnected, national reputation has grown in importance. Through soft power, a country can seek to influence world opinion to prevent acts of aggression or terrorism.

Foreign assistance is an important tool to improve national reputation. When a country takes the lead in humanitarian relief or international development, it improves its standing and influence. It makes cooperation more likely and conflict less so.

Poverty Reduction as a Preventative Measure

It’s no secret that violent extremism tends to flourish in desperate places. Poverty grinds down civil society and weakens government institutions. Without strong governance, many people turn to armed rebel groups for services. For instance, during the civil wars in Afghanistan, many turned to extremist schools for education and to the Taliban for protection.

The U.S. Department of Defense has long recognized this reality. Robert Gates, former defense secretary, viewed international development as a way to prevent conflicts from starting.

“The way you do that is through development. Development creates stability, it contributes to better governance,” Gates said in 2010. “If you are able to do those things, if you are able to do it in a focused and sustainable way, then it may be unnecessary to send soldiers.”

Global poverty causes conflict and perpetuates it. While the United States has the strongest military in the world, it can only react to dangers as they arise. Increased spending for foreign assistance would improve national security by reducing the likelihood of conflict and unrest.

That’s a sentiment that President Obama agrees with as well. In a recent interview with Vox.com, the president conveyed his view of foreign aid as a “tool in our national security portfolio, as opposed to charity.” The president proposed strategic investments in key countries to reduce the need to deploy the U.S. military abroad. “We would be in a better position,” he stated, “to work with other countries to stamp out violent extremism.”

– Kevin McLaughlin

Sources: Department of Defense, Foreign Affairs, Vox.com
Photo: Flickr

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How a New Program is Providing Safer Schools for the World’s Poor

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On April 25, 2015 a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal. Two thousand schools collapsed, and five thousand others were damaged, forcing children to abandon their studies.

In the developing world nothing is more important than education, and when an already weak infrastructure crumbles under a natural disaster, it can be devastating for schools and a catastrophic defeat in the fight against poverty.

The Nepal earthquake was not an isolated incident. Every year natural disasters wreak havoc on underdeveloped nations, destroying the lives and property of millions. In 2013 the Philippines was the victim of a destructive typhoon that damaged 2,500 schools and disrupted the critical studies of 1.4 million children. And two years later, in March 2015, Cyclone Pam dramatically affected the Republic of Vanuatu.

The Global Program for Safer Schools (GPSS), recently created to address these issues, is managed by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR). The new initiative is not only building demolished school buildings but also reinforcing and retrofitting schools at risk in catastrophe prone areas.

GPSS maintains relationships with a wide range of international partners, including the United Nations and agencies such as UNICEF, UNESCO and UNISDR, international NGOs like Save the Children and private sector companies such as Arup. Additionally, it works with ministries of finance, public works and education, integrating risk considerations and investing in large scale education benefits for communities.

The lack of education around the world is shocking, and its effect on poverty are staggering. Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their name. Less than 1 percent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000. Yet it didn’t happen. Based on enrollment data, about 72 million children of primary school age in the developing world were not in school in 2005.

Clearly education is a necessity, playing a vital role in alleviating poverty around the globe, but it is a luxury much of the world does not have, perhaps more so for girls. The state of school facilities in the developing world can be extremely fragile, and protecting them could make an immense difference.

Maternal deaths could be reduced by two thirds in the world if all mothers completed school, saving 98,000 lives. An extra year of secondary school boosts girls’ eventual wages by 15-25 percent. When women and girls earn income, they reinvest 90 percent of it in their families – buying books, medicine and bed nets and ensuring education for their children. Girls who stay in school for seven or more years typically marry four years later and have two fewer children than girls who drop out. And fewer dependents per worker allows for greater economic growth.

As much as 55 percent of the reduction in hunger from 1970 to 1995 can be attributed to improvements in women’s education and their status in society. School-based HIV/AIDS education programs are effective in preventing HIV infection, reducing the burden of this disease on families and communities.

Education can be one of the greatest tools fighting global poverty today. The Global Program for Safer Schools, through rebuilding disaster stricken institutions and retrofitting those at risk, ensures that disadvantaged children around the world have a chance.

– Jason Zimmerman

Sources: World Bank, Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, New Internationalist, UNICEF, United Nations
Photo: Plan

Everjobs Emerges in Senegal

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Everjobs, an online job portal created by Rocket Internet, has begun operations in Dakar, Senegal. This job portal was created to simplify the job search and hiring process by connecting job seekers with employers.

Everjobs is also currently operating in eight other developing countries, including Myanmar, Bangladesh and Cambodia.

This online job portal supports Senegal’s new initiative, “Plan Senegal Emergent.” With this initiative, Senegal seeks to establish itself as an emerging country by 2035. With a hope to better lives for generations to come, youth employment is at the top of this agenda.

Because Everjobs is online, it is hoping to attract tech savvy youths. This strategy focuses on complying with Senegal’s initiative for youth employment.

Everjobs hopes to pave the way for Senegalese to match their skills and create a career path. It focuses on the job seeker’s core skills, expertise and interests in order to explore potential career paths that suit the seeker. By taking into account these factors, this type of application process categorizes jobs that are not suitable for the job seeker.

One feature that sets Everjobs apart from other job portals is the expert Job Journal. This feature provides the job seeker with knowledge that will motivate, inspire and track their progress while using the job portal.

Everjobs addresses the need to focus on industries with a high turnover rate, such as hospitality and banks. This aspect will help Senegalese to have the opportunity to work in these industries, gain job experience and hopefully find a career they enjoy.

The co-founder and Managing Director for Africa, Eric Lauer said, “Heads of HR are concerned that a lack of basic CV writing knowledge and poor interview preparation resources have contributed to a fall in employability among its youth.”

With the resources provided by Everjobs, the youth of Senegal will gain the necessary skills in order to complete a successful resume, leave a lasting impression during an interview and gain employment. In order to fulfill Senegal’s initiative, “Plan Senegal Emergent,” it is imperative for the youth to learn the skills to gain employment. With the help of Everjobs, this can be achieved.

Senegal has set a fast pace plan to move from a developing country to an emerging country in as little as 20 years. Because of the online component of Everjobs, it is attractive to the youth seeking employment. With access to an easy to use, resourceful online job portal like Everjobs, Senegal will transition into an emerging country. With the many resources that Senegal’s youth need in order to gain employment, Everjobs will bring about the change Senegalese have been hoping for.

– Kerri Szulak

Sources: CP Africa, IT News Africa
Photo: Senegal Business Services

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Cambodian Child Sex Trade Supported by Parents

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  • Fact: Every day, in Cambodia, parents sell their children for sex.
  • Fact: Many Cambodian parents decide to sell their children, some of whom are as young as one month old, because they feel that selling their own flesh and blood is the only way to survive.
  • Fact: There has emerged in Cambodia an ugly market of virginity, in which rich and powerful men coerce mothers into selling their daughters’ innocence.
  • Fact: Cambodia does not have an anti-trafficking law on the books.

Svy Pak is a shanty town on the outskirts of the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. It is one of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods of one of Asia’s poorest cities. The population lives on less than $2 per day. As such, a child’s virginity is considered to be an extremely valuable asset because of the prices willing to be paid for it. Doctors in Cambodia perform what’s known as a “virginity check” on a child and then issue a “certificate of virginity.” This is meant to ensure buyers who want virgins that they are getting them. In some cases, a child’s virginity is sold before he or she is even born, and deposits for virginities can be easily made on toddlers. Selling one’s child for sex provides a steady source of income for families willing to make the sacrifice.

The child sex trade has blown up in Svy Pak. The town is known to pedophiles around the world as the go-to place for buying little girls. In 2008, Apage International Missions (AIM) found that 100 percent of the kids in the town between the ages of eight to 12 years of age were being trafficked for sex. The organization has rescued children as young as four years old from traffickers. UNICEF estimates that one third of the population in the sex industry is children in Cambodia, and amounts to 40,000 to 100,000 kids total.

Cambodia is a country where children have a long history of being a major export product. A young girl by the name of Kieu was sold by her mother at the age of 12. Over the course of six months, her mother sold her virginity and then forced her to work at five brothels in both Cambodia and Vietnam. Only when her mother began to make arrangements at the sixth brothel to rent her daughter out for sex did Kieu run away to find safety. CNN spoke to her mother, who said, “It was because of the debt, that’s why I had to sell her.”

The men who abuse these children fit many different profiles and backgrounds. Some are pedophile sex tourists who actively seek out sex with prepubescent children. Others are more opportunistic, situational offenders who simply take advantage of opportunities that present themselves to engage in sex with children. Then there are those for whom health-related beliefs about the protective or restorative qualities of virgins catalyze their interest in child sex.

Sex tourists tend to come from affluent countries all over the world, such as European countries, South Korea, Japan and China. But research suggests that Cambodian men remain the main exploiters of child sex trafficking in their country. Although the selling and buying of sex is illegal, not one Khmer man has ever been convicted for purchasing virgins. The police argue that they are limited in prosecuting these violations because of a lack of expertise, technical equipment and evidence collection tools. Corruption is also a barrier for law enforcement, as Cambodia is number 160 of the 175 countries on the Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index.

The actions of the parents in Cambodia who sell their children for sex is deplorable and inexcusable. Since the beginning of time, people have been poor, but they have not always been selling their children. Something must be done.

– Erika Wright

Sources: ABC, CNN 1, CNN 2, The Guardian, Spiegel Online
Photo: Brandon Patoc Photography

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Goodeed and Freerice: Two Easy Ways To Help

goodeed_and_freerice
Helping those in need has never been easier with Goodeed and Freerice, websites that make it incredibly simple for those with computer access to make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate.

Goodeed allows users to donate to a cause for free. How is that possible, donating for free? On the website, you watch a twenty-second advertisement, and the revenue from watching the ad goes to one of three causes: trees, vaccines or meals.

The trees are in the East Khasi Hills in the Meghalaya forest in India. This area is known as the wettest place on earth and is under serious threat. Goodeed partnered with WeForest to not only conserve local biodiversity and the livelihood of the people but also to promote women’s entrepreneurship and empower the indigenous community.

The vaccines are delivered to Chad, where the goal is to completely eradicate polio. Today, 80 percent of people get vaccinated for polio, and Goodeed wants that percentage to be 100. Lastly, the meals go to Kenya schools to ensure that students get at least one nutritious meal a day. Goodeed teamed up with the World Food Programme to make this happen.

Each person can make a total of three donations a day, a grand total of 60 seconds of your time to support three worthwhile causes.

Freerice operates on a similar platform of effortless community involvement. Freerice is an English vocabulary test where, with each question answered correctly, 10 grains of rice are donated.

Freerice works with the World Food Programme to deliver rice to areas in need. They fed 27,000 refugees of Myanmar in Bangladesh for two weeks, and in Cambodia, they provided take-home rations of rice for over 13,500 pregnant and nursing women who needed it over the span of two months. In addition, they have sent rice to Uganda, Nepal and Bhutan.

Freerice is an educational tool for children in the First World, as well as an asset to the Third World. Melissa Foor, a middle school teacher in the United States, used Freerice as a vocabulary lesson for her students. Her classroom, as well as those of other inspired teachers in the school, raised 1,000,000 grains of rice. The students practiced vocabulary and learned a lesson on helping others.

There is a fine line between what people are willing to sacrifice to help others and what they are not. Goodeed and Freerice have made this sacrifice so minimal that making a difference in the lives of others takes no more than 60 seconds, and you can even have a little fun while doing it.

– Hannah Resnick

Sources: Freerice, Goodeed, The Next Web, World Food Programme
Photo: World Food Programme