Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

Women’s Empowerment Program in Afghanistan

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Often in the news for its ongoing bloody conflict, Afghanistan has now made headlines for a much different reason. In early November, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) invested $216 million in developing Promote, a program that focuses on the training, promotion and education of over 75,000 Afghan girls that will lead to a greater contribution from women in the country’s development. The million dollar investment has made Promote one of the largest women’s empowerment programs supported by USAID.

The five-year plan consists of four parts that aim to “improve women’s rights groups, boost female participation in the economy, increase the number of women in decision-making positions within the Afghan government and help women gain business and managerial skills.” Program planners will seek out women ages 18-35 who have had at least a secondary education to enroll in Promote. USAID is also seeking another $200 million commitment from additional donors that will assist them in their objectives.

Both President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah attended the launch of Promote in Kabul, along with USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah. The men were keen on giving women more power and voice in government decisions and wanted to continue the extraordinary progress Afghan women have made since the collapse of the Taliban regime in the early 2000s.

U.S. Ambassador-at-large for Global Women’s Issues Catherine Russell has acknowledged this progress and emphasized that women must be even more present “at the table” and in greater numbers. First Lady Rula Ghani also added that Promote should not only reach out to women in urban areas but also the young girls in Afghanistan’s many provinces.

With help from USAID, Afghan women have already made vast improvements in health, education and empowerment. Maternal mortality has reduced exponentially leading to a 20-year increase in life expectancy and the number of girls in school is much higher, compared to 2002 when there was virtually none present. USAID hopes that Promote will continue encouraging and empowering women in Afghanistan, key components that are essential to the country’s own economic prosperity and national security. Or, as Dr. Shah puts it, “by investing in women as champions for development, we can advance peace and broad-based growth across Afghanistan.”

– Leeda Jewayni

Sources: USAID, Tolo News, Feminist.org
Photo: Washington Post

Compassion in Community Service

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His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama made a recent visit to Princeton University to discuss the second half of the school’s informal motto “…in the service of all nations” a motto coined by former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. During the Dalai Lama’s talk, he centered on the idea that there is a universal need for compassion. He believes that at the center of both service and scholarship is compassion. The compass to your life, he urged, can be guided and the answers will always appear clear when “your intentions matter, develop your heart, be honest with yourself, work very hard at these things, and let them direct your efforts.” He stressed these points to Princeton University students and faculty as they were looking for ways to increase their community service in the area. The Dalai Lama believes that any action of compassion has to be preceded with an external action of service for it to be sincere and maintainable.

Compassion, the Dalai Lama pointed out, must be coupled with hard work. During his talk he recognizes that he did not easily become the 14th Dalai Lama easily. As a testament to his self-discipline, he wakes up every morning 3 a.m. and begins his rituals, including three hours of meditation. Although his rituals seem extreme, he pointed out that people should not be commanded to service, forced against their will into spiritual discipline or compassionate acts. True compassion arises from a sincere affection for the other.

Another element that he focused on was the real mover of all things is love. The Dalai Lama often says that American universities are adroit in developing the mind, but not the heart. How often do people do service work intentionally and focused on developing the capacity for love? There must be a correlation, he stressed, drawn between academic excellence and kindheartedness in order for schools to be more compassionate in their actions.

Speaking through his interpreter, the Dalai Lama said: “When we talk about human connection and compassion, the focus is the person, not their culture… the primary emotion at a basic human level is that of love; the secondary level is differences; that’s where complex emotions like jealousy and competitiveness arise.” Anything that you project outward once began and came from inward. In order to give compassion you must cultivate it within yourself. Doing community service is not robot work, it takes real thoughtful actions, care and connections. Just like Newton’s law for every action there is an equal or opposite reaction, the source of compassionate action must be love.

The Dalai Lama encouraged the students at Princeton to make the world a much more peaceful place by aligning their positive energies and having a deep commitment to service.

– Charisma Thapa

Sources: Huffington Post, Princeton University
Photo: Flickr

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Encouraging Empathy Through Education

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The subject matter is not science or history, but human empathy. The class is conducted by an adult teacher who is assisted by a young infant.  The teacher helps the students process the growth of the child, among other experiences, in order to establish a greater sense and understanding of empathy.

Children between the ages five and twelve are taking classes on empathy. The first program started in Canada in 1996 with a mission “to build caring, peaceful and civil societies through the development of empathy in children and adults.” Founder and educator Mary Gordon is the brainchild of the program.

The classes have proven to result in increased emotional intelligence, understanding and direct empathy toward classmates. This has resulted in securing foundations against bullying, discrimination and aggression that is commonly found in schools today.

The goal of the program is to increase human empathy. The classes serve as a unique personal journey for each student. Many students may not have stable lives at home so being given the chance to speak their minds, understand their feelings and empathize with their classmates consequently establishes real human connections.

For eighteen years the program has been extremely successful. It has spread across the world from North America to New Zealand and Ireland.

Comparative research has shown that the program has positive effects on bullying, neuroscience, acts of kindness and cognitive skills within the children. Almost 80 percent of Roots of Empathy students worldwide have ‘increased peer acceptance.’ According to the Healthcare Quarterly these effects last up to three years after the student has been enrolled in the program.

Scotland is the first country to provide Roots for Empathy in every council. This has become a phenomenon that has drastically increased empathy and decreased aggression in Scotland’s youth.

During Roots of Empathy one of the major themes is ‘love grows brains.’ Students are actively taught to think about why a baby in the classroom would be crying, or why someone would feel a certain way. Rather than ignore these feelings they are taught to process them, talk about them and release them in a loving manner.

The students incorporate neuroscience into their studies as they watch a child grow from two to four months old at the start of their school year. This is so the children can watch a child grow at their greatest learning period of a person’s lifespan.

Focusing on empathy has proven to reduce bullying, increase cognitive skills and the ability to understand others feelings in order to create a more cohesive world.

– Charisma Thapa

Sources: Positive News Roots of Empathy
Photo: Flickr

Poverty in Colombia: Stratification, Urbanization Aid

Poverty in Colombia
Poverty in Colombia remains an issue but progress has been made. In the 1980s, the capital city of Colombia, Bogota, started to implement a program of economic stratification of urban populations. The city ranked populations from one to six, one being the most poor and six being the wealthiest. Essentially, the stratification was supposed to direct city officials where to charge more for basic services like water and sanitation, and where to charge less. This program was officially codified into law in 1994.

Proponents of the program, like former Bogota mayor Enrique Peñalusa, say that the stratification only helps the government to serve the poor better by focusing infrastructure projects and providing cheaper services. Opponents, however, say that it makes mobility for the poor more difficult by legally separating them out, as well as increasing stigma around poverty.

When mapped out by strata, it is clear to see the physical separation of economic classes in the capital city. The wealthiest populations are clumped together in the northern part of the city while the poorest are in the south and along the outer edges. The distribution of wealth in the city is compartmentalized, depreciating an already underserved population.

Armed conflict in Colombia has been persistent for this century and half of the last. Due to this, Colombia has one of the highest rates of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the world, reaching over five million in 2013. Many of these IDPs move to cities, especially Bogota. This shift has led to a large population without housing or resources, creating slums and shantytowns in and around the city.

Especially significant when looking at urbanization in Bogota is the development of a much poorer, extremely marginalized class on the outer edges of the city, where slums have grown significantly. Two of the largest slums, Altos de Cazuca and Ciudad Bolivar, house hundreds of thousands of people and are host to a myriad of social problems, most notably violent crime and poor access to essential resources like clean water, health care and education.

Conflict in the country has caused and contributed to countless problems, not in the least a robust drug trafficking industry. While peace talks with armed guerilla groups and narcotraficantes are ongoing, the outcome and impact for the urban and displaced poor that have been affected but not directly involved in the operations of these groups is not clear.

Levels of poverty have declined overall in Colombia in the last decade. Even more promising is the dramatic decrease in urban poverty in the two biggest cities in the country: Bogota and Medellin. While the legal stratification of urban citizens and rapid rates of urbanization have contributed to poverty in Bogota, the progress made against urban poverty is substantial. From the years 2005 to 2012, poverty has only fallen 7.6 percent in small cities in Colombia, but in Bogota and Medellin the rate has fallen 23.3 percent.

– Caitlin Huber

Sources: UNHCR, UCL, ABColombia, Business Insider, World Bank, IFHP
Photo: Pasion y Vida

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Russia Looks to Weather Economic Sanctions

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The Russian economy is suffering due to sanctions enacted by the United States and the European Union. Inflation has risen dramatically and with the ruble teetering back and forth, the safety of their currency is uncertain.

During the annexation of Crimea and Russian military movement in the Ukraine, the U.S. and E.U. increased trade restrictions on Russia and wealthy businessmen regarded as being close to Vladimir Putin. As the Russian economy shifts focus toward a stronger economic development and trade with the Asian countries, Russia’s reliance on the dollar decreases.

One of the ways in which Russia is attempting to achieve this is by trading in domestic currency rather than relying on the U.S. dollar. Russia’s dependence on Asia in general and China in particular hints at Putin’s larger goal for the Russian economy to be less involved in U.S. and Europe. Among of the most important deals Russia has made is  the Agreement on Cooperation which was signed by Vladimir Putin and Chinese president Xi Jinping. The $25 billion deal will allow Russia and China to trade in domestic currencies rather than the dollar.

Another significant deal is the $400 billion trade deal that will increase oil exports from Russia to China. It includes a proposal for a new pipeline that will send oil directly from Western Siberia to China. Underlying Putin’s unease with the U.S. is the desire to begin limiting U.S. economic hegemony. However, the dollar is so prevalent in the foreign economy it seems unlikely that a dramatic shift will occur in the near future. Russia’s largest market is currently the E.U. and sanctions have reduced the amount Russia is able to export.

Economic sanctions enforced by President Barack Obama seek to undercut Russian oil exports which make up half of Russia’s economic revenue. Putin announced recently at a G-20 Summit that the West needs to lift sanctions. He states, “This is harmful, and of course is doing us some damage, but it’s harmful for them as well because, in essence, it’s undermining the entire system of international economic relations.”

If Russia is less dependent on the U.S. market, sanctions will mean little to Putin and the Russian economy. Eventually there will be little to deter him from further military involvement in the Ukraine or elsewhere. It will be more difficult for the U.S. to influence Putin’s perceived aggression.

Russia is not the only country who wants to decrease dependence on the U.S. market. Other BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries are looking to do the same. For the meantime, Russia may be forced to cope with the low price of oil. American economists predict that the prices should level out at about $83 a barrel and stay there for a while to come.

– Maxine Gordon

Sources: International Business Times, Reuters, New York Times, The Guardian
Photo: Newsweek

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Where Should I Donate my Money?

Where should I donate money
There are many charitable organizations that do good work when it comes to global poverty issues — almost too many, in fact. Thus it can be an overwhelming process when it comes to deciding where you want to donate your money, and that all depends on the global poverty issues that matter most to you. Are you interested in serving global health issues? Finding technology and solutions? Maybe you want your money to go toward global education and businesses. What’s important is finding where your passion is in the deep pool of global poverty issues, and that will make it a little easier in deciding where you’d like to donate your money.

 

3 Places Where You Might Want to Donate to

 

1. The Adventure Project

With a focus on businesses, The Adventure Project helps families escape global poverty by recruiting local people to become entrepreneurs. By teaching them how to sell products and services to their communities, they become pioneers in their own local economies to help everyone venture forward. Your donations will have a transformative impact by providing local partners the means to educate and support people living in poverty so they may become profitable entrepreneurs. Thirty dollars can fund one month of job training, and with $360, you can fund someone’s chance to have a business for an entire year.

2. The Girl Effect

Launched in 2008, The Girl Effect began its unique movement empowering adolescent girls to end poverty for themselves, their families and their communities. By providing girls with powerful resources and investing in development practitioners who are committed to advocating for female empowerment, there is a better chance of preventing global health issues, such as child marriage, HIV/AIDS and teen pregnancy. With 250 million adolescent girls living in poverty, why wouldn’t you invest in this global poverty issue? The Girl Effect is created by the Nike Foundation in collaboration with the NoVo Foundation, United Nations Foundation and Coalition for Adolescent Girls.

3. One Day’s Wages

It all started when two people fell in love in Seattle and decided to donate their 2009 income to alleviate global poverty. Eugene and Minchee Cho took it one step further by encouraging families and friends to donate their “one day’s wages” and be part of a global grassroots movement of people who are committed to renewing their pledge monthly, quarterly, yearly or even on their birthdays. One Day’s Wages promotes and provides sustainable solutions through partnerships and small organizations in developing regions. Your donations directly enable the Board and Staff to fund small NGOs and CBOs to invest in people and communities in the developing regions.

– Chelsee Yee

Sources: The Adventure Project, Girl Effect, One Day’s Wages

 

“The Borgen Project is an incredible nonprofit organization that is addressing poverty and hunger and working towards ending them.”
– The Huffington Post

 

Learn about The Borgen Project

 

Disability Equals Poverty, But Not Anymore

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RENO, Nevada — When people say they want to help the world, or even America’s impoverished people, they think of the hungry, the homeless and the uneducated. Often those with disabilities are overlooked.

According to the World Health Organization, disabled persons are the world’s largest socially marginalized group. Compared to those without disabilities, they suffer from poorer health, lower educational achievements, fewer work opportunities and higher rates of poverty.

It was reported in 2012 that of the 19.9 million American citizens with disabilities between the ages of 18 and 64, 5.8 million of them live below the poverty line. This equals a poverty rate of 29.2 percent. Comparatively, 13.6 percent of citizens ages 18-64 without disabilities live below the poverty line. Those disabled that are blind or visually impaired the unemployment rate is over 70 percent.

The average median income of males without disabilities has been reported at $48,000 and women without disabilities earn a median of $37,000. Compared to men with disabilities who only earn a median of $41,500 and disabled women who only earn $32,000.

The American Psychological Association has shown that this effect on a disabled persons socio-economic standing is what contributes to their poor health and under education.

Even when disabled person do receive the support and attention they deserve which are viewed as basic human rights they are more often than not forced to live in poverty. The answer to this puzzling dilemma lies in the benefits the disabled receive.

Those with disabilities will generally be awarded Supplemental Security Income. This is one of two government programs designed to help those either born with a disability or those that develop a disability. The latter group will normally receive Supplemental Security Disability Insurance.

In order to retain these benefits, and their health insurance, individuals with disabilities are not allowed to earn more than $700 a month or have savings in excess of $2,000. Even with their benefits these figures leave many disabled persons surviving well below the poverty line.

At the end of September of this year that all changed. Championed by a woman born with down syndrome. Sara Wolf, now 31, has been working for her godfather’s law firm for the last thirteen years. In July, of this year, she testified before a U.S. Senate committee in Washington. Her goal was to pressure law makers into passing the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act.

The ABLE Act would let people with a disability create tax-exempt savings accounts, up to $100,000, to help them pay for things like a home, higher education, transportation, job-hunting costs and health care. This money would not count towards their savings, or income limits, which would endanger their disability income and health insurance.

As Wolff toured the country rallying support for her cause she managed to drum up 261,000 signatures for her online petition. Her efforts paid off as she acquired 380 sponsors in the House for her bill and 74 sponsors in the Senate. In July, the House Ways and Means Committee passed the bill unanimously.

Wolf said she wanted to take control of her future in the same way that many other Americans do. “I want people to know that I’m just like you,” Wolff said. “I could do whatever I put my mind and heart to.”

– Frederick Wood II

Sources: APA, Disability Scoop, Huffington Post, Disability Compendium, Al Jazeera
Photo: Flickr

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New Technology Can End Poverty

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As we near the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals, there needs to be something done to increase our progress towards ending poverty. Last month, the Frontiers in Development Forum had many visitors who had bright ideas about what would be best to try to achieve our main goal. Leaders like the Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete and Secretary of State John Kerry attended the forum, along with many different innovators, who have been creating mobile apps to combat human trafficking.

What was decided at the forum was that bringing new technologies into play and creating new partnerships is essential in the plan to end extreme poverty. In the U.S., many new technologies have changed the way Americans communicate, work and earn with one another. But there was something launched about two decades ago called the Leland Initiative, which was an effort to help increase access to information for 20 African countries.

To build more onto this idea, USAID has partnered with the U.K., Google.org and the Omidyar Network to create something new called the Alliance for Affordable Internet. This was created in an effort to reduce the cost of internet access and to bring to the table new opportunities for doctors, entrepreneurs and local leaders across the developing world.

Another way that USAID is trying to speed up the process of ending poverty is by using mTrac in Uganda. mTrac is a tool that helps local health workers send the government reports via text message. For example, the Ministry of Health used mTrac to survey 10,000 health workers on whether their health unit had a fridge that was used to keep perishable drugs and vaccines cold. The survey ended up costing only $150 and was done in just less than three days.

New technology is something that many in the Western World are used to and often take for granted, but in Senegal, rice millers are learning about how important technology can be for their community. For example, the rice millers buy expensive Asian imports, while local rice farmers are having a hard time selling their crops. USAID is helping to build the supply chains and improve the quality of the harvests by teaching the farmers to share their information through Excel and Dropbox. This allows the millers to track the local crops, schedule shipments and collect payments online.

This is just the start of what technology can do for the world in helping end poverty, and there is still a long way to go. USAID iterates that creating apps just for the sack of having them is not what will help the world achieve the overall objective of ending poverty. But by looking at the need in countries where technology is not overflowing and creating a solution for that will be the key component in ending extreme poverty.

– Brooke Smith

Sources: USAID Blog, USAID
Photo: Flickr

Suicide Bomber in Nigeria Kills Students

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On November 10th, in the Northeastern Nigerian town of Potiskum, a suicide bomber killed around 46 students ranging from 10 to 20 years of age during a school assembly. The bomber was wearing a school uniform and entered the boys’ school in Yobe state unnoticed. Yobe’s state governor has shut down all public schools in the region and requested urgent action be taken by the Nigerian government.The suicide bomber was among the dead,  another 79 were severely wounded.

Police have suggested the terrorist organization Boko Haram is responsible for the attack. The militants have continuously targeted schools “during a deadly five-year insurgency” with the aim of establishing an Islamic state. Boko Haram, whose name translates to “Western education is sin”, believes that girls should not be able to go to school and boys should only receive an Islamic education.

The group has conducted a series of attacks and kidnappings, the most recent at the Government Science Secondary School. Boko Haram’s attack against the non-Quranic school was one of the worst attacks to date.

In Potiskum alone, Boko Haram has attacked roughly 10 schools, while another 5 schools in the surrounding parts of Yobe state have been targeted. However, the militant group rarely claims responsibility for individual attacks. Despite the large number of bombings against schools, there is still a huge lack of security for students.

The Nigerian military has not been deployed to safeguard school grounds in the North and the only protection at the Government Science Secondary School included a few local guards armed with sticks.

Citizens have been requested to report suspicious activities to security agencies. In addition, and in order to identify people with ill intent, people who rent property are asked to thoroughly check renters so criminals cannot hide in their midst.

Government officials have indicated to local communities that security is a collective responsibility, and that peace can only be achieved through collaboration with all interested parties.

– Leeda Jewayni

Sources: BBC, The New York Times, Reuters
Photo: Daily Mail

Inflatable Baby Incubator Wins James Dyson Award

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The main focus of the James Dyson Award is on design and engineering, but there is also encouragement and support given to medical and scientific research to bring great change. The organization itself has donated over $14 million to these causes through grants, machine donations and fundraising endeavors led by the people at Dyson.

The James Dyson Award is aimed towards young people from 18 countries who think differently than others and come up with ideas to change the future. “Whatever the design, as long as it solves a problem, it’s got a chance of winning the James Dyson Award,” its website reads.

Along with the recognition, a $45,000 prize is given to the international winner to help take the idea from a prototype and launch it into a commercial product. The winner for this year’s award goes to a product called the inflatable baby incubator. The inventor is a Loughborough University graduate by the name of James Roberts. The project overall is called and referred to as “MOM” and is said to cost a fraction of the price of other alternatives currently in the market.

With the award money, Roberts is planning on continuing the project and perfecting it to bring to the market in 2017. The remarkable thing about this project is that it is delivered as a flat package to wherever its destination may be. The product is meant to be assembled at the site where it will be used. The inflatable incubator is a sheet of plastic that contains inflatable panels that can be blown up manually and heated by a ceramic element, which then keeps the newborn baby warm. When opened, it will stay open and not collapse on the baby. An Arduino computer keeps the temperature at a stable heat and also controls the humidification, a lamp and an alarm.

This product is huge step in taking care of infants, because it is safe for the baby and costs a lot less. Other incubators cost more because shipping the incubator requires large boxes. This incubator as mentioned above, ships flat and is easy to assemble once it is received.

The main purpose of this incubator is to decrease the number of premature child deaths within refugee camps. According to the MOM Incubator website, “Every year, an estimated 150,000 child births occur within refugee camps. Of these child births, 27,500 will die due to lack of sufficient incubation.”

Moving forward, the plans for MOM include using the money to perfect the prototypes and, if needed, doing a possible redesign to gain the best possible outcome for an inflatable incubator system.

– Brooke Smith

Sources: MOM Incubators, BBC, James Dyson Foundation
Photo: Flickr