Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

Americas Relief Team

americas relief teamHurricane season is peculiar season. Some show precaution, warning everyone to evacuate. Storm chasers show appreciation, drooling over the site of swirling super cells that could create awe-invoking spectacles. Some show helplessness; some aren’t awarded the luxury of mobility and are left to their homes to take on a monsoonal fate. Americas Relief Team is there for those who feel helpless when danger is imminent, especially around hurricane season.

ART is a nonprofit organization that focuses on preparing, responding to and assisting those who would be affected by critical events. More specifically, ART focuses on disaster preparedness by conducting disaster prevention programs in urban centers and ports in Latin America. They focus on disaster response and aid by collaborating with partners to stage and deliver humanitarian aid after a crisis occurs, and finally they focus on humanitarian assistance to alleviate human suffering in the Americas.

ART accomplishes its mission of providing humanitarian logistics assistance by creating strategic agreements with key nonprofit and corporate partners—nearly 20 other influential organizations. SeaFreight Agencies is one of many of the companies that ART collaborated with. SeaFreight Agencies, teaming up with ART, provided excellent assistance to the Caribbean, especially Haiti, during the 2008 Hurricane season.

Backed by a good history, ART has been aiding the Americas for over a decade now. In 2004, ART responded to Tropical Storm Jeanne, which wreaked havoc on the Caribbean. The next year, they delivered millions of pounds of humanitarian assistance to the Caribbean region as a response to Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Ivan.

In 2010, 36 NGOs, along with ART, joined to create the largest long-term, single-country reconstruction project in Haiti as a response to the major earthquake that took place. Nearly 20 million pounds of humanitarian assistance was provided.

One of ART’s most recent developments is the Port Resiliency Project. PReP, started in 2013, will prepare airports and seaports in the Caribbean and Latin America to be more resilient in the face of natural disasters by applying the best practices learned from Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti.

Hurricanes and natural disasters can extract many emotions from the human mind; depending on what type of person you are, you will do something different about it. Americas Relief Team prepares, responds and assists. Along with a conglomeration of teammates, ART aims to help alleviate the suffering found in the Americas.

– Erik Nelson

Sources: Americas Relief Team, Global Hand, SeaFreight Agencies
Photo: Family Now

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Students Aim to End Global Poverty for Hult Prize

hult prizeWhat would you do if you were awarded one million dollars? Winners of the Hult Prize use the money to help alleviate global poverty. College students compete for the prize by coming up with innovative ways to solve the world’s biggest problems. A student at Hult International Business School, Ahmad Ashkar, came up with the idea to have teams of students from around the globe attempt to come up with a solution for particular issues. For 2015, the issue is “early childhood education.”

Hult International Business School, having partnered with former President Bill Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative, held the first competition in 2010. The competition starts on a local/regional level with competitions being held in Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai and Shanghai. Winners then go on to a six-week program packed with seminars on innovation and entrepreneurship called “The Hult Prize Accelerator.” Afterward, six teams go on to the Global Finals, where one team with an impactful idea is decided on as the best. The winning team then gets the opportunity to put their plans into action.

Last year, the issue to focus on was “non-communicable diseases in urban slums” such as diabetes or heart disease. A team of students from the Indian School of Business were declared the winners for their business concept “NanoHealth,” where a group of doctors receive a “Dox-in-Box,” a diagnostic tool that will help identify those at risk of disease. The goal is for NanoHealth to help up to 25 million people currently living in slums. Other finalists came from the University of Pennsylvania, MIT, HEC Paris, ESADE Business School and York University, and many of them are known to continue going forward with implanting their idea despite not winning.

The Hult Prize has been referred to as the “Nobel prize for students” by Muhammad Yunus, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

“If you can create a real business, the beginning of a prototype, you can change the world,” he said.

This year’s winner will be decided on at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in the fall.

– Melissa Binns

Sources: Huffington Post, Hult Prize, New York Times
Photo: NPR

Index Insurance Reaps Benefits for Female Farmers

index insuranceThe concept of crop insurance is a well-established practice in developed countries: in anticipation of natural disasters or other impediments to good crop yields, farmers purchase insurance to cover the cost of lost revenue.

Yet traditional agriculture insurance is either unavailable or overly expensive in many developing countries, leaving small-scale farmers, particularly women, vulnerable to natural disasters.

Nevertheless, recent expansions of index insurance programs, in particular the Global Index Insurance Facility, are enabling small-scale women farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean to adequately ensure their crops at affordable prices.

Unlike traditional insurance, index insurance “pays out benefits on the basis of a predetermined index for loss of assets and investments … without requiring the services of insurance claims assessors,” the World Bank reports.

More specifically, “a statistical index is developed before the start of the insurance period to measure deviations from normal for such parameters as rainfall, temperature, seismic activity, wind speed, crop yield or livestock mortality rates.”

Since 2009, GIIF, a program managed by the World Bank Group, has been leading and supporting index-insurance programs across the developing world. In collaboration with partners like MicroEnsure and Kilimo Salama (now ACRE), GIIF often aggregates farmers into groups and enrolls them into insurance programs—an approach both commercially feasible for insurers and empowering for women farmers.

Recent statistics indicate that women farmers in the developing world are at particular risk for agricultural instability. A recent study by the World Bank Group and the ONE Campaign found that although roughly half of the farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa are women, women farmers in Africa produce between 13 and 25 percent less than their male counterparts.

The World Bank Group and the ONE Campaign attributed this difference largely to women farmers’ lack of access to credit and other financial tools.

According to estimates by the Food and Agricultural Organization, if women farmers worldwide had the same access to resources as their male counterparts, “their yields could increase by as much as 30 percent, resulting in 150 million fewer people going hungry.”

GIIF’s index insurance programs are already reaping benefits in many developing countries. In Kenya, a payout initiated by the GIIF program during a drought kept thousands of women farmers in business, allowing them to purchase seeds and fertilizer for the next growing season.

In Haiti, a GIIF partner is offering weather index insurance to 70,000 clients, mostly women farmers who provide essential goods and services to communities.

The World Bank reports that overall, these index insurance programs have helped close the gender gap for farmers in the developing world—a critical step in fighting hunger, tackling malnutrition, and boosting global food security.

– Katrina Beedy

Sources: World Bank 1,  World Bank 2
Photo: Siani

Improving Indonesia’s Infrastructure

indonesia's infrastructurePresident of Indonesia Joko Widodo, who was elected last year, is making Indonesia‘s infrastructure a priority. He is putting the equivalent of $22 billion U.S. toward improving the country’s infrastructure. This number is 53 percent larger than last year. President Widodo is also dedicating an additional $3 billion to state firms and companies that are involved with infrastructure improvement.

Improving Indonesia’s infrastructure could have long-term benefits that could help people affected by poverty. According to the Copenhagen Consensus Center, anywhere between 10 to 50 percent of crops are wasted while traveling from the farm to consumers. If there was a way to make this number smaller by a mere 10 percent, prices could be reduced; if prices are reduced, 60 million fewer people would go hungry.

President Widodo plans to invest in infrastructure by scrapping subsidies on fuel and providing subsidies for farmers to use on fertilizer and seeds. He also wants to improve irrigation systems for farmers, improve roads and land and provide more forms of communication. In the long run, this can improve overall food distribution.

This tactic has been proven effective in the past.

“Indonesia experienced rapid agricultural growth in the 1970s and 1980s together with reductions in malnutrition and poverty,” Mark W. Rosegrant, director of the Environment and Production Technology Division at the International Food Policy Research Institute, said.

Rosegrant was also involved in the Copenhagen Consensus Center study. “This growth and improvements in food security were significantly driven by increasing investments in rural infrastructure and in agricultural research and development,” he said.

Rosegrant and others behind the Copenhagen Consensus study are suggesting that there are even better ways for President Widodo to reach his goal. The study concluded that it would also be beneficial for President Widodo to invest in agricultural research along with infrastructure. Even if only $6 billion is devoted toward researching how to increase crop yields, the result could be 79 million fewer hungry people around the globe.

President Widodo is hopeful that improving power plants and rural roads will help the people of Indonesia and around-the-world significantly. This is excellent news, and perhaps President Widodo will look into the benefits of agricultural research and save even more lives.

– Melissa Binns

Sources: The Australian Business Review, The Wall Street Journal
Photo: MTCP2

Ghana Climate Innovation Center Sponsors Clean Tech

In early March, twenty Ghanaian start-up companies completed the first national boot camp designed to promote “local entrepreneurship and innovation in clean technologies.” The boot camp, sponsored by the new Ghana Climate Innovation Center, aimed to highlight Ghanaian entrepreneurs who have been active in developing locally feasible solutions to global climate change.

If current climate trends persist, experts predict dire consequences for Ghana’s economy, people and overall development. According to the World Bank’s report, “Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change” and Ghana’s National Climate Change Policy Framework, crop yields “are predicted to decline by 7% by 2050 due to higher temperatures.”

Meanwhile, the reports predict that sea levels are expected to rise over one meter over the course of the 21st century, “causing the erosion of 1,120 square kilometers of land.”

The boot camp followed a rigorous nation-wide application process overseen by the World Bank and its global grant program Information for Development, the sponsors of the Ghana Climate Innovation Center. According to the World Bank, only the companies with the “highest level of innovation, technical expertise, and potential for commercial success” were invited to the boot camp.

The boot camp participants are pioneers in some of Ghana’s most prosperous green technology sectors, including biofuels, solar energy and waste and water management.

The boot camp represents the first project for the Ghana Climate Innovation Center, a newly implemented institute that draws support from the World Bank, InfoDev, and the Danish International Development Cooperation Agency.

In the future, the GCIC hopes to “assist more than 20,000 households to increase resiliency to climate change through improved access to potable water, availability of clean energy, and more sustainable agriculture techniques.”

– Katrina Beedy

Sources: InfoDev 1, InfoDev 2, World Bank
Photo: Green Ghanaian

Drug Counterfeiting in Nigeria

Drug_CounterfeitingIf administering public health projects in an environment complicated by security, economic and cultural issues is not presenting a sufficient challenge, drug counterfeiting can take the problem to a new level. In 2006, the World Health Organization reported that every year 280 billion dollars is lost due to counterfeiting. This does not take into account the hazards to human life caused by potentially harmful or completely ineffective fake drugs. An estimated 100,000 deaths yearly are caused due to the counterfeit drug trade in Africa alone. Counterfeiting affects all pharmaceuticals ranging from vaccines and antibiotics to anti-diabetic and anti-cholesterol medication.

Drug counterfeiting is not just a developing world problem. In 2005, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Missouri indicted three businesses for a 42 million dollar conspiracy to sell counterfeit, smuggled and misbranded Lipitor, a mainstream cholesterol lowering drug. The FDA had to recall 18 million Lipitor tablets which is one of its largest recalls related to counterfeiting.

In Nigeria, this is a particularly big problem. This Day Live reports that in 1989, over 150 children died due to diethylene glycol present in fake paracetamol syrup. The problem reached such a high level, that sale of Nigerian-manufactured products was banned in other African countries. The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control Nigeria, or NAFDAC, website continues to be filled with reports on recent impounding and destruction of fake drugs and public alert notification on drug recalls. A report on March 5 on the destruction of N500 million, approximately 2.5 million dollars, worth of fake drugs in Anambra state, was immediately followed by a March 6 report on the impounding of N270 million in counterfeit medication.

NAFDAC is employing many strategies to curb the problem including control at points of entry, inspecting manufacturing plants in producing countries and employing foreign analysts to certify drugs before exportation from India, China and Egypt. Under the leadership of the late Prof. Dora Akunyili, NAFDAC came down hard on counterfeiters and corrupt officers. Due to NAFDAC’s efforts, the incidence of fake drugs has dropped by 90 percent since 2001 and the ban on Nigerian-manufactured drugs has been lifted.

Yet the problem persists. The New York Times reports that in 2008, 84 children died after consuming fake teething mixture in Nigeria. In a recent interview with CNBC Africa, Dr. Bell Ihua, COO of NOIPolls, says 18 percent of Nigerians believe they have been a victim of fake pharmaceuticals. A whopping 70 percent worry that counterfeiting is rampant. This means that 70 percent of people actually worry that a drug they are consuming could be fake. A large proportion of victims only know they have consumed fake drugs when they have an adverse reaction.

Public awareness is a large obstacle. High illiteracy and low exposure makes it hard for the public to be on their guard. NAFDAC broadcasts short messages and jingles on the radio to educate and warn the public. Novel solutions are now slowly entering the field. Ashifi Gogo, a Ghana based enterprise, allows customers to scratch off labels inside the pill box and text the code to get a verification of drug quality. Of course, the system is not foolproof as counterfeiters can make fake labels. More campaigns and programs to educate the public will aid this effort. The involvement of community leaders can bring this down to the grassroots level where such programs really need to create an impact.

– Mithila Rajagopal

Sources: Africa Renewal, CNBC Africa, FDA, NAFDAC, New York Times, ThisDayLive, WHO 1, WHO 2, WHO 3

Photo: Code Wit

AGOA: Strengthening Economic Relations

AGOAIn 2000, the United States Congress approved legislation entitled the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, in hopes to better economic relations between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa. The legislation highlights key factors in trade between the U.S. and sub-Saharan Africa while providing many benefits.

The act was initially set to expire in 2008, but President George W. Bush signed the AGOA Acceleration Act of 2004, which extended AGOA to 2015. The Act’s apparel special provision, which permits lesser-developed countries to use foreign fabric for their garment exports, was to expire in September 2007.

However, legislation passed by Congress in December 2006 extended it through 2012.

The legislation authorized the President of the United States to determine which sub-Saharan African countries would be eligible for AGOA on an annual basis. The eligibility criteria was to improve labor rights and movement toward a market-based economy. Each year, the president evaluates the sub-Saharan African countries and determines which countries should remain eligible.

Currently, there are 44 African countries eligible with AGOA.

 

What are the benefits of AGOA for African countries?

AGOA provides trade preferences for quota and duty-free entry into the United States for certain goods, expanding the benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences, or GSP, program.

AGOA expanded market access for textile and apparel goods into the United States for eligible countries, though many other goods are also included. This resulted in the growth of an apparel industry in southern Africa, and created hundreds of thousands of jobs.

In addition to growth in the textile and apparel industry, some AGOA countries have begun to export new products to the United States, such as cut flowers, horticultural products, automotives and steel.

;Agricultural products is a promising area for AGOA trade; however, much work needs to be done to assist African countries in meeting U.S. sanitary and phytosanitary standards.

 

What are the benefits of AGOA for US firms?

By creating tangible incentives for African countries to implement economic and commercial reform policies, AGOA contributes to better market opportunities and stronger commercial partners in Africa for U.S. companies. The Act strengthens commercial ties between Africa and the United States, while it helps to integrate Africa into the global economy.

U.S. firms may find new opportunities in privatizations of African state-owned enterprises or in partnership with African companies in infrastructure projects.

– Alaina Grote

Sources: AGOA, International Trade Administration
Photo: Financial Mail

Iraq Trying to Reclaim Tikrit from ISIS

tikritIran joined forces with the Iraqi military on Monday, March 2 in an operation to reclaim Tikrit from the Islamic State. The incident involved throwing drones, heavy weaponry and ground forces.

The U.S. and Iran have both steered clear of each other’s operations in Iraq, according to U.S. officials. In general, when Shiite militias are involved in a military operation, the U.S. doesn’t provide support.

Sunni radical group Islamic State began taking over parts of Iraq last summer, gaining control over Shiite-dominated territories. Shiite Iran aiding Shiite-dominated Iraq could potentially fuel another religious-based civil war in Iraq, reinforcing predictions that Iraq could break up.

Approximately 30,000 fighters participated in the offensive, nearly equal in numbers between Iraqi military fighters and Shiite Iranian volunteers. Sunni and Shiite officials both emphasized that a smaller contingent of 1,000-2,000 Sunni tribal fighters native to the Tikrit region would assist the government in the battle.

“Tikrit is a crucial strategic area and it represents the key for the liberation of Mosul itself,” said General Abdul Wahab al-Saidi, the commander of the Tikrit operation.

The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, took control of Tikrit last summer during a dramatic assault. Monday was Iraq’s third attempt to regain control of Tikrit, located on the Tiger River northwest of Baghdad. Previous operations failed most likely due to failed communication between the Iraqi fighters and Shiite volunteers.

Iran has carried out airstrikes within Iraq in support of Shiite militias. Last October, Shiite militias supported by Iranian advisers helped retake a Sunni town outside Baghdad, according to U.S. officials. The Tikrit fight, according to U.S. officials, represents the most sizable Iranian support yet for an Iraqi offensive.

The United Nations has stepped in to help the thousands of people who have been displaced from their homes or had their homes destroyed in the fights. Many children do not attend school anymore or partake in responsibilities and jobs at home.

– Alaina Grote

Sources: BBC, Reuters, Wall Street Journal
Photo: i.ensonhaber

Education in Turkmenistan

education_in_turkmenistanFrom 2000-2006, Turkmenistan experienced a 500 percent growth in its GDP. Despite this increase, no funding went toward education in Turkmenistan. Instead the focus was on infrastructure development. Even though the stance on education in Turkmenistan was nearly invisible 10 years ago, in recent years there has been a push for change.

Education in Turkmenistan is now a national priority. By partnering up with UNICEF and the U.N., Turkmenistan has been able to provide structure to their education system. Since this team formed, the amount of schooling that children were required to attend has increased.

President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow also announced that in all five regions of Turkmenistan, there would be model schools built so that they could promote interactive teaching and learning methods.

Higher education has also been included in the spotlight. One of the primary objectives, underpinning the development and also the improvement of education in Turkmenistan, is the increase in the qualifications and profile of scientific personnel. Currently, young students have the opportunity to receive a professional education that meets international goals.

In 2008, research projects that were supported by the state commenced. Scientists involved in the projects have aimed to address important issues of social development. The goal is to develop and introduce technologies in industry. The advancements have lead to the decision to increase the amount of technology involved in education, which has provided support and a platform for the future of science education in Turkmenistan.

There is, however, some push back from citizens. The teachers feel that the amount of education that is forced may be too much and is producing overstressed students who haven’t grasped the concepts.

Though some of the policies that have been created aren’t perfect, education in Turkmenistan is headed in the right direction. “The conditions have been created in Turkmenistan for young people to receive a world-class education and for companies and organizations to be furnished with highly qualified cadres,” said the president.

– Erik Nelson

Sources: Eurasianet, European Commission, UNICEF
Photo: Turkmenistan Info

Poverty in Alexandria, Egypt

Egypt PovertyDespite protests against inhumane living conditions, extreme poverty, government corruption and leadership, poverty in Alexandria, Egypt is still rising.

Overcrowded housing, bias urban development and limited access to food, water, quality health and education are among the root causes of poverty in Alexandria.

Although poverty rates in large urban cities such as Alexandria and Cairo remain high, it does not compare to the percentage of impoverished people in the rural areas of Egypt, also known as “upper Egypt,” and Egypt as a whole. In recent years, poverty rates in Alexandria have increased by one percent and is currently still rising.

According to the World Fact Book, Alexandria’s total population is approximately 4.4 million compared to Egypt’s total population of 86.9 million. Overall, 25 percent of Egypt’s population is in poverty, compared to 15.3 percent of the urban population of Egypt who live in poverty.

As one of the largest cities in Egypt, second to only Cairo, Alexandria’s urban development has caused an inequality of wealth distribution—the more money spent on development in urban cities, the less money spent on rural Egypt.

Essentially, Egypt’s developmental policies are focused in urban areas causing bias that has prompted a high rate of poverty in upper Egypt.

The agriculture sector represents a large percentage of Egypt’s population. These rural areas are home to 40 percent of the country’s population and about 70 percent of the country’s impoverished people. Focusing development in cities like Alexandria have allowed room for neglect in rural parts of Egypt where poverty remains one of the highest compared to other areas in Egypt.

The uneven distribution of development have caused people from rural parts of Egypt to migrate to urban areas such as Alexandria and Cairo. However, the migration only fuels the cycle of poverty and state of underdevelopment in rural areas. Instead of targeting Egypt’s root of poverty in rural areas, the efforts are being focused on urban development.

The inability to reduce poverty in Egypt is blamed on urban development.

A large difference between poverty in Alexandria and rural areas in upper Egypt is the public infrastructure such as electricity, education, health and water. Explaining poverty rates in Egypt is closely tied to the urban development in the metropolitan areas of Egypt, where a large percentage of Egypt’s manufacturing, trading and major constructions is concentrated.

Aside from urban development, education also impacts high poverty rates. There’s a known link between lack of education and poverty—the less education accessed, the higher the rate of poverty.

According to the World Bank, about 46 percent of Egypt’s poor is illiterate and 40 percent have a basic education, while the remaining population have advanced degrees. Fighting poverty in Egypt is not only about development in rural parts of Egypt, but also about education.

Ultimately, focusing efforts on improving education in Alexandria and redistributing development across Egypt can aid in the fight against poverty.

– Nada Sewidan

Sources: CIA World Factbook, Egypt Independent, Save the Children, World Bank

Photo: Flickr