Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

,

Ethiopian Sugar to Reduce Carbon Footprint

carbon footprint
Ethiopia has a bold and innovative plan to reduce the entire country’s carbon footprint to almost zero, and the country plans on achieving it by 2025.  The plan, currently set into motion, centers entirely around sugar.

Ethiopia’s day to day life relies heavily on sugar for their tea, coffee and cooking.  So much so that Ethiopia can’t meet its own sugar demands and has to import 200,000 tons of sugar a year. The cost of petroleum, used to refine the sugar, has also risen. Ethiopia does not produce its own oil and has to import petroleum, pushing the cost of sugar even higher.

Six years ago, the country turned to itself to solve its own problems. Implementing hydro-electric, geothermal, and wind energy, but Ethiopia found it could also produce molasses as a byproduct of sugar refinement. This molasses can then be turned into an ethanol based bio-fuel. Co-generation, which is the use of agricultural waste to create energy, began to be explored as well.

There are currently three sugar plants in full production producing over 300,000 tons of sugar a year as well as 62MW of electricity due to co-generation and ethanol production. These numbers are a significant increase since the program began when half of all power was used by the plant.

This is only the tip of the iceberg. “Ethiopia’s Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Gossaye Mengiste, was reported as saying that the country has the potential to produce 600MW of electricity once the 13 factories, currently under construction are complete.” Once complete the 16 factories are slated to generate exportable sugar quantity in excess of its 200,000 tons it already imports. This will give Ethiopia projection earnings of $300 million.

More importantly than making up the sugar deficit, the emissions produced by these sugar-based bio fuels, when used in cars, stoves and generators, are nearly zero.  The elimination of car emissions is one of the biggest steps to reducing the country’s carbon footprint and achieving its stated goal of zero emissions by 2025.

These ambitious talks have come under fire by some who say that it is a “condescending plan drawn up mainly by people living in highland areas but affecting the lowland population.” Sugar plantations require huge tracts of land. Many officials are turning to pastoralists to solve this problem.  The pastoralist people are southern nomadic groups that herd grazing animals from pasture to pasture.  They comprise roughly 11 percent of the population and use about 63 percent of the land.

The Ethiopian Sugar Development Agency cautioned the government about this as early as 2008, saying, “Government’s strong support in clearly defining the policy with respect to bagasse energy development is critical to the successful achievements of substituting bagasse cogeneration for imported fossil fuels or diversifying electric energy source based on renewable energy source.”

– Frederick Wood II

Sources: New Agriculturist, Reuters, ESI-AFRICA
Photo: AFK Insider

Child Poverty In the UK

Poverty In the UK
Child poverty in the UK? According to child protection and poverty charities, child poverty is rising in the United Kingdom, despite the government’s promise to eradicate it by 2020.

Bernado’s children’s charity and Child Poverty Action Group say that 3.5 million children live in poverty in Britain today. The government measures child poverty differently, not accounting for housing costs, and so they claim that the number is in fact 2.3 million.

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions spoke to the BBC about the need for “better measures of child poverty that are not so heavily dependent on where we draw the poverty line.”

Child poverty charities also accuse the government of perusing a series of economic cuts, which have hit the poor hardest and caused an unprecedented number of children to be living under the poverty line, but actually living in working homes.

On their Website, The Child Poverty Action Group remarks about the increasing trend for children living in poverty being from working homes: “Work does not provide a guaranteed route out of poverty in the UK. Two-thirds [66 percent] of children growing up in poverty live in a family where at least one member works.”

They predict that the government will not fulfil its promise to eradicate child poverty in 2020 and claim that due to current government policies, 4.7 million children will be living in poverty in the UK by 2020.

Statistics released last year also reveal that child poverty is unevenly dispersed across England, with urban areas most affected and no rural areas featuring in the top 20 list of worst affected constituencies. Manchester Central reported that 47 percent of children lived in poverty where as a few miles north in the picturesque countryside constituency of Ribble Valley, child poverty is less that 7 percent.

In London Councils, the average child poverty rate is 21 percent; however the disparity between councils can easily be seen when considering that 57 percent of children who live in Tower Hamlets in East London live in poverty, compared to only 6 percent in Wimbledon.

– Charles Bell

Sources: BBC 1, BBC 2, Child Poverty Action Group, Barnados
Photo: The Guardian

Returning the Rainforest to the Awa

returning-the-rainforest-to-the-awa
For decades, illegal loggers have invaded the Awa’s ancestral lands, which lie deep in the eastern corners of the Amazon rainforest. After them, settlers arrived, who farmed and built structures where there was once an abundance of nature, wildlife and a source of food for the Awa.

As their land has been ripped up by deforestation, most of the Awa have given up on their traditional lifestyle and moved into villages for protection.

Illegal loggers have often been aggressive to the tribe when they have been confronted, and loggers have even shot and killed indigenous people in the past.

Many of the Awa can tell stories of being on the run from the loggers and being driven away from the lands, on which their families have lived in for generations. Some have missing children who got lost when it became necessary to flee from the loggers, their machines and the destruction, which always follows the loggers’ arrival.

But now the Brazilian government is taking a stand and trying harder than ever to protect the rights of the Awa.

Dubbed “Operation Awa,” the government is cracking down on illegal logging farms and resettling the people who occupy areas where there was once rainforest. Families are given notice to pack up and are offered new homes on legal territory by the state.

The great news is that it seems to be working.

The Brazilian environmental agency is working alongside the military police and air force and ripping down any illegal structures they find. They often bring indigenous people along so the Awa can personally witness the efforts being made to help them claim back their land.

The Awa are thought to number around 450, with some still living in the rainforest uncontested. Brazil‘s National Indian Foundation believes that there are 77 isolated indigenous tribes in the amazon, while in 2013, only 30 had been located.

– Charles Bell

Sources: BBC 1, BBC 2 Survival International
Photo: Crystal Links

,

10 Child Labor Facts


Child labor, as defined by the International Labor Organization (ILO), is “work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential, and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development.” The persistence of child labor is one of the biggest obstacles to human rights globally. Child Labor perpetuates poverty by depriving children of education and leaving them without the skills needed to secure the future of themselves and their communities. This article sheds light on key child labor facts and the countries where child labor prevails.

Top 10 Child Labor Facts

  1. Much of Indonesia’s tobacco is produced by thousands of children as young as eight. Tobacco cultivation is extremely labor intensive and children are often subjected to serious health risks including nicotine poisoning.
  2. According to the ILO, 168 million children worldwide are engaged in child labor as of 2013.
  3. Of these 168 million children, 85 million are engaged in what the ILO deems “hazardous work.”
  4. According to a study conducted by the ILO in 2004, the benefits of eradicating child labor would “outweigh costs by nearly six to one.”
  5. The sub-Saharan African region has the second highest number of child laborers in the world; about 59 million in 2012. According to the Pew Research Center, 21.4 percent of children aged five to 17 are involved in child labor while 10.4 percent are engaged in hazardous work.
  6. Agriculture accounts for 60 percent of child labor according to the ILO.
  7. Only one out of five children involved in child labor is paid for their work.
  8. The majority of children in child labor perform unpaid family work.
  9. The 10 countries that strategic consulting firm Maplecroft listed as the worst countries for child labor in 2012 were: Pakistan, Afghanistan, North Korea, Myanmar, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Ethiopia, Burundi and Zimbabwe.
  10. About 60 percent of children in Ethiopia are engaged in some form of child labor. Many of these children work in the mining industry; an industry that poses some of the biggest dangers for child laborers.

Many parents in impoverished countries push their children into work out of necessity, unable to sustain their families on their own incomes.

One of the best ways to combat child labor is to provide fair wages and safe working conditions for parents so that they can provide for their families without being forced to depend on their children. To fight against child labor is the fight against global poverty.

– Matt Berg

 

Sources: Huffington Post, allAfrica, SMH, Rescue, Human Rights Watch, The Guardian, ILO 2, U.S. Department of Labor, Pew Research Center
Photo: Geneva Mission

1. Donate
2. Email Congress
3. Volunteer

 

,

The Aspen Institute

the aspen institute
All it took was one visit to Aspen, Colorado for Walter Paepcke (1896-1960) to see the potential that this area has as a gathering place for thinkers and leaders. Just four years after his visit, in 1949, Paepcke created what we now know as the Aspen Institute. There is now also another site for the institute; the Wye River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore houses another campus.

The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization, and focuses on creating leadership initiatives globally. The institute achieves this by doing four things continuously: seminars, young-leader fellowships, policy programs and public conferences and events. A recent network launched by the institute is aimed at educating people so that one day we can break the poverty cycle. This network is called The Two Generation Approach.

The Two Generation Approach recognizes that it is not usually good enough to just educate children, but parents must also be educated. How it works is by creating opportunities that address the needs of both parents and children. Three main components make up the approach: education, economic support and social capital.

Through focusing on education, programs with the Two Generation Approach give opportunities for children and parents. Giving the tools to parents to go back to school and get a degree that will land them a good job is the starting block to educating their children as well.

Economic support is also given to those in the program and these can include “housing, transportation, financial education and asset-building, tax credits, child care subsidies, student financial aid, health insurance … food assistance” and more. This relieves the parents of these stressors, so pursuing education can become their primary focus. Social capital is the last key component of the Two Generation Approach. Social capital research has proven that peer support and maintaining family relationships help lead to success.

Launching the Aspen Institute Ascend Network on April 24, 2014 required a lot of help. A group of around 60 national organizations teamed up with the Institute to represent 24 states creating two-generation approaches to end poverty.

The Aspen Institute website states that “[t]he goal of the Aspen Institute Ascend Network is to mobilize empowered two-generation organizations and leaders to influence policy and practice changes that increase economic security, educational success, social capital, and health and well-being for children, parents and their families.”

– Brooke Smith

Sources: NHSA, Aspen Institute, Aspen Institute 2
Photo: PRWeb

A Dollar a Day – A Harmful Statistic?

dollar a day
The $1 a day poverty line drawn up by the United Nations in the 1980s has been called a “successful failure” by Lant Pritchett. Pritchett is an ex-World Bank economist who is now Professor of the Practice of International Development at Harvard University’s Kennedy School.

He has described the dollar a day measurement of poverty as a successful PR stunt, which has raised awareness to the issue but has failed to translate to real improvements to the lives of the poor.

His main criticism is that donating money has been encouraged rather than economic development, which is greatly needed. Pritchett believes that at the expense of developing the world’s poorest economies for sustained growth and prosperity, we have just been throwing money at the problem, which has not been an effective solution.

Perhaps this $1 benchmark for measuring global poverty has been set too low? Someone earning $1.25 or even $3 a day still lives in dire poverty and the target number, according to Pritchett, should be $10 a day.

Regardless, the $1-a-day poverty line has for some time been out of date; in 2005 it was readjusted to modern prices and is now set at $1.25 a day. This has played a valuable role to tackling poverty over the years, according to economist Martin Ravallion, who came up with the catchy figure in the 1980s while having dinner with his wife.

Like others at the World Bank in D.C., Ravallion had noticed that poor countries were drawing their poverty lines at around $370 a year. Chatting to his wife one evening at the dinner table, Ravallion had a “eureka” moment and realised that by dividing $370 by 365 you get just over $1 – thus the simple and catchy $1 a day idea was born.

But here’s where things get complicated. The $1 a day does not mean $1 converted into local currency, say Indian Rupee. Instead economists use a formula called PPP, Purchasing Power Parity, to figure out the value of an equivalent basket of goods a dollar would buy you in the U.S.

This forms the basis of the poverty line. If you cannot afford that basket of goods worth $1 in the U.S, you are under the poverty line.

Despite the apparent contention that this way of measuring poverty has caused, it is true that the $1 a day idea has caught the public attention and raised awareness about the issue. In fact, the first UN Millennium Goal aimed at reducing global poverty aims to: “halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day.”

This high profile target was agreed upon by the UN General Assembly and embraced by most of the world’s development institutions.

Encouragingly, the World Bank has publicly announced only this month, that the goal has been met early.

– Charles Bell

Sources: BBC, World Bank
Photo: Flickr

Tanzanian Solar Power Overcoming Barriers

“Tanzania has some of the most talented artisans and technicians, but we use very old, outdated equipment, mostly from Italy, from the 1960s and ‘70s,” said Dotto Said, the supervisor at Yasir Ahmed a shop that makes windows, doors and gates.

Yet using outdated tools or “sawdust piled ankle deep” are not the biggest problems facing Tanzanians and Africans as a whole. Electricity has been identified, by many Africans, as the single biggest inhibitor of its success. Alex Adrian, a carpenter at Yasir Ahmed said. “All we need Obama [sic] to help us with is a reliable supply of electricity.”

While the President has made several trips to Africa, once to pledge 7 billion dollars to the energy relief fund, Tanzanians like Said and Adrian would like to be able to turn to themselves for help. Relief of this kind has come in the form of Helvetic Solar, a Tanzanian-based company whose goal is to supply solar panels to all those looking for electricity across Africa.

“The electrification issue was a major one and I just figured out that Tanzanians might be receptive to an alternative energy source,” said owner of Helvetic Solar, Patrick Ngowi. He discovered a love of solar power on one of his many trips to China. At this time, only 10 percent of Tanzania was on a power grid. Most companies, wealthy families and government agencies relied on generators.

In the beginning the idea struggled, but in 2007 the word spread of the benefits and Ngowi was contacted by several government, non-government agencies, and multi-national corporations to install solar panels. His company grossed 6.8 million dollars in 2012.

For a country whose GDP is low and poverty so high, is it even economically feasible for this country to convert to solar power? Forbes broke the numbers down and found it was economically more sound to install solar panels in Tanzania than Oregon. The average homeowner in Oregon will take anywhere from 15-27 years to recoup the initial investment solar panels require. This is due to a very large electrical grid already providing relatively cheap power.

When you take the same principles, apply them to Tanzania and compare the cost of fuel to run a generator in rural Tanzania to the initial cost of solar power, one find that Tanzanians can recoup their losses well enough to sell their generators.

Giant leaps in innovation like this have helped several in rural Tanzania. Lusela Murandika, a 76-year-old farmer who lives in Kanyala village in northern Tanzania, installed his solar panels for a little over 400 dollars. Murandika said that the hardest part was installation. He now runs a small side business, earning 12 cents for every cell phone he charges. Edward Buta, a solar power shop dealer, said business is booming in the Tanzanian town of Katoro. Electricity is slowly inching across Africa, but until the grid makes it into the outskirts solar power will continue to be king.

– Frederick Wood II

Sources: Mother Jones, NY Times, Forbes 1, Forbes 2
Photo: Face2Face Africa

Mongolian Microfinance: Mercy or Menace

Microlending began with the innovation of currency. Friends and family would get together and pool their money to offer help in times of hardship. Mary Coyle, director of the International Institute at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, Canada, has found many such groups throughout history and around the globe, “In West Africa, they were known as ‘tontines;’ in Bolivia, ‘pasanaku;’ and across Mexico and Central America, ‘tandas.’”

The shift from microlending to modern day microfinance came about in the 1970s. Groups such as ACCION International in Venezuela and Yunus’s Grameen Bank in Bangladesh began to institutionalize the process. They formalized the loan process and expanded on already existing microlending practices. This enabled small businesses to generate capital instead of just paying for basic necessities.

With the initial success it has long been thought that microfinance was a long term solution to the problem of poverty. While it has brought some out of poverty, it has also kept others where they were financially before the loan and in some cases worse off.

In 2009 two studies were released on the use and impact of microfinance on those that were lent money, conducted by Karlan & Zinman in Manila and Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, Rachel Glennerster and Cynthia Kinnan of J-PAL in Hyderabad, India. Neither study found that key factors of poverty had been directly impacted, though it was established that those in the Hyderabad study shifted their spending from temptation goods to durable goods. Another study in 2010 by Duflo and Co. in rural Morocco found similar results. There was no major change in poverty, but those that already had businesses did diversify.

These results have done little to curb the continued lending of XacBank in Mongolia. XacBank reported to the U.S.-based nonprofit Microfinance Information Exchange total assets of 594 million dollars and a gross loan portfolio of 393 million dollars with approximately 77,345 borrowers. The company helped a Mongolian baker turn a 100 dollar enterprise into a 75,000 dollar operation. The company and its investors have touted that many people across rural Mongolia have been helped in such ways.

This was put to the test by research done by Orazio Attanasio, Britta Augsburg, Ralph De Haas, Emla Fitzsimons and Heike Harmgart. All are affiliated with London-based institutions: the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London. The study was a random selection of three rural villages across Mongolia. Loans were explained, applicants were screened as individuals and groups and then finally money was offered. Only 50 percent of those offered loans took them.

The findings were in line with the three previous studies. “Although the loans provided under this experiment were originally intended to finance business creation, we find that in both the group—and in the individual-lending villages, about one half of all credit is used for household rather than business goals. Women who obtained access to microcredit often used the loans to purchase household assets, in particular large domestic appliances. Only among women that were offered group loans do we find an impact on business creation.”

With such little change in the poverty rate, some wonder why we would continue this trend of microlending. It has proven to help some, but the vast majority either can’t access the funds or are turned down due to credit issues.

Hope comes from the Norwegian Nobel Committee, when they spoke of Yunus and his work: “Yunus’s long-term vision is to eliminate poverty in the world. That vision cannot be realized by means of microcredit alone. But Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that in the continuing efforts to achieve it, microcredit must play a major part.”

– Frederick Wood II

Sources: UNDP, NY Times, MicroCapital, The World Bank, Center for Global Development, NPR, PBS
Photo: Bloomberg Business Week

,

Healthcare of Syrian Refugees

Syrian childWith over nine million Syrians displaced by the ongoing conflict, it is no surprise that there is a dire need for medical services in refugee camps. The situation for Syrian refugees is worsening due to a lack of international funding in the healthcare sector. According to Amnesty International, some families are becoming so desperate that they have resorted to going back to Syria to receive proper treatment.

In 2013, the United Nations initiated a $4.4 billion humanitarian appeal, one of the largest aid requests made by the organization. However, it is estimated that just over one-third of the requested funding has been received.

As more people flee to neighboring countries, including Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, hospital care and specialized treatment is becoming more insufficient. The healthcare of Syrian refugee children is particularly concerning, with millions at risk of becoming malnourished, dehydrated and exploited.

In Lebanon, the health system is highly privatized and expensive, thus leaving the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to take care of the majority of the population. With limited funds, UNHCR has implemented strict eligibility criteria in order for Syrian refugees to receive medical treatment. Even if the criteria are met, many of the refugees have to pay a portion out of pocket.

In many cases, refugees often go untreated. Arif, a 12 year-old boy who suffered from severe burns to his legs, was denied hospital access after UNHCR decided he did not qualify for subsidized care. Consequently, his health started to deteriorate as his legs swelled and became infected. Volunteer doctors were eventually found to perform his operations, but they did not have the specialized equipment to continue.

Unfortunately, Arif’s story is not unique. The healthcare of Syrian refugees has not been improving and there needs to be a push to strengthen the capacity of health institutions where the Syrian refugee population is predicted to accelerate. Patients with chronic illnesses have strained the existing health services in the affected countries and UNHCR is struggling to find solutions without international assistance.

– Leeda Jewayni

Sources: Syrian Refugees, World Vision, Amnesty International, UNHCR
Photo: Beauty Programs

AMURT: Relief Team with Individualized Solutions

AMURT
Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team, or AMURT, readily admits “that there are no ready-made solutions to problems of poverty. Every situation is unique and requires its own local solution.”

In 1965, AMURT was founded as one of the few private international volunteer organizations in India. The original objective was to meet the needs of Indians of the sub-continent after the many natural disasters that strike there every year. This specificity of relief became the backbone for the expansion that this organization has seen over the last four decades. The U.S. contributes over 1.9 million dollars annually to this organization. The U.N. recognized it as an international NGO in 1991.

The AMURT office network now extends to over thirty-four countries and the field network covers 180 countries through its ashrams. Acharya Bhaveshananda Avadhuta, the public relations secretary of Ananda Marga, says there is “a band of over 5000 trained whole-timers of which 2000 are women.” All AMURT field directors are from the areas they serve. Due to this they are much more able to promote a solution to fit the particular circumstances of a local disaster.

Most recently, these disaster relief efforts have helped over 15,000 Syrians fleeing from the war in Lebanon by providing food, warmth and schooling for displaced children. In February of this year, when super typhoon Yolanda hit the Philippines, AMURT responded across five islands, feeding cooked food and bottled water to tens of thousands people who had suddenly been thrust into poverty. In 2013, when Northern India and the surrounding area experienced torrential floods, AMURT responded with 20 locations across the area providing food, non-food item and medical attention.

Disaster relief may have been the foundation, but AMURT relief extended its reach in 1985 to include long-term development. AMURT feels that it can play a very important role in breaking the cycle of poverty by helping vulnerable communities. “For us, development is human exchange: people sharing wisdom, knowledge and experience to build a better world.”

Some of these programs have educated thousands and others are still educating today. In Romania the “Transitional Housing Program” has helped several youth find housing, motivational counseling and life skills. In 2010 AMURT began a community healthcare system in Kenya aimed at reducing maternal mortality rates. They have also established similar programs in Burkina Faso and begun the “Access to Water” program within the country, partnering with Water Shed Management.

The list of positive steps towards the elimination of poverty on a global scale will continue to go on and on for AMURT. It attributes much of the success to its well-defined mission statement and principles. Its mission is “to help improve the quality of life for the poor and disadvantaged people of the world, and those affected by calamity and conflict. We encourage and enable individuals and communities to harness their own resources for securing the basic necessities of life and for gaining greater economic, social and spiritual fulfillment, while honoring their customs, language, and religious beliefs.”

If you would like to find an AMURT office near you or donate money to their disaster relief cause please contact AMURT at https://www.amurt.net/contact/ or by phone at 1-301-738-7122.

– Frederick Wood II

Sources: AMURT 1, AMURT 2, AMURT 3, AMURT 4, LifePositive, FedSpending.org, The New York Times
Photo: Flickr