Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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Samasource: Outsourcing and Poverty

Outsourcing is a controversial topic in the United States, oftentimes discussed alongside the current unemployment rate. The phenomenon has been addressed politically since the emergence of a world market and is especially infamous in the high-tech industry.

It is difficult to take a hard stance on the issue. On one hand, outsourcing is viewed as unfairly stripping Americans of much needed jobs. On the other hand, outsourcing is seen as essential for the success of some businesses, often involving tasks that Americans have little or no desire to do at unreasonable wages and levels of demand.

Perhaps both stances can be fairly arguable under different contexts, but under which context do American voices fight for the needs of the people taking these outsourced jobs? If high-tech is the future of international industry, shouldn’t the leading nations give way for developing countries to enter the new world market?

One company is framing outsourcing in a whole new light. Samasource, an innovative Silicon Valley startup, views outsourcing jobs to developing nations as not only mutually beneficial, but a key element to lifting communities out of extreme poverty (living on less than $1.75 a day).

Samasource is based in San Francisco and partners with pioneering Bay Area tech giants such as LinkedIn, Google and Microsoft. These companies send Samasource large collections of data (referred to as “big data”) which the nonprofit breaks down into simple projects according to their Microwork model.

The work is then given to their overseas employees in one of nine delivery centers in Haiti, India, Kenya and Uganda. Employment is granted to qualified women and young adults who undergo 2-4 weeks of training. Aside from the fact that tasks are as basic as content moderation, photo-tagging and routine data entry, the workplace imagery resonates with a typical First World office environment that many Americans can identify with.

And that’s the point. The people living in extreme poverty are often educated and willing to work but there is the standing assumption that developing nations have a populace who are limited due to lack of education or political stability. However, many have found that these areas simply lack the economic infrastructure to work in advanced industries.

When founder Leilah Janah graduated high school a semester early to volunteer as an English teacher in Ghana she was surprised to see so many educated and capable individuals living in extreme poverty. They could even speak English, but there just wasn’t any work.

Janah has been praised as a Silicon Valley superstar for her individual incentive to work hard domestically to bring jobs to those in need. Embracing the ideology of “sama,” which means “same” in Sanskrit, Janah has adopted the perspective that everyone deserves the agency to help themselves live a dignified lifestyle through employment. To accomplish this, Janah found outsourcing to be the answer.

Currently, 1.4 billion people live on less than $1.75 a day, and Samasource has calculated that 43 million people can benefit from their Microwork model by creating new jobs in the tech market overseas rather than sending them away. Samasource has already lifted 15,000 people out of extreme poverty by providing jobs to 4,100 workers with families to support. Continuing their efforts to help everyone succeed, the nonprofit has recently created their SamaUSA program which teaches City College of San Francisco students high tech skills at no cost.

Samasource isn’t the end-all solution; international aid is still necessary to provide basic needs for people. Once basic needs are met, providing jobs is the next step to helping those in need to help themselves.

– Edward Heinrich

Sources: Forbes, Mission Local, Samasource, The Telegraph
Photo: The Telegraph

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Four Feminists From Around the World

With each May comes college graduation, where young women across the United States will enter the period of their lives in which they must begin to consider the future.  These women will begin to marry, attain their first real jobs, move away from their families and pursue further education.  During this time of transition, many will encounter the realities of gender inequality: reconciling children and career, lower pay, pressure to marry and harassment and discrimination at the workplace.

Here are a few modern feminists to look to for guidance:

1.  Sarojini Sahoo – India

Throughout her writings, Dr. Sahoo discusses the idea of feminism as independent of male hegemony.  Instead, she advocates for financial liberation and the rejection of double standards in human sexuality.  Sahoo, who has a master’s and a doctorate in Oriya Literature as well as a law degree, writes with an undeniable boldness in describing the sexual nature of her characters and addressing the fears of rape and social condemnation.  She was named one of the 25 Most Exceptional Women of India by Kindle Magazine, and certainly not without reason.

2. Leila Ahmed – Egypt

The rise of Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt brought great change to Dr. Ahmed’s young life. She became the first professor of Women’s Studies in Religion at Harvard, where she wrote Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate.  The book, considered the most comprehensive of its kind, examines the gender stereotypes both within and outside her religion.  Ahmed has shared her opposition to Western assumptions about the role of women in Arab society–an issue any feminist would do well to ponder.

3. Dilma Rousseff – Brazil

Few presidents have a history with an underground resistance against military dictatorship, but even fewer are also women.  In 1970, Dilma Rousseff spent three years in a prison in which she was tortured.  She led the Board of Petrobras before winning the presidential election in October 2010.  Since taking office, Rousseff has fought for the reduction of poverty, the improvement of national education and the empowerment of women.

4. Joyce Hilda Banda – Malawi

Serving as the first female president of Malawi – a conservative and male-dominated country – is an accomplishment many said Banda would never achieve.  The stubborn Banda refused to resign after taking office upon the sudden death of her successor. In the same manner she refused to stay with an abusive husband or apologize to Madonna.  Before having been constitutionally elected vice president, she founded the National Association of Business Women and the Joyce Banda Foundation to help educate children.  The Hunger Project awarded her the 1997 Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger.  As president, she has decriminalized homosexuality, sold the presidential jet and 60 government limousines and refused to allow the International Criminal Court indicted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to enter Malawi as part of an African Union Summit.

Although these women represent only a fraction of the world’s women worthy of admiration, their work can serve to inspire.

– Erica Lignell

Sources: Sarojini Sahoo, About, University of Minnesota, BBC, LA Times, Forbes, Independent
Sources: The Guardian

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Bolsa Familia in Brazil

Brazil has created an anti-poverty program, Bolsa Familia “Family Grant,” which gives cash money to mostly women. Since its implementation in 2003, around 11 million families, a quarter of Brazil’s population, have joined the Bolsa Familia program. This program is the largest of its kind and is based on a conditional cash transfer.

If a family earns less than 120 reais ($68) per family member each month, the mothers are given debit cards and up to 95 reais ($35 to $70) each month by the federal government. As part of the program, their children are required to attend school and receive vaccinations. If a family does not meet these conditions, their payments are suspended after several warnings.

Similarly, microfinance programs in Brazil give women loans to empower them and alleviate poverty. Although evidence from several studies supports the idea that microfinance empowers women, these microfinance programs have not succeeded due to their reinforcement of “informality of labor and the creation and persistence of gendered discourse that places greater burden on women.” The microfinance loans, despite the programs’ positive intentions, may place women under greater stress. Instead of pursuing activities that may benefit themselves and their families, these women can become trapped by the programs, and become less independent as a result.

The microfinance programs give loans and credit to primarily women because they believe that females are more reliable than men, and that they will use the money on food, education and family; women will not squander the money on alcohol, drugs and gambling.

However, are women truly more reliable than men? Although researchers argue that women repay loans faster and save more money than men do, this may be due to popular perceptions of the female gender. Women are believed to be more honest, sensitive, caring and nurturing due to their gender and traditional female roles of childrearing and domestic chores.

There are two main concerns about the program. First, corruption and fraud could prevent beneficiaries from receiving 100% of the money. Local officials could also report inaccurate information on eligibility to receive kickbacks. Second, these programs are meant to be a “temporary boost” to aid the poorest families in Brazil. Critics worry that it could turn into a permanent program upon which many families will remain dependent.

While the microfinance programs have failed, Bolsa Familia has seen early success. The program has reduced income inequality across the country, encouraged the growth of small businesses and increased the rate of economic growth. The cash money allows women to be more financially independent from their husbands and to have a larger decision making role in the household. After 10 years of the Bolsa Familia program, researchers have found that the program is empowering women and changing traditional gender roles in Brazil.

– Sarah Yan

Sources: Deseret News National, Economist, Prospect Journal
Photo: Keck Journal

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Rising Global Inequality

Global_Inequality_sucks
Everywhere one looks in the news media, the word inequality is beamed into television sets, either through the banter between detached pundits or through the bullhorns of activists storming littered streets.

Brought to the forefront of policy debates after the full force of the Great Recession was being felt, the rising, global inequality between the rich and the poor has stoked the powerful emotions of the disenfranchised.

And now, a French professor, Thomas Piketty, is ratcheting up the debate even further with a massive tome designed to showcase just how vast the gulf between rich and poor has become.

The book is called “Capital in the 21st Century” and in it Piketty attempts to address the reasons behind the trend of rising inequality throughout the world during the past decade.

And people’s ears are perking up; the book reached number one on Amazon.com shortly after its release.

Oxfam recently released a report detailing the harm global inequality is inflicting on the lives of the poor, as well as its effect on governance. Oxfam notes that 85 people in the world collectively own the same amount of wealth as the bottom half of the world’s population.

They note that stocks and corporate profits are continuously climbing, while wages have stagnated. And one of the most prominent concerns among the public is the over-representation of the wealthy’s concerns in governments around the world.

But has there been no progress? Has the state of those inhabiting the poorer regions of the world not changed at all? In reality, many things have changed for the better in the past several decades.

Between 1981 and 2008, the amount of people living on one dollar a day fell by 750 million. That is astronomical progress, but if one looks between countries rather than within, the inequality gap is as big as ever.

So what can be done? Many people have lost faith due to a perceived shift in political power away from the average voter and toward the wealthy and politically connected. Despite voters heading to the polls again and again, politicians routinely implement policies that do nothing to truly address rising inequality.

This happens despite the fact that most people agree great inequality is undesirable; most view its alleviation as a good thing, so long as the policies are sensible and do not harm the overall economy.

Many individuals complain of vast oligarchies setting policy against the average man, but fail to show up at the voting booth (a problem in America especially).

It’s more important to show support for policies and politicians that will actually implement effective and sensible policies to reduce inequality than to simply bemoan the current state of affairs.

Policies such as the expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit in the United States, and increasing social spending in poor countries to actually reach those in need are just a couple things that can alleviate inequality.

The policies are there. It is simply up to the public to remain informed and active within their respective societies.

– Zachary Lindberg

Sources: Oxfam, The New Yorker, The Guardian
Photo: Salon

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Why Promoting Education in Maldives is Crucial

Maldives has made significant strides in creating a robust and effective education system for its young students. In 1978, the government of Maldives created a unified state education system. As a direct result, the literacy rate of the nation has increased from 70 percent in 1978 to 98 percent today. Additionally, the literacy rate is now even for men and women while primary education is universal throughout the nation.

However, there are unique challenges in further improving access to education in Maldives. One of the toughest challenges is a matter of geography. There are 192 inhabited islands in Maldives, many of which are isolated and difficult to travel to and from. While secondary and special education is particularly strong in the capital city of Male, 70 percent of students live on islands far away from Male, so access to these institutions is difficult.  Furthermore, two-thirds of teachers on these islands are untrained and do not have proper facilities or resources to hold classes. And recruiting teachers from other islands or teachers from abroad is tough.

While Male has flourished as a contemporary cultural center, there is a distinct disconnect between the city and the rural areas of the country. Students from islands deemed too small to even host a secondary school must make costly and time-consuming travel arrangements to schools in larger areas. This leads to families hesitating to send their children off to school. It also creates a gender gap in secondary schooling.

Only 65 percent of the population attends secondary school and only seven percent attend a university. The result is a workforce that is not qualified for an industrial and technological job market that can further improve and diversify the economy of Maldives. And with 35 percent of its population under the age of 18, Maldives will face a significant amount of young people entering the job market as under-qualified.

To combat these issues, organizations such as UNICEF and Microsoft are partnering with the government of Maldives to create innovative solutions.  UNICEF is in the process of creating 20 “Teacher Resource Centers,” which will give rural teachers Internet and satellite access to online databases and curriculum.  Microsoft is launching the “Coding Your Way to Opportunity” grant program to encourage youth in Maldives to participate in computer programming.  These programs are crucial steps in helping Maldives continue to develop a sustainable education system.

– Taylor Diamond

Sources: UNICEF, World Bank, UN Development Program
Photo: EDC Online

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Just a Drop: Creating Access to Clean Water

Imagine getting up every morning and walking miles just to get a drink of water. And what if that water, the only source of potable water in the area, was full of infectious bacteria? That is the struggle that Gertrude Namakon faced in Uganda, as do many others the world over. Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease, something developed countries with steady access to drinking fountains and faucets do not have to deal with.

However, organizations like Just a Drop are working to fix this. Founded in 1998 by Fiona Jeffery, Just a Drop has a simple goal of providing clean water to people who need it. The international aid charity focuses on funding individual projects around the world to help address water needs worldwide.

Improving access to water is important for a multitude of reasons, such as helping relieve poverty, female equality and education as well as saving the lives of children. Nearly 780 million people like Gertrude do not have access to clean water, and many must travel a significant distance every day to bring that unsafe water back to their homes for cooking, cleaning and sanitation purposes. In rural India, up to 22% of a woman’s day is retrieving water, taking time away from education and time away from making money through business or trade.

Just a Drop wants this to change. “Our main mission is to convey the message that just 1 pound or $2 can give one child clean water for nearly ten years; therefore if each of us gives a little then collectively we can make a huge difference,” says Fiona Jeffery. By raising funds from donations from individuals and businesses, they are able to fund projects to go to these rural areas. The projects are community based, building up both the structures like wells and fountains for the water, and also the maintenance and management structures to help out in the long term.

Just a Drop has helped 31 countries by funding over 130 projects worldwide. These projects in turn have helped nearly 1.5 million people, like Ugandan Gertrude Namakon. By building a well and water pump near her school, Gertrude doesn’t have to walk miles to reach drinkable water. “It will make a big difference to my life,” she says. “It will be wonderful to be able to get clean water from a well without being sick all the time.”

Jeffery says, “Life without water is an endless struggle but with it, so many things are possible.” If a child dies every 20 seconds due to unclean water, they do not get that chance. By both raising awareness about the issue, and funding the projects to fix it, Just a Drop is doing a lot to help out the too many people at risk due to unsafe, hard-to-reach sources of water all over the world.

To volunteer, or to donate, go to JustaDrop.org.

– Matthew Erickson

Sources: Just a Drop: What We Do, Just a Drop: 6 Reasons to Support Just A Drop, Oxford, Water, Travel Research Online
Photo: Red Orbit

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The Unwanted Women in China

Over the past few years, Chinese media has been portraying the image of an unwanted leftover woman. The term leftover woman, has been used in the media to persuade women to be less career-minded, ambitious and be more centered on matrimony. The prospect of an educated, successful women in her late 20s is made to appear more like a death sentence than a good thing.

There has been a recent backlash over the past few decades against women’s rights in China. Recent gender inequality is beginning to rear its ugly head again and perpetuating the idea that women are not focused on the traditional way, which is marriage and motherhood. Less than half of China’s women are employed and that rate continues to drop each year. The Gender Gap report stated that an average income for women is 67% of men’s income while the nation is ranked 50 out of 137 countries for equal wage. Female employment has gone down over 10% through the past 10 years, due to the gender based view of the unwanted, over-achieving women in China.

A woman facing the business marketplace in China endures discrimination based on her gender and measuring up to the beauty standards placed on women in the professional world. Some Chinese women are told from a young age not to pursue certain careers like those in the medical field, because that would make them seem undesirable to a man. The pressure increases as women finish school and grow into their mid-twenties to settle down and have a family. There is also the pressure to maintain a perfect figure instead of embracing the normalcy of aging. Women that do not fit these molds and instead gain higher education are blamed for the high numbers of unmarried men.

Leta Hong Fincher, author of “Leftover Women,” states that “the image of the left over women is everywhere and in the end it is insulting.” In her book, she explains that the Chinese government is blaming these women for the high number of single adult males. The fear is that those unmarried men will cause problems relating to the social stability in China. Moreover, problems like bride kidnapping and prostitution are increasing each year the marriage crisis continues.

The traditional view of men and women, that men are superior to women, has molded the Chinese culture today. The Chinese government passed the one child law in the 1980s and gender-based abortions have skyrocketed since 1995, when gender-confirming technology was introduced. The fact is that Chinese families prefer a son over a baby girl. This supports the overwhelming number of men under the age of thirty in China today.

China’s rapidly-changing economy is changing how women view their positions in society. Women want access to the same positions as men, and are doing so by obtaining higher degrees such as masters and PhDs. These degree programs require more time spent in school and women are not looking to marry until later in their twenties. The traditional mind-set of these women is fading and marriage is no longer the focal point. The market in China continues to be flooded with men, but the future of  highly-qualified women reaching the same opportunities is changing China’s structure and providing women with more rights.

– Rachel Cannon

Sources: The Telegraph, The Economist
Photo: Ministry of Harmony

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The “Solution” to Sexual Assault in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan Women’s Affairs and Child Development Minister Tissa Karaliyadda remarked that female victims should marry the males who sexually assaulted them to reduce the amount of rape in Sri Lanka. If the victim is underage, he suggests that the marriage be postponed until the victim reaches the age of eighteen, the legal age of consent in the country.

Karaliyadda explained to local media that, “the idea is to ensure the victim gets justice. If she feels the rapist must marry her for what he did to her, then she must have that option.”

But why would a girl wish to marry the person who sexually assaulted her? Is it because girls who have sex before their marriage will find it extremely difficult to find a husband in the future? Does their society mark them as unclean and force them to atone for the sexual assault? Is marriage the only solution to rid them of their dishonor?

Sri Lanka’s President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has a different viewpoint. He believes that underage female rape victims should not wait until age eighteen to be married. He is quoted saying “if under aged girls are statutorily raped and the sexual act was however with consent, it may be good to have legislation that allows the perpetrator to marry the victim with her consent.”

What is most unsettling about Rajapaksa’s quote is not the part about forcing attackers to marry their underage victims, but that sexual activity between a child and an adult can be consensual.

In Sri Lanka, eighteen marks the age of consent, maturity and adulthood. Eighteen-year-olds can legally drive, smoke, drink alcohol and provide consent for sexual activity. The age of consent varies across the globe from twelve in Angola to twenty-one years old in Bahrain.

Rajapaksa’s belief that sexual activity between a child and an adult can be consensual is incorrect. Not only are their brains and bodies not fully developed, most children lack the emotional maturity and awareness to make informed important decisions. This is why statutory rape laws exist. Statutory rape laws are designed to prevent adults from “exploiting the ignorance, the trust, the inexperience and the terror of children.”

Chamal Rajapaksa, current Speaker of the Parliament and also the elder brother of President Rajapaksa, believes that “nobody can make men responsible for the violence against women. Women are responsible for it.” It is exactly this kind of viewpoint that perpetuates gender inequality and sexual assault in societies where women have very little agency. Sexual assault in Sri Lanka and gender equality is not merely a women’s issue, as it affects men, women, boys and girls. Instead of focusing on finding remedies to sexual assault after it has already happened, perhaps officials should attempt to prevent sexual assault in Sri Lanka before they actually take place.

-Sarah Yan

Sources: First Post, Buzzfeed, Care 2, Sri Lanka Guardian

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World Vision: Sponsor a Child

Before deciding to sponsor a child through World Vision, 23-year-old Charlotte Bleeker bought a latte everyday on her way to work, ate out three to four times a week, and had her nails done on a regular basis.

“It’s not that they’re bad things, they’re just unnecessary. I have a coffee pot at home, food in my pantry, and am fully capable of painting my own nails,” Bleeeker said.

In 2013, Bleeker attended a local Christmas concert in which representatives from an organization called World Vision were there with pictures of children from around the world who needed to be sponsored. Bleeker saw the picture that is now on her fridge of four-year-old Eva from Zambia, and could not resist becoming her sponsor. Sponsorship entailed a monthly payment of $40 to allow Eva to go to school and buy necessities.

Bleeker’s mom immediately questioned her decision, urging her to save money to pay off loans and invest in her future. “You need to be more stable financially before you start sponsoring a child,” her mom would say.

What Bleeker’s mom was unable to foresee was that sponsoring a child was the best possible decision for Bleeker in making wise financial decisions.

“All of a sudden I was questioning the things that I used to instinctively spend money on,” Bleeker stated. Eva, halfway across the globe, was teaching Bleeker to appreciate and save her money for the first time.

“My parents always stressed the importance of saving my money, but because I had never experienced a lack of money I didn’t necessarily value it,” Bleeker admitted. Now when contemplating whether or not to stop at Starbucks in the morning, Bleeker thinks of Eva and how much additional money beyond the $40 will help her and easily resists the latte.

Bleeker is also able to write letters to Eva on the World Vision website as often as she likes.

“Sometimes I won’t hear back from her for months, it’s a process for them to get the letters to her but they always do and she always replies, thanking me numerous times in every letter. I feel like I should be thanking her for opening my eyes,” Bleeker expressed.

In addition to letters from Eva, Bleeker also receives reports courtesy of World Vision describing Eva’s progress as well as development in her community. In these reports, sponsors also receive an updated photo of their sponsored child.

Along with Eva, World Vision assists 100 million people in 100 countries today. For Bleeker it was not a matter of not having enough money to sponsor Eva but rather whether or not she was willing to give certain things up. For Bleeker, it means less dining out and more cooking.

“Eva has inspired me to be a better cook!” Bleeker proclaimed. Sponsoring Eva has enriched Bleeker’s life and given her a greater sense of purpose.

Americans hear countless stories of how sponsored children progress and thrive because of organizations like World Vision, but must also acknowledge the progress and growth that occurs when we put others before ourselves.

-Heather Klosterman

Sources: World Vision
Photo: World Vision

Polio Workers Released By Abductors

After nearly three months in captivity, six polio workers of the World Health Organization (WHO) have been released by their abductors in Frontier Regional Tank (FR Tank), stated an official on Wednesday.

On the morning of February 17, the six employees departed for Peeng village, located in the northwestern region of Pakistan, to administer polio vaccination drops. Unidentified armed men abducted their convoy and held them in an undisclosed location.

According to the official, the release was largely due to a jirga, a tribal council comprised of eight local tribal elders, who succeeded in negotiating with the captors. Thus far no group has claimed responsibility for the abduction nor is it known whether a ransom was paid.

Those kidnapped included three security personnel, two doctors and their driver. A similar situation took place in February when one polio worker and three Levies personnel were kidnapped from Awaran and released one day later.

Although these hostages were released, the level of violence against polio workers remains a serious threat. It has interrupted polio vaccination operations in the past. Women have often been the target of such violence, with as many as 30 employees of Lady Health Workers, a female health organization, killed in the past two years. In late March one female polio vaccinator was kidnapped from her home and violently murdered.

Beginning in 2006 and escalating in 2011 after the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, Taliban officials residing mainly in the northern, tribal regions of Pakistan, have vilified polio vaccination teams as spies seeking to sterilize Pakistani children.

This constant struggle between militant groups and polio vaccination teams has increasingly had an effect on children, the main beneficiaries of the vaccine.

Reports of polio in Pakistan increased from six cases in 2013 to 54 in 2014, the majority of which originate from the tribal regions of the country, specifically North Waziristan, South Waziristan, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the densely populated Peshawar Valley.

Even more significant is the increase in polio sightings outside of the three countries in which it is still endemic—Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan. So far this year, cases have been reported in Equatorial Guinea, Iraq, Cameroon, Syria and Ethiopia.

If trends continue, the WHO warns that untreated polio may result in 200,000 new cases every year.

– Emily Bajet

Sources: The Guardian, Central Asia Online, The News, The News, Tribune, Dawn, Dawn
Photo: Headline Asia