Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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5 Reasons To Go Volunteer

Volunteers are a major part of many different organizations. In some cases, they are what keep an organizations running. Volunteering can be a very rewarding way to use your spare time or it can be used to strengthen your resume. If you are on the fence about volunteering, here are five reasons to get out and help make a difference.

1. Volunteers help save resources – Those who donate their time allow organizations to use the resources they save and apply them elsewhere. Volunteering can be a great way to help out an organization you support.

2. Connect with the community– Volunteering allows you to meet other people who share the same interests and passions as you. Volunteering can also help you help your community. Volunteering with mentoring, tutoring or elderly care programs allows you the opportunity to give back and can improve the overall quality of resources and facilities where you live.

3. An opportunity to gain professional experience– If you are looking to gain relevant work experience, volunteering is a good way to improve your resume. Volunteering is also a way to help you decide where you want to take your career. Volunteering in different places in high school and college can help you narrow down your interests while gaining valuable life skills and work experience.

4. You will be surprised by what you learn– You may go in with expectations when you start volunteering, but often times you will be surprised about what you will learn about where you work and even yourself. Depending on where you volunteer, you can learn a lot about how that particular place works. Maybe you work as a receptionist answering phones at a nonprofit, but by the end, you will have an inside look at how nonprofits generally work.

5. You can make a difference– Volunteering is one of the best ways to make a difference in an area you are passionate about. One of the most important things to know is that every person counts, so get up, donate your time, and help change the world.

– Colleen Eckvahl

Sources: UCSD, The Lean Green Been, Volunteer Match
Photo: Wallpaperseek

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Equatorial Guinea Poverty

Equatorial Guinea
Being one of the last remaining colonies of the once expansive Spanish Empire, Equatorial Guinea became independent in 1968 during the rule of Spanish General Francisco Franco. This West African nation is very interesting in many aspects. Its capital is located on an island faraway from the mainland, it is the only Hispanophone country in West Africa—barring the territory of West Sahara—and it also has the highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in Sub-Saharan Africa.

However, in this relatively prosperous country, approximately two-thirds of the population lives in extreme poverty.

Despite the discovery of oil and other natural resources that the countries of West Africa have been bequeathed with by their geographical locations and an extremely small population of less than a million people, it is rather paradoxical that the richest country in Sub-Saharan Africa and the region’s third-largest oil producer whose size is roughly the same as Massachusetts allows more than half of its people to fall into abject poverty.

In neighboring Cameroon, where the GDP per capital is only a tenth of that of Equatorial Guinea, for example, much less than two-thirds of the entire population lives in extreme poverty. To put it in comparison, Equatorial Guinea’s GDP per capita is greater than those of Italy, South Korea or Saudi Arabia.

Moreover, other statistics regarding the country’s standard of living are also equally — if not more — frustrating. Only about half of the country’s population has access to clean drinking water, overcrowded living condition is—surprisingly given the country’s low population density—rampant and very few children enjoy the advantages of urban life such as education, medical services and recreational facilities.

Despite the grinding poverty suffered by hundreds of thousands, Equatorial Guinea seems to often escape the radar of global attention due to the highly distorted numerical means, which shows the country in good standing in terms of GDP per capita. However, in reality, there is a flagrant discrepancy that is indicative of a rather stark disparity between the have and the have-not.

To make this inequity even more unsettlingly palpable and conspicuous, the country is also building a brand new and expensive capital city on the mainland, hundreds of miles away from where the majority of the already sparsely populated country lives. Currently, Malabo, situated on an island to the far northern reaches of the country, is the capital, while Bata, an Atlantic seaport, serves as the country’s largest city.

However, Oyala—under construction—will serve as Equatorial Guinea’s President (and Africa’s longest-ruling dictator) Teodoro Obiang’s new capital. What is his supporting rationale? His government’s and his own safety and security. This project is expected to cost billions of dollars before it finishes in a country where over 60 percent of the population is struggling to live on less than $1 per day.

It is clear where at least some of the immense amount of wealth of this nation goes. In 2012, the French police sent out an arrest warrant of Teodorín Obiang, the son of the Equatoguinean president who had to escape Paris back to his own country. Upon investigation, they found evidence of an obscene accumulation of wealth. Teodoro Obiang—his father and the country’s leader—is also leading an extremely corrupt government. A criminal investigation launched in Spain revealed that there are 11 families with close ties to the Obiang family who are amassing most of the country’s wealth.

Equatorial Guinea is a tragic archetype of a country that could have been highly developed and whose citizens could have enjoyed a very high standard of living. However, the lack of democracy has allowed only a handful of individuals to accumulate most of the country’s vast wealth.

– Peewara Sapsuwan

Sources: Europa Press, International Business Times, IEACH, Open Society Foundations
Photo: World Rainforest Movement

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School Lunch Program in Thailand Targets Malnutrition

Thailand is known for having one of the best nutritional programs in Asia. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), Thailand has successfully dropped child malnutrition from 36% to approximately 8.42% within 30 years.

Thailand’s success stemmed from an in-depth look at growth rates, nutritional education, supplementation of iron and vitamins, as well as a focus on health coverage. It was also one of the primary countries to reach out to the community as a basis for promoting an end to malnutrition – specifically in children.

One method for reducing malnutrition in Thailand among school-aged children is the School Lunch Program, which supplies lunch at no cost to children struggling to maintain a healthy weight, or students who are unable to afford lunch. These lunches also aim to “educate students about desirable eating habits, values, and social manners.”

Students from rural areas have specifically been the victims of malnutrition in Thailand. Although rice is a staple food, the large amount of production does not necessarily correlate with balanced meals or eating a satisfactory amount required for healthy growth, both physically and mentally. Since diet is mainly based on rice, a lack of protein in diets are a large contributor to malnutrition in Thailand; also among the nutrients lacking in diets are iron, iodine and vitamin A.

SLP is currently providing all kindergarten and elementary public schools, reaching about 30,000 schools and 700,000 preschoolers. School Lunch Program currently provides meals for students for 200 days during the school year. The program started off by focusing merely on the amount of meals that were able to reach students. Now the meals are geared around the nutritional value.

With the help from the School Lunch Program many students whose diets are lacking in balance, or worse nonexistent, now receive meals at school that they may not have been able to receive at home.

The meals that Thailand is able to provide to children not only helps their struggle with malnutrition, but also helps with their ability to focus, gain weight, and grow cognitively.

– Rebecca Felcon

Sources: Rappler, Right To Food Campaign, World Food
Photo: IIRR

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Africa’s 3 Formidable Female Presidents

1. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia

In 2006, Sirleaf became the first elected female head in Africa. As the new Liberian president, she had inherited a war-torn country that was desperate for peace after 13 years of civil war and violence. Her administration rebuilt Liberia’s economy, strengthened its infrastructure, erased the enormous national debt and tackled problems like corruption, security, education and women’s rights.

In 2011, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in promoting democracy and gender equality. Nicknamed the “Iron Lady,” Sirleaf continues to promote increased education and opportunity for women to gain skills and become more competitive in the world. She showed the world that women could no longer be excluded from African politics.

She is currently serving her second term as president after winning re-election in 2011.

“The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them. If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.”- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

2. President Joyce Banda of Malawi

In 2012, after the sudden death of President Bingu wa Mutharika, his vice president became the first female president of Malawi and the second female head of an African state.

As the first two female presidents of African nations, Banda and Sirleaf share a common background. Both women escaped abusive marriages and overcame single motherhood and poverty to become leaders of African nations. Both women are strong supporters of women’s rights, women’s education and reproductive rights. After taking office, Banda launched the Presidential Initiative for Maternal Health and Safe Motherhood. In Liberia, Sirleaf founded the Reach Every Pregnant Woman program to ensure medical care for pregnant women.

“Most African women are taught to endure abusive marriages. They say endurance means a good wife but most women endure abusive relationship because they are not empowered economically” – Joyce Banda

3. President Catherine Samba-Panza in the Central African Republic

In January, Catherine Samba-Panza defeated seven other candidates to be elected as the Central African Republic’s (CAR) interim president. Due to months of violence and killings, the CAR has collapsed politically and economically. She has the colossal task of leading the state safely into elections next year, rebuilding the CAR’s government and economy, and repairing the hostile relationship between the Muslim Seleka fighters and the Christian anti-balaka militias.

Called “Mother Courage,” Samba-Panza continues to promote women’s rights in a country where men dominate. She cites Sirleaf as her political inspiration and vows to find a solution to her country’s problems.

“The majority of my sisters and daughters in the Central African Republic don’t know their rights so they can’t defend them. But we who know our rights can help them. We must always help them: the battle is always to promote and protect the rights of women. When they are victims of violence, notably sexual violence, in the area of my activities in civil society, it was a battle I always led.” – Catherine Samba-Panza

– Sarah Yan

Sources: The Root, The Guardian, BBC

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Seattle Foundations

The city of Seattle is the headquarters of many great philanthropic organizations and nonprofits. With Seattle foundations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to our very own The Borgen Project, the city offers countless ways to get involved in the community or make an impact on a state, national or global level.

To help you in your quest to become an active citizen of the world around you, here are some Seattle foundations and non-governmental organizations to consider:

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Led by Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, the Foundation’s mission is to help people live healthy, productive lives and uplift those in battling extreme poverty and hunger. With an endowment of $40.2 billion, the Foundation is in the best position to provide dozens of grants to for initiatives such as childhood immunization, polio eradication and agricultural technologies.

Alliance for Education

Alliance for Education works to provide all children in the Seattle area with the tools they need to be successful in college while building a good career and happy life. The organization has a three-pronged attack focusing on fundraising, advocacy and community engagement. Raising $131 million since 1995, Alliance for Education invests in effective public school system-wide leadership, teacher effectiveness and academic rigor.

PATH

PATH has its headquarters in Seattle. However, it has offices in over 40 cities in 22 countries. Its goal is to ensure every person leads a healthy life by advancing technologies, improving health systems and promoting healthy behaviors. PATH takes on challenges in areas like maternal and child health, reproductive health, vaccines and immunization and emerging and epidemic diseases. PATH engages communities by speaking their language, going to where they live to spread information to promote healthy living.

Agros International

Agros targets areas dealing with significant poverty to provide them with the facilities they need to build a hard-working fulfilled life. Argos purchases land to support up to 200 families, dividing the land between them so they can build homes, establish a garden and cultivate cash groups. They establish a community with a democratically elected governing structure and provide them with financial tools to build and sustain their businesses. To promote proper nutrition, hygiene, basic healthcare and female empowerment, Argos provides educational programs to all families in the community.

These Seattle foundations offer many career and volunteer opportunities for those seeking to get involved in the non-profit sector. Alternatively, if you are just seeking to donate, you can be sure that your money will go to a great organization that helps people around the globe climb out the depths of poverty and poor health. To serve, visit their respective websites.

– Sunny Bhatt

Sources: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Alliance for Education, PATH, Agros International
Photo: Cospick

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Rwanda and Microsoft Team Up to Improve Education

Microsoft and the Rwandan Ministry of Education are teaming up to bring a better learning experience to Rwandan children. Through its Partners in Learning Program, Microsoft hopes to increase information and communications technology (ICT) throughout the Rwandan school system. Both parties feel that improved ICT access will facilitate teaching and learning while also increasing the chances every child receives a quality education.

Microsoft’s Partners in Learning program seeks to improve the student and teacher experience through technology. The program has invested over $750 million throughout the world, helping 12 million educators in 134 countries. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, 13 million students  have received benefits due to Microsoft’s initiative.

On the other hand, Rwanda’s educational system is in desperate need of aid. Only 6% of primary schools and 18% of secondary schools are connected to the Internet. Additionally, the student-to-computer ratio in Rwandan secondary schools is a feeble 40-to-1. Without adequate resources, it is difficult for many of these children to receive the technological background that is needed to survive in the modern age.

Rwanda is a country with a tumultuous history.

It has experienced the worst genocide in modern history, when clashes in 1994 between the minority Tutsi population and the majority Hutus left up to a million Rwandans dead and eliminated approximately three-quarters of the Rwandan Tutsis. Since the tumultuous violence of the 1990s, Rwanda has been working to remake its image.

In fact, it has made substantial gains in bringing stability, and subsequently the country has experienced average growth of 7% to 8% since 2003.

Microsoft and Rwanda’s partnership goes along with the government’s desire to become a regional leader in information and communication technologies. It has taken steps, such as establishing a Specialized Economic Zone in Kigali, to attract further private investment in the area and help jump-start the economy.

Through increased investment, Rwandan hopes to build up its infrastructure and lower poverty.

Currently, 44.9% of its population, almost six million people, lives below the poverty line. Additionally, Rwanda suffers from energy shortages and a lack of adequate transportation linkages to other countries. Through efforts such as the Partners in Learning program with Microsoft, Rwanda is making the correct moves to attract private investment and improve both its economic potential and the lives of its people.

– Martin Levy

Sources: IT News Africa, CIA Factbook

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Orphanage Tourism

orphanage tourism
The number of orphanages in Cambodia has nearly doubled since 2007, yet the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports that there are now fewer orphans in Cambodia than ever before. The reason for this discrepancy? Orphanage tourism.

Volunteering at a local orphanage has become a bucket-list item for many tourists and the preferred feel-good end to a trip full of festivals, massages, cooking classes, and guided tours. Regardless of skill-sets or language barriers, most orphanages throw open their doors to well-meaning travelers, but for a price.

UNICEF’s statistics show that of the estimated 12,000 children living in Cambodian orphanages today, only 28 percent have lost both their parents. Most of the children in these establishments are serving as — for lack of a kinder expression — tourist attractions.

The inflation of orphanages has come an explosive 250 percent increase of travelers into the country.

Parents who cannot afford to feed or educate their children have started sending them to one of the newly sprung-up orphanages in the hopes that they will find a better life through the pocket change of tourists. But while a few orphanages deliver on their promises to desperate parents that their children will be educated, most do not.

Tuk tuk drivers are often commissioned by orphanages to deliver optimistic tourists, and again by market vendors if the tourists are brought to them first to purchase school supplies.

Smart travelers are able to find the few genuine orphanages, but it takes determination, and a willingness to accept their own limitations; trained child workers and long-standing volunteers are almost always more qualified to care for orphans, and the quick turn-around time of visitors often just deepens a child’s feelings of abandonment.

It’s common for unwieldy volunteers to pamper their own conscience more than those they are aiming to help, because while this sometimes leads to a life of humanitarian work, most times it just leads to cool Facebook pictures. Travelers wishing to spend some of their vacation doing volunteer work must be careful to put their money in the hands of people with similar motives.

– Lydia Caswell

Sources: The Telegraph, Forbes
Photo: Mangine

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Same-Sex Marriage Laws Around the World

same_sex_couples_marriage
Although recent gains have been made in advancing equality for same-sex couples, the majority of the world’s countries do not have any legislation permitting same-sex marriage. As of 2014, only 16 countries have laws allowing same-sex marriage.  The majority of those countries are in Europe and South America, while the rest of the world struggles to gain ground for this meaningful right.

It is important to note, however, that legal recognition of gay couples varies from country to country and even within countries. Some countries provide full recognition of gay marriage, while other provide for limited civil union status, to even countries that criminalize same-sex marriage such as Uganda.

France legalized gay marriage after much effort and debate in May 2013, becoming the 14th country to do so. Despite more than 60% of France approving of same-sex marriage, the approval of same-sex marriage provoked acts of violence and protests that drew in hundreds of thousands of people from all over the country.

A prior law, the Pacte civile de Soldarité, allowed for civil unions between couples but did not provide the full benefits that marriage brings. Namely, the law did not confer similar treatment under the law for same-sex couples over inheritance issues and parenting rights.

The Netherlands was the first country to grant full legal recognition of same-sex marriage under the law when it passed a bill in 2001. One major difference between the treatment of same-sex couples and heterosexual couples lies in the birth of children. In the Netherlands, the biological father of the child is considered the father while their partner needs to adopt the child in order to obtain a co-parenting status.

In May 2013, a legal body in Brazil, the National Council of Justice, handed down a ruling effectively legalizing gay marriage. The ruling explicitly prohibited government officials from discriminating against same-sex couples by denying them the right to marry. Before this ruling, Brazil allowed for same-sex civil unions through its constitution, which permits “stable unions.” Stable unions gave many same-sex couples the same rights as married heterosexual couples, from the right to joint declaration of income tax, pension, property sharing, and inheritance.

In 2006, South Africa became the only country on the African continent to legalize same-sex marriage when it passed the Civil Union Act. This approval had its roots in the 1997 constitution that was the first to recognize sexual orientation as a basic human right. Despite this progressive legislation, some say homophobia in South Africa continues to be rampant, with famous South African soccer star Eudy Simelane killed in a hate-crime due to her sexual orientation.

– Jeff Meyer

Sources: Council on Foreign Relations, The New York Times
Photo: Illinois Observer

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Doctors Without Borders expelled from Myanmar

expelled
Doctors without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontiers, is one of the most respected aid organizations in the world. It was created in 1971 by a group of doctors who desired to have a more direct approach to aiding those in need. It has provided aid to many countries that desperately need it. Doctors without Borders won the Nobel Peace prize in 1999 for its work helping those in war torn countries around the world.

In accepting the award in 1999, former head of the organization Dr. James Orbinski said, “Silence has long been confused with neutrality, and has been presented as a necessary condition for humanitarian action. From its inception, MSF (Medecins Sans Frontiers) was created in opposition to this assumption.”

The situation in Myanmar for the Rohingya could not be more dire and the comments of Orbinski could not be more apt. The Muslim Rohingya are the minority in Myanmar and are one of the most persecuted groups in the world, according to the United Nations.

Doctors Without Borders was an integral part of ensuring that the Rohingya received basic medical care and the services that they desperately need. The situation is more complex however as the government of Myanmar does not recognize the Rohingya as a legitimate ethnic group and persecutes and block their basic human rights at every turn.

Doctors Without Borders has been providing aid to citizens in Myanmar for the last 22 years, according to CNN, and was the largest non-governmental organization in the Rakhine state where the Rohingya live. The group was banned by the Myanmar authority for allegedly showing a “bias” towards the Rohingya who are termed Bengali by the Myanmar government which views them as illegal aliens.

There is speculation by a number of sources that the ban originated because Doctors without Borders put out a statement regarding a massacre of 44 Rohingya by state security officials. The UN and Doctors Without Borders maintain that the Rohingya were targeted by security forces and a mob of local Buddhist.

Myanmar’s government maintains that just one police officer was killed and no other violence occurred.

Doctors Without Borders was operating medical clinics for basic needs as well as HIV/AIDS clinics that were providing treatment to over 30,000 people. The NGO was Myanmar’s largest supplier of HIV medicine and the lack of treatment for this many could and will have devastating consequences in the long term.

Representative Joe Crowley is an outspoken voice on Myanmar and recently tweeted, “It is the responsibility of the Burmese government to protect its civilians. This is deeply troubling.” The Rohingya need more outspoken representatives in international governments around the world if they are to continue to be under the thumb of Myanmar’s oppressive government.

– Arthur Fuller

Sources: ABC, CNN, Doctors Without Borders, Los Angeles Times, Fox
Photo: Apologetics Press

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Famous, Rich and Hungry: BBC’s Latest Foray Into Poverty

The BBC is one of the more respected production companies in the world.

It produces such shows as Top Gear, which is an extremely popular show. It also produces a variety of news programs and also many sports programs as well. However, the BBC has, in the past few years, been straying from its normal programming and delving into the area of reality television and poverty. The BBC has aired Famous, Rich and Jobless, Famous, Rich and Homeless, and, most recently, Famous, Rich and Hungry.

The shows are designed to expose the lives of those who live on the fringes of England’s society and air them to the entire nation. In the latest show, Famous, Rich and Hungry, various celebrities in England are sent to live with poor families for a week in order to experience what food poverty really feels like. The show will have such celebrities as Rachel Johnson, the sister of the Mayor of London Boris Johnson.

It will also have Teo Paphitis an extremely successful businessman who is estimated to be worth over 200 million British pounds (roughly $332.26 million.)

The show is produced by Love Productions, who was also behind the production of the other Famous and Rich series. The show’s executive producer, Richard McKerrow, spoke in an interview recently and said, “I am sure there will be the same media storm, because my God, there is a political bun fight about whether people in Britain are currently going hungry.”

There is a plethora of evidence from both scientific and scholarly sources that there is indeed a crises occurring in Europe. The situation in Europe right now calls for a united effort to pass laws and bills that aid in both the economic recovery and aid of getting Europe citizens out from the ever present shadow of poverty.

The austerity measure that are being used by many European counties at the moment in order to lift their economies out from the rubble. The BBC has an opportunity as one of the world’s largest television producers and acclaimed sources of information really to aid those in need.

The BBC should focus on producing quality television that can educate, enrich, and inform its viewers rather than sensationalizing someone’s misfortune by showcasing it as a spectacle to the world. The poor need informed and educated people fighting for them, rather than having their lives made a mockery of.

– Arthur Fuller

Sources: The Guardian TV-Radio Blog, The Guardian Media, The Guardian, Daily Mail
Photo: Daily Mail