Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

The Earthquake and Poverty Situation in the Philippines

Phillipines Earthquake 7.1 MagnitudeOctober 15, 2013. This date will be forever etched into Filipino records. On the fateful Tuesday morning, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake rocked the island country, less than a mile from the town of Carmen in the Bohol province. The earthquake wiped out several of the country’s most revered church sites, and an estimated 82 people were slain by its effects. The Philippines are not well equipped to handle an earthquake of this magnitude; the island country has struggled with poverty issues for an extended period of time. The repair costs and restorations will only add to the list of issues chaining the Philippines to poverty.

The earthquake’s ramifications will be felt throughout the Philippines. Power was reported to be out across Cebu City (the fifth largest city in the country), Masbate, and the Bohol province. Part of Cebu Doctor’s University in Mandaue City collapsed, and Cebu City also suffered two collapsed buildings and a ruined fish port. The death toll was first reported to be 28 people, but by the end of the day it had risen to 82. An additional 159 people were injured.

The child poverty situation was atrocious before the earthquake, following the effects of it the situation can only be expected to worsen as restoration projects expect to take a majority of the aid’s attention.

Child poverty is defined in two separate ways: child income, which is based on family income, and child deprivation, which is examined through availability of shelter, food, and water. An expected 47 percent (12.8 million) of Filipino children are suffering in poverty. One of the elements where this poverty is most evident is the malnutrition shown on full display in the bodies of Filipino children.

In the 0-5 age group, the percentage of underweight children rose 1.6 percent from 2003 to 2006. With the malnutrition factor settling in at a young age, the children are growing up underfed, and being forced to live the majority of their lives in this state of unhealthiness.

Not only are children suffering from a lack of access to food and water, education rates remain low in the Philippines. The number of children aged 6-16, who are currently out of school, rose from 1.8 million in 2002 to 2.2 million in 2007. Many of these children are being forced to scavenge for a living, rummaging for street scraps and thrown out food.

Now, it is estimated that the well-being of Filipino children has never been worse. The almost 13 million children residing in poverty are struggling to survive, and issues such as malnutrition from lack of suitable source of food and water and an utter drop in education rates has the Philippines moving backwards. The earthquake repair costs will not help these rates. The damage caused by the earthquake will be repaired in time, but the true issue in the island country lies in the hardships faced by the youth for the last several years.

– Zachary Wright

Sources: Global Issues, NBC, PIDS, UNICEF

Photo: MSNBC

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Can One Person Change the World?

BuildOn_EducationVenture into a forest, and the trees are a hard thing to miss. Trees come in all shapes and sizes, but even the giant sequoia tree had a small beginning. All trees are grown from minuscule seeds. How does something so expansive and enormous come from such an insignificant beginning? Just like any other great wonder, all things start from small beginnings. Trees had to grow, buildings had to be constructed, and people are grown from swaddling babes. Everybody and everything had a small beginning; it’s the decisions made and actions done that determine what grows from it.

Jim Ziolkowski is the founder, president, and CEO of buildOn, a non-profit organization established to build schools in developing countries while also running after-school programs for America’s toughest inner-city environments. The seeds for buildOn were planted on an after-college excursion into the Himalayan Mountains. Ziolkowski came across a village in Nepal that was celebrating the opening of a new school. During his trip, Ziolkowski gained first-hand experience of poverty-stricken areas and the conditions that lay therein. But in this village, Ziolkowski saw something that forever changed him. He saw a community that was hanging its hopes on the power of education.

Ziolkowski returned to the United States, and began his job in corporate finance at GE. However, the memories of his cross-country hiking could not be forgotten. 15 months into his job, Ziolkowski walked out forever, pursuing a life that would enlighten the lives of others throughout the world by founding buildOn.

In 1992, Ziolkowski traveled to Misolami, a village located in Malawi. Ziolkowski planned to build his organization’s first school here, but he soon succumbed to malaria. Ziolkowski barely escaped with his life, and had another life-changing moment in the process; barely anybody in the area diagnosed with malaria escapes with their life. Ziolkowski only survived because he was not entrenched in extreme poverty, unlike most of the people in the area. Ziolkowski saw education as a way to escape extreme poverty, and his fire to change the world’s education for the less fortunate was strengthened.

Ziolkowski returned to the U.S knowing he also had to impact the lives of the urban youth in a positive way. Ziolkowski was unable to connect with these kids on a deeper level because he had been raised in a stable small town in Michigan. To solve this problem, Ziolkowski moved into a rough neighborhood in Harlem, so he could experience the difference in person. He lived there for three years, and he learned the urban youth did not want to participate in the dangerous style of life, they wanted to change it. Ziolkowski wanted to assist this mindset to the best of his ability.

Twenty years later, the results from Ziolkowski’s experiences have helped launch buildOn into a successful program. On Ziolkowski’s return to Misolami in 2012, the village had constructed four other schools thanks to support from buildOn. Instead of 150 kids attending school, now well over 1,000 were enrolled. Ziolkowski’s success can be seen on the forefront of this village, and in neighborhoods throughout urban America. The tree (buildOn) started out as a small idea, but Ziolkowski’s drive and determination turned it from a seed into a giant sequoia.

Ziolkowski’s success has been printed in his book, Walk in Their Shoes, available on Amazon.

– Zachary Wright

Sources: Amazon, buildON, NC State University
Photo: WorldOz

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Pack H2O: Bringing Water to Developing Nations

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Greif Inc., a well-known packaging company, has spearheaded the opportunity to develop a way for people in developing nations to obtain clean water. Greif has developed an innovative backpack that safely and easily transports water to homes in developing areas. The backpack is officially called the Pack H20. It even has been nominated on the National Design Museum’s list of “products that make a difference in everyday lives.”

According to Greif Inc., the H20 pack has been “replacing jerry cans and buckets as the mode of transport for drinking water in Haiti, Guatemala and Kenya and more than 20 other countries.” The backpacks are designed to carry 5.25 gallons of water and are made of extremely resistant fabric and plastic liner, which makes them puncture resistant. Each backpack is also sold at an affordable price of $10.

The backpacks have been so successful that over 100,000 have been distributed to women and children. According to Justin Moodley, Marketing Director for PackH2O LLC, these women and children don’t have to rely on these traditional and burdensome methods for water transportation. Moodley also mentioned that these people will not have to come in contact with heavy and contaminated containers any more.

Moreover, representative officials for Pack H20 have taken other initiatives to better developing communities’ access to clean drinking water. Some have taken notice of the distance between water sources and these communities. They plan to grant more instant access to water to these communities in the near future. As a result, Greif Inc. plans on spearheading other clean water access projects in developing nations.

– Stephanie Olaya

Sources: Biz Journal, Pack H2O
Photo: Pack H2O

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5 Great Female Writers on Giving Back

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This author’s previous post illuminated philanthropic quotes from five of the greatest male writers of our times. Here, we introduce to you five great female writers and what they have to say about giving back:

So many gods, so many creeds,
So many paths that wind and wind,
While just the art of being kind,
Is all this sad world needs

—Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Wilcox was an American poet whose style was simple, but the meanings therein were often profound. Some of her great works include Poems of Passion, A Woman of the World, and Poems of Peace.

I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.

—Maya Angelou, As a writer, poet, and a significant member of the Civil Rights Activists during the 1960s, Angelou is perhaps most known for her autobiographies, including I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Other famous works include Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ‘Fore I Die, The Heart of a Woman, and Letter to My Daughter.

As we work to create light for others, we naturally light our own way.

―Mary Anne Radmacher. Radmacher is a writer and artist, and teaches writing seminars. She is best known for Lean Forward into Your Life, and Live Boldly.

No one has ever become poor by giving.

—Anne Frank. While hiding with her family from the Nazis during World War II with another family in Amsterdam, she kept a diary which was discovered after her death in a Nazi concentration camp. Her diary, The Diary of a Young Girl, is well known across the world as the heartbreaking memoir of a young girl’s transition into adolescence and an attempt at understanding an adulthood she’d never reach.

Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.

—J.K. Rowling, a writer with a rags-to-riches story, is not one who needs to be convinced of the importance of giving back. After making it to the list of richest people in the world in 2011, Rowling managed to donate so much money that she failed to make it to the list in 2012. Along with her multi-faceted fantasy Harry Potter novels, JKR is known for The Casual Vacancy, and The Cuckoo’s Calling, which was written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

– Aalekhya Malladi

Sources: GoodReads, Poetry Foundation, Telegraph
Photo: HTML Giant

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U.S. Fiscal Crisis Impact on World’s Poor

Jim Kim World Bank President US Fiscal Uncertainty Affecting World Economy
It is constantly said of the profound impact of the United States’ domestic developments have abroad, that when the U.S. sneezes the rest of world catches cold. But what of the bottom 40% of the population of developing countries living in such squalor, unable to afford access to the most basic medical attention?

President of the World Bank Jim Yong Kim warns of the dire effects that a hard credit defaults would have on the world’s poorest. Kim issued these statements in Washington D.C. where this week meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund took place in the wake of the recent government shutdown.

The inaction on Capitol Hill has led to international anxieties that a bill will not be passed on time to raise the U.S.’s debt ceiling, and would thereby create a U.S. default that would result in an international calamitous economic backlash. The U.S. Treasury debt has kept global economies perilously afloat for years, including those emerging economies of developing countries in Asia and Africa.

As the House and Senate continue their standoff, the Treasury Department’s Oct. 17 deadline looms mere days away. World leaders are deeply concerned with U.S.’s perilous waltz at the edge, but in the midst of dense official debate, it becomes easy to forget the repercussions on the world’s poorest people.

In an interview with USA Today, Kim urged legislators to “Please consider politics beyond the Beltway, politics beyond your own districts. Really think about the impact that inaction can have on poor mothers in Africa, trying to feed their children. It will really have an impact on those mothers. It will have an impact on young men and women trying to create businesses in the Middle East. This is real. This is not a theoretical impact. It’s very real.”

In the cold shadow of an uncertain future, President Kim’s words shed light on a cause that all parties and nations can and must agree on: the eradication of extreme poverty. Perhaps it is more fortuitous than darkly ironic that the meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund followed up the United States government partial shutdown.

The talks have surely opened the dialogue to support heroic bipartisanship in Congress in the interest of the global good and sustainability—a responsibility that the United States has the privilege to hold alone.

– Malika Gumpangkum

Sources: CNN, New York Times, LA Times, BBC, USA Today
Photo: Yahoo News

What Steven Spielberg Movies Teach Us About Conflict Resolution

Band Of Brothers Steven Spielberg Conflict Resolution Easy Company
From sci-fi and action thrillers, like E.T. and Jaws, to historical dramas such as Amistad, Schindler’s List, and Saving Private Ryan, director and producer Steven Spielberg has done it all – and he’s done it well. Spielberg has produced and directed everything from amateur releases to box office masterpieces and has won multiple Academy Awards in the process.

A common thread in all his works seems to be his detail and interest in conflict resolution. Time and time again, his characters are faced with impossible circumstances; yet through perseverance and determination, a favorable outcome is usually reached on their behalf. Perhaps this is a means of teaching the audience life lessons.

Spielberg movies teach us about conflict resolution. First and foremost, they teach us that giving up is never an option – Spielberg characters never take an easy out.

Take Saving Private Ryan, for example, when Miller and his troop go searching for the paratrooper, Ryan, they easily could have left after the first bump in the road. However, they didn’t. They kept on searching until they found him, thus making the story the epic tale that it is.

Spielberg audiences are also taught that helping others ultimately helps oneself. This is portrayed in several Spielberg movies. In Amistad, freeing the illegally enslaved Africans gives Americans a sense of morale and gives the country a backbone to rely upon. Again, in Saving Private Ryan, helping Army authorities by retrieving Ryan also helps the fellow soldiers get back home faster. In Schindler’s List, Schindler employs numerous Jews, and in return, is able to gain their love and trust.

Audiences are also taught to fight until the finish. Honorable characters in Spielberg movies stay until the conflict at hand is over, thus exemplifying reliability and loyalty. Take any of the Transformers movies for example – Sam always waits to see what happens and shows courage in the face of peril.

Another component of conflict resolution in Spielberg movies is the fact that characters never leave their men behind. They are loyal until their last breaths.

Last but certainly not least, Spielberg movies teach audiences to be kindhearted—to show mercy and humility to those deserving of it. Spielberg movies show that conflict resolution can be obtained by respecting others, by not boasting in times of advantage, and by only using violence when necessary. “I just know that every man I kill, the farther away from home I feel,” Miller said in Saving Private Ryan.

Steven Spielberg has made a name for himself by which movies he chooses to direct and produce. Nearly all movies associated with Spielberg teach some form of conflict resolution to its viewers. The reason for this is not really known, but audiences hear his messages loud and clear. Spielberg’s thoughts and theories on conflict resolution seem to be both rational and reasonable, leaving plenty of food for thought. What if more people adapted to these methods of conflict resolution?

– Meagan Hurley

Sources: IMDb Steven Spielberg, IMDb Saving Private Ryan Quotes, Kottke, Tactical Operations Center
Photo: The Guardian

Why Knightley Would Make a Great Aid Worker

Keira Knightley Aid Worker Humanitarian Pirates
Everyone knows Keira Knightley as the multi-talented British actress who’s been nominated for awards year after year. The twenty-eight year old has already starred in over thirty films in her career since 1995, but what you may not know about this pop culture icon is that she also has a charitable side (having donated to eleven different non-profits) which makes her an asset to any organization.

Listed below are three reasons why Keira Knightley would make a fantastic aide worker.

1. She’s knowledgeable.

Knightley keeps up with current events and knows the battles that the underprivileged constantly fight–basic necessities like food, water, medical treatment, and education.

2. She’s passionate.

Because she knows the struggles that many individuals face, she knows that people must take a stand in order to make a change. She takes that stand. Knightley has lent her face, name, and finances to eleven charitable organizations including American Humane Association, Amnesty International, Beat, Cancer Research UK, Charity Projects Entertainment Fund, Oxfam, Save the Children, SMA Trust, UNICEF, Variety Club, and Women’s Aid.

Knightley starred in a short film entitled Cut for a Women’s Aid domestic violence campaign in 2009. She also visited Chad in March of 2012 to see UNICEF’s work with the local children there. She recently voiced a radio campaign for Marie Curie Cancer Care’s Great Daffodil Appeal in March of 2013, as well.

3. She’s influential.

Because of Knightley’s political and economic stature in society, people  listen to her. Knightley can give a voice to the silent and inspire others to do the same.

Other celebrities who have donated to the same foundations include Al Pacino, Annie Lennox, Bono, Daniel Radcliffe, Forrest Whitaker, George Clooney, Kelly Clarkson, and Madonna.

The starlet shows no signs of letting up on charity work anytime soon. She continues her work as a critically acclaimed actress and a global humanitarian simultaneously.

– Meagan Hurley

Sources: Look to the Stars, Contact Music
Photo: Knox News

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Politics

Arnold Schwarzenegger Political Career
The sixty-six year old Austria native, Arnold Schwarzenegger, first began his career in American politics in 1990 when he was appointed Chairman of the President’s Council on Fitness and Sports under the administration of George H. W. Bush. Little did he know that just thirteen years later he’d be serving as Governor of California–a title that would remain his until January of 2011. Listed below are five things that Schwarzenegger’s political career tells us about politics.

1. Anyone can become a politician.

This isn’t meant as an insult, but merely as a hopeful observation. A person doesn’t have to be born into a political background or wealth in order to hold an office.

Schwarzenegger had built a name for himself based on physical education, body-building and acting long before he ever made the decision to run for Governor of California. Upon election, Schwarzenegger went on to lead California politics for eight full years.

2. Celebrities are becoming increasingly involved in politics.

Celebrities holding political positions are becoming a common trend in society. Other entertainers like Schwarzenegger to hold office in California include former actor George Murphy, former singer Sony Bono, and former actor and United States President Ronald Reagan.

Political scientist Darrel M. West comments on celebrities in government, “There are a number of factors that have made it possible for celebrities to run for elective office. One key aspect of celebrity politics in the post-World War II period has been the emergence of television and its enormous ramifications for the political process.”

3. Age is irrelevant.

A person doesn’t have to work their whole life climbing the political ladder to succeed in politics. Schwarzenegger didn’t.

At the age of twenty-two, he was winning the Mr. Universe competition. By thirty-five he was starring on the silver screen as Conan the Barbarian. It wasn’t until he was forty-three years old that his involvement with politics began. This just goes to show that it’s never too late for a person to make their voice heard.

 4. Being goal-oriented will get you far.

Schwarzenegger’s entire career began with a simple dream to be more than ordinary. His parents wanted him to become a police officer, like his father, but he was too ambitious for such a mundane job. Against many people’s wishes, he made a career for himself in body-building and used that as his “ticket to America.”

He later wished to transform himself into an actor, and after much criticism and perseverance, was able to achieve this goal. When he decided that he wanted to get involved in politics, he made yet another transformation. Though he knew that switching to a new career as serious as politics would be difficult, his determination took him all the way to governance.

In a Huffington Post article, Fred Whelan & Gladys Stone write, “Whatever your opinions are of Arnold Schwarzenegger, he’s a great example of what happens when you go after goals despite what people (well-intentioned or otherwise) might say.”

 5. All dark secrets will eventually come to light.

Though Schwarzenegger had what most would call a successful political career, he received much backlash after his split with his wife of twenty-five years, Maria Shriver, once it was revealed in May 2011 that Schwarzenegger had fathered a child more than fourteen years earlier with housekeeper Patty Baena. The scandal was the subject of much media attention and had many Americans questioning the morale of the former governor. In politics, nothing stays hidden.

Though Schwarzenegger’s political career has come to a halt, he still continues to be a great subject of learning for American politics.

– Meagan Hurley

Sources: NY Daily News, Huffington Post, Arnold and Celebrity Politics, LA Times

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5 Great Male Writers Recognize the Importance of Giving Back

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These 5 great male writers express in their writing the importance of giving back:

 

I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.

– Rabindranath Tagore, a Nobel Prize winning Indian writer, whose novels and poetry are still admired by the whole world today. Famous works include Gitanjali, The Home and the World, and some select poetry.

 

No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.

– Charles Dickens, a 19th century English writer who was well known and renowned for his giving voice to the poor through his writing. Famous works include A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, and A Christmas Carol.

 

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson, a 19th century American transcendentalist writer, who wrote mostly philosophical essays. Famous works include “Self Reliance,” “Nature,” and other select essays.

 

Charity itself fulfills the law/ And who can sever love from charity?

– William Shakespeare, the great bard, perhaps the most well-known playwright in history, toyed with themes of politics, society, and family. Famous works include Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Much Ado about Nothing, and a collection of sonnets.

 

While we do our good works let us not forget that the real solution lies in a world in which charity will have become unnecessary.

– Chinua Achebe, a 21st century Nigerian author who writes from a post-colonial perspective, tying his stories back to the colonial era. Famous works include Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God, Anthills of the Savannah, and a particularly controversial criticism of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.

– Aalekhya Malladi

5 Great Female Writers on Giving Back

Sources: Goodreads, Moveme Quotes
Photo: Paste Magazine

Investing in the Base of the Pyramid

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Last Thursday, in a session aptly named “Creating Business at the Base of the Pyramid,” leaders in world of business, academe and activism convened at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) to discuss issues faced by those at the base of the  so-called human pyramid. The base consists of over half of the world’s population; those who live on less than five dollars a day.

CGI effectively demonstrated that a business’s profits are not in conflict with investment in the lives of those at the bottom of the pyramid, but rather are in line with them. With companies such as Barclays, the Western Union and the Ooredoo Group (formerly known as Qtel Group) on the frontlines fighting against global poverty, the paradigm has shifted from the base of the pyramid being viewed as an isolated market, to seeing their potential as consumers and active participants in a globalized economy. Though one may be weary of profit-driven corporations exploiting the vulnerable, all three companies exemplified creating shared value with a sustainable and mutually beneficial approach.

For example, Barclays’ partnership program with Plan UK and CARE International called “Banking on Change,” provides rural villages the ability to start businesses and save money through village savings and loans associations or VSLA’s. This “savings-led micro-financing” started in 2009 with a ten million pound grant from Barclays, and has reached 513,000 individuals with 25,000 VSLA’s in eleven different countries. Moreover, recognizing the disproportionate amount of women at the base of the pyramid, out of the 513,000 members which comprise these VLSA’s, eighty percent of them are women who are now economically empowered and financially liberated.

Group Chief Executive of Barclays, Antony Jenkins, recounted the story of a woman in Uganda, who as a member of a VSLA used a loan to buy cows, sell their milk, purchase a small hotel and eventually send her children to college. While 600 VSLA’s have linked back to Barclays with formal bank accounts, the story above along with countless others shows how business can help break the cycle of poverty and create new jobs while maintaining profitability. Both Western Union and the Ooredoo Group represented at the CGI presented similar examples of how their business models could effectively be customized to fit the needs of the base of the pyramid, provide shared benefits to all sides and increase economic activity for the poor.

With a clarity only those with an outside perspective could give, the only two non-business members of the session warned of touting business as a cure-all for poverty. Both Esther Duflou, a Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development at MIT, and Bunker Roy, the founder and director of a NGO that works to establish sustainable growth and solutions to poverty from within rural communities, called the Barefoot College, emphasized that without the right environment and approach real progress will not be made. Esther advised that the correct policy framework is essential to the alleviation of poverty, while Bunker Roy declared that the only true way to integrate and lift the base of the pyramid out of poverty is to acknowledge, value and utilize the inherent traditional knowledge within each rural community.

While business may provide a way to combat global poverty, it is only one piece of a complex puzzle. By harmonizing public, private and charitable entities with the interests and abilities of the people at the base of the pyramid, the full potential of each individual can be realized in the global economy. The models of success CGI presented will hopefully inspire and convince other key players in the world of business that the potential inherent at the bottom of the economic pyramid is enough to mutually benefit all sides. Regardless of professional affiliation or motivation, the improvement of half of the world’s living conditions is simultaneously an improvement to the global economy as well as an endorsement of the belief that as equal human beings, we all deserve a level of human dignity and economic security.

– Jacob Ruiz

Sources: Barefoot College, Clinton Global Initiative, Barclays, Plan UK, Care International