Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

Can GMOs End Global Hunger?

Can GMOs End Global Hunger?
While genetically modified (GM) foods have become a hot topic in the United States, they have received enormous attention in Africa.

At the same time that the United States has begun to debate mandatory labels for GM foods, scientists, farmers, and international organizations in Africa are pressuring governments to relax restrictions on GM technology.

This disparity in opinions towards GM crops mirrors the similar disparity of interests between the developed and developing world.

Despite the U.S.’s concern that GM crops will require more pesticides which contaminate and harm the environment, international relief organizations argue that GM crops can potentially alleviate plant diseases, the effects of climate change, and other grave threats to food production that African farmers may face.

In countries like Uganda, most people are farmers living off of their own crops and thus are more vulnerable to invasive pests and weather changes than Americans who shop in supermarkets and are more distanced from their food production.

The banana provides one example of a way that GM crops can help Uganda farmers and consumers. In the past year, “bacterial wilt disease has been cutting banana yields from 30 to 50 percent in Uganda.” When one considers that Ugandans consume up to one pound of bananas each day, it’s clear that this decrease in crop output means disastrous consequences for the Ugandans’ diet.

Recently, the National Agricultural Research Organization genetically engineered a bacteria-resistant version of the banana by breeding the fruit with pepper genes. Unless the Ugandan government passes a law that allows for use of GM crops, however, the disease-resistant banana hybrid will remain in the lab, untouched.

Though GM foods do have some clear benefits, they also come with disadvantages that prevent Ugandan farmers from fully supporting the GM law. Many Ugandans practice organic farming that rejects the use of pesticides and fertilizers because they can consequently damage other organisms like bees and fish that are important national exports.

GMOs can improve developing nations’ economies and prevent chronic hunger, but they may harm the environment and cultural traditions of these community farms in the process. This conflict of interest has many Ugandan farmers—and farmers around the world who have a stake in GM crop production—on edge, as they anxiously wait to see whether the futuristic potential of GM foods will be harnessed or rejected.

– Alexandra Bruschi

Source: NPR, FAO, International Society for Horticultural Science, National Banana Research Program
Photo: Tumblr

Smallholder Farming in Africa: 5 Major NGOs

Almost three-quarters of Africans rely on smallholder farming for their livelihood, yet one-third of all Africans go hungry. To meet that need, those farmers must increase their production dramatically over the next 40 years—and most of the world’s uncultivated land is actually in Africa. Clearly, smallholder farming in Africa is a big deal. Want to know the major players in the development of African farming? Read on.

1. TechnoServe

This is one of those organizations that has been working behind the scenes, primarily in Africa, for decades. Since the 1960’s, TechnoServe has been quietly targeting failing food markets, identifying unmet demand in those markets, finding the businesses that can meet that demand, and partnering with those businesses so that they grow and uplift their communities. Their emphasis is on partnership—they want to find the locals already doing great work and help them do it better. In 2011 alone, they helped their partners collectively earn $315 million in revenue and impacted over 2.5 million people’s lives in over 30 countries as a result.

2. One Acre Fund

This is the organization that claims to, within three years, represent the largest network of African smallholder farmers. How? They predicate their entire model on one simple idea: when a farmer increases their harvest, they lifts themselves and their community out of hunger and poverty. Toward that end, the organization offers a comprehensive “market-in-a-box” that lends farmers crucial agricultural inputs (seed and fertilizer), trains them how to use it, and connects them with markets to sell their yield. Their simple model has already reached over 60,000 farmers in Kenya, Rwanda, and Burundi, and they project that they will reach 1.4 million farmers by 2020.

 3. Farm Africa

One of the leading African agricultural development organizations, Farm Africa does it all: bringing farmers better tools, showing them how to double or triple their harvest, and training them how to navigate the market. What makes them different? They say it is their unique, compound approach of agricultural innovation and marketing savvy. Because they are highly specialized in farming, they have a wide inroad into the development of Africa’s unfarmed land and untrained famers. In 2012 alone, they increased coffee crop revenue for farmers in Ethiopia by 600% and helped 30,000 people in Tanzania double their crop yields.

4. Self-Help Africa

If you really want to know what’s going on in the African farming world, you need to know about Self-Help. For over 25 years, this organization has been supporting farming entrepreneurs in Africa with microcredit programs, enterprise development, community cooperatives, access to inputs, and policy advocacy. Because the success of smallholder farmers lies at the heart of so many poverty-related issues in Africa, their mission is to empower Africa’s rural population. They work in nine countries across Africa and have reached millions of Africans with their services.

5. Practical Action

Yes, the name is broad—but so is the organization. Although Practical Action is one of the great champions of agro-economic development in Africa, it works all over the world. Its focus is “technology justice”, which is the equitable application of technology for positive social impact. So what are they doing in African agriculture? The answer: radical community development, policy advocacy focused on food rights, and over a dozen groundbreaking agricultural innovations, to say the least.

– John Mahon

Sources: IPS, Practical Action, One Acre Fund, Farm Africa, TechnoServe
Photo: The Guardian

Jennifer Lopez Criticized for Tribute to Dictator

Recently Jennifer Lopez traveled to Turkmenistan to sing in an event hosted by the China National Petroleum Corp., and, in participating, inadvertently praised the nation’s repressive leader. Although it wasn’t on the set list for the evening, at the last minute J. Lo was asked by the executives of the company to sing “Happy Birthday” to Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, the leader of Turkmenistan, who was attending the concert. Human Rights Watch has listed the dictator as one of the most repressive leaders in the world.

Lopez herself has worked on many philanthropic projects involving human rights. Recently she worked with Amnesty International to curb violence against women in Mexico. She also made an appearance for the Children’s Defense Fund and is currently working for increasing health care in Panama. Despite being involved with several human rights organizations to improve life for others, she claimed that she was unaware of the repressive conditions in Turkmenistan.

J. Lo’s situation should be a reminder to all of us to raise awareness and keep in touch with what is going on around the world. It is important for both cultural icons and ordinary citizens to learn about which countries struggle with obtaining even the most basic rights, and discover the reasons behind those struggles.

– Katie Brockman

Sources: ABC News, Variety
Photo: University UN

History of Poverty: The Ukrainian Famine

Ukraine, “The Bread Basket of Europe,” a 233,000 square mile expanse of fertile steppe stretching from Poland and Romania in the West to Russia in the East.  Much like in Turkey, her southern neighbor across the Black Sea, Ukrainian culture combines elements of the Asiatic and the European into a Eurasian entity that is undoubtedly one of the most distinct in the world.  Even during the tyrannical rule of the Soviet Union, Ukraine retained the unique agricultural identity that defined it, consistently expressing an anti-regime, nationalistic fervor while making up for over a quarter of the USSR’s grain production.

Ukraine’s significance as the agricultural gold mine of Eastern Europe was the cornerstone of it’s economy for centuries, making it the most valuable territory to the former Soviet Union.  The strategic importance of Ukraine as a center of agricultural output is most notably evidenced by the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33, also known as the Holodomor (Голодомор). This great tragedy was deliberately created by Joseph Stalin to quell a strain of Ukrainian nationalism that had started to become active in the late 1920‘s.  The main thrust behind the designed famine, however, was Stalin’s desire to accelerate the industrialization of the Soviet empire by utilizing Ukraine’s enormous agrarian resources.

The famine was a result of the forced collectivization of Ukrainian farms by the government in which virtually all of the food produced on the collectives was seized by Soviet authorities and sold on the international market to raise the national income, leaving the Ukrainian locals with nothing to eat.  This collectivization was against the will of the Ukrainian “kulak” class of wealthy farmers who opposed Soviet rule and ran private farms for personal profit.  In devising this artificial famine, Stalin decimated the population of Ukraine and, through murder and banishment, eliminated the Kulak class, along with any rebellious sentiment represented by the Kulaks.

What Stalin did to the Ukrainians has been described by many historians as mass genocide.  Between 1932 and 1933, over seven million Ukrainians died of starvation.  Ukrainian famine survivor Miron Dolot, who was a child in Ukraine during the forced collectivization, recalls grisly scenes in which desperate villagers resorted to cannibalism and the consumption of rats to stay alive.   Stalin had reduced the Ukrainians to a condition of destitution that was beyond comprehension.  To the heartless dictator,  fast industrialization was the end goal, and any amount of life that stood in his way was expendable.

The Holodomor is a stain on the history of the former Soviet Union, and was only recently recognized by the Russian government.  To this day, the Ukrainian Famine is one of the only instances in history in which a dictator calculatedly reduced a contingent of his people to starvation and abject poverty.

– Josh Forgét

Sources: Execution by Hunger, Reflections on a Ravaged Century, CIA World Factbook
Photo: United Human Rights

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Four Focuses of Hunger Prevention

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Millions of people worldwide live with the absence of available food sources. From our Western perspective, this is often difficult to understand as well as painful to imagine. However, the world without food is not without hope. Here, we focus on 5 ways to not only stop hunger in its current state, but also prevent it from happening in the first place.

1. Look to the Future.
Breaking the cycle of hunger is not possible without future-mindedness. So many countries go hungry due to lack of investment—no one sends aid because the hungry population is not prospering, the population is not prospering because they don’t have enough food to function…and the nightmare goes on. Investing in the future and electing smart leaders who have a plan to fight this epidemic is crucial to ending current and preventing future starvation.

2. Focus On Women.
Women make up 60% of the world’s hungry. Starving women means malnourished babies or failed pregnancies, and even those pregnancies that do come to term often lead to another hunger-stricken life.

Women tend to go hungry more often than men, because women are more likely to have unequal access to resources, education, and income—all because they tend to participate less in decision-making. Healthy women will bear healthy babies, raise them into healthy children, and create healthy adults.

3. Invest in Livestock and Agriculture.
Think of the famous saying,  “Catch a man a fish, and feed him for a night. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.” Sustainable production of food is essential for starvation prevention, and healthy communities. Most starving countries have poor agricultural systems due to drought or lack of water sanitation.

However, it is not the drought itself that erodes food security in a population. The real issue here is an areas vulnerability to drought because of chronic underinvestment in their lands and livestock.

A population’s land may be infertile so no one invests in improving it for fear of little return, but the land is infertile because the people don’t have the resources to cultivate it; the people don’t have the resources to cultivate the land because no one is investing in it. A modest investment can break this cycle.

4. Find Out How You Can Help.
Hunger won’t end without all of our help. All of us—every human being on the planet—need to commit to fighting starvation in order for it to end. Something as simple as volunteering at a food back, or something as radical as campaigning on Capitol Hill will move our world toward an age where no one dies of starvation.

– Kali Faulwetter

Source: Ready Nutrition, Revolution Hunger, Trust, World Food Programme
Photo: ICNA Relief

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Worst Countries in Which to Give Birth

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Many of us spent some time in May being thankful for our mothers. Something else that we may not think to be thankful for is the healthy and sanitary conditions mothers were able to give birth in. For women living in developing countries, this is a huge concern for pregnant women. One country, however, has proven to be the worst place to give birth: Chad.

This statistic was identified by the organization, Save the Children, in their annual Mother’s Index. The group uses an index that includes a woman’s risk of death during childbirth or pregnancy. Chad was deemed the worst place for a mother to give birth because 1 in 15 mothers are at high risk of dying while pregnant or in child labor.

A contributing factor to these startling statistics is that women get married and become pregnant at a young age. 50% of girls are mothers by the age of eighteen. These girls are at risk because their bodies are not fully developed enough to safely experience pregnancy and childbirth. Malnutrition is also a concern for mothers in Chad. High levels of poverty make healthy diets unattainable for many mothers.

The second worst country for women to give birth in is Somalia. This country is the highest ranking in not providing proper care during pregnancy, with 74% of women not receiving adequate care. Somalia also is barely behind Chad in terms of the risk of death during pregnancy and childbirth. In Somalia, one in sixteen women are at risk. The newborn child is also at danger when it is born in Somalia. About eighteen newborns die per 1,000 live births.

Other countries that are ranked in worst places to have a child are Niger, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Central African Republic, Mali, Nigeria and Guinea. In order to improve childbirth conditions in these developing countries, it is necessary to invest in health systems and the training of health employees, midwives and other who may assist in the birth process. With these improvements in healthcare, more women will survive and be able to celebrate Mother’s Day with their children.

– Mary Penn

Source: Devex, Save the Children
Photo: Global Giving

Poverty in Uganda 101

Free Man Running Holding a Flag Stock Photo

According to the World Bank, poverty in Uganda remains a pressing issue, with about 30% and 42% of the population living below the national and international poverty line. Although various initiatives have been implemented in the last couple of years, at least 50% of the population is at the edge of falling back into poverty in 2025.

Top Facts on Poverty in Uganda

  1. Based on an analysis of the 1989-90 Household Budget Survey, Uganda’s poverty assessment was divided along two lines. The first poverty category was defined by a level representing the spending needed for a daily consumption of 2,200 calories and some non-food expenditures. Ugandans falling below this line were categorized as “poor.” The second poverty level was set at a line representing the bare minimum for adequate food intake. Those who fell below even that line were labeled the “poorest.” 
  2. About 55% of those living in rural Uganda are multidimensionally poor. Not only is poverty more widespread in rural areas, it is also more severe. Thus, poverty-related indicators – household size, dependency ratio and illiteracy – are higher for rural Uganda.
  3. Because of poverty in Uganda, life expectancy for men and women is one of the lowest in the world at an average of 66 years. Neonatal conditions and HIV/AIDS have emerged as significant factors in causing mortality and morbidity in both genders. In Uganda, neonatal issues account for around 52% of female fatalities and 70% of male fatalities, while HIV/AIDS contributes to approximately 39% of female deaths and more than 50% of male deaths.
    Additionally, diarrhea, stroke and lower respiratory infections are almost as prevalent as AIDS as reported causes of death. With a per-capita income of $2693.1, Uganda is regarded as one of the most impoverished countries in the world. These grim facts testify to the destruction brought about by the political turmoil and economic decline characteristics in more than ten years of despotic leadership.
  4. Uganda’s small revenue has made it extremely difficult to target its impoverished human capital directly. Nevertheless, social protection mechanisms are central to uplifting the poor and allowing them to achieve their full productivity potential. Recognizing this, the government has attempted to reprioritize its expenditures in favor of the social sectors and rural infrastructure. Some newer areas of focus include the government development of family planning programs and the promotion of literacy and education. Yet, the development of social indicators is still lagging, particularly for rural women who work longer hours than men.

Efforts to Tackle Poverty in Uganda

Despite the seemingly enormous magnitude of poverty in Uganda, some economic progress has occurred in recent years. For example, the government has implemented a far-reaching economic reform agenda that has transformed Uganda into one of the most liberal economies in sub-Saharan Africa. This entails the liberalization of the exchange and trade regime, the endorsement of a new investment code and the liberalization of the agricultural market. With these factors in play, the government is readying the way for future economic growth.

In fact, aggregate real per capita GDP actually grew substantially between 1987 and 1991, whereas previously, it had been in steady decline. It is true that Uganda’s economic situation still seems bleak and poverty remains rampant. Yet, as past examples indicate, economic reform coupled with an increased focus on social affairs can bring greater hope for the poor.

– Grace Zhao

Photo: Pexels
Updated: May 27, 2024

How Pussy Riot Will Change Russia

Pussy Riot Picture
Pussy Riot, a Russian feminist punk-rock group that stages anonymous political anti-establishment performances in controversial places throughout Russia, is a band that is introducing political art in a way that most Russians are unfamiliar with. Until now, much of Russian art was either propagandistic or entirely apolitical; now, Pussy Riot and street art groups like it are introducing art with the purpose of political change.

Pussy Riot became famous in February 2012, when they staged a performance in their typical garb (brightly colored dresses and balaclavas) at the altar of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. The performance lasted less than one minute before three of the seven participants were dragged off the altar and arrested for “hooliganism” (similar to disorderly conduct).

The group’s performance wouldn’t have made nearly as much of an impact if it weren’t for many important factors:

  1. The ardent devotion of the Russian Orthodox Church. The church that the girls performed in is one of the oldest in Russian history. The church was destroyed in the 1930s and was not rebuilt until the 1990s. Because many Russians, particularly of the older generation, worship very devoutly because of the disallowance of religion during the Soviet Union, the performance was seen as a vulgar act motivated by “religious hatred”.
  2. The recent reelection of Vladimir Putin. The punk rock group (and other acts like it, including controversial Russian political art group VOINA, which is best known for its publicity stunt of having group sex in a biology museum) openly opposes the Russian government and accuses it for not being open, or practicing glasnost, enough. Pussy Riot asserts in many of their songs that Putin is a sexist dictator and must be forced out of government.
  3. Russia not having moved away completely from Communism. In Russia, capitalism and governmental transparency have been distant concepts for many decades. The transition from communism to capitalism and democracy in Russia is not complete. Therefore, to many citizens in Russia, governmental opposition is still not welcome, as the last time there was governmental opposition in the form of protesting in Russia, the Bolsheviks took power.

Pussy Riot’s trial gained media attention in Russia because of the enormous political and social implications of both their actions and the resulting trial. However, the leftist political group Pussy Riot is doing more than just fighting Putin’s government.

The general public in Russia is conservative leaning. Vladimir Putin, current president of Russia, is sponsored by the political party United Russia, which is Russia’s leading conservative political party. United Russia supports the neoclassical economic model, meaning it focuses on the economic activities of production, distribution and consumption. Neoclassical economics exclude all non-market activities, which is the financial antithesis of feminist economics, which shows that including non-market activities removes substantial gender biases from social order.

Excluding non-market activities from GDP analyses literally devalues the work done disproportionately by women, and when an entire half of the population’s financial contributions are significantly devalued, less money is available for social programs. This is a contributing factor as to why poverty rates generally increase in places that don’t provide equal social and professional opportunities for men and women (for example, based on Hofstede’s Power Distance Index, Bangladesh is extremely hierarchical, and over 70% of the population lives on less than $2/day. In contrast, Denmark is one of the most egalitarian nations in the world, and only 13% of that population lives below the poverty line).

Of course, with such a divisive performance, Pussy Riot turned off an abundance of people in Russia. However, what Pussy Riot is doing is slowly gaining supporters for left-leaning economic policies. When non-market activities are included in the calculations of Russia’s GDP, the numbers will be notably more accurate, meaning more money will appear, and there will be more money available to the public. This will be a long process, but undoubtedly one that will bring many in Russia out of poverty.

– Lindsey Rubinstein

Sources: Tufts University, GQ, The Guardian, The Economist, Library of Economics, Volunteer Alberta, BBC, Index Mundi

Policymic: 5 Unique Ways to End World Poverty

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Extreme poverty is an issue many have tried to solve. Typing  in how to solve world poverty on Google retrieves a multitude of the same results. But Policymic has provided an interesting take on innovation and the impact it can have on ending poverty. Below are the five ways Policymic believes progress can be made.

  1. Deworming: Helmiths, roundworms, whipworms, and hookworms all reside in places with over 270 million preschool children and 600 million school age children. These worms create nutritional deficiencies, which can stunt the growth of children. Polymic projects that a 20 cent pill targeting these parasites can improve a child’s future wage by nearly 20%. Clearly this is a valuable investment.
  2. Give Away Free Money: It’s simple. Walk up to a person who is suffering from poverty and hand them over money. Why? Studies show that the money handed over will create a sizeable investment return. Doing something nice like this can go a long way.
  3. Give Communities Microgrants: The investment of a microgrant, which is non-refundable, into a community can help a local economy get started. A significant amount of money can create serious development and help the citizens of a community flourish.
  4. Minimize Travel Restrictions: International citizens traveling to wealthier countries improve their developing countries economy. $400 billion were sent home from international workers in 2012. This money serves a variety of purposes and is an important source of funding.
  5. Improve Developing Countries GDP: The best way for developing countries to escape poverty is to improve their economic growth. Poverty has been cut in half due to developing countries gross domestic product being boosted six percent annually.

– William Norris

Sources: Policymic WHO

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Where is the Worst Poverty in the World?

Worst Poverty in the World
It is difficult to rank poverty into objective levels of better and worse, as though human suffering can be quantified. Are the crowded slums of India, for example, worse than the isolated villages in rural Brazil? Answering the question of where the worst poverty in the world is depends on the factors one considers.

In statistical terms, the Democratic Republic of the Congo earns the dubious distinction of having repeatedly been labelled the world’s poorest country. With a GDP per capita of less than $400 and wracked by instability, the DRC has come to be an all around worst-case scenario. Traveller Giovanni Contadino described his trip to the Congo: “Everyone was very keen to tell me how hard life was, and how much better things must be where I am from… Whenever I pressed people as to why their situation was so difficult, it was always the fault of the fighting.” Contandino also described the lack of infrastructure and the rife corruption in the city, where bribes were an everyday occurrence and politicians expected to live well beyond their means, with no protest from the people.

Many have pointed out the psychological devastation of being among the poorest in the United States. Though it is the richest country in the world, the United States is also plagued by devastating poverty. Affected areas include urban communities like infamous Hunt’s Point in New York City or Detroit, which was labelled the most miserable city in the United States and has lower earnings than any other city and a high crime rate. It is a condition that must be made more intolerable by the knowledge of your countrymen’s affluence as well as living in a culture that thrives on materialism and consumption.

Syrian refugees are undergoing one of the world’s most horrendous crises at the moment, losing homes, belongings, livelihoods, subject to random violence and rampant sexual assaults, forced into underserved communities and robbed of any hope of future security while their country burns around them. The poverty to be found in a refugee camp breeds severe physical and psychological trauma. It would be difficult to look at a refugee and state that their suffering was less profound than that to be found in the Congo, simply because it began more recently.

All poverty is bad poverty. All poverty creates suffering and undermines dignity. To ask if one is worse than the other is an impossible and misguided question with little purpose; the most we should be asking is why there is poverty at all.

– Farahnaz Mohammed

Sources: Global Finance, Road Trip to the DRC, MSN
Photo: The Telegraph