Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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The Cost of Hunger in Egypt

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The health concerns of undernutrition are evident. But a study conducted by the Cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) and the UN World Food Program (WFP), the African Union Commission, and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has highlighted the economic consequences of the condition. The study incorporated data from 2009 provided by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAD), the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Education in Egypt to delve into the less obvious penalties of child undernutrition.

The results of the study were published in a report titled “The Cost of Hunger in Africa: the Social and Economic Impact of Child Undernutrition in Egypt”. The report concluded that Egypt has lost an estimated 20.3 billion pounds in 2009, or $3.7 billion, as a result of child undernutrition.

Stunting, a condition of slowed or stopped growth in height, and chronic malnutrition were found to be the primary drivers behind Egypt’s undernutrition-based economic losses. Stunting occurs when children are not supplied the necessary proteins, vitamins and minerals from conception through age five. The condition affects 40 percent of Egypt’s population. Stunted individuals are prone to poor adult health, impaired academic performance, and premature death.

The costs are incurred as a result of mounting healthcare expenses and burdens placed on the education and labor systems. In rural Egypt, where the majority of people work manual labor, it is estimated that the decreased productivity caused by the lowered physical ability of adults who had been stunted as children resulted in a $10.7 billion loss in 2009. Healthcare costs equaled $1.2 billion in economic productivity lost.

31% of Egypt’s population is under the age of 15, which places the necessity for adequate child nutrition at a top priority; to thrive tomorrow, Egypt needs to address these threats today by achieving food security. Without discovering ways to prevent child undernutrition, the costs Egypt incurs could increase 32% by 2025. The IDSC plans to disclose the study’s findings and recommendations to decision-makers in an effort to reverse this downward trend.

Egypt is not the first country to conduct the Cost of Hunger in Africa study. Uganda has already carried out their own study, and the 10 more countries following suit will be Botswana, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Mauritania, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, and Swaziland.

– Dana Johnson

Sources: Bloomberg, WFP
Photo: Blogsome

5 Ways to End Famine

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According to the UN, famine occurs when there is “a severe lack of food access for a large population” that causes more than 30 percent of the population to suffer from malnutrition and two people per 10,000 people to die each day. Though many organizations attempt to solve famine crises with emergency resources alone, these resources address the immediate causes of famine instead of the underlying factors that prolong and exacerbate it. Listed below are five ways to end famine that go beyond emergency relief to offer long-term solutions.

1. Promote democracy.

Harvard economist Amartya Sen remarked that “No famine has ever taken place in the history of the world in a functioning democracy.” While no country is immune to natural catastrophes that hinder agriculture, countries with stable democracies can better combat the conditions that lead to famine. People can promote democratization by stressing the importance of foreign aid and development assistance to legislators. Democracy may not fill stomachs, but it does help to manage the resources needed to do so.

2. Send funds instead of food.

Amartya Sen also pointed out that a “shortage of purchasing power” rather than a shortage of food itself causes famines. Though emergency food and water supplies can sustain populations during severe famines, such resources do not prevent future famines. By sending funds instead of food, donor countries can avoid procedural delays and ensure that starving people can afford the food they need to survive.

3. Connect farmers to markets.

Organizations such as the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) provide smallholder farmers with the opportunity to sell their crops to reliable buyers, providing them with steady capital. The WFP also teaches farmers sustainable practices that increase the value of their crops and boost national food security over time. Connecting farmers to markets directly reduces poverty and gives farmers the income necessary to purchase their own food.

4. Empower women.

While women produce roughly half of the world’s food supply, they are often the first to go hungry in a household. Educating women lowers rates of unplanned pregnancy significantly, decreasing the average number of children a woman must feed and reducing poverty.

5. Spread awareness.

The aforementioned strategies can solve the structural problems that lead to famine, but resources are needed to implement these strategies. Ordinary people can help to end famine simply by spreading awareness and contacting their friends, families, and legislators. Such awareness can put pressure on legislators to implement programs that combat famine.

– Katie Bandera

Sources: Forbes, World Food Program, End Famine
Photo: BWG

Poverty in Mozambique: Challenges and Hope

Poverty in Mozambique

Mozambique is a vibrant and scenic country in Southeastern Africa with a population of nearly 30 million people. The nation has abundant natural resources and its coastal location provides strategic access to the maritime economy. After attaining independence in 1975, Mozambique fractured during the Mozambican Civil War, displacing nearly five million people and driving up the rate of poverty in Mozambique. Although the war ended in 1992, violence and instability greatly set back the nation’s economic development.

Despite facing tremendous adversity, Mozambique has made great progress in poverty reduction. The nation has decreased infant and maternal mortality and increased life expectancy as well as access to education, water and electricity. Over the last 15 years, the nation has reduced its multidimensional poverty rates from 92.8% to 71%, and its Human Development Index (HDI) has increased from 0.217 in 1990 to 0.446 in 2018. Mozambique has great potential, although almost 50% of its population continues to struggle with poverty. Mozambique still faces a variety of challenges as they strive to reduce poverty further, but innovative solutions provide hope for a brighter future.

Natural Disasters

Increasing disaster preparedness is central to combating poverty in Mozambique. The country is incredibly prone to natural disasters and experiences an average of one large-scale disaster every year. In 2019, two strong tropical cyclones hit Mozambique only six weeks apart from one another. The natural disasters left approximately 1.85 million people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance and had catastrophic effects on the nation’s development. In 2017, the Mozambique government established The National Disaster Risk Reduction Master Plan (PDRRD) to reduce risk, loss of lives and impact on infrastructure. Increasing funding and resources for this disaster management plan will help protect the most vulnerable from natural disasters and keep Mozambique on the development track.

Income Inequality

Combating inequality remains a key challenge to Mozambique’s development. Newfound growth has not been shared by all, as poverty continues to plague the country’s rural population. Welfare levels diverge greatly from the urban south to the rural north, largely due to increased connectedness to job markets in urban areas. Many rural Mozambicans remain stuck in a cycle of poverty because they are cut off from the larger economic landscape. The International Fund for Agricultural Development is working to fix this dilemma with its Rural Enterprise Finance Project. The initiative is dedicated to improving national and regional access for nearly 300,000 rural people involved in agriculture, fisheries and small to medium-sized enterprises.

Agriculture and Natural Resources

Investing in the agricultural and informal sectors helps support the rural poor and equalize welfare. Agriculture plays a vital role in reducing poverty, as it raises the income of farmers and lowers national food prices. Almost 80% of Mozambique’s population works in the agricultural sector, which accounts for nearly 25% of its GDP. However, low productivity has impeded farmers’ efforts to transition out of poverty.

Key inputs such as fertilizer can increase a farmer’s yield by nearly 40%, and higher connectivity links rural farmers to larger markets. The World Bank’s Agricultural Productivity Program for Southern Africa is working to increase the availability of agricultural technologies across the region and has aided more than one million Mozambicans throughout its seven-year existence.

Mozambique has an abundance of natural resources, particularly energy and minerals, and is home to the third-largest natural gas reserves in Africa. Extensive development in the extractive industry has led to economic growth in recent years, and the sector contributed 19.47% of the nation’s GDP in 2017. Although Mozambique’s economy slowed in 2019 due to a declining coal industry and infrastructure damage from cyclones, it is expected to revive by 2024 as natural gas production is established.

Tourism

Mozambique has become one of the fastest-growing travel destinations in Africa, so tourist sector growth is pivotal in reducing poverty levels. Tourists enjoy extensive safari parks, beautiful beaches and rich culture, yet specialists have concluded that Mozambique has not fully utilized its potential. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is helping to grow Mozambique’s tourism sector to create employment opportunities for the nation’s poor. The IFC has made legal material on the country’s tourism industry free for potential investors and is working to sustainably develop Mozambique’s natural sights and biodiversity-rich areas.

Equal Opportunities

Investing in people—especially women—can transform Mozambique’s human capital and dramatically increase prosperity. Providing equal access to education, sanitation, electricity and health services helps combat inequality and creates opportunities for the rural poor and women of Mozambique. Women and girls are less likely to escape poverty and attain education and employment in comparison to their male counterparts. Reducing female drop-out-rates poses a great challenge to the educational sector. Although 94% of girls enroll in primary school, over half drop out by the fifth grade.

A USAID-funded project called Nikhalamo (translating to “I am here to stay” in the Chuabo language) is working to reduce Mozambique’s female dropout rate by improving learning opportunities for girls and young women. Nikhalamo provides education and life-skills programs, community engagement and mentoring in the Namacurra district. The project continues to expand each year.

Mozambique has made astounding accomplishments in combating poverty. Since the 1990s, infrastructure development, increased access to essential services and economic growth have contributed to poverty reduction and improved quality of life. However, the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic threaten progress, especially as Mozambique continues to recover from the devastating cyclones in 2019. Social safety nets during the pandemic will be key to protecting the labor force, avoiding food insecurity, maintaining school enrollment, and thereby reducing poverty in Mozambique.

– Claire Brenner
Photo: Flickr

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Poverty in Sri Lanka

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Poverty in Sri Lanka has been decreasing for years, and a recent study shows that this trend is continuing. Between 1990 and 2011, overall poverty in Sri Lanka plummeted from 26.1% to 8.9%. Much of this progress has been made in recent years, with the number of Sri Lankans stuck in poverty falling by over half between 2006 and 2012.

While Sri Lanka definitely deserves recognition for the astounding progress it has made, there are still some clear areas for improvement. For example, gains in the fight against poverty have been uneven across various population groups. While poverty rates have dropped significantly in both the urban and rural populations, poverty on Sri Lankan plantations has actually risen by roughly half. Sri Lanka is also being outpaced by some of its geographical neighbors. Growth rates of per capita income are far behind those of South Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand. Studies focusing on Sri Lankan poverty also reveal a vicious cycle, in which people who cannot afford adequate nutrition are more likely to develop health problems later in life, which often drain them of any monetary resources they do have. Similarly, when people can’t afford education, they are less likely to gain access to highly profitable employment opportunities. Cycles such as this help organizations and governments understand why poor people tend to stay poor, enabling them to more effectively empower the poor to raise themselves out of poverty.

Various organizations, including the United Nations Development Program, have worked alongside the Sri Lankan government to make this progress possible. Much of their success has been with programs to improve the efficiency of agriculture and fishing businesses. These programs include an initiative to advocate for struggling plantation workers that make up an increasing percentage of the population, and the building of an ice plant so fishermen can store their catch in order to get a better market price. Another significantly effective strategy in Sri Lanka’s fight against poverty has been to encourage political stability. These efforts have included the building of a new courthouse, and improved training of Sri Lankan police officers. Efforts such as these take a holistic approach to poverty. They arise from careful consideration of the myriad factors that contribute to poverty on both individual and societal levels, and they work to address those factors. Innovative work such as this, and the encouraging results it has produced thus far, serve as an inspiration in the global effort to end extreme poverty.

– Katie Fullerton

Sources: CEPA, Journal of Competitiveness, World Bank, UNDP
Photo: Photopin

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What is the Global Education First Initiative?

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The necessity for global education has always been present, but what many may not know is that worldwide, 61 million primary-aged children are out of school, of which more than half are girls. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon seeks to remedy this with the Global Education First Initiative – a program that works to raise awareness of the necessity of education as well as to provide better access to education, as well as to improve the quality of learning for every child the program puts into school.

In order to put every child in school, some major goals for development include eliminating cost barriers to attending school, identifying and aiding those that need nutrition and health support, eliminating the gender disparity, and building millions of new classrooms around the world, especially in rural and crisis-affected areas. The second focus of the initiative, to improve quality of learning, is going to be met by training of teachers and improving learning materials. These measures will insure that children are more ready for further education as well as for life outside of school – with proper education come far more opportunities for success in life.

The last major focus of the initiative is to foster global citizenship, or in other words, promote peace, community, and innovation throughout the world through education. In the words of Ban Ki-moon, “The world faces global challenges that require global solutions. Education must cultivate an active care for the world and for those with whom we share it”. Ki-moon sees education as a driving force for human development that will drive down inequalities and improve health while fostering solidarity around the globe.

This push for education has been heartily embraced by education rights activist Malala Yousafzai, who has volunteered with the UN to speak on July 12 in favor of the right to education for girls, and for all those who may desire it. As a survivor of extreme violence because of her advocacy, Malala’s message is clear: “…that all students should be given the chance to attend school with adequate safety. Obtaining education is every man and woman’s birth right and no one is allowed to take away this right from them”.

In honor of Malala’s efforts, and in part encouraged and inspired by the Global Education First Initiative, the UN will be launching a global petition called A World at School – Stand With Malala as an effort to establish universal primary education by December 2015. It is the hope of the United Nations that someday universal education will be achieved and that because of this the world will become a more stable, healthier, and happier place.

– Sarah Rybak

Sources: Global Education First, Women News Network
Photo: Global Education First

Combating Rural Poverty in Swaziland

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Swaziland, a small landlocked country in Southeast Africa, is considered a lower middle-income country. However, poverty is rampant in its rural areas, where two-thirds of the population are unable to meet their basic food needs and per capita income is four times lower than in urban areas. Wealth distribution is also severely skewed. The top 10% of the population account for almost half of overall consumption, and this discrepancy is growing.

The government and aid organizations have found that supporting small-scale farmers helps combat rural poverty in Swaziland. The country’s economy is largely based in agriculture, though the nature of the industry is dichotomous. On on hand, there are TDL (Title Deed Land) farms: large-scale, privately owned commercial farms that specialize in cash crops such as sugarcane, citrus fruits, and timber. On the other hand, there are SNL (Swazi Nation Land) farms. These small-scale farms are made up of land owned by the government, which the King grants to regional Chiefs who distribute it as they see fit. They are almost all subsistence farms of about one hectare and make up the large majority of Swazi farmland.

The heavy dependence on subsistence farming renders the stability of the country and the well-being of its citizens reliant on weather conditions, which are unpredictable and recently unkind. Major droughts in 2004, 2005 and 2007 led to severe food insecurity in Swaziland. This insecurity could be minimized if small farms became more profitable by diversifying the crops they grow and farming more efficiently. Because SNL farms are largely subsistence-based, they usually grow only maize. While this provides food to the farmer’s family, it does not yield as much income for the family as perennial products or market vegetables would. Even when growing maize, more efficient techniques could be used to increase yield on these small-scale farms.

There are a few obstacles when is comes to the development of SNLs. For example, SNL farmers are hesitant to invest heavily into their farms because they do not actually own the land, and Chiefs have the right to take it from them as they see fit. Even if these farmers are willing to invest in their land, financing is difficult to come by. Formal financing programs often leave small farmers out of the equation, so they don’t have access to the necessary funds to invest in their land. Another complication concerns the way cattle are treated in Swazi culture. Cattle are given free rein of the land around them. They roam liberally and may graze anywhere without direct cost to the cattle owner. This leads to overgrazing, which create problems like soil erosion and land degradation — all of these make life difficult for farmers.

The Swazi government’s Ministry of Agriculture is working to revamp the country’s agricultural system with support from the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development. The commercialization of Swazi agriculture is seen as a means to decrease poverty and increase food security, especially in rural areas. Another goal of this policy is to create a more equal balance of wealth between the country’s rich and poor. They plan to complete this overhaul of the agricultural sector of the economy by writing and enforcing necessary legislation, and commercializing and diversifying smaller farms. As these smaller farms become more efficient and profitable, they would then hire more workers and be in need of transport and trading services. In these ways, the growing farms would further contribute to Swaziland’s overall economy.

While the development of SNL farms is not expected to solve Swaziland’s rural poverty problem completely, it is an excellent example of a poverty-reducing measure that empowers the people.

– Katie Fullerton

Source: IFAD Rural Poverty Portal, World Bank, IFAD Rural Poverty in Swaziland, IFPRI
Photo: The Prisma

Artists Fight Poverty Through the Global Citizen Ticket Drive

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Music fans all over the country are constantly scrounging for those rare ticket opportunities that make the concert-going lifestyle more affordable. Especially for those still in school, ticket prices represent a significant obstacle to enjoying a favorite band or a killer night out with friends. So, whether it’s through a radio contest, ticket lottery, or sponsored corporate giveaway, free tickets are always nice. Now artists are making it possible to score those free tickets and tackle global poverty at the same time.

The Rolling Stones reports that major artists, like Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen, have joined Global Citizen Ticket Drive to donate two tickets from every show they play to inspire social activism. The idea is to place the tickets in a lottery where fans can use points they have gathered as the entry fee. The tickets come from the artists’ personal stash. So, there’s no worry about the shows selling out beforehand.

Fans collect points by setting up an account on Global Citizen’s webpage and posting poverty awareness videos on social media websites, signing petitions, or contacting local politicians among many other ways. Once an account holder has earned points, he or she can search local venues for their favorite artists and dump their easily-earned points into a lottery for the two available tickets. It’s that easy!

Not only are the usual suspects involved in the charity drive – Pearl Jam has a long history of donating to such drives, others were quick to answer the call: Kanye West, My Morning Jacket, and Black Sabbath have agreed to contribute two tickets a piece from their shows. Actually, the list is really impressive. Even major festivals, like Coachella and Bonnaroo, are on board.

For Black Sabbath, the move is a timely one, as they also just released a new album and are already plotting their next world tour. The album features a hit song, “God Is Dead,” which Ozzy notes is a commentary on global terrorism. In line with their general attention to global issues, it’s no wonder that the band is backing Global Citizen Ticket Drive.

The ticket donation drive is only one of Global Citizen’s means to address global poverty; they also put on a concert just last year that netted $1.3 billion for the cause. Headlining the show were Neil Young and Crazy Horse, the Foo Fighters, and the Black Keys.

– Herman Watson

Sources: The Rolling Stone, Global Citizen, Look to the Stars, CBS News, Loudwire

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Heifer International: Sustainable Aid

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Many foreign aid organizations and donors provide temporary aid in the form of food, supplies, or direct cash donations. Heifer International is a different kind of organization; Heifer works to provide livestock for impoverished and hungry families so that they will be able to sustain themselves rather than depending on temporary aid. In order to help these people to help themselves, cows, goats, chickens, bees, llamas, and plenty of other options are given in terms of livestock to be donated. These animals help to provide both sustenance and stability to families in need. Agricultural products that the family does not put to use, such as milk, eggs, or honey can also be sold at market for extra income.

Heifer’s goal in this is to ultimately create sustainability for families to allow them to then further their opportunities in life such as provide for education and comfortable living. One of their hopes is also that as one family or group advances in the community that they will share their gift with others around them, allowing the community as a whole to become self-sufficient. With gifts of livestock comes training from Heifer employees, ensuring that the families will make the most of their new additions.

The organization’s projects span the globe, from Cambodia to China to India and Honduras. Their goals with specific projects vary, but include empowering and education of women, environmental conservation, and natural disaster response. A major success story involves a Filipino farmer, Rogelio Abes Jr., who took advantage of Heifer’s gifts and knowledge. Not only did he expand his own farm and income, he shared his livestock and farming techniques with others in the community, and inspired others to rise above poverty through hard work and generosity.

In terms of financials and accountability, Charity Navigator gives Heifer three out of four stars. The organization is entirely transparent with their records and policies, and more than 70% of their income goes to program expenses, while 20% goes to fundraising expenses. Only 6.4% goes toward administrative expenses while the CEO earns .03% of expenses. The only financial issue that arises is the disparity between revenue and program expenses in the past few years, where revenue is significantly higher than program expenses.

On the whole, however, Heifer is working hard against hunger and poverty in many different ways, from school education programs to their Read to Feed initiative that encourages children to read in order to fundraise money for the organization.  Their goals for sustainability seem to be the right direction for food aid to be headed in – while temporary aid can be helpful, it can also breed dependency, and the most important thing is to get people out of situations of poverty and hunger and allow them to be self-sufficient.

– Sarah Rybak

Sources: Heifer International, Charity Navigator
Photo: Heifer International

Poverty in Iraq

Poverty in Iraq
Poverty in Iraq? Many countries in the Middle East are dominated by oil production and exporting, and Iraq is no different. 95% of its exports are from oil. Like other resource-rich countries, however, this abundance of profit potential has not translated to a higher standard of living for the average Iraqi citizen. Furthermore, economic progress and social development has been hindered by ethnosectarian violence, severe setbacks in infrastructure, and poor educational quality. A number of complex challenges face Iraq today.

 

3 Main Causes of Poverty in Iraq

 

  1. Social and political instability by civil war. The occupation of Iraqi territory beginning in 2003 removed some of the barriers to outright sectarian violence by the institution of democracy. Iraq has traditionally been separated into three regions associated with people groups who took residency within: Kurds (15% of the population) in the north, Shia Arabs (45-55%) in the south, and Sunni Arabs (30%) in the region in between and to the west. Tens of thousands of Iraqis died in the five years following the invasion of Iraq, but sectarian violence — usually in the form of terrorist attacks — persists today. Not only has this endangered Iraqi civilians to the extent of displacing up to 2.2 million people since 2003, but it also makes trade and business incredibly dangerous. The simple act of moving goods about the country is disrupted by armed violence.
  2. Degradation and destruction of infrastructure. Both the ongoing civil war and the invasion of 2003 significantly damaged communication and transportation means. While the International Reconstruction Fund for Iraq asserts that Iraq’s infrastructure was among the best in the Middle East before the 1990s, today for most Iraqis there is limited access to electricity, sanitation, and clean water supply. An Oxfam briefing from 2007 reported that most homes in Baghdad and major cities receive only two hours of electricity per day. Furthermore, where there may be working roads and aid to be given, armed groups and Iraqi security forces may abruptly surround an area during military operations: “Sudden changes in access to towns and cities … pose major constraints on NGOs’ ability to deliver a humanitarian response.”
  3. Destabilized education system. Like infrastructure, the education system in Iraq was an example to other countries in the region before 1990s. However, with the displacement that followed the invasion, the state of education administration suffered. According to Oxfam, 92% of children surveyed had learning impediments “largely attributable to the current climate of fear.” Save the Children UK reported that over 800,000 children were not in school, an increase of 200,000 students in 2004. Displacement not only removed much-needed teachers from schools, but also brought large amounts of internally displaced refugees to seek shelter in school facilities in some communities. While the regime change has sparked an overhaul in curriculum and gender equality, the accompanying instability has undermined those improvements.

The situation in Iraq has been discussed by a number of NGOs, focusing on reform of programs already in place. For example, the Public Distribution System (PDS) is a universal ration program, but its main obstacle lies in targeting and distribution. It does not effectively target those who are at greatest risk for slipping into absolute poverty. A number of reports assert that if the Iraqi government used funds available to it from oil exports, these difficulties could be addressed. However, until ethnosectarian violence can be resolved and security restored, steps forward will be accompanied by backward steps as well.

– Naomi Doraisamy

Source: CIA World Factbook, Library of Congress, Oxfam/NCCI, World Bank,
Photo: AlTahreer News

Ugandan Teen Fights Poverty

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Within Uganda, in a town called Kampala, there is a slum by the name of Kisenyi. There are many languages spoken in this region, and it is a rough place to live. There is poverty abound, and hunger in many of the people. There are piles of garbage and sewage flowing around the houses. The houses are small, wooden shacks that are inhabited by the families of Kisenyi. If a foreigner visited Kisenyi, they would be begged by the children to give them money in order to get sugarcane so they can have lunch. There are many businesses, but the businesses are hard to keep going. The children do whatever drugs they can get their hands on. Despite this, some of the children have large dreams. Indeed, there is a lot of hope in the slums, and Ugandan teen, named Eunice Namugerwa, has provided the inhabitants with even more hope. Poverty may be a thing of the past in Kisenyi in some years, due to people like Eunice.

Eunice decided to start a chicken farm in Kisenyi, out of necessity, and this led to her speaking at TEDx Kampala, which is part of the larger TED Talks. TED has the mission, “ideas worth spreading.” Many experts, or even inspiring people, are invited to talk at TED in order to have a large audience for their brilliant stories or ideas. The idea of TED is to create a dialogue among movers and shakers of the world, to fight issues like poverty, disease, and hunger. This can lead to change on a local level, through those who experience the TED talks. TEDx Kampala was an independently organized TED event, but it was a high honor for Eunice to be invited to tell her story. It occurred on March 10th, 2012. It followed TED’s idea of “Technology, Entertainment, Design,” but focused primarily, of course, on social issues.

In August 2012, Eunice started her chicken farm in the Kisenyi slum in order to support her family and raise some income. The other options she considered were a fashion boutique and a “piggery.” Although she was only 18, little did she know she would soon inspire others and spread her idea into the future. In 2004, her father died of HIV, and in 2012, her mother was suffering too much to work, so Eunice was forced to try to make income for her family. Eunice commented on the issues in Kisenyi, which includes disease, the environment, and child abuse. She did not want to have to beg for money, so she turned to the idea of a chicken farm.

A primary school teacher named Tiarna Elmer donated about $576 so Eunice could start her farm. Eunice started the farm and began selling the eggs. The business grew quickly, and today, Eunice has 200 chickens on her farm. In addition to the farm, they have also started a DVD shop. Soon, Eunice will be earning about $385 a month or more, which is an incredible amount in the Kisenyi slums. Although it seemed like a far-fetched idea at first, with a little starter capital, Eunice now has a budding business and can inspire others with her entrepreneurial spirit. She gives hope to others stuck in poverty to start their own businesses, and hopefully, she also inspires nonprofit charities to donate money for start-up businesses, because they will help lift those in the slums out of poverty.

– Corina Balsamo

Sources: IPS News, All Africa, TED
Photo: RNW