Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

Peace Walk with the Dalai Lama

Peace-Walk-with-Dalai-Lama
On April 18, the Dalai Lama took part in a Peace Walk on the Serpentine Pedestrian Peace Bridge in Derry, Ireland. The 70 year-old Dalai Lama was invited by Richard Moore, founder of Children In Crossfire, to partake in a major UK City of Culture celebration. Moore invited the Dalai Lama to speak at the event attended by 2,500 people and to walk across the peace bridge in order to reiterate to people worldwide that peace is the only path for the future. Moore invited the Tibetan spiritual leader to return to Derry in order to signify how far the city had come in the last decade and how it will continue to flourish. Moore said that the Peace Bridge was not the only symbol of a positive future, but the youth as well.

Accompanying the the Nobel Peace Laureate as he walked across the bridge were 300 school children singing Peace is Flowing like a River, the leaders of the Catholic and Church of Ireland dioceses, Monsignor Eamonn Martin, Bishop Ken Good and Richard Moore.

After crossing the Peace Bridge, the Dalai Lama addressed the crowds gathered at an old British army site, the Venue Arts Center. “This century should be the century of dialogue. The last century was the century of violence…Whenever you face problems, try to solve them through dialogue and talk,” said the Dalai Lama. Among his thoughts on peace and compassion, he also reiterated that it is not only political leaders, but every person’s responsibility to be accepting, compassionate and open-minded towards one another to ensure true and lasting peace.

– Kira Maixner

Source: Belfast Telegraph

 

Read more interesting facts about the Dalai Lama

 

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Human Rights a Priority for World Bank

Human Rights a Priority for World BankIndependent United Nations experts are advising the World Bank to include human rights standards in their criteria for giving loans and all other interactions with developing countries. The World Bank will hold a review in the upcoming months to discuss its social policies and is expected to adopt international human rights standards.

When the World Bank does not consider the human rights of a specific country before investing, the organization risks unintentionally hurting the extremely poor in that country. This happens because some development ends up benefiting the wealthy people while the poor suffer. For example, poor farmers may lose their land, and therefore livelihood, in order to build new housing structures that have been sanctioned by the World Bank.

The group advocating for human rights standards in the World Bank includes representatives for the Special Rapporteur (and its sub-groups on extreme poverty and human rights, rights of indigenous peoples, and rights to food) and the Independent Expert on foreign debt and human rights.

As such, the World Bank can expect to hear arguments from this group urging them to consider issues like “disability, gender, labor, land tenure, and the rights of indigenous people” in the meeting. These suggestions will also be open for public comment. The goal of adding human rights criteria to World Bank standards is to ensure that the poor benefit development as well as wealthy people.

The World Bank will update its “safeguard policies,” its social and environmental policies, to make sure that the voices of the poor are not overpowered by the wealthy. This review, which will analyze the activities of the World Bank for the past two years, is a huge opportunity for the organization to begin to reach out to the world’s poorest.

– Mary Penn

Source: India Blooms
Photo: The Foundry

Challenge: Live Below the Line for 5 days

Challenge: Live Below the Line for 5 daysCould you live on $1.50 a day?  This is the question Live Below the Line asks of participants.  Live Below the Line is an innovative awareness and fundraising campaign that is seeking to change the realities of extreme poverty.  1.4 billion people worldwide currently survive on less than $2 per day.  Causes like Live Below the Line are working hard to change that number by raising awareness, funds, and encouraging individuals to take the challenge.

Individuals are challenged to feed themselves for five days on $1.50 per day to stand in solidarity with those around the world who live in extreme poverty.   The number of $1.50 was chosen because it is the current equivalent to define those living in extreme poverty as set by the World Bank.  And while some argue $1.50 goes farther in developing countries, that number also includes those living in extreme poverty in developed nations such as the US.  For those in extreme poverty, $1.50 goes towards more than just-food. It funds housing, health, education, food, transport, and all other household expenses.

Live Below the Line partners with several organizations fighting global poverty on the ground and encourages participants who take the challenge to raise funds for one of those organizations during the 5-day experience.  It is an initiative out of the Global Poverty Project which educates and activates citizens to become engaged in the movement to end extreme poverty.

The 2013 challenge runs from April 29th to May 3rd.  Individuals are allowed a total of $7.50 to feed themselves for five days. Groups can get together to purchase food for the week, but they must ensure their daily meals still only equal $1.50.  To find out more, check out the website Live Below the Line.

– Amanda Kloeppel

Source: Live Below the Line

Leslie Dodson: Her TED Talk on Do Not Misrepresent Africa

Leslie Dodson: Her TED Talk on Do Not Misrepresent Africa
Leslie Dodson has reported throughout the world for Reuters, NBC and CNN, among others. She has worked extensively in South America covering politics, economics, and international finance organizations.

In her TED Talk, she talks about how to present stories objectively and fairly to the rest of the world when we get information from Africa and how important that is. At the end of her talk, she stressed, “Africa is not a country, it is a continent with 54 countries”.

– Caiqing Jin(Kelly)

Source:TED Talk
Photo:TED

B Corp Certification for Socially-Responsible Businesses

B Corp Certification for Socially-Responsible BusinessesAs Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) grows, wouldn’t it be great if consumers could have clear indicators of which companies and products were part of this beneficial social movement? There is – B Corp Certification.  A concept introduced five years ago, B Corp is “like the Fair Trade label but for a whole company, not just a bag of coffee,” said co-founder Jay Coen Gilbert.

The organization certifies companies once they have met standards of social and environmental performance and have changed their bylaws to take into account the impact of their decisions on the environment, community, and employees. “Increasingly there are businesses that want to create value for all their stakeholders, not just their shareholders,” said Andrew Kassoy, another of B Corp’s founders. “These companies are competing not just to be the best in the world, but best for the world.”

About 650 companies have embraced the status so far, including Patagonia, Etsy, and most recently Ben & Jerry’s, one of the original socially driven companies (now owned by Unilever). Mr. Kassoy called Ben & Jerry’s news a “big deal,” and hoped Unilever’s decision to pursue B Corp certification would “influence other multinationals” to do the same.

David Griswold, the founder of Sustainable Harvest, a Portland-based coffee importer, knew from the beginning that he wanted to start a project to help others. But he also saw challenges to the success of starting a non-profit – not being able to “reach scale.” They needed significant investment from the beginning to accomplish their mission, and they needed money to grow. “It was only when my company grew, and I began to reinvest my earnings in coffee communities abroad, that I saw I could really make a difference.” He said he felt that a for-profit business would work best for his goals.

B Corp certification helps with giving “legitimacy” to for-profit businesses that want to prove their moral sincerity, especially when trying to partner with non-profit foundations to increase their community development.  It also helps explain to investors why they operate as they do to secure more capital, and allows consumers to make educated buying choices.

Devin Hibbard, a B Corp supporter and owner of Beads For Life – a non-profit that operates “very much” like a business, says, in the end “it’s all about poverty eradication” through commerce.

– Mary Purcell

Source: The New York Times
Video: You Tube

How USAID Is Helping Ethiopian Farmers

How USAID Is Helping Ethiopian FarmersIn alliance with the Ministry of Industry of Ethiopia and General Mills, USAID launched the African Alliance for Food Processing Project in Ethiopia on April 18.

This project has been designed to increase the availability of affordable and nutritious food in Ethiopia as well as increase the competitiveness of Ethiopia’s food processing sector. This sector of Ethiopia’s economy is one of the oldest industries in Ethiopia.

Among the goals of this project, supplying Ethiopia with wheat processing and milling to increase quality management and meet national standards remains tantamount. The African Alliance for Food Processing works with food companies and food industry associations to attain this goal and to expand market access for smallholder Ethiopian farmers.

The effect of providing Ethiopia with this type of aid is two-fold. It helps support local industry and reinforces the push to grow Ethiopia’s economy as a whole. It also enables local food processors to provide quality and healthy food which can be sold at a lower price since it’s locally produced.

Another benefit of the African Alliance for Food Processing is that it falls in line with USAID’s push to lower foreign worker occupation in impoverished countries. By providing Ethiopia with information, USAID enables Ethiopian residents to solve their own economic difficulties making the workers more accountable and the results more satisfying.

– Pete Grapentien

Photo Source Flickr

“Kick-Off” With A Day Without Shoes

"Kick-Off" With A Day Without Shoes

April 9 marked Aurora University’s second annual “A Day Without Shoes,” which is a day to spread global poverty awareness.  Faculty and students took off their shoes and embraced the significance of the day. The day started off with a simulated dinner, called the “Interactive Hunger Banquet,” where 50 participants were divided and put into groups based on their income level. The Director of Student Leadership at the university expressed how this day allows participants to recognize global economic issues by experiencing them firsthand.

Global poverty affects almost half of the world’s population, and many cannot afford a pair of shoes, let alone afford basic needs. Not wearing some form of shoe may lead to “infection and soil-transmitted diseases that could easily have been prevented.”

In addition to being barefoot for the day, participants engaged in a “Make Your Own Shoes Workshop” where they learned how to construct “makeshift” shoes. The university also had a shoe drive that managed to successfully collect over 1,000 pairs which were then donated to local and international organizations.

– Leen Abdallah
Source: Aurora News
Photo: Google

International Cooperation: UAE and UK

UAEUK

The Minister of Development and International Co-operation (UAE), Lubna Al Qasimi, met with the Chief Minister of Island of Jersey, Senator Ian Gorst yesterday. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss international developmental and humanitarian actions and to boost cooperation between the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. According to Shaikha Lubna, the UAE is trying to “align their points of view, in order to enhance the development and humanitarian efforts globally in the underprivileged countries.”

The contributions made by the UAE has allowed it to advance its rank globally in its achievement of developmental and humanitarian aid; thus, the UAE’s acquirement of the 16th rank pushes donors to raise their efforts in supporting developing countries. Senator Ian Gorst examined the “potential cooperation opportunities with UAE” and highlighted the projects and the mechanisms as to how these international development programs will be handled. The Senator went on to commend the UAE’s expertise in international development and the humanitarian standpoint. He applauded the successful efforts of the UAE in delivering aid and assistance to “affected people of man-made crises, such as in wars, food deficiencies, drought, poverty, in accordance with the directions and estimations of the international institutions.”

– Leen Abdallah
Source: Khaleej Times
Photo: UAE Interact

M-Farm: Mobile Farming in Kenya

M-Farm

The SMS revolution seems to have been a product of the earlier decades of the mobile phone industry. In many developing countries however, its use has gone far beyond sending a simple text message or smiley face. M-Farm is a company that offers Kenyan farmers quick and cheap access to real time prices for different crops.

Why M-Farm is so revolutionary is because it eliminates the middlemen whose selective naming of prices usually leaves the farmers shorthanded. M-Farm uses the prices put out by the Ministry of Agriculture as well as the going rates in five different markets throughout Kenya to create a collective list of prices. By texting their name, location, and crop name to 3555, farmers first see the going rates and can then select to sell their own crops on the M-Farm market. Not only can farmers see the prices for crops but also gain access to a competitive market for farming supplies.

The company also publishes graphs that illustrate trends for different crops, blogs, and articles regarding different farming techniques and practices, and creates an online and mobile community for farmers to communicate with one another to share ideas and experiences.

It may come as a surprise to many but cell phone use even in a developing country such as Kenya is widespread. Although one may not see Apple iPhones or Android phones in the hands of an average Kenyan, software and apps such as M-Farm are so successful because they do not require internet access. Communication is established through text messaging and this free service will expand Kenya’s agricultural market and economy.

– Deena Dulgerian

Source: M-Farm

Using Migration as an Advantage

Using Migration as an Advantage

As the world deals with the movement of millions of people as refugees, illegal immigrants, or simple shifts of communities, it is important for countries experiencing these changes in large numbers to recognize that whether they choose to identify it as an issue, for better or worse, it is not going to disappear. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon led the first day of the 46th Commission on Population and Development in New York whose 5 days conference will address how countries should deal with migration, both internal and external.

It is at a point when halting the movements of people takes more energy and wastes more time than finding solutions that will harness their skills and help them assimilate into their new home. Ban Ki-moon brought up the reality of the situation that “It is not a question of whether to halt the movement of people across borders. The question is how we plan for such movements and make the most of them.” The same 5 goals should be taken into consideration in a variety of situations: whether it is for Syrian refugees fleeing across borders to Jordan or Iraq or Sudanese fleeing Darfur for another region in their country.

  • Ensuring the safety of migrants and a legal passage

  • Creating a direct connection between the policies on migration and the job market

  • Recognizing the presence of illegals and addressing their concerns

  • Facilitating societal integration for the migrants into their new communities

  • Allowing for a timely return to home countries if necessary

While these goals are clearly easier said than done, following this path would ensure that migration is not a win-lose situation but more of a win-win. For countries experiencing such population patterns, we must hope that they understand how important working with migrants is to not only better their lives, but perhaps better the lives of their country’s long time citizens, economy, and general fit into the global arena.

– Deena Dulgerian

Source: UN News Centre