Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

Mobius Motors: The African Hummer

Mobius Motors: The African HummerThe shortest distance between two points of interest is a straight line. But not in Africa. With 80% of the population living in rural areas, commuting from town to town can get a bit tricky with potholes, dirt roads, or sometimes no roads at all. When Joel Jackson moved to Africa from England in 2009, he never pictured himself running an automotive company a couple of years later, especially one out of Nairobi.

 The horrid conditions of Kenya’s roads made Jackson realize how important improving their modes of transportation were to the country’s economy. “Transportation is as fundamental to developing countries as healthcare, education, markets and all the other things that drive prosperity,” he commented. While paved roads are slowly appearing around the continent, Jackson sees Mobius Motors, his company that builds “African cars for African roads,” as having the potential to change the way African businesses and trade functions.

Every aspect of the Mobius Two, the company’s prototype, was created with the average African entrepreneur in mind. With a steel frame, the car has no windows, eliminating the need for air conditioning. All parts of the car have been made in a fashion familiar to local mechanics so that repairs and parts are cheap and easy to come by. Due to its light frame and .4 gallon gas engine, the all-terrain vehicle can securely carry up to 8 passengers or 1,500 pounds. This makes it perfect for the transport of goods across long, rugged distances.

One thing Jackson makes sure people keep in mind about Mobius is that it is not a charity. He plans on making a profit once production begins, with an average price tag of about $6,000 per vehicle. However, the goal of his company is not to focus just on monetary value but to team up with innovators from around the world to recognize the change these vehicles can bring to the global market and change the way Africa moves.

It is obvious that Mobius’ clients will not be the average African villager. For those entrepreneurs looking to expand the reach of their businesses, the Mobius Two holds the key. While they may be the ones fronting the cost of the vehicle, the entire process will most definitely include and improve the lives of thousands across Kenya, and hopefully the rest of Africa, in the foreseeable future.

– Deena Dulgerian

Source: Global Post

Feeding the Hungriest Child First

Feeding the Hungry
Imagine living in a poverty stricken nation, where war is a continuous concern and where children are under-fed, sick, and hungry. Because of the situation, an aid worker has to choose between feeding the hungry and the hungriest. What would you do?

The unfortunate choice between choosing who to feed first will determine how many lives can be saved. As difficult as the decision is, feeding the hungriest child first is now recommended.

According to a new study by Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and the University of Bergen in Norway, aid and relief workers are recommended to provide as much emergency food to the starving as possible. These children should be at the greatest risk of dying and in need of food the most.The study says that giving an equal portion to every child will not satisfy or give them the right amount of nutritional value.

Lawrence Wein, author and Professor at Stanford said, “The goal is to minimize the number of disability-adjusted life years, most of which are due to childhood death.You do better by not doing blanket distribution. You take all the money that’s available and give out full doses, and that will perform better.”

The study included a focus on the “ready-for-use therapeutic foods” that they provide. Portable and easy to make, the food is filled with protein, vitamins, carbohydrates, and other nutrients.

The controversial study has outraged people because of its solution to feed only the hungriest  and not feed the less hungry. Wein continued to state his argument that the determination of choosing who to feed first is also based on emergency situations like disease and other metrics.

– Jada Chin

Source: The Atlantic
Photo: Charity Connects

Rwanda to Improve Social Safety Net Programs

Rwanda_Foreign_Aid_World_Bank
Rwanda’s citizens will be less vulnerable to shocks like unemployment and other disasters due to the approval of a US$50 million grant from the World Bank. This grant will be important to Rwanda’s social safety net programs and play a vital role in continuing to reduce poverty and inequality. Rwanda has already seen a decrease in poverty since early 2000 and attributes this success to its social protection system.

The social system of Rwanda is called the Vision 2020 Umurenge Program (VUP). This program has gone from providing assistance for 10,000 people to over half a million people since its establishment four years ago. In about that same time period, poverty levels declined from 57% to 45%. The impact of increased funding for VUP is imperative for those relying on its services. A widowed woman raising three children praises VUP for its public works program maintaining that without it she would not have been able to provide for her children.

Carolyn Turk, World Bank Country Manager for Rwanda, hopes to hear more stories like this one. She reminds us that Rwanda still has a long way to go in terms of ending poverty, but the World Bank will continue to support its social protection programs to help it reach these goals. The World Bank implemented the Second Support to the Social Protection System program which will assist Rwanda in carrying out its National Social Protection Strategy. The objective of this program is for the Rwandan government to improve their disaster risk management system and to ensure that those who need the services most are the ones receiving them.

The disaster risk management system will be particularly beneficial for impoverished people living in rural areas during times of drought. Fortunately, World Bank funding for these programs has continued to increase to a total of US$3 billion. Hopefully more developing countries will also improve their social safety net programs to lift their population out of poverty. With the support of organizations like the World Bank, poverty in Rwanda and other third world countries can become a concept of the past.

– Mary Penn
Source: allAfrica
Photo: About Go Africa

3 Ways That Captain Planet Inspired Millennial Activists

 

Ask any millennial activists between the ages of 26 – 32 about the after school cartoon series Captain Planet and the Planeteers and you will generally hear them enthusiastically remarked, “Wasn’t that the show about the eco-friendly superhero?”

The 30-minute long cartoon produced by well-known philanthropist Ted Turner and Hanna-Barbera was the first environmentally themed children’s show of its time. The plot was centered around 5 precocious adolescents known as the Planeteers who helped an earthy spirit named Gaia fend off environmentally toxic villains from destroying the planet. When confronted with an insurmountable foe, they would combine the powers of their elemental-based (earth, wind, water, fire, heart) rings to summon Captain Planet who would – along with future millennial activists – remark, “By your powers combined, I am Captain Planet!”

Aside from the exciting entertainment value of an elemental-based, pro-sustainability superhero fighting the evils of environmental devastation, Captain Planet also taught important life lessons to children who would become future environmentalists. The following are 3 ways that Captain Planet inspired millennial activists.

1. Success means working together – No matter what situation facing the five Planeteers, the underlying message was that in order to prevent catastrophic damage to the environment; Kwame, Wheeler, Linka, Gi, and Ma-Ti would have to work together. That principle wasn’t lost on children who would later grow up to be politically aware millennial activists dedicated to both environmentally sustainable policies and combating global poverty.

2. Being smart is cool – From Kwame’s interest in plant life to Linka’s knowledge of computer technology, the message to future millennial activists was clear, intelligence is cool and academic interests are a benefit as opposed to a liability. Furthermore, without their collective intellect, super villains such as Hoggish Greedly would have never been brought to justice for their Eco-crimes.

3. Destroying the environment effects everyone – Looking at the varied origins of the Planeteers, the overall theme of the interconnected vulnerability of all nations to environmental damage was not lost on millennial activists. Whether from Ghana, China, the former Soviet Union, Brazil, or the United States; all the Planeteers were committed to the protection of Gaia and the practice of responsible environmental stewardship and sustainability.

– Brian Turner
Source: Wikepedia
Photo: PVPixels

Global Poverty & Climate Change Relationship

climate-change-poverty-justice-now_opt
Further proof that poverty and the environment go hand-in-hand: the UN’s 2013 Human Development Report warns that continued inaction on climate change, deforestation, and pollution could increase the number of people living in poverty to 3 billion by 2050. The efforts of so many anti-poverty activists to decrease poverty rates over the last decade would come to nothing if governments do not come together to address the realities of climate change and environmental destruction that plague the planet.

The Human Development Report lauds the vast improvements made in education and health in developing countries, where more progress has been made, more quickly, than nearly anyone expected. But environmental threats could reverse this progress, even in the next few decades. The Report states, “Environmental threats are among the most grave impediments to lifting human development… The longer action is delayed, the higher the cost will be.”

The Report goes on to state that climate change has already caused some of the world’s poor to lose access to their traditional livelihoods, such as fishing or farming. The results of climate change, which include extreme and unusual weather patterns, have intensified ongoing environmental threats like droughts, wildfires, and severe storms. These catastrophic events have an especially large impact on the world’s poor, who do not possess the resources to prepare for or respond to environmental disasters. This necessitates emergency intervention and relief efforts, usually from foreign countries. The cycle of climate change and poverty will continue until, as the Report emphasizes, more attention is paid to human beings’ impact on the environment.

Action on climate change is an urgent matter, though some US politicians and policy makers have failed to acknowledge the legitimacy of the threat. The UN’s 2013 Report serves as further evidence of the close connection between environmental and anti-poverty activism, and demonstrates the need for immediate, coordinated, and effective action against climate change.

– Kat Henrichs

Source: The Guardian

School Music Revival Brings Musicians and Animators Together in Japan

School Music Revival Brings Musicians and Animators Together in JapanFollowing the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, hundreds of organizations began collecting millions of dollars to donate emergency aid and supplies and other necessities to rebuild the broken communities. One organization however, specifically has set to bring back the love of music to Japanese children.

School Music Revival was organized by The Japan Musical Instruments Association. Founded by influential leaders in the music business, including the President of Yamaha Corporation and Kawai Musical Instruments, School Music Revival began a campaign across schools in Japan, inspecting their instruments and music programs in the aftermath of the disaster. They replace damaged equipment, put together concerts and other music related activities, and have compiled a detailed timeline of their surveys and analysis on the use of instruments through schools in Japan.

Recently, Zapuni, an organization that pairs famous musicians with talented Japanese animation and visual artists, released its first two project videos to help raise funds for School Music Revival. Zapuni’s first video was a collaboration between Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, David Byrne, and designer UrumaDelvis. The result was ‘Psychedelic Afternoon’, a complete fairy-tale video whose title defines the elements of the video perfectly.

The second video was animated by the famous anime director Yutaka Yamamoto to the tune of the Icelandic group Sigur Ros (who brought us the scandalous video for their song ‘Fjögur píanó’ featuring Shia LaBeouf). In ‘Blossom’, an older farmer struggles with bringing his life and land back to normal following the tsunami while he is watched over by angels. The somber mood is replaced by optimism at the end by projecting a completely revived life, thereby alluding to the future of Japan and the victims of the disaster who still suffer the effects of the destruction today.

The videos may be purchased on iTunes and all proceeds go towards School Music Revival. You can also directly donate to SMR and see their project outline.

– Deena Dulgerian

Source:USA Today

BRICS Think Tanks Plan Involvement With Africa

BRICS Think Tanks Plan Involvement With AfricaBRICS think tanks are planning the proceedings of the 2013 BRICS summit in Durban, South Africa. The proceedings will decide the course of BRICS’s support and capitalization on exploring African economies.

BRICS (an association of the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) will be discussing the establishment of the BRICS Development Bank which was proposed at last years’ BRICS conference in New Delhi.

Although it would be an internationally supported bank, the BRICS Development Bank would not be competing with larger banks such as the World Bank or International Monetary Fund (IMF). Instead, the BRICS Development Bank will be concerned with financing and supporting intra-BRICS programs and emerging African economies.

Among the finance projects of the BRICS Development Bank will be creating job prospects, urbanization and infrastructure development of African communities and economies. While the goals of larger organizations such as the World Bank are in line with these same pursuits, many representatives affiliated with the BRICS association feel that reform is necessary and that a more focused bank could better meet the needs of developing African economies.

If the BRICS Development Bank is established, South African officials believe that it should be based in their country.

-Pete Grapentien

Source Business Day

Indian Startup Provides Mobile Information

Indian Startup Provides Mobile InformationWhile many of us could not imagine a cell phone plan without unlimited data, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that hundreds of millions of people rely on basic messaging phones. Aside from the constant criticism about society being too attached to their cell phones, in reality, mobile browsers and apps provide unbelievable services at the tip of your fingers; students use it to access classroom web pages and complete homework, entire businesses can be run without stepping foot into an office, and you can book an entire European vacation from a single travel app.

One Indian startup company decided to change all that for the hundreds of millions who did not have these services. In 2008, Deepak Ravindran and his friends started Innoz, an external mobile search engine that provides mobile information and applications through SMS.

Through SmsGYAN, their own designed ‘answer engine’, users are able to use hashtags to designate which app they want to use. A specific question or format is sent in the text message, and an answer is immediately sent to the phone. With hundreds of different apps, Innoz is able to reach more than 120 million mobile phone users and sends out anywhere from 5 to 10 million answers a day.

With 20 different categories to choose from ranging from games and news to sports and productivity, Innoz includes apps such as #MATHS which sends math problems to the users phone. Other useful and interesting apps include: #STEVE, quotes from Steve Jobs, #JOBS, which lists jobs available in the user’s area, and #AEROTRIX, which helps teach practical aerospace. There is even #ipc4w which provides information of the different punishments for crimes against women.

This company has opened up a massive world of knowledge and is making it available to people who either cannot afford smart phones or live in areas where such technology has not become part of everyday life. It allows anyone to gain access to college information, hospital information, and even statistics about their favorite cricket players.

It levels the playing field for the farmer who must catch his train on the railway but never had an up-to-date schedule to rely on. It gives the struggling student a chance to learn new material and give themselves a boost in the classroom. For companies such as Innoz, the focus is on an audience that craves to have information at their fingertips but doesn’t have the means to receive it, until now.

– Deena Dulgerian
Source: SiliconIndia

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UN Says Poverty has Decreased Throughout the Developing World

UN Says Poverty has Decreased Throughout the Developing WorldAccording to a new study released by the United Nations, global poverty has seen drastic decreased in recent times, and “up to 80 percent of the world’s middle class will live in developing countries by 2030.”

Calling the rapid reduction in poverty an “epochal global rebalancing,” the UN says that rising incomes and economic development have engendered a rising middle class and have lifted hundreds of millions of people out of severe poverty, citing that at least 40 developing countries with growing economies have contributed to these latest figures.

Helen Clarke, the UN’s Development Program Administrator, said that these countries created fast economic growth by accepting foreign investment and focusing on improving infrastructure and increased education for their citizens.

Also cited as a reason for improved well-being was the GDP boom that occurred in India, China, and Brazil, where China and India managed to double output within the last 20 years.

The study, using the Human Development Index (HDI) as a measurement, also acknowledged other developing countries as having greatly improved individual well-being, with Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Angola “among 14 countries that have recorded gains in HDI of more than 2 percent a year since 2000.”

The UN found that global poverty has nearly decreased in half since 1990 when it was recorded at 43 percent. In 2008, global poverty was recorded at just 22 percent. The study highlighted that within this time period, 500 million people in China alone rose out of extreme poverty.

The report found that the largest factor in the reduction of poverty in recent years as global trade, which grew by 22 percent since 1980, which contributes to greater and more rapid economic growth.

– Christina Kindlon

Source: Financial Times
Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark

Sustainably Grown Palm Oil: The Future of Fast Food?

Sustainably Grown Palm Oil: The Future of Fast Food?
What’s better than deep-fried dough covered in sugar? Turns out, Dunkin Donuts has an answer: sugarcoated, deep-fried dough that doesn’t destroy the rain forest.

Palm oil has become a key ingredient in many processed food products, including fast food and as many as 50 percent of foods sold in grocery stores. Palm oil has surged in popularity over the last few years not because of its taste or nutritional value, but because of the consumer backlash against trans fats, which are known to contribute to the development of a number of diseases. Because palm oil is solid at room temperature, food manufacturers use it in products like Oreos that require a soft yet thick texture.

The replacement of traditional solid fat sources with palm oil has had unintended consequences. Palm oil is made from the pulp of the fruit of oil palm trees, which grow mainly in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Brazil. The top two palm oil-producing countries are Indonesia and Malaysia, where thousands of acres of rain forest have been cut down and replaced with oil palm plantations.

While the production and exportation of palm oil has supported the economies of these countries, the extensive deforestation and habitat destruction associated with its production will have only negative long-term consequences. Greenhouse gas emissions have increased dramatically in Indonesia due to the carbon released as a byproduct of deforestation. One unique population of orangutans that lives only in Aceh, Indonesia is nearing extinction due to fires raging through the expanses of palm oil plantations next to its rain forest habitat.

Local communities of people who depend on forest resources for their livelihoods have fought to end the destruction, but little has been done on a global scale to stop it.

That is, until now. Dunkin Donuts has announced its intention to use only sustainably grown palm oil in making its donuts. While it remains to be seen exactly what changes the popular food chain will make in order to source sustainably grown palm oil, the decision is certainly a step in the right direction.

As long as the global market has access to unsustainably produced palm oil, food corporations will continue to purchase it and use it in products, contributing further to environmental destruction. Consumers must stand up to protect the rainforest and those who depend on it by purchasing only those products made with sustainably grown palm oil.

– Kat Henrichs

Sources: NPR, Rainforest Action Network
Photo: Wikipedia