Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

Living Below the Line: Attempting to Understand

Living Below the Line: Attempting to Understand
In an effort to help people understand what it means to live below the line of poverty, the Global Poverty Project organizes an annual campaign to raise funds and awareness for the 1.4 million people living in poverty around the globe. While the campaign strives to gain funding, it is also dedicated to helping people understand what a life of poverty means. Participants live for five days on the equivalent of about $1.50 USD. Since the beginning of this year, 20,000 individuals have taken the challenge alongside the GPP and a dozen partnered nonprofit organizations across three continents. This year the campaign took place from April 29 to May 3 in Canada, The United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and The United States. However, the GPP is taking donations till May 31 and the challenge is open to anyone that wants to do it year-round.

In the United Kingdom, living below the line means living on £1 for five days. One couple, Jenna and Stuart Wills, fine dining enthusiasts, share their experience on living below the line. In a country where one pound, approximately $1.50 USD, doesn’t even buy a bus ticket, a sandwich, or elderberry cordial, the couple knew it was going to be rough.

At the beginning of the week, the couple decided to buy the cheapest staple foods they could find, rice and noodles but realized that they had spent more than half of their five days budget. Consequently, it was difficult to spread the remainder of the budget over the rest of the week. The organic, fair-trade and costly foods that the Wills’ usually dined on were set aside and bargain buys that weren’t quite as delectable were their only alternative. The couple learned to plan grocery-shopping trips to stores and markets close to closing time in order to buy foods that were to expire soon and slashed in price. As the days wore on, lack of luxury food items as simple as coffee took a toll on the couple in high tempers and mood swings.

While the challenge was difficult at times, the couple admits that what they endured for five days is nothing compared to true poverty. They recognize that they have never once wondered when they would eat next, they bragged about their bargain finds on Facebook, and went about their daily lives. Whenever they felt a bit hungry, they had the option to put another piece of bread in the toaster. The couple raised £435 for their chosen charity, Oxfam, and have taken the challenge as an opportunity to appreciate what they have and spread the word about extreme poverty around the world.

– Kira Maixner

Source Birmingham Mail, Live Below the Line US
Photo MSN Food UK

South African Airports Better Than the US

South African Airports Better Than the US
Skytrax- a UK based company that specializes in airline and airport research- recently ranked the top airports in the world. South African airports have topped the list in Africa, and have outdone many other countries, the United States included. The Skytrax survey covered 12 million people and surveyed them about their opinions of 39 different aspects of airport travel from staff to hotels, to shopping. The survey covered roughly 400 airports, and of those 400 airports, only three made the top 100 list, and all three were from South Africa.

Cape Town international airport was ranked as the best airport in Africa and came in 22nd place overall. The Cape Town Airport was also ranked highly for having excellent staff and is ranked as the top airport for airports with 5-10 million passengers yearly.

Also in South Africa is Durban King Shaka International Airport. Durban King Shaka was ranked as the second-best African airport and came in at 26th globally. It is the highest-ranked airport for fewer than five million passengers annually, has the second-best staff in Africa, and is the best regional airport in Africa. Both airports also increased their rankings from the previous year by five and nine points respectively.

The third-place African airport is Johannesburg or Tambo International Airport ranking on 28th globally, improving three places from the previous year. For airports with 10-20 million passengers, it is ranked 9th globally and it has the best airport hotel.

Impressively, all three South African airports beat Dubai International Airport and Sydney airport, as well as every American airport for this year’s ranking. These rankings indicate significant improvements to air travel in the developing world. South Africa’s commitment to its airports indicates an improving level of commerce and economic stability. While South Africa was the only country to break into the top 100 list, it is a sign of improving regional and continental improvements in airline infrastructure and travel.

– Caitlin Zusy
Source How We Made It in Africa
Photo Drive South Africa

,

How Long Will It Take to Lift One Billion People Out of Poverty?

india_poverty_child_rural_global_initiative_world_bank_g8_UN
In a 2013 paper published in the World Bank Research Observer, Martin Ravallion hypothesizes two possibilities in answer to the question, “How Long Will It Take to Lift One Billion People Out of Poverty?” In a pessimistic scenario, only factoring the developing world outside of China, he estimates that it would take 50 more years to achieve the task of lifting a billion relying on less than $1.25 per day. In a more optimistic scenario, he estimates that poverty reduction for a billion people could be achieved by 2025-30. At present, there are about 1.2 billion people globally subsisting on $1.25 per day.

Ravallion reasons that the optimistic scenario is possible if we continue with “staying-on-the-path” as seen in the 20 years between 1990 and 2010 in which the developing world halved its poverty rate. At this pace, it could be halved again in ten more years. This is not only because of China and India’s growth. Since 2000, gross domestic product (GDP) in the developing world has grown by 6% a year. The highest rates of GDP growth over the past decade have been in East Asia (8%), South Asia (7%), and Sub-Saharan Africa (5%) — “the three regions which account for the bulk of absolute poverty” globally. Ravallion’s findings defy the theory that developing countries are stuck in a poverty trap.

Ravallion points out that there are multiple solutions for lifting a billion people out of poverty such as fostering rapid economic growth, avoiding major financial and agro-climatic crises, and assuring that poor people are able to participate fully in that growth through access to schooling, health care, employment, and financial resources. The most sustainable solution for poverty reduction will vary from country to country and hence strategies to combat poverty should be derived at the country level.

But of course, why wait until 2025? If each country were given a boost in resources from foreign aid, each could expedite their poverty reduction efforts. Currently, the U.S. only contributes less than one percent of its federal budget to foreign aid.

– Maria Caluag

Source: World Bank
Photo:Tumblr

,

10 Things You Need to Know About Poverty

India_children_global_poverty_world_hunger_food_aid_international_affairs_department_of_state_foreign_economy_opt

Habitat for Humanity publishes a list of 25 things everyone should know about poverty in America and around the world. Below are 10 items from their list.

1. There are different definitions of poverty.
To define poverty, it is necessary to define what constitutes basic needs. Basic needs may be defined as narrowly as those things necessary for survival, or as broadly as the prevailing standard of living in the community. Thus, poverty in one area or part of the world may have quite a different meaning than in another area or part of the world. In the United States, poverty thresholds are determined by taking the cost of a minimum adequate diet for families of different sizes and multiplying that cost by three to allow for other expenses.

2. There is more to being poor than not having money.
“Poverty is not just about money: lack of access to essential resources goes beyond financial hardship to affect people’s health, education, security and opportunities for political participation. …While economic growth is essential to lifting people out of poverty, this alone is not enough.”—United Nations Development Programme Annual Report 2008

3. People still die from being poor.
More than 26,000 children under age 5 die each day, mostly from preventable causes. More than one-third of all child deaths occur within the first 28 days of life.—UNICEF, “State of the World’s Children,” 2008

4. Poverty directly affects many, many people every single day.
Some 1.2 billion people around the world live on less than a dollar a day, while almost 850 million people—almost three times the entire population of the United States—go hungry every night.—United Nations Development Programme Annual Report 2008

5. Women often face more challenges than men in overcoming poverty.
Women who become single heads of households, particularly in Africa, are significantly more vulnerable,because in many countries in the region they can access land only through husbands or fathers. Where women’s land ownership is relationship-based, they risk losing access to land after widowhood, divorce, desertion or male migration, which can lead to destitution.—United Nations’ Centre for Human Settlements, “State of the World’s Cities 2008/2009”

6. Yet women are an important part of the solution.
“Women have proven to be the best poverty fighters. Experience and studies have shown that they use the profits from their businesses to send their children to school, improve their families’ living conditions and nutrition, and expand their businesses.”—The Grameen Foundation

7. Poor people pay back loans.
The repayment rate for microfinance loans, a development strategy in which very poor people are loaned small amounts of money to incrementally improve their lives, is between 95 and 98 percent. In fact, it is higher than the repayment rate of student loans and credit card debts in the United States.—The Grameen Foundation

8. Defeating poverty creates dignity.
Marrie Gessesse, a mother of eight in the Amhara region of Ethiopia, used microfinance loans to buy goats and cultivate fruits and vegetables for income. Eventually, she was able to send her children to school. “No one used to consider me before,” she says. “When they saw that I was becoming autonomous, people started to respect me. Now they have elected me member of the administrative council and the women’s association.”—International Fund for Agricultural Development

9. Poverty is a moral issue.
Almost 9 million children are internally displaced because of armed conflict. Roughly 1.8 million children are trapped in the commercial sex trade, and the annual revenue generated from human trafficking is $9.5 billion.—UNICEF, 2007

10. Poverty is not inevitable.
In 1960, roughly 20 million newborns did not live to see their fifth birthday; by 2006, the most recent year for which firm estimates are available, the annual number of child deaths globally fell below 10 million, to 9.7 million, for the first time since records began.—UNICEF, “State of the World’s Children,” 2008.

– Délice Williams

Source: Habitat
Photo: Bargate

Prince Harry Visits the US

Prince Harry Visits the US
Much to the excitement of American women, Prince Harry was in the US from May 9th through the 15th of 2013. While Prince Harry was here he visited Capital Hill. He spent time at an anti-landmine photography exhibition that was put on by HALO Trust. Prince Harry is a patron of HALO Trust at the Russell Senate Office Building. He toured the exhibit with US Senator John McCain. The exhibit was overtaken by female congressional staffers who were eager to catch a glimpse of Prince Harry. Many women snapped a picture of him, on their cell phones, eager to share them with their friends.

Prince Harry’s visit to the United States is aimed at undertaking engagements on behalf of charities the prince is closely associated with. Additionally, the trip’s central theme is to support injured service personnel from the UK and US forces. Prince Harry’s agenda also includes The Warrior Games in Colorado Springs, which benefit veterans from the US and Britain, areas of New Jersey that suffered from Hurricane Sandy, Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, and Greenwich, Connecticut for a Polo match. In Connecticut he will participate in the Sentebale Polo Cup, which is a match that was started by his charity of the same name, to raise money for Lesotho and other African regions struggling with poverty.

– Caitlin Zusy

History of the UNHCR

History of the UNHCR
Over the 63-year history of the UNHCR, the staff, budget, legal framework, NGO network, geographic scope and expertise of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has expanded. Despite the initially ambitious goal of solving all refugee problems in three years, the extended mandate of the UNHCR speaks to the consistent problem of refugees, internally displaced persons, asylum seekers, and stateless peoples.

WWII left around 400,000 people homeless refugees strewn across Europe. In 1950, the ambitious new global institution, the UN, created the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) under a three-year mandate to complete its work and then disband. With only 34 staff members and a $300,000 first-year budget, the UN quickly realized the magnitude of the problem far outweighed the resources of the body. A year after its inception, a legal foundation for assisting refugees was set up to establish a legal framework under which refugees can claim international rights. In recognition of the innovative humanitarianism the UNHCR performed, the new organization won the 1954 Nobel Peace Prize.

When the Soviets put down the Hungarian revolution in 1956, an outpouring of refugees into neighboring countries was a humanitarian emergency. The decolonization of Africa in the 1960s and pursuant demarcation of sovereign state boundaries “produced the first of that continent’s numerous refugee crises needing UNHCR intervention.” Through the 1970s and 1980s, the UNHCR advocated and assisted refugees in Asia and Latin America. In 1981 the UNHCR again won the Nobel Peace Prize for “assistance to refugees, with the citation noting the political obstacles facing the organization.”

When the Berlin Wall fell and proxy wars ended, governments previously ‘shored up’ by foreign assistance were weakened. This allowed the “proliferation of identity-based conflicts” causing new refugee problems. The 1990s brought the refugee emergencies full circle back to Africa and Europe with the wars in the Balkans. Throughout the 21st century, the UNHCR has been assisting refugees in the extremely sensitive crises of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia.

The UNHCR also expanded to assist internally displaced persons and stateless peoples—a politically divisive issue. Stateless peoples are frequently overlooked and denied basic human rights because they do not have citizenship. Fortunately, in some regions, regional agreements have strengthened the 1951 mandate.

As population movement becomes more complex so does the refugee situation. Approximately 150 million people live outside their country of birth. 10% of these people are refugees. This amounts to about 1 out of 400 people worldwide. Most often, refugees are created from violent conflict and recent research and practitioners’ experiences show humanitarian aid can no longer be considered independent of a conflict. Often, conflicting factions see the humanitarian body as supporting one side or the other making the aid workers and aid vulnerable to attack and manipulation.

Fortunately, the UNHCR has reflected the growing problem by growing size, scope, and depth of action. In 2012, the UNHCR had a budget of $3.59 billion and a staff of 7,685 based in the Geneva headquarters, 126 countries within which 135 main offices operate and 279 remote field offices function. Of the 43 million people uprooted worldwide, the UNHCR supports 33.9 million ‘people of concern.’ The two largest groups are internally displaced persons (14.7 million people) and refugees (10.5 million persons). The remaining group’s returnees (3.1 million), stateless people (3.5 million), asylum seekers (837,000) and ‘other’ (1.3 million).

– Katherine Zobre
Sources: UNHCR History , The State of the World’s Refugees 2000
Photo: UNHCR

 

Boghuma Kabisen Titanji’s TED Talk on Ethical Riddles in HIV Research

Medical doctor and PhD candidate at University College London, Boghuma Kabisen Titanji, is dedicated to the study of HIV drug resistant viruses and seeks to better understand the mechanisms of drug resistance. When she did the research in Africa, she found that there are so much we need to do to protect participants who are in HIV research.

In Titanji’s TED Talk, she mentions a story about a HIV research participant and how this gave her ideas to think about what we need to protect participants’ rights and how it is important that we should talk about ethical riddles in HIV research. Titanji also brought up four areas that need to be improved in the clinical trial in developing countries to protect participants and to be more ethically acceptable.

The first point is informed consent which means participants must be given relevant information. The second area is the standard of care provided by any clinical trials. After the research ends, they should take responsibility for their participants. What happens to participants once the clinical trial is completed needs to be decided before the clinical trial. Thirdly, local governments should pay more attention to the ethical review of research even before the trial has started. And the final point is that all clinical trials should have clear plans about what happens to all the participants when research is completed.

-Caiqing Jin(Kelly)
Source: TED Talks

History of the IMF

History of the IMF
The IMF, or International Monetary Fund, was founded in July of 1944 at the International Monetary and Financial Conference, in New Hampshire. The organization was entered into force in 1945, and the laws were adopted in March of 1946. In the months following the organization’s creation, executive directors and the first managing director, Camille Gutt of Belgium, were elected.

The harsh economic circumstances of the 1930’s and 40’s led the founders of the IMF to plan an institution charged with overseeing the international monetary system in order to prevent self-defeating financial policies. The formation of the IMF would ensure that exchange rate stability was maintained and encourage its member countries to eliminate exchange restrictions that could potentially hinder or complicate trade. In March of 1947, France became the first country to borrow from the IMF.

 

The IMF: A Cornerstone of the Global Economy

Between 1945 and 1971, member nations of the IMF agreed to keep their exchange rates at a level that could be adjusted only to correct disequilibrium in the balance of payments and only with the IMF’s consent. This system, known as the Bretton Woods system, remained in place until 1971 when the US suspended the convertibility of USD into gold.

After the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, IMF members have been free to choose any form of exchange agreement they wish, other than pegging their currency on gold. Countries are free to allow their currency to float freely, peg it to a different currency, adopt another country’s currency, or other methods.  The IMF’s transition to floating exchange rates made it easier for economies to adjust to external shocks.

The IMF has since been redefined by the major global economic crises around the world. Since the mid-1970s, the IMF has helped many of the world’s poorest countries by providing concessional loan programs. These programs came during the oil crisis of the 1970s. The oil crisis forced many countries to borrow from commercial banks, which led to interest rate increases, and subsequently, an international debt crisis. The soaring interest rates caused poorer, developing, and non-oil-producing countries to pay roughly $22 billion dollars between 1978-81.

The financial crisis continued to worsen into 1982, when the IMF coordinated global response, realizing that nobody would benefit if the country after the country failed to repay its debts. This strategy calmed the initial panic; however, it also highlighted the long road needed to eliminate the problem.

After the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, the organization witnessed its greatest influx of member states since the 1960s. The IMF was essential in assisting countries from the Soviet Bloc transition from central planning to market-driven policies. After several years of intense reform and IMF guidance, most economies had transitioned to market economy status.

In 1997, the Asian financial crisis taught the IMF several important things. First, they would need to pay a great deal more attention to weaknesses in countries’ banking sectors and to the effects those weaknesses had on their macroeconomic stability.  The IMF also realized that the institutional prerequisites for successful liberalization of international capital flows were more daunting than they had realized. And finally, the IMF realized that they needed to re-evaluate how fiscal policy should be adjusted in a time of economic crisis.

The global economic crisis of 2008 was preceded by large imbalances in global capital flows. This financial crisis uncovered fragility in advanced markets. In response to the recognition that the IMF would be strained during this financial crisis, the fund lending capacity was tripled to $750 billion. They implemented a variety of lending policies and flexible credit lines to countries with strong economic fundamentals, while also assisting poorer, less developed nations.

The IMF has been and continues to be a quintessentially important monetary cornerstone of the international global economy. The IMF is responsible for many of the world’s most comprehensive and influential economic decisions of the 20th and 21st centuries. Without the IMF the global economy would be a drastically different place.

– Caitlin Zusy
Source IMF

Boeing’s Dreamliner Does Africa

Boeing's Dreamliner Does Africa
Ethiopian Airlines has become the first airline outside of Japan to own a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Ethiopian Airlines has managed to maintain an impressive business record in the face of a harsh economic crisis. The airline has seen substantial economic growth over the last seven years.

Airline CEO Tewolde GebreMariam is helping his company use its impressive economic growth and its strategic location to its advantage. Ethiopia is located in the middle of the developing world. However, if the airline is to be successful with their Boeing endeavor, they will need to deal with the economic stress of being an airliner in Africa.

The airline needs to combat a poor African airline infrastructure. Additionally, Ethiopian airlines will need to invest in the education and training of their pilots and technicians. GebreMariam has answers for these problems. He says Ethiopian Airlines is working with African governments to improve airport infrastructure. Ethiopia, he says, is building a huge aviation academy that has grown to 1000 graduates a year. He is confident that the airline can give an opportunity for the country.

GebreMariam believes the new airliner has a great deal to offer passengers as well. He boasts the more humid air on the aircraft, wider windows allowing passengers to take in more scenery, and better fuel efficiency, all of which he hopes will increase business to the airline.

GebreMariam believes the airline can generate over ten billion dollars annually in revenue citing Ethiopia’s growing GDP as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. He expects its growth to continue because of its strategic location. Economies such as China, African economies, India and Brazil are all growing economies, and GebreMariam believes he can use the Boeing Dreamliner to help boost Ethiopian Airlines’ profits with customers from those countries.

The Boeing Dreamliner will fly in Africa for the time being. When they are able to purchase a second Dreamliner, GebreMariam says Ethiopian Airlines will utilize it on the Washington route.  They have already ordered ten Boeing Dreamliners and are expecting to have four of them delivered by year-end.

– Caitlin Zusy
Source: CNN
Photo: Ethios Sport

Nicole Kidman: Ambassador for UNIFEM

Nicole Kidman: Ambassador for UNIFEM
Nicole Kidman has a history of being involved in philanthropic endeavors with dual citizenship in the United States and Australia. In January of 2006, Kidman took on the role of goodwill ambassador of the United Nations Development Fund for Women, also known as UNIFEM, and now called UN Women.

Kidman works primarily towards raising awareness on the infringement of women’s human rights around the world with her main focus on violence against women. According to the UN, violence affects nearly one in three women around the world.

Kidman has been particularly involved in UN Women’s Say NO- Unite to End Violence Against Women Initiative. This initiative has become a global advocacy effort that has galvanized millions on the issue. Additionally, she has worked to make the voices of women survivors of violence heard in the media and has helped to raise funds for programs addressing violence against women.

Kidman’s philanthropic work does not stop with UN Women. She has also done a great deal for UNICEF serving as the UNICEF ambassador for Australia. Kidman has also served as a patron of the Australian Theatre for Young People in Sydney, Australia. Over the past three years, she has also served as an honorary patron of FARA, an organization working to help orphaned children in Africa. In the United States, Kidman has also advocated for women’s cancer research, recently becoming the first chair of the Women’s Health Fund at UCLA.

– Caitlin Zusy
Source UNIFEM
Photo M&C