Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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Women’s Health In Nigeria

Women's Health in Nigeria
Women’s health is a branch of medicine that focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of conditions that affect women’s physical and emotional wellbeing. The promotion of women’s health greatly improves the quality of life for women and children globally. Unfortunately, women in the West African country of Nigeria experience an especially low quality of life. Luckily, several organizations in Nigeria are targeting an improvement in women’s health.

Women’s Health and Multidimensional Poverty in Nigeria

According to the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), multidimensional poverty includes poverty in both the economic and social dimensions. It follows that health and wellbeing are significant factors in each of those dimensions. In the 2019 Human Development Report, Nigeria ranked 161 out of 189 countries. Moreover, Nigerians had an average life expectancy of 54 years.

Nigerian researchers Yetunde Abosede Zaid and Samuel Popoola attribute the low quality of life for rural women in Nigeria to poverty, hunger, diseases, a lack of drinking water and shelter. They also cite low income and access to medical attention and information as factors of poor wellbeing. For example, Zaid and Popoola reference a study that concludes that more rural women could become wage earners and boost their personal wellbeing if they began small businesses selling the produce from their farms. However, lack of access to information about running a small business stops them from doing that. In fact, since most rural women in Nigeria cannot read, they need alternatives to printed materials to get that key information. The following three organizations are working to improve these trends in women’s health in Nigeria.

Centre for Women’s Health and Information

Founded in 2003 in Lagos, the Centre for Women’s Health and Information (CEWHIN) promotes the fundamental rights of Nigerian women and girls. To do this, CEWHIN focuses on research, capacity building and advocacy. 

One of the nonprofit’s initiatives includes the Women’s Development Action Network. This project empowers disadvantaged women by providing them with educational scholarships. This is because better-educated women better understand their reproductive health rights. To date, the project has supported 50 students, including four at the university level. 

Women’s Health Solutions in Nigeria

Next, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA) seeks to improve health outcomes for women, infants and children. Founded in Lagos in 2004 by the philanthropist Toyin Ojora Saraki, the WBFA sponsors several national projects. One of these, MamaCares360, empowers mothers by providing health information and education before, during and after pregnancy. Currently, MamaCares 360 runs in 29 locations in five southwestern Nigerian states, and it has a cumulative daily attendance of over 2,000 women per state with more than 230,000 repeated contacts.  

Women’s Rights and Health Project

Third, the Women’s Rights and Health Project is a nongovernmental nonprofit that promotes reproductive health and rights for women, young people and communities. Founded in 2007, WRAHP applies practical interventions to support community health in southwestern Nigeria. One such intervention promotes the early detection of breast, cervical and prostate cancer for communities in Lagos State. To date, it has helped over 1,300 people obtain screenings. 

Looking Ahead to Improve Women’s Health in Nigeria

Each of these organizations targeting women’s health in Nigeria works a little differently, but each is making progress to improve the health and quality of life for Nigerian women, children and young adults.

– Ozi Ojukwu
Photo: Flickr

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The Predicted 6% Increase in Uzbekistan’s Economy

Uzbekistan’s Economy
Uzbekistan, a landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the few countries in the world to avoid a severe economic downturn in the fiscal year 2020, received a financial projection from the World Bank indicating that Uzbekistan’s economy should improve about 6% in total in the fiscal year 2021. Here is some information about the country’s economy including what contributes to its growth.

Uzbekistan’s Economic Foundation

Uzbekistan’s economy is heavily reliant on agriculture. About 27% of the population works in agriculture, a sector that accounts for 28% of the nation’s gross domestic product. The most exported crop is cotton, which is a water-intensive crop. Most of Uzbekistan’s farming land requires heavy irrigation through the country’s “system of pumps and canals.” Uzbekistan, on average, produces more than 700,000 tons of cotton per year. In 2020, this brought in $78.87 million to Uzbekistan’s economy. Other agricultural products include livestock or seedlings. Altogether, Uzbekistan earned $15 billion from the exportation of goods alone.

What Changed in 2020?

Despite the difficulties involved in trade due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Uzbekistan’s agricultural sector remained steady and robust. The impact of the pandemic on unemployment was minimal and poverty has already begun reverting to its pre-pandemic levels. At the beginning of 2020, the unemployment rate was about 9% increasing to 11% by the end of the year. Since then, the poverty rate has re-stabilized at about 9.8% for the first three quarters of 2021. Experts expect this upward trend to continue during 2021.

In 2020, one of the reasons the agricultural sector was not as harshly affected as it was in other nations is because Uzbekistan began efforts to update farming technologies and develop a primarily agricultural export-oriented market to further the agricultural sector’s contributions to the nation’s GDP. In August 2021, a plan was approved to transform the agricultural sector in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The developmental plans will expand resources available for those working in agriculture and expand job accessibility in Uzbekistan. In turn, with the expanded job accessibility and resource expansion, the poverty rate in Uzbekistan has a significant chance of decreasing further. As agriculture remained a stable sector for business in 2019 and 2020, Uzbekistan’s government saw the opportunity for expansion and reorganization. This plays a significant role in the expected increase in Uzbekistan’s GDP.

Uzbekistan and the World Bank

The World Bank has partnered with Uzbekistan for decades. It tracks Uzbekistan’s overall poverty rate, economic growth and more. Uzbekistan’s partnership with the World Bank involves “providing technical advice on how to improve the country’s economic and financial management” with a focus on “private sector growth, agricultural competitiveness and modernization and improved public service delivery.” One of the aims also includes transitioning to “a market-based agriculture system.” This goal is also the primary aim of the Uzbekistan-USAID agricultural transformation strategy outlined for 2020-2030.

Throughout this partnership, the World Bank and Uzbekistan have developed policies to do away with child labor but expand job opportunities. Positively, Uzbekistan noted significant increases in the nation’s GDP since the partnership began.

In October 2021, the World Bank Vice President Anna Bjerde met with Uzbekistan’s president to discuss the partnership between the organization and the country and see how the World Bank can help Uzbekistan fulfill its goal of expanding into the market-based agriculture system. The system can help farmers operate more business ventures and expand their markets without many restrictions, leading to more job opportunities.

The Potential of a New Market

Much of the projected economic growth stems from the change in agriculture marketing in Uzbekistan. The country’s income from cotton exports and trade decreased to about $3 million in 2020, even though, in 2019, this amount was about five times higher. Despite this staggering drop, Uzbekistan’s economy remained fairly untouched.

Uzbekistan’s economy hardly shrank, which means a better chance for significant improvement this fiscal year. Furthermore, the increasing rate of vaccinations globally and the opening of markets for trade increase the potential for Uzbekistan’s economy to re-expand fully and continue expanding.

Positive projections for Uzbekistan’s economy provide confidence to Uzbekistan and will attract foreign investors. The positive projection increasing four points from the previous projection, as well as the expansion of the free agriculture-market system, potential job opportunities and the chance for more foreign investments, all point toward a positive 2021 for Uzbekistan and its economy.

– Clara Mulvihill
Photo: Flickr

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Foreign Aid and The Impacts of COVID-19 in Guyana

Impacts of COVID-19 in Guyana
Guyana, the only English-speaking country in South America, shares borders with Suriname, Venezuela and Brazil. According to 2021 data from the World Population Review, Guyana is the 17th most impoverished nation on the continent. Guyana’s economy relies mostly on its natural resources and has seen great improvements since the discovery of petroleum and gas reservoirs in 2015. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the country socially and economically. Fortunately, foreign aid is contributing to Guyana’s recovery and the safeguarding of its population during COVID-19 in Guyana. Here is some information about the impacts of COVID-19 in Guyana including measures to help the country deal with the pandemic.

The Impacts of COVID-19 in Guyana

Similar to the rest of the world, Guyana has not been exempt from the impacts of COVID-19. By September 19, 2021, Guyana reported a total of 29,553 COVID-19 cases and 725 deaths.

In 2020, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) assessed the socioeconomic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in Guyana and found alarming results. Telephone survey results indicate that about 10% of respondents cannot access healthcare, mostly because health centers are not equipped with the necessary medical supplies and limited healthcare facilities lead to overcrowding.

Furthermore, almost 60% of respondents reported concerns of not having adequate food during COVID-19 and “22% have skipped meals since the pandemic” began. Spending more than 60% of their income on food supplies is the reality of 18% of respondents. Income cuts affect 20% of respondents, with businesses closing down or “reduced work” accounting for 70% of these income losses. People who have had to dip into their savings due to financial difficulties make up 52% of the respondents and roughly 70% of “households indicated a need for priority assistance, including cash, food and hygiene products.” The financial impacts of COVID-19 impact women-headed households the most as 76% required financial help.

Foreign Aid Counts

In 2021, Guyana has received three shipments of COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX Facility — a partnership between “global [nonprofits] and leaders in vaccine development and distribution,” totaling 100,800 doses. France has also donated 19,200 extra doses to Guyana. These numbers together represent approximately 23% of all doses administered up until September 2021 when the same percentage of people had been fully vaccinated and 44% had at least started the vaccination protocol.

In June 2021, the World Bank approved $6 million in financial aid for the Guyana COVID-19 Emergency Response Project. This aid is not only for the purchase of vaccines but also for awareness-raising efforts and overall improvements in the country’s health system.

Finally, the United States has been one of the major allies improving Guyana’s situation, donating $1.3 million to aid Guyana’s COVID-19 response. The global superpower also benefits from helping Guyana stabilize socially and economically since the two countries have strong bilateral economic relations; the nations rely heavily on each other for imports and exports of goods, for example. In August 2021, the U.S. also shipped 146,250 cost-free Pfizer vaccine doses to the country. Guyana’s Ministry of Health stated that it has enough doses to immunize all Guyanese adults thanks to its foreign “friends.” Widespread vaccination is essential in fighting the global pandemic and reducing social-economic instability.

Looking Ahead

Guyana’s economy has been growing exponentially since the discovery of oil and gas reserves on its coast. However, the pandemic has impacted the well-being of a great part of the population with widespread job losses, income cuts and difficulties accessing healthcare, among other challenges. Foreign aid plays an essential role in Guyana’s path to recovery, mostly by accelerating immunization and promoting the improvement of the country’s health system. The United States is one of Guyana’s main donors and partners, benefiting directly from Guyana’s upturn.

– Iasmine Oliveira
Photo: Flickr

USAID: Aiding the Economy in Timor-Leste

Saving Lives and the Economy in Timor-Leste
Timor-Leste, a small island nation previously known as East Timor, is inarguably enduring a very difficult and trying year. The combination of devastating floods after Cyclone Seroja in 2021 and the COVID-19 pandemic has left the nation desperately in need of assistance. Due to these disasters, the nation’s economy is currently struggling to find its way back to stability. Fortunately, on September 13, 2021, USAID announced plans to contribute an additional $1 million toward COVID-19 relief in Timor. This generous contribution will aid the goal of saving lives and the economy in Timor-Leste.

COVID-19 in Timor-Leste

Like any other nation, Timor-Leste has felt the inescapable effects of COVID-19. With a population of 1.3 million, the nation has witnessed 19,445 cases and 114 deaths as of September 28, 2021. Despite these numbers, as of September 28, 2021, Timor-Leste’s full vaccination rate stands at only about 20% of the population. This leaves an astounding number of people still unprotected.

The combination of flooding and COVID-19 has been catastrophic for Timor-Leste’s economy. In 2020, the nation’s economy endured a decline of 7%. Lockdowns and other restrictions amid COVID-19 led to significantly lower economic activity. While imports saw a reduction of approximately 19% “due to a slowdown in construction and travel services,” exports suffered even more, essentially declining by almost 50% “owing to limited travel services and lower coffee earnings.”

Because COVID-19 is a significant threat to the economy in Timor-Leste, increasing the country’s overall vaccination rate is crucial. Ending lockdowns and restoring normalcy will allow economic activity to return to pre-pandemic levels. Due to these harsh impacts, COVID-19 relief from organizations such as USAID is necessary for saving lives and the economy in Timor-Leste.

Assistance From USAID

USAID is a U.S. agency with a dedication to providing assistance during times of disaster at an international level. It works to eliminate poverty on a global scale, “strengthen democratic governance and help people emerge from humanitarian crises and progress beyond assistance.”

Along with an existing amount of $1.6 million that USAID allocated for COVID-19 relief in Timor-Leste, USAID is now providing an additional $1 million in support of this cause. The amount of COVID-19 aid to Timor-Leste from the United States now totals $5 million.

This added funding will contribute to the expansion of vaccination programs by employing prominent organizations and “trusted leaders” to encourage Timorese citizens to receive vaccinations. These efforts specifically focus on underserved communities on the outskirts of Dili, the largest city in Timor-Leste.

Partnering with Timorese officials, USAID also intends to instruct healthcare employees within rural and agricultural communities on vaccine protocols such as proper storage and transportation manners. Furthermore, USAID aims for vaccine equity, ensuring equal opportunity for all citizens to receive the vaccine. Additionally, USAID will partner with the Ministry of Health in Timor-Leste to closely monitor COVID-19 statistics in order to determine the safest resolutions for the nation and its citizens in the future.

Moving Forward

With USAID’s generous $1 million to fight the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the future looks promising for Timor-Leste and its population despite facing a tumultuous year. Through the support of organizations such as USAID, hope exists for restoring normalcy in Timor-Leste.

Not only are expanded vaccination efforts helping save lives but these efforts are also restoring economic stability in the country. With continued international support, Timor-Leste can successfully rebuild and recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

– River Simpson
Photo: Flickr

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Child Poverty in The Bahamas

the-bahamas-challenges-the-children-face
Of the several nations and the many diverse peoples of Central America and the Caribbean, The Bahamas is one of the most beautiful and iconic. Well known for its thriving tourist industry, many U.S. citizens visit this collection of islands on vacation. The Bahamas has continued to rise in GDP and other metrics of quality of life for its citizens due to its successful tourism industry and offshore financing industry. Despite the growth that The Bahamas continues to present, there have been some concerning trends that have threatened this. Specifically, there have been problems and uncontrollable circumstances that the children have had to face. These problems affect the country and its future. Amongst these struggles, external catastrophes hit many of the most vulnerable children hardest, exacerbating child poverty in The Bahamas. This includes Hurricane Dorian in 2018 and more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic.

Child Poverty Rates

The Bahamas’ poverty rate is comparable to some of its Caribbean neighbors. Studies found that 12.5% of the population is living under the poverty line with under $5,000 a year. Many of these households support children. Additionally, children under the age of 14 represent the group with the highest poverty rate in the country.

Without access to resources and basic needs, these children are likely to have trouble maturing. The lack of food, sleep and time for a developing child who poverty affects will directly affect their performance in academics, recreation, social interactions and other aspects of their life.

Blocks in Education

As The Bahamas has grown its economy and infrastructure its education systems have also grown to match. However, there has been an alarming disparity in the quality and access to education. The literacy rate in people over the age of 15 decreased from 98% in 1995 to 93% in 2020. Many have largely attributed this trend to the difference in the quality of education between private and public schools.

Public state-run schools have a graduation rate of 44% for boys and 51% for girls while the graduation rate is 87.6% for those in private institutions. The reason for this variance is the lack of funding and resources for teaching materials, school supplies, and internet access for those in public schools.

Home Situations

The Bahamas has a very low dual household dynamic. More than 50% of all children in The Bahamas are born out of wedlock and a single parent often raises them. This is a holdover from times when large families lived together, so children did not feel the absence of a parent so harshly. However, the commonality of this has faded.

Children that single parents raise, especially those suffering from poverty, have more developmental and material disadvantages in life. The education challenges and dropout rates among the youth of The Bahamas reflect this issue.

Children are the Future of The Bahamas

Help from NGOs and other countries has been stagnant because of the  COVID-19 pandemic and lack of awareness. Project Hope is an organization that has a consistent presence in The Bahamas, although there are no large organizations. However, Project Hope’s work should receive commendation and undergo replication because they have been instrumental in shedding light on the challenges that people in The Bahamas face.

Project Hope is an NGO that focuses primarily on health care needs and services. They have been bringing aid, resources and expertise to The Bahamas. Beginning after Hurricane Dorian, Project Hope has focused on providing health care services for children, including those who experience child poverty in The Bahamas. This helps the children to further their education.

The Bahamas has been in a vicious cycle of struggling children becoming struggling adults. Rather than beautiful beaches or offshore tax evasion, children are at once the most vulnerable and most valuable resource that The Bahamas has.

– John J. Lee
Photo: Flickr

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Horn of Africa Development Initiative in Kenya


In a part of the African region known as the Horn of Africa, Kenya has made significant reforms in the past 10 years to ignite economic growth in the nation. However, like the rest of the world, economic progress in Kenya came to a halt during the COVID-19 pandemic. With a vulnerable economy, poverty and inequality remain daunting issues. Infestations of locusts began in January 2020, which further weakened the economic infrastructure, particularly in the Northeast part of Kenya. The Horn of Africa Development Initiative aims to uplift and empower Kenyans living in poverty.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Poverty in Kenya

For many Kenyans, food security is a serious problem. According to the Kenya COVID-19 Poverty Monitor by the Chronic Poverty Advisory Network, by January 2020, some families could not afford more expensive foods such as vegetables while others only ate one or two meals per day. In addition, “lower agricultural yields” create further stress on households as does job loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 has impacted the Kenyan economy through “supply and demand shocks.” In 2020, real gross domestic product in Kenya dropped by 0.3%. Service sectors such as tourism and education faced disruption and manufacturing took a hit as well.

Help for Kenyans in Need

An inventive non-governmental organization is working to help families in need and reduce global poverty by building resilient communities. Fatuma A. Adan founded the Horn of Africa Development Initiative (HODI) in 2003, in Marsabit, Northern Kenya. Through “advocacy, education, peacebuilding and sustainable livelihoods,” the NGO works with communities and women who struggle to meet their basic needs.

Due to unemployment, locust infestation and frequent droughts that wither crops, many households are barely able to put food on the table every month. Because economic shocks disproportionately impact women-headed households, HODI runs a program with disadvantaged Kenyan women in mind.

Building Resilient Communities Program

HODI’s Building Resilient Communities Program aims to empower women and help communities increase their economic power. The program encourages village women to organize into groups of 10 to 50 women to save money together. Each member must save “at least 10 shillings every day: three shillings for education, three shillings for hospital bills and four shillings for small business.” After 30 days, this amounts to 300 shillings per member, which goes into a bank account that the women operate. From this pooled money, “women take out small loans repayable in small monthly installments” to fund their children’s education, pay medical bills and even start their own businesses.

With the revenue from their small businesses, women can”repay their loans” and also provide for their families and achieve financial independence. Within the program, HODI helps participants with record-keeping and teaches them financial literacy.

With the donations HODI receives for this program, HODI “inject[s] grants into the groups to increase the amount of money that is available for loans” and provides households with “water tanks to increase the water-saving capacity” of families.

Bringing Women Together for a Shared Purpose

Another benefit of the Building Resilient Communities Program is that although the women belong to different ethnic groups, they come together for a common purpose. Because HODI founder “Fatuma Adan was born to parents from two warring tribes in Marsabit, Northern Kenya,” she made it her goal to help unite people from different factions.

For her work in building resilient communities in Kenya, Adan received the Stuttgart Peace Prize in 2011, among other awards. In 2012, Adan received a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. With support and funding from donors, the Horn of Africa Development Initiative can continue to empower and uplift Kenyans living in poverty.

– Sarah Betuel
Photo: Flickr

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Child Poverty in the Gambia

Child Poverty in The Gambia
Child poverty in the Gambia is a rampant issue throughout the country. While the smallest country in West Africa, the Gambia’s rising poverty and food insecurity cause significant concern for children’s future safety and health. Despite the attempts to encourage positive change, 48% of the 2.1 million people living in the Gambia live in poverty, and 10.3% of the children suffer from acute malnutrition, with a more significant number being food insecure.

COVID-19 and Poverty

Globally, COVID-19 has struck economies and the healthcare systems of every nation, regardless of size or wealth. Though COVID-19 indiscriminately targeted the world’s populations, the healthcare system’s integrity and economic power were essential in protecting and supporting a nation’s citizens. In August 2020, households with insufficient food intake rose to 22% from 20% in July 2020, with the World Food Programme (WFP) attributing those changes to the pandemic. COVID-19 has more than doubled the quarterly increase of acute malnutrition at 5.6%, impacting approximately 58,177 children.

On top of increasing food insecurity, COVID-19 causes an increase in child poverty in the Gambia as employment decreases and the nation’s food supply decreases. The combining factors in the past two years add to the previous instability in the Gambia that included high rates of poverty and malnutrition.

Child Labor and Abuse

In the Gambia, child labor is a common occurrence, and even child prostitution remains a significant issue within the country. According to the U.S. Department of Labor and the United Nations, minors’ commercial exploitation and trafficking in the Gambia contributes to the illegal sex tourism business. This form of labor is illegal while enforcement and allegations fail to eliminate the reoccurring allegations. Without a robust justice system and significant improvement in entrepreneurship in the Gambia, illegal and horrifying child abuse will likely continue with minimal justice for the victims.

Besides the concerning presence of child prostitution, children ages 5 to 14 are working at a rate of 22.6%, and children attending school while working are at 21.7%. Typical fields of child labor are farming, mining, scavenging or street begging. While the child labor forms are nowhere near the complete list of potential labor fields, the necessity and use of children in the positions reflect the high rates of child poverty in the Gambia.

Education and Poverty

As with any nation, there is a direct association between poverty and education, especially with commonplace child labor. Although there have been slight improvements in education, such as 78% enrollment in primary schools, retention remains a significant issue for Gambian children. Of the 65.5% of students that complete primary school education, only 45.8% enter a lower secondary school and only 29.2% reach an upper secondary school education. The primary concern is approximately 20% of school-age children never enter the education system, reflecting a significant piece of the population unable to reach full economic potential.

Education is an essential aspect of youth in many emerging economies, as it allows individuals to enter specific and unique aspects of the global market. Without education, it can be challenging to improve socioeconomic status or advance development within one’s country. The combined rates of child education and child labor reflect the loss in economic potential and the inability to decrease poverty in the Gambia internally. Child poverty in the Gambia will continue without increasing the assistance to build up the education system and enforce ratified child labor laws. The factors of food insecurity, child poverty and weak systems to combat social issues contribute to the estimation that Gambian children only reach 40% of their full potential.

Looking Ahead

In an attempt to reduce child poverty in the Gambia, NGOs are providing supplies and monetary support to ensure safety, health and education. Child Aid Gambia is one organization that is supporting children, with multiple programs, including Bakoteh Rubbish Dump or Feeding Programmes. The Bakoteh Rubbish Dump spans over one kilometer in each direction and sits in the district of the busy township Serekunda. This dump is one of the largest and most toxic in the Gambia and Child Aid Gambia found children between 4 years old and older scavenging for metal and scraps to sell in the location. The Bakoteh Rubbish Dump Program works to reintegrate the children scavenging the dump back into local schools to ensure their education.

With the high rates of food scarcity, the Feeding Programmes assist the poorest communities by providing high-quality food for families and those suffering from malnutrition, especially with shorter rainy seasons in recent years causing massive drought. The care packages act as lifelines for communities experiencing drought or economic losses stagnating development. Without organizations such as Child Aid Gambia, there would be higher food insecurity and poverty levels throughout the nation. To end child poverty in the Gambia, NGOs and government organizations need to increase support for systemic change for education and ground-level support for food-insecure and impoverished children.

– Mikey Redding
Photo: Flickr

Baked Goods Against Poverty 

Baked Goods Against Poverty 
There are more than 15 million senior citizens over the age of 65 who are at or below the poverty line. They often struggle to pay their health and mortgage bills, and they frequently have a lack of access to transportation or have experienced job loss. Not to mention, older women are more prone to experience poverty than men because of wage discrimination and their roles as caregivers. Luckily, in some parts of the world such as Austria and India, organizations are using baked goods to fight poverty. Here is some information about some of these organizations and what they do.

Eat My Cake

Saloua Sahl, a French graphic designer, started Eat My Cake in Pondicherry, India to provide local women employment and space to build confidence. Sahl moved to Pondicherry to volunteer at a special needs school when she first decided she wanted to give back. The local women in this town experience poverty and toxic male masculinity. When Sahl came up with her idea for the bakery, she knew that the local women grew up in the kitchen, so pastries were not an issue for them to learn how to make. Sahl recounted a situation of abuse when a worker did not show one day because her husband bashed a coconut on her head. Stories such as these are what inspire Eat My Cake to keep going because it gives women the opportunity to garner incomes.

Sahl said, “We don’t have the solution. … The fact that you can have an income, send your children to school … this is the start of the solution.” With the use of personal funds and donations, Eat My Cake opened in December 2016.

Vollpension BakAdemy

Vollpension BakAdemy is using baked goods to fight poverty, specifically elderly poverty in Austria. It does this by employing seniors to host baking courses so they can provide for themselves and rise out of poverty. Since October 2020, Vollpension BakAdemy has provided more than 100 online courses headed by elderly teachers to more than 500 students. Starting on October 15, 2021, the program began offering international courses. For these courses, seniors receive a care package including schedules and hardware before they begin.

The Reason These Organizations Are Important

In Austria alone, poverty affects approximately 226,000 seniors while 542,000 are single seniors. Furthermore, every third person over 65 lives alone.

According to Vollpension, “The [U.N.] increasingly observes poverty and interdependencies in particular in older women in richer countries, as well, due to outdated pension systems, missing credit periods, etc. This is the reason why old-age poverty is becoming an increasingly bigger problem in OECD [Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development] countries.”

The idea to use baked goods to fight poverty not only helps people living in under-resourced communities such as Pondicherry, India, find jobs but also restores their self-confidence. Additionally, through using their love for cooking and sharing their secret recipes, many impoverished people in Austria and around the world are lifting themselves out of poverty.

– Dayana Garcia
Photo: Flickr

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How Lab-Grown Coffee Can Help Fight Poverty

Lab-Grown Coffee
New advancements in agricultural technology are making it possible to produce sustainable coffee that can be grown in any location. Scientists in Finland have recently created lab-grown coffee. According to the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, scientists employed cellular agriculture to produce coffee cells. The end result was coffee with an aroma and taste similar to regular coffee, marking the very first batch of coffee produced in Finland. The cold climate in Finland is unsuitable for coffee-growing, but cellular agriculture has made it possible to produce coffee in any location regardless of the climate of the area. Cellular agriculture has the potential to increase food production and solve many of the world’s problems.

The Global Coffee Industry

The coffee industry uses more water than people might expect. According to the United States Geological Survey, the world needs “about 120 billion cubic meters of water” annually to produce coffee. This means that of all of the water used for crop production, about 2% exclusively goes toward producing coffee. In a world where droughts are becoming more severe and environmental challenges are evident, it is necessary to develop innovative solutions that bring to the forefront the possibility of producing more crops while also using less water.

Cellular agriculture can make it possible for more people to produce coffee. People can earn significant incomes working in the coffee industry, allowing impoverished people the opportunity to rise out of poverty with a livelihood and an income. However, the coffee industry has some limitations. According to Business Wire, the global coffee market was worth about $102.02 billion in 2020 alone. However, right now, the only nations that can produce large amounts of coffee are countries that possess ideal areas and conditions for thriving coffee crops. Currently, “Brazil and Vietnam account for the highest production of coffee, in terms of volume, owing to suitable coffee growing conditions.”

The Benefits of Cellular Agriculture

If cellular agriculture becomes mainstream, any nation will be able to produce coffee and more people will be able to earn an income by working in the coffee industry. By implementing cellular agriculture to produce coffee, concerns about growing coffee trees fall away and coffee industry workers can focus on less taxing types of work within the coffee industry.

When cellular agriculture becomes more mainstream, potential coffee growers will not have to worry about adequate land access for crops and a suitable climate to produce coffee. Lab-grown coffee is exempt from problems like droughts, diseases and transportation issues prevalent in the conventional coffee industry. Lab-grown coffee also does not contribute to problems like deforestation and water shortages as it does not require land and excessive water use. In an interview with the New Atlas, VTT Research Institute scientist Dr. Heiko Rischer said that “These solutions have a lower water footprint and less transport is needed due to local production. There isn’t any seasonal dependency or the need for pesticides either.”

Looking Ahead

Lab-grown coffee is just one example of efficient crop production through the help of cellular agriculture. Cellular agriculture is still a relatively new concept, but it is capable of solving many of the world’s economic and environmental problems. Cellular agriculture can make it possible to sustainably provide food for more people while reducing harm to the environment. Unsustainable food-producing practices keep people in poverty, but cellular agriculture can help end many causes of poverty while ensuring a sustainable solution to global food insecurity.

– Frank Decapio
Photo: Flickr

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Penal Reform International in Rwanda

Penal Reform International in Rwanda
In response to the 1994 genocide, Rwanda incarcerated up to 125,000 Rwandans (most of them Hutus) in facilities meant to hold 12,000 prisoners. Since the prison system could not sustain such a high number of inmates, it reestablished the traditional Gacaca courts for the sake of efficiency. However, the Gacaca Courts fell under international scrutiny for their failure to provide fair trials for the accused; the poor conditions at detention centers; and the election of poorly trained community judges, which held heavy prejudice against the accused. Penal Reform International, a nonprofit organization that works toward prison reform on the global stage, attempted to help Rwandan courts and prisons develop a more humanitarian legal process with respect for the tenets of international law. Below is information on Penal Reform International in Rwanda and how it has positively affected the country’s civil courts.

What is Penal Reform International?

Established in 1989 as an international nongovernmental organization, Penal Reform International’s mission is “to [reduce] the use of imprisonment around the world, through promoting alternatives to imprisonment, and to developing and promoting the implementation of international human rights standards on criminal justice and prison conditions.” It also uses paralegals – legal advisors – for those who have experienced incarceration and are awaiting trial with the goal of educating them on their rights within the country’s legal system.

Penal Reform International’s paralegals receive training in “international human rights instruments; National criminal law and procedure (including the Constitution and the Penal Code); The judiciary and the court systems; Prison conditions, systems and infrastructure; Health and safety awareness.” In cases such as Rwanda, having expertise on legal rights amid overcrowded prisons is valuable and extremely beneficial to prison reform as well as for the implementation of prison standards in accordance with international law.

Reforming Rwanda’s Courts and Prisons Through Education

Penal Reform International’s mission revolves around using paralegals, which, thus far, have “[organized] and conducted awareness sessions for over 3,000 detainees awaiting trial,” specifically targeting groups that are vulnerable to the spread of diseases within these prisons and informing them of their rights within Rwanda’s legal system. Penal Reform International in Rwanda has also “distributed 7,300 booklets on the rights of detainees in all Rwandan prisons,” which, in effect, not only educates the inmates of their rights but also advocates for more humanitarian methods within the Gacaca courts. As such, both the inmates and the judges in office are now more aware of the legal standards that international law demands.

The organization’s use of legal education as an instrument for court reform has been beneficial as it has reduced “unlawful and pre-trial detention,” and allowed for better-informed pleas, quicker file management and the overall improvement of communication from actors within the criminal justice system. As a result of Penal Reform International’s mission, the Rwandan courts have been able to lawfully issue court summons for 1,055 citizens using proper adjudicating techniques, obtain 1,100 court judgments for the purpose of constructing an able defense for appealing inmates and successfully lodge 455 appeals.

Stopping Overincarceration

Overcrowded prisons violate numerous human rights laws, confining inmates to dangerous living conditions which are unsanitary, leading to diseases and starvation. Nevertheless, Penal Reform International has helped release many Rwandans from these conditions. In just a year, from October 2009-2010, it assisted in “the permanent release of 625 detainees” along with deriving 168 provisional releases. In 2010, due to organizations like Penal Reform International, Rwanda’s prison population decreased to 43,400, a significant change from its earlier population of 125,000 inmates. Penal Reform International accomplished all of this by improving prisoners’ abilities to represent themselves in court and educating them on their rights. Ultimately, through this work, Penal Reform International’s mission has helped solve many of the problems stemming from over-incarceration in Rwanda.

Due to organizations like Penal Reform International in Rwanda, the absence of humanitarian legal values in underdeveloped countries has evolved to a system that is international judicial bodies both accept and praise. As Penal Reform International’s mission continues to thrive, so will underdeveloped countries around the globe.

– Jacob Crosley
Photo: Flickr