Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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Evolution of Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia

Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia has one of the world’s biggest oil supplies and is also home to the holy Mecca. However, Saudi Arabia also has one of the most oppressive regimes, comparatively speaking. Women’s rights in Saudia Arabia are close to being non-existent. Although women in Saudia Arabia have been granted certain basic rights, there is a long way to go. Here is a history of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia.

Early History

Saudi Arabia is a predominately Islamic nation and the law system follows Sharia law. Ever since the Iranian Revolution, laws against women in Saudi Arabia have been stricter. In the early 50’s, Saudi Arabia finally opened a school that focused exclusively on girls. Then, 20 years later, women in Saudi Arabia could attend college as well.

It would not be until three decades later that women would see more changes in Saudi laws. When women received personal licenses, their ownership of such licenses was not as it is in European or American nations, for example. Women’s guardians received the identification cards on behalf of the woman. In the following years, Sharia law and government played a key role in the development of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. These structures forced women into marriage, domestic abuse was a wide-spread issue and basic human rights eroded, year after year. Women started to see a change in the 2000s and 2010s with the enrollment of females elected into the government. Furthermore, women could vote in 2015 and the driving ban ceased in 2018.

Women’s Rights Since 2018

Women in Saudi Arabia do not have certain freedoms that may seem trivial to most women around the world. In 2019, it became legal to allow women to obtain passports or to travel without the permission of a male guardian. Though these reforms do not completely solve the oppression women face, they are a step in the right direction. These reforms allow a sense of freedom to women.

Saudi Arabia is gradually moving closer to removing its “guardianship system” that subjects women’s rights to their male relatives. A new regulation includes the right for a women’s hiring without the need for a male guardian’s permission. Notably, the law is intended to target and ban employment discrimination laws.

One of the biggest changes for women in Saudi Arabia is allowing women to be able to register their children’s births. Previously, a male guardian or the father of the child did this act. Human rights changes such as these in Sharia law allow for women to be looked at as equal and as “heads of the household”.

Celebrating the Victories But Eyeing the Future

These regulations are a positive step towards empowering women and providing them with more opportunities for leadership roles. Much progress remains, in terms of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia as the women lack many pivotal rights and liberties afforded to men. However, progress deserves celebration and these new regulations have given women freedoms they previously did not enjoy.

– Hena Pejdah
Photo: UN Multimedia

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5 Organizations Shoring Up Sanitation During COVID-19

sanitation during covid-19COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, is often spread through airborne droplets released by breathing or talking and by touching infected surfaces. Good hygiene is therefore an initial line of defense in preventing viral infection. However, hand washing requires access to clean water and effective sanitation. While COVID-19 has changed the way people think about hygiene, the lack of access many people in developing countries have to sanitation during COVID-19 remains the same.

Water Crises and Sanitation During COVID-19

More than one half of people around the world do not have access to high-quality sanitation facilities. Furthermore, COVID-19 has exacerbated this already tenuous water and sanitation situation in many parts of the world. Areas with hotspots, like Cairo and Mumbai, are often crowded with restricted public services.

To manage the immediate effects of COVID-19, governments in developing countries have turned to various short-term solutions. For example, Rwanda has installed mobile hand washing stations, while South Africa has begun to use water trucks. The Chilean government has also suspended water and sanitation charges for citizens. In a pandemic, automated water management systems are especially helpful in reducing loss, expanding access and preserving social distancing. In addition to these governmental reforms, many companies have used technology to shore up water and sanitation during COVID-19 in developing countries. Here are five organizations looking to improve sanitation during COVID-19.

Five Companies Improving Water and Sanitation During COVID-19

  1. Wonderkid: This start-up delivers smart solutions to the city of Nairobi, Kenya. The organization supplies water management software to utility companies to help address customer problems, billing, payments and running water meters. Wonderkid’s smart water meters track non-revenue water that does not reach the customer or leaks out of faulty pipes. Thus, Wonderkid allows water utilities to function more effectively and service more people. As of 2018, Wonderkid had expanded to help 36 utility companies in Mozambique, Nigeria, Malawi and Liberia.
  2. CityTaps: This organization provides poor families in Niger access to water at a much cheaper price than water vendors. Its smart water meters give water utilities more financial stability. Importantly, they can then expand their services to more poor families. This allows companies to meet the current needs for effective hygiene to fight COVID-19.
  3. Drinkwell: Impoverished people in Dhaka, Bangladesh often rely on illicit or expensive water sources. The social enterprise Drinkwell, a brainchild of American English Fulbright fellow Minjah Chowdury, provides water through ATMs. Drinkwell works with mobile service provider Robi Axiata and Dhaka WASA, a local water utility, to do so. It is also collaborating with Happy Tap, a mobile hygiene provider, to provide hand-washing services to people in Bangladesh.
  4. Sangery: Container-Based Sanitation (CBS) like Sanergy are an up and coming sanitation alternative for people in low-income areas. These systems are simpler and cheaper than sewer systems, but they are also cleaner than latrines and open defecation. CBS systems use a container to capture waste, which then turns into fertilizer. Sanergy uses this technology to resolve the sanitation crisis in Nairobi, Kenya. Run by three M.I.T. students, the company provides Fresh Life Toilets that fit into cramped urban dwellings and empty safely. The ability to have a private toilet is essential in practicing social distancing during the pandemic. During COVID-19, Sanergy has also provided 18 hand-washing stations that allow residents to practice good hygiene.
  5. Mosan: Similar to Sanergy, Mosan is a sanitation project based in Guatemala that provides container-based system toilets to people’s homes. The toilets have a durable, urine-diverting design, which keeps urine and feces in separate containers. They cover feces with dry materials like ash instead of water and eventually recycle them into usable fertilizer material. Such innovations make it more likely that people will stay at home during the pandemic. Additionally, Mosan is providing contactless pickup of containers to encourage people to stay home and social distance.

The Future of Sanitation in Developing Countries

COVID-19 has exposed weaknesses in global abilities to provide safe, clean water and sanitation in developing countries. Now, many people lack the water they need to combat the coronavirus. While it is not clear if COVID-19 can spread through human waste, proper sanitation also stops the spread of infectious disease in general.

By shoring up water services and sanitation during COVID-19 in developing countries, governments and other organizations in have provided stop-gap solutions to water and sanitation issues. Technologies like digital water meters, water ATMs, container-based toilets are now saving lives in a new way. Because they help people stay home and keep clean, these solutions allow developing countries to better fight the coronavirus pandemic.

– Joseph Maria
Photo: Flickr

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How BraineHealth Is Revolutionizing Healthcare

Limited access to healthcare is a challenge that millions of people face globally. According to data collected by the World Bank and W.H.O., roughly half of the global population had no way to access necessary health services in December 2017. The high costs of getting healthcare forced nearly 100 million people into poverty that year. For hundreds of millions of people across the world, even basic healthcare is economically out of reach. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has put additional strain on healthcare systems around the globe. The pandemic has disrupted medicine supply chains in many parts of the world, preventing vital medical supplies from reaching hospitals in a timely manner. This is particularly dangerous for developing countries with healthcare systems that were already struggling to meet their countries’ needs. However, recent technological innovations like BraineHealth are seeking to revolutionize healthcare to overcome these issues.

How BraineHealth Can Help

This problem may seem insurmountable, but not to BraineHealth. The Swedish company is hoping to use artificial intelligence and robotics to make healthcare more accessible for people throughout the world. BraineHealth’s healthcare innovations can apply many areas of healthcare, such as primary healthcare, senior healthcare and mental health services. In all these areas, BraineHealth hopes to connect doctors and other medical professionals with their patients in a way that is easy, affordable and safe.

With BraineHealth’s system, patients could potentially receive diagnoses and expert medical consultations without having to leave their homes. This would reduce medical costs and travel expenses for patients, and it would provide a safer alternative to in-person appointments. Here are four BraineHealth programs that seek to revolutionize healthcare.

4 BraineHealth Programs Revolutionizing Healthcare

  1. Artificial Intelligence: BraineHealth is developing an AI program that will allow for quicker and more efficient remote diagnoses. This program receives information about a patient’s symptoms provided by the patient and analyzes this report. By examining it against a database of thousands of documented diagnoses, the algorithm can provide as accurate a diagnosis as possible.
  2. Diabetio: This program combines social robotics and artificial intelligence to assist diabetic patients with managing their diabetes. The Diabetio robot will help manage the patient’s carbohydrate intake, and it will keep the patient informed about whether they are at risk of developing diabetes. To help the patient most efficiently, this program will retain and process information about the patient’s daily activities.
  3. Medipacker: BraineHealth is also looking to revolutionize healthcare by expanding access to medical information and education through its Medipacker education program. This program aims to give backpackers the opportunity to become qualified first-aid providers at little to no cost. By removing economic barriers to first-aid education, BraineHealth hopes to encourage more people around the world to learn about emergency medicine.
  4. InEmpathy: Recently, BraineHealth has partnered with the charity InEmpathy. InEmpathy’s work focuses on building better systems of healthcare in developing countries. Crucially, this organization is now helping to bring BraineHealth’s technological innovations to communities in need. BraineHealth will therefore be able to adapt its technologies to best fit the needs of their destination countries.

Looking to the Future

Millions worldwide lack adequate access to healthcare. Even in areas that have hospitals, the costs of health services are often too high for poor communities. Using technological innovation, BraineHealth is working to revolutionize healthcare so that the people in these communities can have access to healthcare that would otherwise be out of reach.

– Marshall Kirk
Photo: Flickr

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Improving Food Security in Africa with ZeroFly Storage Bags

improving food security in AfricaA severe food deficit plagues the African continent, as 20% of its inhabitants do not have enough food. To create a more sustainable, livable future for Africans, there needs to be a serious effort dedicated to improving food security in Africa. Agriculture’s significance for the African economy creates an excellent opportunity to help the economy while increasing the food supply with new technological advancements. Here is how ZeroFly Bags are improving food security in Africa.

Understanding Post-Harvest Loss

Recent efforts geared toward improving food security in Africa have revealed the key causes of food insecurity. In Kenya, perhaps most alarming is the country’s high rate of post-harvest food loss. While food waste refers to edible food that is thrown away, food loss refers to food that is not even edible for human consumption. In Kenya alone, 20% of grain cereals are lost after harvest. Specifically an estimated 12% of maize ends up as post-harvest loss. This is an astounding figure for a region that relies heavily on agriculture as a primary food source.

Furthermore, Kenya is a model for other countries in the region, which exposes the depth of food insecurity in Africa. While Kenya has begun to address this issue, post-harvest food loss still contributes to food insecurity throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Thirty-three million smallholder farms are responsible for producing up to 90% of the food supply in some Sub-Saharan African countries. Despite these millions of farmers, however, post-harvest losses lead to severe food shortages. While grain loss can equal up to 20% of supply, up to half of fruits and vegetables do not even make it to the marketplace.

Improving Food Security in Africa by Overcoming Food Loss

Post-harvest food losses result from a lack of food safety measures, inadequate sanitation and poor storage methods. The methods taken so far to combat these issues are expensive. These include regular pesticide treatments, which are time-consuming, dangerous and questionably successful. As such, sub-Saharan Africa still loses $4 billion a year as a result of post-harvest food losses. The ZeroFly Bag could drastically transform that number.

A recent technological invention, ZeroFly Storage Bags, works toward improving food security in Africa. Public health innovation company Vestergaard developed the product to ameliorate food storage methods. Embedded with FAO- and WHO-certified pesticide deltamethrin in its fibers, the ZeroFly Storage Bag protects the stored grain from insects. Because the bag slowly releases the pesticide over two years, it remains effective for at least that long. With pests unable to taint the quality of the food, these bags keep post-harvest food loss to a minimum.  

Impact on a Global Scale

While this innovation is improving food security in Africa, it also has the potential to reduce poverty worldwide. Only two-thirds of food produced for human consumption actually make it to the marketplace. As 12.5% of people worldwide are without food, limiting post-harvest food loss can improve food security around the globe.

The ZeroFly Storage Bag could be an essential part of bettering both food security and poverty. For example, the World Bank estimates that a 1% reduction in post-harvest food losses would save $40 million. This could directly benefit smallholder farms. While many people in Africa and elsewhere struggle to access food, the ZeroFly Storage Bag is a sustainable solution to improving food security in Africa and around the world.

– Eliza Cochran
Photo: Flickr

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Updates on SDG Goal 15 in Mauritius

updates on sdg goal 15 in mauritiusMauritius is an island nation of 1.3 million people situated in the Indian Ocean about 700 miles to the east of Madagascar. The island is home to incredibly unique and rare species found nowhere else on the planet, although many have gone extinct in recent decades. One of Earth’s most famous extinct species, the dodo, was a flightless bird endemic to Mauritius. Unfortunately, updates on SDG Goal 15 in Mauritius reveal ongoing problems for biodiversity in the country.

The U.N. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15, Life on Land, tracks each nation’s attempt to “protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.” For this goal, Mauritius has the dire U.N. classification of “major challenges remain.” Still, valiant organizations are striving to protect the stunning species and ecosystems found in Mauritius. Here are four updates on SDG Goal 15 in Mauritius.

4 Updates on SDG Goal 15 in Mauritius

  1. The mean area protected in terrestrial sites is important to biodiversity. This statistic is particularly important in Mauritius’s case due to the array of endemic species found on the island. The average area protected for these crucial sites is just over 9%. However, limited protection poses major challenges for protecting biodiversity and preventing native species from going extinct. Despite the efforts of groups like the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, the average protected area has risen by less than 1% since 2000. The fascinating species found within these habitats, like the extraordinary Mauritian flying fox, contribute to the beauty and wonder of the natural world. This may disappear if protected areas do not grow.
  2. Mauritius’ score on the Red List of species survival is getting worse. The Red List measures “the change in aggregate extinction risk across groups of species” with zero being the worst rating and one being the best. Mauritius comes in at 0.39 with its score decreasing steadily each year. Unfortunately, more and more species in Mauritius go extinct every year. There are, however, some success stories. For example, the Saint Telfair’s skink is an abnormally large species of skink (a type of lizard) only found on islands off the coast of Mauritius. The skink used to be dangerously near-extinct, with just 5,000 individuals. But the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation and the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust‘s careful recovery efforts have raised the population to 50,000 individuals. Thus, NGOs are fighting to save species from extinction in Mauritius.
  3. Mauritius struggles with the effects of permanent deforestation. This phenomenon occurs when people cut down trees for urbanization or agriculture with no plan to re-plant them. Updates on SDG Goal 15 in Mauritius are the most positive for this statistic. However, challenges remain, as less than 2% of Mauritius’ original forest coverage survives. According to Douglas Adams in “Last Chance to See,” “[v]ast swathes of the Mauritius forest have been destroyed to provide space to grow a cash crop [sugar] which in turn destroys our teeth.” Thankfully, NGOs like Fondation Ressources et Nature are carrying out reforestation projects in Mauritian biodiversity hotspots. The One Million Trees Project also aims to plant one million trees in Mauritius by 2030.
  4. Imports threaten terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity in Mauritius. There is only one nation (Guyana) in the entire world that has a worse ranking than Mauritius in this category. Industrialized nations like the U.S., Canada, Japan and many E.U. countries also struggle with this goal. However, none come close to Mauritius’s ranking. Furthermore, imports that threaten biodiversity in Mauritius only compound the rest of the island’s ecological problems.

Moving Forward

Overall, the forecast for life on land and in Mauritius is grim. Biodiversity hotspots are severely threatened, leading to more species going extinct each year. Additionally, permanent deforestation decimates habitats, and Mauritians’ dependence on imports ravages native species. The country needs to make a concerted effort to save its amazing organisms and environments found nowhere else on Earth. Organizations like the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation are already doing this work, and they could use more international support if Mauritius is to progress on SDG Goal 15.

– Spencer Jacobs
Photo: Needpix

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Homelessness in Somalia

What do people tend to think about when they first hear the word “Somalia?” A Google search of Somalia would bring up pirates. Somalia is a small country off the coast of Africa and one of the poorest countries in the world with more than 50% of its population living in poverty. Poor living conditions and homelessness in Somalia afflict many of its citizens.

Somalia as of 2018

Government policy in Somalia is leaving the citizens out on the street. At the end of 2017, Somali government officials damaged around 3,000 homes in the city of Mogadishu. They used bulldozers to tear down houses and evicted people from their homes. In 2018, the government displaced more than 2 million people living in Somalia. Moreover, the number of homeless citizens in the nation reached millions.

Droughts have left the second-largest city in Somalia with hundreds of homeless children. Interviews with the children of Hargeisa revealed terrible conditions in which children left their homes due to neglect and loss of means. Moving from rural to urban cities has resulted in these children living on the street, addicted to smelling glue to ease the pain required to fight for their lives. The drought along with a lack of food, water and shelter has resulted in child death, every day in Somalia.

Homelessness in Somalia

Somalia is in grave need of humanitarian aid. Whether due to droughts, violence or politics — millions of Somali citizens have been displaced from their homes. Homelessness in Somalia has progressively become a more urgent issue. In October of 2019, flooding washed away thousands of homes, separating families. Another factor affecting homelessness in Somalia is the migration of citizens from rural areas to cities. People moving into urban areas are settling in tents with little protection.

Poor sanitation is also a significant issue in Somalia. The lack of proper housing combined with a lack of water and food can increase the risk of disease. The number of people affected by malnourishment in 2019 was in millions. Furthermore, this tragedy has a major effect on children. Malnourishment is one of the leading causes of death for 14% of children less than age five. The lack of humanitarian aid in Somalia is also causing citizens to flee from home and move toward urban housing. Those who choose to move, settle in “makeshift shelters” which increase their exposure to terrorism and abuse.

Hope for Somalia

Overall, homelessness in Somalia is the result of multiple factors. Violence and terrorism cause a majority of people to flee from their homes. Yet, forced evictions pose a major threat to families in the agricultural sector as well. Changing weather patterns and year-long droughts result in death, famine and the loss of homes. Political instability and regime changes are also an underlying cause of homelessness in Somalia.

On a more positive note, there is hope for the future of Somalia. In February of 2020, the World Bank announced it would normalize its relations with Somalia. This new relationship will go a long way in helping to grow the country politically, socially and economically. The World Bank is providing Somalia with grants of over $250 million to help reduce poverty. The grants will provide natural disaster recovery for citizens impacted by the droughts. In the same vein, these grants aim to increase security for families by improving education, the health system and providing basic, household utilities such as water.

– Hena Pejdah
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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COVID-19 in the Dominican Republic: Government Response

COVID-19 in the Dominican RepublicLike many developing nations, the Dominican Republic suffered massively in several communities, due to COVID-19. While the virus’s impact does not discriminate against social class — the homeless and impoverished are inevitably the most vulnerable. Given that more than 40% of the country’s population lives below the poverty line, the severity of COVID-19 in the Dominican Republic is alarming.

The Statistics: Cases, Deaths and Hospitalizations

As of August 27, 2020, the Dominican Republic has approximately 92,964 confirmed cases and 1,630 deaths. In the nation, “the fatality rate for COVID-19 is 1.79% while positivity is around 29.64%.” Recent reports suggest about 7,000 hospitalizations and 19,600 patients requiring self-isolation. To date, roughly 64,347 patients have recovered.

The World Bank Assists

At the beginning of April 2020, the World Bank responded to a request from the government of the Dominican Republic. This agreement released $150 million to provide funds to help manage and contain the spread of COVID-19 in the Dominican Republic. Despite this financial supplementation, the nation’s cases eventually reached a peak in late July, days after declaring a second state of emergency. On August 18, 2020, the government held a conference called “Plan Para Enfrentar la Emergencia del COVID-19” or “The Plan to Deal with the COVID-19 Emergency.”

Here, the Ministry of Public Health announced that they are supplementing an additional 15,000 million pesos (totaling 66,000 from the original 51,000) toward the public health budget for the months of September–December 2020. The goal of this funding is to prevent an increase in contractions while providing sufficient healthcare attention to those already infected. They have also granted 2,000 previously uncovered Dominicans with health insurance. This statement was further elaborated; supporting that, if they test positive, any Dominican will receive the required medical assistance as needed. To track the spread and provide ample medical care, hospitals will perform 7,000 tests daily, instead of the regularly completed 3,000. They also plan to properly equip ten separate laboratories with PCR testing around the country.

More Governmental Initiatives

Additionally, the Ministry of Public Health has hired and trained 1,000 unemployed medical experts to facilitate treatment in hospitals. Also, they are planning to provide a 20% increase in available hospital beds by August 30, 2020. At the conference, president Luis Abinader urged for cooperation among the entire nation. Besides the school closures, mask requirements and level four travel advisory, the strength of the country against the virus depends on the collaboration of all individuals following mandated protocols.

However, the lack of adherence to guidelines has been noted frequently. Namely, in the less affluent communities, many are not following the strict curfews put in place. Instead, this disobedience leads to overcrowding in police stations; eliminating safe social distancing practices.

Oxfam’s Efforts

Oxfam International, a nonprofit organization committed to aiding developing nations in times of humanitarian crisis, has contributed greatly to alleviate the impact of COVID-19 in the Dominican Republic. Their main effort is to grant financial assistance to those that have been temporarily unemployed due to the pandemic. They are prioritizing this aspect of the crisis because 50% of the population has experienced a cut or complete loss of income. Based on donations, they have been able to provide over 4,000 families with money transfers — enabling them to cover the costs of fundamental needs.

Camila Minerva Rodriguez, the Oxfam program director in the Dominican Republic, explains the additional installment of food voucher initiatives. During one day in northern Santo Domingo, she was able to provide 58 families with food vouchers, helping them afford grocery expenses.

In all, Oxfam’s efforts are aiding one specific, yet essential part of the daily struggles faced by Dominicans, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

– Samantha Acevedo-Hernandez
Photo: Flickr

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Entrepreneurial Spirit in Developing Countries: Providing Goods and Jobs

Entrepreneurial Spirit in Developing CountriesIn the ongoing effort to alleviate global poverty, many entrepreneurs focus on solutions that address social, cultural and economic challenges within a community or region. International organizations and institutions provide funding to developing countries to improve infrastructure, policy and services. All of this, in hopes of solving large-scale problems like poverty. However, perhaps the most powerful way to reduce global poverty is by focusing on the entrepreneurial spirit in developing countries. One such organization, Kountable, delivers goods and employment to emerging markets to reduce poverty.

All About Kountable

Kountable is a global trade organization that aims to interrupt generational poverty in developing countries by overcoming financial obstacles. It is these barriers that are hindering the fruition of small companies. Kountable provides funding and professional development opportunities to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that would otherwise lack access to the global market economy due to institutional barriers.

By combining “local knowledge with global expertise,” Kountable connects and fosters trade relationships between “large global suppliers… local SMEs, logistics providers, banks, and buyers from government, NGOs, and the largest multilateral institutions and foundations”.

The goal is to “bring the right goods to the right places on time” says Kountable President and Co-founder, Catherine Nomura. Another valuable aspect of Kountable is the multifaceted nature of its approach. For example, the organization collaborates with micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in many industries — including healthcare, education and information and communications technology.

Financial Opportunities for MSMEs

Julian Kyula, entrepreneur and founder of MODE (Mobile Decisions) from Nairobi, Kenya, explains the challenges faced by SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa and how Kountable’s strategy can reduce poverty. Kyula founded MODE in 2010 as a technology platform cooperating with telephone companies to distribute small mobile loans. While Kyula was fortunate to overcome financial obstacles, he reveals that, since banks do not often invest in startup businesses, about 70% of MSMEs “in emerging markets lack access to credit” and are therefore unable to grow. These obstacles tend to stifle the entrepreneurial spirit in developing countries.

Furthermore, the overall lack of financial opportunities hits MSMEs especially hard in developing countries. This is because SMEs create on average, 70% of jobs in emerging markets. Also, they represent 90% of businesses worldwide. The global workforce is growing at a rate that would require an additional 600 million jobs by 2030. Importantly, SMEs are expected to be a prime supplier of these jobs.

Researchers define micro-enterprises as organizations consisting of less than 20 workers and associate these businesses with lower poverty rates, especially in rural areas. Smaller and medium-sized enterprises can provide job opportunities and mobility within the workforce. SMEs benefit local communities, unlike massive corporations that often move to rural towns but lack the structural systems to lift regions from poverty into economic prosperity. Representing another reason that the entrepreneurial spirit in developing countries is so important for poverty reduction.

COVID-19 Challenges

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, another challenge small businesses face is acquiring the U.S. dollars needed to secure essential health goods (PPE equipment, ventilators, masks, testing materials, hospital beds, etc.). Kountable identifies this currency struggle as the “trade before the trade,” and its commitment to funding MSMEs helps small businesses avoid this particular challenge.

The Doing Business in Africa Award

Kountable recently won runner-up for NABC’s 2018 Doing Business in Africa Award, making history by being the first, global trade network ever nominated for this award. Kountable’s success in delivering goods and employment to emerging markets has confirmed its credibility as an innovative solution. Alleviating global poverty and generating wealth by supporting small businesses.

– Nye Day
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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Slum Reform in Colombia: 3 Ways Medellín Reformed Its Slums

Slum Reform in ColombiaIn Colombia, guerrilla wars that started in 1964 displaced thousands of people. The result was that many settled into slums. One of these slums, Comuna 13, lies in the city of Medellín, Colombia. During the next 40 years, the population in Medellín grew from 350,000 to 3 million, vastly decreasing the available living space. Poverty emerged in the cramped quarters of the Comuna 13 slum. Unfortunately, the cycle only continued due to a lack of transportation, public services and education. Poverty paved the way for drug cartels to emerge, but Medellín had committed to change. Below are three ways in which Medellín has reformed its slums, becoming an example of slum reform in Colombia and Latin America:

3 Ways Medellín Reformed Its Slums

  1. Transportation. Medellín created transportation in the slums to make life easier. Comuna 13 sits on the side of a hill and therefore, previously, many residents had to climb the equivalent of 28 stories to reach their homes. As a solution, Medellín invested $7 million in an escalator which provides a five-minute ride. This makes transportation to the main city much easier. In 2004, the installation of cable cars reduced a two-hour commute from the slums to the city, to a 45-minute commute. Today, 20,000 people use the cable cars (which end next to the subway station) per day.
  2. Promoting Education and Discouraging Drug Activity. Medellín installed community resources as part of its slum reform to promote education and discourage drug cartels. With education, people can get higher-paying jobs and break the cycle of poverty. But when people live in poverty, drug cartels try to recruit them with the promise of money and security. To address this, Medellín constructed art galleries, libraries (with free computer use), auditoriums and community centers, in 2007. These are easily accessible thanks to the installation of cable cars. Education, a key factor of slum reform in Colombia, can break the cycle of poverty by helping those in the slums obtain higher-paying jobs.
  3. Hiring. Medellín also hired residents for projects to create slum reform. One key example was the installation of paved paths, vegetable gardens and drainage canals. These projects beautified Comuna 13 and also gave back to the community in other ways. For instance, 2,500 previously unemployed people worked on the projects, earned money and created a better space to live in.

A Model for Success

Medellín is an example of successful slum reform in Colombia. The property prices of homes in the slums have risen and tourism has surged as a result of the new transportation and beautification measures. Also, as the former murder capital of the world, Medellín’s key goal was to reduce homicide. By 2012, in just eight short years, the murder rate reduced 50% to 0.05%. For comparison, this figure is less than New Orleans’s at 0.075% murder rate. Medellín is an example for many other communities around the world. In Latin America, for example, more than 80% of the population lives in cities and as the population grows, space per person reduces. This translates into growing slums. With the help of innovative ideas such as those from Medellín — communities can reform their slums and help improve the lives of those living in poverty.

– Seona Maskara
Photo: Wikimedia

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Improving Water Supply in Palestine

Improving Water Supply in Palestine
Water is an extremely important resource in Palestine; yet, its inhabitants struggle to obtain adequate amounts of it to survive. When Palestine and Israel signed the Oslo Accords, Palestinians were to receive a certain degree of water access. However, the population of Palestine has doubled since the Oslo Accords came into play. Despite its growing population, Palestine retains the same amount of water access as in 1995. This is troublesome, considering the Oslo Accords’ purpose was to guarantee Palestinians’ water supply would increase to about 200 million cubic meters by 2000. The current amount of water access the Palestinian people have is simply insufficient. In the face of this dire situation, various international organizations are working on improving the water supply in Palestine.

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

One organization that has assisted Palestinians for some time now is the international development agency, USAID. Since 1994, the group has been committed to improving Palestinian infrastructure. One of the agency’s key successes in improving water resources in Palestine was the upgrading of water distribution networks. This resulted in access to clean water for about 310,000 people as of 2014.

Since 1994, USAID has drilled or refurbished 17 wells and installed 900 kilometers of water pipelines. In addition to helping residents meet basic human needs, USAID initiatives have improved the state’s economy. In total, the organization’s accessibility efforts have provided 1,300,000 days of employment for Palestinians.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

The United Nations Development Programme has also been improving the water supply in Palestine. One example of the program’s support is in the Palestinian city of Rafah. Here, only 7% of water is utilized for domestic use as defined by the World Health Organization. Fortunately, the UNDP aided these Palestinians by building a 3000-cubic-meter water tank. This water tank has raised the water supply for about 50% of the city’s population. To date, the UNDP has conducted 200 other projects aimed at improving water supply in Palestine.

The UNDP has also initiated its Emergency Water Supply and Rehabilitation Programme. Many of the ongoing improvements have helped people in Rafah. Moreover, the Tel Al Sultan area, near Rafah, has seen boosts in its water supply as well. For example, 75,000 people living in the area have access to a reliable water supply for about 12 hours per day. This stands in stark contrast to previous statistics of half that amount, provided every three days. Another city the Emergency Water Supply and Rehabilitation Programme reaches is Beit Hanoun. About 70,000 Palestinians in this area now have a reliable source of water due to the implementation of two water tanks. Both tanks fairly distribute water from wells throughout the city. Finally, the UNDP has installed 10,000 meters of a new and improved water network that will prevent pipeline contamination.

Hope Flows

While Palestinians still struggle to obtain the water resources that they need, they have received crucial assistance from international organizations like USAID and UNDP. As Palestine continues receiving this beneficial assistance and reaps the subsequent health and economic benefits, there is hope that this state will soon provide clean water to all of its inhabitants.

– Jacob Lee
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