Archive for category: Poverty Reduction

Information and stories about poverty reduction.

Challenges for Ecuador’s Mining Industry

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ZARUMA, Ecuador — Gold has been mined in the city of Zaruma in southern Ecuador for over 500 years. The area has suffered a complicated history of extraction and exploitation, and now stands as a prime example of the challenges currently facing the Ecuadoran mining industry.

Approximately 10,000 people in the area surrounding Zaruma make their livings from “artisanal,” or small-scale subsistence mining. The work is backbreaking and the profit margins generally narrow. It is hardly the most efficient way to access the country’s estimated 280.4 tons of unmined gold.

Recognizing what the underground stores of gold, copper, and silver worth an estimated $200 billion could mean for a country with more than a quarter of its population living below the poverty line, President Rafael Correa introduced a bill aimed at encouraging new investment in the mining industry. The measure seeks to diversify the Ecuadoran economy, which is heavy in oil and exports, and to attract companies to make big investments in large-scale mining projects.

Unfortunately for President Correa, the pending legislation was not enough to entice one of its major targets, Canada’s Kinross Gold Corporation, into following through with a planned $1.3 billion mining project in southeastern Ecuador. The development of the Fruta del Norte mine was scrapped after more than two years of negotiation, and is now expected to be taken over by Chinese investors.

China has been an increased presence in Ecuador over the past several years, and Chinese investor groups seem eager to continue the expansion. Having already established a strong presence in the oil sector through China National Petroleum’s and Sinopec’s local subsidiaries, investors are keen to deepen their involvement with the mining industry. Last year Chinese-backed Ecuacorriente signed a $1.4 billion deal with the government to open a large-scale mining project in the Mirador copper deposit. The company is currently negotiating another deal to expand their operations to the Panantza-San Carlos copper deposit.

These concessions to major foreign investors with superior capital and technology have not gone unnoticed by concerned indigenous groups. Many groups across the country have protested. Some — like the Shuar — have even marched to Quito. The fear is artisanal miners cannot survive in an industry dominated by huge corporations.

Communities like Zaruma are at the heart of the debate. On one hand, the seemingly inevitable expansion of foreign companies into the area now home to subsistence miners would bolster an important Ecuadoran industry, despite the risk that such an expansion could cause social unrest.

On the other hand, there is the idea that investments should be focused on local mining businesses, like many already operating in Zaruma. The investments would allow these businesses to increase their capital and technology so as to be able to compete for government concessions. Their operations would be smaller projects but would keep the profits in the local community.

The mining of precious metals in Ecuador has a difficult, haunted history, and in many ways the uncertain future of communities like Zaruma demonstrates how complex the issues surrounding the industry remain even today.

– Lauren Brown

Source: BBC, The Financial Times
Photo: Ecuador Times

Kore Fanmi: Success for Haitian Social Program

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In Haiti, many poor and vulnerable families, most of which live in rural communities, lack access to social services, hospitals, and the necessary medical attention. However, the Kore Fanmi project, launched last year, has been successful in providing 15,000 families with increased access to basic services in the Center department.

In partnership with the World Bank, the Haitian Ministry of Finance’s Fund for Economic & Social Justice, and World Vision, the project trains local members of the community as Household Development Agents (HDAs), who then work towards connecting families with the social services they need the most. The project is helping families gain access to fundamental services such as education, vaccines, and latrines.

By training members of communities to be social workers, these individuals also benefit from the program; Dr. Germanite Phanord, the project manager at of the Economic and Social Assistance Fund, said, “This is a social protection program where a model is tested to determine if sectors workers can be transformed into social workers”.  After HDAs are trained, they become responsible for 100 families, for which they must prepare a plan, which is based on 28 life goals, such as, “the family must use latrines.” By providing these services, Kore Fanmi is focusing on helping families restore and fulfill their human rights.

In addition, the Kore Fanmi project aims to connect with international agencies and nongovernmental organizations so that they can create a common operational strategy for coordinated and decentralized delivery of basic services. By improving this aspect of public administration, an inter-organizational coordination will allow a HDA to refer a vulnerable family to another organization in their commune, who can provide the relevant medical, food or social program required.

The structure and training program of the Kore Fanmi project are both realistic and sustainable; the grass roots, community approach is aiding rural communities to change attitudes towards family planning, treated water and education.

– Chloe Isacke
Source: World Bank, Partners in Health
Photo: Washington Post

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Latest Statistics on Philippine Poverty

Poverty in the Philippines
The National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB) released its latest report on poverty in the Philippines on April 23, 2013. The results of the survey, which is taken every three years, showed that as of the first semester of 2012, 27.9 percent of Filipinos were living below the poverty line. This estimate is a concern to the Philippine government because it shows that despite the government’s targeted efforts, poverty rates have remained relatively unchanged from their 2009 levels.

According to the World Bank, the number of people living in extreme poverty has dropped in every other developing region in the world between 2005 and 2008, leaving many to ask why the Philippines has not seen the same decline.

In the NSCB’s 2006 survey, results showed that 28.8 percent of Filipinos were living on less than $1.25 per day. That number barely changed in 2009 when poverty levels were reported at 28.6 percent. With a decrease of only 0.7 percent over three years, poverty levels appear to have remained stagnant in the Philippines.

In order for a family of five to escape the label of “extremely poor” in 2006, they would have had to earn P1,681 ($39.09) a month. In 2009, they needed to bring home P2,042 ($47.49). By the 2012 survey, those income requirements more than doubled. The most recent NSCB report shows that families must earn P5,458 ($126.93) a month to put food on the table every day. If they want to meet non-food needs, such as clothing, they would have to earn P7,821 ($181.89).

 

Poverty in the Philippines

 

The report indicated that the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) ranked as the worst national region with poverty levels in its provinces ranging from 42 percent to 47 percent. The region with the lowest incidences of poverty was the National Capital Region (NCR), averaging around 3.9 percent.

According to the NSCB, poverty rates are well above 40 percent in 15 provinces and one city (Catabato City is chartered and therefore not a part of a province).

The poorest province, Lanao del Sur, registered 68.9 percent poverty levels. The province with the lowest rate was the 2nd District of the NCR with 3.1 percent. The capital city of Manila, located in the 1st District of the NCR, had a 3.8 percent poverty rate.

In an attempt to combat the intergenerational transmission of poverty, the Philippine government began implementing a grant program for the country’s poorest in 2008.

Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT), funded by the World Bank, are intended to meet short term consumption needs. CCT is given to young children for attending school; to pregnant women to help them with pre-natal care and to families who get their health checked regularly. Despite meeting one goal of keeping children in school, many now believe that the CCT program is not doing enough.

Currently, the bottom 20 percent of the country’s earners make up six percent of the country’s total income. The top 20 percent bring in 50 percent of the total income. Based on the findings of the NSCB’s study, CCT has not been able to significantly improve this income inequality.

The CCT budget for the first semester of 2012 accounted for only a quarter of the amount needed to eradicate poverty in the Philippines. The NSCB estimates that P79.8 billion ($1.86 billion) was needed for the first half of 2012, but the budget for the whole year was only P39.4 billion ($92 million).

The government responded to the NSCB report by stating that it would begin monitoring poverty trends more closely through an annual survey instead of waiting every three years to do so.

It is not immediately known why extreme poverty in the Philippines has failed to show improvement. Regardless of the cause, it is evident that more has to be done to improve the lives of the country’s poorest.

Read more about poverty in Philippines

 

– Allana Welch

Source: The Inquirer, The Rappler, Philstar, World Bank
Photo: Pototour

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Poverty in Sri Lanka

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Poverty in Sri Lanka has been decreasing for years, and a recent study shows that this trend is continuing. Between 1990 and 2011, overall poverty in Sri Lanka plummeted from 26.1% to 8.9%. Much of this progress has been made in recent years, with the number of Sri Lankans stuck in poverty falling by over half between 2006 and 2012.

While Sri Lanka definitely deserves recognition for the astounding progress it has made, there are still some clear areas for improvement. For example, gains in the fight against poverty have been uneven across various population groups. While poverty rates have dropped significantly in both the urban and rural populations, poverty on Sri Lankan plantations has actually risen by roughly half. Sri Lanka is also being outpaced by some of its geographical neighbors. Growth rates of per capita income are far behind those of South Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand. Studies focusing on Sri Lankan poverty also reveal a vicious cycle, in which people who cannot afford adequate nutrition are more likely to develop health problems later in life, which often drain them of any monetary resources they do have. Similarly, when people can’t afford education, they are less likely to gain access to highly profitable employment opportunities. Cycles such as this help organizations and governments understand why poor people tend to stay poor, enabling them to more effectively empower the poor to raise themselves out of poverty.

Various organizations, including the United Nations Development Program, have worked alongside the Sri Lankan government to make this progress possible. Much of their success has been with programs to improve the efficiency of agriculture and fishing businesses. These programs include an initiative to advocate for struggling plantation workers that make up an increasing percentage of the population, and the building of an ice plant so fishermen can store their catch in order to get a better market price. Another significantly effective strategy in Sri Lanka’s fight against poverty has been to encourage political stability. These efforts have included the building of a new courthouse, and improved training of Sri Lankan police officers. Efforts such as these take a holistic approach to poverty. They arise from careful consideration of the myriad factors that contribute to poverty on both individual and societal levels, and they work to address those factors. Innovative work such as this, and the encouraging results it has produced thus far, serve as an inspiration in the global effort to end extreme poverty.

– Katie Fullerton

Sources: CEPA, Journal of Competitiveness, World Bank, UNDP
Photo: Photopin

Poverty in Algeria

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Algeria, a French-speaking country in the north of America, enjoyed relative prosperity until around the 1980s. After independence, the economy was buoyed by booming oil prices. However, a blow to the oil market and inept management saw conditions in the country decline after the 1980s, and Algeria’s poverty has continued to rise since.

Today, nearly a quarter of Algerians are living close to or below the poverty line. The majority live in rural areas, though the urban centres are also suffering from unemployment rates, the most affected being unskilled youth.

Algeria suffers from major inequality in the distribution of wealth. A select minority control a large amount of the resources and live in relative affluence, able to enjoy modern conveniences, private school educations, and trips abroad. Yet the majority of the population lives in squalor and struggles for access to healthcare, clean water, education, and food.

The poorest in Algeria are the landless farmers who live in the mountainous regions to the north or near the south Saharan region. Working on the production of crops, and unable to procure their own land, they have been particularly affected by soil erosion and degradation, droughts, poor irrigation, and drainage.

Algeria’s problems are not unsolvable and could be improved by improvements in agricultural practices or providing support services or education. Yet internal conflicts have worsened the problem in recent years, and a lack of political stability has prevented governments from implementing the necessary long term structural reforms that are needed to provide resources to lift the nation out of poverty.

– Farahnaz Mohammed

Source: World Bank, Nation’s Encyclopedia, Rural Poverty Portal
Photo: Brookings

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Rural Poverty in Azerbaijan

Rural Poverty in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan is a small Central Asian country about the size of South Carolina bordered by The Caspian Sea, Armenia, Georgia, Iran, and Russia. Similar to Russia, Azerbaijan’s heritage is derived from both Eastern and Western civilizations, making her a distinctly Eurasian entity.  In the years initially following the Russian revolution of 1917, the victorious Bolsheviks invaded Azerbaijan, integrating it into the Soviet Union.  This was an effort by Lenin to capitalize on the oil reserves of the Azerbaijanis.

Consequently, agriculture in Azerbaijan was collectivized.  This caused agricultural workers to become dependent on a very specific, prescribed method of farming in which success depended upon the survival of the Soviet system.  When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s and farms were privatized, agricultural workers were completely unprepared to grow crops on their own.  This resulted in a situation in which uneducated farmers with limited resources were unable to maximize the productivity of their land.

Like other nations that declared independence after the fall of the USSR, Azerbaijan’s rural communities have struggled immensely to stand on their own two feet economically.  Rural poverty is widespread, but it is especially concentrated in the desolate northeastern part of the country, with pockets also appearing in the mountainous northwestern region of  Sheki-Zagatal where the poverty rate is over 50%.  The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) describes the severity of the economic conditions there, stating:

“Remote areas and upland or mountainous areas show high rates of poverty. These areas often lack basic infrastructure and services, including irrigation, adequate road access, a reliable drinking water supply and health services.”

Fortunately, IFAD has invested almost $200 million in development projects in Azerbaijan over the last decade and a half.  These projects focus on improving food security through practical education (such as irrigation tutorials) and the establishment of business connections between rural farmers and lucrative markets.  With support such as this, agriculture in Azerbaijan has the potential to rise out of poverty in the coming years.

– Josh Forgét
Source: Rural Poverty Portal via IFAD,Glenn E. Curtis
Photo: Azerbaijan News

The Family Independence Initiative

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Mauricio Lim Miller had spent years working in social services in Oakland and San Francisco utterly frustrated at the lack of results and the absence of sustainable change or progress. He knew something needed to change and he knew it had to happen at the bottom level within families. He witnessed how individual communities provided support to their members and helped each achieve personal goals. Miller used a similar concept to create the Family Independence Initiative.

Miller offered families a regular stipend if they would agree to a monthly meeting and to setting and tracking goals for their households. His employees were not authorized to counsel or advise, simply to monitor the families’ goal progress. The program proved to be a great success because, when given the autonomy to set and meet their own goals, people made remarkable changes.

The families’ incomes increased by an average of 27%, and 40% of the families purchased homes within three years. The Family Independence Initiative has expanded to other cities and includes many different communities. Goals differ from place to place but Miller’s policy prevails –  provide them with the means in the form of small stipends and they will figure out the right strategy to improve their lives. Some groups want to establish better daycare for children, other communities want their members to be able to own houses, and others hope to set up businesses.

Giving people the responsibility for directing their own change allows them ownership over their success and investment in their future. Jesus Gerena, Director of the Family Independence Initiative explains, “The more families take initiative, the more they watch out for each other, the more they share successes, the less they need us.”

This is not just about helping each individual family but rather about transformative change and altering the way anti-poverty policy is crafted. Programs like the Family Independence Initiative show the potential to break the cycle of poverty in a sustainable way.

– Zoë Meroney

Source: The Boston Globe National Journal
Photo: Facebook

Poverty in Cameroon and Why it Matters

Poverty in Cameroon and Why it Matters
Cameroon is on track to become a middle-income country, however, nagging poverty spurred by under-funded social programs and ineffective public finance management holds the country in its current limbo.

The country of Cameroon boasts the largest economy in Central Africa. It is one of the oldest oil exporters on the continent, and it receives some of the smallest amounts of aid in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Cameroonian poverty has plateaued over the last several years at 40% nationally, though the rates have actually increased in the poorest areas of the country. Of those citizens living in poverty, 87% live in rural areas. According to a recent report, the World Bank does not expect Cameroon to meet most Millennium Development Goals, except for the ones related to universal primary education and gender equality.

The factors holding Cameroon back are complex. Budget austerity and general governmental inefficiency are at the heart of many of the country’s development headaches. These confounding factors have a crippling effect on the improvement and expansion of modern, secure infrastructure and established a business climate unfriendly to major investors. Thus, a country with impressive natural resources, including high value-added agricultural products like coffee, cotton, and cocoa, is struggling to effectively harness its economic potential.

The varied and fertile landscape of Cameroon enables 70% of the population to earn its living from agriculture and farming. The country is the world’s fifth-largest cocoa producer and has seen sectors outside of its long-established oil industry become the driving forces in the growth of its economy. While modest gains in the agricultural and tertiary sectors have pushed the economy, rich mineral reserves remain untapped, partially due to an infrastructure power deficit.

The World Bank believes further economic expansion and sustainable poverty reduction in the country can best be achieved through a commitment to targeted programs and efforts aimed at improving governance at the central and sectoral levels. Accordingly, such initiatives are key features in the World Bank’s Country Assistance Strategy for Cameroon. The strategy seeks to bring increased coordination and transparency on governance-related issues and to foster competitiveness and service delivery across the country.

Despite these challenges, there is hope for the future of Cameroon. The country has successfully implemented programs that have increased the primary education completion rate to 71% and have pushed gender equality, notably through the school enrollment rate for girls. These successes demonstrate the potential positive impact of effectively implemented development programs. Through cooperation with and commitment to World Bank strategies and other development efforts, the country of Cameroon should, in the not too distant future, experience real success in the fight against poverty and economic underachievement.

– Lauren Brown

Source: World Bank, Reuters
Photo: Health Care Volunteer

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Arco do Futuro

Arco do Futuro
São Paulo’s visionary new mayor, Fernando Haddad, plans to elevate the city’s sprawling and overcrowded slums out of abject poverty by 2020. His goal is to improve the horrible living conditions of the favelas while also halting their insurgent growth.

The favela slums of São Paulo remain a brazen example of the poverty and income inequality that still lingers in Brazil despite its recent (and remarkable) economic growth. They serve as hotbeds for violence and crime as well as uncontained waste and rampant pollution.

In a campaign promise during last year’s election, Haddad created what will become the city’s main development plan named “Arco do Futuro.” This plan promises to provide more housing and jobs for the favela’s cramped and unemployed populations. He maintains that the improvements will occur as a result of economic growth, government funding, and demographic changes.

Previously, the government’s efforts to develop a 100-acre area around Luz, which is notorious for drug activity and known as Cracolândia, sparked intense protests within the community. According to Haddad, this was because the public did not trust the private companies in charge of the housing programs.

The mayor plans to allow members of the community to have a greater voice in order for the development plan to not be seen as a threat. He emphasized that giving individuals a greater sense of ownership would negate the negative feelings toward the project.

This mentality fits well with the message of the New Cities Summit, which was hosted by São Paulo this year. The message is this: “The Human City, placing the individual and the community at the heart of discussions on our urban future.”

The New Cities Summit, held in São Paulo this year echoed this idea as a way of developing solutions to the challenges of rapid urbanization. São Paulo was chosen to host last week’s New Cities summit because it faces many of the same problems as other metropolises across the developing world. If São Paulo can find ways to alleviate their problems of crime, pollution, overcrowding and waste, then the hope is that other cities can too.

By 2030, it is estimated that 60% of the world’s total population will be living in urban areas. Each year, a million people are added to this figure in China, India and the Middle East. Latin American countries have the highest percentage of urban populations with 87% of the population of Brazil living in cities.

“We need more just cities. Not just playgrounds for the wealthy, but cities where all people can thrive,” said John Rossant of the New Cities Foundation, “This is a global summit to look at problems facing cities in the 21st century, but also opportunities. There are lots of interesting solutions.”

– Kathryn Cassibry

Source: The Guardian,New Cities Foundation,Estado Sao Paulo
Photo: Mind Map-SA

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Hunger in Rwanda: The Good and the Bad

Hunger in Rwanda: The Good and the Bad
In Rwanda, poverty and hunger continue to pose a major challenge for the rapidly developing country. Based on the UNDP Human Development Index for 2011, the country ranks 166 out of 187 while maintaining one of the highest population densities in Africa. The large population puts a strain on proper healthcare as well as the already limited natural resources of the country. Although the government of Rwanda, together with the World Food Program, has found that nutrition levels and food security have been improving over the last seven years, the situation is still far from optimal.

Some of the major challenges Rwanda faces with regard to poverty and hunger could be solved by foreign aid investments or direct cash donors from developed nations and foreign aid organizations. 83.7% of the population survives on $2 a day or less, and without proper disposable income, it is impossible to support families with proper food, water, and nutrition.

Up to 90% of the population engages in subsistence agriculture. This, combined with the extreme crowding and limited access to land, makes subsistence farming inefficient.

WFP’s country director for Rwanda, Jan Delbaere, weighs in on the topic, explaining that “during 2012, WFP bought 23,000 metric tons of food in Rwanda, mostly for operations in neighboring countries. This is a clear sign that Rwanda is more than self-sufficient for its staple crops. However, households with only a small area of land for cultivation simply cannot afford to access enough nutritious food to live healthy, active lives or to provide for their basic needs from their land alone.”

The WFP remains committed to supporting the government in Rwanda to increase food security and food production programs, and the country itself has chosen to sign the “Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) compact and to secure funding, thus confirming malnutrition and food insecurity as one of the government’s key priorities.” In spite of its food insecurity, Rwanda’s GDP has been growing by 7.2% annually since 2010. With proper investment and aid, these issues can be solved, and the country set further on the right track to stability.

– Sarah Rybak

Source: WFP,Hope in Action
Photo: ESB Blog