Archive for category: Activism

Information and stories on social activism.

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The Role of Music in Economic Development in Africa

Music exists everywhere in daily activities. People listen to music when driving, studying, or relaxing as well as in commercial. Music has the ability to move people in many mysterious ways. The purpose of this article is to discuss the role of music in economic development.

Music is one of the biggest industries in the world. According to International Federation of the Phonography Industry, the music industry sales was $5.8 billion, and performance rights revenue is growing the fastest to $943 million( up from $862 million in 2011). In the emerging world, people are exploring different kinds of music to fit their taste.

In addition, with the increasing use of the internet, it is easier to spread and create a new movement in music. Africa music can get bigger and gain more popularity around the world. Apart from record sales for African music, music can draw other kind of revenue such as concerts, tourist, and sales of band merchandise. The growth in these sectors will create more jobs in the local job market and in Africa as a whole.

Besides, the monetary effect of music on the economy, music can also have an effect on people’s mindset.

Music is the way for people to express and share themselves with others. When people are able to share their opinion with others, African musicians can encourage people to try harder and overcome daily life challenges and reach for higher goals.

Music can also draw attention to African countries and show citizens in developed countries that African is a growing continent not just a sad story for the world.

Nowadays, in Africa, many people are creating labs so that locals can produce music to spread the music effect to others. With low marketing cost, music can produce a steady stream of revenue for the economy and represent Africa in the eyes of people globally.

– Phong Pham

Sources: SXSW, Billboard, EthPress
Photo: USAID

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Martin Luther King Quotes on Poverty

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr will forever hold a place in the hearts of millions of people around the world. The immediate need for freedom from racism, discrimination and flat out brutality toward African Americans will forever be King’s message. However, Dr. King also used his platform to shed light on global poverty.

He expressed the need for poverty to be abolished and the need for nations to come together to combat this growing problem. Here are excerpts of Dr. King’s written documents concerning the dire need to end poverty.

Excerpts from Dr. King’s Nobel Peace Prize address in 1964:
“A second evil which plagues the modern world is that of poverty. Like a monstrous octopus, it projects it’s nagging, prehensile tentacles in lands and villages all over the world. Almost two thirds of the peoples of the world go to bed hungry at night. They are undernourished, ill-housed, and shabbily clad. Many of them have no houses or beds to sleep in. Their only beds are the sidewalks of the cities and the dusty roads of the villages. Most of these poverty-stricken children of God have never seen a physician or a dentist.”

“So it is obvious that if a man is to redeem his spiritual and moral ‘lag,’ he must go all out to bridge the social and economic gulf between the ‘haves’ and ‘have not’s’ of the world. Poverty is one of the most urgent items on the agenda of modern life.”

“There is nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that we have the resources to get rid of it.”

“The time has come for an all- out world war against poverty.”

“The rich nations must use their vast resources of wealth to develop the underdeveloped, school the unschooled, and feed the unfed. Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation. No individual or nation can be great if it does not have a concern for ‘the least of these.'”

Excerpts from Dr. King’s “Let My People Go” speech. Human Rights Day December 10, 1965:
“Africa does have spectacular savages and brutes today, but they are not black. They are the sophisticated white rulers of South Africa who profess to be cultured, religious and civilized, but whose conduct and philosophy stamp them unmistakably as modern-day barbarians.

We are in an era in which the issue of human rights is the central question confronting all nations. In this complex struggle an obvious but little appreciated fact has gained attention-the large majority of the human race is non-white-yet it is that large majority which lives in hideous poverty. While millions enjoy an unexampled opulence in developed nations, ten thousand people die of hunger each and every day of the year in the undeveloped world.”

An excerpt from “Where do we go from Here: Chaos or Community” written in 1967:
Sadly this is Dr. King’s last book before he was tragically assassinated.

“I am now convinced that the simplest approach will prove to be the most effective – the solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed matter: the guaranteed income.”

“The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. It is socially as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism at the dawn of civilization, when men ate each other because they had not yet learned to take food from the soil or to consume the abundant animal life around them. The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.”

Nearly fifty years after these words were breathed, they still reign true; especially since poverty continues to be a problem for millions of people in 2013. Let us not allow Dr. King‘s words to remain in the past. We must give them life again and continue to make this world a better place, as Dr. Martin Luther King did nearly fifty years ago.

– Amy Robinson

Sources: Nobleprize, RFKSA Film, Progress,
Photo: BAR Photography

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Importance of Citizenship in the Dominican Republic

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The Constitutional Court of the Dominican Republic has decided to strip thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent of their citizenship, causing unruly behavior both inside and outside the country.

Latin American human rights groups are speaking out against the ruling and citing international and regional human rights models, believing the ruling to be fundamentally racist and inhuman, according to Al Jazeera.

Not only is the ruling causing issues in the Dominican Republic, but there have even been protests in New York City.  New Yorkers are, furthermore, not supportive of the annulment of citizenship of anyone born in the country to noncitizens after 1929. The New York Times reports that this decision is applicable to many as 200,000 people, mostly of Haitian decent.

Many have said that the ruling emphasized a history of racial prejudice in the country against not only Haitians, but their descendants as well.

Edward Paulino, assistant professor of history at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan, who is Dominican-American, explains that, “Anything that’s seen as a criticism is seen as treasonous.”

Several years ago, two United Nations human rights experts described in a report a “profound and entrenched problem of racism and discrimination” against Haitians in particular, throughout the Dominican Republic.

The Dominican Republic has fought with criticism for its treatment of Haitian migrants and this ruling has brought shame upon people within the country as well as internationally. The residents are already struggling with poverty and social exclusion and it is not beneficial in any way for them to be denounced.

Throughout the ruling the United States has signed an agreement worth 184 million to improve citizen safety and promote economic growth according to Dominican Today. The agreement accompanies the new strategy by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) that is working to provide assistance to support the growth of small Dominican business and get them out of extreme poverty.

The businesses are primarily in the rural sector and USAID assists them by identifying new market opportunities.  They are also providing training and technology transfers to help such businesses produce quality products and services.

Despite this assistance, people throughout the Dominican Republic are focused on the issue of citizenship. There are tens of thousands of lives hanging in the balance and inaction is no longer an option. They are working to get out of poverty and the issue surrounding citizenship is distracting from finding the correct solutions.

– Lindsey Lerner

Sources: Al Jazeera, New York Times, Dominican Today
Photo: Crowd Voice

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High Number of Traffic Fatalities in Third World

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Traffic accidents account for 1.24 million deaths globally every year while estimates put that number at 3.6 million by the year 2030. In developing countries, this projection would put traffic deaths ahead of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and many other common causes of death, according to a Global Burden of Disease study.

Those dying in road accidents are typically young, male and living in poverty.

Roughly 50% of global traffic fatalities occur in developing countries, and according to Jose Luis Irigoyen, a World Bank traffic safety expert, the costs of such a high number of road deaths are a “poverty-inducing problem.”

He estimates that low and middle income countries lose 1 to 3% of their GDP on road fatalities, which Irigoyen says could counterbalance the billions given in aid money to these developing nations.

The UN General Assembly in 2010 adopted a resolution that established a “Decade of Action for Road Safety,” its goal to stabilize the number of road fatalities and then reduce them as much as possible. The resolution estimates that 5 million lives could be saved during this time.

A Washington Post article on the topic of road fatalities highlighted four countries with particularly infamous driving records. In Indonesia, an average of 120 people die in road accidents every day. “When a jumbo jet crashes, it’s big news,” World Bank transport specialist Mustapha Benmaamar states. “But here, these people die in silence.”

Indonesian figures represent roughly two plane crashes per week.

Moreover, a surge in motorcycle use has largely contributed to a massive increase in the number of road deaths—from about 8,000 per year in 2002 to over 16,500 in 2007, and doubling once more in 2010. Motorcycles accounted for 60% of those fatalities.

Benmaamar asserts, “You reach a tipping point when these deaths are perceived not as something accidental, but as a result of a problem that has to be tackled. Only then will you see the fatalities start to drop. Indonesia has not reached that point.”

Experiencing even more road deaths per day than Indonesia is Nigeria, which has the worst driving figures in Africa. There are about 34 road-related deaths for every 100,000 people in the country, according to a 2013 World Health Organization report.

Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Commission points to high speeds as the culprit behind so many traffic fatalities, though poorly maintained roads, loosely obeyed traffic laws and lax driver’s license requirements contribute to making the country one of the most dangerous places in the world in which to drive a vehicle.

On another note, traffic accidents cause three times more deaths in Colombia than its internal armed conflict. However, the country’s situation has improved over the years. Since the mid-1990s, road fatalities and accidents have decreased significantly, falling from 7,847 deaths in 1995 to 5,502 in 2010. Progress appears to be stalled, however, as fatalities in 2012 increased by 3% from the previous year.

With a goal of achieving better outcomes by 2016, Colombian leaders have begun to focus on addressing and rectifying the nation’s top cause of traffic-related fatalities—motorcycles and their passengers, accounting for 70% of road deaths in Colombia.

Helmet laws, strict license and road regulations, better motorcycle safety and a mental shift away from seeing road accidents as merely “accidents” could eventually curb the number of global traffic deaths.

– Kaylie Cordingley

Sources: Washington Post, Colombia Reports
Photo: The Promota

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Saving Calories & Lives

In recent years, technology and applications have had an increasingly philanthropic purpose. The latest of these technologies is the Share Your Calories application. The app was designed by Catherine Jones, a well-known author of nutrition cookbooks, Elaine Trujillo, a leader in nutrition, and Stop Hunger Now, an international agency aimed to end hunger across the globe.

The app can be used to help people lose weight while simultaneously providing food to people harmed by natural disasters. By adding a philanthropic purpose, the designers of the application aimed to give users another goal as well as more motivation to eat healthier. Studies also show that spending on others makes us happier than spending on ourselves, so the application, in and of itself, allows users to feel lasting happiness.

The application allows users to monitor their daily activities and food intake through a calorie bank determined by bio-data. If they do not consume all the calories in their calorie bank, the user has the option to convert the extra calories into monies. Once they have accumulated $12, the user has the option to donate to Stop Hunger Now.

Each Stop Hunger now high-protein dehydrated meal is equivalent to 250 calories and 25 cents.

The financial contributions from the Share Your Calories App go toward Stop Hunger Now meal packaging events. Each of these meals contains rice, dehydrated soy and vegetables as well as a vitamin-mineral pack. These meals are easy to store and have a shelf-life of 2 years.

These meals are currently distributed through host-organizations, but the funds from this application will also allow smaller groups and businesses to participate.

This application hopes to bring in $95,000 to build an android app, provide basic nutrition information, translate the app into different languages, etc. The Stop Hunger Now effort is supported by the Medical Science Foundation, TruBios Communications, iSO-FORM, The Ohio State University Food Innovation Center and the Experiment.

– Lienna Feleke-Eshete

Sources: IndieGoGo, FoodTank
Photo: Irish Red Cross

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Why the GHIC Should be on Your Calendar

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On April 12, students, professionals and policy makers will come together for the Global Health and Innovation Conference (GHIC).  Taking place on campus at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, the conference will discuss methods and means of global healthcare development.

Topics to be addressed at GHIC range from the Key Note Address “Reducing Toxins to Protect Health: A Global Concern” to business innovations in healthcare delivery to student-researched projects about environmental sustainability.  By casting such a wide net of current and prospective advocates and leaders, the conference truly offers a diverse range of perspectives and solutions.

The conference is, furthermore, sponsored annually by Unite for Sight.  Unite for Sight is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing quality eye care for those who are prevented access to such care.  The organization has helped over 1.7 million patients and performed 66,000 sight-restoring operations worldwide.  As such a dynamic agency for global healthcare, Unite for Sight has hosted the GHIC for the past 11 years.

Past reviews of the conference are overwhelmingly positive.  CNN has called the Global Health and Innovation Conference a “Meeting of Minds,” and as speakers vary from CEOs to undergraduate students, such a convergence seems apt.  The Consortium of Universities for Global Health has even dubbed the conference a “must attend” event.  With such strong praise, it is no wonder the conference is now officially the largest global health conference in the world.

There is something intriguing and engaging for all global health advocates at the conference.  Exhibitions by graduate programs in Public Health and International Affairs, such as Brandeis University’s Keller School of Social Policy and Management, offer wonderful opportunities to learn more about making global development into a professional goal.  Interactive workshops in sustainable architecture and global health writing are also sure to be great draws.

– Taylor Diamond

Sources: Unite for Sight, Consortium of Universities for Global Health
Photo: Pragzter

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4 Impassioned Humanitarian Leaders

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Below is a list of four impassioned humanitarian leaders who are fighting to make the world a better place.

1. George Soros

George Soros has given billions of dollars over the years to humanitarian organizations. He is the financier and founder of the Open Society Foundation, an international foundation that promotes the expansion of human rights and democracy throughout the third world.

Founded in 1998, the group funds and has helped institute health and educational programs while also being driven to provide “greater fairness in political, legal and economic systems” throughout the world. The program touts initiatives such as the Burma Project, which promotes freedom of expression, as well as helping suppressed minority and political groups communicate their human right grievances in the political repressive nation of Burma.

The foundations has various programs throughout countless countries promoting freedom of expression and basic human rights.

2. Jon Hunstman

Jon Hunstman Sr. began his humanitarian activities after being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1993. Founder of the successful Huntsman Corporation, his donations have accounted for billions of dollars. He founded the Hunstman Cancer institute, a non-profit research company that builds hospitals and develops new cancer fighting techniques.

The Hunstman Corporation regularly donates money to education institutions as well.

For example, the foundation donated 26 million dollars to Utah State University to help expand the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. They donated another 2 million dollars to enact the Hunstman Awards for Excellence in Education that reward exceptional school teachers and volunteers.

The foundation believes a strong domestic educational system will help enact significant positive change in America.

3. Tegla Laroupe

Female Kenyan runner Tegla Laroupe came to prominence in 2003 after winning 2 interntional half-marathons, attaining multiple world marathon records, and countless other titles. After retiring from marathon running, she devoted all her time to affect change in devastated communities throughout the world.

In 2003, she established the Tegla Lorupe Peace Foundation, an organization based around helping housing projects and educating children orphaned by political violence. The foundation has built schools throughout Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Southern Sudan.

The organization raises money through various programs, such as the Peace Races. The Moroto-Uganda Peace Race was held in the Moroto district of Uganda and helped raise money for orphaned children in the volatile region plagued by an unstable political situation and “banditry.”

4. Bill Gates

Bill Gates, founder of computer software powerhouse Microsoft, has spent his days of retirement giving back. He founded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which spends most of their efforts fighting poverty and health risks such as malaria. The organization tackles grave crises through 4 major program initiatives.

The Global Development Division deals with food insecurity throughout impoverished communities, as well as sanitation and housing. The Global Health Division, furthermore, promotes technological and scientific studies such as vaccines and medical treatments throughout the developing world.

Their foundation also tackles domestic issues through the United States Division through supporting higher level education and high school.

The Global Policy & Advocacy Division is, in fact, the strategic portion of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which works to help advance their policies through national and international frameworks.

– Joseph Abay

Sources: Open Society Foundations (OSF), Huntsman Corporation, Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Photo: Channels

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Why Do We Ignore Global Poverty?

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“Poverty in Africa,” “more than 500 million people live on less than $2 per day,” and “ every three seconds a child dies.” These messages appear every day across the globe on television and social media but they attract little to no attention from the viewers.

One common excuse that might make this so, is that viewers may assume they cannot make a difference because of their social status or income levels. Even when people do not have a high social status, there are opportunities where they are still able to make a difference by  influencing Congress.

Money is a major factor in reducing global poverty but it is not everything.

Others can even save their unused clothes or contribute a tiny portion of their income. With the exchange rate between United States currency and developing currency, every dollar helps.

Another common reason may not consider global poverty to be their problem. This concept is known as “Not In My Backyard” thinking. Since it may seem that global poverty does not affect people in developed countries directly, they are more likely to ignore the problem. However, global poverty indirectly affects people in developed countries.

When people are living in poverty, they have less access to education and limited livelihood options lending them to be prone to and easily convinced to join threatening groups such as terrorism, which is an international issue-a concern for developed countries.

In addition, farmers in developing countries lack proper knowledge or access to advanced farming equipment. The food supply has a high risk of being unhealthy and contains many toxic chemicals. The lack of health care in poverty regions can increase the risk of dangerous diseases spreading through other parts of the world.

Another possible excuse is that global poverty will disappear on its own. This perception is extremely misdirected. Global poverty, just like any other problem, will not disappear if nobody takes action to eradicate it. If no action is taken, global poverty will only going to get bigger and eventually reach its hand to developed countries.

The last and biggest problem is people assume global poverty is not a current issue because it would take a long time to erase global poverty. Even though it is true that global poverty is not going to disappear overnight, to speed up the process, help is always needed. The more help global poverty gets, the faster the world will eradicate it.

– Phong Pham

Sources: Productive Flourishing, Dear Bono, Global Issues
Photo: Tandem Post

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What is Advocacy and Why You Should Care?

What is Advocacy? Advocacy is a word we all hear on a regular basis, thrown around on the news, in the paper, etc. In fact, a Google News search for the word yields nearly 74,000 results. Despite its growing commonality, is it a word whose definition we fully understand? What is advocacy, exactly, and what does it mean to be an advocate?

According to the group Rights of Older People, advocacy “involves representing and working with a person or group of people who may need support and encouragement to exercise their rights, in order to ensure that their rights are upheld.” Speaking, writing or acting on behalf of those who are disadvantaged or groups being discriminated against are core ideals to the definition of advocacy.

The Alliance for Justice suggests several activities that could be included in a demonstration of advocacy: conducting research, organizing a rally, broadening public education and awareness, mobilizing voters, engaging in litigation and lobbying. Furthermore, the group encourages organizations wanting to be more involved in advocacy to become educated on current policies and issues; evaluate the organization’s missions, values and strategic plan while also collaborating with those who share similar values and goals.

Now it may seem to many that advocacy is virtually synonymous with the word “activism,” as they both involve public action and support of a particular belief, policy or group. According to DoSomething.org, activism “can be described as intentional action to bring about social change, political change, economic justice or environmental well being.” Most often equated to notions of protest or dissent, activism takes a wide variety of forms, ranging from writing letters and political campaigning to locking yourself in chains or organizing a sit-in.

While advocacy falls under the umbrella of activism, not all forms of activism are necessarily advocacy. “An advocate can also be involved in controversial activities or issues,” says DoSomething.org, “but because they are speaking on behalf of a group, they tend to be more likely to follow the paths of lobbying and legislation.” It seems as if speaking, rather than acting in general, is what distinguishes advocacy from activism.

Linguistically, the word “advocacy” stems from the Latin roots meaning “to summon,” “to voice” or “to call to,” as UNICEF explains, evoking the image of “calling people to stand by your side.”  Defined by UNICEF as “an active verbal support for a cause or position,” advocacy involves public vocalization, not necessarily direct action; as an advocate, the main priority is to make your voice heard, especially if your voice is representing an underprivileged class of individuals.

These definitions and explanations help to make advocacy less abstract and more tangible and accessible. You do not have to engage in a protest march, donate bundles of money or even organize a political campaign to be an advocate. In the end, it boils down to this one fact: if you have a voice, you can be an advocate.

– Mallory Thayer

Sources: Merriam-Webster, Alliance For Justice, Rights of Older People, UNICEF
Photo: Google

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Spreading Agricultural Technology to India’s Poor Farmers

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It is an accepted fact that poverty is the root cause of malnutrition. Over 42% of the Indian population lives on less than $1.25 a day. However, if farmers could increase their output and earn more from what they already have through the use of innovative technology, food insecurity could decrease and that same dollar and a quarter could go much further.

Technology can help farmers to augment their knowledge of which crops to produce for the best return, find the most effective farming practices and make plans based upon weather forecasts.

The e-Choupal initiative is one way that technology is being used to give farmers the information they need to be more successful. The aforementioned benefits of technology are all accounted for on the e-Choupal platform, even enabling buyers to come to the farmers instead of having to haul the produce to market, where oftentimes traders manipulate the market in order to exploit the farmers out of their proper earnings.

The initiative also provides access to storage services and agricultural equipment in addition to other important assets for rural farmers. The e-Choupal network has expanded to 6,500 centers synchronizing the efforts of 40,000 villages to produce greater quantities of better produce and profit.

In this same vein of increased technology and higher profits, organic farming is a possible venue poor farmers could explore. Organic produce consistently garner high prices, the demand for which is only rising. The only constraints are the ones that the e-Choupal network is already helping to eradicate, at least in India, including lack of technical expertise and insufficient market knowledge.

Another example of innovative agricultural technology is the use of drip-irrigation, which cuts water use by 40%, and saves the equivalent of 10 million households water expenditures per year. Much in the same way, the e-Choupal initiative has created a network where over 25,000 small farmers have organized a supply chain that has augmented their average annual incomes by a very significant $1,000.

India is a country of fertile lands and capable farmers. Technology is the catalyst that promises to drive the more than 400 million people living on less than $1.25 a day out of poverty.

– Jordan Schunk
Sources: The Huffington Post, New Indian Express, Rural Poverty Portal
Photo: The Fourth Revolution