Archive for category: Technology

Information and stories about technology news.

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Fighting Poverty by Improving Cooking in Africa

Fight Poverty By Improving Cooking in Africa
One of the goals in the 2015 Millennium Development Goals was to eradicate hunger and poverty. New technologies and programs are currently being developed to achieve this global challenge. One important focus of such innovations is to fight poverty by improving cooking.

A shortage of fuel and the use of biomass and kerosene for cooking both cause many health issues in Africa, such as physical ailments from collecting firewood, burns and respiratory problems due to the inhalation of deadly smoke fumes. In order to feed their families, African women in poor communities face life-threatening attacks and rape.

Furthermore, in some places where local firewood sources have been completely used up, women have to resort to digging up tree roots or travel increasingly further away from their homes in order to find firewood. The practice of cooking with wood fuel contributes to poverty in Africa by taking up time and resources families could be using to buy food and generate income. Fortunately, new technologies in Africa are making the process of cooking cleaner and more efficient.

One example is the fuel-efficient woodstove created by the global innovating charity, Practical Action. The woodstoves are easy to use, affordable and require less wood fuel. Their high sides allow for improved heat transfer. Best of all, they can be made with clay and bricks that are readily available in local communities. Practical Action has also trained more than 150 women to use its new stoves as well as to practice fuel saving methods, like using dry wood, pre-soaking beans prior to cooking, using a weighted lid and regulating the air supply to the fire.

Another initiative that is helping to fight poverty by improving cooking is the SCORE (Stove for Cooking, Refrigeration and Electricity) project. Also supported by Practical Action, the stove was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and created under the collaboration of the University of Nottingham, City University, the University of Manchester and Queen Mary and the University of London.

SCORE is a smokeless cooking stove with a generator powered by burning different kinds of biomass like wood and animal dung. It converts the generated heat to acoustical energy and then to electricity, allowing for even the waste heat to be utilized when cooking. The SCORE project aims to halve the household fuel consumption and to use local, low-cost materials as much as possible.

Other innovative efforts to fight poverty by improving cooking include introducing new construction materials, improving designs for basic cooking stoves and intermediate rocket stoves as well as enabling for more customization in design. Such efforts are led by multistakeholder initiatives such as EnDev and ProBEC, national cookstove programs as well as NGOs like GERES in Africa and Southeast Asia and HELPS in Central America.

However, reducing the combustion of solid cooking fuels, in general, is important to the health of the poor. Burning fuels like charcoal, wood and coal produce significant emissions of hazardous air pollutants (HAP) that have potential carcinogenic and other harmful effects. According to a recent World Health Organization study, HAP emissions contributed to 4.3 million premature deaths in 2012 and more than 110 million years lost due to ill-health disability or early death in 2010.

Forced draft and natural draft gasifier stoves are a promising technological solution. Their side-loaded design significantly decreases emissions without requiring the user to prepare or refill the fuel. While advanced biomass stoves are still at a very early stage for commercialization and field testing, they have the greatest potential to improve cooking health conditions.

BioLite’s patented Direct Conduction Thermoelectric System, the HomeStove, is a great example of this. Not only does it autonomously power an internal fan, but it also generates extra electricity to charge LED lights and mobile phones.

As for the renewable fuel sector, cookstoves are still in embryonic stages. They also typically remain expensive. One promising biogas digester model is that of SimGas Tanzania. It is small and custom designed for East African farmers to use by feeding in manure as its power source.

These improved cookstoves, from the cheaper ones produced by artisan collectives like GEREs and EnDev to the high-tech ones manufactured on the global mass scale, face several common challenges. The growing cost of materials and labor make it difficult for such producers to make cookstoves that the poor would be able to afford as well as to transport cookstoves where the poor would have access to them. This makes quality control and, in turn, safety additional issues. Lastly, they also lack access to capital markets.

While many improvements have been made to fight poverty by improving cooking in Africa, much still needs to be done in making improved cookstoves available to the poor.

– Connie Loo

Photo: Flickr

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New Developments: Afghanistan’s Technology Is Growing

Afghanistan's Technology Is Growing and Developing
Thoughts of Afghanistan generally focus on the Taliban, harsh restrictions and a war-torn country; but in actuality, the nation has dramatically changed in the last 15 years with a huge contributor of such change being the introduction of technology in the country.

From 2001, when even phone usage was limited, to 2016 when 73 percent of the government receives its pay electronically, Afghanistan’s technology is growing in a unique way that is creating more jobs, a higher standard of living and improved relations between Afghanistan and other nations.

Technological Life under the Taliban

The Taliban is an Islamic fundamentalist group that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. The militant organization was outed by U.S. military for providing support and shelter for Al Queda after the 2001 terrorists attacks. Life under the Taliban has been highlighted for its injustices towards women, but it expands to a set of strict restrictions for all citizens that reaches so far as to ban the internet.

The Taliban took Shaira, an Arabic word for path (or the way to live life), and fed its interpretations through this mantra. Anything that was deemed “un-Islamic” was banned, which meant no music, movies or internet for anyone since these could act as means of spreading Western “propaganda.”

Major Technological Advances in Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s technology is growing largely through its payment sector. Innovation in banking through the introduction of mobile pay has improved the systems and lives of those using it. In 2009, mobile pay was suggested for use on a trial basis; and as of 2016, 97 percent of the police force were registered in the system.

It seems strange that it’s in Afghanistan — where only 5 percent of citizens use a bank account and over 70 percent are unable or read or write — that this technological advancement would find its footing.

Mobile banking — transferring funds to a mobile account, paying with that account, and then being able to lend, pay off loans — has cut costs in the police department by 10 percent which is a measure largely associated with avoiding corruption. Since payments can be traced and tracked more accurately, it makes it more difficult for a someone (i.e. a corrupt officer) to take a cut.

Afghanistan and E-Governance

Along with using technology to create mobile pay, Afghanistan’s technology is growing through E-governance. E-governance is implemented by creating a centralised system of ‘Presidential docs.’ This allows the cut down on paperwork and has reduced processing time from weeks, to a maximum of 48 hours.

This system also allows government officials to connect with each other through video conference calls which helps in decreasing the amount of time and money spent in travel. Again, such efforts serve as an example of how corruption has decreased, transparency has increased and money evades hands that would take it illegally.

Technology Connects Afghani Citizens to the World

Afghanistan’s technology is growing and connecting the country with its neighbors and Western countries like the U.S. The innovative boom also provides more opportunities for often overlooked demographics, such as women. For instance, with the online hemisphere hitting homes, technology has come to provide women, like Roya Mahboob, opportunities to educate themselves and even open new businesses.

Even with the Taliban gone, the predominantly conservative society still possesses obstacles for growing technology, but Mahboob is an example of how the technology available is working to create jobs, educate citizens and connect the world.

Mahboob now lives in New York with businesses in Afghanistan and hopeful expansions into Mexico. She is an amazing example of the positive impacts of technology, and Afghanistan’s government is ever-increasingly recognizing the benefits of technology and is working to more extensively incorporate it into Afghani society.

– Natasha Komen

Photo: Flickr

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Waste-to-Energy in Ethiopia is Bettering the Planet

Waste-to-Energy in Ethiopia Increasing Electricity and Decreasing WasteIn Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, a landfill the size of 36 soccer fields is being turned into renewable energy, meeting the needs of 30 percent of the city’s electricity. The landfill, previously the only waste disposal site in Addis Ababa, made the news in 2017 due to an onsite landslide that killed 114 people. The new energy plant, known as Reppie Waste-to-Energy in Ethiopia, plans to turn 80 percent of the city’s waste into energy each day.

Waste is turned into energy through incineration, a process already popular in many European countries. About 25 percent of European waste is turned into energy and there are over 100 waste-to-energy plants in both France and Germany. Strict European Union emissions standards ensure that no harmful emissions from the incineration process enter the atmosphere, standards that the Reppie project will be held to as well.

Electricity is produced directly from the burning of waste. As garbage is burned in a combustion chamber, heat is produced. The heat boils water, creating steam, which in turn produces energy in a turbine. The emissions that occur in this process are cleaned before they enter the atmosphere, making this a renewable and sustainable source of clean energy.

The Reppie facility came into development out of a partnership between the government of Ethiopia and several international partners, including Chinese and Danish companies. This partnership came together to tailor the needs of the new energy plant to sub-Saharan Africa, as opposed to the waste-to-energy plants already operating in Europe.

The Ethiopian project further protects the environment and its citizens from harmful toxins that are released into groundwater supplies and the atmosphere at landfill sites. Methane is a harmful greenhouse gas that adds to the negative effects of climate change and is typically produced at landfill sites; this project will reduce methane emissions, as well as save space and generate electricity.

In addition to providing energy to three million people, the Reppie project plans to make an additional three million bricks from the waste and recover 30 million liters of water from the landfill. These materials will be additionally used to benefit the population of Addis Ababa. Furthermore, the plant will create hundreds of jobs for people who previously relied on scavenging at the waste site, a dangerous occupation.

In Ethiopia, only 27 percent of the population has access to electricity. While that number includes rural areas, in only urban areas such as Addis Ababa, the number rises to almost 92 percent. However, the Reppie plant is connected to the national grid and the introduction of waste-to-energy in Ethiopia will spread from urban areas and be able to serve rural areas as well, increasing access to electricity to all Ethiopians.

The Reppie Waste-to-Energy in Ethiopia will aid in reducing poverty conditions through increasing access to electricity, creating jobs and improving the environment to the benefit of human health. The plant will additionally be a model for similar plants across the continent of Africa. Already, seven other plants are being planned. These plants together will leave a lasting positive impact on both the environment and the energy needs of people across the continent.

– Hayley Herzog

Photo: Flickr

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Artificial Intelligence Update: Meet the Chatbots in Africa

chatbots in Africa
Businesses are slowly introducing chatbots in Africa, as more local users opt for mobile interactions through social media. At the end of 2015, 46 percent of the African population subscribed to mobile services, which is equivalent to more than half a billion people; interestingly, this percentage is expected to increase to 54 percent in 2020.

With such a growing use of smartphones, a chatbot revolution in Africa is not very far away.

 

The Chatbot Revolution

For starters – a chatbot simulates human conversation and are interactive. Using Artificial Intelligence (AI), a chatbot is supported across different messaging platforms including Twitter and Facebook. Here are three chatbots in Africa automate services that are convenient and available 24/7 to users.

 

1. Leo

Recently, the United Bank of Africa (UBA), the Nigerian multinational financial institution, hired Leo — a chatbot. At the launch, Leo displayed a unique way of how bank customers could use social media platforms to carry out their banking activities.

UBA’s chat banker is a Facebook bot, something which the company says is “necessary in today’s fast-paced world with demands for quick-time transactions.” Customers will be able to carry out basic banking facilities like opening a new bank account, checking balances, transferring funds and receiving instant alerts. Additionally, customers will be able to pay bills, get answers to loan queries and applications and check balance statements.

 

2. Nuru

Nuru is created by UXstudio, a Budapest-based Hungarian start-up, and currently is available to users in Kenya and Ghana. This AI chatbot assists users in matters relating to agriculture, classified ads, finances and healthcare.

African farmers looking to sell can use Nuru to set prices. The chatbot automatically configures a price based on the type and the amount they have. The activation of the deal can only occur once the farmers are satisfied. Once activated, the buyers can reach out to the farmers through message or phone call.

For mobile money transactions, users in Kenya heavily rely on mPesa. Nuru integrates the transaction through Messenger — the chatbot asks for a password and, once authenticated, the transactions can successfully take place. Nuru also provides health tips based on questions asked by users.

 

3. Keirabot & Hazie

Keirabot is one of Botsza’s six tailor-made chatbots in Africa.

Botsza’s chatbots currently work across many industries like hotel reservation, flight booking, e-commerce, banks, finance, insurance and customer services. Currently supported on multiple messaging platforms, two chatbots are already operational for users — Haziebot and Keirabot.

Keirabot relieves users from the tiring process of searching homes by utilizing browsing functions via Facebook Messenger or Skype. Various tasks are performed using AI including credit checks, tenants, and comparisons between selling and buying a home.

Hazie, on the other hand, is a recruitment chatbot in Africa that allows job seekers to acquire ideal jobs. Users can simply apply for jobs using social media platforms like Facebook Messenger and Twitter.

 

Challenges

Despite extensive benefits, the revolution of chatbots in Africa faces challenges.

According to The World Bank, African mobile and wireless markets are highly concentrated; in 27 countries, one player has more than 50 percent market share. Monopolies are still present in Africa: eleven in international gateway services and six in wireless internet services.

Additionally, with more than half of the population yet to subscribe to a mobile service, a big challenge for Africa is to connect the unconnected and unleash the economic potential of increased connectivity. Such challenges would also involve the problems of moving text-based interactions to chatbot technology.

 

The Potential Solution

But the African youth may be the answer to such challenges. Sixty percent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population is under the age of 25, making Africa the world’s youngest region, according to World Economic Forum. Social media giants like Facebook and Google are already developing programs for the people in Africa.

In September 2016, Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg visited Nairobi to learn more about mobile money and meet entrepreneurs and developers. The U.S. social media giant later announced that the center would host an “incubator program” to help develop technology start-ups while simultaneously training 50,000 Nigerians in digital skills.

In 2017, Google expanded its Africa initiatives following CEO Sundar Pichai’s visit to Nigeria. Alphabet also plans on increasing the funding for African startups by providing $20 million in grants to digital nonprofits. In April 2016, the company also launched Digital Skills for Africa, an initiative to provide free training (online and face-to-face) to people across 27 countries in Africa.

With such promising ventures, innovative technology in Africa could allow the country to stay on par with the rest of the world.

– Deena Zaidi

Photo: Flickr

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ModRoof is a Safer, Warmer Improvement for Slums

Slums
In 2001, 65 million people in India were living in slums without decent living conditions or any access to water and food on a daily basis. According to Berkeley research, more ore than 80 percent of the urban population in India cannot afford a concrete slab to be used as a roof.

For those who can afford a roof in slums, most of the time they are made of cement or metal sheets, which has a very bad effect on health and leads to poor quality of life. Witnessing such a lack of basic need, Hasit Ganatra, engineer and founder of ReMaterials, conceptualized a new type of roof named ModRoof to improve lives in slums.

According to ReMaterials, ModRoof is a “modular roofing system” that can improve shelters in slums and village homes in developing areas. Eco-friendly, easily removable and simple to install, it is also designed to be strong, waterproof and fire-resistant.

In addition, ModRoof is available for a low cost. Payable through microfinance companies, a very popular system in developing countries, the program solves the main obstacle to better facilities in worldwide slums: the price.

ReMaterials is currently considering embedding solar cells in ModRoof, which would allow houses to have power LED lights and outlets to charge phones. Employing solar power with ModRoof would be a huge step forward, as providing electricity to these shelters could assist in lifting the residents out of poverty.

“Worldwide experts told us to give up; they said we’d never do it,” said Ganatra in an interview with BBC. “But when you see this sort of problem [in the slums] you have to do something about it.”

Thus, the stark blue rooftop from ReMaterials is set to change lives. With continued persistence from Ganatra and his team, ModRoof will allow families living in slums all around the world to sleep in a safer, warmer environment.

– Léa Gorius

Photo: Flickr

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Droneports in Rwanda Deliver Life-Saving Medical Supplies

Droneports in RwandaAdvances in drone technology have had a profound influence on military surveillance and combat. Commercial industries and companies such as Amazon have also invested in drones for fast and easy deliveries. However, perhaps the most innovative use of drones is taking place in the developing world. The development of droneports in Rwanda is leading to drone-facilitated medical deliveries in hard-to-reach regions of the country.

Healthcare in Rwanda

In recent years, Rwanda has exhibited impressive improvement in rural healthcare. Partners in Health (PIH), an organization that seeks to improve medical access in impoverished countries, initiated many of the healthcare advances that have been made in Rwanda. In 2008, PIH resuscitated the healthcare structures of Kayonza and Kirehe, two districts in rural Rwanda. Two hospitals and seven health centers were built, providing nearly 100,000 individuals with access to healthcare.

In the following years, Rwanda’s government took inspiration from PIH’s assistance and continued improving rural healthcare on its own. Today, approximately 90 percent of Rwandans are provided healthcare by the government.

Overcoming Poor Infrastructure

Despite Rwanda’s effective healthcare system, the country’s subpar infrastructure often inhibits medical care. As is the case with many African nations, Rwanda’s population is growing at a tremendous rate. The existing roads are inadequate for gaining access to so many people scattered across the country, especially in remote areas. Using roads, medical supplies such as blood and medicine are not delivered as quickly as necessary.

Drones literally rise above the restrictions of substandard infrastructure.

In September 2015, Rwanda was chosen to be the first African nation to be outfitted with droneports. Drones are capable of quickly delivering up to 22 pounds of supplies for distances up to 60 miles. It is estimated that by installing just three droneports, up to half of Rwanda’s remote countryside will gain access to easy medical deliveries.

A New Trend in Aid Delivery

In 2016, Redline, the company that initially proposed building droneports in Rwanda, began work on the project, which is to be completed in 2020. Renowned British architect, Norman Foster, unveiled his design for the droneports at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2016. The prototype droneport, constructed entirely of earthen bricks that fit together in the shape of a tortoiseshell, was lauded as a work of art as well as a feat of philanthropic engineering.

But Redline is not the only drone company working to bring drones to Rwanda. The efficiency and cost-effectiveness of drones make them an appealing tool for medical and other aid organizations. This year, the drone company, Zipline, has already facilitated 1,400 deliveries of medical supplies in Rwanda. Another company, Mobisol, uses drones to distribute parts for solar energy machines.

If the implementation of medical delivery droneports in Rwanda goes well, more droneports will be built throughout Africa. Drones will take to the skies to provide life-saving supplies and revolutionize the distribution of emergency medicine.

– Mary Efird

Photo: Flickr

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Apps That Help Impoverished Countries: iCow

Apps That Help Impoverished Countries: iCow
As technology improves around the world, more apps have been developed that aim to help impoverished countries. An example of one of the apps that help impoverished countries is called iCow. iCow is an app that aims to reduce cow mortality rates and educate farmers on proper agricultural practices.

In many African countries, farmers have no formal training. As a result of a lack of formal training in agriculture, farmers do not know how to properly raise farm animals. This is problematic because these farmers are the foundation for growing crops that feed the nation. In an effort to combat this problem, the iCow app was made to help these farmers.

The app in itself is easy to use. After the initial registration, farmers type in information about their cows, such as their weight and calving dates. Once the farmers key in this information, the iCow app can give tailored advice about how to take care of their cows.

Not only does it give tailored information, but the iCow app also gives tips on breeding, animal nutrition and milk production. Farmers will benefit from the specific advice given to care for their cows as well as general advice that will assist them in the future.

The app also works like a calendar for cows. It keeps records about milking schedules and immunization dates. The app provides farmers with good veterinarians in the area for their cows.

Even though the app is called the iCow, this app is not exclusive to Apple products or smartphones. The iCow app is made to work for all mobile devices, so any farmer with a phone can use it.

As a result of its universality and wide availability, nearly 60,000 farmers in Tanzania and Ethiopia have registered to use the iCow app. These farmers are able to breed healthier animals that can be sold and produce food for the nation. These healthier animals are not only better for consumption, but they bring in more money for the farmers.

The iCow app is not only one of the many apps that help impoverished countries, it is an app that helps maintain healthier food security.

Food security is an issue that many impoverished countries face. Finding solutions to these problems is the key to helping raise countries out of poverty. Apps that help impoverished countries, like the iCow app, can change millions of lives. The iCow app aims to ensure that the citizens of impoverished countries are well fed.

– Daniel Borjas

Photo: Flickr

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Treating Cardiovascular Diseases in Impoverished Countries

Cardiovascular diseases cause a large number of deaths around the world. Unfortunately, treating cardiovascular diseases in impoverished countries can be difficult. In the African country Cameroon, there are only about 50 cardiologists for about 20 million people. The Cardiopad is an innovative technology that aims to alleviate this problem.

The location of doctors throughout Cameroon tends to disadvantage those who live in rural areas. In the villages around the suburbs, there are general practitioners who treat the villagers. A large number of these practitioners do not have a specialization, so they cannot do much beyond recommending patients go see a specialist if they believe they need one.

If a patient is experiencing chest pains or shows symptoms of a cardiovascular disease, they make an appointment to see a cardiologist in the city. Because there are so few cardiologists, it can take months before they are seen, and many will die before seeing a specialist.

Arthur Zang, the inventor of the Cardiopad, noticed this issue and set out to fix it. Zang understood that going to see a doctor from the Cameroon villages was difficult, so he invented a way to lessen the need to make a trip to the city. He created the Cardiopad, a tablet device with electrodes that can give a 97.5 percent accurate reading of the heart. Essentially, it is a mobile electrodiagram (ECG).

Although Zang provided general practitioners with the tools to perform a heart scan, they still do not have the proper training to interpret the scans themselves. The information gathered from the Cardiopad is actually sent to the national data center, and it is then received by the cardiologists in the city. Once the cardiologists receive the heart scan, they can interpret the results to see what kind of treatment is needed and can send treatment recommendations back to the general practitioner. The process that would ordinarily take many months can now be done within 20 minutes.

This is a phenomenal step forward for diagnosing and treating cardiovascular diseases in impoverished countries. Now, even in rural Cameroon, local practitioners can work with cardiologists and can properly diagnose and treat cardiovascular diseases.

Furthermore, the technology eases the economic burden of traveling and medical expenses for patients. The Cardiopad only costs $29 a year to use, compared to the staggering costs of going to see a specialist. In this way, the Cardiopad saves time and money for patients in need.

Treating cardiovascular diseases in impoverished countries has become much easier with the Cardiopad. It allows rural residents to get the proper diagnosis they may need in order to save their lives. The Cardiopad is being distributed in Cameroon, India, Gabon and Nepal, and more countries are sure to follow. The Cardiopad can potentially save millions of lives that would have been taken from cardiovascular diseases in impoverished countries.

– Daniel Borjas

Photo: Flickr

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How Technology is Helping Economies in Developing Countries

The Internet and other advances in communication technology have helped make the spreading of globalization even quicker. For developing countries, access to technology can have many benefits —  one such improvement being the boost of a nation’s economy. Other ways that technology is helping economies in developing countries include reducing the costs of production, encouraging the growth of new business and advancing communication.

An issue that developing countries must bypass is prioritizing technology innovation, not just adapting to technology. Another issue is that the distribution of technology needs to be equal across a country; so far the poor have not been able to have the same amount of access to technology. It is important for organizations to monitor technology and to encourage innovations and job creation in order to solve these issues.

One organization that works to do just that is Broadband for Good, a group that gives internet access to rural areas and encourages programs to utilize the technology in creating progress in communities.

When technology is used correctly it can be extremely helpful in furthering the prosperity of economies. One such example of technology creating a positive impact on the economy is in regard to India — the Self-Employed Women’s Association uses SMS to send agricultural workers messages about commodity prices. This information helps farmers determine the best places to sell their produce. Farmers who participated in this program have said that they have been able to sell their products over wider areas, which has increased their incomes.

Another example, also in India, is the Hand in Hand Partnership (HIHP). The HIHP is an organization that provides women with mobile devices so that they can launch their own tech-driven businesses. The HIHP helps train and provide technical support for these women. By encouraging women to innovate ideas instead of just giving them technology, HIHP is helping to better the economy in a sustainable and long-term way.

Other countries successful in creating businesses are Nigeria, Egypt and Indonesia. 38 percent of these countries’ gross domestic product (GDP) was generated by micro-entrepreneurs. In a 2011 World Bank report, figures showed that small businesses like these create new jobs and generate new ideas — both of which are great for helping economies.

– Deanna Wetmore

Photo: Flickr

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A Generous Generation: Millennials Give to Charity

Millennials Give to CharityGeneration Y, whose members are commonly referred to as “millennials,” is often considered to be the most selfish generation. However, the perceived narcissism of millennials is a simplified and inaccurate depiction of this age group. Recent data has proven something that older generations can’t seem to believe: millennials care about people other than themselves. In fact, many millennials give to charity.

According to the Millennial Impact Report, 75 percent of millennials donated to charity in 2011. That number increased to an impressive 84 percent in 2015. Seventy percent of millennials even help raise funds for their favorite causes.

If the charitable millennial still seems like an imaginary creature, consider Micaela Hill, a 22-year-old volunteer with AmeriCorps NCCC. At present, Hill is involved in disaster relief efforts in Texas. Two years ago, she did medical volunteer work in Guatemala. Needless to say, she resents the self-absorbed image bestowed on her and her fellow millennials. “I am currently surrounded by 300 charity-minded millennials,” Hill told The Borgen Project. “My friends have always been willing to help others.”

Conceding that millennials are engaged in charity work, is there anything to support the myth of the “narcissism epidemic” that supposedly plagues them? A study done by the University of Illinois’ psychology department determined that college-age individuals score the highest on Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) assessments. However, the research also explains that this phenomenon has little to do with generations and more to do with maturation. Young people today actually earn lower NPI scores than young people 20 years ago.

Indeed, millennials give to charity and they are doing so in modern and tech-savvy ways. An estimated 62 percent of millennials make charitable donations online. The Digital Age has led to the birth of fundraising websites like Indigogo and Kickstarter, which make donating fast and simple for proficient web-users. Eight percent of millennials give to charity through social media platforms, and 50 percent use their social media accounts to share information about charities and causes they believe in.

In Hill’s opinion, the Internet and social media contribute crucially to millennials’ awareness of global affairs. “Now everyone knows about [global issues] and can become aware of what they can do to help,” she says.

Most millennials report that when they give to charity, they want the opportunity to see the good their donation has done. This desire to make a visible change in the world is considered narcissistic according to the NPI test, but many millennials would argue it is admirably ambitious. Hill is one such individual.

“We all haven’t had the chance to enact the changes we want to see in the world yet, but we are now coming of age. Our time is coming.”

– Mary Efird

Photo: Flickr