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CARE: Cooperative Efforts to Take Down Poverty

CARE to take down poverty
In 1945, twenty-two separate American charities decided they could accomplish more good by working together. They combined to become CARE, a network of humanitarian organizations providing relief to war-torn Europe. Originally named the Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe, they delivered millions of CARE packages across Europe, believing that poverty was the result of a lack of basic goods, services and healthcare.

With the need for war relief in Europe drawing down, CARE began shifting its focus to the developing world, where poverty, conflict, famine and natural disasters rendered their relief efforts invaluable. But their regions of focus are not all that changed; as the organization grew, they expanded their understanding of poverty and its causes to include the view that social exclusion, discrimination, and the absence of rights and opportunities often cause poverty.

By the early 1990s, the meaning behind the organization’s acronym was updated to “Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere”. And by 2007, more than six years of experience caused CARE to adjust its mission again to include a focus on gender equality, realizing that empowered women are the key to lifting families out of poverty.

CARE is now one of the oldest and largest global poverty aid organizations in the world, with 14 member organizations working in 84 countries supporting 997 poverty-fighting development and humanitarian aid projects. CARE Australia, CARE Canada, CARE Denmark, CARE Deutschland-Luxembourg, CARE France, CARE International Japan, CARE Nederland, CARE Norge, CARE Österreich, CARE Thai Foundation, CARE International UK, CARE USA and two affiliate members CARE India and CARE Peru, work together to defend the dignity and fight poverty by strengthening communities’ capacity for self-help, providing economic and educational opportunities, delivering relief in emergencies, safeguarding health for mothers and families, enhancing water access, influencing policy decisions at all levels, and addressing discrimination in all its forms.

By dealing with the causes of poverty, CARE helps people to become self-sufficient, thereby promoting permanent change. Their mission is to help build a world where poverty has been eradicated and people can live in dignity and security. CARE truly is a global force in the movement to end poverty.

– Dana Johnson

Source: CARE,CARE International
Photo: npr

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The Evolution of the Millennium Development Goals

millenium-development-goals-end-poverty
With the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals set at the end of this year, the final results will be mixed. Some targets have been met, while others have fallen short. Regardless, having the development goals in place has undoubtedly led to tangible progress on all fronts.

A U.N. panel, co-chaired by British prime minister David Cameron and the presidents of Indonesia and Liberia, last week released a report outlining a set of new goals with a target of the year 2030. These goals are based on the original Millennium Development Goals, and are listed as follows:

  1. End poverty
  2. Empower girls and women and achieve gender equality
  3. Provide quality education and lifelong learning
  4. Ensure healthy lives
  5. Ensure food security and good nutrition
  6. Achieve universal access to water and sanitation
  7. Secure sustainable energy
  8. Create jobs, sustainable livelihoods, and equitable growth
  9. Manage natural resource assets sustainably
  10. Ensure good governance and effective institutions
  11. Ensure stable and peaceful societies
  12. Create a global enabling environment and catalyze long term finance

There are certain ‘absolute’ goals, including the elimination of poverty and universal access to water and sanitation. With the previous target of halving extreme poverty successfully reached ahead of schedule, the goal now is to eliminate that remaining 20% of the world living below the line.

One conspicuous absence from the goals is a specific commitment to addressing economic inequality. Even as extreme poverty is being reduced globally, the gap between the richest and poorest citizens of the world is widening. Consumption by the lowest billion amounts to 1% of global figures, while the richest billion account for 72%. With this gap constantly widening, it’s doubtful whether goals to eliminate poverty can ever truly be met. Wealth redistribution would an effective tool at addressing the poorest parts of society.

These revised development goals will be presented by the panel at the U.N. General Assembly in September, with the intention of agreeing on a clear yet ambitious framework and allowing time for its implementation by the beginning of 2016.

– David Wilson

Source: The Guardian,UN

What Comes After the Millennium Goals

BetterWorld

What comes after the Millennium Development Goals? In the UN High Level Panel held recently, an agenda was set to cover the process that will take place after the UN Development Goals come to an end in 2015. The three key points in the agenda included: women/gender equality, the role of the private sector, and global partnerships and governance.

With regards to women and gender equality, the main objective centered on raising women’s status. Henriette Kolb states, “Women constitute the majority of the world’s poor, but they also reinvest 90% of their income into their families.” It was highlighted that the financial independence of women is crucial to their well-being because it allows them to leave abusive and violent households/relationships. As for the private sector, the panel emphasized that private sectors are responsible for almost 90% of jobs in developing countries. Thus, it is important for corporations to be a part of global partnerships in order to address large-scale complex challenges quickly and efficiently. On a different note, the panel asserted that the private sector must be held more accountable for labor and environmental standards, gender equality, and governance in order to assure true sustainable development.

When it comes to global partnerships and governance, Kolb asserts, “developed economies need to be more serious about designing a robust international financing framework.” There must be a commitment to addressing climate change and a reform to tax and trade policies. It cannot be that only aid organizations and communities are aware of the UN Development Goals, pressuring their governments and holding them accountable for cooperation and contribution. Instead, the global community as a whole, including people living in developed countries, must come together in order to achieve the desired sustainable development.

With technology advancements  today, it is easy to reach people all over the global community. Thus, in Kolb’s words,”Let’s not wait until 2015 to get started…let’s start now with dreaming big and acting fast.” The cooperation and participation of all governments equally is needed today to end global poverty and reach the ultimate goal of another world with sustainable development.

–Leen Abdallah

 

Source: Huffington Post
Photo: Climate Stewards

History of the UNFPA

History of the UNFPA
The UNFPA was originally introduced as the UN Fund for Population Activities. The fund began as a trust fund in July of 1967. Its administration was entrusted to the United Nations Development Program.  In 1972 the program was placed under the General Assembly’s authority and the UNDP Governing Council was named as its governing body. In 1987, the name was changed to the United Nations Population Fund.

The UNFPA has a unique role within the UN system. It is responsible for addressing population and development issues. They emphasize reproductive health and gender equality. Much of the fund’s construction stems from the ICPD Programme of Action as well as the Millennium Development Goals. The fund receives policy guidance from the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council, also known as ECOSOC. The fund works closely with other developmental organizations such as the WHO, UNICEF, UNDP, and UNAIDS.

The UNFPA touts five main goals: achieving universal access to sexual and reproductive health, promoting reproductive rights, reducing maternal mortality, and accelerating progress on the ICPD agenda and MGD’s. Additionally, they advocate for human rights and gender equality. The UNFPA helps governments conduct countrywide censuses, population and development-related research, and analysis on topics such as migration, aging, climate change, and urbanization.

The UNFPA works with governments, other UN agencies, local communities, NGOs, foundations, and the private sector to raise awareness and mobilize support and resources to achieve its mission. In 2007, the UNFPA decentralized its operations and became a more field centered, efficient and strategic partner, executing real and important work on the ground.

In 2011, the UNFPA restructured again. The center of their plan was based on advancing the right to sexual and reproductive health by accelerating progress towards the MGD aimed at improving maternal health. They have recently placed their emphasis on reducing maternal deaths and achieving universal access to reproductive health, including family planning and access to family planning methods for women.  At this time, the UNFPA is striving to improve the lives of underserved populations, especially women and young people. They are working towards this through their expertise in population dynamics, human rights, and gender equality.

– Caitlin Zusy 

Source UNFPA

Gender Inequality Runs Rampant in India

Gender Inequality Runs Rampant in India

In New Delhi, there are 13 times more toilets for men than there are for women. Specifically, there are 3,712 male public toilets, and a mere 269 female toilets. Women sometimes must resort to defecating in the open, which besides the obvious privacy violation, poses a significant risk of rape and violence.

Public Toilets in New Delhi are just one example of discrimination against women in India; it starts before women are even born, and continues throughout their entire life. Girls can be perceived as a financial burden in parts of India, as a result of their limited income opportunities and costly dowries; 500,000 Indian girls have died as a result of pre-natal sex selection and infanticide over the last 20 years.

If a bride can’t fulfill her dowry, she faces the risk of torture and death at the hands of her in-laws. In 2005, nearly 7,000 Indian women were killed for being unable to meet the financial requirements of their dowries, some of them as young as 15 years old.

Indian women are humiliated, abused, and killed every day. Before they are even born, their opportunities and experiences are decided for them. They will face violence and inequality at almost every turn; and even something as simple as access to public restrooms is not guaranteed for them.

There are ways to encourage gender equality in India, though they may be easier said than done. Laws that discriminate against women need to be amended; girls need to be educated to level the intellectual playing field, and India’s practice of perceiving men above women, needs to be addressed for change to last.

– Dana Johnson

Sources: Trust, Advocates for Youth, Brookings
Photo: Asia News


Olivia Wilde and the Half the Sky Movement

Olivia Wilde and the Half the Sky MovementActress, Olivia Wilde grew to fame for her role on one of the world’s most-watched television shows, House. However, she is also known for her role as a humanitarian. She has worked in Haiti, as well as produced her own documentary highlighting crises in various developing countries. She seamlessly transitions herself between the glamour of Hollywood to nonprofit work in the developing world.

Wilde recently participated in a PBS documentary and movement known as Half the Sky. Half the Sky is a movement aimed at igniting the change necessary to eliminate the oppression of women and girls worldwide. The Half the Sky movement was started by Nickolas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Kristof and WuDunn wrote a book by the same name, which focused on turning oppression into an opportunity for women worldwide.

The movement uses videos, websites, games, and educational tools to spread awareness of women’s issues as well as to help create solutions to empower women. The video series is a four-hour series broadcast on PBS and other international channels. It was shot in ten countries and includes several celebrities such as Olivia Wilde, America Ferrara, Meg Ryan, and Gabrielle Union. The series displays portraits of women and girls living in some of the worst conditions imaginable, yet fighting to improve and change them.

Wilde appears on the second night of the series. She traveled to the Umoja Women’s Village in Kenya where the women of Umoja make beautiful handmade beaded items. The women in the village depend on the sale of their beaded items to support themselves and their families. The profits fund community projects selected by the women including scholarships for young girls, teacher’s salaries, lunches for preschoolers, and a freshwater and health care project.

Wilde also traveled to visit Jamii Bora. Jamii Bora is a micro-financing organization providing small loans to women in extreme poverty to start their own small businesses.  The organization has an incredible success rate, helping women escape poverty and establish themselves independently.

The series hopes to raise global awareness of extreme poverty and hopes to educate and empower women worldwide to help each other out of poverty. The movement spreads a strong message of hope and progress.

– Caitlin Zusy
Source: Half the Sky

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UNICEF’s Global Education First Initiative

UNICEF's Global Education First Initiative
Josephine Bourne is the Associate Director of UNICEF. She sat down for an interview with the Inter Press Service to give her thoughts on the upcoming meetings to be held in Washington D.C. on the Global Education First Initiative.

The meetings will bring together Ministers in Finance from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, South Sudan, Yemen, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Bangladesh. The topic of conversation will focus on sustainable solutions between the private sector and civil society organizations. The meetings will center around the importance of education on the global economy.

Bourne believes that the initiative will provide an increased pressure for political commitment in the field of education.  She stated that UNICEF would like to continue to work towards ensuring education for the most vulnerable children, particularly girls, with disabilities as well as children living in conflict territories.

When Bourne was asked if there was one thing in particular that greatly diminished a child’s opportunity to obtain an education, she bluntly stated that being born into poverty as a girl in a rural area is a huge disadvantage. The longer a girl is able to attend school, the fewer children she will have – an incredibly important factor in poverty reduction.

Around the world, girls who have seven years of education have 2.2 fewer children than those that do not. When those girls have children, those children will be healthier and better educated, helping to lower the poverty percentage in their given communities. Bourne believes that this environment leads to economic growth, more female leaders, and more sustainable development.

In the interview, Bourne was also asked about gender equality and education. She said that girls from disadvantaged groups are oftentimes the most marginalized because of the special risks that could take them out of school. She believes that there is serious inequity in schools around the world.

Women’s education and empowerment have been a popular theme in the media lately with the recent release of the documentary “Girl Rising”. While this is a very positive thing, Bourne was quick to note, however, that the increased media attention to gender and education inequality, as well as the empowerment that comes with it are not enough to bring about social change. In her opinion, in order to create lasting change, we need the complete commitment of all duty bearers; from organizations such as UNICEF and the UN to parents and communities; to be involved in the promotion of the human right of education for all children around the world.

– Caitlin Zusy

Source: Inter Press Service
Photo: UNESCO

Afghan Women Cycle for Equality

Afghan Women Cycle for EqualityThe Afghan women cycle for equality. Although women throughout Afghanistan are rarely permitted to even drive cars, a group of Afghan females has been changing minds by riding bikes. The Afghan National Cycling Team, led by 16-year-old Salma Kakar, hopes to be the face of a new phenomenon in the country – more women riding bikes, and possibly even representing their country in the Olympic games.

A nonprofit started by U.S. cyclist Shannon Galpin, called Mountain2Mountain, helped give the team their initial bikes and other gear to get them started. Galpin, no stranger to Afghanistan herself, was involved in volunteer work in the country and during her time there had a chance to cycle throughout Afghanistan’s mountain trails.

Despite aid from Galpin and support from team coach Abdul Seddiqi, the women still face immense hurdles. Afghan men still hold the belief that women do not have a place in society outside of the home, and for this reason, the riders are often heckled and have even received death threats. Although the women cover their heads, wear long pants and sleeves when they ride, Seddiqi usually has them train in secret to avoid any danger.

Salma maintains that despite what many Afghan men may think, a few have actually shown support and Salma is confident that their cycling team will be able to create lasting change, with cycling being just the beginning of the road to Afghan women achieving new freedoms.

Galpin hopes that not only will the bicycles be a vehicle for the women to get around, but also a “vehicle for social change.”

– Christina Kindlon

Source: NBC News