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How Yoga Benefits the Poor in Africa

Yoga and Poverty Reduction
The health benefits, both physical and mental, of yoga are fairly well known. However, the ancient practice is now being used to benefit the poor. The Africa Yoga Project is using yoga as a means to improve the well-being of impoverished communities while also giving its members steady streams of income.

Founded in 2007 by long-time yoga instructor Paige Elenson, the group aims to instruct youth, most of whom come from some of the poorest areas in Kenya, in becoming yoga instructors.

As yoga instructors, these young people not only have a new means of income and economic empowerment, but they also become leaders in their community promoting healthy living. Eighty percent of Kenya’s unemployed population is made up of young people. Africa Yoga Project seeks to shrink that statistic.

“Some AYP teachers have moved from living in what they referred to as slums to new homes, starting families, supporting family members with school fees, and working on new income-generating projects,” Elenson says.

Applicants to the program must be 18 to 35 years old, they must be African, and according to Elenson, “be committed to becoming a yoga teacher and serving communities.”

Once accepted, teachers in training earn a stipend of $100 USD per month and are employed as private for-hire instructors by Africa Yoga Project upon completion of their 200-hour training. The project sends its teachers out to hospitals, orphanages, HIV centers and even jails.

Through the course of running the program, administrators found that some applicants did not end up enjoying teaching yoga or did not view it as a long-term career.

It is for this reason that the project is expanding its services to help instructors and applicants alike. Africa Yoga Project is now offering career counseling services and other mentorship opportunities within the communities it services. The project has proved so successful in Kenya, that it is expanding operations to South Africa, Uganda, and Rwanda.

– Joe Kitaj

Sources: Takepart, Africa Yoga Project
Photo: One

Ghana: A Poverty Success Story

ghanaWhile this may come as a shock, Ghana has recently been proclaimed a poverty alleviation success story. Sergiy Kulyk, the World Bank Country Coordinator for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, is certainly a credible source. He applauds the anti-poverty action that has taken place in Ghana, and plans for an even brighter future.

Through a carefully crafted recipe of World Bank support, social protection, and government intervention, Ghana has been able to overcome major economic and societal hurdles. It was the first in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of reducing poverty and hunger ahead of the 2015 deadline.

Kulyk originally recommended a reverse mission between the World Bank and Ghana under Ghana’s Social Protection program. This was the first of its kind in the history of the World Bank’s relations with Ghana. Its theme, “Safety nets in Ghana- Innovation and Successes,” helped guide anti-poverty action in the right direction.

Currently, the World Bank supports Social Protection interventions in Ghana through an $88.6 million Social Opportunities Project. Additionally, $50 million is financed for ongoing projects, making the Bank’s total contribution $138.6 million. In the future, the Bank will continue to help reverse Ghana’s poverty situation.

In terms of social protection, there are forty-four programs targeting extremely poor individuals, households, and entire communities in Ghana. For Ghana’s most vulnerable and severely marginalized, these mechanisms bring the social assistance and capacity enhancement needed to break out of poverty.

The government is currently working to ensure that the living conditions of Ghana’s poor population are improved through social intervention programs. Specifically, labor-intensive programs implemented across sixty districts will soon be scaled up in order to achieve the best poverty-reducing and livelihood-improving results.

In countries like Bangladesh, Mexico, and Ghana, regular cash and asset transfers to the poor have helped alleviate poverty by securing food needs and improving access to health and education. Additionally, small, regular income transfers enable the poor to make small investments — a hugely important step in poverty reduction.

It is important to note that while Ghana has successfully cut poverty in half, nine years from now approximately 6 million people will still live in poverty, with 2.2 million living in extreme poverty. Although this does not negate the significance of what has already been achieved, it is a crucial reminder of what is to come.

It is true that there is no perfect model for poverty alleviation. However, there are certainly key elements of focus that have consistently brought the most significant results. By adhering to this wide-reaching, gradually emerging poverty-fighting recipe, Ghana has made leaps and bounds in its poverty fight.

The most common poverty-fighting packages include some combination of microcredit financial aid, public works, training, agricultural extension services, financial literacy and links to credit units. In other African countries like Rwanda, childhood development and childcare services have become key areas of focus too.

Poverty is a complex issue that can be attacked from an infinite number of points. Depending on the time, place, and people involved, target areas fluctuate in terms of severity and significance. Still, at the most basic level, there is a lot to be learned from such success stories. Hopefully, Ghana’s model will spur more like its kind.

– Sarah Bernard

Sources: Graphic Online, allAfrica
Photo: Flickr

Poverty in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

poverty in abidjanUntil the 1990s, Côte d’Ivoire was West Africa’s most stable and prosperous country. Its capital, Abidjan, offered opportunity to domestic migrants and refuge to immigrants from Côte d’Ivoire’s war-torn neighbors. But even before Côte d’Ivoire descended into chaos in 1999, the Ivorian capital saw poverty spike as the economy began to falter. In the turbulent years since 1999, Abidjan has seen its poor population placed under ever greater economic pressure. With more than a third of Abidjan’s population living in slums, the situation for Abidjan’s poor remains dire even as calm is restored in Côte d’Ivoire.

After gaining its independence from France in 1960, Côte d’Ivoire quickly stood out as a paragon of good governance. With its economy boosted by cocoa and coffee exports, the country retained strong relations with the West (particularly the U.S.) and never flirted with socialism. Côte d’Ivoire’s capital, Abidjan, became the focal point of the country’s export-oriented economy and thus attracted migrants from around the country: its population tripled between 1965 and 1975. The city also attracted refugees who fled poverty and war in Côte d’Ivoire’s neighbors, with foreigners comprising about 20 percent of the Ivorian population in 1999. Abidjan’s residents made remarkably good livelihoods, with poverty rates in the city below 5 percent until the early 1990s.

This rosy scene began to deteriorate in 1986 when the economy entered a protracted recession. Economic conditions slid further in the 1990s as cocoa and coffee prices fell. By 2000, GNP per capita had fallen a third from its 1980 level. With the national economy in a tailspin, poverty in Abidjan and the nation spiked. According to MIT sources, the poor formed 20 percent of Abidjan’s population in 1995, up from under 5 percent two years prior. Abidjan’s poor suffered disproportionately in the late 1990s from cuts to foreign aid in response to government mismanagement. More recently, the poor have borne the brunt of the intermittent civil conflict that has engulfed the country since 1999. By the time national reconciliation efforts began bearing fruit in 2008, many Abidjan residents considered two daily meals a rare luxury, and school fees proved wholly unaffordable for many families.

As in many commercial hubs of developing nations, the poor of Abidjan live largely in slums. According to recent estimates, more than one-third of Abidjan’s population resides in slums, up from 13.8 percent in 1988. The slum population is just as cosmopolitan as the city as a whole, if not more so: as of 1994, only 40 percent of slum dwellers were born in Côte d’Ivoire – most slum dwellers were born in nearby West African states. But Abidjan’s slums offer none of the promise that these immigrants and domestic migrants alike sought. According to Ivorian government surveys, more than two-thirds of slum households reside in the slums for lack of means to live elsewhere.

Recent civil calm in Côte d’Ivoire should offer solace to the poor of Abidjan – at long last, their country is on the mend. But only time will tell if Côte d’Ivoire will ever regain its reputation as a beacon of prosperity in the world’s poorest region.

– Leo Zucker

Sources: Bureau National d’Etudes Techniques et de
Development, MIT IRIN News Global Edge-Michigan State University Abidjan US Embassy BBC BBC Skyscraper Cit
Photo: Needpix

Truwally and Mupaya on Overcoming Poverty in Africa

Poverty is defined as being in a state of having no money or goods. This definition reins true for so many people facing global poverty. In fact many people live on less than $1.25 a day. Among many things needed to get out of poverty a few personality traits that come in handy are the ability to be a self-starter, determination, and passion. Here are 2 individuals who have acquired just that. They have risen out of poverty in Africa and right in to success.

Andrew Mupuya

Store clerks usually ask: Will that be paper or plastic? However, in Uganda, that question is no longer asked.  Plastic bags have been banned. Who would have thought that when this ban was implemented in 2008, a 16 year old boy would shine a light on a new business venture involving paper? Incredible enough that 16 year old was Andrew Mupuya. At the time, Mupuya was living with his parents in poverty. His parents both lost their jobs and could no longer afford to support his basic needs, leaving him to care for himself. “I had to get to meet my basic needs by myself,” stated Mupuya. After the plastics ban, the young entrepreneur had an idea to support the increased need for paper bags. This idea spawned the company now called Youth Entrepreneurial Link Investments, the first registered paper company in Uganda. Mupuya raised and collected the 36,000 Ugandan shillings ($18) needed to start his new business.  From there on Mupuya and his team of 14 employees produced paper bags without the help of machines. The team assembles over 20,000 bags per week and supplies numerous companies around the country. From all of these efforts the young entrepreneur won the Anzisha Prize, awarded to African entrepreneurs. He has also been able to finish school and earn a bachelor’s degree in Commerce, as well as support his family.

Fomba Trawally

In 1989, a war broke out in Liberia forcing many citizens, including Fomba Trawally to flee to Gambia. Years passed by and Trawally decided to return home to restart a business he pursued before the war. “When the war took place people had to be displaced from another point to another point. So, in the process of that they don’t take their shoes and they walk with their bare feet. And the 200 I brought from Gambia I decided to invest in to slippers.” The business which began with Trawally selling footwear out of a wheel barrel morphed in to a company to be proud of. His new company, Kombu Beindu and Sons imports plastic, such as, diapers and cosmetics from countries around the world. These are eventually sent out to supply neighboring towns with goods. So far, Trawally has made over 600,000 dollars and is able to open 3 more stores. He never expected to rise out of poverty and become a wealthy business man. “My advice to other friends around the world, including Liberia, is that you should be encouraged and believe that you can do everything with 100 or 500.” These two entrepreneurs are proof that people can rise above poverty and end up in a better environment. – Amy Robinson Sources: CNN, African Leadership, CNN-2, BBC Photo: Osa’s Eye

Poverty in Africa

Poverty In Africa Smiling Hipster Children
Africa, the second largest continent in the world, is a land caught in the claws of poverty. The impoverished areas of Africa are generally located in rural settings. Seventy percent of Africans live in rural areas, relying on agriculture for food and livelihood. However, the situation in Africa has shown improvements in recent years. While improvements to the quality of life have been made, many areas still require extreme attention and work.

Many of Africa’s problems stem from a massive hunger and thirst epidemic; these vitals have been hard to come by for many years. Not only do the hunger and clean water problems still ravage the continent, the HIV/AIDS virus is also still prominent. In 2009, about two-thirds of the thirty-four million people living with the HIV virus resided in Africa.

Detailed above, there are several reasons why poverty has become an epidemic in Africa. A major reason is certainly the hunger problem. Despite its natural resources, Africa is the world’s poorest continent, and one-third of the population suffers from starvation. Despite the food shortage, programs and organizations worldwide are fighting to help balance out the hunger epidemic.

10 Facts about poverty in Africa.

Dan Church Aid, an organization founded to alleviate food shortages worldwide, is just one program among many that combats this problem. The Dan Church Aid has been especially active in Ethiopia. The organization has teamed up with local farmers throughout the country to educate them about the land and how to cultivate it themselves. The food shortage is not a problem that will be solved by outside aid; it must improve from within. Starting in Ethiopia, farmers will be taught how to use the expansive natural resources the African land offers to produce food. The food epidemic is far from over, but with programs teaching farmers across the continent how to cultivate their own land, progress can be assured, slowly perhaps but certainly steadily.

Another cause of African poverty is water shortage. The Water Project has been working in Africa for years, building wells, rehabilitating wells, catching rain water, protecting springs, and building dams. In the communities where these projects have been established, progress is seen almost immediately. Having a fresh source of water is crucial to survival. One in nearly five deaths of children under five years, comes from a lack of sanitary water. Programs such as The Water Project are doing what they can to help reverse this trend, and with a steady flow of outside aid, the African people will have more fresh water.

While food and water are certainly vital components to life, the HIV virus has certainly added to the African poverty epidemic. However, the trends towards preventing this disease from widespread infection have been made. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has been hard at work in African countries, doing all it can to prevent the spread.

Every day, one thousand children are infected with the disease, and only 23 percent are receiving proper care. However, by reducing mother-child transmission, limiting the spread to new-born children and adolescents, and providing worldwide treatments, UNICEF has assisted in a 15 percent reduction in new infections, and a 22 percent decline in AIDS related deaths.

Poverty in Africa comes from several fronts; disease, food, and water tell only part of the story. However, every day progress is being made somewhere. Africa’s poverty is widespread, but certainly not incurable. Beneficial programs are fighting worldwide to reverse the fortunes of the citizens of Africa.

– Zachary Wright

Sources: UNICEF, Dan Church Aid, Rural Poverty Portal, The Water Project
Photo: Brett Beadle