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5 Ways to Make Your Workout Fight Poverty

Workout_Fight_Poverty
We all know working out is good for us. It makes you feel good and improves your health. But what if your workout could fight poverty as well? Sound too good to be true? It’s not! Here are 5 ways that you can help end poverty with your workout:

1) Charity Miles: This free app will track how many miles you run, walk, or bike and sponsor your efforts. For every mile you run or walk, they’ll donate a quarter, while a mile biking translates to a dime for charity. When you’re done with your workout, you share your success on a social media site and they send the money to a charity of your choice!

2) Run For Charity: This website will help you find a charity to run for. Charity runners use their training and hard work to raise money for the charity of their choice. Charities are extremely supportive of their runners, providing help with registration, training, and fundraising. Some will even have race day events for their runners. This is a great opportunity for runners to put all those miles to good use.

3) Plus 3 Network: This network was created by four guys who wanted to encourage people to get out and ride their bikes more. It has since grown to include all forms of exercise, which you can log on their website. You earn money for charity by logging your activity, so you feel even better about that yoga class or walk around the block.

4) Eco-Friendly Workout Gear: You show yourself some love by working out and staying healthy. Show the earth some love, too, by purchasing eco-friendly workout gear. Be sure to buy your shoes, socks, and clothing from eco-friendly companies like Montrail (shoes), Teko (socks), or Patagonia (clothing). Using reusable water bottles will keep plastic ones out of landfills and save you money. You can also look for secondhand fitness supplies, like weights, treadmills, and exercise balls to cut down on waste.

5) Donate Your Old Workout Gear: That fitness equipment that you just don’t use anymore could help someone else lead a healthier life. You can donate old sports balls, shoes, cleats, and the like to Sports Gifts, which redistributes old workout gear to underprivileged kids. Old tennis balls can go to Rebounces, which restores them and resells them as practice balls, saving space in our landfills. Your old orthotics that helped you get back to the activities you love can be given to Rebounces’ philanthropic organization, Joni and Friends. The nonprofit will give the equipment to disabled or injured people in the developing world.

– Katie Fullerton

Sources: Charity Miles, Plus 3 Network, SparkPeople, Oprah
Photo: DX Foundation

Toy Philanthropist Invents a Super Truck for Africa

truckPoor infrastructure is one of the chronic issues in African countries. Power grids, water supply, and gas lines are often unreliable or non-existent. Of all these, however, perhaps the most basic and necessary are roads—the foundation of trade and thus economic growth. Yet despite their great importance, roads in Africa are usually difficult to traverse, dangerous, or outright unusable.

To Sir Torquil Norman, an 80-year-old toy entrepreneur in the UK, this problem has an easy solution: when roads are bad, just get better vehicles. The long-time philanthropist, who is the creator behind toy sensations like Polly Pockets and Yellow Teapot Dollhouses, recently turned his attention to inventing a cheap vehicle that could provide reliable transportation in the world’s least developed areas, like Africa.

The OX, a 1.5-ton all-terrain truck, is his answer. Designed to withstand potholes and dirt roads, the oddly toy-like truck is an impressive feat of engineering. Six OX’s can pack into a standard vehicle shipment (which usually holds only two) and each one takes three men eleven hours to assemble. Norman has tailored every aspect of the truck for rough terrain, heavy loads, and cheap repair—like interchangeable doors, seats that become ramps, and an engine that doubles as a generator.

Norman’s claim is that the OX, unlike its flat-bed counterparts, uniquely fits a market niche undiscovered by major car manufacturers. While the wealthiest parts of the world demand increasingly heavier and more expensive trucks, he claims that the developing world craves a cheap, lightweight, and durable transport vehicle—an unmet demand that not only offers a lucrative opportunity, but also a philanthropic one.

“A village with an OX would suddenly be independent and could conceivably prevent its young people being forced to move to some terrible slum in a huge city,” Norman says. “I think we might just have the tiger by the tail. It seems to me we may be opening a door to making a lot of people’s lives better.”

– John Mahon 

Sources: The Independent, Devex, Global Vehicle Trust
Photo: Needpix

USAID Gives Contracts to Louis-Berger Group

USAID Gives Contracts to Louis-Berger Group
The United States Foreign Aid budget recently contracted several development projects to the Louis-Berger Group, Inc (LBG).  The contracts, which will continue for the next three to five years, will provide logistical support, aid in information technology and clean energy, and help with legal reforms in conflict-prone areas in the Philippines.

Providing logistical and especially legal support is important, especially for the autonomous region in the Muslim Mindanao. LBG previously did work in the area and saw growth in economic activity, business development, and better governance practices as a result.

The Louis-Berger group, founded in 1953, has worked in over 70 developing countries since its beginning in 1959. It is a privately-owned company that specializes in work in the following areas: buildings and facilities, development economics, energy, environment, public administration, reconstruction and recovery, transportation, and water.

Afghanistan is one of the areas in which this company is heavily involved. In the Helmand province, Louis-Berger helped rehabilitate two turbines and generators at the Kajakai power plant.  With LBG’s help, the all-Afghani run plant now supplies sufficient power for both Helmand and Kandahar provinces.

Louis-Berger has over 30 U.S. Federal agencies as clients, including the Departments of Defense, Transportation, and Energy. It not only works inside the U.S., but also has client relationships with other countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. It purports its goal is to ‘work its way out of a job’ by emphasizing local development and sustainability. This, hopefully, will be the case for the Philippines in these new contracts funded by USAID.

– Aysha Rasool
Feature Writer

Source: PR Web

$24 Million Invested in Flexenclosure to Reduce Poverty

$24 Million Invested in Flexenclosure to Reduce Poverty
Flexenclosure received $24 million from investors such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to help in their efforts to reduce poverty. Based in Sweden, the company manufactures modular data centers and corresponding power infrastructure for rural communities where construction is often difficult.  The data centers give telecommunication companies the ability to expand into emerging markets previously unavailable to them.  The expansion provides individuals in rural areas of Asia and Africa access to communication via cell phone.

The unit Flexenclosure produces houses all the telecom data and equipment is a low cost and is energy efficient. The on-site power system that runs the unity supports wireless towers with the wind, solar, and battery power. When those sources are unavailable, the unit can also run on diesel power. The power site also provides power for mobile phones, water pumps, and schools. The software manages the power for various uses and applications.

Currently, the majority of cellular base stations in emerging markets run on diesel generators for power supply which raises costs associated with the stations. Flexenclosure’s innovation power sources will help to reduce the costs and spread mobile technology further. IFC is the private equity arm of the World Bank and is supportive of Flexenclosure’s growth strategy and production methods.

A recent report on sustainable energy further supported Flexenclosure’s product. The report, Sustainable Energy for All, monitors universal access to modern energy as well as energy efficiency and renewable energy. The report finds only modest progress is being made since the report first started in 1990. Demand continues to outpace the supply of electricity and new supplies need to be affordable, sustainable, and efficient. Flexenclosure is working to create energy that follows those three standards and reduces the information gap between the rich and the poor.

– Amanda Kloeppel
Source: Sustainable Business News

Frontiers in Development

Frontiers in Development

“Frontiers in Development is designed to encourage forward-looking, provocative discussion and debate and to strengthen the analysis, design, and implementation of development programs.” – Rajiv Shah (Administrator) & Steven Radelet (Chief Economist), U.S. Agency for International Development, May 2012

In international development, there have been 60 years of dedicated experience in frontiers. The milestones set out before us by the UN’s Millenium Development Goals have shown the development community that more can be accomplished than the skeptics would have us believe. However, several of the goals have fallen far short of their targets. Both successes and failures shed light on the efficacy of the current development models, techniques, and technology. As the world changes, international development must change too.

“Frontiers in Development” is a USAID initiative with both private and public partners aimed at monitoring and evaluating the efficacy of international development projects. The project aims at drawing on the best and brightest to create a new model for achieving development. As USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah stated, “Never before have we had the opportunity to achieve so much together in global development.” Shah noted that the opportunity relies on using a new partnership model, including a larger slice of American society, and utilizing cutting edge technology.

The USAID e-book “Frontiers in Development” details the approaches, innovative models, new technology, and approaches suggested by the ongoing dialogue between practitioners, recipients and academics of international development. In 265 pages, the book details international development in four sections: Democracy and Security, Pressure on the Planet, Technology and Service Delivery, and Development Assistance in a Changing World.

The new partnership model alluded to in Shah’s opening speech involves a heavier reliance on local partners, as well as a stronger partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Hewlett Foundation and MacArthur Foundation. Furthermore, the involvement of a number of high-ranking global politicians will broaden the base of knowledge. The cutting edge technology involves taking risks and trying out new concepts, processes, and devices. Most importantly, the purpose of the initiative is to determine how to better deliver results.

– Katherine Zobre

Sources: USAID , USAID eBook

The 21st Century Global Health Technology Act

global-health-technology-act
The Global Health Technology Act amends the Health Technologies Program of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 under which the US Agency for International Development supports the development of technologies for global health and other purposes. The bill entered the house committee on Foreign Affairs on April 11, 2013 and was introduced by Congressmen Diaz-Balart of Florida.

The bill describes the importance of research and development in global health and explains how research and development on global health technology help break the cycle of dependency by creating sustainable solutions to long-term problems. The bill describes the progress and advances investments in global health have created. It details that funding global health technology today will save the United States a great deal of money in the long run, as well as how overall, the bill and global health technology can greatly benefit the US in terms of an inflated economy and increased national security.

The purpose of the act is to acknowledge USAID’s role in product development, introduction and up-scale of new global health tools and to authorize USAID’s Health Technologies program to improve global health, reduce maternal, newborn and child mortality rates, lower the incidence of HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases, overcome technical, supply and policy hurdles to product introduction and scale-up, and to support research and development.

The creators of the bill would like to see the introduction of a new Health Technologies Program, which would function as a part of USAID. The program would be aimed at developing, advancing and introducing affordable, available, and appropriate late-stage technologies to the problems listed in the previous paragraph. Additionally, the bill codifies an agreement with USAID for support of the development of technologies for global health.

The act calls for Action Plans to incorporate global health research and development programs with support from coordinating agencies that establish metrics to measure progress. It also calls for Priority Global Health Interventions in order to accelerate the innovation and impact of USAID. The Global Health and Technology Act charges USAID to submit an annual report summarizing yearly research and development activities as well as submit to annual consultation with heads of other Federal agencies to improve alignment of USAID’s health-related research strategy with similar agencies.

-Caitlin Zusy
Source: GovTrack
Photo: Global Health Technologies Coalition

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USAID and Qualcomm Expand Relationship

cell_phone
USAID and Qualcomm announced a formal agreement to work to expand global technology and increase collaborative efforts in development.  Qualcomm, a San-Diego based telecommunications company, has been working with USAID in recent years to improve access to technology in developing countries. The formal agreement will give Qualcomm’s Wireless Reach Division the ability to carry out projects.

Those that have already benefited from USAID and Qualcomm’s projects are fishermen in Brazil, police officers in El Salvador, and health workers in the Philippines.  In Brazil, the joint project provided small-scale fisherman with mobile devices and applications to connect with buyers, track sales, and get weather updates. Qualcomm was able to equip police in high-crime neighborhoods in El Salvador with smart phones that allowed them to connect to a database to work to reduce crime. Collaboration in the Philippines helped rural health clinics establish electronic records.

USAID commended Qualcomm for being an innovative, nimble, and strategic global technology leader.  USAID and Qualcomm share a vision of how to address the challenges in the developing world. Among the current goals of the formal agreement are to close the mobile phone gender gap, expand access to broadband, reduce the negative effects of climate change, and connect small farmers to market data.  Projects in Africa and Asia are the top priority and future consideration will be given to other areas including Latin America.

The future of technology in developing nations is changing quickly and this is just more step in the right direction.

– Amanda Kloeppel

Source: UT San Diego
Photo: CIAT News

Early Warning Systems are Not Just for Earthquakes

Early Warning Systems are Not Just for Earthquakes
When political crises happen or human rights are being destroyed, the use of smart phones and other technology to spread the word is critical. What about when natural disasters strike? When a family has minutes to evacuate before a tsunami wipes out their village, do they take a picture or tweet about it? No. But the World Health Organization, in cooperation with national and local governments, and by demand of citizens in crisis and an outcry for better preventative measures, is working on building better early warning systems for post-disaster epidemics. The technology? A boat, a bike, your boots. Also needed: a pencil, paper, and your determination.

Recently in the Solomon Islands the immense destructive forces of the 6 February 2013 8.0 magnitude earthquake and pursuant 3m tsunami left thousands of people without homes and brought down the health care system.

The Solomon Islands consist of 1,000 islands off the South Pacific and are home to 550,000 people. The destructive power of the February earthquake left thousands vulnerable to diseases due to the broken health care system. 5500 residents required temporary living shelters. These shelters are often plagued by poor sanitation due to lack of resources and cramped living quarters. Poor sanitation leads to a plethora of preventable diseases—most of which associated with diarrhea.

Taking a queue from the early warning systems set up to warn of impending natural disaster, the World Health Organization worked with the Ministry of Health of the Solomon Islands to set up an early warning system to identify outbreaks, unusual outbreak patterns, and the number of people affected. This is a critical step towards disaster recovery and decreasing the vulnerability of those affected.

Developing the surveillance system presented logistical challenges of connecting vulnerable people to health clinics. Five clinics were set up around Santa Cruz, the main island that was affected. The head nurses, “doubled as boat captains,” connected patients to clinics. Traveling from surveillance sites to the clinics is risky. Poor weather, no lights on the boats, dangerous landing sites and navigational skill are all impediments to the surveillance system. For Solomon Islanders, these risks are necessarily overcome because full coverage is absolutely necessary for the system to work.

The WHO works with the clinics to make sure all the information necessary to identifying and preventing large-scale outbreaks is included in an accessible way. The successful system, now fully functional, has collected data, identified risky areas, and has quickly responded to problems.

The WHO initiative in the Solomon Islands is not unique and neither is their geography. There are 52 developing island nations in the world. These nations carry a disproportionate risk imposed by earthquakes and tsunamis and break down of health systems. Early warning health systems are a part of a larger global strategy to minimize post-natural disaster vulnerability. The WHO works with governments to create a Global Risk and Response system. The main activities include working with governments to set up early warning systems and develop laboratory capacities to handle large amounts of biological material—all of which requires bio-security to keep potential diseases from escaping. Training for and building response strategy plans is also a main function of the WHO’s Global Alert and Response (GAR) system. Seasonally, the GAR supports governments in climate related disease preparedness and creates standardized approaches to climate related diseases such as influenza and malaria.

– Katherine Zobre

Sources: Wikipedia, WHO , WHO

How to Build a Telecentre

How to Build a TelecentrePLANWEL is an NGO in Pakistan that is short for Planning Professionals for Social Welfare Works. It was founded in 1990 by a group of local technology and business experts for the purpose of promoting basic computer literacy, information sharing, health care, e-government, e-commerce, and e-learning through telecentres, or what they call community access points. Telecentres are public places that provide access to Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) which help promote development for populations who otherwise would not have such access.

In the past 20 years or so, PlanWel has collaborated with several foreign entities such as Utah State University, Kansas State University, American Distance Learning Consortium, International Telecommunication Union, USAID, and World View Foundation – Malaysia. To date, PlanWel has contributed to the formation of over 400 telecentres all over Pakistan. PlanWel’s mission statement is, “Bringing Technology to the People, Building Technology Based Communities, and Technology for the People and Run by the People”. PlanWel is one of the many examples of telecentre programs that are working to improve lives by providing access to ICTs.

Generally, telecentres are located in rural areas of the developing world. According to the Telecentre.org Foundation, there are over 87,513 telecentres in over 53 countries. In this interview, the PlanWel CEO, Shahab Afroz Khan, talks about how to build a telecentre.

What do the telecentres look like?

“In fact, they are not at all fancy. In a rural setting, it would be a one-room to two-room building with some space for housing 5-10 PCs’s at the maximum, one Printer, Scanner, Fax Machine. Internet connectivity through Fiber lines – DSL (In Pakistan we have a very well connected Fiber Optic network). For power, if it’s not on the National Grid, we have it by solar energy. One teacher would teach the students – Typically he is the Owner/ Manager, who would earn his living through this.

The only missing element – AND most important is content in the local language – which we are still looking for and working on.”

What advice would you give on how to build a telecentre community?

“First of all, motivate the community and tell them what they are missing: Information about business, citizen’s information, money transactions, sharing of information, and computer literacy. Once they are convinced that there is a need to open up a telecentre, they need to try and get some type of support from important local people, such as a landlord, local government representative, and the like. This is important because, in many countries like in Pakistan, you must have local support.

It is also absolutely necessary to have your own building – one room of 14ft X 10ft would be sufficient. You cannot run a telecentre on rented space. Next, locate some donors to give you the hardware – this is the easiest part as the donor would like his name to be advertised – which you can do with some caution.”

– Maria Caluag

Source: PLANWEL, Telecentre.org
Photo: LawaOnline

Iqbal Quadir’s TED Talk: Mobiles Fight Poverty

Iqbal Quadir is an advocate of business as a humanitarian tool. With GrameenPhone, he brought the first commercial telecom services to poor areas of Bangladesh. Partnering with microcredit pioneer GrameenBank in 1997, Quadir established GrameenPhone, a wireless operator that provides phone services to 80 million rural Bangladeshi. The company has become the standard for a bottom-up, tech-empowered approach to development.

In his TED Talk, he first questioned the way that rich counties sent aid to poor countries to fight poverty. And also, even though he did not find much evidence to support the idea that connectivity can really increase productivity, he presented research done by the International Telecommunication Union showing the positive effects it has. The impact of one new telephone to richer countries’ GDP is very little, however, one new telephone has a huge impact on the GDP of poorer countries.

“Mobiles have a triple impact,” Quadir says. “They provide business opportunities; connect the village to the world; and generate over time a culture of entrepreneurship, which is crucial for any economic development.”

– Caiqing Jin(Kelly)

Source: TED Talk