from All Africa
Speeking at a university that specialises in science. A former director at the World Bank says technology can help pull Africa out of poverty. - Kale
Abuja, - Former Minister of Finance and Managing Director, World Bank, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has attributed the poverty plaguing many countries in Africa to lack of science and technology base to solve their problems through innovations.
Okonjo-Iweala who spoke in Abuja at the end of the board meeting of the African University of Science and Technology (AUST) noted that countries that have innovations have been able to use that to solve their problems.
She posited that innovations could lift the people of the continent out of poverty
"Science and Technology is the future of Africa. If you look everywhere, countries that have managed to make a leap have depended on having innovation and applying that innovation to solve their problems. One of the most serious things that have kept us in poverty is the lack of science and technology base- lack of excellence in our work".
"For the first time, it has been decided by all these international supporters and the diaspora of Africa, professors have come together to say we have to put forward this to create a base for our young people to solve this problem and have innovations that can lift us out of poverty".
"It is innovation that led people to discover applications for the computers, it's innovation that led to green revolutions, it's innovation that has led to so many things that have lifted so many people out of poverty," she said.
The institution which is part of the larger Abuja Technology Village was established by the Nelson Mandela Institution in 2007 as the first Pan-African Network of Institutes of Science and Technology and Centres of Excellence located across the continent. It is being funded by the World Bank Group, amongst other development institutions.
AUST has developed extensive links with the African scientific Diaspora and is able to count on substantial pool of scientists and engineers teaching and conducting research in the best universities across the world.
Strong partnerships have already been established with the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in Cape Town and with Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT) and with the AIST affiliate centre- the International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Could microcredit work in Singapore
from the Electric New Paper Singapore
This article explores if microcredit could work in Singapore. A conference is happening there now to introduce the country to the idea. - Kale
IT has scored some stunning successes in developing countries such as Bangladesh, China and Indonesia.
Microcredit, which gives small loans to the poor, has helped them and the illiterate escape the poverty cycle. It gives them much-needed access to credit to set up their own businesses.
The Asia-Pacific Regional Microcredit Summit ends today.
Can microcredit work in first-world Singapore?
How microcredit works
MICROCREDIT, also called poverty lending, provides small loans to the very poor.
These loans can start from as little as US$20 ($27) to US$100 for first-time borrowers, and are usually used to start small businesses.
In most cases, no collateral is needed.
However, money tend to be directed at a group - ranging from five people to a whole village - in which members are accountable for one another.
So, when someone in the group defaults his repayment, the whole group will have problems getting further loans.
Under peer pressure to repay, borrowers default less.
Loans made by Grameen Bank, a Bangladeshi bank which pioneered microcredit, have a repayment rate of 98 per cent.
The 25-year-old bank has 7.5 million borrowers in its home country.
It earned US$15.85 million in 2005, and its founder Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, for 'efforts to create economic and social development from below'.
YES, it can work here...
GIVE small loans to Singaporeans to set up hawker and pasar malam stalls, Mr Ang Mong Seng had said.
The Member of Parliament for Hong Kah GRC had suggested that the microcredit system be adopted in Singapore during the Budget debate in February.
Give or lend money to the enterprising poor at low interest, so they can start simple businesses and be self-reliant, he had said.
He noted then that the Government gave $100 to $200 a month to the poor through Community Development Councils.
But a bigger amount of $800 to $1,000 could be offered instead for them to start a business, he argued.
Mr Ang told The New Paper that there are ways the Government can help microcredit programmes succeed here.
First, it can subsidise the loans.
However, he said Singapore should first test the viability of any microcredit programme by allowing experienced lenders such as Grameen Bank to run them without state help.
Second, the Government can set up low-rental marketplaces to provide microcredit borrowers with a cheap way to start a business.
United Overseas Bank economist Suan Teck Kin said microcredit can be used to help the poor start low-tech businesses, such as producing handicraft work, from home.
Ms Wong Chia Lee, a Singaporean independent consultant who has been working with microbanks in South-east Asia for the past 10 years, pointed out that religious and other self-help groups here could well be the closely-knit communities needed for microcredit to work.
These groups could be given loans in a way that makes their members accountable to one another - the same way microcredit loans are administered in other countries.
NO, it won't work here...
THE costs of running a business in Singapore are too high, financial experts said.
Mr Ben Fok, CEO of Grandtag Financial Consultancy, said: 'Our costs of living and services is one of the highest in Asia.
'That will make it harder to find a successful microcredit model.'
Agreeing, Mr Suan Teck Kin of United Overseas Bank singled out rental costs as one of the biggest obstacles for someone looking to set up a small business.
Another problem, consultant Wong Chia Lee pointed out, is the high level of regulation in Singapore.
In the microcredit programmes that she has helped set up in East Timor, people can immediately start using the money to sell kueh (cakes) or cosmetics door-to-door, or to sell vegetables on the streets.
'But the first thing someone in Singapore has to think of is the need to get a licence,' she said.
Ms Wong also said Singaporeans are not as entrepreneurial as people in some of the neighbouring countries.
'For microcredit to be successful,' she said, 'the borrowers need to have an idea of what they are going to do with the money first.
'But in Singapore, we virtually have entrepreneurship genetically engineered out of us.'
She recalled how a community support group asked for her advice on obtaining credit a few years ago.
When she met the group, she realised they did not have any idea what they wanted to do once they had the money.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This article explores if microcredit could work in Singapore. A conference is happening there now to introduce the country to the idea. - Kale
IT has scored some stunning successes in developing countries such as Bangladesh, China and Indonesia.
Microcredit, which gives small loans to the poor, has helped them and the illiterate escape the poverty cycle. It gives them much-needed access to credit to set up their own businesses.
The Asia-Pacific Regional Microcredit Summit ends today.
Can microcredit work in first-world Singapore?
How microcredit works
MICROCREDIT, also called poverty lending, provides small loans to the very poor.
These loans can start from as little as US$20 ($27) to US$100 for first-time borrowers, and are usually used to start small businesses.
In most cases, no collateral is needed.
However, money tend to be directed at a group - ranging from five people to a whole village - in which members are accountable for one another.
So, when someone in the group defaults his repayment, the whole group will have problems getting further loans.
Under peer pressure to repay, borrowers default less.
Loans made by Grameen Bank, a Bangladeshi bank which pioneered microcredit, have a repayment rate of 98 per cent.
The 25-year-old bank has 7.5 million borrowers in its home country.
It earned US$15.85 million in 2005, and its founder Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, for 'efforts to create economic and social development from below'.
YES, it can work here...
GIVE small loans to Singaporeans to set up hawker and pasar malam stalls, Mr Ang Mong Seng had said.
The Member of Parliament for Hong Kah GRC had suggested that the microcredit system be adopted in Singapore during the Budget debate in February.
Give or lend money to the enterprising poor at low interest, so they can start simple businesses and be self-reliant, he had said.
He noted then that the Government gave $100 to $200 a month to the poor through Community Development Councils.
But a bigger amount of $800 to $1,000 could be offered instead for them to start a business, he argued.
Mr Ang told The New Paper that there are ways the Government can help microcredit programmes succeed here.
First, it can subsidise the loans.
However, he said Singapore should first test the viability of any microcredit programme by allowing experienced lenders such as Grameen Bank to run them without state help.
Second, the Government can set up low-rental marketplaces to provide microcredit borrowers with a cheap way to start a business.
United Overseas Bank economist Suan Teck Kin said microcredit can be used to help the poor start low-tech businesses, such as producing handicraft work, from home.
Ms Wong Chia Lee, a Singaporean independent consultant who has been working with microbanks in South-east Asia for the past 10 years, pointed out that religious and other self-help groups here could well be the closely-knit communities needed for microcredit to work.
These groups could be given loans in a way that makes their members accountable to one another - the same way microcredit loans are administered in other countries.
NO, it won't work here...
THE costs of running a business in Singapore are too high, financial experts said.
Mr Ben Fok, CEO of Grandtag Financial Consultancy, said: 'Our costs of living and services is one of the highest in Asia.
'That will make it harder to find a successful microcredit model.'
Agreeing, Mr Suan Teck Kin of United Overseas Bank singled out rental costs as one of the biggest obstacles for someone looking to set up a small business.
Another problem, consultant Wong Chia Lee pointed out, is the high level of regulation in Singapore.
In the microcredit programmes that she has helped set up in East Timor, people can immediately start using the money to sell kueh (cakes) or cosmetics door-to-door, or to sell vegetables on the streets.
'But the first thing someone in Singapore has to think of is the need to get a licence,' she said.
Ms Wong also said Singaporeans are not as entrepreneurial as people in some of the neighbouring countries.
'For microcredit to be successful,' she said, 'the borrowers need to have an idea of what they are going to do with the money first.
'But in Singapore, we virtually have entrepreneurship genetically engineered out of us.'
She recalled how a community support group asked for her advice on obtaining credit a few years ago.
When she met the group, she realised they did not have any idea what they wanted to do once they had the money.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
More programs for poor students in Wisconsin
from the Beaver Dam Daily Citizen
The programs that schools give to poor students are increasing in the US. From lunches to breakfasts to supplies. this article profiles a program in Wisconsin. - Kale
By TERRI PEDERSON
Beaver Dam Unified School District students who qualify for free and reduced lunches during the school year will also qualify for free school supplies this year.
"We know that the number of people living in poverty and low-income conditions has doubled over the last eight years in the district according to federal guidelines," BDUSD Superintendent Don Childs said. "We're approaching a 40 percent poverty rate for families with school-age children."
At the elementary school level, counting first- through fifth-graders, there are 447 students who qualify for free and reduced lunches. There are 250 pupils at Beaver Dam Middle School and 270 at Beaver Dam High School.
"At the middle school, we're approaching 40 percent poverty," Childs said. "The high school has doubled from 14 percent to almost 30 percent over the last couple of years."
Parents of students participating in the free and reduced lunch programs fill out a form provided by the school district at the beginning of the year. The size and income level for families are used to determine if students qualify for free or reduced lunch prices.
A family of two would have to make less than $18,200 to qualify for a free lunch or $25,900 to qualify for a reduced lunch.
For each additional family member, the yearly income levels goes up $4,680 for free lunches and $6,600 for reduced lunches.
The form also lists the income level as monthly, bi-weekly and weekly.
Childs said there are many reasons for the higher levels of students being eligible for the program including: a low average wage per job in the county and a turnover in the community where families with lower incomes have moved into the area.
The need in the district led Childs to contact Clothes For Kids about a campaign to provide school supplies for every child who qualifies for free or reduced lunches. Clothes For Kids for the past several years has provided school supplies for needy families.
Most of the students in the district who qualify for the program are already known by the school district because they filled out the forms last year. Those families will be getting a letter that they will need to bring in to pick up the school supplies. Others, such as kindergartners and new students to the district, will have to fill out a form as soon as possible to qualify for the program.
The district will have people available to help fill out the forms during the registration or screening process for new students.
The district has already sent out letters to local service organizations and the Beaver Dam Chamber of Commerce will be contacting its members to help out in buying the school supplies, Childs said. Private citizens are also welcomed to help.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
The programs that schools give to poor students are increasing in the US. From lunches to breakfasts to supplies. this article profiles a program in Wisconsin. - Kale
By TERRI PEDERSON
Beaver Dam Unified School District students who qualify for free and reduced lunches during the school year will also qualify for free school supplies this year.
"We know that the number of people living in poverty and low-income conditions has doubled over the last eight years in the district according to federal guidelines," BDUSD Superintendent Don Childs said. "We're approaching a 40 percent poverty rate for families with school-age children."
At the elementary school level, counting first- through fifth-graders, there are 447 students who qualify for free and reduced lunches. There are 250 pupils at Beaver Dam Middle School and 270 at Beaver Dam High School.
"At the middle school, we're approaching 40 percent poverty," Childs said. "The high school has doubled from 14 percent to almost 30 percent over the last couple of years."
Parents of students participating in the free and reduced lunch programs fill out a form provided by the school district at the beginning of the year. The size and income level for families are used to determine if students qualify for free or reduced lunch prices.
A family of two would have to make less than $18,200 to qualify for a free lunch or $25,900 to qualify for a reduced lunch.
For each additional family member, the yearly income levels goes up $4,680 for free lunches and $6,600 for reduced lunches.
The form also lists the income level as monthly, bi-weekly and weekly.
Childs said there are many reasons for the higher levels of students being eligible for the program including: a low average wage per job in the county and a turnover in the community where families with lower incomes have moved into the area.
The need in the district led Childs to contact Clothes For Kids about a campaign to provide school supplies for every child who qualifies for free or reduced lunches. Clothes For Kids for the past several years has provided school supplies for needy families.
Most of the students in the district who qualify for the program are already known by the school district because they filled out the forms last year. Those families will be getting a letter that they will need to bring in to pick up the school supplies. Others, such as kindergartners and new students to the district, will have to fill out a form as soon as possible to qualify for the program.
The district will have people available to help fill out the forms during the registration or screening process for new students.
The district has already sent out letters to local service organizations and the Beaver Dam Chamber of Commerce will be contacting its members to help out in buying the school supplies, Childs said. Private citizens are also welcomed to help.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Floods, drug trade threaten West Africa
from Reuters Alert Net
West Africa is experiencing it's second year of flooding. That along with drug trafficking make the poverty situation that much harder to solve. - Kale
By Doug Palmer
GENEVA - A second year of severe flooding and a growing threat to regional stability from drug trafficking are compounding problems of poverty in West Africa, a United Nations official said on Thursday.
Last year, floods disrupted the lives of 800,000 people in 14 West African countries and left 210 dead, as well as destroying crops and killing livestock, said D. Herve Ludovic de Lys, head of the West Africa regional office for the U.N. humanitarian affairs agency OCHA.
"Those people have barely recovered from the floods of last year and once again, they are experiencing a very heavy rainy season," Ludovic de Lys said in a briefing for reporters.
Floods have killed 30 people so far this year, and damaged the lives of 50,000 with another 45 days of heavy rain still expected, Ludovic de Lys said.
Recent flooding in Togo has affected 10,000 people, destroyed 400 houses and severed nine bridges, including some on the main trade road to Burkina Faso, he said.
Six are dead from floods in Mali's capital, he said.
The second year of flooding in a region otherwise experiencing a slow onset drought comes at time of high international food and energy prices that has made life more difficult for many developing countries.
A rise in illegal cocaine flows through West Africa from production centers in Latin America to markets in Europe and the Gulf region poses another threat, he said.
"This is a concern for us because West Africa is just emerging from period where we had very violent conflicts in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote D'Ivoire. We ... are very concerned because this drug trafficking could fuel conflicts, could bring back weapons," Ludovic de Lys said.
All of this makes this week's setback at world trade talks more difficult for West Africa. Talks collapsed before there was even any discussion of regional cotton producer demands for sharp cuts in U.S. and European Union cotton subsides.
Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad and Benin say those subsidies are destroying their cotton industries by encouraging excess U.S. and EU production that flood export markets.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
West Africa is experiencing it's second year of flooding. That along with drug trafficking make the poverty situation that much harder to solve. - Kale
By Doug Palmer
GENEVA - A second year of severe flooding and a growing threat to regional stability from drug trafficking are compounding problems of poverty in West Africa, a United Nations official said on Thursday.
Last year, floods disrupted the lives of 800,000 people in 14 West African countries and left 210 dead, as well as destroying crops and killing livestock, said D. Herve Ludovic de Lys, head of the West Africa regional office for the U.N. humanitarian affairs agency OCHA.
"Those people have barely recovered from the floods of last year and once again, they are experiencing a very heavy rainy season," Ludovic de Lys said in a briefing for reporters.
Floods have killed 30 people so far this year, and damaged the lives of 50,000 with another 45 days of heavy rain still expected, Ludovic de Lys said.
Recent flooding in Togo has affected 10,000 people, destroyed 400 houses and severed nine bridges, including some on the main trade road to Burkina Faso, he said.
Six are dead from floods in Mali's capital, he said.
The second year of flooding in a region otherwise experiencing a slow onset drought comes at time of high international food and energy prices that has made life more difficult for many developing countries.
A rise in illegal cocaine flows through West Africa from production centers in Latin America to markets in Europe and the Gulf region poses another threat, he said.
"This is a concern for us because West Africa is just emerging from period where we had very violent conflicts in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote D'Ivoire. We ... are very concerned because this drug trafficking could fuel conflicts, could bring back weapons," Ludovic de Lys said.
All of this makes this week's setback at world trade talks more difficult for West Africa. Talks collapsed before there was even any discussion of regional cotton producer demands for sharp cuts in U.S. and European Union cotton subsides.
Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad and Benin say those subsidies are destroying their cotton industries by encouraging excess U.S. and EU production that flood export markets.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
WTO talks collapse: the poor and farmers lose
from the Australian
This story has some opinions from farmers and poor advocates in Australia. They say the trade deal would have given the poor a chance in the worsening economy. - Kale
FARMERS and the world's poor will be the losers from the collapse of world trade talks in Geneva overnight, advocates say.
The World Trade Organisation talks, which aimed to salvage a global free trade pact, collapsed after the US, China and India failed overnight to agree on when poor countries could raise import tariffs on farm products.
National Farmers Federation president David Crombie said the breakdown would prevent farmers from selling into new and expanded markets.
"The breakdown of negotiations in the Doha Round of WTO trade talks is another dismal result for Australia's farmers and agricultural exporters," Mr Crombie said.
Agricultural domestic support limits among OECD countries would not be reduced and market access would not be improved.
With the world food shortage biting hard, Mr Crombie warned developing countries would be the "biggest long-term losers" from the world trade impasse.
Oxfam acting executive director James Ensor blamed rich countries for the impasse, saying it was not fair for them to force poorer countries into heavy trade concessions.
"They defended vested interests and put poor countries under intense pressure to make concessions that have no place in a development round," Mr Ensor said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This story has some opinions from farmers and poor advocates in Australia. They say the trade deal would have given the poor a chance in the worsening economy. - Kale
FARMERS and the world's poor will be the losers from the collapse of world trade talks in Geneva overnight, advocates say.
The World Trade Organisation talks, which aimed to salvage a global free trade pact, collapsed after the US, China and India failed overnight to agree on when poor countries could raise import tariffs on farm products.
National Farmers Federation president David Crombie said the breakdown would prevent farmers from selling into new and expanded markets.
"The breakdown of negotiations in the Doha Round of WTO trade talks is another dismal result for Australia's farmers and agricultural exporters," Mr Crombie said.
Agricultural domestic support limits among OECD countries would not be reduced and market access would not be improved.
With the world food shortage biting hard, Mr Crombie warned developing countries would be the "biggest long-term losers" from the world trade impasse.
Oxfam acting executive director James Ensor blamed rich countries for the impasse, saying it was not fair for them to force poorer countries into heavy trade concessions.
"They defended vested interests and put poor countries under intense pressure to make concessions that have no place in a development round," Mr Ensor said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Book Review: a story of inner city work
from the Daily Chronicle
A new book chronicles an inner city mission in Dallas. The author says the time there taught her how wrong judgments or prejudices can be. - Kale
By BENJI FELDHEIM
Dorothy Moore was afraid, but it didn't stop her. The Sycamore native, now 73, has spent the better part of the last 25 years ministering troubled youth and adults in the slums of Dallas. After living affluently for most of her life, Moore set out to intervene in the lives of people plagued by poverty, drug use and violence.
While the tribulations she's faced were difficult at times, Moore said her faith kept her going.
Moore's efforts with the Crusaders and Reconciliation Outreach ministry often found her in danger. She's dodged bullets and fights, and also talked straight to drug dealers in her efforts to bring people religious guidance.
Earlier this year, Moore published the book “Lady in the Hood.” The book is a chronological telling of her experiences in Dallas as she and other determined workers tried to set up outreach programs in the poverty-ridden areas of the city.
The story is a poignant description of Moore's carefree upbringing juxtaposed with a great deal of tragic circumstances she found herself a part of after her religious faith manifested in a desire to help others.
Moore spoke with the Daily Chronicle about what led her to write the book, how she dealt with the dangerous efforts and how she had to be honest about herself.
D.C.: Why did you decide to write the book?
Moore: I have kept a prayer diary for almost the last 40 years and I've entered into it almost daily. When I began to see some of this had long-term value, I started compiling the information - pulling out things that were most significant and putting it in some kind of book form.
The biographical part wasn't difficult. But the rest, I felt there was a lot of need in the church community for people looking at faith to understand what did it cost you, and did what did it bring you to do. That's what I learned working with the poor in the inner city.
People are generally looking for answers and hope.
D.C.: Were you in danger at times during this work?
Moore: I took children home one night and dropped them off in their neighborhood. I realized a gang war was going on. The first thing I thought to do was intervene. I got out in front of the car, yelled at the kids to come with me, and pulled them away because shots were fired and a boy was down. You could hear the sirens.
When I went home that night, I began to realize the relative security of my own life. I do this during the day but they live it all the time. It gave me a boldness to get out there. If they have to live it every day, and they're just kids, why can't I step out there and let the Lord do what I can't fix?
I honestly believe God is in charge of life and we will live and die according to his direction. He's not going to allow me to be taken out if I'm not ready.
I've been afraid not just for myself but for others. There are those risks. But there's the sense of destiny. You're there because you're supposed to be there and when you die it's when you're supposed to.
D.C.: Was it difficult to be honest
about your upbringing and your personality?
Moore: The truth is the truth. When you begin to understand who you are and how you think, it's only fair to be honest about it. I can't help anyone else without being honest about who I am. Then I'm just a do-gooder without any understanding of the real pain and problems. I had to go through a lot of testing to have anything to say to anyone else.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A new book chronicles an inner city mission in Dallas. The author says the time there taught her how wrong judgments or prejudices can be. - Kale
By BENJI FELDHEIM
Dorothy Moore was afraid, but it didn't stop her. The Sycamore native, now 73, has spent the better part of the last 25 years ministering troubled youth and adults in the slums of Dallas. After living affluently for most of her life, Moore set out to intervene in the lives of people plagued by poverty, drug use and violence.
While the tribulations she's faced were difficult at times, Moore said her faith kept her going.
Moore's efforts with the Crusaders and Reconciliation Outreach ministry often found her in danger. She's dodged bullets and fights, and also talked straight to drug dealers in her efforts to bring people religious guidance.
Earlier this year, Moore published the book “Lady in the Hood.” The book is a chronological telling of her experiences in Dallas as she and other determined workers tried to set up outreach programs in the poverty-ridden areas of the city.
The story is a poignant description of Moore's carefree upbringing juxtaposed with a great deal of tragic circumstances she found herself a part of after her religious faith manifested in a desire to help others.
Moore spoke with the Daily Chronicle about what led her to write the book, how she dealt with the dangerous efforts and how she had to be honest about herself.
D.C.: Why did you decide to write the book?
Moore: I have kept a prayer diary for almost the last 40 years and I've entered into it almost daily. When I began to see some of this had long-term value, I started compiling the information - pulling out things that were most significant and putting it in some kind of book form.
The biographical part wasn't difficult. But the rest, I felt there was a lot of need in the church community for people looking at faith to understand what did it cost you, and did what did it bring you to do. That's what I learned working with the poor in the inner city.
People are generally looking for answers and hope.
D.C.: Were you in danger at times during this work?
Moore: I took children home one night and dropped them off in their neighborhood. I realized a gang war was going on. The first thing I thought to do was intervene. I got out in front of the car, yelled at the kids to come with me, and pulled them away because shots were fired and a boy was down. You could hear the sirens.
When I went home that night, I began to realize the relative security of my own life. I do this during the day but they live it all the time. It gave me a boldness to get out there. If they have to live it every day, and they're just kids, why can't I step out there and let the Lord do what I can't fix?
I honestly believe God is in charge of life and we will live and die according to his direction. He's not going to allow me to be taken out if I'm not ready.
I've been afraid not just for myself but for others. There are those risks. But there's the sense of destiny. You're there because you're supposed to be there and when you die it's when you're supposed to.
D.C.: Was it difficult to be honest
about your upbringing and your personality?
Moore: The truth is the truth. When you begin to understand who you are and how you think, it's only fair to be honest about it. I can't help anyone else without being honest about who I am. Then I'm just a do-gooder without any understanding of the real pain and problems. I had to go through a lot of testing to have anything to say to anyone else.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Family of four needs $50,000
from the Columbus Dispatch
Another story on the federal poverty guidelines as it relates to Ohio. This is related to what New York Mayor Micheal Bloomberg has been saying about the guidelines. - Kale
New study finds federal poverty levels unrealistically low
By Catherine Candisky
A single mother of a preschooler living in Franklin County needs to earn $34,260 a year to pay for housing, child care, food and other necessities.
A married couple with two children -- one in preschool and one of school age -- needs an annual income of $49,818 to make it in Franklin County, more than twice the federal poverty level.
A report released this morning shows what it costs in each of Ohio’s 88 counties to pay for basic needs without government or private assistance. The analysis provides figures for 70 different family types, including childless adults, single parents and couples with children.
The Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies commissioned the report and hopes it will help state policy makers consider the real cost of self-sufficiency when they set economic development incentives and guidelines for job training and assistance programs.
Advocates for the poor also are pushing for a revision of federal poverty guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that they argue is outdated and simply not high enough.
“It costs a lot more to be poor than it used to,” said Philip E. Cole, executive director of the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies.
Authored by Diane M. Pearce, director of the Center for Women’s Welfare at the University of Washington, the report determined self-sufficiency by costing out housing, food, health care, transportation, child care and taxes, assuming all adults, regardless of household composition, are working full-time.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Another story on the federal poverty guidelines as it relates to Ohio. This is related to what New York Mayor Micheal Bloomberg has been saying about the guidelines. - Kale
New study finds federal poverty levels unrealistically low
By Catherine Candisky
A single mother of a preschooler living in Franklin County needs to earn $34,260 a year to pay for housing, child care, food and other necessities.
A married couple with two children -- one in preschool and one of school age -- needs an annual income of $49,818 to make it in Franklin County, more than twice the federal poverty level.
A report released this morning shows what it costs in each of Ohio’s 88 counties to pay for basic needs without government or private assistance. The analysis provides figures for 70 different family types, including childless adults, single parents and couples with children.
The Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies commissioned the report and hopes it will help state policy makers consider the real cost of self-sufficiency when they set economic development incentives and guidelines for job training and assistance programs.
Advocates for the poor also are pushing for a revision of federal poverty guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that they argue is outdated and simply not high enough.
“It costs a lot more to be poor than it used to,” said Philip E. Cole, executive director of the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies.
Authored by Diane M. Pearce, director of the Center for Women’s Welfare at the University of Washington, the report determined self-sufficiency by costing out housing, food, health care, transportation, child care and taxes, assuming all adults, regardless of household composition, are working full-time.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
World Bank says biofuels major diver of food prices.
from Reuters
You don't say? :sarcasm: - Kale
By Lesley Wroughton
WASHINGTON - Large increases in biofuels production in the United States and Europe are the main reason behind the steep rise in global food prices, a top World Bank economist said in research published on Monday.
World Bank economist, Don Mitchell, concluded that biofuels and related low grain inventories, speculative activity, and food export bans pushed prices up by 70 percent to 75 percent.
The remaining 25 percent to 30 percent was due to a weaker U.S. dollar, higher energy costs and related rises in fertilizer and transport costs, he wrote.
An unfinished version of the research that surfaced in news stories sparked a heated debate earlier in July, with trade groups for the ethanol industry calling the 75 percent figure "a stretch" and others saying it confirmed the dangers of current biofuels policies.
The outcome of Mitchell's research is controversial because it goes beyond most other estimates for the impact of biofuels on rising food prices.
Still, its research corresponds somewhat with the International Monetary Fund, which estimated in May that biofuels accounted for 70 percent of the increase in maize prices and 40 percent in soybean prices.
Meanwhile, the Bush Administration has estimated that biofuel production pushed food prices higher by 2 to 3 percent. Hoping to wean the country off foreign oil, Washington has boosted incentives and mandates for alternative fuels made from food crop.
But Mitchell said without the increase in biofuels production, global wheat and maize stocks would not have declined, oilseed prices would not tripled and price increases due to other factors, such as drought, would have been more moderate.
Also, food export bans by countries trying to preserve food supplies and speculative activities would not have occurred because they were responding to rising prices.
"The large increases in biofuels production in the U.S. and EU were supported by subsidies, mandates, and tariffs on imports," Mitchell said in the research that looks at rapid rises in food prices since 2002. "Without these policies, biofuels production would have been lower and food commodity price increases would have been smaller," he added.
A widely respected agricultural economist, Mitchell said biofuels policies that encourage subsidized production need to be re-thought because they're hurting poor countries.
He said the increase in grain consumption in developing countries was moderate and did not lead to the large price increases.
Growth in global grain consumption, excluding biofuels, was only 1.7 percent a year from 2000 to 2007, while yields grew by 1.3 percent and area grew by 0.4 percent, which would have kept global demand and supply roughly in balance, he said.
The United States is the largest producer of ethanol from maize and is expected to use about 81 million tons for ethanol in the 2007/08 crop year. Meanwhile, Canada, China and the European Union used roughly 5 million tons of maize, which was about 11 percent of the global maize crop.
The use of maize for ethanol in the United States has global implications because the U.S. produces about one-third of the world's maize and two-thirds of global exports, and used 25 percent of its production for ethanol in 2007/08.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
You don't say? :sarcasm: - Kale
By Lesley Wroughton
WASHINGTON - Large increases in biofuels production in the United States and Europe are the main reason behind the steep rise in global food prices, a top World Bank economist said in research published on Monday.
World Bank economist, Don Mitchell, concluded that biofuels and related low grain inventories, speculative activity, and food export bans pushed prices up by 70 percent to 75 percent.
The remaining 25 percent to 30 percent was due to a weaker U.S. dollar, higher energy costs and related rises in fertilizer and transport costs, he wrote.
An unfinished version of the research that surfaced in news stories sparked a heated debate earlier in July, with trade groups for the ethanol industry calling the 75 percent figure "a stretch" and others saying it confirmed the dangers of current biofuels policies.
The outcome of Mitchell's research is controversial because it goes beyond most other estimates for the impact of biofuels on rising food prices.
Still, its research corresponds somewhat with the International Monetary Fund, which estimated in May that biofuels accounted for 70 percent of the increase in maize prices and 40 percent in soybean prices.
Meanwhile, the Bush Administration has estimated that biofuel production pushed food prices higher by 2 to 3 percent. Hoping to wean the country off foreign oil, Washington has boosted incentives and mandates for alternative fuels made from food crop.
But Mitchell said without the increase in biofuels production, global wheat and maize stocks would not have declined, oilseed prices would not tripled and price increases due to other factors, such as drought, would have been more moderate.
Also, food export bans by countries trying to preserve food supplies and speculative activities would not have occurred because they were responding to rising prices.
"The large increases in biofuels production in the U.S. and EU were supported by subsidies, mandates, and tariffs on imports," Mitchell said in the research that looks at rapid rises in food prices since 2002. "Without these policies, biofuels production would have been lower and food commodity price increases would have been smaller," he added.
A widely respected agricultural economist, Mitchell said biofuels policies that encourage subsidized production need to be re-thought because they're hurting poor countries.
He said the increase in grain consumption in developing countries was moderate and did not lead to the large price increases.
Growth in global grain consumption, excluding biofuels, was only 1.7 percent a year from 2000 to 2007, while yields grew by 1.3 percent and area grew by 0.4 percent, which would have kept global demand and supply roughly in balance, he said.
The United States is the largest producer of ethanol from maize and is expected to use about 81 million tons for ethanol in the 2007/08 crop year. Meanwhile, Canada, China and the European Union used roughly 5 million tons of maize, which was about 11 percent of the global maize crop.
The use of maize for ethanol in the United States has global implications because the U.S. produces about one-third of the world's maize and two-thirds of global exports, and used 25 percent of its production for ethanol in 2007/08.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
14,000 AIDS deaths recorded in Caribbean last year
from the Jamaica Observer
Despite the grim headline, the report releasing these stats shows some leveling off on the number of new infections. More funding has contributed to to that stabilizing of new cases. - Kale
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - At least 14,000 people in the Caribbean died of illnesses related to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) last year, but there appears to be a stabilisation in the HIV/AIDS epidemic, according to figures released here on Tuesday.
The figures, which were released as part of the Caribbean Launch of the UNAIDS Global report 2008, showed that last year an estimated 230,000 to 270,000 persons were living with HIV, while an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 were newly infected.
"We have made some headway against HIV in the region," said Dr Michel de Groulard, acting director of the UNAIDS Caribbean Regional Support Team.
"But we still have a long way to go to ensure that our response is as effective as it should be and that our prevention strategies really work and reach those who need them most," he added.
In a message read at the launch, Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretary General Edwin Carrington said that 27 years after HIV/AIDS was first identified in the region, the epidemic is challenging "our basic way of life, family, society, community and workplace".
"Many Caribbean families have lost their loved ones to AIDS, many communities have lost their leaders and their members to AIDS. In addition, the persistence of stigma and discrimination against people living with AIDS is an affront to the principles of human rights," he said.
"How many times has someone been denied a job because they are living with HIV?" Carrington asked.
The Caricom top official, however, pointed to some positive news in the fight.
"Despite the somewhat gloomy picture which the data suggests, there has been substantial progress in the Caribbean. It is the only region in the world which has built strong partnerships against the epidemic," Carrington said, pointing to the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP).
United Nations officials said that although surveillance systems were largely inadequate in several countries, available data indicated that the situation in most Caribbean countries appears to have stabilised, while the numbers have declined in a few urban areas.
"This is particularly evident in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Both countries are home to the largest epidemics in the region," according to UNAIDS.
It said that at the end of last year, an estimated 30,000 people living with HIV were receiving antiretroviral treatment in the region, a 50 per cent increase since the end of 2006 when 20,000 people were on treatment.
UNAIDS said that the main mode of HIV transmission in the Caribbean remains unprotected heterosexual sex, but "unprotected sex between men is also a significant factor in several epidemics".
It added that as many as one in eight, or 12 per cent of reported HIV infections in the region occurred through unprotected sex between men.
"It reportedly represents the main driver in Cuba and studies in Trinidad and Tobago have found HIV prevalence of 20 among men who have sex with men.
"In the Dominican Republic, surveys have indicated that more sex workers are protecting themselves and their clients against HIV, especially in the main urban and tourist areas. Among female sex workers, HIV prevalence of nine per cent has been documented in Jamaica and 31 per cent in Guyana," the UNAIDS report said.
It said that AIDS remains one of the leading causes of death among people aged 25 to 44 years in the Caribbean, but the "scaling up of antiretroviral treatment could be reducing the number of HIV positive people progressing to AIDS and eventually dying of AIDS-related illness".
UNAIDS said that the Caribbean epidemics occur in the context of high levels of poverty and unemployment, gender and other inequalities and considerable stigma, "all of which can fuel the spread of HIV as well as hinder efforts to control the epidemic".
"The scaling up of prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV programmes in several countries including Barbados, Guyana and Jamaica has significantly reduced the rate of transmission to infants," the report said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Despite the grim headline, the report releasing these stats shows some leveling off on the number of new infections. More funding has contributed to to that stabilizing of new cases. - Kale
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - At least 14,000 people in the Caribbean died of illnesses related to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) last year, but there appears to be a stabilisation in the HIV/AIDS epidemic, according to figures released here on Tuesday.
The figures, which were released as part of the Caribbean Launch of the UNAIDS Global report 2008, showed that last year an estimated 230,000 to 270,000 persons were living with HIV, while an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 were newly infected.
"We have made some headway against HIV in the region," said Dr Michel de Groulard, acting director of the UNAIDS Caribbean Regional Support Team.
"But we still have a long way to go to ensure that our response is as effective as it should be and that our prevention strategies really work and reach those who need them most," he added.
In a message read at the launch, Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretary General Edwin Carrington said that 27 years after HIV/AIDS was first identified in the region, the epidemic is challenging "our basic way of life, family, society, community and workplace".
"Many Caribbean families have lost their loved ones to AIDS, many communities have lost their leaders and their members to AIDS. In addition, the persistence of stigma and discrimination against people living with AIDS is an affront to the principles of human rights," he said.
"How many times has someone been denied a job because they are living with HIV?" Carrington asked.
The Caricom top official, however, pointed to some positive news in the fight.
"Despite the somewhat gloomy picture which the data suggests, there has been substantial progress in the Caribbean. It is the only region in the world which has built strong partnerships against the epidemic," Carrington said, pointing to the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP).
United Nations officials said that although surveillance systems were largely inadequate in several countries, available data indicated that the situation in most Caribbean countries appears to have stabilised, while the numbers have declined in a few urban areas.
"This is particularly evident in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Both countries are home to the largest epidemics in the region," according to UNAIDS.
It said that at the end of last year, an estimated 30,000 people living with HIV were receiving antiretroviral treatment in the region, a 50 per cent increase since the end of 2006 when 20,000 people were on treatment.
UNAIDS said that the main mode of HIV transmission in the Caribbean remains unprotected heterosexual sex, but "unprotected sex between men is also a significant factor in several epidemics".
It added that as many as one in eight, or 12 per cent of reported HIV infections in the region occurred through unprotected sex between men.
"It reportedly represents the main driver in Cuba and studies in Trinidad and Tobago have found HIV prevalence of 20 among men who have sex with men.
"In the Dominican Republic, surveys have indicated that more sex workers are protecting themselves and their clients against HIV, especially in the main urban and tourist areas. Among female sex workers, HIV prevalence of nine per cent has been documented in Jamaica and 31 per cent in Guyana," the UNAIDS report said.
It said that AIDS remains one of the leading causes of death among people aged 25 to 44 years in the Caribbean, but the "scaling up of antiretroviral treatment could be reducing the number of HIV positive people progressing to AIDS and eventually dying of AIDS-related illness".
UNAIDS said that the Caribbean epidemics occur in the context of high levels of poverty and unemployment, gender and other inequalities and considerable stigma, "all of which can fuel the spread of HIV as well as hinder efforts to control the epidemic".
"The scaling up of prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV programmes in several countries including Barbados, Guyana and Jamaica has significantly reduced the rate of transmission to infants," the report said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Nigeria banking remittances
from Business Day
This article examines banking practices in Nigeria. - Kale
by BLESSING ANARO
Going by the recent Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN) released chart which indicated that remittances from Nigerians in the diaspora helped to grow the macro economy, then it is unfortunate that the issue of monies remitted by Nigerians in the Diaspora is no longer being taken seriously, particularly by banks which should know better.
While banks dangle attractive rates to woo depositors, billions trickle into the system, which in most cases, are not well utilised because some of the benefactors of such remittances lack banking acumen.
A look at the official figures bandied by government agencies or other world bodies may be incorrect, because there is more money flowing in through unofficial than official quarters. This problem stems from the incorrect figure of the population of Diaspora Nigerians.
A research material prepared by Manuel Orozco of Inter-American Dialogue and Bryanna Millis, for review by the United States Agency for International Development, says Nigeria represents one of the more mobile societies in Africa with huge populations moving to the East, West, and South of Africa, as well as Europe and North America.
However, official statistics on Nigerian emigration are inaccurate and incomplete. For example, the United Nations reveals that there are approximately 1.1 million Nigerians living outside their home country, representing 0.84 percent of the Nigerian population. But this figure plainly falls short of the reality.
Just in West Africa, the trend of Nigerian migration is substantial. In Ghana alone, there are at least half a million Nigerians. Likewise, the large and growing outflow of the country's citizens to South Africa over the last 10 years makes it difficult to have confidence in the official figure of less than 20,000. In the United States, a single transfer company reports processing 125,000 transfers monthly to Nigeria, a figure that is nearly identical to the US Census estimate (134,940) of Nigerians in the U.S., including the UN estimate.
Data on migrants from countries with similar populations-in the range of 100-200 million people-show that on average, 3.9 percent of their nationals are living abroad. Applying that percentage to the Nigerian population gives a figure of 5,701,806 Nigerians abroad.
A World Bank report about the UK-Nigeria corridor claims from interviews with money transfer operators (MTOs), that there are five million Nigerians in the United States.
Another report argues that there are half a million Nigerians in England, adding that one-third of West Africans are living outside their country (Black et al. 2004).
The bottom line is that so much money is coming to the home system in the form of remittances. But what should ordinarily be a blessing to national development by increasing the amount of monies saved by Nigerians in the country, is witnessing a reversal.
Development bankers estimate that some $10 billion of remittances could be saved or invested if people had access to banks and were encouraged to use them. By banking part of their remittances, recipient families could earn interest, establish credit and provide money for local investment. The result would be more resources to help pay for schooling, starting small businesses or home ownership. Such savings and investments lead to economic growth; and growth, at the bottom of the economic scale, is the surest way to lift people out of poverty.
As of now, most banks in developing countries that receive remittances simply dole out the sums to recipients, after collecting part of the fee paid by the sender. They make no attempt to turn the recipients into bank customers. Bank officials and the politicians that oversee them need to do more to educate the poor about banking. They need to be reminded that such lending can be profitable" and will further broaden national goals for economic growth. To that end, remittances deserve a more prominent place on the agenda at the meetings of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Group of 8 leading industrialised nations. Unless those billions in remittances are banked, money that could fight poverty will be left on the table.
Apparently, only one bank in the country seems to be thinking in this direction. PHB Asset Management Limited, a subsidiary of Bank PHB plc, was recently selected to manage a $200 million (N24 billion) Diaspora Investment Fund (DIF) set up by the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation, Europe (NIDOE)
The Diaspora Investment Fund is an innovative $200 million investment vehicle that engenders the dual goal of achieving capital growth for the individual investor, while facilitating Nigeria's economic growth.
Recently, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former finance minister and now a World Bank chieftain, challenged fund managers in Nigeria to devise means of tapping into "Nigeria's money abroad."
She said they could either do this from money owned by Nigerians in the diaspora, which may be remitted for investments at home, or money saved abroad by Nigerians, otherwise called capital flight.
The World Bank chieftain noted that though not backed by statistics, there is evidence of high levels of capital flight from the Nigerian economy, partly due to lack of appropriate financing vehicles for domestic investors.
She spoke against the backdrop of the need to stimulate economic transformation in Nigeria through venture capital, noting that Africa's long-term development must be driven by economic growth from within. This, she stated, requires private capital.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This article examines banking practices in Nigeria. - Kale
by BLESSING ANARO
Going by the recent Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN) released chart which indicated that remittances from Nigerians in the diaspora helped to grow the macro economy, then it is unfortunate that the issue of monies remitted by Nigerians in the Diaspora is no longer being taken seriously, particularly by banks which should know better.
While banks dangle attractive rates to woo depositors, billions trickle into the system, which in most cases, are not well utilised because some of the benefactors of such remittances lack banking acumen.
A look at the official figures bandied by government agencies or other world bodies may be incorrect, because there is more money flowing in through unofficial than official quarters. This problem stems from the incorrect figure of the population of Diaspora Nigerians.
A research material prepared by Manuel Orozco of Inter-American Dialogue and Bryanna Millis, for review by the United States Agency for International Development, says Nigeria represents one of the more mobile societies in Africa with huge populations moving to the East, West, and South of Africa, as well as Europe and North America.
However, official statistics on Nigerian emigration are inaccurate and incomplete. For example, the United Nations reveals that there are approximately 1.1 million Nigerians living outside their home country, representing 0.84 percent of the Nigerian population. But this figure plainly falls short of the reality.
Just in West Africa, the trend of Nigerian migration is substantial. In Ghana alone, there are at least half a million Nigerians. Likewise, the large and growing outflow of the country's citizens to South Africa over the last 10 years makes it difficult to have confidence in the official figure of less than 20,000. In the United States, a single transfer company reports processing 125,000 transfers monthly to Nigeria, a figure that is nearly identical to the US Census estimate (134,940) of Nigerians in the U.S., including the UN estimate.
Data on migrants from countries with similar populations-in the range of 100-200 million people-show that on average, 3.9 percent of their nationals are living abroad. Applying that percentage to the Nigerian population gives a figure of 5,701,806 Nigerians abroad.
A World Bank report about the UK-Nigeria corridor claims from interviews with money transfer operators (MTOs), that there are five million Nigerians in the United States.
Another report argues that there are half a million Nigerians in England, adding that one-third of West Africans are living outside their country (Black et al. 2004).
The bottom line is that so much money is coming to the home system in the form of remittances. But what should ordinarily be a blessing to national development by increasing the amount of monies saved by Nigerians in the country, is witnessing a reversal.
Development bankers estimate that some $10 billion of remittances could be saved or invested if people had access to banks and were encouraged to use them. By banking part of their remittances, recipient families could earn interest, establish credit and provide money for local investment. The result would be more resources to help pay for schooling, starting small businesses or home ownership. Such savings and investments lead to economic growth; and growth, at the bottom of the economic scale, is the surest way to lift people out of poverty.
As of now, most banks in developing countries that receive remittances simply dole out the sums to recipients, after collecting part of the fee paid by the sender. They make no attempt to turn the recipients into bank customers. Bank officials and the politicians that oversee them need to do more to educate the poor about banking. They need to be reminded that such lending can be profitable" and will further broaden national goals for economic growth. To that end, remittances deserve a more prominent place on the agenda at the meetings of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Group of 8 leading industrialised nations. Unless those billions in remittances are banked, money that could fight poverty will be left on the table.
Apparently, only one bank in the country seems to be thinking in this direction. PHB Asset Management Limited, a subsidiary of Bank PHB plc, was recently selected to manage a $200 million (N24 billion) Diaspora Investment Fund (DIF) set up by the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation, Europe (NIDOE)
The Diaspora Investment Fund is an innovative $200 million investment vehicle that engenders the dual goal of achieving capital growth for the individual investor, while facilitating Nigeria's economic growth.
Recently, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former finance minister and now a World Bank chieftain, challenged fund managers in Nigeria to devise means of tapping into "Nigeria's money abroad."
She said they could either do this from money owned by Nigerians in the diaspora, which may be remitted for investments at home, or money saved abroad by Nigerians, otherwise called capital flight.
The World Bank chieftain noted that though not backed by statistics, there is evidence of high levels of capital flight from the Nigerian economy, partly due to lack of appropriate financing vehicles for domestic investors.
She spoke against the backdrop of the need to stimulate economic transformation in Nigeria through venture capital, noting that Africa's long-term development must be driven by economic growth from within. This, she stated, requires private capital.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Reducing taxes for food
from IRIN
This subject was debated during the food summit last month. Past calls to cut taxes for chartable food purchases has met a lot of resistance. - Kale
The World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a call by the World Bank for a UN resolution to scrap taxes and export controls on food aid purchases, but experts say there is little chance of such a resolution being effected.
Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank Group, called on the UN General Assembly's 63rd session, coming up in September, to vote for a resolution to exempt humanitarian purchases from export restrictions and taxes.
A global food and fuel price crisis has not only pushed up the cost of food aid but made finding adequate quantities to purchase and transporting them even more problematic, as governments attempt to control food supplies to ensure that their people have enough to eat. Some have even imposed export bans or taxes.
Nicole Menage, WFP's head of Procurement, told IRIN that "the world is really riddled with export control measures now, which makes the already difficult task of buying food in the present highly volatile and thin markets even more of a challenge." WFP usually requires US$3 billion a year in voluntary contributions but needs $5 to $6 billion this year, and a similar sum next year.
More donors are giving cash instead of food. In an attempt to widen the sources of food supply, in 2007 WFP purchased in 82 countries, of which 69 were developing. The food aid agency's choice has become even "more restricted now" as a result of the export controls, "at a moment when, again, globally the availability of food is so much more limited," said Menage.
Besides the new export control measures, the cost and the process of getting export and import permits were also barriers to providing timely aid, said Richard Lee, WFP spokesman for Southern Africa.
But will it happen?
"The problem is that the UN General Assembly can pass a resolution to this effect, but it cannot enforce it if passed," said Christopher Barrett, who teaches development economics at Cornell University, New York, and is the co-author of the book, Food Aid After Fifty Years: Recasting Its Role.
"The sharp domestic political pressures that lead politicians to adopt such short-sighted and ultimately ineffective policies as export restrictions and export taxes will likely trump the gentle diplomatic pressure of UN member states," he commented.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This subject was debated during the food summit last month. Past calls to cut taxes for chartable food purchases has met a lot of resistance. - Kale
The World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a call by the World Bank for a UN resolution to scrap taxes and export controls on food aid purchases, but experts say there is little chance of such a resolution being effected.
Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank Group, called on the UN General Assembly's 63rd session, coming up in September, to vote for a resolution to exempt humanitarian purchases from export restrictions and taxes.
A global food and fuel price crisis has not only pushed up the cost of food aid but made finding adequate quantities to purchase and transporting them even more problematic, as governments attempt to control food supplies to ensure that their people have enough to eat. Some have even imposed export bans or taxes.
Nicole Menage, WFP's head of Procurement, told IRIN that "the world is really riddled with export control measures now, which makes the already difficult task of buying food in the present highly volatile and thin markets even more of a challenge." WFP usually requires US$3 billion a year in voluntary contributions but needs $5 to $6 billion this year, and a similar sum next year.
More donors are giving cash instead of food. In an attempt to widen the sources of food supply, in 2007 WFP purchased in 82 countries, of which 69 were developing. The food aid agency's choice has become even "more restricted now" as a result of the export controls, "at a moment when, again, globally the availability of food is so much more limited," said Menage.
Besides the new export control measures, the cost and the process of getting export and import permits were also barriers to providing timely aid, said Richard Lee, WFP spokesman for Southern Africa.
But will it happen?
"The problem is that the UN General Assembly can pass a resolution to this effect, but it cannot enforce it if passed," said Christopher Barrett, who teaches development economics at Cornell University, New York, and is the co-author of the book, Food Aid After Fifty Years: Recasting Its Role.
"The sharp domestic political pressures that lead politicians to adopt such short-sighted and ultimately ineffective policies as export restrictions and export taxes will likely trump the gentle diplomatic pressure of UN member states," he commented.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Giving hope to Haiti's children
from the Curry Pilot
A story of a US family taking in children from Haiti.The McMillan family children look forward to meeting their new brother and sister.
By Marjorie Woodfin
Why would a Brookings couple with four young children of their own, living in modest financial circumstances, travel to Haiti to adopt of two Haitian children?
"It's about Haiti. They need help, the children need help, and there is no hope. The only hope for the children comes from adoption," said Clinton McMillan.
"We have a heart to be a voice for children," added Clinton's wife, Emma.
There are millions of children around the world who are victims of child trafficking and worse, but Emma said she and her husband chose to adopt Haitian children because there are approximately one million orphans in Haiti, which is the poorest country in the Western world – and it is only a 90-minute flight from Miami.
The McMillans moved to Brookings from Crete when Clinton was separated from the military in November 2000. He currently works at Pelican Bay Prison. Emma is the director of the Haven of Hope women's shelter on Chetco Avenue.
"Children in Haiti are treated worse than animals," Emma said. She said Haiti doesn't have a nurturing society and children are considered an undervalued commodity, to buy and to sell. She said, "African babies are swaddled by mothers, but you don't see mothers carrying infants in Haiti."
The adoption process has been frustrating and sometimes frightening, but also rewarding. Emma said the unstable administrative process in Haiti means it will take 12 months or more before they can adopt two children and bring them to America.
The couple have seen evidence of children procured illegally for $300 within 10 hours, but she said it will cost them at least $25,000 to legally adopt the two children they now consider part of their family and call their own: 5-year-old daughter Lovley Destiny McMillan, and 3-year-old son Maicourely Justice McMillan. The middle and last names will be added at the time of the adoption.
This spring the McMillans traveled to Haiti to meet their new children. E
Emma said, "On May 14 we drove away from home down our country road. I remember telling Clinton, ‘The next time we drive down this road we will be changed people.' He nodded in agreement, with a contemplative look on his face."
Their first impression of Haiti? Incredible poverty.
"When we got off the plane we saw poverty," Emma said. "I have seen a lot of poverty, but it was a horrific drive for hours; miles and miles without a break in the poverty. We had to have a driver… it's not a safe environment for a tourist."
Prior to their trip to Haiti, the McMillans found Lovley and Maicourely in an orphan village run by a woman from the U.S. Emma said that in the village 30 to 40 children are cared for in 10 small adjoining houses with a nanny in each house.
Clinton and Emma were able to take the two children for several days. She said that the children were fascinated when they saw the bathroom in the motel with running water and a flushing toilet.
They also had an opportunity to spend one day in a part of Haiti that is the complete opposite of the extreme poverty seen on most of the island, Wahoo Beach. Emma said it is a paradise, and one of the most expensive vacation spots she has seen.
The 10-hour drive on roads filled with potholes and frightening traffic, with windows down in the 95-degree heat, left them so soot-covered and dirty-faced that they had to take two showers.
Other impressions of Haiti beside the desolation, poverty and hopelessness, were $8 per gallon gasoline and a day's pay between $1 and $2. Add to that mosquitoes, heat, and a country of dumps filled with goats running loose. Emma said the goats are not discouraged from eating garbage even when the trash is being burned, and watching the fire-eating goats is a Haitian spectator sport.
She said that so far God has provided the required $12,000 to proceed with the adoption, however they now need to raise another $8,000 within four months.
"I know God's going to provide it," Emma said. "My prayer is our kids will come here and we will love them and deposit enough love in them so that they can go back to their country one day to help their people. We will educate them about their country and their culture."
Clinton and Emma were right about their trip to Haiti: It was lifechanging.
Emma said, "Once back in Oregon, on the way back home we were driving down our country road in the middle of the night completely exhausted from our adventure, I looked over at Clinton and said, ‘I knew we'd be changed, I just didn't know it would be so much.'"
She said that they fell instantly in love with their Haitian children.
On the trip to Haiti in May they took approximately 150 pounds of donated items to the village, including children's toothbrushes, medical supplies, clothing, and other supplies donated by Dr. Richard Edmiston, Oak Street Health Care Center, and the Brookings Seventh Day Adventist Church.
Emma's photography, "Haiti, Her Beauty and Her Sorrows," will be displayed at the Seventh Day Adventist Church, 102 Park Ave., in August. Emma will be at the church from 4 to 7 p.m. Aug. 9 and is hoping Second Saturday Art walkers will find their way to the church to meet her, view her photographic art, and talk about Haiti.
Anyone who would like to contribute funds or items for the November trip is encouraged to contact Emma at mcmillan4him@yahoo.com.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A story of a US family taking in children from Haiti.The McMillan family children look forward to meeting their new brother and sister.
By Marjorie Woodfin
Why would a Brookings couple with four young children of their own, living in modest financial circumstances, travel to Haiti to adopt of two Haitian children?
"It's about Haiti. They need help, the children need help, and there is no hope. The only hope for the children comes from adoption," said Clinton McMillan.
"We have a heart to be a voice for children," added Clinton's wife, Emma.
There are millions of children around the world who are victims of child trafficking and worse, but Emma said she and her husband chose to adopt Haitian children because there are approximately one million orphans in Haiti, which is the poorest country in the Western world – and it is only a 90-minute flight from Miami.
The McMillans moved to Brookings from Crete when Clinton was separated from the military in November 2000. He currently works at Pelican Bay Prison. Emma is the director of the Haven of Hope women's shelter on Chetco Avenue.
"Children in Haiti are treated worse than animals," Emma said. She said Haiti doesn't have a nurturing society and children are considered an undervalued commodity, to buy and to sell. She said, "African babies are swaddled by mothers, but you don't see mothers carrying infants in Haiti."
The adoption process has been frustrating and sometimes frightening, but also rewarding. Emma said the unstable administrative process in Haiti means it will take 12 months or more before they can adopt two children and bring them to America.
The couple have seen evidence of children procured illegally for $300 within 10 hours, but she said it will cost them at least $25,000 to legally adopt the two children they now consider part of their family and call their own: 5-year-old daughter Lovley Destiny McMillan, and 3-year-old son Maicourely Justice McMillan. The middle and last names will be added at the time of the adoption.
This spring the McMillans traveled to Haiti to meet their new children. E
Emma said, "On May 14 we drove away from home down our country road. I remember telling Clinton, ‘The next time we drive down this road we will be changed people.' He nodded in agreement, with a contemplative look on his face."
Their first impression of Haiti? Incredible poverty.
"When we got off the plane we saw poverty," Emma said. "I have seen a lot of poverty, but it was a horrific drive for hours; miles and miles without a break in the poverty. We had to have a driver… it's not a safe environment for a tourist."
Prior to their trip to Haiti, the McMillans found Lovley and Maicourely in an orphan village run by a woman from the U.S. Emma said that in the village 30 to 40 children are cared for in 10 small adjoining houses with a nanny in each house.
Clinton and Emma were able to take the two children for several days. She said that the children were fascinated when they saw the bathroom in the motel with running water and a flushing toilet.
They also had an opportunity to spend one day in a part of Haiti that is the complete opposite of the extreme poverty seen on most of the island, Wahoo Beach. Emma said it is a paradise, and one of the most expensive vacation spots she has seen.
The 10-hour drive on roads filled with potholes and frightening traffic, with windows down in the 95-degree heat, left them so soot-covered and dirty-faced that they had to take two showers.
Other impressions of Haiti beside the desolation, poverty and hopelessness, were $8 per gallon gasoline and a day's pay between $1 and $2. Add to that mosquitoes, heat, and a country of dumps filled with goats running loose. Emma said the goats are not discouraged from eating garbage even when the trash is being burned, and watching the fire-eating goats is a Haitian spectator sport.
She said that so far God has provided the required $12,000 to proceed with the adoption, however they now need to raise another $8,000 within four months.
"I know God's going to provide it," Emma said. "My prayer is our kids will come here and we will love them and deposit enough love in them so that they can go back to their country one day to help their people. We will educate them about their country and their culture."
Clinton and Emma were right about their trip to Haiti: It was lifechanging.
Emma said, "Once back in Oregon, on the way back home we were driving down our country road in the middle of the night completely exhausted from our adventure, I looked over at Clinton and said, ‘I knew we'd be changed, I just didn't know it would be so much.'"
She said that they fell instantly in love with their Haitian children.
On the trip to Haiti in May they took approximately 150 pounds of donated items to the village, including children's toothbrushes, medical supplies, clothing, and other supplies donated by Dr. Richard Edmiston, Oak Street Health Care Center, and the Brookings Seventh Day Adventist Church.
Emma's photography, "Haiti, Her Beauty and Her Sorrows," will be displayed at the Seventh Day Adventist Church, 102 Park Ave., in August. Emma will be at the church from 4 to 7 p.m. Aug. 9 and is hoping Second Saturday Art walkers will find their way to the church to meet her, view her photographic art, and talk about Haiti.
Anyone who would like to contribute funds or items for the November trip is encouraged to contact Emma at mcmillan4him@yahoo.com.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Malaysian bank to help African nations with microcredit setup
from the New Straits Online
A Malaysian bank will help African nations in setting up microcredit schemes. The announcement was made at a conference for Asia and African countries. - Kale
BANK Negara Malaysia will assist interested African countries to come up with microcredit schemes under the Financial Inclusion Advisers (FIA) programme.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said BANK Negara would look for the best possible scheme for each of the nations interested.
"They will not necessarily follow the same scheme. Each scheme will be planned according to the respective country's needs and will be a long-term programme," he said.
Najib was speaking last night after the first day of dialogue proper at the Global Southern Africa International Dialogue (GSAID) at the Mulungushi Dialogue Centre.
On the dialogue itself, he said Malaysia was often spoken of as a model in the session.
He said this was because the participants were impressed with the country's national vision, microcredit scheme and infrastructural development.
"The participants and leaders of several of the countries reported that their national visions were on schedule. However, one thing important for them to note is that any national vision must be accepted by the people.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A Malaysian bank will help African nations in setting up microcredit schemes. The announcement was made at a conference for Asia and African countries. - Kale
BANK Negara Malaysia will assist interested African countries to come up with microcredit schemes under the Financial Inclusion Advisers (FIA) programme.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said BANK Negara would look for the best possible scheme for each of the nations interested.
"They will not necessarily follow the same scheme. Each scheme will be planned according to the respective country's needs and will be a long-term programme," he said.
Najib was speaking last night after the first day of dialogue proper at the Global Southern Africa International Dialogue (GSAID) at the Mulungushi Dialogue Centre.
On the dialogue itself, he said Malaysia was often spoken of as a model in the session.
He said this was because the participants were impressed with the country's national vision, microcredit scheme and infrastructural development.
"The participants and leaders of several of the countries reported that their national visions were on schedule. However, one thing important for them to note is that any national vision must be accepted by the people.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
WTO Talks collapse: in battle over farm aid
from the Washington Post
This story serves as an overview of this round of talks, and the issue that ended them. - Kale
By Anthony Faiola and Rama Lakshmi
International talks aimed at ushering in a new era of free trade collapsed in Geneva yesterday during a bitter split between developed and developing countries over the future shape of global commerce.
The failure of the talks after nine days of intense negotiations underscored what is likely to be the biggest challenge in coming years to expanding world trade: the reluctance of emerging juggernauts such as India and China to risk their newfound success by offering rich nations greater access to the hundreds of millions of consumers rising out of poverty in the developing world.
High-level delegations from the United States and the European Union showed fresh willingness at the World Trade Organization talks to make concessions that would have gradually curbed the subsidies and tariffs they have long employed to protect First World farmers. But India and China dug in their heels, insisting on the right to keep protecting their farmers while accusing the United States and other rich countries of exaggerating the generosity of their concessions.
"The breakdown of these talks is bad news for the world's businesses, workers, farmers and most importantly the poor," said Thomas J. Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "It's ironic that this blow . . . came from two of the chief beneficiaries of worldwide trade. India and China are emerging powers, but with great power comes great responsibility. They missed an opportunity to show leadership as key players in the global trading system."
The result is what most experts concede is at least a temporary mothballing of the Doha Round of trade talks, so named because a group of nations agreed to work toward dramatic new cuts in subsidies and trade tariffs in Qatar's capital, Doha, in 2001. The talks have floundered for the past seven years, with negotiations falling apart each time trade ministers have gathered to try to hash out an accord.
The WTO meeting of more than 35 nations in Geneva that ended yesterday had been described by officials as a "do or die" moment for the round, with the lack of agreement postponing the $50 billion to $100 billion injection such a deal was expected give the global economy. The sense that the failed talks may not get another chance anytime soon is linked to the pending exit of the pro-trade Bush administration, rising opposition to farm concessions in Europe and an upcoming changing of the guard of several key trade officials who have worked on this agreement for years.
Some analysts said the spread of free trade for now is likely to shift toward more modest bilateral agreements, or the expansion of regional trading blocs such as South America's Mercosur and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Yet even bilateral deals have recently faced stronger resistance during a growing global wave of protectionism, including in the United States, where free trade agreements with Colombia, South Korea and Panama are being held up by opposition in Congress.
"We are heading toward the fragmentation of the global trading system into individual trading blocs -- regional and bilateral -- which offer no guarantee for the economic benefits we have seen in the post-War era," said Randall Soderquist, senior trade program associate for the Center for Global Development.
The talks in Geneva at times took on a highly charged, personal tone that immediately cast the negotiations as a power struggle between the developed and developing worlds. Within 24 hours of landing in Geneva nine days ago, Brazil's foreign minister, Celso Amorim, infuriated First World negotiators, comparing their efforts to hype their proposed trade concessions to Nazi propaganda. His comments drew sharp reprimands, particularly from Washington's top negotiator, U.S. Trade Ambassador Susan C. Schwab, the daughter of Jewish Holocaust survivors.
Yet Brazil would later show far more flexibility than India or China, casting the Asian nations as the principle holdouts.
Schwab said negotiators were "so close" last week in reaching an agreement. But the talks fell apart over the insistence by developing nations to reserve the right to protect their farming sectors against sudden surges in cheap food imports. India's chief negotiator and commerce minister, Kamal Nath, may have played the biggest role in undoing the talks, repeatedly blocking attempts by developed nations to win greater access to India's burgeoning market.
Nath's inflexibility was cheered as heroic in India, where his refusal to offer major concessions to rich nations was being portrayed as a classic David vs. Goliath case.
"I kept saying 'No, I don't agree' at every point," Nath said in a telephone interview from Geneva yesterday. "I come from a country where 300 million people live on 1 dollar a day and 700 million people live on 2 dollars a day. So it is natural for me, and in fact incumbent upon me, to see that our agricultural interests are not compromised. You don't require rocket science to decide between livelihood security and commercial interests."
Opposition to the talks had been building in India since June, when 35 farmers groups from across that nation gathered at a conference in New Delhi to discuss the implications of the trade negotiations with trade and food policy activists. They called upon wealthy nations to remove their farm subsidies, saying such assistance to First World farmers denies a level playing field to subsistence-farming nations such as India.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This story serves as an overview of this round of talks, and the issue that ended them. - Kale
By Anthony Faiola and Rama Lakshmi
International talks aimed at ushering in a new era of free trade collapsed in Geneva yesterday during a bitter split between developed and developing countries over the future shape of global commerce.
The failure of the talks after nine days of intense negotiations underscored what is likely to be the biggest challenge in coming years to expanding world trade: the reluctance of emerging juggernauts such as India and China to risk their newfound success by offering rich nations greater access to the hundreds of millions of consumers rising out of poverty in the developing world.
High-level delegations from the United States and the European Union showed fresh willingness at the World Trade Organization talks to make concessions that would have gradually curbed the subsidies and tariffs they have long employed to protect First World farmers. But India and China dug in their heels, insisting on the right to keep protecting their farmers while accusing the United States and other rich countries of exaggerating the generosity of their concessions.
"The breakdown of these talks is bad news for the world's businesses, workers, farmers and most importantly the poor," said Thomas J. Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "It's ironic that this blow . . . came from two of the chief beneficiaries of worldwide trade. India and China are emerging powers, but with great power comes great responsibility. They missed an opportunity to show leadership as key players in the global trading system."
The result is what most experts concede is at least a temporary mothballing of the Doha Round of trade talks, so named because a group of nations agreed to work toward dramatic new cuts in subsidies and trade tariffs in Qatar's capital, Doha, in 2001. The talks have floundered for the past seven years, with negotiations falling apart each time trade ministers have gathered to try to hash out an accord.
The WTO meeting of more than 35 nations in Geneva that ended yesterday had been described by officials as a "do or die" moment for the round, with the lack of agreement postponing the $50 billion to $100 billion injection such a deal was expected give the global economy. The sense that the failed talks may not get another chance anytime soon is linked to the pending exit of the pro-trade Bush administration, rising opposition to farm concessions in Europe and an upcoming changing of the guard of several key trade officials who have worked on this agreement for years.
Some analysts said the spread of free trade for now is likely to shift toward more modest bilateral agreements, or the expansion of regional trading blocs such as South America's Mercosur and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Yet even bilateral deals have recently faced stronger resistance during a growing global wave of protectionism, including in the United States, where free trade agreements with Colombia, South Korea and Panama are being held up by opposition in Congress.
"We are heading toward the fragmentation of the global trading system into individual trading blocs -- regional and bilateral -- which offer no guarantee for the economic benefits we have seen in the post-War era," said Randall Soderquist, senior trade program associate for the Center for Global Development.
The talks in Geneva at times took on a highly charged, personal tone that immediately cast the negotiations as a power struggle between the developed and developing worlds. Within 24 hours of landing in Geneva nine days ago, Brazil's foreign minister, Celso Amorim, infuriated First World negotiators, comparing their efforts to hype their proposed trade concessions to Nazi propaganda. His comments drew sharp reprimands, particularly from Washington's top negotiator, U.S. Trade Ambassador Susan C. Schwab, the daughter of Jewish Holocaust survivors.
Yet Brazil would later show far more flexibility than India or China, casting the Asian nations as the principle holdouts.
Schwab said negotiators were "so close" last week in reaching an agreement. But the talks fell apart over the insistence by developing nations to reserve the right to protect their farming sectors against sudden surges in cheap food imports. India's chief negotiator and commerce minister, Kamal Nath, may have played the biggest role in undoing the talks, repeatedly blocking attempts by developed nations to win greater access to India's burgeoning market.
Nath's inflexibility was cheered as heroic in India, where his refusal to offer major concessions to rich nations was being portrayed as a classic David vs. Goliath case.
"I kept saying 'No, I don't agree' at every point," Nath said in a telephone interview from Geneva yesterday. "I come from a country where 300 million people live on 1 dollar a day and 700 million people live on 2 dollars a day. So it is natural for me, and in fact incumbent upon me, to see that our agricultural interests are not compromised. You don't require rocket science to decide between livelihood security and commercial interests."
Opposition to the talks had been building in India since June, when 35 farmers groups from across that nation gathered at a conference in New Delhi to discuss the implications of the trade negotiations with trade and food policy activists. They called upon wealthy nations to remove their farm subsidies, saying such assistance to First World farmers denies a level playing field to subsistence-farming nations such as India.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
WTO talks collapse: Reaction from World Leaders
from the Raw Story
Here is another story on the WTO talks collapse. This story gathers reaction from leaders across the globe. - Kale
World powers reeled with regret and emotion on Wednesday from the collapse of WTO negotiations for a global trade pact, warning that the poorest countries would suffer.
"It is particularly distressing for us that we find ourselves without an agreement today," US Trade Representative Susan Schwab told a news conference, as delegates reviewed the wreckage of nine days of talks.
She lamented that tense talks had broken down on deadlock over special import tariff measures, after certain countries rejected WTO proposals.
"It would have worked, and yet there were others who demanded more. and more included a tool to close markets," Schwab said, without naming names.
Delegates who went into many late nights in an attempt to reach a deal affecting the lives of populations around the globe, said that deadlock had centred on a row between the United States and India over tariffs.
Kenya's trade minister meanwhile warned that the breakdown of talks "gravely undermined" efforts by African countries to fight poverty.
Ministers had struggled for nine days to reach consensus on subsidy levels and import tariffs for a new deal under the WTO's Doha Round, which has foundered repeatedly since it was launched seven years ago.
Delegates said negotiations stumbled on proposals for so-called SSM measures to protect poor farmers that would have imposed a special tariff on certain agricultural goods in the event of an import surge or price fall.
"Africa's opportunity to achieve fair trade has... been gravely undermined by the lack of progress in these negotiations," the minister, Uhuru Kenyatta, told a news conference, speaking on behalf of a grouping of African countries at the World Trade Organization talks here.
"Africa critically needs to realise development and get itself out of poverty through the establishment of fair trade rather than aid," he said.
Several delegates hoped on Tuesday for further moves to salvage the negotiating process in light of progress that had raised spirits over the weekend. But momentum seemed to have ground to a halt.
"It's extremely difficult to find words to express the disappointment," said EU Commissioner Mariann Fischer-Boel in an emotional address on Tuesday. "It's a truly sad day for the developing countries that had so much to gain."
"We will need to let the dust settle a bit," the World Trade Organization's Director-General Pascal Lamy said. "WTO members will need to have a sober look at if and how they bring the pieces back together."
The world's economic superpower, the United States, and India, one of the world's biggest emerging economies, were sharply divided over the SSM -- the special safeguard mechanism.
"I feel very disappointed that this had to be left unresolved in the last miles," India's Commerce Minister Kamal Nath told reporters. "It's unfortunate that in a developing round, the last miles we couldn't run" due to the SSM.
India and other developing countries wanted the mechanism to kick in at a lower import surge level than has been proposed in order to protect their millions of poor farmers from starvation. Nath said that about 100 developing nations backed his position.
Others wanted it to take effect at a higher rate so as not to hurt exporters.
Ministers avoided publicly pointing the finger of blame. European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said on Tuesday that the collapse was a "collective failure."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Here is another story on the WTO talks collapse. This story gathers reaction from leaders across the globe. - Kale
World powers reeled with regret and emotion on Wednesday from the collapse of WTO negotiations for a global trade pact, warning that the poorest countries would suffer.
"It is particularly distressing for us that we find ourselves without an agreement today," US Trade Representative Susan Schwab told a news conference, as delegates reviewed the wreckage of nine days of talks.
She lamented that tense talks had broken down on deadlock over special import tariff measures, after certain countries rejected WTO proposals.
"It would have worked, and yet there were others who demanded more. and more included a tool to close markets," Schwab said, without naming names.
Delegates who went into many late nights in an attempt to reach a deal affecting the lives of populations around the globe, said that deadlock had centred on a row between the United States and India over tariffs.
Kenya's trade minister meanwhile warned that the breakdown of talks "gravely undermined" efforts by African countries to fight poverty.
Ministers had struggled for nine days to reach consensus on subsidy levels and import tariffs for a new deal under the WTO's Doha Round, which has foundered repeatedly since it was launched seven years ago.
Delegates said negotiations stumbled on proposals for so-called SSM measures to protect poor farmers that would have imposed a special tariff on certain agricultural goods in the event of an import surge or price fall.
"Africa's opportunity to achieve fair trade has... been gravely undermined by the lack of progress in these negotiations," the minister, Uhuru Kenyatta, told a news conference, speaking on behalf of a grouping of African countries at the World Trade Organization talks here.
"Africa critically needs to realise development and get itself out of poverty through the establishment of fair trade rather than aid," he said.
Several delegates hoped on Tuesday for further moves to salvage the negotiating process in light of progress that had raised spirits over the weekend. But momentum seemed to have ground to a halt.
"It's extremely difficult to find words to express the disappointment," said EU Commissioner Mariann Fischer-Boel in an emotional address on Tuesday. "It's a truly sad day for the developing countries that had so much to gain."
"We will need to let the dust settle a bit," the World Trade Organization's Director-General Pascal Lamy said. "WTO members will need to have a sober look at if and how they bring the pieces back together."
The world's economic superpower, the United States, and India, one of the world's biggest emerging economies, were sharply divided over the SSM -- the special safeguard mechanism.
"I feel very disappointed that this had to be left unresolved in the last miles," India's Commerce Minister Kamal Nath told reporters. "It's unfortunate that in a developing round, the last miles we couldn't run" due to the SSM.
India and other developing countries wanted the mechanism to kick in at a lower import surge level than has been proposed in order to protect their millions of poor farmers from starvation. Nath said that about 100 developing nations backed his position.
Others wanted it to take effect at a higher rate so as not to hurt exporters.
Ministers avoided publicly pointing the finger of blame. European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said on Tuesday that the collapse was a "collective failure."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
WTO talks collapse: a reaction on how it effects Africa
from AFP via Google
The WTO talks have collapsed due to an arguement between India and the US. Here is a reaction on how the absence of an agreement will effect Africa. - Kale
GENEVA — The breakdown of talks on a world trade pact has "gravely undermined" efforts by African countries to fight poverty, Kenya's trade minister warned on Wednesday.
"Africa's opportunity to achieve fair trade has... been gravely undermined by the lack of progress in these negotiations," the minister, Uhuru Kenyatta, told a news conference, speaking on behalf of a grouping of African countries at the World Trade Organization talks here.
"Africa critically needs to realise development and get itself out of poverty through the establishment of fair trade rather than aid," he said.
"Most of the key issues of interest to the African continent were not even discussed, especially the issue of cotton."
WTO Director-General announced on Tuesday that the latest negotiations for a much-delayed trade liberalisation deal under the so-called Doha Round had broken down after nine days due to unresolved differences.
Delegates said the deaddlock centred on a row between the United States and India over special tariff measures to protect poor farmers from surging imports or price falls.
The WTO talks have collapsed due to an arguement between India and the US. Here is a reaction on how the absence of an agreement will effect Africa. - Kale
GENEVA — The breakdown of talks on a world trade pact has "gravely undermined" efforts by African countries to fight poverty, Kenya's trade minister warned on Wednesday.
"Africa's opportunity to achieve fair trade has... been gravely undermined by the lack of progress in these negotiations," the minister, Uhuru Kenyatta, told a news conference, speaking on behalf of a grouping of African countries at the World Trade Organization talks here.
"Africa critically needs to realise development and get itself out of poverty through the establishment of fair trade rather than aid," he said.
"Most of the key issues of interest to the African continent were not even discussed, especially the issue of cotton."
WTO Director-General announced on Tuesday that the latest negotiations for a much-delayed trade liberalisation deal under the so-called Doha Round had broken down after nine days due to unresolved differences.
Delegates said the deaddlock centred on a row between the United States and India over special tariff measures to protect poor farmers from surging imports or price falls.
Physician who led launch of Head Start dies
from the Boston Globe
Dr Julius Richmond passed away Sunday. His obit provides some history on how the Head Start program started in the United States. - Kale
Served as surgeon general in Carter administration
By Bryan Marquard,
Poverty undercuts the ability of the young to learn, Dr. Julius B. Richmond realized during research nearly half a century ago, and he drew from his findings to launch Project Head Start, a federal program that has helped millions of children since its inception in 1965.
"It really is a remarkable legacy to his career how many graduates of Head Start programs there are all over the country who have benefited from early-childhood care and education," said Allan Brandt, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University.
Dr. Richmond, who also served as US surgeon general under President Carter, died in his Chestnut Hill home Sunday. He was 91 and as recently as May was still spending a few hours each day in his office at Harvard, where he was a professor emeritus, despite having been diagnosed with cancer a few years ago.
"Jimmy and I are saddened to learn of the loss of our dear friend and colleague, Dr. Julius Richmond," Rosalynn Carter said in a statement issued yesterday. "Julie was a wonderful and compassionate champion in the fight to improve health, mental health, and educational opportunities for our nation's children. All Americans have benefited from his decades of leadership in advancing the healthcare needs of our country."
In a career that ranged from serving as a flight surgeon in the Army Air Corps during World War II to the US surgeon general from 1977 to 1981, Dr. Richmond left few areas of medicine untouched - including some that engendered public controversy.
While the health and well-being of the nation's children were a focus all his life, he also issued a key report in 1979 that set quantitative benchmarks for public health. And Dr. Richmond waded into the legal battles involving the tobacco industry during the 1990s when he was the lead-off witness in a class-action lawsuit brought by flight attendants who believed their health was compromised by secondhand smoke.
In 1979, he issued a memo ending the policy that allowed US quarantine officers to detain those arriving from foreign countries who they believed were gay or lesbian on the grounds that their sexual orientation was the product of a mental disease or defect. And the following year, he announced that the government had approved plans to let cancer specialists prescribe synthetic marijuana pills to control nausea and vomiting for patients undergoing chemotherapy.
Even at 90, Dr. Richmond was weighing in on national medical issues, decrying the absence of universal health coverage.
"The financiers don't want government intervention," Dr. Richmond told the Globe in October 2006. "It's such an embarrassment that I think the issue will resurface, but it's difficult for the political figures in Washington to formulate a plan."
The intersection of public need, political will, and public policy was something Dr. Richmond thought about frequently.
"He often used three variables to describe the most significant elements of public policy," Brandt said. "He would ask, 'Do we know enough; what's the knowledge base?' Then he would ask, 'Is there the political will to apply what we know?' Then he would ask, 'Do we have a social strategy to bring the knowledge and the politics together in a productive way?' He was a great analytic thinker and was always thinking about what we need to do to improve a particular situation."
Dr. Richmond grew up in rural Illinois and for a time worked on a sheep farm during the Depression. When the time came for college, he considered both medicine and animal husbandry.
"I chose people," he told the Globe in October 2006.
He studied at the University of Illinois campuses in Urbana and Chicago, receiving bachelor's and master's degrees. In 1939, he received a medical degree from what is now the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago.
"He was a very compassionate and thoughtful guy who really had a remarkable life," Chuck Richmond of Indianapolis said of his father. "He was the son of Russian immigrants who rose to be the nation's chief health officer, and he was always wholly supportive - first and foremost - of his family and extended family. And he really took great pride in mentoring young colleagues, which made his extended family quite a huge one."
Dr. Richmond began expanding his extended professional family the moment he was out of school, entering pediatrics residencies and postgraduate training that was interrupted by World War II. After the war, he taught at his alma mater and in New York State at what is now Upstate Medical University in Syracuse.
He went to work for the Johnson administration in the mid-1960s and was the first director of what was then called Project Head Start.
In 1967, he went back to Syracuse, where he was dean of the medical faculty, and left four years later to join the faculty at Harvard Medical School.
While teaching there he also served as chief of psychiatry at what was then Children's Hospital Medical Center and also was director of Judge Baker Children's Center, a Harvard Medical School affiliate that works to improve the lives of children with mental health problems.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Dr Julius Richmond passed away Sunday. His obit provides some history on how the Head Start program started in the United States. - Kale
Served as surgeon general in Carter administration
By Bryan Marquard,
Poverty undercuts the ability of the young to learn, Dr. Julius B. Richmond realized during research nearly half a century ago, and he drew from his findings to launch Project Head Start, a federal program that has helped millions of children since its inception in 1965.
"It really is a remarkable legacy to his career how many graduates of Head Start programs there are all over the country who have benefited from early-childhood care and education," said Allan Brandt, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University.
Dr. Richmond, who also served as US surgeon general under President Carter, died in his Chestnut Hill home Sunday. He was 91 and as recently as May was still spending a few hours each day in his office at Harvard, where he was a professor emeritus, despite having been diagnosed with cancer a few years ago.
"Jimmy and I are saddened to learn of the loss of our dear friend and colleague, Dr. Julius Richmond," Rosalynn Carter said in a statement issued yesterday. "Julie was a wonderful and compassionate champion in the fight to improve health, mental health, and educational opportunities for our nation's children. All Americans have benefited from his decades of leadership in advancing the healthcare needs of our country."
In a career that ranged from serving as a flight surgeon in the Army Air Corps during World War II to the US surgeon general from 1977 to 1981, Dr. Richmond left few areas of medicine untouched - including some that engendered public controversy.
While the health and well-being of the nation's children were a focus all his life, he also issued a key report in 1979 that set quantitative benchmarks for public health. And Dr. Richmond waded into the legal battles involving the tobacco industry during the 1990s when he was the lead-off witness in a class-action lawsuit brought by flight attendants who believed their health was compromised by secondhand smoke.
In 1979, he issued a memo ending the policy that allowed US quarantine officers to detain those arriving from foreign countries who they believed were gay or lesbian on the grounds that their sexual orientation was the product of a mental disease or defect. And the following year, he announced that the government had approved plans to let cancer specialists prescribe synthetic marijuana pills to control nausea and vomiting for patients undergoing chemotherapy.
Even at 90, Dr. Richmond was weighing in on national medical issues, decrying the absence of universal health coverage.
"The financiers don't want government intervention," Dr. Richmond told the Globe in October 2006. "It's such an embarrassment that I think the issue will resurface, but it's difficult for the political figures in Washington to formulate a plan."
The intersection of public need, political will, and public policy was something Dr. Richmond thought about frequently.
"He often used three variables to describe the most significant elements of public policy," Brandt said. "He would ask, 'Do we know enough; what's the knowledge base?' Then he would ask, 'Is there the political will to apply what we know?' Then he would ask, 'Do we have a social strategy to bring the knowledge and the politics together in a productive way?' He was a great analytic thinker and was always thinking about what we need to do to improve a particular situation."
Dr. Richmond grew up in rural Illinois and for a time worked on a sheep farm during the Depression. When the time came for college, he considered both medicine and animal husbandry.
"I chose people," he told the Globe in October 2006.
He studied at the University of Illinois campuses in Urbana and Chicago, receiving bachelor's and master's degrees. In 1939, he received a medical degree from what is now the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago.
"He was a very compassionate and thoughtful guy who really had a remarkable life," Chuck Richmond of Indianapolis said of his father. "He was the son of Russian immigrants who rose to be the nation's chief health officer, and he was always wholly supportive - first and foremost - of his family and extended family. And he really took great pride in mentoring young colleagues, which made his extended family quite a huge one."
Dr. Richmond began expanding his extended professional family the moment he was out of school, entering pediatrics residencies and postgraduate training that was interrupted by World War II. After the war, he taught at his alma mater and in New York State at what is now Upstate Medical University in Syracuse.
He went to work for the Johnson administration in the mid-1960s and was the first director of what was then called Project Head Start.
In 1967, he went back to Syracuse, where he was dean of the medical faculty, and left four years later to join the faculty at Harvard Medical School.
While teaching there he also served as chief of psychiatry at what was then Children's Hospital Medical Center and also was director of Judge Baker Children's Center, a Harvard Medical School affiliate that works to improve the lives of children with mental health problems.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Nigeria behind on meeting NDG's
from Guardian Newspapers
This is an examination of the factors that make it difficult for Nigeria to meet the Millennium Development Goals. It blames corrupt government for not using oil proceeds to benefit all of Nigeria. - Kale
By Bukky Olajide
THE achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 will require a need for countries to grow their respective economies especially in education and health sectors.
MDGS, a programme designed to halve the proportion of poor people in the world to be achievable between 1990 and 2015, has influenced development benchmarks around the world, with nation's evolving various strategies to achieve the goals.
It is a programme by which all countries of the world, rich and poor have agreed to participate.
The MDGs, as it is, addresses those issues that are common to all nations especially in the areas of health and healthy habits.
Therefore, apart from the fact that achieving MDGs by countries would require an open, rule-based global economy, it will also require the cooperation of member countries in the areas of good governance that will translate into a sound national economy.
The 2008 World Development Indicators (WDI) a publication of the World Bank in conjunction with its numerous partners recognises governance as the performance of public officials and the quality of government institutions as an important determinant of development success.
But to understand how governance, good or bad affects development, it must be measured, said the World Bank, in ways that are sensible to politicians, citizens and others responsible for improving governance.
Therefore, the World Bank defines governance as the way public officials and institutions acquire and exercise authority to provide public goods and services, including education, health care, infrastructure and a sound investment climate.
Accordingly, bad governance is often equated with corruption, as corruption is the abuse of public office for private gain and is an outcome of poor governance, reflecting the breakdown of accountability.
Talking about types of governance indicator, the report examines rules indicators that attempt to establish the presence or absence of rules and processes.
That is, whether countries have laws guaranteeing the right to information, whether they have independent anti-corruption commissions and whether budget documents are published.
For instance, bad governance also includes long time required to resolve dispute in court, inability to provide security against crime and inefficiency of the tax system.
However, the WDI reasons that many countries of the sub-Saharan Africa might not be able to achieve the MDGs because poverty rates still remain above 40 per cent, raising concerns of widening inequalities among regions.
In the last decade, said the report, poverty reduction was not always commensurate with income growth, saying that in most low income economies and regions, inequality worsened, as poor people did not reap the fruits of economic expansion, lacking opportunities to do so.
The report observed that in working towards the achievement of the MDGs, the worst performers include a large number of sub-Saharan countries.
The World Bank also observed that great public spending is not associated with better outcome in these countries and this has resulted in the impoverishment of citizens.
According to the report, while poverty is a static concept, vulnerability is a dynamic one. Vulnerability reflects a household's resilience in the face of shocks and the likelihood that a shock will lead to a decline in well being.
Thus, depending primarily on the household's asset endowment and insurance mechanism, usually, poor people have fewer assets and less diversified sources of income than the better off, therefore, fluctuations in income affect them more.
And this is where microfinance comes in: Enhancing security for poor people means reducing their vulnerability to such risks as ill-health, providing them the means to manage risk themselves and strengthening market or public institutions for managing risks.
The tools include microfinance programmes, old age assistance and pensions and public provision of education and basic health care.
Achieving the MDGs also involves participating in international treaties on environmental issues.
According to the report, in many countries, efforts to halt environmental degradation have failed primarily because many governments have neglected to make this issue a priority.
The World Bank also stresses a direct relationship between governance and growth arguing that a determining factor in development was the effectiveness of the state concerning infrastructure, the report notes that the quality of an economy's infrastructure, including the power and communications, is an important element in investments decisions for both domestic and foreign investors.
Therefore, for instance, an economy's production and consumption of electricity is a basic indicator of its size and level of development.
Expanding the supply of electricity to meet the growing demand of increasingly urbanised and industrialised economies without incurring unacceptable social, economic and environmental costs is one of the greatest challenges facing developing countries.
Also, the report states that while access is the key to delivering telecommunication services to people, if that service is not affordable to most people, then goals of universal usage will not be met.
Concerning environmental sustainability the report adds that access to improved water sources and emissions of carbon dioxide are among the indicators that the international community uses to monitor progress toward environmental sustainability.
According to the report, economic activity, agriculture and industry in particular with human needs for access to water sources. But greater wealth and urbanisation allow more of the population to connect to safe drinking water networks.
Also, since diseases an environmental degradation do not respect national boundaries, access to reliable supplies of safe drinking water and sanitary disposal of excreta are two of the most important means of improving human health and protecting the environment.
On taxation, the report classifies taxes in six major groups; namely, income, profits and capital gains, pay roll and workforce, property, goods and services, international trade and transactions and other taxes.
Rich countries, however, rely more on direct taxes believing that direct taxes tend to be progressive, while indirect taxes are proportional.
Direct taxes are taxes levied on the income and profits of individuals and corporations while taxes and duties levied on goods and services are classified as indirect taxes.
On the enterprises surveys of investment climate, the report states that improving government policies and behaviours is a key to shaping the investment climate because they are influential in driving growth and poverty reduction.
According to the report, firms in developing countries have constraints in policy uncertainty, which measures the credibility of governments and their policies and the ability to deliver on promises.
Corruption -the exploitation of public office for private gain -can harm the investment climate in several ways as it can distort policy making, undermine government credibility, tax entrepreneurial activities and divert resources from public coffers," the report states.
"Robbery, fraud and other crimes against property and against the person undermine the investment climate," the report states.
It, however, states that most countries have room to improve regulation and taxation without compromising broader social interests.
Therefore, the investment climate is harmed when government impose unnecessary costs, by increasing uncertainty and risk by erecting unjustified barriers to competition.
Improvements in the tax system may include broadening the tax base, simplifying tax structures, increasing the autonomy of tax agencies and improving compliance through computerisation.
According to the report, when financial markets work well, they connect firms to lenders and investors, which allow firms to seize business opportunities and grow their businesses.
But too often, it says government distortions introduced by state ownership or directed credit undermines financial sector development, productivity and economic growth.
Looking at the world by income, Nigeria is classified among the low-income group.
In Nigeria, economic growth, which should be a distinct indication of development, has not yielded positive results. The porous and lopsided system has not allowed the poor people to enjoy the fruits of the country's abundant natural resources.
While Nigeria is a nation with enormous resources and possibilities, it was driven into poverty and wretchedness, because it lacked leaders to put these resources into good use.
Nigeria is in this sorry state because of the fact that right from inception, the leaders have formed the habit of diverting the huge earnings of oil into private pockets.
With every opportunity to make lives easier for the citizens because of the huge resources at their disposal, the successive Nigerian leaders did not undertake industry-based projects that would have freed the country from the shackles of imported goods.
And when they establish such good projects, they are never executed to the level of completion as successive governments keep on deviating from the projects initiated by the previous governments, thereby leading to a waste of abundant resources.
Speaking recently on governance, a former vice president of African Development Bank (ADB), Mr. Bisi Ogunjobi observed that there was a strong correction between the quality of a country's governance and the success in achieving growth and improving the quality of life of the population.
Ogunjobi said that good governance was used in a generic sense to encompass the quality of leadership in its capacity to govern effectively, the consistency of policies and the efficiency of institutions in providing qualitative public good and social services for the majority of citizens.
Therefore, he said, good governance must at the minimum, include accountability of those in government to the governed, transparency, due process and rule of law as well as a political system that allows for popular participation in the decision making process of selecting the leaders.
"Failure to meet these principles results in corruption and mismanagement of national and public resources as well as political exclusion leading to inability," he said.
Talking about corruption, the former vice president said that corruption symbolised a breakdown of ethical and moral values of systems and institutions of government.
According to Ogunjobi, corrupt practices take many forms, including embezzlement of public funds, theft or illegal use of public property, bribery of official to obtain favours, state or regulatory capture by private firms and bribery to influence procurement decisions.
"Corruption has devastating effects on the productive use of resources and economic development. It violates public trust and corrodes social capital while having far reaching effects on the allocation of resources and hinders service delivery. Corruption undermines the authority of state," he said.
Strangely enough, he said further that the phenomenon of corruption in Nigeria was aided in view of the incidence of high level of corruption by the leaders that combine abuse of office with greed and insatiable acquisitive appetite.
Ogunjobi said further that corruption created uncertainty about the rules and regulation of business, leading to poor economic environment for investment, while it hurts the poor in society by increasing the cost of service.
According to him, corruption also depressed economic growth, resorting in further limiting economic opportunities, encouraged lawlessness and organised crime eroded the moral and ethical standards of society and engendered social exclusion and marginalisation which led to regional conflicts.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This is an examination of the factors that make it difficult for Nigeria to meet the Millennium Development Goals. It blames corrupt government for not using oil proceeds to benefit all of Nigeria. - Kale
By Bukky Olajide
THE achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 will require a need for countries to grow their respective economies especially in education and health sectors.
MDGS, a programme designed to halve the proportion of poor people in the world to be achievable between 1990 and 2015, has influenced development benchmarks around the world, with nation's evolving various strategies to achieve the goals.
It is a programme by which all countries of the world, rich and poor have agreed to participate.
The MDGs, as it is, addresses those issues that are common to all nations especially in the areas of health and healthy habits.
Therefore, apart from the fact that achieving MDGs by countries would require an open, rule-based global economy, it will also require the cooperation of member countries in the areas of good governance that will translate into a sound national economy.
The 2008 World Development Indicators (WDI) a publication of the World Bank in conjunction with its numerous partners recognises governance as the performance of public officials and the quality of government institutions as an important determinant of development success.
But to understand how governance, good or bad affects development, it must be measured, said the World Bank, in ways that are sensible to politicians, citizens and others responsible for improving governance.
Therefore, the World Bank defines governance as the way public officials and institutions acquire and exercise authority to provide public goods and services, including education, health care, infrastructure and a sound investment climate.
Accordingly, bad governance is often equated with corruption, as corruption is the abuse of public office for private gain and is an outcome of poor governance, reflecting the breakdown of accountability.
Talking about types of governance indicator, the report examines rules indicators that attempt to establish the presence or absence of rules and processes.
That is, whether countries have laws guaranteeing the right to information, whether they have independent anti-corruption commissions and whether budget documents are published.
For instance, bad governance also includes long time required to resolve dispute in court, inability to provide security against crime and inefficiency of the tax system.
However, the WDI reasons that many countries of the sub-Saharan Africa might not be able to achieve the MDGs because poverty rates still remain above 40 per cent, raising concerns of widening inequalities among regions.
In the last decade, said the report, poverty reduction was not always commensurate with income growth, saying that in most low income economies and regions, inequality worsened, as poor people did not reap the fruits of economic expansion, lacking opportunities to do so.
The report observed that in working towards the achievement of the MDGs, the worst performers include a large number of sub-Saharan countries.
The World Bank also observed that great public spending is not associated with better outcome in these countries and this has resulted in the impoverishment of citizens.
According to the report, while poverty is a static concept, vulnerability is a dynamic one. Vulnerability reflects a household's resilience in the face of shocks and the likelihood that a shock will lead to a decline in well being.
Thus, depending primarily on the household's asset endowment and insurance mechanism, usually, poor people have fewer assets and less diversified sources of income than the better off, therefore, fluctuations in income affect them more.
And this is where microfinance comes in: Enhancing security for poor people means reducing their vulnerability to such risks as ill-health, providing them the means to manage risk themselves and strengthening market or public institutions for managing risks.
The tools include microfinance programmes, old age assistance and pensions and public provision of education and basic health care.
Achieving the MDGs also involves participating in international treaties on environmental issues.
According to the report, in many countries, efforts to halt environmental degradation have failed primarily because many governments have neglected to make this issue a priority.
The World Bank also stresses a direct relationship between governance and growth arguing that a determining factor in development was the effectiveness of the state concerning infrastructure, the report notes that the quality of an economy's infrastructure, including the power and communications, is an important element in investments decisions for both domestic and foreign investors.
Therefore, for instance, an economy's production and consumption of electricity is a basic indicator of its size and level of development.
Expanding the supply of electricity to meet the growing demand of increasingly urbanised and industrialised economies without incurring unacceptable social, economic and environmental costs is one of the greatest challenges facing developing countries.
Also, the report states that while access is the key to delivering telecommunication services to people, if that service is not affordable to most people, then goals of universal usage will not be met.
Concerning environmental sustainability the report adds that access to improved water sources and emissions of carbon dioxide are among the indicators that the international community uses to monitor progress toward environmental sustainability.
According to the report, economic activity, agriculture and industry in particular with human needs for access to water sources. But greater wealth and urbanisation allow more of the population to connect to safe drinking water networks.
Also, since diseases an environmental degradation do not respect national boundaries, access to reliable supplies of safe drinking water and sanitary disposal of excreta are two of the most important means of improving human health and protecting the environment.
On taxation, the report classifies taxes in six major groups; namely, income, profits and capital gains, pay roll and workforce, property, goods and services, international trade and transactions and other taxes.
Rich countries, however, rely more on direct taxes believing that direct taxes tend to be progressive, while indirect taxes are proportional.
Direct taxes are taxes levied on the income and profits of individuals and corporations while taxes and duties levied on goods and services are classified as indirect taxes.
On the enterprises surveys of investment climate, the report states that improving government policies and behaviours is a key to shaping the investment climate because they are influential in driving growth and poverty reduction.
According to the report, firms in developing countries have constraints in policy uncertainty, which measures the credibility of governments and their policies and the ability to deliver on promises.
Corruption -the exploitation of public office for private gain -can harm the investment climate in several ways as it can distort policy making, undermine government credibility, tax entrepreneurial activities and divert resources from public coffers," the report states.
"Robbery, fraud and other crimes against property and against the person undermine the investment climate," the report states.
It, however, states that most countries have room to improve regulation and taxation without compromising broader social interests.
Therefore, the investment climate is harmed when government impose unnecessary costs, by increasing uncertainty and risk by erecting unjustified barriers to competition.
Improvements in the tax system may include broadening the tax base, simplifying tax structures, increasing the autonomy of tax agencies and improving compliance through computerisation.
According to the report, when financial markets work well, they connect firms to lenders and investors, which allow firms to seize business opportunities and grow their businesses.
But too often, it says government distortions introduced by state ownership or directed credit undermines financial sector development, productivity and economic growth.
Looking at the world by income, Nigeria is classified among the low-income group.
In Nigeria, economic growth, which should be a distinct indication of development, has not yielded positive results. The porous and lopsided system has not allowed the poor people to enjoy the fruits of the country's abundant natural resources.
While Nigeria is a nation with enormous resources and possibilities, it was driven into poverty and wretchedness, because it lacked leaders to put these resources into good use.
Nigeria is in this sorry state because of the fact that right from inception, the leaders have formed the habit of diverting the huge earnings of oil into private pockets.
With every opportunity to make lives easier for the citizens because of the huge resources at their disposal, the successive Nigerian leaders did not undertake industry-based projects that would have freed the country from the shackles of imported goods.
And when they establish such good projects, they are never executed to the level of completion as successive governments keep on deviating from the projects initiated by the previous governments, thereby leading to a waste of abundant resources.
Speaking recently on governance, a former vice president of African Development Bank (ADB), Mr. Bisi Ogunjobi observed that there was a strong correction between the quality of a country's governance and the success in achieving growth and improving the quality of life of the population.
Ogunjobi said that good governance was used in a generic sense to encompass the quality of leadership in its capacity to govern effectively, the consistency of policies and the efficiency of institutions in providing qualitative public good and social services for the majority of citizens.
Therefore, he said, good governance must at the minimum, include accountability of those in government to the governed, transparency, due process and rule of law as well as a political system that allows for popular participation in the decision making process of selecting the leaders.
"Failure to meet these principles results in corruption and mismanagement of national and public resources as well as political exclusion leading to inability," he said.
Talking about corruption, the former vice president said that corruption symbolised a breakdown of ethical and moral values of systems and institutions of government.
According to Ogunjobi, corrupt practices take many forms, including embezzlement of public funds, theft or illegal use of public property, bribery of official to obtain favours, state or regulatory capture by private firms and bribery to influence procurement decisions.
"Corruption has devastating effects on the productive use of resources and economic development. It violates public trust and corrodes social capital while having far reaching effects on the allocation of resources and hinders service delivery. Corruption undermines the authority of state," he said.
Strangely enough, he said further that the phenomenon of corruption in Nigeria was aided in view of the incidence of high level of corruption by the leaders that combine abuse of office with greed and insatiable acquisitive appetite.
Ogunjobi said further that corruption created uncertainty about the rules and regulation of business, leading to poor economic environment for investment, while it hurts the poor in society by increasing the cost of service.
According to him, corruption also depressed economic growth, resorting in further limiting economic opportunities, encouraged lawlessness and organised crime eroded the moral and ethical standards of society and engendered social exclusion and marginalisation which led to regional conflicts.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Seeking Common Ground
from MPN Now
Women in New York State are more likely to live in poverty then women nationwide. This story profiles an organization that can help women in New York. - Kale
By Julie Sherwood
While there are many organizations and government programs aimed at helping people in need, one organization co-founded by a South Bristol woman is working to specifically address the needs of women through education, programs and the development of a support network.
Co-founder Deb Denome is now director of that organization, a nonprofit called Seeking Common Ground. She and four friends started it in 1997. At first they wanted to form a community-based business, said Denome, who then had a corporate job in publishing. The idea soon evolved into much more than that. They discovered that other women were “feeling the same pressures we did,” she said, wanting to spend quality time with their children and make a living, too.
That wasn’t all.
“We saw women not being able to break out of poverty,” said Denome, 41, a mother of three who was facing her own set of challenges then that included her newborn daughter being diagnosed with cancer. Denome, who was married at the time, said her husband was starting his own business, which added to the financial strain.
Then she had a dream about a type of place that would soothe the spirit as well as help women manage financially.
Seeking Common Ground and the programs that operate under its umbrella are the embodiment of that dream. The programs include a community organic farm at Denome’s home on Hicks Road in South Bristol; a farm-to-cafeteria program that works with Ontario County Cornell Cooperative Extension, local farmers and food service directors to increase the use of local foods in cafeterias; and Herb Haven, an herbal gardening and retail training program for women and children who are striving to become economically self-sufficient.
About 50 women are participating in one or more of the programs. The community farm is a cooperative that offers the chance to learn about agriculture and help grow a variety of vegetables and other edibles in exchange for having healthy, homegrown food. At Herb Haven, women attend eight to 10 hours a week to learn life skills (such as budgeting and setting goals), horticulture and retail job skills and attend a support group. They plant, tend and harvest the garden, create useful products with the herbs and then sell them from a shop at the site in Crystal Beach on Route 364. Free nutritious meals are provided for women and children, and a child-care program offers arts, crafts, song, dance, gardening, cooking and creative play.
Herb Haven is grant-funded and free to participants, said Denome, who is an herbalist and horticulture therapist. The women are asked to make a minimum commitment of six months. Most of the women are from Ontario and Yates counties and in transition from situations such as underemployment, job displacement, illness, divorce, abuse, chemical dependency and incarceration for non-violent crimes.
Robin Cross, 45, of Canandaigua, is one of those women who turned to Herb Haven. A widow, Cross is a mother of three and legally blind. “It’s strengthening, the support here,” said Cross, who works in the garden and may soon be using her computer skills to help with organizing special events at Herb Haven.
Herb Haven doesn’t provide job-placement services, but it does work with Finger Lakes Works, an organization that helps match people with jobs.
Women in New York State are more likely to live in poverty then women nationwide. This story profiles an organization that can help women in New York. - Kale
By Julie Sherwood
While there are many organizations and government programs aimed at helping people in need, one organization co-founded by a South Bristol woman is working to specifically address the needs of women through education, programs and the development of a support network.
Co-founder Deb Denome is now director of that organization, a nonprofit called Seeking Common Ground. She and four friends started it in 1997. At first they wanted to form a community-based business, said Denome, who then had a corporate job in publishing. The idea soon evolved into much more than that. They discovered that other women were “feeling the same pressures we did,” she said, wanting to spend quality time with their children and make a living, too.
That wasn’t all.
“We saw women not being able to break out of poverty,” said Denome, 41, a mother of three who was facing her own set of challenges then that included her newborn daughter being diagnosed with cancer. Denome, who was married at the time, said her husband was starting his own business, which added to the financial strain.
Then she had a dream about a type of place that would soothe the spirit as well as help women manage financially.
Seeking Common Ground and the programs that operate under its umbrella are the embodiment of that dream. The programs include a community organic farm at Denome’s home on Hicks Road in South Bristol; a farm-to-cafeteria program that works with Ontario County Cornell Cooperative Extension, local farmers and food service directors to increase the use of local foods in cafeterias; and Herb Haven, an herbal gardening and retail training program for women and children who are striving to become economically self-sufficient.
About 50 women are participating in one or more of the programs. The community farm is a cooperative that offers the chance to learn about agriculture and help grow a variety of vegetables and other edibles in exchange for having healthy, homegrown food. At Herb Haven, women attend eight to 10 hours a week to learn life skills (such as budgeting and setting goals), horticulture and retail job skills and attend a support group. They plant, tend and harvest the garden, create useful products with the herbs and then sell them from a shop at the site in Crystal Beach on Route 364. Free nutritious meals are provided for women and children, and a child-care program offers arts, crafts, song, dance, gardening, cooking and creative play.
Herb Haven is grant-funded and free to participants, said Denome, who is an herbalist and horticulture therapist. The women are asked to make a minimum commitment of six months. Most of the women are from Ontario and Yates counties and in transition from situations such as underemployment, job displacement, illness, divorce, abuse, chemical dependency and incarceration for non-violent crimes.
Robin Cross, 45, of Canandaigua, is one of those women who turned to Herb Haven. A widow, Cross is a mother of three and legally blind. “It’s strengthening, the support here,” said Cross, who works in the garden and may soon be using her computer skills to help with organizing special events at Herb Haven.
Herb Haven doesn’t provide job-placement services, but it does work with Finger Lakes Works, an organization that helps match people with jobs.
Feedback on Mbeki's Poverty Plan
from All Africa
South Africa is responding to President Mbeki's war on poverty plan. Mbeki announced the effort last weekend. The plan has it's fair share of critics. - Kale
by Amy Musgrave and Karima Brown
Johannesburg - CIVIL society and organised labour have cautiously welcomed the government's planned anti poverty campaign, saying it is scant on detail and that they were not consulted.
The campaign, announced by President Thabo Mbeki at the weekend, following the cabinet lekgotla, will be headed by Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and launched next month.
Yesterday, lobby groups welcomed the campaign but said it was difficult to ascertain how it was different from existing anti poverty measures.
Mbeki told reporters that the campaign would identify deprived wards and households.
A team of professionals and community workers would identify their needs and accelerate access to government services and " provision of safety nets".
The long-term goal was that the poorest households should receive assistance and support in a co-ordinated and sustained way.
The campaign comes as the government stalled on an antipoverty strategy supposed to have been signed off by the lekgotla for public comment.
Talks around defining a poverty line (to measure poverty) have also not gone anywhere as stakeholders have failed to agree on key aspects of both the strategy and line.
The question of defining poverty and quantifying poor people remains unresolved and is the cause for the delay in defining a poverty index.
Jan Mahlangu, Congress of South African Trade Unions head of policy, said yesterday that it was difficult to understand what the campaign would entail.
"What is this programme when government doesn't have a clear measurement?
"One would have expected the lekgotla to embark on this process. Postponing issues on the poor is a problem because it shows that there is no urgency," he said.
The national economic development and labour council has still not heard from the government on when the poverty line and strategy will be made available for comment.
"On the poverty line there was internal disagreement within government.
"We had two views; one from the treasury and one from social development. The government promised to come back last month , but we are still waiting," Mahlangu said.
Glenn Farred, programme manager at the Studies on Poverty and Inequality Institute, was equally sceptical, questioning how the campaign was different from the existing interventions.
"I think they (the government) didn't get the response they wanted on the strategy. Now they won't engage in a formal process.
South Africa is responding to President Mbeki's war on poverty plan. Mbeki announced the effort last weekend. The plan has it's fair share of critics. - Kale
by Amy Musgrave and Karima Brown
Johannesburg - CIVIL society and organised labour have cautiously welcomed the government's planned anti poverty campaign, saying it is scant on detail and that they were not consulted.
The campaign, announced by President Thabo Mbeki at the weekend, following the cabinet lekgotla, will be headed by Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and launched next month.
Yesterday, lobby groups welcomed the campaign but said it was difficult to ascertain how it was different from existing anti poverty measures.
Mbeki told reporters that the campaign would identify deprived wards and households.
A team of professionals and community workers would identify their needs and accelerate access to government services and " provision of safety nets".
The long-term goal was that the poorest households should receive assistance and support in a co-ordinated and sustained way.
The campaign comes as the government stalled on an antipoverty strategy supposed to have been signed off by the lekgotla for public comment.
Talks around defining a poverty line (to measure poverty) have also not gone anywhere as stakeholders have failed to agree on key aspects of both the strategy and line.
The question of defining poverty and quantifying poor people remains unresolved and is the cause for the delay in defining a poverty index.
Jan Mahlangu, Congress of South African Trade Unions head of policy, said yesterday that it was difficult to understand what the campaign would entail.
"What is this programme when government doesn't have a clear measurement?
"One would have expected the lekgotla to embark on this process. Postponing issues on the poor is a problem because it shows that there is no urgency," he said.
The national economic development and labour council has still not heard from the government on when the poverty line and strategy will be made available for comment.
"On the poverty line there was internal disagreement within government.
"We had two views; one from the treasury and one from social development. The government promised to come back last month , but we are still waiting," Mahlangu said.
Glenn Farred, programme manager at the Studies on Poverty and Inequality Institute, was equally sceptical, questioning how the campaign was different from the existing interventions.
"I think they (the government) didn't get the response they wanted on the strategy. Now they won't engage in a formal process.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Insecurity heightens in northwest Kenya
from IRIN News
This profiles a growing lawlessness in northwest Kenya. - Kale
LODWAR - John Lochimoe used to own several heads of cattle that his grandfather left him, until raiders from the neighbouring Pokot District of northwestern Kenya took the animals.
"All the cows my grandfather left me have been stolen, driving me deeper into poverty," he said. Today, Lochimoe, a single parent of two, who also cares for his mother and mother-in-law, can hardly cope thanks to the insecurity that has robbed him of his livelihood.
"At night the dogs bark all the time and people are always on the look-out. It seems as if the peace and reconciliation efforts do not work," Lochimoe, a former teacher living in Oropoi village, Turkana North District, said.
Like Oropoi, many areas of the mainly arid northern Kenya experience resource-based conflicts, livestock theft and a lack of access to infrastructure such as roads, schools, communication and health facilities.
The situation has particularly affected the pastoralist communities that dominate the region. The major causes of conflict include cattle-rustling, proliferation of illicit arms, inadequate policing, and competition over control and access to natural resources, according to a report by the NGO Practical Action Eastern Africa report. The NGO implements peace programmes in northern Kenya.
"The pastoralists cannot access water and pasture because of the insecurity," Turkana Central District Commissioner George Ayonga said. Residents rely on seasonal rivers and water pans, and rising fuel costs have also reduced access to motorised water schemes.
The insecurity, he added, had caused population displacement, especially in areas such as Lokori and Lomelo, south of the main town of Lodwar.
To cope, residents often have to rely on police reservists and have organised local security to safeguard their livestock. Boys, some as young as 14, carry guns while herding livestock.
According to a drought bulletin for Turkana, June was particularly bad for conflicts in all cross-border zones of Turkana North, Central and South districts.
The problem was attributed to resource-based battles after the failure of the long rains. The region borders Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda and the areas of Baringo, Marsabit, Samburu and West Pokot in Kenya.
The bulletin recommended strengthening early warning and rapid response systems, in addition to holding peace meetings and encouraging dialogue.
Health issues
According to Sarah Wanaswa of the Oropoi dispensary, many cases of assault and gunshot wounds were reported during the months of peak conflict. "When there are no peace and reconciliation efforts, there are also many raids," Wanaswa said. "We get targeted more when the herds move."
Apart from insecurity, the region experiences other health problems. Low awareness of personal hygiene, she added, had also often led residents to suffer preventable diseases such as diarrhoea, skin and eye infections. The dispensary, which treats between seven and 10 people each day, relies on supplies flown in by the government and NGOs.
The other problem was low latrine coverage. "Most people use the 'cat method'," she said. "Those [residents] who are mobile see no value in erecting latrines which they will not use for long.
"Some say the soil is rocky and are therefore reluctant to dig latrines," she said. "Waste disposal depends on personal knowledge."
Wanaswa said community health workers were conducting outreach services. "We are educating the people on the consequences of not having a toilet."
The dispensary at Oropoi also lacks HIV prevention services while most women deliver at home, seeking medical help only in case of complications. At the same time, the population movements had also contributed to low immunisation coverage of childhood diseases such as measles.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This profiles a growing lawlessness in northwest Kenya. - Kale
LODWAR - John Lochimoe used to own several heads of cattle that his grandfather left him, until raiders from the neighbouring Pokot District of northwestern Kenya took the animals.
"All the cows my grandfather left me have been stolen, driving me deeper into poverty," he said. Today, Lochimoe, a single parent of two, who also cares for his mother and mother-in-law, can hardly cope thanks to the insecurity that has robbed him of his livelihood.
"At night the dogs bark all the time and people are always on the look-out. It seems as if the peace and reconciliation efforts do not work," Lochimoe, a former teacher living in Oropoi village, Turkana North District, said.
Like Oropoi, many areas of the mainly arid northern Kenya experience resource-based conflicts, livestock theft and a lack of access to infrastructure such as roads, schools, communication and health facilities.
The situation has particularly affected the pastoralist communities that dominate the region. The major causes of conflict include cattle-rustling, proliferation of illicit arms, inadequate policing, and competition over control and access to natural resources, according to a report by the NGO Practical Action Eastern Africa report. The NGO implements peace programmes in northern Kenya.
"The pastoralists cannot access water and pasture because of the insecurity," Turkana Central District Commissioner George Ayonga said. Residents rely on seasonal rivers and water pans, and rising fuel costs have also reduced access to motorised water schemes.
The insecurity, he added, had caused population displacement, especially in areas such as Lokori and Lomelo, south of the main town of Lodwar.
To cope, residents often have to rely on police reservists and have organised local security to safeguard their livestock. Boys, some as young as 14, carry guns while herding livestock.
According to a drought bulletin for Turkana, June was particularly bad for conflicts in all cross-border zones of Turkana North, Central and South districts.
The problem was attributed to resource-based battles after the failure of the long rains. The region borders Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda and the areas of Baringo, Marsabit, Samburu and West Pokot in Kenya.
The bulletin recommended strengthening early warning and rapid response systems, in addition to holding peace meetings and encouraging dialogue.
Health issues
According to Sarah Wanaswa of the Oropoi dispensary, many cases of assault and gunshot wounds were reported during the months of peak conflict. "When there are no peace and reconciliation efforts, there are also many raids," Wanaswa said. "We get targeted more when the herds move."
Apart from insecurity, the region experiences other health problems. Low awareness of personal hygiene, she added, had also often led residents to suffer preventable diseases such as diarrhoea, skin and eye infections. The dispensary, which treats between seven and 10 people each day, relies on supplies flown in by the government and NGOs.
The other problem was low latrine coverage. "Most people use the 'cat method'," she said. "Those [residents] who are mobile see no value in erecting latrines which they will not use for long.
"Some say the soil is rocky and are therefore reluctant to dig latrines," she said. "Waste disposal depends on personal knowledge."
Wanaswa said community health workers were conducting outreach services. "We are educating the people on the consequences of not having a toilet."
The dispensary at Oropoi also lacks HIV prevention services while most women deliver at home, seeking medical help only in case of complications. At the same time, the population movements had also contributed to low immunisation coverage of childhood diseases such as measles.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
WHO says malaria still a major challenge in Africa
from All Africa
An official from the WHO talks about the challenges in getting quick malaria diagnosis in Africa. - Kale
BuaNews (Tshwane)
The African continent is loosing up to $12 billion per year of its Gross Domestic Product in scaling up malaria intervention programs, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
WHO country representative, Olusegun Babaniyi said malaria remains a global threat to the attainment of social-economic targets, with three million and more cases and an estimated one million deaths annually.
Dr Babaniyi was speaking on Monday at the official opening of the Eastern and Southern Africa Annual Review and Planning Malaria Meeting, themed "Improving Malaria Diagnosis".
The theme of the meeting is timely, he said, adding that it serves as a reminder of the need for African countries to pay attention to diagnosis in order to eradicate poverty.
He said malaria has kept the poor people poorer, adding that it is consuming 25 percent of household incomes.
Dr Babaniyi also emphasised the need for countries to improve the health provider's confidence in malaria diagnostic results.
"The prompt use of microscopic examination in the diagnosis of malaria is vital, as it aids the management of the diseases by confirming clinical suspicion which also saves money and reduces evolution of drug resistance."
The lack of confidence, he said, in the diagnostic results by health providers emanates from limited trust in the quality of diagnostic services.
"It is for this reason that the WHO has developed a comprehensive manual on quality of microscopy and other diagnostic techniques in an effort to strengthen quality assurance and quality control in malaria diagnosis among countries," Dr Babaniyi said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
An official from the WHO talks about the challenges in getting quick malaria diagnosis in Africa. - Kale
BuaNews (Tshwane)
The African continent is loosing up to $12 billion per year of its Gross Domestic Product in scaling up malaria intervention programs, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
WHO country representative, Olusegun Babaniyi said malaria remains a global threat to the attainment of social-economic targets, with three million and more cases and an estimated one million deaths annually.
Dr Babaniyi was speaking on Monday at the official opening of the Eastern and Southern Africa Annual Review and Planning Malaria Meeting, themed "Improving Malaria Diagnosis".
The theme of the meeting is timely, he said, adding that it serves as a reminder of the need for African countries to pay attention to diagnosis in order to eradicate poverty.
He said malaria has kept the poor people poorer, adding that it is consuming 25 percent of household incomes.
Dr Babaniyi also emphasised the need for countries to improve the health provider's confidence in malaria diagnostic results.
"The prompt use of microscopic examination in the diagnosis of malaria is vital, as it aids the management of the diseases by confirming clinical suspicion which also saves money and reduces evolution of drug resistance."
The lack of confidence, he said, in the diagnostic results by health providers emanates from limited trust in the quality of diagnostic services.
"It is for this reason that the WHO has developed a comprehensive manual on quality of microscopy and other diagnostic techniques in an effort to strengthen quality assurance and quality control in malaria diagnosis among countries," Dr Babaniyi said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
The hidden white poverty in South Africa
from the BBC
The BBC has picked up on the story of white poverty in South Africa. Attention has been drawn to the subject by the ANC president Jacob Zuma. - Kale
by Peter Biles
Karel and Annetjie du Randt moved to the Bethlehem settlement in Pretoria West five years ago after falling on hard times.
Previously, Mr du Randt had been employed, making tombstones in the town of Rustenburg.
The du Randts' home today is a tiny wooden hut on a private plot of land where about 30 whites make up the small community.
The huts have no electricity or individual toilets, but there is a spacious garden where the residents can grow and sell vegetables.
"We try to help each other", says Mr du Randt.
"We're not just sitting around and crying. Most of the guys here don't have any income, but we're just starting a new project, making small folding tables. You have to be part of the set-up here, in order to survive."
Bethlehem is not nearly as crowded or as impoverished as South Africa's teeming black townships such as Khayelitsha in Cape Town, or Diepsloot in Johannesburg.
However, Bethlehem reflects the face of South African society that is rarely seen - white poverty.
"It's a huge problem, and I don't think people realise how bad it is," says Elsabe Blignaut of the Danville Help Project which assists poor white Afrikaners.
"People are homeless. They have no jobs. They don't earn anything. We try to get them off the streets, feed and clothe them, and make life better for them".
Privileges of apartheid
In the days of apartheid, impoverished white Afrikaners were amply protected by the state.
The National Party which came to power in 1948 on a wave of Afrikaner nationalism, guaranteed Afrikaans-speaking South Africans employment, subsidised housing and state benefits.
Today, the ANC government provides a safety net of social grants and basic services for all South Africans who need them, but Afrikaners have lost the privileges they once enjoyed.
The mainly white Solidarity trade union says South Africa must accept that poverty is not only a "black" problem.
"Although poverty is less prevalent in the white communities, there is an alarming increase amongst white South Africans," concludes a Solidarity report that has been handed to ANC President Jacob Zuma.
Mr Zuma went to the Bethlehem settlement earlier this year, and promised to return.
His second visit last week, brought South Africa's presidential hopeful face-to-face with the daily problems of poor whites.
Accompanying him was Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya, who told the residents that in return for government assistance, they must make available whatever skills they can offer.
South Africa has a major shortage of skilled workers.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
The BBC has picked up on the story of white poverty in South Africa. Attention has been drawn to the subject by the ANC president Jacob Zuma. - Kale
by Peter Biles
Karel and Annetjie du Randt moved to the Bethlehem settlement in Pretoria West five years ago after falling on hard times.
Previously, Mr du Randt had been employed, making tombstones in the town of Rustenburg.
The du Randts' home today is a tiny wooden hut on a private plot of land where about 30 whites make up the small community.
The huts have no electricity or individual toilets, but there is a spacious garden where the residents can grow and sell vegetables.
"We try to help each other", says Mr du Randt.
"We're not just sitting around and crying. Most of the guys here don't have any income, but we're just starting a new project, making small folding tables. You have to be part of the set-up here, in order to survive."
Bethlehem is not nearly as crowded or as impoverished as South Africa's teeming black townships such as Khayelitsha in Cape Town, or Diepsloot in Johannesburg.
However, Bethlehem reflects the face of South African society that is rarely seen - white poverty.
"It's a huge problem, and I don't think people realise how bad it is," says Elsabe Blignaut of the Danville Help Project which assists poor white Afrikaners.
"People are homeless. They have no jobs. They don't earn anything. We try to get them off the streets, feed and clothe them, and make life better for them".
Privileges of apartheid
In the days of apartheid, impoverished white Afrikaners were amply protected by the state.
The National Party which came to power in 1948 on a wave of Afrikaner nationalism, guaranteed Afrikaans-speaking South Africans employment, subsidised housing and state benefits.
Today, the ANC government provides a safety net of social grants and basic services for all South Africans who need them, but Afrikaners have lost the privileges they once enjoyed.
The mainly white Solidarity trade union says South Africa must accept that poverty is not only a "black" problem.
"Although poverty is less prevalent in the white communities, there is an alarming increase amongst white South Africans," concludes a Solidarity report that has been handed to ANC President Jacob Zuma.
Mr Zuma went to the Bethlehem settlement earlier this year, and promised to return.
His second visit last week, brought South Africa's presidential hopeful face-to-face with the daily problems of poor whites.
Accompanying him was Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya, who told the residents that in return for government assistance, they must make available whatever skills they can offer.
South Africa has a major shortage of skilled workers.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Tracking loan costs for microcredit
from the Vancouver Sun
Don Cayo is a columnist in Vancouver who writes on poverty related issues. Here is a excerpt on the interest charges on micro credit loans. This is related to the story about Muhammad Yunus saying there is no place for profits in microcredit - Kale
by Don Cayo
Annual interest of 25, 50 or maybe 100-plus per cent: What's fair? Where, exactly, should the line be drawn between loan-sharks and worthy micro-credit programs? Between enterprises that exploit poor people who can't get conventional loans and those that help them?
There's no short answer.
Rates that sound to Westerners like gouging -- 25, 35 or even 45 per cent a year -- may, in fact, be the least a responsible lender can charge and stay afloat. Factor in the inflation that plagues many developing economies, plus the high cost (at least, high as a percentage of principle) of administering tiny loans, and you can see how what sounds like usury can be the bare-bones minimum.
But 100-plus per cent in an economy where inflation is reasonably under control? To most of us, that's over the line.
It gets trickier, of course, when the number is in between -- too high to be readily justified but too low to be clearly out of line, especially if the stated interest rate is in addition to confusing fees and caveats. The on-the-ground reality is so complex that even micro-finance professionals -- not to mention unlettered peasants -- find it hard to compare the costs of competing agencies.
The issue has been around for years, but it came to a head after Mexico's Banco Compartamos, which started life as a non-profit, became a profit-seeking enterprise. It went public early last year on the Mexican stock exchange, attracting money from Wall Street, among other places.
So far, the investments are paying handsomely, perhaps no surprise given that its loans can cost more than 100 per cent a year.
To defenders of the free market, outside investors provide much-needed capital. And only market mechanisms, which reflect the basic law of supply and demand, can establish a truly fair price for loans -- the point where lenders' willingness to put up the money converges with borrowers' willingness to pay.
Competition in the field may, indeed, work as it's supposed to in a country like Bangladesh, the home of Muhammad Yunus's famed Grameen Bank and of several other large, sophisticated micro-credit agencies. There, lending concepts have come to be understood by even the poorest clients, and many agencies compete with interest rates of about 25 per cent.
But, as Yunus underlined in a telephone news conference from a micro-finance summit in Bali on Monday, micro-credit was originally developed for people who were ill-served, or unserved, by the establishment market.
In many of the 100 or so countries where micro-credit is a key tool to combat mass poverty, that's still the case. Untold millions have no access to loans from a reputable agency. In such places, a new market-based player has no competition other than unabashed loan sharks -- local money-men who, typically, lend out five currency units at sunrise and collect six in repayment at sundown.
There's also a great danger of unfairness in what economists call "asymmetry of information." Well-heeled lending institutions can calculate costs and profits to the penny; unschooled borrowers often have no idea of what they're getting into or what a fair-priced alternative would be.
So I applaud Yunus and his colleagues from 44 other micro-finance stakeholders -- mostly those who fund micro-credit agencies, rather than those who actually make loans -- for an initiative launched Monday to expose lenders' actual prices to the light of day. A new NGO, MicroFinance Transparency, will collect and publish data on the cost of loans from lenders all over the developing world.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Don Cayo is a columnist in Vancouver who writes on poverty related issues. Here is a excerpt on the interest charges on micro credit loans. This is related to the story about Muhammad Yunus saying there is no place for profits in microcredit - Kale
by Don Cayo
Annual interest of 25, 50 or maybe 100-plus per cent: What's fair? Where, exactly, should the line be drawn between loan-sharks and worthy micro-credit programs? Between enterprises that exploit poor people who can't get conventional loans and those that help them?
There's no short answer.
Rates that sound to Westerners like gouging -- 25, 35 or even 45 per cent a year -- may, in fact, be the least a responsible lender can charge and stay afloat. Factor in the inflation that plagues many developing economies, plus the high cost (at least, high as a percentage of principle) of administering tiny loans, and you can see how what sounds like usury can be the bare-bones minimum.
But 100-plus per cent in an economy where inflation is reasonably under control? To most of us, that's over the line.
It gets trickier, of course, when the number is in between -- too high to be readily justified but too low to be clearly out of line, especially if the stated interest rate is in addition to confusing fees and caveats. The on-the-ground reality is so complex that even micro-finance professionals -- not to mention unlettered peasants -- find it hard to compare the costs of competing agencies.
The issue has been around for years, but it came to a head after Mexico's Banco Compartamos, which started life as a non-profit, became a profit-seeking enterprise. It went public early last year on the Mexican stock exchange, attracting money from Wall Street, among other places.
So far, the investments are paying handsomely, perhaps no surprise given that its loans can cost more than 100 per cent a year.
To defenders of the free market, outside investors provide much-needed capital. And only market mechanisms, which reflect the basic law of supply and demand, can establish a truly fair price for loans -- the point where lenders' willingness to put up the money converges with borrowers' willingness to pay.
Competition in the field may, indeed, work as it's supposed to in a country like Bangladesh, the home of Muhammad Yunus's famed Grameen Bank and of several other large, sophisticated micro-credit agencies. There, lending concepts have come to be understood by even the poorest clients, and many agencies compete with interest rates of about 25 per cent.
But, as Yunus underlined in a telephone news conference from a micro-finance summit in Bali on Monday, micro-credit was originally developed for people who were ill-served, or unserved, by the establishment market.
In many of the 100 or so countries where micro-credit is a key tool to combat mass poverty, that's still the case. Untold millions have no access to loans from a reputable agency. In such places, a new market-based player has no competition other than unabashed loan sharks -- local money-men who, typically, lend out five currency units at sunrise and collect six in repayment at sundown.
There's also a great danger of unfairness in what economists call "asymmetry of information." Well-heeled lending institutions can calculate costs and profits to the penny; unschooled borrowers often have no idea of what they're getting into or what a fair-priced alternative would be.
So I applaud Yunus and his colleagues from 44 other micro-finance stakeholders -- mostly those who fund micro-credit agencies, rather than those who actually make loans -- for an initiative launched Monday to expose lenders' actual prices to the light of day. A new NGO, MicroFinance Transparency, will collect and publish data on the cost of loans from lenders all over the developing world.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Sudan women brewing alcoholic drinks
from the Turkish Daily News
Sudanese women brew this illegal alcohol to try to make money. But if they are caught beating can be severe. - Kale
by Jennie Matthew
Zakia is a Muslim woman living under Sharia law, stigmatized as a criminal for brewing and selling illicit alcohol to feed the family that her father abandoned outside Sudan's booming capital.
It is a simple recipe and one cooked up by thousands of women in the squalid camps and impoverished neighborhoods of those who fled years of war across southern, western and eastern Sudan.
Put dates and baking powder in water. Cover with a plastic bag to fend off the perennial dust, then bury underground for two to five days depending on the season. Heat over a fire and drip the piping hot liquid through a sieve.
Add water.
One to two hours later, 23-year-old Zakia has enough bottled aragi to flog to local laborers for a week, earning enough cash to keep her, her mother, brother, niece and seven sisters in food and clothes.
She got married last year. But the relationship failed and they live apart. With a street attitude akin to the Bronx, she slices through the air with a defiant hand when asked if her husband looks after her financially.
"I don't even want to see his face," she says, recoiling in distaste, catching a whiff of aragi as she sits back on a plastic chair while her sisters giggle and plait their hair in the corner.
A gangly customer folds himself onto the bed behind, extending a boney arm along the back of her chair, already a bit drunk in the stifling heat of a leisurely Friday in Halfaya, 15 kilometers north of Khartoum.
"It's just a trade," she says, denying any pang of conscience in profiting from what the Koran forbids.
But it's a dangerous business. Police raids are frequent. Around 90 percent of inmates in the women's prison were arrested on suspicion of selling aragi. They complain of beatings, fines, ransacked homes and confiscated booze.
Community workers say police hide behind the cloak of Islam, running alcohol rackets with what they confiscate to supplement poor pay. They talk about women sinking into prostitution and sexual favors in return for protection.
Chol Sakina, a Christian from the south, has been in Khartoum for more than two years. The poorest of the poor, she does not know how old she is and cannot afford to go home. She is too frightened to talk about alcohol.
She lives with her one-eyed aunt in a mud hut. They say they have not worked since police threw their equipment into the river four months ago.
"Sometimes we only eat flour with salt," says her aunt, Kadose. "This is poor people's food," she says tilting a bucket of grey, watery slop into view.
"We'll die from this food."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Sudanese women brew this illegal alcohol to try to make money. But if they are caught beating can be severe. - Kale
by Jennie Matthew
Zakia is a Muslim woman living under Sharia law, stigmatized as a criminal for brewing and selling illicit alcohol to feed the family that her father abandoned outside Sudan's booming capital.
It is a simple recipe and one cooked up by thousands of women in the squalid camps and impoverished neighborhoods of those who fled years of war across southern, western and eastern Sudan.
Put dates and baking powder in water. Cover with a plastic bag to fend off the perennial dust, then bury underground for two to five days depending on the season. Heat over a fire and drip the piping hot liquid through a sieve.
Add water.
One to two hours later, 23-year-old Zakia has enough bottled aragi to flog to local laborers for a week, earning enough cash to keep her, her mother, brother, niece and seven sisters in food and clothes.
She got married last year. But the relationship failed and they live apart. With a street attitude akin to the Bronx, she slices through the air with a defiant hand when asked if her husband looks after her financially.
"I don't even want to see his face," she says, recoiling in distaste, catching a whiff of aragi as she sits back on a plastic chair while her sisters giggle and plait their hair in the corner.
A gangly customer folds himself onto the bed behind, extending a boney arm along the back of her chair, already a bit drunk in the stifling heat of a leisurely Friday in Halfaya, 15 kilometers north of Khartoum.
"It's just a trade," she says, denying any pang of conscience in profiting from what the Koran forbids.
But it's a dangerous business. Police raids are frequent. Around 90 percent of inmates in the women's prison were arrested on suspicion of selling aragi. They complain of beatings, fines, ransacked homes and confiscated booze.
Community workers say police hide behind the cloak of Islam, running alcohol rackets with what they confiscate to supplement poor pay. They talk about women sinking into prostitution and sexual favors in return for protection.
Chol Sakina, a Christian from the south, has been in Khartoum for more than two years. The poorest of the poor, she does not know how old she is and cannot afford to go home. She is too frightened to talk about alcohol.
She lives with her one-eyed aunt in a mud hut. They say they have not worked since police threw their equipment into the river four months ago.
"Sometimes we only eat flour with salt," says her aunt, Kadose. "This is poor people's food," she says tilting a bucket of grey, watery slop into view.
"We'll die from this food."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
WTO talks break down as blame is being pushed around
from the Florida Times Union
A tiny issue has stalled global trade talks. One that is hardly worth even arguing about .... sigh... - Kale
by BRADLEY S. KLAPPER
GENEVA — The world's largest commercial powers came into crucial talks on a new global trade pact pledging to assume the shared responsibility needed for solving planetary problems from climate change to food and energy prices.
But they are close to letting an arcane dispute over a seldom-used safeguard on farm imports spoil a trade deal worth billions of dollars to the global economy.
With huge question marks remaining on provisions to open up farm and industrial markets, the World Trade Organization's leading members on Monday were sharply divided over an issue worth practically nothing to the global economy.
A number of trade officials described the debate pitting the United States against China and India as one of principle — and not just hard economics.
"This is an issue that really concerns the livelihood of many developing countries," said Sun Zhenyu, China's WTO ambassador.
India, heavily criticized by the United States and Latin American countries Monday, said the standoff was the result of unreasonable demands from the U.S. and other rich nations.
"If blocking means not accepting whatever the developed countries say, so be it," Trade Minister Kamal Nath told reporters, adding that he has made his position clear on the subject since last week.
He said the idea of a "special safeguard" to deal with a sudden surge of imports or drop in prices had wide support: "It's not only India. We have 100 countries saying the same thing. It's the large economies that are isolated."
Earlier, the United States slammed the two emerging powers, saying they were threatening to scuttle the entire Doha trade round launched in the Qatari capital in 2001.
David Shark, a U.S. trade official, told the WTO's 153 members that the United States has "swallowed hard and accepted" a compromise proposal that includes tighter limits on farm subsidies to American farmers.
But he criticized India for rejecting a package of provisions laid out by WTO chief Pascal Lamy, and China for backing out of terms it committed to last week.
"Their actions have thrown the entire Doha round into the gravest jeopardy of its nearly seven-year life," Shark said.
While farm import safeguards currently exist in rich and poor countries, they are rarely used. The dispute over the current proposals concerns the threshold for when developing nations could spike their tariffs, and how high those taxes could rise.
Shark accused China and India of insisting on allowances to raise farm tariffs above even their current levels. That violates the spirit of the trade round, the U.S. and other agricultural exporters argue, because it is supposed to help poorer countries develop their economies by boosting their exports of farm produce.
But China and India were not alone. Faced with rising food prices, a number of developing nations have sought wide loopholes against opening up their farm markets — either by blocking certain strategic products such as rice or grains or through rules that would allow them to raise tariffs sharply if faced with a sudden flood of imports.
Farming in the developing world is "not like manufacturing," said Trade Minister Mari Pangestu of Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country. "It's not a machine you can just turn on or off."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A tiny issue has stalled global trade talks. One that is hardly worth even arguing about .... sigh... - Kale
by BRADLEY S. KLAPPER
GENEVA — The world's largest commercial powers came into crucial talks on a new global trade pact pledging to assume the shared responsibility needed for solving planetary problems from climate change to food and energy prices.
But they are close to letting an arcane dispute over a seldom-used safeguard on farm imports spoil a trade deal worth billions of dollars to the global economy.
With huge question marks remaining on provisions to open up farm and industrial markets, the World Trade Organization's leading members on Monday were sharply divided over an issue worth practically nothing to the global economy.
A number of trade officials described the debate pitting the United States against China and India as one of principle — and not just hard economics.
"This is an issue that really concerns the livelihood of many developing countries," said Sun Zhenyu, China's WTO ambassador.
India, heavily criticized by the United States and Latin American countries Monday, said the standoff was the result of unreasonable demands from the U.S. and other rich nations.
"If blocking means not accepting whatever the developed countries say, so be it," Trade Minister Kamal Nath told reporters, adding that he has made his position clear on the subject since last week.
He said the idea of a "special safeguard" to deal with a sudden surge of imports or drop in prices had wide support: "It's not only India. We have 100 countries saying the same thing. It's the large economies that are isolated."
Earlier, the United States slammed the two emerging powers, saying they were threatening to scuttle the entire Doha trade round launched in the Qatari capital in 2001.
David Shark, a U.S. trade official, told the WTO's 153 members that the United States has "swallowed hard and accepted" a compromise proposal that includes tighter limits on farm subsidies to American farmers.
But he criticized India for rejecting a package of provisions laid out by WTO chief Pascal Lamy, and China for backing out of terms it committed to last week.
"Their actions have thrown the entire Doha round into the gravest jeopardy of its nearly seven-year life," Shark said.
While farm import safeguards currently exist in rich and poor countries, they are rarely used. The dispute over the current proposals concerns the threshold for when developing nations could spike their tariffs, and how high those taxes could rise.
Shark accused China and India of insisting on allowances to raise farm tariffs above even their current levels. That violates the spirit of the trade round, the U.S. and other agricultural exporters argue, because it is supposed to help poorer countries develop their economies by boosting their exports of farm produce.
But China and India were not alone. Faced with rising food prices, a number of developing nations have sought wide loopholes against opening up their farm markets — either by blocking certain strategic products such as rice or grains or through rules that would allow them to raise tariffs sharply if faced with a sudden flood of imports.
Farming in the developing world is "not like manufacturing," said Trade Minister Mari Pangestu of Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country. "It's not a machine you can just turn on or off."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Nigeria's first microcredit bank reaches 102,000 customers
from All Africa
Leaders of the Integrated Microfinance Bank Limited reached a milestone and took the occasion to promote their company. - Kale
The management of Integrated Microfinance Bank Limited (IMFB), last week announced that it has grown its customer base to over 102,000 just as it restates commitment to poverty alleviation in the country.
Mrs Titilayo Osinubi, head, legal counsel, IMFB, who disclosed this development noted that the bank is committed to poverty alleviation in the country through economic empowerment of the masses by ensuring easy and accessible banking transaction for the poor. The bank does this through its concept of 'banking at your doorstep', capacity building for the people and adequate financial, technical and moral support for the community.
The bank, which is the first to get state license to operate microfinance banking in any state of the federation from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), currently has over 37 business offices with 10 full-fledged banking branches. The bank now operates in Lagos, Oyo and Ogun States respectfully.
Mr Simon Akinteye, managing director and chief executive officer of the bank said the bank's policies were anchored on the concept of value added to help elevate Nigerians from the inhuman cycle of poverty. "We aim at filling and integrating the un-banked and the under-banked to the formal financial system", he added.
According to him, "We are committed to economically empowering the poor by ensuring that they continuously have access to micro loans and financial support. This, we do through innovative products development by highly motivated workforce while remaining socially responsible. We intend to be the leading micro finance institution in Africa".
He stressed that, living up to its image as a corporate social responsible citizen means working for the cause of poverty alleviation according to the cultural values of clients. IMFB recently introduced a poverty alleviation programme based on the poverty reduction policy of interest-free based product called Shariah compliant products.
The scheme, according to Mr Akinteye, is for the benefits of Nigerians, who, for ethical and religious reasons, shun the interest driven poverty alleviation programs offered by conventional microfinance institutions and governments.
Leaders of the Integrated Microfinance Bank Limited reached a milestone and took the occasion to promote their company. - Kale
The management of Integrated Microfinance Bank Limited (IMFB), last week announced that it has grown its customer base to over 102,000 just as it restates commitment to poverty alleviation in the country.
Mrs Titilayo Osinubi, head, legal counsel, IMFB, who disclosed this development noted that the bank is committed to poverty alleviation in the country through economic empowerment of the masses by ensuring easy and accessible banking transaction for the poor. The bank does this through its concept of 'banking at your doorstep', capacity building for the people and adequate financial, technical and moral support for the community.
The bank, which is the first to get state license to operate microfinance banking in any state of the federation from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), currently has over 37 business offices with 10 full-fledged banking branches. The bank now operates in Lagos, Oyo and Ogun States respectfully.
Mr Simon Akinteye, managing director and chief executive officer of the bank said the bank's policies were anchored on the concept of value added to help elevate Nigerians from the inhuman cycle of poverty. "We aim at filling and integrating the un-banked and the under-banked to the formal financial system", he added.
According to him, "We are committed to economically empowering the poor by ensuring that they continuously have access to micro loans and financial support. This, we do through innovative products development by highly motivated workforce while remaining socially responsible. We intend to be the leading micro finance institution in Africa".
He stressed that, living up to its image as a corporate social responsible citizen means working for the cause of poverty alleviation according to the cultural values of clients. IMFB recently introduced a poverty alleviation programme based on the poverty reduction policy of interest-free based product called Shariah compliant products.
The scheme, according to Mr Akinteye, is for the benefits of Nigerians, who, for ethical and religious reasons, shun the interest driven poverty alleviation programs offered by conventional microfinance institutions and governments.
Economic Partnership Agreements and African Agriculture
from Eldis
Here is a link to a document that studies how the recent economic partnership agreements made between Africa and Europe can help African Farming. Some of the findings are listed below. - Kale
* African agriculture suffers from a lack of funding and low yields. Agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa is declining, thereby threatening food security and tearing at the social fabric in both rural and urban areas. In this context, a new framework for economic and trade cooperation like the EPAs could help strengthen the agricultural sector of sub-Saharan Africa
* even by recognising that EPAs will never be able to solve all the problems of African agriculture, intervention and cooperation must be based on four main points: support for the implementation of a proactive agricultural policy, regional integration, diversification of production and better access to markets, and measures to accompany and facilitate adjustment
* a major part of the added value of EPAs will fall under development aid and not trade. This underlines the importance of greater clarity regarding the mechanisms the European Commission and the EU member states will use to provide development aid and support the implementation of EPAs. It is argued that EPA negotiations must be approached in a spirit of actual partnership, leaving strictly commercial interests to one side.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Here is a link to a document that studies how the recent economic partnership agreements made between Africa and Europe can help African Farming. Some of the findings are listed below. - Kale
* African agriculture suffers from a lack of funding and low yields. Agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa is declining, thereby threatening food security and tearing at the social fabric in both rural and urban areas. In this context, a new framework for economic and trade cooperation like the EPAs could help strengthen the agricultural sector of sub-Saharan Africa
* even by recognising that EPAs will never be able to solve all the problems of African agriculture, intervention and cooperation must be based on four main points: support for the implementation of a proactive agricultural policy, regional integration, diversification of production and better access to markets, and measures to accompany and facilitate adjustment
* a major part of the added value of EPAs will fall under development aid and not trade. This underlines the importance of greater clarity regarding the mechanisms the European Commission and the EU member states will use to provide development aid and support the implementation of EPAs. It is argued that EPA negotiations must be approached in a spirit of actual partnership, leaving strictly commercial interests to one side.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
India lags behind Ethiopia in child nourishment
from the Gulf Times
India has been booming, but children there are still hungry. A report from a top UN economist explains. - Kale
Four in every 10 children in India are malnourished despite the country’s economy growing at an average rate of 9% a year, one of the world’s leading development economists warned.
Kevin Watkins, who edited the UN’s human development report, said that despite growing prosperity brought on by a sustained boom, child malnourishment in India is higher than in Ethiopia and well above the African average of 28%.
“India dominates the world hunger league,” he said. “Economists like to debate the factors behind India’s spectacular take-off. Perhaps they should be asking how a country can grow so fast with such a limited impact on child hunger.”
Watkins’s warning follows comments by Finance Minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, who said last week that he wanted the country to become an “economic superpower”.
“I have no hesitation in saying that I do not envy China,” he said. “I want to emulate China. I want India to become an economic power, an economic superpower.”
When it comes to economic growth, India is a long way ahead of Bangladesh but when it come to child survival rates, it lags behind.
According to Watkins, an Oxford academic, Bangladesh has been cutting child deaths at a rate some 50% higher than in India.
If India, where there are about 1.1bn people, had matched Bangladesh’s record on child mortality since 1990 there would be about 700,000 fewer child deaths this year.
“Both Bangladesh and Nepal are far poorer than India, but India has a higher child death rate than either,” said Watkins.
Poverty has also been falling far more slowly in India than in other high-growth developing countries, such as Vietnam and Brazil. Watkins believes that part of the problem is that the benefits of growth have been “highly skewed”.
“While wealth has been flooding into urban areas and middle-class suburbs, it has been trickling down in small doses to rural areas, poor states in the north of the country, rural labourers and low-caste groups,” he said.
Watkins also criticised India’s public health system. He said that India’s children did not receive the basic medication they so badly need such as immunisation, drugs for treating childhood diarrhoea and nutritional supplements. “Fewer than half of India’s children are fully immunised and the share has barely changed in a decade,” he added.
Gender inequalities are also still rife in India, with boys getting access to food and medicine before girls, according to Watkins. “Being born a girl carries high risks: it raises the chance of premature death between the ages of one and four by about one-third,” he said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
India has been booming, but children there are still hungry. A report from a top UN economist explains. - Kale
Four in every 10 children in India are malnourished despite the country’s economy growing at an average rate of 9% a year, one of the world’s leading development economists warned.
Kevin Watkins, who edited the UN’s human development report, said that despite growing prosperity brought on by a sustained boom, child malnourishment in India is higher than in Ethiopia and well above the African average of 28%.
“India dominates the world hunger league,” he said. “Economists like to debate the factors behind India’s spectacular take-off. Perhaps they should be asking how a country can grow so fast with such a limited impact on child hunger.”
Watkins’s warning follows comments by Finance Minister, Palaniappan Chidambaram, who said last week that he wanted the country to become an “economic superpower”.
“I have no hesitation in saying that I do not envy China,” he said. “I want to emulate China. I want India to become an economic power, an economic superpower.”
When it comes to economic growth, India is a long way ahead of Bangladesh but when it come to child survival rates, it lags behind.
According to Watkins, an Oxford academic, Bangladesh has been cutting child deaths at a rate some 50% higher than in India.
If India, where there are about 1.1bn people, had matched Bangladesh’s record on child mortality since 1990 there would be about 700,000 fewer child deaths this year.
“Both Bangladesh and Nepal are far poorer than India, but India has a higher child death rate than either,” said Watkins.
Poverty has also been falling far more slowly in India than in other high-growth developing countries, such as Vietnam and Brazil. Watkins believes that part of the problem is that the benefits of growth have been “highly skewed”.
“While wealth has been flooding into urban areas and middle-class suburbs, it has been trickling down in small doses to rural areas, poor states in the north of the country, rural labourers and low-caste groups,” he said.
Watkins also criticised India’s public health system. He said that India’s children did not receive the basic medication they so badly need such as immunisation, drugs for treating childhood diarrhoea and nutritional supplements. “Fewer than half of India’s children are fully immunised and the share has barely changed in a decade,” he added.
Gender inequalities are also still rife in India, with boys getting access to food and medicine before girls, according to Watkins. “Being born a girl carries high risks: it raises the chance of premature death between the ages of one and four by about one-third,” he said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Monday, July 28, 2008
AIDS money from US is open ended
from the Washington Post
Funding comitment are usually meant to be temporary. But the AIDS bill the President Bush is about to sign may be indefinite. - Kale
By David Brown
President Bush plans to sign a bill next week that commits the United States to spending about $40 billion over the next five years to fight AIDS overseas, a major expansion of what many consider his most successful foreign policy initiative.
The legislation also extends an implicit pledge that has little precedent in the history of U.S. foreign assistance: to continue purchasing lifesaving drugs for millions of individual people in developing countries for an indefinite period of time.
Foreign aid for health care has traditionally been used to put up buildings, buy equipment and train workers. Direct medical care of individuals was limited to one-time interventions such as vaccinations, emergency treatment after natural disasters, and curative treatments of limited duration for diseases such as tuberculosis or leprosy.
Bush's program is fundamentally different. So far, it has purchased vast quantities of antiretroviral drugs and supported day-to-day medical care for more than 1.4 million people whose survival depends on continued treatment.
"It is the first time I can think of where we have foreign aid treating a chronic disease," said Michael H. Merson, director of Duke University's Global Health Institute and a former head of the World Health Organization's AIDS office. "It's a challenge to take this on. I think the questions it raises are going to be important ones for the future."
Once started, AIDS therapy must continue indefinitely, because stopping it can rapidly lead to death. As a consequence, international health experts and medical ethicists say it would be immoral to withdraw the financial assistance that pays for the therapy unless someone else steps in to replace it.
Although all governments and organizations supporting AIDS patients overseas have made an implied open-ended commitment, it looms largest for the United States, which provides about 40 percent of global AIDS assistance. Few experts say they think the needy countries now getting help from the United States will be able to fend for themselves anytime soon.
"We've never really been confronted with this in the international health arena," said Paul De Lay, a physician formerly with the U.S. Agency for International Development who is now with UNAIDS, a United Nations program in Geneva.
The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a surprise announcement in the 2003 State of the Union address, has spent about $19 billion in the last five years. The president sought to double it to $30 billion in a bill reauthorizing it for another five years, but Congress trumped him, sending him a larger bill that when it passed on Thursday authorized the spending of $48 billion -- $39 billion for AIDS and the rest for other diseases.
The money is provided to governments, charitable organizations and academic medical centers to buy drugs and equipment, train workers and run programs. By the administration's estimates, PEPFAR in five years has provided antiretroviral drug therapy for 1.4 million people; treatment for 1 million infected women during pregnancy so they are less likely to transmit the virus to their babies; care for nearly 3 million AIDS orphans; and 33 million counseling-and-testing sessions.
Although Bush's initiative enjoys support in both parties and has been praised around the world, some policy experts say the implications of its open-ended commitment have been largely ignored. A few view PEPFAR as essentially an open-ended "entitlement program" for citizens of other countries.
One person with that view is Mead Over, a former World Bank economist who is now at the Center for Global Development, a Washington think tank. He fears that if PEPFAR's commitments grow, as they are likely to, they will squeeze out funding for other, equally important, foreign aid.
He also worries that with such lopsided and personal relationships between countries, providing life-sustaining care may become a "strategic resource that will be used, or will be an implicit bargaining chip, in negotiations." He added that "sovereign countries are likely to feel quite vulnerable if they perceive that the lives of a substantial number of their citizens are dependent on the continued largess of a donor."
Over's solution is to spend much more AIDS assistance on prevention efforts, and to channel money for treatment through international organizations to spread future obligations among as many donors as possible.
Others, including PEPFAR's director, do not see such problems.
"The notion that this is going to have a harmful effect on our relationship with other countries in the long term is exactly the opposite not only of what I believe but of what is being shown," said Mark R. Dybul, a physician and AIDS researcher who also holds the rank of ambassador at the State Department, which administers PEPFAR.
Dybul said the program is sowing goodwill at the same time it is stabilizing AIDS-ravaged countries in a way that will ultimately serve American interests. The fact that AIDS is a disease requiring lifelong treatment may even have an unexpected benefit, he says. The AIDS treatment programs are forcing permanent improvements in medical care -- with spillover benefits for the whole population.
"We are building systems and capacity for country ownership in ways that has never happened before," Dybul said. "That's real development."
What is certain is that the AIDS-treatment lifeline between rich and poor countries is growing rapidly. About 3 million people in low- and middle-income countries are now on the drugs. Five years ago, the number was 250,000.
As of the end of March, Bush's program was directly underwriting the care of 1,383,300 AIDS patients. Most were in 15 "target" countries: Haiti and Guyana in the Americas, Vietnam in Asia, and 12 in sub-Saharan Africa. The care of another 344,700 people is supported indirectly by money going to improve laboratories, information systems, logistics and other improvements of health-care delivery.
The other big funder is the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an independent organization in Geneva that gets money from rich countries, foundations and individuals, and awards it to approved programs in low-income ones. As of last December, the fund was underwriting treatment of 1.4 million AIDS patients, more than twice as many as the year before.
The expanded U.S. program aims to have 3 million people on antiretroviral AIDS treatment by 2015. Both the U.N. General Assembly and the Group of Eight industrialized countries are on record as supporting "universal access" to AIDS treatment, defined as providing treatment to 80 percent of those who need it. That would mean 18.6 million people on daily AIDS drugs by 2015, according to an estimate by UNAIDS.
The cost is huge, even considering the recent steep decline in the price of AIDS drugs. By 2015, the price tag for "universal access" to AIDS treatment would be $19 billion a year.
When the full package of prevention services, aid to orphans, and "health systems building" is added in, the global bill for AIDS services in the developing world will be $50 billion a year. Two-thirds of that money will have to come from rich countries. This compares with $110 billion spent last year for all foreign aid by all countries of the world, of which about $10 billion went for AIDS.
Few experts think that the financial responsibilities, whatever their magnitude, will end in 2015. As patients live longer they will take drugs longer, and many will eventually need more expensive ones, too.
Studies suggest that after several years of treatment, about 5 percent of patients each year become resistant to one or more of their antiretrovirals. If 8 million people are on treatment by the end of this decade -- which many experts think is realistic -- about 800,000 will need "second-line" therapy, which now costs 10 times as much as the cheapest starting combination.
Although there is debate in the global health community about whether programs are obliged to switch all failing patients to second-line treatment, or even third-line "salvage" therapies, everyone agrees that first-line treatment can never be stopped.
"The train is out of the station. People who are on treatment -- we can't drop them, if for no other reasons than ethical ones," said Peter Piot, the Belgian physician who heads UNAIDS.
The Global Fund already recognizes that treatment, once started, is essentially an irrevocable entitlement. If the fund cancels a country's AIDS grant for reasons of graft or incompetence, it promises to find a way for patients already on antiretroviral therapy to stay on without interruption.
Nevertheless, some experts think AIDS-treatment programs are not so different from other forms of foreign aid. Their obligations are just more obvious.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Funding comitment are usually meant to be temporary. But the AIDS bill the President Bush is about to sign may be indefinite. - Kale
By David Brown
President Bush plans to sign a bill next week that commits the United States to spending about $40 billion over the next five years to fight AIDS overseas, a major expansion of what many consider his most successful foreign policy initiative.
The legislation also extends an implicit pledge that has little precedent in the history of U.S. foreign assistance: to continue purchasing lifesaving drugs for millions of individual people in developing countries for an indefinite period of time.
Foreign aid for health care has traditionally been used to put up buildings, buy equipment and train workers. Direct medical care of individuals was limited to one-time interventions such as vaccinations, emergency treatment after natural disasters, and curative treatments of limited duration for diseases such as tuberculosis or leprosy.
Bush's program is fundamentally different. So far, it has purchased vast quantities of antiretroviral drugs and supported day-to-day medical care for more than 1.4 million people whose survival depends on continued treatment.
"It is the first time I can think of where we have foreign aid treating a chronic disease," said Michael H. Merson, director of Duke University's Global Health Institute and a former head of the World Health Organization's AIDS office. "It's a challenge to take this on. I think the questions it raises are going to be important ones for the future."
Once started, AIDS therapy must continue indefinitely, because stopping it can rapidly lead to death. As a consequence, international health experts and medical ethicists say it would be immoral to withdraw the financial assistance that pays for the therapy unless someone else steps in to replace it.
Although all governments and organizations supporting AIDS patients overseas have made an implied open-ended commitment, it looms largest for the United States, which provides about 40 percent of global AIDS assistance. Few experts say they think the needy countries now getting help from the United States will be able to fend for themselves anytime soon.
"We've never really been confronted with this in the international health arena," said Paul De Lay, a physician formerly with the U.S. Agency for International Development who is now with UNAIDS, a United Nations program in Geneva.
The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a surprise announcement in the 2003 State of the Union address, has spent about $19 billion in the last five years. The president sought to double it to $30 billion in a bill reauthorizing it for another five years, but Congress trumped him, sending him a larger bill that when it passed on Thursday authorized the spending of $48 billion -- $39 billion for AIDS and the rest for other diseases.
The money is provided to governments, charitable organizations and academic medical centers to buy drugs and equipment, train workers and run programs. By the administration's estimates, PEPFAR in five years has provided antiretroviral drug therapy for 1.4 million people; treatment for 1 million infected women during pregnancy so they are less likely to transmit the virus to their babies; care for nearly 3 million AIDS orphans; and 33 million counseling-and-testing sessions.
Although Bush's initiative enjoys support in both parties and has been praised around the world, some policy experts say the implications of its open-ended commitment have been largely ignored. A few view PEPFAR as essentially an open-ended "entitlement program" for citizens of other countries.
One person with that view is Mead Over, a former World Bank economist who is now at the Center for Global Development, a Washington think tank. He fears that if PEPFAR's commitments grow, as they are likely to, they will squeeze out funding for other, equally important, foreign aid.
He also worries that with such lopsided and personal relationships between countries, providing life-sustaining care may become a "strategic resource that will be used, or will be an implicit bargaining chip, in negotiations." He added that "sovereign countries are likely to feel quite vulnerable if they perceive that the lives of a substantial number of their citizens are dependent on the continued largess of a donor."
Over's solution is to spend much more AIDS assistance on prevention efforts, and to channel money for treatment through international organizations to spread future obligations among as many donors as possible.
Others, including PEPFAR's director, do not see such problems.
"The notion that this is going to have a harmful effect on our relationship with other countries in the long term is exactly the opposite not only of what I believe but of what is being shown," said Mark R. Dybul, a physician and AIDS researcher who also holds the rank of ambassador at the State Department, which administers PEPFAR.
Dybul said the program is sowing goodwill at the same time it is stabilizing AIDS-ravaged countries in a way that will ultimately serve American interests. The fact that AIDS is a disease requiring lifelong treatment may even have an unexpected benefit, he says. The AIDS treatment programs are forcing permanent improvements in medical care -- with spillover benefits for the whole population.
"We are building systems and capacity for country ownership in ways that has never happened before," Dybul said. "That's real development."
What is certain is that the AIDS-treatment lifeline between rich and poor countries is growing rapidly. About 3 million people in low- and middle-income countries are now on the drugs. Five years ago, the number was 250,000.
As of the end of March, Bush's program was directly underwriting the care of 1,383,300 AIDS patients. Most were in 15 "target" countries: Haiti and Guyana in the Americas, Vietnam in Asia, and 12 in sub-Saharan Africa. The care of another 344,700 people is supported indirectly by money going to improve laboratories, information systems, logistics and other improvements of health-care delivery.
The other big funder is the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an independent organization in Geneva that gets money from rich countries, foundations and individuals, and awards it to approved programs in low-income ones. As of last December, the fund was underwriting treatment of 1.4 million AIDS patients, more than twice as many as the year before.
The expanded U.S. program aims to have 3 million people on antiretroviral AIDS treatment by 2015. Both the U.N. General Assembly and the Group of Eight industrialized countries are on record as supporting "universal access" to AIDS treatment, defined as providing treatment to 80 percent of those who need it. That would mean 18.6 million people on daily AIDS drugs by 2015, according to an estimate by UNAIDS.
The cost is huge, even considering the recent steep decline in the price of AIDS drugs. By 2015, the price tag for "universal access" to AIDS treatment would be $19 billion a year.
When the full package of prevention services, aid to orphans, and "health systems building" is added in, the global bill for AIDS services in the developing world will be $50 billion a year. Two-thirds of that money will have to come from rich countries. This compares with $110 billion spent last year for all foreign aid by all countries of the world, of which about $10 billion went for AIDS.
Few experts think that the financial responsibilities, whatever their magnitude, will end in 2015. As patients live longer they will take drugs longer, and many will eventually need more expensive ones, too.
Studies suggest that after several years of treatment, about 5 percent of patients each year become resistant to one or more of their antiretrovirals. If 8 million people are on treatment by the end of this decade -- which many experts think is realistic -- about 800,000 will need "second-line" therapy, which now costs 10 times as much as the cheapest starting combination.
Although there is debate in the global health community about whether programs are obliged to switch all failing patients to second-line treatment, or even third-line "salvage" therapies, everyone agrees that first-line treatment can never be stopped.
"The train is out of the station. People who are on treatment -- we can't drop them, if for no other reasons than ethical ones," said Peter Piot, the Belgian physician who heads UNAIDS.
The Global Fund already recognizes that treatment, once started, is essentially an irrevocable entitlement. If the fund cancels a country's AIDS grant for reasons of graft or incompetence, it promises to find a way for patients already on antiretroviral therapy to stay on without interruption.
Nevertheless, some experts think AIDS-treatment programs are not so different from other forms of foreign aid. Their obligations are just more obvious.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Regular talks between G8 and Least Developed countries stressed
from the New Nation
A round table discussion on the outcome of the recent G8 meeting stressed the need for repeated talks between rich countries and poor ones. - Kale
Speakers at a roundtable here on Monday underlined the need for holding regular dialogues between leaders of G-8 countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) for cutting poverty and achieving sustainable growth of the global economy.
The large and small economies need to interact regularly to find out ways for facing the current challenges of food and energy security, climate change and price hike of oil and other commodities, they said.
The roundtable styled 'Outcome of the G8 Summit in Japan' was organised by Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) at its conference room at Gulshan here.
BEI president Farooq Sobhan moderated the roundtable while Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Masayuki Inoue presented the keynote paper.
German Ambassador to Bangladesh Frank Meyke, former Ambassador Harun-ur-Rashid and KZ Islam took part as the designated speakers. Counselor of Japan Embassy in Dhaka Masami Tamura gave a presentation on G8 summit, held in Japan from July 7 to 9 last.
In the G8 summit, Masayuki said, the G8 leaders adopted a declaration and also adopted three independent statements on global food security, counter-terrorism and Zimbabwe.
He said, Japan gave commitment to provide the developing countries with support for both adaptation with climate change and reduction of Green House Gases (GHG). Presently, the Japan government is talking with the Bangladesh government about providing assistance for facing the adverse effects of climate change, as the country is one of the most vulnerable countries in this regard.
Farooq Sobhan said, the implementation of G8 summit declaration is important for the global politics and economy.
The issues of economic growth of developing and under developing countries need to be addressed more in the G8 summit, he said.
Hrun-ur-Rashid said, for G8 summit, core issue should be poverty reduction. Unless poverty not reduces, fundamentalism and terrorism would increase, he added.
KZ Islam said, G8 summit needs to act more effectively to address the global problem rather being a forum of exchanging gratitude.
In his presentation, Masami Tamura said, in the statement of food security, adopted in the summit, the G8 leaders said food security requires a robust world market and trade system for food and agriculture and it is imperative to remove export restriction.
During the summit, the leaders also call for ensuring the sustainable production and use of bio- fuels and accelerate development of second generation bio-fuels from non-food plant materials, he said.
The G8 leaders seeking to share with all parties to the UNFCCC the vision of the goal of achieving at least 50 percent reduction of global emissions by 2050, Tamura said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A round table discussion on the outcome of the recent G8 meeting stressed the need for repeated talks between rich countries and poor ones. - Kale
Speakers at a roundtable here on Monday underlined the need for holding regular dialogues between leaders of G-8 countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) for cutting poverty and achieving sustainable growth of the global economy.
The large and small economies need to interact regularly to find out ways for facing the current challenges of food and energy security, climate change and price hike of oil and other commodities, they said.
The roundtable styled 'Outcome of the G8 Summit in Japan' was organised by Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) at its conference room at Gulshan here.
BEI president Farooq Sobhan moderated the roundtable while Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Masayuki Inoue presented the keynote paper.
German Ambassador to Bangladesh Frank Meyke, former Ambassador Harun-ur-Rashid and KZ Islam took part as the designated speakers. Counselor of Japan Embassy in Dhaka Masami Tamura gave a presentation on G8 summit, held in Japan from July 7 to 9 last.
In the G8 summit, Masayuki said, the G8 leaders adopted a declaration and also adopted three independent statements on global food security, counter-terrorism and Zimbabwe.
He said, Japan gave commitment to provide the developing countries with support for both adaptation with climate change and reduction of Green House Gases (GHG). Presently, the Japan government is talking with the Bangladesh government about providing assistance for facing the adverse effects of climate change, as the country is one of the most vulnerable countries in this regard.
Farooq Sobhan said, the implementation of G8 summit declaration is important for the global politics and economy.
The issues of economic growth of developing and under developing countries need to be addressed more in the G8 summit, he said.
Hrun-ur-Rashid said, for G8 summit, core issue should be poverty reduction. Unless poverty not reduces, fundamentalism and terrorism would increase, he added.
KZ Islam said, G8 summit needs to act more effectively to address the global problem rather being a forum of exchanging gratitude.
In his presentation, Masami Tamura said, in the statement of food security, adopted in the summit, the G8 leaders said food security requires a robust world market and trade system for food and agriculture and it is imperative to remove export restriction.
During the summit, the leaders also call for ensuring the sustainable production and use of bio- fuels and accelerate development of second generation bio-fuels from non-food plant materials, he said.
The G8 leaders seeking to share with all parties to the UNFCCC the vision of the goal of achieving at least 50 percent reduction of global emissions by 2050, Tamura said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Poverty fighting in the Philippines a daunting task
from the Manila Times
This article shows the results of an ADB report that measures assistance programs in the Philippines. - Kale
By, Darwin G. Amojelar
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said the Philippines' next assistance program remains "daunting" owing to high poverty levels and weak investments.
In its Country Assistance Program Evaluation Report, the Manila-based lender said its assistance program over the past five years, or from 2003 to 2007, has been successful in meeting its more selective objectives, despite the need for improvements.
"However, the larger context for the next country strategy continues to be daunting. Poverty is high. Progress toward Millennium Development Goals is slow and lagging in key areas, and government expenditures for related social and economic services are still low compared to needs," the ADB said.
"Private capital formation is low compared to neighbors," it added.
The regional lender said the country's export base is narrow and its value-added low. Furthermore, the private sector perceives the need to control corruption, raise infrastructure spending, and education outcomes to improve the country's competitiveness, the ADB said, adding this should be financed by a strengthened revenue effort.
The reforming energy sector has yet to achieve wider competition and lower electricity rates, while investment rates are low and governance concerns continue to influence investor confidence.
Adding to these constraints are global factors such as slowing growth, a credit squeeze, high oil and food prices, and rising inflation. Hence, in the coming years, the Philippines will face significant development challenges, the ADB said.
"To address the constraints to growth and poverty reduction, the Philippines will need to continue to exercise fiscal discipline and further expand its fiscal space; more widely institute good governance; accelerate infrastructure, education, and other social service development; support expansion and diversification of the economic base; and make access to development opportunities more equitable," the lender said.
This article shows the results of an ADB report that measures assistance programs in the Philippines. - Kale
By, Darwin G. Amojelar
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said the Philippines' next assistance program remains "daunting" owing to high poverty levels and weak investments.
In its Country Assistance Program Evaluation Report, the Manila-based lender said its assistance program over the past five years, or from 2003 to 2007, has been successful in meeting its more selective objectives, despite the need for improvements.
"However, the larger context for the next country strategy continues to be daunting. Poverty is high. Progress toward Millennium Development Goals is slow and lagging in key areas, and government expenditures for related social and economic services are still low compared to needs," the ADB said.
"Private capital formation is low compared to neighbors," it added.
The regional lender said the country's export base is narrow and its value-added low. Furthermore, the private sector perceives the need to control corruption, raise infrastructure spending, and education outcomes to improve the country's competitiveness, the ADB said, adding this should be financed by a strengthened revenue effort.
The reforming energy sector has yet to achieve wider competition and lower electricity rates, while investment rates are low and governance concerns continue to influence investor confidence.
Adding to these constraints are global factors such as slowing growth, a credit squeeze, high oil and food prices, and rising inflation. Hence, in the coming years, the Philippines will face significant development challenges, the ADB said.
"To address the constraints to growth and poverty reduction, the Philippines will need to continue to exercise fiscal discipline and further expand its fiscal space; more widely institute good governance; accelerate infrastructure, education, and other social service development; support expansion and diversification of the economic base; and make access to development opportunities more equitable," the lender said.
Land seizures in Cambodia make thousands homeless
from the New York Times
As cities expand in Cambodia, the government forces outlying colony's out of their homes. - Kale
By SETH MYDANS
ANDONG, Cambodia — When the monsoon rain pours through Mao Sein’s torn thatch roof, she pulls a straw sleeping mat over herself and her three small children and waits until it stops.
She and her children sit on a low table as floodwater rises, bringing with it the sewage that runs along the mud paths outside their shack.
Ms. Mao Sein, 34, was resettled by the government here in an empty field two years ago, when the police raided the squatters’ colony where she lived in Phnom Penh, the capital, 12 miles away.
She is a widow and a scavenger. The area where she lives has no clean water or electricity, no paved roads or permanent buildings. But there is land to live on, and that has drawn scores of new homeless families to settle here, squatting among the squatters.
With its shacks and its sewage, Andong looks very much like the refugee camps that were home to those who were forced from their homes by the brutal Communist Khmer Rouge three decades ago.
Like tens of thousands of people around the country, those living here are victims of what experts say has become the most serious human rights abuse in the country: land seizures that lead to evictions and homelessness.
“Expropriation of the land of Cambodia’s poor is reaching a disastrous level,” Basil Fernando, executive director of the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong, a private monitoring group, said in December. “The courts are politicized and corrupt, and impunity for human rights violators remains the norm.”
With the economy on the rise, land is being seized for logging, agriculture, mining, tourism and fisheries, and in Phnom Penh, soaring land prices have touched off what one official called a frenzy of land grabs by the rich and powerful. The seizures can be violent, including late-night raids by the police and military. Sometimes, shanty neighborhoods burn down, apparently victims of arson.
“They came at 2 a.m.,” said Ku Srey, 37, who was evicted with Ms. Mao Sein and most of their neighbors in June 2006.
“They were vicious,” Ms. Ku Srey said of the police and soldiers who evicted her.
“They had electric batons” — and she imitated the sound made by the devices: “chk-chk-chk-chk.” She said, “They pushed us into trucks, they threw all our stuff into trucks and they brought us here.”
In a report in February, Amnesty International estimated that 150,000 people around the country were now at risk of forcible eviction as a result of land disputes, land seizures and new development projects.
These include 4,000 families who live around a lake in the center of Phnom Penh, Boeung Kak Lake, which is the city’s main catchment for monsoon rains and is being filled in for upscale development.
“If these communities are forced to move, it would be the most large-scale displacement of Cambodians since the times of the Khmer Rouge,” said Brittis Edman, a researcher with Amnesty International, which is based in London.
That, in a way, would bring history full circle.
Like other ailments of society — political and social violence, poverty and a culture of impunity for those with power — the land issues have roots in Cambodia’s tormented past of slaughter, civil war and social disruptions.
The brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge, during which 1.7 million people are estimated to have died, began in 1975 with an evacuation of Phnom Penh, forcing millions of people into the countryside and emptying the city. It ended in 1979 when the Khmer Rouge was driven from power by a Vietnamese invasion, sending hundreds of thousands of refugees into Thailand.
Many of the refugees returned in the 1990s, joining a rootless population displaced by the Khmer Rouge and the decade of civil war that followed in the 1980s. Many ended their journeys in Phnom Penh, creating huge colonies of squatters.
Now, many of these people are being forced to move again, from Phnom Penh and from around the country, victims of the latest scourge of the poor: national prosperity.
Whichever way the winds of history blow, some people here say, life only gets worse for the poor. If it is not “pakdivat,” revolution, that is buffeting the poor, they say, it is “akdivat,” development.
The Cambodian economy has at last started to grow, at an estimated 9 percent last year. And Phnom Penh is starting to transform itself with modern buildings, modest malls and plans for skyscrapers. It is one of the last Asian capitals to begin to pave over its past.
From 1993 to 1999, Amnesty International said in its report in February, the government granted commercial development rights for about one-third of the country’s most productive land for commercial development to private companies.
In Phnom Penh from 1998 through 2003, the city government forced 11,000 families from their homes, the World Bank said in a statement quoted by Amnesty International.
Since then, the human rights group said, evictions have reportedly displaced at least 30,000 more families.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
As cities expand in Cambodia, the government forces outlying colony's out of their homes. - Kale
By SETH MYDANS
ANDONG, Cambodia — When the monsoon rain pours through Mao Sein’s torn thatch roof, she pulls a straw sleeping mat over herself and her three small children and waits until it stops.
She and her children sit on a low table as floodwater rises, bringing with it the sewage that runs along the mud paths outside their shack.
Ms. Mao Sein, 34, was resettled by the government here in an empty field two years ago, when the police raided the squatters’ colony where she lived in Phnom Penh, the capital, 12 miles away.
She is a widow and a scavenger. The area where she lives has no clean water or electricity, no paved roads or permanent buildings. But there is land to live on, and that has drawn scores of new homeless families to settle here, squatting among the squatters.
With its shacks and its sewage, Andong looks very much like the refugee camps that were home to those who were forced from their homes by the brutal Communist Khmer Rouge three decades ago.
Like tens of thousands of people around the country, those living here are victims of what experts say has become the most serious human rights abuse in the country: land seizures that lead to evictions and homelessness.
“Expropriation of the land of Cambodia’s poor is reaching a disastrous level,” Basil Fernando, executive director of the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong, a private monitoring group, said in December. “The courts are politicized and corrupt, and impunity for human rights violators remains the norm.”
With the economy on the rise, land is being seized for logging, agriculture, mining, tourism and fisheries, and in Phnom Penh, soaring land prices have touched off what one official called a frenzy of land grabs by the rich and powerful. The seizures can be violent, including late-night raids by the police and military. Sometimes, shanty neighborhoods burn down, apparently victims of arson.
“They came at 2 a.m.,” said Ku Srey, 37, who was evicted with Ms. Mao Sein and most of their neighbors in June 2006.
“They were vicious,” Ms. Ku Srey said of the police and soldiers who evicted her.
“They had electric batons” — and she imitated the sound made by the devices: “chk-chk-chk-chk.” She said, “They pushed us into trucks, they threw all our stuff into trucks and they brought us here.”
In a report in February, Amnesty International estimated that 150,000 people around the country were now at risk of forcible eviction as a result of land disputes, land seizures and new development projects.
These include 4,000 families who live around a lake in the center of Phnom Penh, Boeung Kak Lake, which is the city’s main catchment for monsoon rains and is being filled in for upscale development.
“If these communities are forced to move, it would be the most large-scale displacement of Cambodians since the times of the Khmer Rouge,” said Brittis Edman, a researcher with Amnesty International, which is based in London.
That, in a way, would bring history full circle.
Like other ailments of society — political and social violence, poverty and a culture of impunity for those with power — the land issues have roots in Cambodia’s tormented past of slaughter, civil war and social disruptions.
The brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge, during which 1.7 million people are estimated to have died, began in 1975 with an evacuation of Phnom Penh, forcing millions of people into the countryside and emptying the city. It ended in 1979 when the Khmer Rouge was driven from power by a Vietnamese invasion, sending hundreds of thousands of refugees into Thailand.
Many of the refugees returned in the 1990s, joining a rootless population displaced by the Khmer Rouge and the decade of civil war that followed in the 1980s. Many ended their journeys in Phnom Penh, creating huge colonies of squatters.
Now, many of these people are being forced to move again, from Phnom Penh and from around the country, victims of the latest scourge of the poor: national prosperity.
Whichever way the winds of history blow, some people here say, life only gets worse for the poor. If it is not “pakdivat,” revolution, that is buffeting the poor, they say, it is “akdivat,” development.
The Cambodian economy has at last started to grow, at an estimated 9 percent last year. And Phnom Penh is starting to transform itself with modern buildings, modest malls and plans for skyscrapers. It is one of the last Asian capitals to begin to pave over its past.
From 1993 to 1999, Amnesty International said in its report in February, the government granted commercial development rights for about one-third of the country’s most productive land for commercial development to private companies.
In Phnom Penh from 1998 through 2003, the city government forced 11,000 families from their homes, the World Bank said in a statement quoted by Amnesty International.
Since then, the human rights group said, evictions have reportedly displaced at least 30,000 more families.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A Malaysian soup kitchen
from the Malaysian Star
This soup kitchen actively goes out into the streets to bring people in. - Kale
By JAMIE KHOO
Have you ever walked past a homeless person and wondered what you could do to help? If so, join the Kechara Soup Kitchen which actively goes out to the streets to find them, feed them and befriend them.
IT can’t be easy living on the streets. Homelessness – its filth and its forgotten people – is a subject that most would rather not talk about, attributing this dire state of affairs to a sometimes mistaken belief of drug abuse, a criminal mind or pure laziness.
So why then is a group of young Malaysians heading out every Saturday evening to actively look for them?
The Kechara Soup Kitchen, an independent initiative run by volunteers of all ages and backgrounds, seeks to bring relief to the streets by going out twice a week to distribute halal food packets to the homeless and urban poor with its tagline “Hunger knows no barriers.”
Meeting a desperate need
Volunteers pack the food themselves and set out on foot in the early evening on Wednesdays and Saturdays, rain or shine, to pockets of Kuala Lumpur like Puduraya, Pudu Market and Chow Kit.
“KSK started off two years ago with only a few people delivering about 20 packets of food. They would just walk for hours looking for homeless and poor people all over the city,” explains KSK director Chuah Su Ming.
“Now, we’re delivering up to 350 packets of food each session and have better identified the areas which are most populated.”
KSK also provides basic first aid or brings those requiring more serious treatment to a clinic. They also distribute umbrellas, blankets and clothes and some volunteers even cook extra goodies themselves to be distributed with the food packets.
“These people have become our friends,” shares Chuah.
“We know their stories now, and although it is hard to pinpoint exactly why most of them are on the streets, we know one thing for sure – that they’re not there by choice.”
This poses a controversial question of whether they also feed drug addicts, thieves and criminals, indirectly encouraging their behaviour.
“Yes, we do feed all. Our policy is never to give money, but we will feed anybody who is hungry,” explains KSK non-executive director Peter Nicoll.
“We would never encourage what might be criminal behaviour. Feeding the homeless is only part of the plan – our aspiration is to make a connection with them and try to earn their trust by meeting this basic need of food. By doing so, we’re in a better position to identify those who wish to work and get off the streets. Then we can encourage them towards rehabilitation and even introduce them back into the workforce as responsible citizens,” he adds.
KSK’s long-term vision is to have a permanent base in the city where the homeless community can go every day for food, a shower and rest. Running simultaneously with the Soup Kitchen, KSK is also looking to develop a nurture centre in the suburbs of KL where they hope to temporarily house those wishing to undergo rehabilitation programmes and re-enter society. There, training for basic work skills such as gardening will be provided as well as programmes to assist in re-integrating them back into the work force and society.
From its humble, small beginnings, KSK has grown exponentially in its volunteerism, drawing people from very diverse backgrounds. Putting aside age, occupation, race and religion, they unite in the common objective of bringing relief and cheer to the less fortunate.
Through its noble efforts, KSK has even attracted the support of corporate sponsors who sponsor food and help distribute food to those who need it.
University professors, socialites, students, working professionals, expatriates and even their visiting friends from as far as Indonesia and Australia pitch in every week to bring relief to KL’s most forgotten streets
Says volunteer William Lee: “KSK educates that homelessness and poverty can in fact affect anyone.” It addresses a situation that anyone could potentially find themselves in.
“To make bigger things happen it’s important that the cause is addressed at a grassroots level. Start small and build,” adds the human resource executive.
Jehan Omar, a student from HELP college shares that the experience of going out with KSK has helped her realise that “we really are ignorant about lots of things going on close to us.”
Note: The Kechara Soup Kitchen is a registered charitable NGO under the Malaysian Registration of Societies Ordinance. For more information on how to participate in Kechara Soup Kitchen’s work, visit www.kskcommunity.org or call Peter Nicoll 012-705 9022, Chuah Su Ming 012-2911 178.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This soup kitchen actively goes out into the streets to bring people in. - Kale
By JAMIE KHOO
Have you ever walked past a homeless person and wondered what you could do to help? If so, join the Kechara Soup Kitchen which actively goes out to the streets to find them, feed them and befriend them.
IT can’t be easy living on the streets. Homelessness – its filth and its forgotten people – is a subject that most would rather not talk about, attributing this dire state of affairs to a sometimes mistaken belief of drug abuse, a criminal mind or pure laziness.
So why then is a group of young Malaysians heading out every Saturday evening to actively look for them?
The Kechara Soup Kitchen, an independent initiative run by volunteers of all ages and backgrounds, seeks to bring relief to the streets by going out twice a week to distribute halal food packets to the homeless and urban poor with its tagline “Hunger knows no barriers.”
Meeting a desperate need
Volunteers pack the food themselves and set out on foot in the early evening on Wednesdays and Saturdays, rain or shine, to pockets of Kuala Lumpur like Puduraya, Pudu Market and Chow Kit.
“KSK started off two years ago with only a few people delivering about 20 packets of food. They would just walk for hours looking for homeless and poor people all over the city,” explains KSK director Chuah Su Ming.
“Now, we’re delivering up to 350 packets of food each session and have better identified the areas which are most populated.”
KSK also provides basic first aid or brings those requiring more serious treatment to a clinic. They also distribute umbrellas, blankets and clothes and some volunteers even cook extra goodies themselves to be distributed with the food packets.
“These people have become our friends,” shares Chuah.
“We know their stories now, and although it is hard to pinpoint exactly why most of them are on the streets, we know one thing for sure – that they’re not there by choice.”
This poses a controversial question of whether they also feed drug addicts, thieves and criminals, indirectly encouraging their behaviour.
“Yes, we do feed all. Our policy is never to give money, but we will feed anybody who is hungry,” explains KSK non-executive director Peter Nicoll.
“We would never encourage what might be criminal behaviour. Feeding the homeless is only part of the plan – our aspiration is to make a connection with them and try to earn their trust by meeting this basic need of food. By doing so, we’re in a better position to identify those who wish to work and get off the streets. Then we can encourage them towards rehabilitation and even introduce them back into the workforce as responsible citizens,” he adds.
KSK’s long-term vision is to have a permanent base in the city where the homeless community can go every day for food, a shower and rest. Running simultaneously with the Soup Kitchen, KSK is also looking to develop a nurture centre in the suburbs of KL where they hope to temporarily house those wishing to undergo rehabilitation programmes and re-enter society. There, training for basic work skills such as gardening will be provided as well as programmes to assist in re-integrating them back into the work force and society.
From its humble, small beginnings, KSK has grown exponentially in its volunteerism, drawing people from very diverse backgrounds. Putting aside age, occupation, race and religion, they unite in the common objective of bringing relief and cheer to the less fortunate.
Through its noble efforts, KSK has even attracted the support of corporate sponsors who sponsor food and help distribute food to those who need it.
University professors, socialites, students, working professionals, expatriates and even their visiting friends from as far as Indonesia and Australia pitch in every week to bring relief to KL’s most forgotten streets
Says volunteer William Lee: “KSK educates that homelessness and poverty can in fact affect anyone.” It addresses a situation that anyone could potentially find themselves in.
“To make bigger things happen it’s important that the cause is addressed at a grassroots level. Start small and build,” adds the human resource executive.
Jehan Omar, a student from HELP college shares that the experience of going out with KSK has helped her realise that “we really are ignorant about lots of things going on close to us.”
Note: The Kechara Soup Kitchen is a registered charitable NGO under the Malaysian Registration of Societies Ordinance. For more information on how to participate in Kechara Soup Kitchen’s work, visit www.kskcommunity.org or call Peter Nicoll 012-705 9022, Chuah Su Ming 012-2911 178.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Debating profit in microcredit
from the International Herald Tribune
A debate has begun in microcredit circles about how much should the lender profit. Muhammad Yunus gives his side in this story. - Kale
When Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus began making US$27 loans to women in Bangladesh three decades ago, he wasn't thinking of initial public offerings and return on equity.
Now that the field of microfinance is become increasingly commercialized, though, such terms weigh heavily on his mind.
"Poor people should not be considered an opportunity to make yourself rich," Yunus said by phone from Bali, Indonesia, where he is attending a meeting on microcredit that opened Monday.
This week at the Microcredit Summit Campaign conference, privatization advocates will be pitted against those who believe you can save the world or make a buck — but not do both at the same time. The gathering is drawing several heads and former heads of state, including Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and microfinance representatives from 60 countries.
Members of the pro-market faction argue that civic-mindedness alone will never draw enough capital to serve the billion people who want rudimentary banking services. Profitability is the key to sustainability, they say.
Those against commercialization fear the microcredit movement is losing its soul, prioritizing investors over the world's farmers, sheepherders and street vendors, many of whom struggle by on less than a dollar a day.
Microfinance, for profit or not, is booming. According to Deutsche Bank, the volume of microfinance loans hit US$25 billion in 2007, up from US$4 billion in 2001, and another US$250 billion is still needed. The bank expects that private investors will pour US$20 billion into microfinance institutions in 2015 — ten times more than they did in 2006.
Many groups that started as nonprofits have become for-profit, and a plethora of microfinance investment funds, targeted at institutions and individuals, have opened in the last few years.
Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and Morgan Stanley have all entered the microfinance market, either providing direct funding, backing investment funds or securitizing debt, and private equity investors have also started to pile in, according to the World Bank's CGAP, a microfinance research group.
"You are seeing more and more financially driven investors going into this market," Eric Savage, managing director of Unitus Capital, a new for-profit firm that will help microfinance groups raise capital, said by phone from Bangalore, India.
Savage said the subprime crisis may give microfinance a further boost as investors seek diversification, and that tightening credit has so far had a "quite muted" effect on loans to microfinance institutions.
"The microfinance sector has been relatively isolated from the global credit crisis," he said.
At least two microfinance institutions are publicly traded: Mexico's Banco Compartamos, SA., and Kenya's rapidly expanding Equity Bank Ltd.
The Compartamos initial public offering, in April 2007, was a watershed event. The bank raised US$474.7 million — and the hackles of the field's civic-minded pioneers, who say the bank is making indecent profits by charging too much interest.
On Friday, Compartamos reported that net income for the first half was up 13.9 percent, to 500 million Mexican pesos (US$49.5 million), over the same period last year. Return on equity fell 11.3 percent, to 39.2 percent.
Compartamos founders Carlos Danel and Carlos Labarthe, argue that microfinance is, first of all, finance. In an 11-page "Letter to Our Peers," published this year, they argued that high interest rates are needed to cover the cost of administering small loans in difficult markets.
They defended above-average profits as necessary to attract investors to the still-nascent field. Competition, they wrote, is already helping the poor: In the past 7 years, Compartamos' interest rates have dropped from 115 percent to 79 percent, which they say is in line with the competition.
The combination of high costs and small loan size in Mexico means interest rates are higher than in many other countries, they said.
Globally, microfinance institutions charged an average of 28 percent a year in 2006, according to CGAP.
Many, however, remain galled by what Yunus, who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, calls the "distortion" of the field he forged.
His pioneering bank, Grameen, is owned by the poor borrowers it serves, and sustains itself with local deposits. The bank reported a narrow profit of 106.9 million Bangladeshi takas (US$1.6 million) on revenues of 10.6 billion takas (US$155 million) in 2007.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A debate has begun in microcredit circles about how much should the lender profit. Muhammad Yunus gives his side in this story. - Kale
When Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus began making US$27 loans to women in Bangladesh three decades ago, he wasn't thinking of initial public offerings and return on equity.
Now that the field of microfinance is become increasingly commercialized, though, such terms weigh heavily on his mind.
"Poor people should not be considered an opportunity to make yourself rich," Yunus said by phone from Bali, Indonesia, where he is attending a meeting on microcredit that opened Monday.
This week at the Microcredit Summit Campaign conference, privatization advocates will be pitted against those who believe you can save the world or make a buck — but not do both at the same time. The gathering is drawing several heads and former heads of state, including Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and microfinance representatives from 60 countries.
Members of the pro-market faction argue that civic-mindedness alone will never draw enough capital to serve the billion people who want rudimentary banking services. Profitability is the key to sustainability, they say.
Those against commercialization fear the microcredit movement is losing its soul, prioritizing investors over the world's farmers, sheepherders and street vendors, many of whom struggle by on less than a dollar a day.
Microfinance, for profit or not, is booming. According to Deutsche Bank, the volume of microfinance loans hit US$25 billion in 2007, up from US$4 billion in 2001, and another US$250 billion is still needed. The bank expects that private investors will pour US$20 billion into microfinance institutions in 2015 — ten times more than they did in 2006.
Many groups that started as nonprofits have become for-profit, and a plethora of microfinance investment funds, targeted at institutions and individuals, have opened in the last few years.
Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and Morgan Stanley have all entered the microfinance market, either providing direct funding, backing investment funds or securitizing debt, and private equity investors have also started to pile in, according to the World Bank's CGAP, a microfinance research group.
"You are seeing more and more financially driven investors going into this market," Eric Savage, managing director of Unitus Capital, a new for-profit firm that will help microfinance groups raise capital, said by phone from Bangalore, India.
Savage said the subprime crisis may give microfinance a further boost as investors seek diversification, and that tightening credit has so far had a "quite muted" effect on loans to microfinance institutions.
"The microfinance sector has been relatively isolated from the global credit crisis," he said.
At least two microfinance institutions are publicly traded: Mexico's Banco Compartamos, SA., and Kenya's rapidly expanding Equity Bank Ltd.
The Compartamos initial public offering, in April 2007, was a watershed event. The bank raised US$474.7 million — and the hackles of the field's civic-minded pioneers, who say the bank is making indecent profits by charging too much interest.
On Friday, Compartamos reported that net income for the first half was up 13.9 percent, to 500 million Mexican pesos (US$49.5 million), over the same period last year. Return on equity fell 11.3 percent, to 39.2 percent.
Compartamos founders Carlos Danel and Carlos Labarthe, argue that microfinance is, first of all, finance. In an 11-page "Letter to Our Peers," published this year, they argued that high interest rates are needed to cover the cost of administering small loans in difficult markets.
They defended above-average profits as necessary to attract investors to the still-nascent field. Competition, they wrote, is already helping the poor: In the past 7 years, Compartamos' interest rates have dropped from 115 percent to 79 percent, which they say is in line with the competition.
The combination of high costs and small loan size in Mexico means interest rates are higher than in many other countries, they said.
Globally, microfinance institutions charged an average of 28 percent a year in 2006, according to CGAP.
Many, however, remain galled by what Yunus, who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, calls the "distortion" of the field he forged.
His pioneering bank, Grameen, is owned by the poor borrowers it serves, and sustains itself with local deposits. The bank reported a narrow profit of 106.9 million Bangladeshi takas (US$1.6 million) on revenues of 10.6 billion takas (US$155 million) in 2007.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Growing more food in Africa
from the Baltimore Sun
Better farming might take a few years to achieve. This story shows what Africa must do to improve agriculture. - Kale
AWASH MELKASA, Ethiopia - Hussein Ibrahim walks solemnly past tidy rows of bright green cabbages, vines bursting with tomatoes and trees weighed down with plump avocados.
This modern, thriving farm - a rarity in drought-ravaged Ethiopia - filled Hussein with envy. Like so many other farmers across the Horn of Africa, he has no hope for his own crops this year.
"We are behind all the other people in the world," said Hussein, who tends his land in southern Ethiopia the way his ancestors did hundreds of years ago - with rain, if it comes, and oxen, as long as they're healthy.
To break out of endless cycles of drought, poverty and hunger, experts say, Africa desperately needs to modernize its age-old farming techniques. But the vast sums in foreign aid to Africa go toward feeding the hungry, and very little is left for improving farming so that Africans will cease to depend on handouts.
The situation is not impossible. A decade ago, a "green revolution" helped millions of farmers in Asia and Latin America emerge from poverty with basic innovations such as fertilizer, improved irrigation and hybrid seeds.
But Africa's farms, which employ more than half the labor force, remain one-fourth as productive as their counterparts around the world.
Ethiopia drew international attention in 1984 when a famine compounded by communist policies killed 1 million people. The nation is now gripped by a drought that has left 4.6 million people in need of emergency food shipments.
Drought is especially bad for Ethiopia because farming employs more than 80 percent of Ethiopians and accounts for half of all domestic production and 85 percent of exports.
Yet, it is not that Ethiopia is incapable of growing food, as this experimental farm 100 miles southwest of Addis Ababa demonstrates. It just needs the right tools.
The farm, part of a government-run research center, beats the drought with smart irrigation systems, higher-yielding seeds, and fertilizer and pesticides correctly applied.
Hussein and dozens of other farmers were invited to the farm in late June to learn about modern agricultural techniques.
The 640-acre center employs nearly 350 workers, nearly 60 of whom hold advanced degrees in agriculture. It was set up in 1969 in the dying days of Ethiopia's monarchy, survived a decade of Marxist dictatorship, famine and wars, and continues to point the way to food independence.
But all it can do is point. It costs the Ethiopian government about $1.1 million a year to run the farm. The average Ethiopian works two acres, has little education and earns about $800 a year.
Also on the visit to the center was Mitike Abebe, who farms wheat, barley, lentils and other crops in southern Ethiopia. She depends entirely on rainfall, sturdy oxen and her overworked soil.
"We don't want food aid," she said. "We need tractors, we need seeds, we need farm machinery."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Better farming might take a few years to achieve. This story shows what Africa must do to improve agriculture. - Kale
AWASH MELKASA, Ethiopia - Hussein Ibrahim walks solemnly past tidy rows of bright green cabbages, vines bursting with tomatoes and trees weighed down with plump avocados.
This modern, thriving farm - a rarity in drought-ravaged Ethiopia - filled Hussein with envy. Like so many other farmers across the Horn of Africa, he has no hope for his own crops this year.
"We are behind all the other people in the world," said Hussein, who tends his land in southern Ethiopia the way his ancestors did hundreds of years ago - with rain, if it comes, and oxen, as long as they're healthy.
To break out of endless cycles of drought, poverty and hunger, experts say, Africa desperately needs to modernize its age-old farming techniques. But the vast sums in foreign aid to Africa go toward feeding the hungry, and very little is left for improving farming so that Africans will cease to depend on handouts.
The situation is not impossible. A decade ago, a "green revolution" helped millions of farmers in Asia and Latin America emerge from poverty with basic innovations such as fertilizer, improved irrigation and hybrid seeds.
But Africa's farms, which employ more than half the labor force, remain one-fourth as productive as their counterparts around the world.
Ethiopia drew international attention in 1984 when a famine compounded by communist policies killed 1 million people. The nation is now gripped by a drought that has left 4.6 million people in need of emergency food shipments.
Drought is especially bad for Ethiopia because farming employs more than 80 percent of Ethiopians and accounts for half of all domestic production and 85 percent of exports.
Yet, it is not that Ethiopia is incapable of growing food, as this experimental farm 100 miles southwest of Addis Ababa demonstrates. It just needs the right tools.
The farm, part of a government-run research center, beats the drought with smart irrigation systems, higher-yielding seeds, and fertilizer and pesticides correctly applied.
Hussein and dozens of other farmers were invited to the farm in late June to learn about modern agricultural techniques.
The 640-acre center employs nearly 350 workers, nearly 60 of whom hold advanced degrees in agriculture. It was set up in 1969 in the dying days of Ethiopia's monarchy, survived a decade of Marxist dictatorship, famine and wars, and continues to point the way to food independence.
But all it can do is point. It costs the Ethiopian government about $1.1 million a year to run the farm. The average Ethiopian works two acres, has little education and earns about $800 a year.
Also on the visit to the center was Mitike Abebe, who farms wheat, barley, lentils and other crops in southern Ethiopia. She depends entirely on rainfall, sturdy oxen and her overworked soil.
"We don't want food aid," she said. "We need tractors, we need seeds, we need farm machinery."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
How many are being helped answered in a Nigerian survey
This Day
A Nigerian World Bank assisted project helps to build infrastructure in communities. A survey was released to measure how many communities have been helped by the project. - Kale
Federal Government has said that nine states, ninety-six local government areas and one thousand three hundred communities have so far benefited from its poverty reduction intervention projects under the World Bank assisted Local Empowerment and Environmental Management Project (LEEMP).
Minister of Environment, Housing and Urban Development, Halima Tayo Alao gave the outcome of the federal government pilot initiative while launching the programme jingle.
She said LEEMP had shown that devolving responsibility and authority to communities, with government providing policy guidance and facilitation is a sure way of guaranteeing attainment of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), rescue poverty and achieve sustainable development and growth.
She said the programme taps into the existing social capital in various communities and is geared towards supporting rural communities in undertaking micro- projects in areas of agriculture, health centres, schools construction and rehabilitation.
The Minister while explaining the involvement of the Ministry in championing such a multi-sectoral course said it is to ensure that sustainable use and management of environment is at the heart of every development effort in the country.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A Nigerian World Bank assisted project helps to build infrastructure in communities. A survey was released to measure how many communities have been helped by the project. - Kale
Federal Government has said that nine states, ninety-six local government areas and one thousand three hundred communities have so far benefited from its poverty reduction intervention projects under the World Bank assisted Local Empowerment and Environmental Management Project (LEEMP).
Minister of Environment, Housing and Urban Development, Halima Tayo Alao gave the outcome of the federal government pilot initiative while launching the programme jingle.
She said LEEMP had shown that devolving responsibility and authority to communities, with government providing policy guidance and facilitation is a sure way of guaranteeing attainment of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), rescue poverty and achieve sustainable development and growth.
She said the programme taps into the existing social capital in various communities and is geared towards supporting rural communities in undertaking micro- projects in areas of agriculture, health centres, schools construction and rehabilitation.
The Minister while explaining the involvement of the Ministry in championing such a multi-sectoral course said it is to ensure that sustainable use and management of environment is at the heart of every development effort in the country.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
An update on the WTO talks: some progress
from Report on Business, Canada
Agreement on the global trade pact could ad anywhere between $60 to $300 billion to the world's economy. - Kale
by JULIANE VON REPPERT-BISMARCK
GENEVA — World trade ministers appear to be finally making progress in seeking a sweeping new global trade agreement.
Although critical to a deal, disputes in several areas still did not prevent a sense of optimism over the multiyear process as officials continued week-long negotiations at the World Trade Organization in Geneva yesterday.
"We're closer to an outcome than we've ever been before," New Zealand Trade Minister Phil Goff told reporters after an evening session of talks. "People have differences. We need to work through those differences."
Protection for farmers in developing countries, U.S. cotton subsidies, European Union banana duties and industrial exports to China were still holding up a deal that has been seven years in the making, diplomats said yesterday at the end of a day spent in one-on-one and group negotiations.
U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab and negotiators from China warned a deal can still unravel given extreme sensitivity over opening up trade in national staples such as food and industrial products. Decisions at the WTO are made by consensus and can break down if one country dissents.
Tensions have been high during the past week, with rich nations refusing farm aid cuts and developing countries wanting to keep industrial tariffs in place. Brazil's negotiator, Celso Amorim, angered many by denouncing rich-country tactics as worthy of Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels, and Indian Industry Minister Kamal Nath almost walked out of a meeting.
A compromise plan drafted by WTO chief Pascal Lamy on Friday averted a breakdown that could have postponed a WTO deal for several years. According to this plan, the EU would cut trade-distorting farm subsidies by 80 per cent and the United States by 70 per cent, bringing the U.S. aid ceiling to about $14.5-billion (U.S.) from more than $48-billion now.
The plan would allow developed and developing countries to exempt parts of their farm sectors from high tariff cuts. It also suggests sudden import surges should trigger temporary tariff hikes, a move designed to protect vulnerable farm sectors.
The compromise would allow developing countries such as China and India room to protect to a limited extent industries such as textiles and car production - markets the United States and EU want to tap.
Negotiators praised the plan for averting disaster. On Saturday, ministers unveiled for the first time promises to open up global-services trade that makes up almost three quarters of gross domestic product in rich countries - from telecoms and banking to energy and the booming global shipping sector.
Yet negotiators still want changes to the farm and industrial trade plan. More than 80 countries, including China and India, are calling for stronger protection against sudden surges in farm imports.
Diplomats - many showing signs of exhaustion - spoke of horse trading going on behind closed doors. European negotiators are considering a financial sweetener for Caribbean banana planters hurt by European import tariffs, according to trade officials and diplomats.
The United States is resisting pressure from poor African cotton farmers to cut its annual $2-billion in cotton subsidies, calling on China to first admit U.S. cotton, a trade official said.
Brazil - the world's biggest ethanol producer - is pushing for access to the United States and Europe's booming biofuel markets. Beijing's negotiators are at odds with EU car and textile exporters who want cuts to steep Chinese tariffs.
Representatives of Canadian poultry and dairy farmers insist exemptions to tariff cuts available to developed economies be broadened from the 4 per cent currently on the table to 7.3 per cent.
"Any deviation from our position would be extremely negative for poultry and dairy farmers and for rural areas of Canada," said Peter Clarke, Director of the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency.
Barring the collapse of talks, ministers are expected to reach an agreement by Thursday. But the shape of any final treaty is still unclear and unlikely to emerge before the end of 2008. Services, trade and other issues must be formalized. U.S. commitments must pass congress, while France and Italy have threatened to veto a deal that threatens European farmers.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Agreement on the global trade pact could ad anywhere between $60 to $300 billion to the world's economy. - Kale
by JULIANE VON REPPERT-BISMARCK
GENEVA — World trade ministers appear to be finally making progress in seeking a sweeping new global trade agreement.
Although critical to a deal, disputes in several areas still did not prevent a sense of optimism over the multiyear process as officials continued week-long negotiations at the World Trade Organization in Geneva yesterday.
"We're closer to an outcome than we've ever been before," New Zealand Trade Minister Phil Goff told reporters after an evening session of talks. "People have differences. We need to work through those differences."
Protection for farmers in developing countries, U.S. cotton subsidies, European Union banana duties and industrial exports to China were still holding up a deal that has been seven years in the making, diplomats said yesterday at the end of a day spent in one-on-one and group negotiations.
U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab and negotiators from China warned a deal can still unravel given extreme sensitivity over opening up trade in national staples such as food and industrial products. Decisions at the WTO are made by consensus and can break down if one country dissents.
Tensions have been high during the past week, with rich nations refusing farm aid cuts and developing countries wanting to keep industrial tariffs in place. Brazil's negotiator, Celso Amorim, angered many by denouncing rich-country tactics as worthy of Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels, and Indian Industry Minister Kamal Nath almost walked out of a meeting.
A compromise plan drafted by WTO chief Pascal Lamy on Friday averted a breakdown that could have postponed a WTO deal for several years. According to this plan, the EU would cut trade-distorting farm subsidies by 80 per cent and the United States by 70 per cent, bringing the U.S. aid ceiling to about $14.5-billion (U.S.) from more than $48-billion now.
The plan would allow developed and developing countries to exempt parts of their farm sectors from high tariff cuts. It also suggests sudden import surges should trigger temporary tariff hikes, a move designed to protect vulnerable farm sectors.
The compromise would allow developing countries such as China and India room to protect to a limited extent industries such as textiles and car production - markets the United States and EU want to tap.
Negotiators praised the plan for averting disaster. On Saturday, ministers unveiled for the first time promises to open up global-services trade that makes up almost three quarters of gross domestic product in rich countries - from telecoms and banking to energy and the booming global shipping sector.
Yet negotiators still want changes to the farm and industrial trade plan. More than 80 countries, including China and India, are calling for stronger protection against sudden surges in farm imports.
Diplomats - many showing signs of exhaustion - spoke of horse trading going on behind closed doors. European negotiators are considering a financial sweetener for Caribbean banana planters hurt by European import tariffs, according to trade officials and diplomats.
The United States is resisting pressure from poor African cotton farmers to cut its annual $2-billion in cotton subsidies, calling on China to first admit U.S. cotton, a trade official said.
Brazil - the world's biggest ethanol producer - is pushing for access to the United States and Europe's booming biofuel markets. Beijing's negotiators are at odds with EU car and textile exporters who want cuts to steep Chinese tariffs.
Representatives of Canadian poultry and dairy farmers insist exemptions to tariff cuts available to developed economies be broadened from the 4 per cent currently on the table to 7.3 per cent.
"Any deviation from our position would be extremely negative for poultry and dairy farmers and for rural areas of Canada," said Peter Clarke, Director of the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency.
Barring the collapse of talks, ministers are expected to reach an agreement by Thursday. But the shape of any final treaty is still unclear and unlikely to emerge before the end of 2008. Services, trade and other issues must be formalized. U.S. commitments must pass congress, while France and Italy have threatened to veto a deal that threatens European farmers.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
More on the Anglican Bishops March
from the AFP via Google
Here is more on the Anglican bishops march that took place in London on Thursday. - Kale
LONDON — Hundreds of Anglican bishops from around the world were among 1,500 people who marched through central London Thursday calling for urgent action to tackle global poverty.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown lent his support to their calls, telling them in a speech afterwards that the march was "one of the greatest public demonstrations of faith that this country has ever seen".
The march, organised during a once-a-decade gathering of the Anglican church underway in Canterbury, was aimed at calling on world leaders to do more to meet the UN Millenium Development Goals set in 2000 to tackle world poverty.
In a letter intended as a manifesto for the march, the church's top cleric, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, said most of the goals to halve poverty by 2015 would not be achieved as things stood.
"Christian pastors and other faith leaders cannot stand by while promises are not kept, when nations are tempted by the easier path of preserving their own wealth at the cost of other peoples' poverty," he wrote.
He urged the United Nations -- due to debate the issue in New York in September -- to set a timetable on meeting the goals and commit to carbon emissions cuts to ease climate change which is hitting poor nations hard.
The Millenium Development Goals include halving extreme poverty, halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education by 2015.
Brown, who has made helping developing countries out of poverty a key priority of his premiership, also warned that time was running out to meet the goals in an address after the march.
"You have sent a symbol, a very clear message with rising force that poverty can be eradicated, poverty must be eradicated and if we all work together for change, poverty will be eradicated," he said after the march.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Here is more on the Anglican bishops march that took place in London on Thursday. - Kale
LONDON — Hundreds of Anglican bishops from around the world were among 1,500 people who marched through central London Thursday calling for urgent action to tackle global poverty.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown lent his support to their calls, telling them in a speech afterwards that the march was "one of the greatest public demonstrations of faith that this country has ever seen".
The march, organised during a once-a-decade gathering of the Anglican church underway in Canterbury, was aimed at calling on world leaders to do more to meet the UN Millenium Development Goals set in 2000 to tackle world poverty.
In a letter intended as a manifesto for the march, the church's top cleric, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, said most of the goals to halve poverty by 2015 would not be achieved as things stood.
"Christian pastors and other faith leaders cannot stand by while promises are not kept, when nations are tempted by the easier path of preserving their own wealth at the cost of other peoples' poverty," he wrote.
He urged the United Nations -- due to debate the issue in New York in September -- to set a timetable on meeting the goals and commit to carbon emissions cuts to ease climate change which is hitting poor nations hard.
The Millenium Development Goals include halving extreme poverty, halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education by 2015.
Brown, who has made helping developing countries out of poverty a key priority of his premiership, also warned that time was running out to meet the goals in an address after the march.
"You have sent a symbol, a very clear message with rising force that poverty can be eradicated, poverty must be eradicated and if we all work together for change, poverty will be eradicated," he said after the march.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Child Labor in the Jamdani industry
from the Daily Star
This explores child labor to make high end clothing. Jamdani is the type of fabric used. - Kale
Children from very poor families are falling victim to slave labour in the thriving Jamdani industry of the country as weavers are exploiting poor children as young as five years old.
Poverty and hunger is pushing many parents to send away their children to work in the industry -- a handicraft legacy we are proud of as our heritage -- in return for little or no wages.
While many in the world scream out for fair trade, refusing to buy 'cheaper' products that come out of a third world production unit akin to slavery, many children are losing their childhood here in our own country to weave the fine Jamdani material that is sold as higher end products in the clothes markets.
A recent visit to a Jamdani production village, Noapara, under Rupganj upazila found that most Jamdani weavers are children between the ages of five and 10. These children work from dawn till 8:00 in the night, mostly in return for extremely low wages, if not for food alone.
The employers claim that a very young and tender age is the proper time for training for this industry as the youngsters can pick up lessons very quickly.
Badrul Alam, an employer, said, "The prime criterion behind selecting such young children is that they abide their employers in this difficult training without a protest."
According to UN convention, all forms of child labour is prohibited below 18 years of age. The Children Act 1974 of Bangladesh declares child labour illegal under 14 years of age. The project coordinator of Street Children Programme of Aparajeyo-Bangladesh, Altaf Hossain Salim, however points out that few pay heed to this law in our country.
Most of the children working in Rupganj are from nearby districts of Kishoreganj, Mymensingh, Barisal and Chandpur. The dire poverty in those areas compels the parents to make their children work and Jamdani weavers exploit the child labourers in this process.
In typical practice, employers take on children, sometimes as young as five years old, as apprentices for two years to teach them how to weave. During this learning period the children are not paid anything but provided food and clothes. They are also given Tk 20 as pocket money every week.
They are allowed to visit their parents during the two Eid festivals in a year.
On completion of the apprenticeship period, the child labourers are employed for two further years on bondage. For this period the employers strike an agreement with the children's parents, usually for three to ten thousand taka depending on the child's age and experience. They pay half of this amount in one instalment to the parents.
The child labourer gets paid the remaining half on completion of his contract.
One Jamdani maker, who employs children, explained the basis for the wages to The Daily Star, "During the apprenticeship period a child tends to make a lot of mistakes so we have to make up for the damage to our production, so we do not pay the children."
According to Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) statistics, there were 17 thousand Jamdani looms in the villages of Noapara, Rupshi, Tarabo, Khalpar under Tarabo union alone in 1947, with every family owning one.
After 1971, the number of looms fell to around nine thousand in 17 villages under Rupganj and Siddhirganj upazilas.
A BSCIC survey in 1999 found the number of looms to be 2,845, which fell to 2,519 in 2002. The number of Jamdani weavers in these villages is now 5,669.
Azizur Rahman, 36, a weaver from Noapara, is a plot owner at the Jamdani Industrial Estate and has been involved with the Jamdani industry for the last 30 years. He inherited the trade from his father.
He has a son and a daughter but is not interested to involve his son with Jamdani weaving because of the hardships of the trade.
Aziz said, "I went through so much hardship and yet I could not develop the quality of my life, so I don't want my child in this trade. I want my son to add quality to his life.”
Mustakim, a 12 years old child labourer from Kishoreganj has been working as a weaver for the past five years with a unit on the Jamdani Industrial estate.
He begins a typical day at 6:00am in the morning that often ends at 8:00pm.
"Sometimes I work for a straight 24 hours according to need, especially if my employer gets large orders," he said.
The children who work at the looms remain seated there all their working hours. They have to remain bent over their work at all times. They are not allowed to leave their looms, other than for lunch break and toilet, during these hours.
"On the first year of my apprenticeship I used to hurt all over my body at the end of a day's work, I especially had cramps in my legs and severe back pain," Mustakim said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This explores child labor to make high end clothing. Jamdani is the type of fabric used. - Kale
Children from very poor families are falling victim to slave labour in the thriving Jamdani industry of the country as weavers are exploiting poor children as young as five years old.
Poverty and hunger is pushing many parents to send away their children to work in the industry -- a handicraft legacy we are proud of as our heritage -- in return for little or no wages.
While many in the world scream out for fair trade, refusing to buy 'cheaper' products that come out of a third world production unit akin to slavery, many children are losing their childhood here in our own country to weave the fine Jamdani material that is sold as higher end products in the clothes markets.
A recent visit to a Jamdani production village, Noapara, under Rupganj upazila found that most Jamdani weavers are children between the ages of five and 10. These children work from dawn till 8:00 in the night, mostly in return for extremely low wages, if not for food alone.
The employers claim that a very young and tender age is the proper time for training for this industry as the youngsters can pick up lessons very quickly.
Badrul Alam, an employer, said, "The prime criterion behind selecting such young children is that they abide their employers in this difficult training without a protest."
According to UN convention, all forms of child labour is prohibited below 18 years of age. The Children Act 1974 of Bangladesh declares child labour illegal under 14 years of age. The project coordinator of Street Children Programme of Aparajeyo-Bangladesh, Altaf Hossain Salim, however points out that few pay heed to this law in our country.
Most of the children working in Rupganj are from nearby districts of Kishoreganj, Mymensingh, Barisal and Chandpur. The dire poverty in those areas compels the parents to make their children work and Jamdani weavers exploit the child labourers in this process.
In typical practice, employers take on children, sometimes as young as five years old, as apprentices for two years to teach them how to weave. During this learning period the children are not paid anything but provided food and clothes. They are also given Tk 20 as pocket money every week.
They are allowed to visit their parents during the two Eid festivals in a year.
On completion of the apprenticeship period, the child labourers are employed for two further years on bondage. For this period the employers strike an agreement with the children's parents, usually for three to ten thousand taka depending on the child's age and experience. They pay half of this amount in one instalment to the parents.
The child labourer gets paid the remaining half on completion of his contract.
One Jamdani maker, who employs children, explained the basis for the wages to The Daily Star, "During the apprenticeship period a child tends to make a lot of mistakes so we have to make up for the damage to our production, so we do not pay the children."
According to Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) statistics, there were 17 thousand Jamdani looms in the villages of Noapara, Rupshi, Tarabo, Khalpar under Tarabo union alone in 1947, with every family owning one.
After 1971, the number of looms fell to around nine thousand in 17 villages under Rupganj and Siddhirganj upazilas.
A BSCIC survey in 1999 found the number of looms to be 2,845, which fell to 2,519 in 2002. The number of Jamdani weavers in these villages is now 5,669.
Azizur Rahman, 36, a weaver from Noapara, is a plot owner at the Jamdani Industrial Estate and has been involved with the Jamdani industry for the last 30 years. He inherited the trade from his father.
He has a son and a daughter but is not interested to involve his son with Jamdani weaving because of the hardships of the trade.
Aziz said, "I went through so much hardship and yet I could not develop the quality of my life, so I don't want my child in this trade. I want my son to add quality to his life.”
Mustakim, a 12 years old child labourer from Kishoreganj has been working as a weaver for the past five years with a unit on the Jamdani Industrial estate.
He begins a typical day at 6:00am in the morning that often ends at 8:00pm.
"Sometimes I work for a straight 24 hours according to need, especially if my employer gets large orders," he said.
The children who work at the looms remain seated there all their working hours. They have to remain bent over their work at all times. They are not allowed to leave their looms, other than for lunch break and toilet, during these hours.
"On the first year of my apprenticeship I used to hurt all over my body at the end of a day's work, I especially had cramps in my legs and severe back pain," Mustakim said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
South Florida earns last place for volunrteerism
from WINZ
Minneapolis St Paul had the highest percentage at 40%. This is from a Miami radio station, so if focuses on the local area. Kale
Miami residents earn last place in a national survey rating the amount of residents who volunteer.
Chances are you won't find many people volunteering in Florida.
The state average of 20% decreases the further south you go.
In fact, the Miami area ranks dead last in volunteerism among 50 major U-S cities, with fewer than 15% of South Florida residents donating their time.
The study cites Miami's higher than average poverty rate and commuter times as well as lower than average home ownership and education levels as possible causes for the low volunteer rate.
Corporation for National and Community Service's chair Stephen Goldsmith reports the national volunteer rate fell in 2007 for the second year in a row to just over 26%.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Minneapolis St Paul had the highest percentage at 40%. This is from a Miami radio station, so if focuses on the local area. Kale
Miami residents earn last place in a national survey rating the amount of residents who volunteer.
Chances are you won't find many people volunteering in Florida.
The state average of 20% decreases the further south you go.
In fact, the Miami area ranks dead last in volunteerism among 50 major U-S cities, with fewer than 15% of South Florida residents donating their time.
The study cites Miami's higher than average poverty rate and commuter times as well as lower than average home ownership and education levels as possible causes for the low volunteer rate.
Corporation for National and Community Service's chair Stephen Goldsmith reports the national volunteer rate fell in 2007 for the second year in a row to just over 26%.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Mbeki announces launch of a "war" on poverty.
from AFP via Google
After visits to poor areas last week, the president of South Africa announces a new scheme to fight poverty in the country. - Kale
PRETORIA — South Africa, the continent's economic powerhouse, will next month launch a nationwide campaign against poverty, President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday.
"The war on poverty campaign will be launched in all the (nine) provinces during August. The most deprived wards and households have been identified and will be visited ... to identify needs," he said at a media briefing on the outcome of a cabinet meeting last week.
"A war-room on poverty has also been established," and the campaign is coordinated by the office of the vice president, he said.
More than four million South Africans live below the poverty line, according to government figures.
The government has also set a target to reduce the country's crime rate by between seven and 10 percent for the remainder of the tenure of this administration, in a related strand.
The targeted "priority" crimes are murder, rape, violent assault and robbery, he said.
South Africa has one of the world's highest crime rates with some 50 people murdered a day.
A review of the criminal justice system and tackling of crimes among children are also underway in the country, he added.
There are 3,478 children in detention, 820 of them sentenced and kept in correctional facilities, he said.
Finally, Mbeki, who leaves office next year after serving two terms, said that all the venues for hosting the 2009 Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup will be ready to meet the deadline set by FIFA.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
After visits to poor areas last week, the president of South Africa announces a new scheme to fight poverty in the country. - Kale
PRETORIA — South Africa, the continent's economic powerhouse, will next month launch a nationwide campaign against poverty, President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday.
"The war on poverty campaign will be launched in all the (nine) provinces during August. The most deprived wards and households have been identified and will be visited ... to identify needs," he said at a media briefing on the outcome of a cabinet meeting last week.
"A war-room on poverty has also been established," and the campaign is coordinated by the office of the vice president, he said.
More than four million South Africans live below the poverty line, according to government figures.
The government has also set a target to reduce the country's crime rate by between seven and 10 percent for the remainder of the tenure of this administration, in a related strand.
The targeted "priority" crimes are murder, rape, violent assault and robbery, he said.
South Africa has one of the world's highest crime rates with some 50 people murdered a day.
A review of the criminal justice system and tackling of crimes among children are also underway in the country, he added.
There are 3,478 children in detention, 820 of them sentenced and kept in correctional facilities, he said.
Finally, Mbeki, who leaves office next year after serving two terms, said that all the venues for hosting the 2009 Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup will be ready to meet the deadline set by FIFA.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
UK study explores the gulf between rich and poor
from the Telepraph
Streets where no one works, and the only people on the corners are dealing drugs. This is in the UK as well, as a new study sheds light on this. - Kale
The gulf between rich and poor in Britain's inner cities is wider now than at any point since Victorian times, the Tories will say today.
By Simon Johnson
They highlight new research showing some of the country's most deprived communities are literally next door to the most prosperous.
Despite their proximity, these ghettos are described as being "on a different planet" - rife with drug dealers, gangs, knives, guns and children being raised in squalor.
They say the figures are a damning indictment of New Labour's policies.
Chris Grayling, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said: "What we are seeing is the growth of a sub-culture in our society that is utterly divided from and alienated from mainstream British life.
"In many respects these communities might as well be on a different planet from the rest of us.
"This is one of Britain's great social challenges, and the fact that it remains untouched a decade after Gordon Brown and Tony Blair won power will remain one of the great failures of this Government."
The Conservatives claim their research, based on Government figures produced by Oxford University, shows the scale of the divide.
In areas of central London 99.55 per cent of children are officially classified as living in poverty, whereas in other parts of the same area the figure is just 0.64 per cent.
More than 80 per cent of households in one ward in Leicester are officially classified as being "income deprived", while elsewhere in the city the figure is only four per cent.
Manchester city centre has the most divided communities in the country, with nearly half of residents in one electoral ward officially poor, while in nearby streets the figure is just one per cent.
The official unemployment rate is 5.2 per cent but there are pockets of Britain's cities where half the working age population is dependent on benefits.
Mr Grayling will argue in a speech to businessmen in Liverpool tomorrow (tues) that the gulf in social opportunities and life expectancy "is as vast as it has been at any stage since Victorian times."
He will compare the gang culture and deprivation of that era to today, and argue that social mobility under Labour "has come to a halt".
In an attack on Gordon Brown's record, Mr Grayling will claim there is a metaphoric "glass wall" around deprived areas that prevents residents from escape.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Streets where no one works, and the only people on the corners are dealing drugs. This is in the UK as well, as a new study sheds light on this. - Kale
The gulf between rich and poor in Britain's inner cities is wider now than at any point since Victorian times, the Tories will say today.
By Simon Johnson
They highlight new research showing some of the country's most deprived communities are literally next door to the most prosperous.
Despite their proximity, these ghettos are described as being "on a different planet" - rife with drug dealers, gangs, knives, guns and children being raised in squalor.
They say the figures are a damning indictment of New Labour's policies.
Chris Grayling, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said: "What we are seeing is the growth of a sub-culture in our society that is utterly divided from and alienated from mainstream British life.
"In many respects these communities might as well be on a different planet from the rest of us.
"This is one of Britain's great social challenges, and the fact that it remains untouched a decade after Gordon Brown and Tony Blair won power will remain one of the great failures of this Government."
The Conservatives claim their research, based on Government figures produced by Oxford University, shows the scale of the divide.
In areas of central London 99.55 per cent of children are officially classified as living in poverty, whereas in other parts of the same area the figure is just 0.64 per cent.
More than 80 per cent of households in one ward in Leicester are officially classified as being "income deprived", while elsewhere in the city the figure is only four per cent.
Manchester city centre has the most divided communities in the country, with nearly half of residents in one electoral ward officially poor, while in nearby streets the figure is just one per cent.
The official unemployment rate is 5.2 per cent but there are pockets of Britain's cities where half the working age population is dependent on benefits.
Mr Grayling will argue in a speech to businessmen in Liverpool tomorrow (tues) that the gulf in social opportunities and life expectancy "is as vast as it has been at any stage since Victorian times."
He will compare the gang culture and deprivation of that era to today, and argue that social mobility under Labour "has come to a halt".
In an attack on Gordon Brown's record, Mr Grayling will claim there is a metaphoric "glass wall" around deprived areas that prevents residents from escape.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Fair trade parties
from the San Francisco Chronicle
Now there is a fair trade scheme that follows the Tupperware model. This one helps women in Uganda. - Kale
Meredith May, Chronicle Staff Writer
After work one Thursday, a group of women friends gathered for Chardonnay and goat cheese at a posh home in Los Altos.
A veritable pirate's booty of colorful beaded jewelry was piled on the dining room table, where the women spent most of the evening trying on bracelets and necklaces.
Welcome to the Tupperware party of the new millennium. In the Bay Area and across the nation, women are gathering in homes and churches to buy colorful beads made by women from an Ugandan village.
The women of Kampala make the beads out of magazine paper. BeadforLife, the Colorado nonprofit behind the movement, imports and sells the beads at bead parties and online, and the money goes back to Kampala to buy land and build homes, send children to school, and help the women start businesses and improve their health through malaria treatments and mosquito nets. And at the bead parties, guests are discussing how to use their buying power to lift an entire Ugandan village out of extreme poverty.
"The draw is the beads, but really, it's an opportunity to get a discussion going about extreme poverty and how if we work collectively, we can change people's lives," said Julie King of Redwood City, one of the first handful of BeadforLife "ambassadors" in the United States.
Many of the beadmakers have been widowed by AIDS and war. Before BeadforLife started, they lived in mud huts on less than a dollar a day - not enough to feed their families or afford school uniforms so their children could get an education.
Today, BeadforLife is raising $3.5 million annually, and sends the bulk of it directly to Kampala. Now, the women earn $5 and $6 dollars a day, on par with a Ugandan police officer's salary. They have bank accounts now, and the average balance for each woman is $436.
The first Kampala beads arrived in the United States in 2003, in the luggage of two Colorado women who bought the beads from an African woman making them outside her hut, and selling them to the rare passers-by for $1 a strand. Torkin Wakefield and Ginny Jordan gave the jewelry to friends and wore it themselves, and noticed an immediate reaction. The jewelry was such a hit, the women returned to Kampala to buy bagsful. They met with 100 women in Kampala, and talked about starting a supply chain.
"They met the women and said, 'I think we can do much better for you,' " said King.
There are 300 women making the beads now, and 100 more enrolled in a training program to learn how. Using long, triangular strips of magazine paper, the Ugandan women roll the beads, glue and shellac them, and string them into necklaces and bracelets that have made it into the fashion pages of such magazines as InStyle and O.
Beads to boarding school
BeadforLife bought 18 acres of land in Kampala, and teamed up with Habitat for Humanity to help the women build 80 homes and pay for them with their earnings and sweat equity.
The women are no longer sharing latrines with 10 other families. Where before they would eschew free AIDS antiretroviral drugs because the medicine made them hungry and they couldn't afford food, now they don't have to make such choices. Many have vegetable gardens.
BeadforLife also pays for a hospital bed at the local hospital's charity ward so if anyone from Kampala has an emergency, there is a place reserved for them to get care.
The nonprofit is changing lives like that of Joan Ahimbisibwe, an HIV-positive beader, who bought a piglet with her jewelry earnings. With the money she made from selling the pig, she moved her three children from a hut to a storefront. During the day she sells sugar and vegetables. At night the family sleeps on a mattress behind the counter. Today, she has enough income to put her daughter through private boarding school.
Word-of-mouth success
BeadforLife doesn't do any grant writing, and donations make up just 5 percent of its revenue. The overwhelming majority of its money comes from women buying beads, a strand at a time. It's a female word-of-mouth phenomenon. Founder Wakefield is now living in Uganda the majority of the year to oversee the program.
"We've tapped into this incredible desire to participate in helping people overcome poverty, and there's something so tangible about the beads," said Devin Hibbard, North America director for BeadforLife.
Colleges have started BeadforLife chapters, churches are getting involved, and a chiropractor in Los Altos is selling them in his office.
King brings her book of Kampala snapshots to bead parties. She shows guests what extreme poverty looks like - the mud huts, the charcoal fires burned inside for warmth, the dirt rivets of sewage running between homes.
To Get Involved
BeadforLife, (303) 554-5901; www.beadforlife.org
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Now there is a fair trade scheme that follows the Tupperware model. This one helps women in Uganda. - Kale
Meredith May, Chronicle Staff Writer
After work one Thursday, a group of women friends gathered for Chardonnay and goat cheese at a posh home in Los Altos.
A veritable pirate's booty of colorful beaded jewelry was piled on the dining room table, where the women spent most of the evening trying on bracelets and necklaces.
Welcome to the Tupperware party of the new millennium. In the Bay Area and across the nation, women are gathering in homes and churches to buy colorful beads made by women from an Ugandan village.
The women of Kampala make the beads out of magazine paper. BeadforLife, the Colorado nonprofit behind the movement, imports and sells the beads at bead parties and online, and the money goes back to Kampala to buy land and build homes, send children to school, and help the women start businesses and improve their health through malaria treatments and mosquito nets. And at the bead parties, guests are discussing how to use their buying power to lift an entire Ugandan village out of extreme poverty.
"The draw is the beads, but really, it's an opportunity to get a discussion going about extreme poverty and how if we work collectively, we can change people's lives," said Julie King of Redwood City, one of the first handful of BeadforLife "ambassadors" in the United States.
Many of the beadmakers have been widowed by AIDS and war. Before BeadforLife started, they lived in mud huts on less than a dollar a day - not enough to feed their families or afford school uniforms so their children could get an education.
Today, BeadforLife is raising $3.5 million annually, and sends the bulk of it directly to Kampala. Now, the women earn $5 and $6 dollars a day, on par with a Ugandan police officer's salary. They have bank accounts now, and the average balance for each woman is $436.
The first Kampala beads arrived in the United States in 2003, in the luggage of two Colorado women who bought the beads from an African woman making them outside her hut, and selling them to the rare passers-by for $1 a strand. Torkin Wakefield and Ginny Jordan gave the jewelry to friends and wore it themselves, and noticed an immediate reaction. The jewelry was such a hit, the women returned to Kampala to buy bagsful. They met with 100 women in Kampala, and talked about starting a supply chain.
"They met the women and said, 'I think we can do much better for you,' " said King.
There are 300 women making the beads now, and 100 more enrolled in a training program to learn how. Using long, triangular strips of magazine paper, the Ugandan women roll the beads, glue and shellac them, and string them into necklaces and bracelets that have made it into the fashion pages of such magazines as InStyle and O.
Beads to boarding school
BeadforLife bought 18 acres of land in Kampala, and teamed up with Habitat for Humanity to help the women build 80 homes and pay for them with their earnings and sweat equity.
The women are no longer sharing latrines with 10 other families. Where before they would eschew free AIDS antiretroviral drugs because the medicine made them hungry and they couldn't afford food, now they don't have to make such choices. Many have vegetable gardens.
BeadforLife also pays for a hospital bed at the local hospital's charity ward so if anyone from Kampala has an emergency, there is a place reserved for them to get care.
The nonprofit is changing lives like that of Joan Ahimbisibwe, an HIV-positive beader, who bought a piglet with her jewelry earnings. With the money she made from selling the pig, she moved her three children from a hut to a storefront. During the day she sells sugar and vegetables. At night the family sleeps on a mattress behind the counter. Today, she has enough income to put her daughter through private boarding school.
Word-of-mouth success
BeadforLife doesn't do any grant writing, and donations make up just 5 percent of its revenue. The overwhelming majority of its money comes from women buying beads, a strand at a time. It's a female word-of-mouth phenomenon. Founder Wakefield is now living in Uganda the majority of the year to oversee the program.
"We've tapped into this incredible desire to participate in helping people overcome poverty, and there's something so tangible about the beads," said Devin Hibbard, North America director for BeadforLife.
Colleges have started BeadforLife chapters, churches are getting involved, and a chiropractor in Los Altos is selling them in his office.
King brings her book of Kampala snapshots to bead parties. She shows guests what extreme poverty looks like - the mud huts, the charcoal fires burned inside for warmth, the dirt rivets of sewage running between homes.
To Get Involved
BeadforLife, (303) 554-5901; www.beadforlife.org
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
A rally for Darfur in Dallas
from the Dallas Morning News
Here's a story on Darfur, a rally in Dallas took place reciently that supported the indictment of the Sudan's president.
Also here is a link to video of the rally. - Kale
By JEFFREY WEISS
Zeddim Dawelbit telephoned his sister Thursday, back in his genocide-wracked homeland of Darfur. When he asked her about how things were going, she started to cry, he said.
“She told me not to ask about Darfur. ‘Just tell me what it’s like there,’ ” Mr. Dawelbit told a loosely organized Dallas rally to support an indictment of Sudan’s president by the International Criminal Court.
About 60 people assembled around a statue of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. today. Most were originally from Darfur, the western region of Sudan where American and international authorities have declared that a government-backed genocide is going on. But some of the group came from elsewhere in Sudan — south, north, east.
They came in solidarity with the Dafurians to make the point that, as fellow Sudanese, they condemn the oppression of the people of the Darfur region in western Sudan. For them, they said, it’s as if an American were to see an injustice in another state.
“If there was a problem in Texas, then there’s a problem in the United States,” said Deng Bol, who escaped the civil war in Southern Sudan in 1989.
But he and others also asserted that while Darfur is getting most of the attention today, government -backed atrocities are still happening elsewhere in Sudan.
Several of those in attendance were American-born activists, members of several organizations working to end the violence in Sudan.
The news event that pulled them together was last week’s call by the international court’s chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, for an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. Mr. al-Bashir is accused of ordering the killing of non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur.
Leaders of China, the Arab League, and African League have warned against the issuing of the indictment, calling it outside interference in Sudan’s affairs. The small rally in Dallas was one of several recent events held in cities across the United States in support of Mr. Moreno-Ocampo.
Many of the Sudanese at the rally had escaped their homeland’s local wars a decade or more ago. Distance and the poverty back home meant that some had heard little or nothing from their relatives in some time. But some, like Mr. Dawelbit, have been able to keep in touch.
His sister, he said, is a teacher in the Hassa Hissa refugee camp outside the village of Zalingei. His uncle and aunt were killed last year, he said, when a helicopter strafed their nearby farm.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Here's a story on Darfur, a rally in Dallas took place reciently that supported the indictment of the Sudan's president.
Also here is a link to video of the rally. - Kale
By JEFFREY WEISS
Zeddim Dawelbit telephoned his sister Thursday, back in his genocide-wracked homeland of Darfur. When he asked her about how things were going, she started to cry, he said.
“She told me not to ask about Darfur. ‘Just tell me what it’s like there,’ ” Mr. Dawelbit told a loosely organized Dallas rally to support an indictment of Sudan’s president by the International Criminal Court.
About 60 people assembled around a statue of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. today. Most were originally from Darfur, the western region of Sudan where American and international authorities have declared that a government-backed genocide is going on. But some of the group came from elsewhere in Sudan — south, north, east.
They came in solidarity with the Dafurians to make the point that, as fellow Sudanese, they condemn the oppression of the people of the Darfur region in western Sudan. For them, they said, it’s as if an American were to see an injustice in another state.
“If there was a problem in Texas, then there’s a problem in the United States,” said Deng Bol, who escaped the civil war in Southern Sudan in 1989.
But he and others also asserted that while Darfur is getting most of the attention today, government -backed atrocities are still happening elsewhere in Sudan.
Several of those in attendance were American-born activists, members of several organizations working to end the violence in Sudan.
The news event that pulled them together was last week’s call by the international court’s chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, for an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. Mr. al-Bashir is accused of ordering the killing of non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur.
Leaders of China, the Arab League, and African League have warned against the issuing of the indictment, calling it outside interference in Sudan’s affairs. The small rally in Dallas was one of several recent events held in cities across the United States in support of Mr. Moreno-Ocampo.
Many of the Sudanese at the rally had escaped their homeland’s local wars a decade or more ago. Distance and the poverty back home meant that some had heard little or nothing from their relatives in some time. But some, like Mr. Dawelbit, have been able to keep in touch.
His sister, he said, is a teacher in the Hassa Hissa refugee camp outside the village of Zalingei. His uncle and aunt were killed last year, he said, when a helicopter strafed their nearby farm.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Video: a film on AIDS in Zimbabwe
from This Is Zimbabwe
"This is Zimbabwe" is an an outstanding blog. Thanks to them for this video entitled "Pain In My Heart" - Kale
Link to full article. May expire in future.
"This is Zimbabwe" is an an outstanding blog. Thanks to them for this video entitled "Pain In My Heart" - Kale
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Book Excerpt from Barbara Ehrenreich
from the New York Times
Barbara Ehrenreich has a new book out called "This Land is Your Land" The New York Times had a excerpt from it. - Kale
By BARBARA EHRENREICH
Could You Afford to Be Poor?
There are people, concentrated in Manhattan’s Upper East Side and Beverly Hills, who still confuse poverty with the simple life. No cable TV, no altercations with the maid, no summer home maintenance issues — just the basics, like family, sunsets, and walks in the park. What they don’t know is that it’s expensive to be poor. In fact, you, the reader of middling income, could probably not afford it.
A 2006 study from the Brookings Institution documents the “ghetto tax,” or higher cost of living in low-income urban neighborhoods. It comes at you from every direction, from food prices to auto insurance. A few examples from this study, by Matt Fellowes, that covered twelve American cities:
• Poor people are less likely to have bank accounts, which can be expensive for those with low balances, and so they tend to cash their pay checks at check-cashing businesses, which, in the cities surveyed, charged $5 to $50 for a $500 check.
• Nationwide, low-income car buyers, defined as people earning less than $30,000 a year, pay 2 percentage points more for a car loan than more affluent buyers.
• Low-income drivers pay more for car insurance. In New York, Baltimore, and Hartford, they pay an average $400 more a year to insure the exact same car and driver risk as wealthier drivers.
• Poorer people pay an average of 1 percentage point more in mortgage interest.
• They are more likely to buy their furniture and appliances through pricey rent-to-own businesses. In Wisconsin, the study reports, a $200 rent-to-own TV set can cost $700 with the interest included.
• They are less likely to have access to large supermarkets and hence to rely on the far more expensive, and lower quality offerings, of small grocery and convenience stores.
I didn’t live in any ghettoes when I worked on Nickel and Dimed — a trailer park, yes, but no ghetto — and on my average wage of $7 an hour, or about $14,400 a year, I wasn’t in the market for furniture, a house, or a car. But the high cost of poverty was brought home to me within a few days of my entry into the low-wage life,when, slipping into social worker mode, I chastised a coworker for living in a motel room when it would be so much cheaper to rent an apartment. Her response: Where would she get the first month’s rent and security deposit it takes to pin down an apartment? The lack of that amount of capital — probably well over $1,000 — condemned her to paying $40 a night at the Day’s Inn.
Then there was the problem of sustenance. I had gone into the project imagining myself preparing vast quantities of cheap, nutritious soups and stews, which I would freeze and heat for dinner each day. But surprise: I didn’t have the proverbial pot to pee in, not to mention spices or Tupperware. A scouting trip to Kmart established that it would take about a $40 capital investment to get my kitchenette up to speed for the low-wage way of life.
The food situation got only more challenging when I, too, found myself living in a motel. Lacking a fridge and microwave, I had to get all my food from the nearest convenience store (hardboiled eggs and banana for breakfast) or, for the big meal of the day, Wendy’s or KFC. I have no nutritional complaints; after all, there is a veggie, or flecks of one, in Wendy’s broccoli and cheese baked potato. The problem was financial. Adouble cheeseburger and fries is a lot more expensive than that hypothetical homemade lentil stew. There are other tolls along the road well traveled by the working poor. If your credit is lousy, which it is likely to be, you’ll pay a higher deposit for a phone. If you don’t have health insurance, you may end up taking that feverish child to an emergency room, and please don’t think of ERs as socialized medicine for the poor. The average cost of a visit is over $1,000, which is more than ten times what a clinic pediatrician would charge. Or you neglect that hypertension, diabetes, or mystery lump until you end up with a $100,000 problem on your hands.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Barbara Ehrenreich has a new book out called "This Land is Your Land" The New York Times had a excerpt from it. - Kale
By BARBARA EHRENREICH
Could You Afford to Be Poor?
There are people, concentrated in Manhattan’s Upper East Side and Beverly Hills, who still confuse poverty with the simple life. No cable TV, no altercations with the maid, no summer home maintenance issues — just the basics, like family, sunsets, and walks in the park. What they don’t know is that it’s expensive to be poor. In fact, you, the reader of middling income, could probably not afford it.
A 2006 study from the Brookings Institution documents the “ghetto tax,” or higher cost of living in low-income urban neighborhoods. It comes at you from every direction, from food prices to auto insurance. A few examples from this study, by Matt Fellowes, that covered twelve American cities:
• Poor people are less likely to have bank accounts, which can be expensive for those with low balances, and so they tend to cash their pay checks at check-cashing businesses, which, in the cities surveyed, charged $5 to $50 for a $500 check.
• Nationwide, low-income car buyers, defined as people earning less than $30,000 a year, pay 2 percentage points more for a car loan than more affluent buyers.
• Low-income drivers pay more for car insurance. In New York, Baltimore, and Hartford, they pay an average $400 more a year to insure the exact same car and driver risk as wealthier drivers.
• Poorer people pay an average of 1 percentage point more in mortgage interest.
• They are more likely to buy their furniture and appliances through pricey rent-to-own businesses. In Wisconsin, the study reports, a $200 rent-to-own TV set can cost $700 with the interest included.
• They are less likely to have access to large supermarkets and hence to rely on the far more expensive, and lower quality offerings, of small grocery and convenience stores.
I didn’t live in any ghettoes when I worked on Nickel and Dimed — a trailer park, yes, but no ghetto — and on my average wage of $7 an hour, or about $14,400 a year, I wasn’t in the market for furniture, a house, or a car. But the high cost of poverty was brought home to me within a few days of my entry into the low-wage life,when, slipping into social worker mode, I chastised a coworker for living in a motel room when it would be so much cheaper to rent an apartment. Her response: Where would she get the first month’s rent and security deposit it takes to pin down an apartment? The lack of that amount of capital — probably well over $1,000 — condemned her to paying $40 a night at the Day’s Inn.
Then there was the problem of sustenance. I had gone into the project imagining myself preparing vast quantities of cheap, nutritious soups and stews, which I would freeze and heat for dinner each day. But surprise: I didn’t have the proverbial pot to pee in, not to mention spices or Tupperware. A scouting trip to Kmart established that it would take about a $40 capital investment to get my kitchenette up to speed for the low-wage way of life.
The food situation got only more challenging when I, too, found myself living in a motel. Lacking a fridge and microwave, I had to get all my food from the nearest convenience store (hardboiled eggs and banana for breakfast) or, for the big meal of the day, Wendy’s or KFC. I have no nutritional complaints; after all, there is a veggie, or flecks of one, in Wendy’s broccoli and cheese baked potato. The problem was financial. Adouble cheeseburger and fries is a lot more expensive than that hypothetical homemade lentil stew. There are other tolls along the road well traveled by the working poor. If your credit is lousy, which it is likely to be, you’ll pay a higher deposit for a phone. If you don’t have health insurance, you may end up taking that feverish child to an emergency room, and please don’t think of ERs as socialized medicine for the poor. The average cost of a visit is over $1,000, which is more than ten times what a clinic pediatrician would charge. Or you neglect that hypertension, diabetes, or mystery lump until you end up with a $100,000 problem on your hands.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
[comment] Women hurt the most from poverty
from All Africa
Kathambi Kinoti is a women's rights advocate. She writes this analysis about how women provide for others, but often there is nothing left for themselves. - Kale
Fahamu (Oxford)
By Kathambi Kinoti
The current food crisis is yet another reminder of the feminisation of poverty. Women produce most of the food in poor countries, yet they have less access to seed, fertilisers and extension services.
They are also the most hungry -- about seventy per cent of the people who do not have access to enough food are women and girls. Women form the bulk of the working poor -- they toil long hours without reaping enough to enable them to climb out of the dollar-a-day absolute poverty bracket. In some countries women widowed by HIV and AIDS are routinely disinherited, and in these and many other countries women's lower cultural or legal status means that they do not own the land they till. The food crisis has inevitably taken a greater toll on women, and consequently the well-being of whole communities is affected.
Some of the grim statistics are as follows :
- Food prices have risen 55 percent from June 2007 to February 2008, including an 87 percent increase in the cost of rice in March.
- Households in developing countries spend an average of 70 percent of their incomes on food, compared to the 15 to 18 percent that households spend in industrialized countries.
- Even before the food crisis hit, an estimated 7 out of 10 of the world's hungry were women and girls.
- Rural women alone produce half of the world's food and 60% to 80% of the food in most developing countries, but receive less than 10% of credit provided to farmers.
At the recently concluded United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Food Security Summit in Rome, delegates promised increased commitment to fighting hunger and to developing agriculture. The Summit was not intended to be a pledging conference but several donors announced that they would make financial contributions to enable countries hardest hit by the food crisis to grow enough food to feed their populations .
Representatives of women's organisations attending a recently concluded FAO African regional consultation reiterated the fact that "It is widely acknowledged that improved women's access, control and ownership of land/natural and productive resources, is a key factor in eradicating hunger and rural poverty. This has been restated in [several] framework[s] of international commitments. . . . However, there has not been concerted international action to address the question of women's access, control and ownership of land/natural and productive resources in Africa ."
The food crisis can be attributed to the global market economy; an economy that undervalues the labour of women -- productive and reproductive -- and of the poor in general. According to a statement released by the women's organisations attending the FAO African regional meeting, "The overall situation is that in the face of increased competition and conflict over land rights for mining, development, logging and other economic activities and as a result of trends towards market-based land reforms, and environmental and health disasters, African women are fast losing their already precarious access to land and resources. HIV-positive women or widows and children orphaned by HIV and AIDS risk losing all claims to family land and natural resources ."
Countries have often had no choice but to integrate into the global economy to the detriment of their citizens. The international financial institutions insist that poor countries' governments divest from providing adequate support to local agricultural production and food security. Protesters around the world have decried the decline of food production in favour of crops for biofuels as an alternative source of energy. The energy crisis itself is fuelled by the global market economy.
*Kathambi Kinoti is a Kenyan feminist living and working in Nairobi. A lawyer by training, she has extensive experience in the field of women's rights. Kathambi is a co-founder of the Young Women's Leadership Institute, an organization that works towards the holistic empowerment of young women. This article first appeared in the Web site of the Association for Women's Rights in Development on 20 June 2008.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Kathambi Kinoti is a women's rights advocate. She writes this analysis about how women provide for others, but often there is nothing left for themselves. - Kale
Fahamu (Oxford)
By Kathambi Kinoti
The current food crisis is yet another reminder of the feminisation of poverty. Women produce most of the food in poor countries, yet they have less access to seed, fertilisers and extension services.
They are also the most hungry -- about seventy per cent of the people who do not have access to enough food are women and girls. Women form the bulk of the working poor -- they toil long hours without reaping enough to enable them to climb out of the dollar-a-day absolute poverty bracket. In some countries women widowed by HIV and AIDS are routinely disinherited, and in these and many other countries women's lower cultural or legal status means that they do not own the land they till. The food crisis has inevitably taken a greater toll on women, and consequently the well-being of whole communities is affected.
Some of the grim statistics are as follows :
- Food prices have risen 55 percent from June 2007 to February 2008, including an 87 percent increase in the cost of rice in March.
- Households in developing countries spend an average of 70 percent of their incomes on food, compared to the 15 to 18 percent that households spend in industrialized countries.
- Even before the food crisis hit, an estimated 7 out of 10 of the world's hungry were women and girls.
- Rural women alone produce half of the world's food and 60% to 80% of the food in most developing countries, but receive less than 10% of credit provided to farmers.
At the recently concluded United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Food Security Summit in Rome, delegates promised increased commitment to fighting hunger and to developing agriculture. The Summit was not intended to be a pledging conference but several donors announced that they would make financial contributions to enable countries hardest hit by the food crisis to grow enough food to feed their populations .
Representatives of women's organisations attending a recently concluded FAO African regional consultation reiterated the fact that "It is widely acknowledged that improved women's access, control and ownership of land/natural and productive resources, is a key factor in eradicating hunger and rural poverty. This has been restated in [several] framework[s] of international commitments. . . . However, there has not been concerted international action to address the question of women's access, control and ownership of land/natural and productive resources in Africa ."
The food crisis can be attributed to the global market economy; an economy that undervalues the labour of women -- productive and reproductive -- and of the poor in general. According to a statement released by the women's organisations attending the FAO African regional meeting, "The overall situation is that in the face of increased competition and conflict over land rights for mining, development, logging and other economic activities and as a result of trends towards market-based land reforms, and environmental and health disasters, African women are fast losing their already precarious access to land and resources. HIV-positive women or widows and children orphaned by HIV and AIDS risk losing all claims to family land and natural resources ."
Countries have often had no choice but to integrate into the global economy to the detriment of their citizens. The international financial institutions insist that poor countries' governments divest from providing adequate support to local agricultural production and food security. Protesters around the world have decried the decline of food production in favour of crops for biofuels as an alternative source of energy. The energy crisis itself is fuelled by the global market economy.
*Kathambi Kinoti is a Kenyan feminist living and working in Nairobi. A lawyer by training, she has extensive experience in the field of women's rights. Kathambi is a co-founder of the Young Women's Leadership Institute, an organization that works towards the holistic empowerment of young women. This article first appeared in the Web site of the Association for Women's Rights in Development on 20 June 2008.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Fair trade comes to New York by way of South Africa
All Africa
Usually story's on fair trade stores only profile the store itself. This one talks of the artisans who supply the store. - Kale
Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)
By Stephanie Nieuwoudt
Cape Town
Entering the Monkeybiz shop, one is confronted with hundreds of brightly coloured beaded animals, dolls, place mats and pictures. You find yourself smiling involuntarily.
"Just look at the beautiful work. How can you resist it?" asked Emma Johnson, an American tourist who visited the shop twice in one week. "I am buying a lot of dolls to take home as Christmas gifts."
Another tourist, Beatrice LaCroix from Canada, said she was impressed with the fact that Monkeybiz helped poor people: "I read about this project some time ago. When I arrived in Cape Town, I made a point of finding out where the shop was."
Monkeybiz was started in 2000 to help poor women in the townships around Cape Town, South Africa, to make a living. "The poverty in the townships is staggering," lamented Barbara Jackson, a ceramic artist who founded the non-profit organisation with fellow artists Shirley Fintz and Mathapelo Ngaka.
"As a privileged white South African I had to do something to help others so that I could sleep peacefully at night."
The women who make the beadwork for Monkeybiz mostly live in tin shacks with only basic necessities. Before they started beading, many had no other source of income. Now they earn 1,000 rand (about 131 dollars) to 3,000 rand (about 394 dollars) per month, depending on the amount of work they do.
Monkeybiz initially started with eight beaders. Ngaka took the beads to Khayelitsha, the township where she lived, and trained the first group of women. Today Monkeybiz employs 250 beaders.
In some cases up to 10 people depend on the income of a single woman. Many of the beaders are HIV positive.
In a country with an unemployment rate of 35 to 40 percent (counting those who have given up looking for a job), initiatives like Monkeybiz go a long way in putting bread on the table.
"Unfortunately there is no government appreciation of the potential the crafts industry has to create employment and generate income for this country," Jackson argued.
Monkeybiz products can be seen in shops around the country but about three-quarters of the goods are exported to a number of countries, including the U.S., Norway and Japan. The products are even sold in the New York shop of designer Donna Karan.
According to Jackson, Monkeybiz's monthly income from sales vary from 300,000 rand (39,000 dollars) to over 500,000 (65,700 dollars).
Monkeybiz supplies the thread, beads and other materials which are delivered to co-ordinators in the townships who distribute these inputs to individual beaders. "I like the idea that the women work from home. They do not have to spend money on transportation costs," Jackson indicated.
Poor households in South Africa spend an inordinate amount on transport because of the legacy of apartheid town planning and the lack of cheap and efficient public transport.
When asked about the principles of fair trade, Jackson answered: "We do not work as a fair trade organisation, but I guess we apply the same principles."
These translate into a fair price for each piece of work delivered. Each object carries the creator's name. The women are also trained in the craft of beading and recently Monkeybiz extended its range to include objects made from recycled rubber.
"To survive as a business we have to sell the items at higher prices than we pay for them, and the buyers then up the prices further so that they in turn can make a profit. This is how business works. However, the money we earn is used to provide the beaders with all the materials they need and to offer them other services, like a wellness clinic," Jackson explained.
The weekly wellness clinic for HIV positive women and their children is run at the Monkeybiz shop in Cape Town. The women are given advice on how to live with HIV/AIDS and get a chance to interact with others who have an illness that still often leads to stigmatisation by family and community members. The women also receive food parcels.
"We realise how important balanced meals are to those living with HIV/AIDS," said Jackson.
Linah Speelman (46) from the township Macassar near Cape Town has been beading for Monkeybiz since 2001.
"It has changed my life," she told IPS. "I used to work as a domestic worker but it was very stressful. The money I earned was far less than what I get as a beader. I can work at my own pace and do as much or as little work as I want to. I don't have to struggle with public transport to get to my place of work at a certain time."
Through Monkeybiz, Eunice Mlotywa from the township Khayelitsha was able to help other people: "Compared to some of my neighbours, I had a good life. When some of them started asking me for food, I realised that I had to try and teach them some skills. I started teaching them beadwork, but I did not have a market for the products."
When she met Jackson in 2001, a mutually beneficial partnership was entered into and she started working as a co-ordinator for Monkeybiz. "I realised that I could help more people who would be ensured of a regular income because of the strong marketing strategy of Monkeybiz."
Her house soon became too busy for her and her family to live there.
"There were people everywhere. We had to move because there wasn't space for us. The beaders bring their children and work mostly from here in summer. But in the winter most prefer to work from home. Many of them only come here on market days when I do quality control and when they get paid."
New beaders are also trained at the centre from which Mlotywa runs a weekly soup kitchen. "Through Monkeybiz I have been able to send my two sons to university. I have also seen how women who have had no income become independent through beading.
"A year ago it was clear one of our beaders, Mankozi, who is caring for the two orphans her brother left behind when he died of AIDS, was also ill. Through Monkeybiz she has had access to medical help and good nutrition.
"She has put on weight and you will not recognize this woman as the same one who was so terribly thin and sickly a year ago," said Mlotywa.
Usually story's on fair trade stores only profile the store itself. This one talks of the artisans who supply the store. - Kale
Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)
By Stephanie Nieuwoudt
Cape Town
Entering the Monkeybiz shop, one is confronted with hundreds of brightly coloured beaded animals, dolls, place mats and pictures. You find yourself smiling involuntarily.
"Just look at the beautiful work. How can you resist it?" asked Emma Johnson, an American tourist who visited the shop twice in one week. "I am buying a lot of dolls to take home as Christmas gifts."
Another tourist, Beatrice LaCroix from Canada, said she was impressed with the fact that Monkeybiz helped poor people: "I read about this project some time ago. When I arrived in Cape Town, I made a point of finding out where the shop was."
Monkeybiz was started in 2000 to help poor women in the townships around Cape Town, South Africa, to make a living. "The poverty in the townships is staggering," lamented Barbara Jackson, a ceramic artist who founded the non-profit organisation with fellow artists Shirley Fintz and Mathapelo Ngaka.
"As a privileged white South African I had to do something to help others so that I could sleep peacefully at night."
The women who make the beadwork for Monkeybiz mostly live in tin shacks with only basic necessities. Before they started beading, many had no other source of income. Now they earn 1,000 rand (about 131 dollars) to 3,000 rand (about 394 dollars) per month, depending on the amount of work they do.
Monkeybiz initially started with eight beaders. Ngaka took the beads to Khayelitsha, the township where she lived, and trained the first group of women. Today Monkeybiz employs 250 beaders.
In some cases up to 10 people depend on the income of a single woman. Many of the beaders are HIV positive.
In a country with an unemployment rate of 35 to 40 percent (counting those who have given up looking for a job), initiatives like Monkeybiz go a long way in putting bread on the table.
"Unfortunately there is no government appreciation of the potential the crafts industry has to create employment and generate income for this country," Jackson argued.
Monkeybiz products can be seen in shops around the country but about three-quarters of the goods are exported to a number of countries, including the U.S., Norway and Japan. The products are even sold in the New York shop of designer Donna Karan.
According to Jackson, Monkeybiz's monthly income from sales vary from 300,000 rand (39,000 dollars) to over 500,000 (65,700 dollars).
Monkeybiz supplies the thread, beads and other materials which are delivered to co-ordinators in the townships who distribute these inputs to individual beaders. "I like the idea that the women work from home. They do not have to spend money on transportation costs," Jackson indicated.
Poor households in South Africa spend an inordinate amount on transport because of the legacy of apartheid town planning and the lack of cheap and efficient public transport.
When asked about the principles of fair trade, Jackson answered: "We do not work as a fair trade organisation, but I guess we apply the same principles."
These translate into a fair price for each piece of work delivered. Each object carries the creator's name. The women are also trained in the craft of beading and recently Monkeybiz extended its range to include objects made from recycled rubber.
"To survive as a business we have to sell the items at higher prices than we pay for them, and the buyers then up the prices further so that they in turn can make a profit. This is how business works. However, the money we earn is used to provide the beaders with all the materials they need and to offer them other services, like a wellness clinic," Jackson explained.
The weekly wellness clinic for HIV positive women and their children is run at the Monkeybiz shop in Cape Town. The women are given advice on how to live with HIV/AIDS and get a chance to interact with others who have an illness that still often leads to stigmatisation by family and community members. The women also receive food parcels.
"We realise how important balanced meals are to those living with HIV/AIDS," said Jackson.
Linah Speelman (46) from the township Macassar near Cape Town has been beading for Monkeybiz since 2001.
"It has changed my life," she told IPS. "I used to work as a domestic worker but it was very stressful. The money I earned was far less than what I get as a beader. I can work at my own pace and do as much or as little work as I want to. I don't have to struggle with public transport to get to my place of work at a certain time."
Through Monkeybiz, Eunice Mlotywa from the township Khayelitsha was able to help other people: "Compared to some of my neighbours, I had a good life. When some of them started asking me for food, I realised that I had to try and teach them some skills. I started teaching them beadwork, but I did not have a market for the products."
When she met Jackson in 2001, a mutually beneficial partnership was entered into and she started working as a co-ordinator for Monkeybiz. "I realised that I could help more people who would be ensured of a regular income because of the strong marketing strategy of Monkeybiz."
Her house soon became too busy for her and her family to live there.
"There were people everywhere. We had to move because there wasn't space for us. The beaders bring their children and work mostly from here in summer. But in the winter most prefer to work from home. Many of them only come here on market days when I do quality control and when they get paid."
New beaders are also trained at the centre from which Mlotywa runs a weekly soup kitchen. "Through Monkeybiz I have been able to send my two sons to university. I have also seen how women who have had no income become independent through beading.
"A year ago it was clear one of our beaders, Mankozi, who is caring for the two orphans her brother left behind when he died of AIDS, was also ill. Through Monkeybiz she has had access to medical help and good nutrition.
"She has put on weight and you will not recognize this woman as the same one who was so terribly thin and sickly a year ago," said Mlotywa.
Global AIDS funding bill passes the House
from South Coast Today
The Global aids bill passes the house and is now on the way to the president to sign. This will double the amount of aid that the US sends out worldwide. - Kale
By JIM ABRAMS
WASHINGTON — The House voted Thursday to triple money to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis around the world, giving new life and new punch to a program credited with saving or prolonging millions of lives in Africa alone.
The 303-115 vote sends the global AIDS bill to President Bush for his signature. Bush, who first floated the idea of a campaign against the scourge of AIDS in his 2003 State of the Union speech, supports the five-year, $48 billion plan.
Passage of the bill culminated a rare instance of cooperation between the White House and the Democratic-controlled Congress.
It was "born out of a willingness to work together and put the United States on the right side of history when it comes to this global pandemic," said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., a leader on the issue.
The current $15 billion act, which expires at the end of September, has helped bring lifesaving anti-retroviral drugs to some 1.7 million people and supported care for nearly 7 million.
The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR, has won plaudits from some of Bush's harshest critics both in Congress and around the world.
Both Democrats and Republicans hailed it as one of the most significant accomplishments of the Bush presidency.
The United States, said Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, "has given hope to millions infected with the HIV virus, which just a few years ago was tantamount to a death sentence."
According to a study by UNAIDS and the Kaiser Family Foundation, the United States provided one-fifth of AIDS funding from all sources — governments, international aid groups and the private sector — in 2007.
About 40 percent of the $4.9 billion disbursed in 2007 from the G-8 countries, Europe and other donor governments came from the United States.
The legislation approves spending of $5 billion for malaria and $4 billion for tuberculosis, the leading cause of death for people with AIDS.
It authorizes spending of up to $2 billion next year for the international Global Fund to Fight AIDS.
The measure also provides $2 billion, on top of the $48 billion, for American Indian water, health and law enforcement programs.
While some GOP conservatives questioned the sharp spending increase, others said the U.S. aid had important security as well as moral implications and gave a needed boost to America's reputation abroad.
The pandemic, said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., top Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee, "is leaving a trail of poverty, despondency and death, which has destabilized societies and undermined the security of entire regions." The program has enhanced the U.S. image around the world, she said. "Even in the most remote areas of Kenya or Haiti, for example, people know about the PEPFAR program."
PEPFAR has focused on nations in sub-Saharan Africa that have been devastated by AIDS, but it has also provided assistance in the Caribbean and other areas hit by the pandemic now affecting some 33 million worldwide. Even with advances in treating the disease, there are still about 7,000 new HIV infections every day around the world.
The new bill, like the current law, states that 10 percent of funds should be allocated for orphans and vulnerable children. It sets as a goal preventing 12 million new HIV infections, treating more than 2 million with anti-retroviral drugs, supporting care for 12 million people infected with HIV/AIDS and training at least 140,000 new health care workers and paraprofessionals.
It increases attention on women and girls, including stressing the importance of preventing gender-based violence.
Pamela W. Barnes, president and CEO of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, applauded the bill's target of reaching 80 percent of HIV-positive pregnant women with services needed to prevent transmission to their children. "We are still only reaching 34 percent of pregnant, HIV-positive mothers with the medicine they need to keep their babies HIV-free," she said.
The final product took months of compromise: Democrats took out a provision in the existing act requiring that one-third of prevention funds be spent on abstinence education but allowed for reports to Congress if abstinence and fidelity spending falls below certain levels. Conservatives won "conscience clause" assurances that religious groups would not be forced to participate in programs to which they morally object.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
The Global aids bill passes the house and is now on the way to the president to sign. This will double the amount of aid that the US sends out worldwide. - Kale
By JIM ABRAMS
WASHINGTON — The House voted Thursday to triple money to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis around the world, giving new life and new punch to a program credited with saving or prolonging millions of lives in Africa alone.
The 303-115 vote sends the global AIDS bill to President Bush for his signature. Bush, who first floated the idea of a campaign against the scourge of AIDS in his 2003 State of the Union speech, supports the five-year, $48 billion plan.
Passage of the bill culminated a rare instance of cooperation between the White House and the Democratic-controlled Congress.
It was "born out of a willingness to work together and put the United States on the right side of history when it comes to this global pandemic," said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., a leader on the issue.
The current $15 billion act, which expires at the end of September, has helped bring lifesaving anti-retroviral drugs to some 1.7 million people and supported care for nearly 7 million.
The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR, has won plaudits from some of Bush's harshest critics both in Congress and around the world.
Both Democrats and Republicans hailed it as one of the most significant accomplishments of the Bush presidency.
The United States, said Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, "has given hope to millions infected with the HIV virus, which just a few years ago was tantamount to a death sentence."
According to a study by UNAIDS and the Kaiser Family Foundation, the United States provided one-fifth of AIDS funding from all sources — governments, international aid groups and the private sector — in 2007.
About 40 percent of the $4.9 billion disbursed in 2007 from the G-8 countries, Europe and other donor governments came from the United States.
The legislation approves spending of $5 billion for malaria and $4 billion for tuberculosis, the leading cause of death for people with AIDS.
It authorizes spending of up to $2 billion next year for the international Global Fund to Fight AIDS.
The measure also provides $2 billion, on top of the $48 billion, for American Indian water, health and law enforcement programs.
While some GOP conservatives questioned the sharp spending increase, others said the U.S. aid had important security as well as moral implications and gave a needed boost to America's reputation abroad.
The pandemic, said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., top Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee, "is leaving a trail of poverty, despondency and death, which has destabilized societies and undermined the security of entire regions." The program has enhanced the U.S. image around the world, she said. "Even in the most remote areas of Kenya or Haiti, for example, people know about the PEPFAR program."
PEPFAR has focused on nations in sub-Saharan Africa that have been devastated by AIDS, but it has also provided assistance in the Caribbean and other areas hit by the pandemic now affecting some 33 million worldwide. Even with advances in treating the disease, there are still about 7,000 new HIV infections every day around the world.
The new bill, like the current law, states that 10 percent of funds should be allocated for orphans and vulnerable children. It sets as a goal preventing 12 million new HIV infections, treating more than 2 million with anti-retroviral drugs, supporting care for 12 million people infected with HIV/AIDS and training at least 140,000 new health care workers and paraprofessionals.
It increases attention on women and girls, including stressing the importance of preventing gender-based violence.
Pamela W. Barnes, president and CEO of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, applauded the bill's target of reaching 80 percent of HIV-positive pregnant women with services needed to prevent transmission to their children. "We are still only reaching 34 percent of pregnant, HIV-positive mothers with the medicine they need to keep their babies HIV-free," she said.
The final product took months of compromise: Democrats took out a provision in the existing act requiring that one-third of prevention funds be spent on abstinence education but allowed for reports to Congress if abstinence and fidelity spending falls below certain levels. Conservatives won "conscience clause" assurances that religious groups would not be forced to participate in programs to which they morally object.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
More proof for India
from the Thaindian
A new government report show the strides India is making in meeting their MDG's. - Kale
By Rajeev Ranjan Roy
New Delhi, India is making impressive progress towards achieving the UN’s millennium development goals (MDGs) such as eradicating extreme poverty and ensuring universal primary education, says a government report. As per the alternative mixed recall period (MRP), India’s extremely poor population for whom making both ends meet is difficult, has come down to 21.8 percent in 2004-05 from 26.1 percent in 1999-00, says the government’s report on MDG 2007.
For the MRP, a yardstick to measure declining poverty, data on five non-food items - clothing, footwear, durable goods, education and institutional medical expenses - is collected over a year.
“India is on track with respect to the target of halving the proportion of people below the poverty,” says the MDG 2007 report of the ministry of statistics and programme implementation.
The thrust areas of MDGS are improving child mortality, maternal health, combating malaria, HIV-AIDS, promoting gender equality, environmental sustainability, and fostering global partnership of development.
These are some of the goals that more than 150 countries committed themselves to September 2000 at the United Nations Organisation (UN) to achieve by 2015, and are known as MDGs.
By 2015, India needs to halve the proportion of people whose income is less than a dollar a day, and achieve universal primary education, a situation where all children complete a full course of primary schooling.
According to the report, the proportion of children studying up to Class V in primary schools after they are enrolled in Class I has increased to 71 percent from 59.3 percent in 2000-01.
Such a decline in dropout rate in primary education is mainly because of India’s ambitious campaign on education for all, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, launched in 2000.
There is a significant reduction in the mortality rate of children under the age five, which has to be reduced by two-thirds by 2015.
It has come down to 91.2 per 1,000 male children in 1999-2003 in against 118.8 in 1988-92.
Mortality rate among girls under five has gone down to 108.9 per 1000 in 1999-2003 to 131.9 percent in 1988-92.
Although there is a decline in the maternal mortality rate (MMR) from 398 in 1997-98 to 301 per 100,000 in 2001-03, the report has doubts to achieve the MDG goal of 109 MMR by 2015.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A new government report show the strides India is making in meeting their MDG's. - Kale
By Rajeev Ranjan Roy
New Delhi, India is making impressive progress towards achieving the UN’s millennium development goals (MDGs) such as eradicating extreme poverty and ensuring universal primary education, says a government report. As per the alternative mixed recall period (MRP), India’s extremely poor population for whom making both ends meet is difficult, has come down to 21.8 percent in 2004-05 from 26.1 percent in 1999-00, says the government’s report on MDG 2007.
For the MRP, a yardstick to measure declining poverty, data on five non-food items - clothing, footwear, durable goods, education and institutional medical expenses - is collected over a year.
“India is on track with respect to the target of halving the proportion of people below the poverty,” says the MDG 2007 report of the ministry of statistics and programme implementation.
The thrust areas of MDGS are improving child mortality, maternal health, combating malaria, HIV-AIDS, promoting gender equality, environmental sustainability, and fostering global partnership of development.
These are some of the goals that more than 150 countries committed themselves to September 2000 at the United Nations Organisation (UN) to achieve by 2015, and are known as MDGs.
By 2015, India needs to halve the proportion of people whose income is less than a dollar a day, and achieve universal primary education, a situation where all children complete a full course of primary schooling.
According to the report, the proportion of children studying up to Class V in primary schools after they are enrolled in Class I has increased to 71 percent from 59.3 percent in 2000-01.
Such a decline in dropout rate in primary education is mainly because of India’s ambitious campaign on education for all, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, launched in 2000.
There is a significant reduction in the mortality rate of children under the age five, which has to be reduced by two-thirds by 2015.
It has come down to 91.2 per 1,000 male children in 1999-2003 in against 118.8 in 1988-92.
Mortality rate among girls under five has gone down to 108.9 per 1000 in 1999-2003 to 131.9 percent in 1988-92.
Although there is a decline in the maternal mortality rate (MMR) from 398 in 1997-98 to 301 per 100,000 in 2001-03, the report has doubts to achieve the MDG goal of 109 MMR by 2015.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Why do the poor buy lottery tickets
from Science Daily
Maybe this will explain why I buy them too. Although, I'm sure many don't think of it as an "investment" - Kale
Science Daily — Although state lotteries, on average, return just 53 cents for every dollar spent on a ticket, people continue to pour money into them -- especially low-income people, who spend a larger percentage of their incomes on lottery tickets than do the wealthier segments of society.
A new Carnegie Mellon University study sheds light on the reasons why low-income lottery players eagerly invest in a product that provides poor returns.
In the study, published in the July issue of the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, participants who were made to feel subjectively poor bought nearly twice as many lottery tickets as a comparison group that was made to feel subjectively more affluent. The Carnegie Mellon findings point to poverty's central role in people's decisions to buy lottery tickets.
"Some poor people see playing the lottery as their best opportunity for improving their financial situations, albeit wrongly so," said the study's lead author Emily Haisley, a doctoral student in the Department of Organizational Behavior and Theory at Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business. "The hope of getting out of poverty encourages people to continue to buy tickets, even though their chances of stumbling upon a life-changing windfall are nearly impossibly slim and buying lottery tickets in fact exacerbates the very poverty that purchasers are hoping to escape."
The researchers influenced participants' perceptions of their relative wealth -- or lack thereof -- by having them complete a survey on their opinions of the city of Pittsburgh that included an item on annual income. The group made to feel poor was asked to provide its income on a scale that began at "less than $100,000" and went upward from there in $100,000 increments, ensuring that most respondents would be in the lowest income category. The group made to feel subjectively wealthier was asked to report income on a scale that began with "less than $10,000" and increased in $10,000 increments, leading most respondents to be in a middle or upper tier.
Participants, who were recruited at Pittsburgh's Greyhound Bus terminal, were paid $5 for completing the survey and given the opportunity to buy as many as five scratch-off lottery tickets. The experimental group purchased an average of 1.27 lottery tickets, compared with 0.67 tickets bought by the members of the control group.
A second experiment reported in the paper found that indirectly reminding participants that, while different income groups face unequal outcomes in education, jobs and housing, everyone has equal chances of winning the lottery induced an increase in the number of lottery tickets purchased. The group given this reminder purchased 1.31 tickets, compared with 0.54 for the group not given such a reminder.
In the study, the researchers note that lotteries set off a vicious cycle that not only exploits low-income individuals' desires to escape poverty but also directly prevents them from improving upon their financial situations. They recommend that state lottery administrators explore strategies that balance the economic burdens faced by low-income households with the need to maintain important funding streams for state governments.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Maybe this will explain why I buy them too. Although, I'm sure many don't think of it as an "investment" - Kale
Science Daily — Although state lotteries, on average, return just 53 cents for every dollar spent on a ticket, people continue to pour money into them -- especially low-income people, who spend a larger percentage of their incomes on lottery tickets than do the wealthier segments of society.
A new Carnegie Mellon University study sheds light on the reasons why low-income lottery players eagerly invest in a product that provides poor returns.
In the study, published in the July issue of the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, participants who were made to feel subjectively poor bought nearly twice as many lottery tickets as a comparison group that was made to feel subjectively more affluent. The Carnegie Mellon findings point to poverty's central role in people's decisions to buy lottery tickets.
"Some poor people see playing the lottery as their best opportunity for improving their financial situations, albeit wrongly so," said the study's lead author Emily Haisley, a doctoral student in the Department of Organizational Behavior and Theory at Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business. "The hope of getting out of poverty encourages people to continue to buy tickets, even though their chances of stumbling upon a life-changing windfall are nearly impossibly slim and buying lottery tickets in fact exacerbates the very poverty that purchasers are hoping to escape."
The researchers influenced participants' perceptions of their relative wealth -- or lack thereof -- by having them complete a survey on their opinions of the city of Pittsburgh that included an item on annual income. The group made to feel poor was asked to provide its income on a scale that began at "less than $100,000" and went upward from there in $100,000 increments, ensuring that most respondents would be in the lowest income category. The group made to feel subjectively wealthier was asked to report income on a scale that began with "less than $10,000" and increased in $10,000 increments, leading most respondents to be in a middle or upper tier.
Participants, who were recruited at Pittsburgh's Greyhound Bus terminal, were paid $5 for completing the survey and given the opportunity to buy as many as five scratch-off lottery tickets. The experimental group purchased an average of 1.27 lottery tickets, compared with 0.67 tickets bought by the members of the control group.
A second experiment reported in the paper found that indirectly reminding participants that, while different income groups face unequal outcomes in education, jobs and housing, everyone has equal chances of winning the lottery induced an increase in the number of lottery tickets purchased. The group given this reminder purchased 1.31 tickets, compared with 0.54 for the group not given such a reminder.
In the study, the researchers note that lotteries set off a vicious cycle that not only exploits low-income individuals' desires to escape poverty but also directly prevents them from improving upon their financial situations. They recommend that state lottery administrators explore strategies that balance the economic burdens faced by low-income households with the need to maintain important funding streams for state governments.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Video: Faith In Action rally
from The Telegraph
Here is some video from the Faith In Action rally that happened in Britain yesterday. - Kale
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Here is some video from the Faith In Action rally that happened in Britain yesterday. - Kale
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Barbados compared to Bloomberg
from the Nation Plus, Barbados
A good analysis on what is going on to combat poverty in New York City and Barbados. - Kale
BY TONY BEST
BORROW THE TITLE of Charles Dickens' famous novel and call the story A Tale Of Two Cities – Bridgetown and New York.
This time it's about poverty – how to count the numbers and what to do about the poor in the two places.
As Barbados' Minister of Social Care Dr Denis Lowe said in New York recently: "I really don't believe we appreciate the extent to which people are living in poverty in Barbados."
And in New York, Linda Gibbs, deputy mayor in the Bloomberg administration, said a new study had shown that the poverty rate in the five boroughs was 23 per cent of the 8.2 million people who call the city home, who now live below the poverty line. That's 416 000 more poor people than the federal government acknowledged. Washington's calculations put the poverty rate at 19 per cent in the city.
Of course, New York and Barbados recognise a hard fact of life: like death and taxes, the poor will always be with us.
That conclusion may be a part of the arsenal for sceptics but it has a sound basis: the Bible, which reminds everyone in the New Testament that "the poor always ye have with you".
According to figures compiled by international organisations, including the United Nations (UN) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Barbados has one of the lowest rates of poverty in the Caribbean and Latin America. As a matter of fact, it is among the lowest in the developing world.
Several years ago, the IDB estimated that 14 per cent of Barbados' population lived in poverty while UN data showed that in energy-rich Trinidad and Tobago, the figure was 21 per cent; Jamaica almost 18 per cent; Venezuela 31 per cent; Haiti 65; Colombia 64; Egypt 16; Dominican Republic 42; Turkey 27; Cameroon 40; Sri Lanka 26 and India 29 per cent. Other sources put poverty in Guyana at 33 per cent and The Bahamas about nine per cent.
Same conclusion
Small wonder, then, that both Barbados and New York have reached the same conclusion: something must be done about the poor. Interestingly, they are not talking about wiping out poverty but about reducing the numbers, making life easier for the less fortunate.
But that's entirely new. In the 1960s, the United States launched its extensive "anti-poverty" programmes that were effectively eliminated by the Republicans in the 1970s. In the 1990s, the Arthur Administration launched its initiative, calling it "Social Transformation", with the emphasis on upgrading people's homes and boosting the "social safety net" that aims to prevent Bajans from tumbling into abject poverty.
While Lowe conceded that Barbados had made "significant progress" in reducing poverty over the years, the problem still persists and he hopes to replace the "safety net" with a "trampoline" that would enable the poor to jump out of their current state, through the provision of training, jobs and other opportunities.
Just like New York, Barbados is planning to tackle the problem first by finding out how many people are trapped in poverty. Hence, plans for a comprehensive study.
"That's needed because most of the statistics we have been working with are old statistics," said Lowe.
What New York did was to devise a new scientific method, its own alternative approach to measure the poverty line.
The city's approach takes into consideration both the cost of living and the benefits people receive from the government. The model puts the poverty line for a family of four at US$26 138, that's an increase of almost US$6 000 from the current sum of US$20 444. The upshot: Brooklyn, where most Bajans and other West Indians live, now has 5.5 per cent more poor people than before; Queens, another borough with a large concentration of Caribbean immigrants, saw its figure jump by about eight per cent; Staten Island by 4.7 per cent; the Bronx 1.3 per cent, and Manhattan's should rise by 3.6 per cent.
The model paints a grim picture of New Yorkers who are senior citizens. About 32 per cent of them live below the poverty line as compared with the federal estimate of about 19 per cent. Part of the problem is the high cost of prescription drugs for seniors. With diabetes and hypertension rampant in New York, the cost of drugs has pushed many seniors into poverty.
Barbados' drug scheme relieves much of the financial burden on seniors who have diabetes and high blood pressure. New York doesn't have a similar scheme.
In Barbados, however, there is the 'feminisation of poverty', meaning women account for the largest group on welfare.
Some things are clear about what New York and Barbados are trying to do. The first is that the models they use to measure poverty aren't foolproof. Secondly, they would only be useful if the results are used to lift people out of poverty.
There may be a political calculation to the Thompson administration's plan: find out now how many Bajans are now poor so that three or four years from now, the Government doesn't have to answer a charge that it ushered in a period of rising poverty.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A good analysis on what is going on to combat poverty in New York City and Barbados. - Kale
BY TONY BEST
BORROW THE TITLE of Charles Dickens' famous novel and call the story A Tale Of Two Cities – Bridgetown and New York.
This time it's about poverty – how to count the numbers and what to do about the poor in the two places.
As Barbados' Minister of Social Care Dr Denis Lowe said in New York recently: "I really don't believe we appreciate the extent to which people are living in poverty in Barbados."
And in New York, Linda Gibbs, deputy mayor in the Bloomberg administration, said a new study had shown that the poverty rate in the five boroughs was 23 per cent of the 8.2 million people who call the city home, who now live below the poverty line. That's 416 000 more poor people than the federal government acknowledged. Washington's calculations put the poverty rate at 19 per cent in the city.
Of course, New York and Barbados recognise a hard fact of life: like death and taxes, the poor will always be with us.
That conclusion may be a part of the arsenal for sceptics but it has a sound basis: the Bible, which reminds everyone in the New Testament that "the poor always ye have with you".
According to figures compiled by international organisations, including the United Nations (UN) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Barbados has one of the lowest rates of poverty in the Caribbean and Latin America. As a matter of fact, it is among the lowest in the developing world.
Several years ago, the IDB estimated that 14 per cent of Barbados' population lived in poverty while UN data showed that in energy-rich Trinidad and Tobago, the figure was 21 per cent; Jamaica almost 18 per cent; Venezuela 31 per cent; Haiti 65; Colombia 64; Egypt 16; Dominican Republic 42; Turkey 27; Cameroon 40; Sri Lanka 26 and India 29 per cent. Other sources put poverty in Guyana at 33 per cent and The Bahamas about nine per cent.
Same conclusion
Small wonder, then, that both Barbados and New York have reached the same conclusion: something must be done about the poor. Interestingly, they are not talking about wiping out poverty but about reducing the numbers, making life easier for the less fortunate.
But that's entirely new. In the 1960s, the United States launched its extensive "anti-poverty" programmes that were effectively eliminated by the Republicans in the 1970s. In the 1990s, the Arthur Administration launched its initiative, calling it "Social Transformation", with the emphasis on upgrading people's homes and boosting the "social safety net" that aims to prevent Bajans from tumbling into abject poverty.
While Lowe conceded that Barbados had made "significant progress" in reducing poverty over the years, the problem still persists and he hopes to replace the "safety net" with a "trampoline" that would enable the poor to jump out of their current state, through the provision of training, jobs and other opportunities.
Just like New York, Barbados is planning to tackle the problem first by finding out how many people are trapped in poverty. Hence, plans for a comprehensive study.
"That's needed because most of the statistics we have been working with are old statistics," said Lowe.
What New York did was to devise a new scientific method, its own alternative approach to measure the poverty line.
The city's approach takes into consideration both the cost of living and the benefits people receive from the government. The model puts the poverty line for a family of four at US$26 138, that's an increase of almost US$6 000 from the current sum of US$20 444. The upshot: Brooklyn, where most Bajans and other West Indians live, now has 5.5 per cent more poor people than before; Queens, another borough with a large concentration of Caribbean immigrants, saw its figure jump by about eight per cent; Staten Island by 4.7 per cent; the Bronx 1.3 per cent, and Manhattan's should rise by 3.6 per cent.
The model paints a grim picture of New Yorkers who are senior citizens. About 32 per cent of them live below the poverty line as compared with the federal estimate of about 19 per cent. Part of the problem is the high cost of prescription drugs for seniors. With diabetes and hypertension rampant in New York, the cost of drugs has pushed many seniors into poverty.
Barbados' drug scheme relieves much of the financial burden on seniors who have diabetes and high blood pressure. New York doesn't have a similar scheme.
In Barbados, however, there is the 'feminisation of poverty', meaning women account for the largest group on welfare.
Some things are clear about what New York and Barbados are trying to do. The first is that the models they use to measure poverty aren't foolproof. Secondly, they would only be useful if the results are used to lift people out of poverty.
There may be a political calculation to the Thompson administration's plan: find out now how many Bajans are now poor so that three or four years from now, the Government doesn't have to answer a charge that it ushered in a period of rising poverty.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Finishing a year of volunteerism
from the BBC
The leader of one of Britain's biggest insurance companies is now back now urging government to do more. - Kale
By Gareth Jones
The former head of one of the world's biggest insurance companies has just come to the end of a year working for charity in Africa.
Richard Harvey, who as chief executive of Aviva ran a global operation employing 60,000 people, has been casting a critical business eye over the aid industry.
This time last year Richard Harvey was still enjoying the perks of office.
His chauffeur-driven limo had dropped him off at Aviva Tower, an executive lift had whisked him non-stop to the luxurious 23rd floor where he was greeted by his top team.
High above the City of London Mr Harvey spoke to his staff, gathered for his leaving do, about his impending departure.
"I never had a gap year before university," he joked. "But the kids have grown up and the mortgage is paid off. So now's the time."
A few months before, Mr Harvey had surprised the City by announcing his early retirement after 10 years at the top of insurance giant Norwich Union and then parent company Aviva.
The 56-year old said he was giving up his million-pound a year job to work in Africa for Hereford-based charity Concern Universal.
He said he wanted to use his 'gap year' to find out how best the continent could be helped to solve its problems.
'Bright future'
So what is his conclusion twelve months on?
"Africa has a bright future if it can be helped to trade its way out of poverty," he believes. "But the West - individuals and organisations- is still making mistakes."
Mr Harvey has been in Africa at a time when the interest of private philanthropists is very high.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, two of the world's richest men, are putting billions of dollars into helping the continent.
I still hear people talking about how many drugs they've delivered, how many injections they've given. That's not what you want to be measuring
Richard Harvey
One of Africa's poorest countries, Malawi - where Mr Harvey spent the last three months of his sabbatical - is also benefiting from money and effort donated by the likes of Scottish entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter, UK-based hedge fund financier Christopher Hohn and former US President Bill Clinton's Foundation.
Richard Harvey had been keen to discover whether all this new funding and that spent by more established charities and governmental organisations was being put to good effect.
"Working for Concern Universal has taught me the importance of preparing communities to receive aid," he says.
"When they help sink a well for example, they get that community to buy into the project by preparing them for six months beforehand with education and training. This means villagers feel they own the project and will look after it when the donor has gone away."
Focus on outcomes
In Malawi, as in other parts of Africa where Mr Harvey worked, erratic rains have been leading to crop failure, hunger and disease.
Villagers and their fields need clean, reliable supplies of water from wells and simple irrigation systems. He says he has noticed how donors are still making mistakes.
"You see them all around you.
"The disused pumps for example. I have spoken to individuals here who, in a very good-natured way, have seen a community in need and rushed out and written a cheque and drilled a borehole in the ground.
"Then it's fallen into disuse either because no-one knew how to repair it or it was in the wrong place and was causing disputes in the village or a dozen different reasons because there was no fundamental ownership."
Western donors need to stop talking about inputs and focus on outcomes instead, he argues.
"I still hear people talking about how many drugs they've delivered, how many injections they've given. That's not what you want to be measuring."
Looking to the future, Mr Harvey said that while current increases in world food prices were a serious threat to Africa's poor, in the longer term they could be to their benefit.
"If African farmers can be helped to take advantage of simple techniques to boost food production, their income will rise significantly, relieving poverty especially in rural areas."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
The leader of one of Britain's biggest insurance companies is now back now urging government to do more. - Kale
By Gareth Jones
The former head of one of the world's biggest insurance companies has just come to the end of a year working for charity in Africa.
Richard Harvey, who as chief executive of Aviva ran a global operation employing 60,000 people, has been casting a critical business eye over the aid industry.
This time last year Richard Harvey was still enjoying the perks of office.
His chauffeur-driven limo had dropped him off at Aviva Tower, an executive lift had whisked him non-stop to the luxurious 23rd floor where he was greeted by his top team.
High above the City of London Mr Harvey spoke to his staff, gathered for his leaving do, about his impending departure.
"I never had a gap year before university," he joked. "But the kids have grown up and the mortgage is paid off. So now's the time."
A few months before, Mr Harvey had surprised the City by announcing his early retirement after 10 years at the top of insurance giant Norwich Union and then parent company Aviva.
The 56-year old said he was giving up his million-pound a year job to work in Africa for Hereford-based charity Concern Universal.
He said he wanted to use his 'gap year' to find out how best the continent could be helped to solve its problems.
'Bright future'
So what is his conclusion twelve months on?
"Africa has a bright future if it can be helped to trade its way out of poverty," he believes. "But the West - individuals and organisations- is still making mistakes."
Mr Harvey has been in Africa at a time when the interest of private philanthropists is very high.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, two of the world's richest men, are putting billions of dollars into helping the continent.
I still hear people talking about how many drugs they've delivered, how many injections they've given. That's not what you want to be measuring
Richard Harvey
One of Africa's poorest countries, Malawi - where Mr Harvey spent the last three months of his sabbatical - is also benefiting from money and effort donated by the likes of Scottish entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter, UK-based hedge fund financier Christopher Hohn and former US President Bill Clinton's Foundation.
Richard Harvey had been keen to discover whether all this new funding and that spent by more established charities and governmental organisations was being put to good effect.
"Working for Concern Universal has taught me the importance of preparing communities to receive aid," he says.
"When they help sink a well for example, they get that community to buy into the project by preparing them for six months beforehand with education and training. This means villagers feel they own the project and will look after it when the donor has gone away."
Focus on outcomes
In Malawi, as in other parts of Africa where Mr Harvey worked, erratic rains have been leading to crop failure, hunger and disease.
Villagers and their fields need clean, reliable supplies of water from wells and simple irrigation systems. He says he has noticed how donors are still making mistakes.
"You see them all around you.
"The disused pumps for example. I have spoken to individuals here who, in a very good-natured way, have seen a community in need and rushed out and written a cheque and drilled a borehole in the ground.
"Then it's fallen into disuse either because no-one knew how to repair it or it was in the wrong place and was causing disputes in the village or a dozen different reasons because there was no fundamental ownership."
Western donors need to stop talking about inputs and focus on outcomes instead, he argues.
"I still hear people talking about how many drugs they've delivered, how many injections they've given. That's not what you want to be measuring."
Looking to the future, Mr Harvey said that while current increases in world food prices were a serious threat to Africa's poor, in the longer term they could be to their benefit.
"If African farmers can be helped to take advantage of simple techniques to boost food production, their income will rise significantly, relieving poverty especially in rural areas."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Details on a Californian food drive
from the Hanford Sentinel
This story was to help drum up donations to afood drive. Many of the locations listed at the end had empty collection barrels well into the food drive. - Kale
By Shawbong Fok
A food drive launched by 13 businesses in downtown Hanford earlier in July seeks to collect 7,500 pounds of food by month's end -- enough to feed 300 needy families. The drive comes at a time when the slowing economy has pinched the wallets of Kings County residents amid spiking gas and food prices. As a result, more and more families are struggling to make ends meet, according to some of the business employees and owners involved in the drive.
The food drive is meant to help needy families fill their bellies, especially as donations slow down during the summer.
Castaways Concepts, a consignment store, is one such business that plans to help the poor. Already, it has collected pasta, beans and oatmeal, among other non-perishable foods, that will go to Kings Community Action Organization (KCAO), a local nonprofit which every month feeds low-income families from the emergency food pantry.
"People have trouble making ends meet these days," said Eryn Gray, marketer for Castaways Concepts and the organizer of the downtown food drive.
The donations from the stores, all of which will go to KCAO, are meant to help cushion the economic blow that some families are facing.
Gray herself is one victim of the imploding economy. She ekes out a living making $8 a hour, and pays everything from gas and food to credit card bills and entertainment.
With the sharp jump in energy and food costs, she sometimes has to put off payment on her credit card and skip out on filling her gas tank.
"I find rides if I can," she said, explaining the way she gets around town.
Gray isn't the only Kings County resident feeling the pain.
Kings County is noted for its high poverty rate and jobs in farming, food services and retail, many of which pay at or barely above minimum wage.
"There's a lot of hungry people in this county and city," said Harriet Johnson, a sales clerk at Workingman's Store, a clothing retailer involved in the downtown food drive. "Lots of people work minimum wage jobs, which are hard to support one person let alone a family. We're here to help for a good cause."
Here's a list of participating businesses:
Castaways Concepts
210 N. Irwin St.
Hanford, CA 93230
582-0730
Workingman’s
216 N. Irwin St.
Hanford, CA 93230
584-3914
Country Hutch
126 W. Seventh St.
Hanford, CA 93230
585-0602
Miller’s Jewelry
131 W. Seventh St.
Hanford, CA 93230
584-8215
Panache Salon
123 W. Seventh St.
Hanford, CA 93230
582-2976
The Crossroads
122 W. Seventh St.
Hanford, CA 93230
584-4445
Artisans
111 W. Seventh St.
Hanford, CA 93230
582-5719
American Home & Gift
108 W. Seventh St.
Hanford, CA 93230
(559) 582-4651
FTG
210 N. Douty St.
Hanford, CA 93230
585-8675
Artworks
120 W. Sixth St.
Hanford, CA 93230
583-8790
Candice & Co.
117 W. Seventh St.
Hanford, CA 93230
589-0201
Scentiments
110 W. Seventh St.
Hanford, CA 93230
584-1580
Treasure Bin
221 N. Irwin St.
Hanford, CA 93230
584-5131
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This story was to help drum up donations to afood drive. Many of the locations listed at the end had empty collection barrels well into the food drive. - Kale
By Shawbong Fok
A food drive launched by 13 businesses in downtown Hanford earlier in July seeks to collect 7,500 pounds of food by month's end -- enough to feed 300 needy families. The drive comes at a time when the slowing economy has pinched the wallets of Kings County residents amid spiking gas and food prices. As a result, more and more families are struggling to make ends meet, according to some of the business employees and owners involved in the drive.
The food drive is meant to help needy families fill their bellies, especially as donations slow down during the summer.
Castaways Concepts, a consignment store, is one such business that plans to help the poor. Already, it has collected pasta, beans and oatmeal, among other non-perishable foods, that will go to Kings Community Action Organization (KCAO), a local nonprofit which every month feeds low-income families from the emergency food pantry.
"People have trouble making ends meet these days," said Eryn Gray, marketer for Castaways Concepts and the organizer of the downtown food drive.
The donations from the stores, all of which will go to KCAO, are meant to help cushion the economic blow that some families are facing.
Gray herself is one victim of the imploding economy. She ekes out a living making $8 a hour, and pays everything from gas and food to credit card bills and entertainment.
With the sharp jump in energy and food costs, she sometimes has to put off payment on her credit card and skip out on filling her gas tank.
"I find rides if I can," she said, explaining the way she gets around town.
Gray isn't the only Kings County resident feeling the pain.
Kings County is noted for its high poverty rate and jobs in farming, food services and retail, many of which pay at or barely above minimum wage.
"There's a lot of hungry people in this county and city," said Harriet Johnson, a sales clerk at Workingman's Store, a clothing retailer involved in the downtown food drive. "Lots of people work minimum wage jobs, which are hard to support one person let alone a family. We're here to help for a good cause."
Here's a list of participating businesses:
Castaways Concepts
210 N. Irwin St.
Hanford, CA 93230
582-0730
Workingman’s
216 N. Irwin St.
Hanford, CA 93230
584-3914
Country Hutch
126 W. Seventh St.
Hanford, CA 93230
585-0602
Miller’s Jewelry
131 W. Seventh St.
Hanford, CA 93230
584-8215
Panache Salon
123 W. Seventh St.
Hanford, CA 93230
582-2976
The Crossroads
122 W. Seventh St.
Hanford, CA 93230
584-4445
Artisans
111 W. Seventh St.
Hanford, CA 93230
582-5719
American Home & Gift
108 W. Seventh St.
Hanford, CA 93230
(559) 582-4651
FTG
210 N. Douty St.
Hanford, CA 93230
585-8675
Artworks
120 W. Sixth St.
Hanford, CA 93230
583-8790
Candice & Co.
117 W. Seventh St.
Hanford, CA 93230
589-0201
Scentiments
110 W. Seventh St.
Hanford, CA 93230
584-1580
Treasure Bin
221 N. Irwin St.
Hanford, CA 93230
584-5131
Link to full article. May expire in future.
[comment] Jeffery Sachs on the G8
from the Guardian
Jeffery Sachs calls on the G8 leaders to honor their commitments. - Kale
The G8 summit in Japan earlier this month was a painful demonstration of the pitiful state of global cooperation. The world is in deepening crisis. Food prices are soaring. Oil prices are at historic highs. The leading economies are entering a recession. Climate change negotiations are going around in circles. Aid to the poorest countries is stagnant, despite years of promised increases. And yet in this gathering storm it was hard to find a single real accomplishment by the world's leaders.
The world needs global solutions for global problems, but the G8 leaders clearly cannot provide them. Because virtually all of the political leaders that went to the summit are deeply unpopular at home, few offer any global leadership. They are weak individually, and even weaker when they get together and display to the world their inability to mobilise real action.
There are four deep problems. The first is the incoherence of American leadership. While we are well past the time when the United States alone could solve any global problems, it does not even try to find shared global solutions. The will to global cooperation was weak even in the Clinton administration, but it has disappeared entirely during the Bush administration.
The second problem is the lack of global financing. The hunger crisis can be overcome in poor countries if they get help to grow more food. The global energy and climate crises can be overcome if the world invests together to develop new energy technologies. Diseases such as malaria can be overcome through globally coordinated investments in disease control. The oceans, rainforests, and air can be kept safe through pooled investments in environmental protection.
Global solutions are not expensive, but they are not free, either. Global solutions to poverty, food production, and development of new clean energy technology will require annual investments of roughly $350bn, or 1% of GNP of the rich world. This is obviously affordable, and is modest compared to military spending, but is far above the pittance that the G8 actually brings to the table to solve these urgent challenges. The British prime minister, Gordon Brown, has made a valiant effort to get the rest of Europe to honor the modest aid pledges made at the G8 Summit in 2005, but it has been a tough fight, and one that hasn't been won.
The third problem is the disconnection between global scientific expertise and politicians. Scientists and engineers have developed many powerful ways to address today's challenges, whether growing food, controlling diseases, or protecting the environment. And these methods have become even more powerful in recent years with advances in information and communications technology, which make global solutions easier to identify and implement than ever before.
The fourth problem is that the G8 ignores the very international institutions – notably the United Nations and the World Bank – that offer the best hope to implement global solutions. These institutions are often deprived of political backing, underfinanced, and then blamed by the G8 when global problems aren't solved. Instead, they should be given clear authority and responsibilities, and then held accountable for their performance.
President Bush may be too unaware to recognise that his historically high 70% disapproval rating among US voters is related to the fact that his government turned its back on the international community – and thereby got trapped in war and economic crisis. The other G8 leaders presumably can see that their own unpopularity at home is strongly related to high food and energy prices, and an increasingly unstable global climate and global economy, none of which they can address on their own.
Starting in January 2009 with the new US president, politicians should take the best chance for their own political survival, and of course for their countries' wellbeing, by reinvigorating global cooperation. They should agree to address shared global goals, including the fight against poverty, hunger, and disease (the Millennium Development Goals), as well as climate change and environmental destruction.
To achieve these goals, the G8 should set clear timetables for action, and transparent agreements on how to fund it. The smartest move would be to agree that each country tax its CO2 emissions in order to reduce climate change, and then devote a fixed amount of the proceeds to global problem solving. With the funding assured, the G-8 would suddenly move from empty promises to real policies.
Backed by adequate funding, the world's political leaders should turn to the expert scientific community and international organisations to help implement a truly global effort. Rather than regarding the UN and its agencies as competitors or threats to national sovereignty, they should recognise that working with the UN agencies is in fact the only way to solve global problems, and therefore is the key to their own political survival.
These basic steps – agreeing on global goals, mobilising the financing needed to meet them, and identifying the scientific expertise and organisations needed to implement solutions – is basic management logic. Some may scoff that this approach is impossible at the global level, because all politics are local. Yet today, all politicians depend on global solutions for their own political survival. That by itself could make solutions that now seem out of reach commonplace in the future.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Jeffery Sachs calls on the G8 leaders to honor their commitments. - Kale
The G8 summit in Japan earlier this month was a painful demonstration of the pitiful state of global cooperation. The world is in deepening crisis. Food prices are soaring. Oil prices are at historic highs. The leading economies are entering a recession. Climate change negotiations are going around in circles. Aid to the poorest countries is stagnant, despite years of promised increases. And yet in this gathering storm it was hard to find a single real accomplishment by the world's leaders.
The world needs global solutions for global problems, but the G8 leaders clearly cannot provide them. Because virtually all of the political leaders that went to the summit are deeply unpopular at home, few offer any global leadership. They are weak individually, and even weaker when they get together and display to the world their inability to mobilise real action.
There are four deep problems. The first is the incoherence of American leadership. While we are well past the time when the United States alone could solve any global problems, it does not even try to find shared global solutions. The will to global cooperation was weak even in the Clinton administration, but it has disappeared entirely during the Bush administration.
The second problem is the lack of global financing. The hunger crisis can be overcome in poor countries if they get help to grow more food. The global energy and climate crises can be overcome if the world invests together to develop new energy technologies. Diseases such as malaria can be overcome through globally coordinated investments in disease control. The oceans, rainforests, and air can be kept safe through pooled investments in environmental protection.
Global solutions are not expensive, but they are not free, either. Global solutions to poverty, food production, and development of new clean energy technology will require annual investments of roughly $350bn, or 1% of GNP of the rich world. This is obviously affordable, and is modest compared to military spending, but is far above the pittance that the G8 actually brings to the table to solve these urgent challenges. The British prime minister, Gordon Brown, has made a valiant effort to get the rest of Europe to honor the modest aid pledges made at the G8 Summit in 2005, but it has been a tough fight, and one that hasn't been won.
The third problem is the disconnection between global scientific expertise and politicians. Scientists and engineers have developed many powerful ways to address today's challenges, whether growing food, controlling diseases, or protecting the environment. And these methods have become even more powerful in recent years with advances in information and communications technology, which make global solutions easier to identify and implement than ever before.
The fourth problem is that the G8 ignores the very international institutions – notably the United Nations and the World Bank – that offer the best hope to implement global solutions. These institutions are often deprived of political backing, underfinanced, and then blamed by the G8 when global problems aren't solved. Instead, they should be given clear authority and responsibilities, and then held accountable for their performance.
President Bush may be too unaware to recognise that his historically high 70% disapproval rating among US voters is related to the fact that his government turned its back on the international community – and thereby got trapped in war and economic crisis. The other G8 leaders presumably can see that their own unpopularity at home is strongly related to high food and energy prices, and an increasingly unstable global climate and global economy, none of which they can address on their own.
Starting in January 2009 with the new US president, politicians should take the best chance for their own political survival, and of course for their countries' wellbeing, by reinvigorating global cooperation. They should agree to address shared global goals, including the fight against poverty, hunger, and disease (the Millennium Development Goals), as well as climate change and environmental destruction.
To achieve these goals, the G8 should set clear timetables for action, and transparent agreements on how to fund it. The smartest move would be to agree that each country tax its CO2 emissions in order to reduce climate change, and then devote a fixed amount of the proceeds to global problem solving. With the funding assured, the G-8 would suddenly move from empty promises to real policies.
Backed by adequate funding, the world's political leaders should turn to the expert scientific community and international organisations to help implement a truly global effort. Rather than regarding the UN and its agencies as competitors or threats to national sovereignty, they should recognise that working with the UN agencies is in fact the only way to solve global problems, and therefore is the key to their own political survival.
These basic steps – agreeing on global goals, mobilising the financing needed to meet them, and identifying the scientific expertise and organisations needed to implement solutions – is basic management logic. Some may scoff that this approach is impossible at the global level, because all politics are local. Yet today, all politicians depend on global solutions for their own political survival. That by itself could make solutions that now seem out of reach commonplace in the future.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Call for a national crisis declaration urged
from All Africa
There are calls being made for a state of emergency for the northern part of Uganda. - Kale
by Abdulraheem Aodu
Kaduna, - The Central Bank Governor, Professor Chukuma Soludo has asked federal government to declare the poverty level in the north, a national crisis situation which may stall the realization of the country's goal to achieve the target of one of the fastest developing economies in the world in 2020.
Soludo who made the statement while speaking at a one day public lecture organized by the Northern Development Initiative in Kaduna on Friday said that the Northern Nigeria poverty crises has assumed as much national importance as the Niger Delta crises because the country will not be achieve the gaol without economic development of the Northern Nigeria. He therefore called for all-inclusive economic development that would cover all parts of the country.
The level of poverty in Northern Nigeria has become so alarming that it is dragging back the development of other parts of the country, he further stated.
The CBN boss said that there is the need for the country to focus attention on the development of the Northern economy, particularly agriculture and industry which are the mainstays of the economy, as it currently lags behind that of the Southern states and stands to be left behind by the country's train of economic development.
"We need to have an inclusive economic development for Nigeria to achieve Vision 2020. It is a task for all Nigerians but I want to argue that creeping poverty in the Northern Nigeria is as much national crises as that of the Niger Delta. So, for development at the national level to be sustainable we must make it an inclusive development.
"This is the time for us to focus our attention on the Northern economy because according to the last census, the North constitutes about 52 percent of the Nigerian population but looking at all the indicators of development, the North seems to be lagging far behind the southern states. As the nation moves together on national development, poverty eradication and achieving its vision 2020 objectives, we must pay attention not to leave a big proportion far behind.
"Poverty is unacceptably high in Nigeria but the alarming and persisting level of poverty in Nigeria is a phenomenon in the North. While Lagos State records the highest poverty level in the South, which is about 60 percent, there is no state with less that 60 percent in the North, while it is as high as 95 percent in some Northern states. In the North, it is lowest in North Central states but records an average of 80 percent in the North West and North East."
Soludo therefore challenged all Nigerians to collectively work towards the development of the nation's economy. He also tasked the Northern elites on the development of Northern agriculture and industry especially generation of employment opportunities to sustain its economy and education, as he said that knowledge and skill is a critical element of human and economic development.
"We need to roll up our sleeves because from all indicators, most parts of the North seem to lag behind all other parts of the country. If 21st century is knowledge based and only those with knowledge, sound education and skills will progress and develop, then the North has its work cut out, as 16 Northern states excluding Benue, Kwara and Kogi has a total of about 73, 000 candidates out of over 1 million university applicants in the country registered to sit for the 2008 Jamb examination.
"This figure probably compare with Anambra State which has over 60, 000 Jamb candidates, while a state like Imo has over 100, 000, Kano State records less than 10, 000 university candidates. This shows that the 16 Northern states will produce less than 10 percent graduates of other states that will be produced in the South.
"What has our elites done about the poverty level in their respective villages. It is easy to open a micro finance bank now just about N20 million, so how many microfinance banks have been set up by our elites to empower hundreds of the villagers. This is what we are talking about when we say poverty reduction. Our elites should contribute to the growth of the North, this is a challenge."
Presenting his paper titled Peace and Development in the Niger Delta, Chief Edwin Clark, who was represented by the Minister of State for Special Duties, Elder Peter Orubebe, noted that the problem of Niger Delta can be solved but there is need for political will to fully address the issue. He stated that lots of money has been channeled to the region over the years but there is no proper monitoring to ensure that it is rightly spent.
"The problem in Niger Delta has been there for a long time. Different governments have made efforts to resolve it but to no avail. The problems include unemployment, lack of infrastructural development, impoverishment, net being part of the oil economy and being underpowered. The problems can be tackled and are being tackled by government."
There are calls being made for a state of emergency for the northern part of Uganda. - Kale
by Abdulraheem Aodu
Kaduna, - The Central Bank Governor, Professor Chukuma Soludo has asked federal government to declare the poverty level in the north, a national crisis situation which may stall the realization of the country's goal to achieve the target of one of the fastest developing economies in the world in 2020.
Soludo who made the statement while speaking at a one day public lecture organized by the Northern Development Initiative in Kaduna on Friday said that the Northern Nigeria poverty crises has assumed as much national importance as the Niger Delta crises because the country will not be achieve the gaol without economic development of the Northern Nigeria. He therefore called for all-inclusive economic development that would cover all parts of the country.
The level of poverty in Northern Nigeria has become so alarming that it is dragging back the development of other parts of the country, he further stated.
The CBN boss said that there is the need for the country to focus attention on the development of the Northern economy, particularly agriculture and industry which are the mainstays of the economy, as it currently lags behind that of the Southern states and stands to be left behind by the country's train of economic development.
"We need to have an inclusive economic development for Nigeria to achieve Vision 2020. It is a task for all Nigerians but I want to argue that creeping poverty in the Northern Nigeria is as much national crises as that of the Niger Delta. So, for development at the national level to be sustainable we must make it an inclusive development.
"This is the time for us to focus our attention on the Northern economy because according to the last census, the North constitutes about 52 percent of the Nigerian population but looking at all the indicators of development, the North seems to be lagging far behind the southern states. As the nation moves together on national development, poverty eradication and achieving its vision 2020 objectives, we must pay attention not to leave a big proportion far behind.
"Poverty is unacceptably high in Nigeria but the alarming and persisting level of poverty in Nigeria is a phenomenon in the North. While Lagos State records the highest poverty level in the South, which is about 60 percent, there is no state with less that 60 percent in the North, while it is as high as 95 percent in some Northern states. In the North, it is lowest in North Central states but records an average of 80 percent in the North West and North East."
Soludo therefore challenged all Nigerians to collectively work towards the development of the nation's economy. He also tasked the Northern elites on the development of Northern agriculture and industry especially generation of employment opportunities to sustain its economy and education, as he said that knowledge and skill is a critical element of human and economic development.
"We need to roll up our sleeves because from all indicators, most parts of the North seem to lag behind all other parts of the country. If 21st century is knowledge based and only those with knowledge, sound education and skills will progress and develop, then the North has its work cut out, as 16 Northern states excluding Benue, Kwara and Kogi has a total of about 73, 000 candidates out of over 1 million university applicants in the country registered to sit for the 2008 Jamb examination.
"This figure probably compare with Anambra State which has over 60, 000 Jamb candidates, while a state like Imo has over 100, 000, Kano State records less than 10, 000 university candidates. This shows that the 16 Northern states will produce less than 10 percent graduates of other states that will be produced in the South.
"What has our elites done about the poverty level in their respective villages. It is easy to open a micro finance bank now just about N20 million, so how many microfinance banks have been set up by our elites to empower hundreds of the villagers. This is what we are talking about when we say poverty reduction. Our elites should contribute to the growth of the North, this is a challenge."
Presenting his paper titled Peace and Development in the Niger Delta, Chief Edwin Clark, who was represented by the Minister of State for Special Duties, Elder Peter Orubebe, noted that the problem of Niger Delta can be solved but there is need for political will to fully address the issue. He stated that lots of money has been channeled to the region over the years but there is no proper monitoring to ensure that it is rightly spent.
"The problem in Niger Delta has been there for a long time. Different governments have made efforts to resolve it but to no avail. The problems include unemployment, lack of infrastructural development, impoverishment, net being part of the oil economy and being underpowered. The problems can be tackled and are being tackled by government."
A follow up on Zuma's meeting with white South African's
from AFP via Google
You might remember yesterday's post that previewed Zuma's meet. Now we have details what happened on the visit. - Kale
PRETORIA — Jacob Zuma, leader of South Africa's ruling ANC party, promised Thursday to break the silence on white poverty as he met Afrikaans residents of a township living without running water or electrity.
Zuma, favourite to become only the third black president of South Africa at elections next year, said he had been shocked and embarrassed by the plight of the residents of Bethlehem, situated on the outskirts of the capital Pretoria.
"I am shocked and surprised by what I have seen here," said Zuma.
"The vast number of black poverty does not mean that we must ignore white poverty which is increasingly becoming an embarrassment to talk about."
Although the level of unemployment among the country's more than four million whites is only around a fifth of the overall jobless rate, research says the numbers of them living in poverty are growing.
The trade union Solidarity, whose membership is mainly Afrikaans, handed Zuma a report which claimed that unemployment among whites was increasing by nearly double that of the national average.
The visit by Zuma to Bethlehem -- his second this year -- is seen as highly symbolic given resentment among sectors of the white community that President Thabo Mbeki's government has done little to address their plight.
As well as residents of the trailer homes in Bethlehem, other whites living nearby came to tell Zuma about their daily struggle at a time of rising food and fuel prices.
"Most of us feel like outcasts and we cause embarrassment to our fellow whites," said Maritjie Vos who lives with her two adult children and four other families in a three-bedroom house.
"Zuma has been the first leader to come down here to listen to our problems."
Bethlehem resident Nico Vosloo, who looks older than his 43 years, said the Afrikaans community often felt they had no one to turn to.
"Zuma must push for a law to allow destitute people like us to access basic income grant," said Vosloo.
"We cannot wait until we are 65 years to access the old age grant. I have never worked for the past 17 years. How am I supposed to survive?"
Solidarity general secretary Flip Buys welcomed Zuma's visit as an acknowledgement that poverty did not only affect the majority black population.
"For a long time whites have been seen as rich and blacks poor. Talking about white poverty has been seen as politically incorrect," said Buys.
"The emergence of this scourge has left everyone looking for answers."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
You might remember yesterday's post that previewed Zuma's meet. Now we have details what happened on the visit. - Kale
PRETORIA — Jacob Zuma, leader of South Africa's ruling ANC party, promised Thursday to break the silence on white poverty as he met Afrikaans residents of a township living without running water or electrity.
Zuma, favourite to become only the third black president of South Africa at elections next year, said he had been shocked and embarrassed by the plight of the residents of Bethlehem, situated on the outskirts of the capital Pretoria.
"I am shocked and surprised by what I have seen here," said Zuma.
"The vast number of black poverty does not mean that we must ignore white poverty which is increasingly becoming an embarrassment to talk about."
Although the level of unemployment among the country's more than four million whites is only around a fifth of the overall jobless rate, research says the numbers of them living in poverty are growing.
The trade union Solidarity, whose membership is mainly Afrikaans, handed Zuma a report which claimed that unemployment among whites was increasing by nearly double that of the national average.
The visit by Zuma to Bethlehem -- his second this year -- is seen as highly symbolic given resentment among sectors of the white community that President Thabo Mbeki's government has done little to address their plight.
As well as residents of the trailer homes in Bethlehem, other whites living nearby came to tell Zuma about their daily struggle at a time of rising food and fuel prices.
"Most of us feel like outcasts and we cause embarrassment to our fellow whites," said Maritjie Vos who lives with her two adult children and four other families in a three-bedroom house.
"Zuma has been the first leader to come down here to listen to our problems."
Bethlehem resident Nico Vosloo, who looks older than his 43 years, said the Afrikaans community often felt they had no one to turn to.
"Zuma must push for a law to allow destitute people like us to access basic income grant," said Vosloo.
"We cannot wait until we are 65 years to access the old age grant. I have never worked for the past 17 years. How am I supposed to survive?"
Solidarity general secretary Flip Buys welcomed Zuma's visit as an acknowledgement that poverty did not only affect the majority black population.
"For a long time whites have been seen as rich and blacks poor. Talking about white poverty has been seen as politically incorrect," said Buys.
"The emergence of this scourge has left everyone looking for answers."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Worsening poverty for Palestinians
from Al Jazzera
Most jobs for the Palestinian people are public sector jobs organized by Hamas. Very little private investing is happening in Gaza. - Kale
Conditions for Palestinians living in Gaza have deteriorated to unprecedented levels, according to a report by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
Aid granted to Gaza has failed to stop more than half of the population in the territory from sliding below the poverty line, UNRWA said on Thursday.
"The number of households in Gaza below the consumption poverty line [has] continued to grow, reaching 51.8 per cent in 2007 despite significant amounts of emergency and humanitarian assistance," the report said.
But the agency said that conditions have improved in the occupied West Bank, where the poverty level in 2007 dropped by nearly five per cent from the previous year, to 19.1 per cent.
Unemployment concerns
The lifting of an international embargo on the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank was likely to have been the catalyst towards an improvement in conditions there, UNRWA said.
But although Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, it has maintained an economic and security blockade on the territory.
Israel says the restrictions are an attempt to restrict Hamas, which has control of Gaza, but human-rights groups say the blockade amounts to the collective punishment of Palestinian civilians.
The UNRWA report, which is drawn from figures provided by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), said that "the real average unemployment rate in the occupied Palestinian territory [as a whole] remained amongst the highest in the world at 29.5 per cent," for 2007.
The unemployment rate in Gaza between July and December 2007 "reached an unprecedented high of 45.3 per cent" when adjusted to take into account the number of absentee workers in the last six months of 2007, the report says.
While the unemployment figure in the West Bank was lower, at 25.5 per cent for 2007, the rate is still about double the regional average, the report says.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Most jobs for the Palestinian people are public sector jobs organized by Hamas. Very little private investing is happening in Gaza. - Kale
Conditions for Palestinians living in Gaza have deteriorated to unprecedented levels, according to a report by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
Aid granted to Gaza has failed to stop more than half of the population in the territory from sliding below the poverty line, UNRWA said on Thursday.
"The number of households in Gaza below the consumption poverty line [has] continued to grow, reaching 51.8 per cent in 2007 despite significant amounts of emergency and humanitarian assistance," the report said.
But the agency said that conditions have improved in the occupied West Bank, where the poverty level in 2007 dropped by nearly five per cent from the previous year, to 19.1 per cent.
Unemployment concerns
The lifting of an international embargo on the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank was likely to have been the catalyst towards an improvement in conditions there, UNRWA said.
But although Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, it has maintained an economic and security blockade on the territory.
Israel says the restrictions are an attempt to restrict Hamas, which has control of Gaza, but human-rights groups say the blockade amounts to the collective punishment of Palestinian civilians.
The UNRWA report, which is drawn from figures provided by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), said that "the real average unemployment rate in the occupied Palestinian territory [as a whole] remained amongst the highest in the world at 29.5 per cent," for 2007.
The unemployment rate in Gaza between July and December 2007 "reached an unprecedented high of 45.3 per cent" when adjusted to take into account the number of absentee workers in the last six months of 2007, the report says.
While the unemployment figure in the West Bank was lower, at 25.5 per cent for 2007, the rate is still about double the regional average, the report says.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Tech comes to Rwanda
from African Business
An article on a revolution happening in Rwanda. and how it help lift the poor. - Kale
Queen's Internet Cafe, in the impoverished Kigali suburb of Nyamirambo, is teeming with children throughout most of the day. "Most of these kids are street children," says the owner, Pacifique Bayongwa. "I feel bad about letting them in, since I know they must be paying me with money stolen from their parents. But at least they're learning something useful."
The children at Queen's come mostly for the online games. "They stay here for hours each day, and after a few weeks they become really proficient with a computer," says Bayongwa. In the evenings, Bayongwa and his assistants hold courses for adults to teach them basic programming skills. The next stage, he says, is to make sure that the children also pick up some knowledge about the power of information technology (IT). "I have no doubt that IT can change lives," he tells me.
Establishments like Queen's are proliferating throughout the Rwandan capital, and would seem to mark the beginning of a transformation for the economy. Fourteen years on from the genocide which brought in its wake grim economic prospects, the average income is $260 per year. With the country's staple food, beans, reaching the price of almost $1 per kilogram, most of the population is hard pressed just to subsist. Since the beginning of the decade, President Paul Kagame has emphasised that his vision for the country is based on the development of information technology as a poverty reduction tool. Policymakers in Rwanda believe that IT can reduce poverty in two main thrusts: by improving the circulation of technical knowledge and thus increasing the productivity of the agricultural sector, and, for the long term, by creating employment in new, globally competitive IT enterprises. Kagame is confident that by 2020, Rwanda could be transformed into a knowledge-based economy. Rwandan officials are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. "There has been great progress towards our goals, which can be seen in several key indicators," says Professor Romain Murenzi, the minister of science and technology in the President's Office, a post that was created last year to boost Rwanda's IT development.
Mobile benefits
A good place to start to assess how far along the road Rwanda is to prosperity is to try and spot the humble mobile telephone. It is good news according to Murenzi. "Mobile line usage has increased to 660,000, starting from a subscriber base of almost zero just a few years ago," he says. The number of mobile subscribers increased from zero to 250,000 between 1998 and 2006, and then doubled to 500,000 in 2007. The country's two cellular operators--MTN Rwanda, owned by MTN Group of South Africa, and the previously state-owned Rwandatel, sold to Lap Green Networks of Libya--are projecting growth to more than a million lines next year.
"This has many benefits for farmers and small traders, who are able to circulate important information," Murenzi says. He points out that farmers in remote areas are now able to check and inform each other about the price of coffee on the open market, and thus not fall prey to middlemen who have offered them inferior prices in the past. More importantly, they are able to share their technical knowledge and improve the quality of their produce. With the improved quality comes an improved price: while farmers in Rwanda sold a pound of coffee for only $0.5 in 2001, the price has now gone up to more than $3 per pound. One of the most significant IT projects in Rwanda is the deployment of a fibre-optic cable system throughout the countryside in an effort to provide high-bandwidth internet access to impoverished farmers.
This network will connect to Uganda, and at a later stage to Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi. The system is set to kick in around 2009, upon the completion of one of the two submarine fibre optic cable projects--known as the East African Marine System (TEAMS) and The Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy)--that will land in Mombasa and give East Africa direct access to the worldwide cable network.
The cable, once complete, will greatly reduce internet costs in the region--particularly in rural areas-where currently there is exclusive reliance on expensive satellite communications to get a speedy connection
With the new cable in place, data costs--the price of transferring one megabit per second per month for Internet Service Providers--will begin to drop from the current regional average of $7,000 per megabit, to less than $500. For comparison, in the UK the price per megabit per second is normally around $4. Kenya, with the most developed infrastructure in the region, will see the immediate benefit from the price drop. Business leaders see a future in which the country will be the regional hub for assembling IT products, as well as provide data processing services for major international companies. However, the Kenyan government's policy towards IT, unlike that of Rwanda, remains ambiguous. For instance, while computers are now exported to Kenya duty-free, computer parts are still taxable, thereby placing an obstacle to the development of a computer-assembling industry. This is not the case in Rwanda, where all IT products are imported duty-free.
Education revolution
To enable the population to make use of these technologies, Rwanda puts great emphasis on education. Enrolment for primary and secondary schools has increased to two million pupils, from a base of 940,000 at the beginning of the decade, and 40% of secondary schools now have computer labs. Enrolment for higher education has increased tenfold since the pre-genocide level of 4,000, and is now at more than 40,000, after passing the 10,000 mark in 2000 and doubling again to 20,000 in 2002. While pre-genocide Rwanda had only one institute of higher learning-the National University of Rwanda at Butare-it now has 20 such institutions. Many, such as the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), which is the main training ground for IT-related professions, have been funded through UN and donor money. The government also encourages private sector involvement in education. Two-thirds of Rwanda's higher education institutions are in private hands, thus easing the budgetary strain on the government.
But will the drive for IT development truly change the lives of Rwandans and eat away at the poverty currently in the country? Nkubito Bakuramutsa, director of Rwanda's Information Technology Authority (RITA) who recently left a position with Hewlett Packard to return to the country of his birth, is convinced that the change will be profound. He says that once the education revolution is firmly underway all the rest will follow. "We have launched a portal that is meant to provide, in one site, all the necessary information about Rwanda for citizens, investors and tourists," he says. He also speaks glowingly about how, in the not-too-distant future, all Rwandan government departments will be online. By next year, he estimates that Rwandans will be able to get all their essential documents-birth certificates, ID cards and land records-without having to queue at a distant government office.
But the big prize is when he sees IT pulling Rwandans from poverty through employment. "Our aim is to become an attractive destination for outsourcing of software development and call-centres, on the same model India implemented several years ago. Once we have reached that stage, we believe that the IT sector can become a significant employer."
An article on a revolution happening in Rwanda. and how it help lift the poor. - Kale
Queen's Internet Cafe, in the impoverished Kigali suburb of Nyamirambo, is teeming with children throughout most of the day. "Most of these kids are street children," says the owner, Pacifique Bayongwa. "I feel bad about letting them in, since I know they must be paying me with money stolen from their parents. But at least they're learning something useful."
The children at Queen's come mostly for the online games. "They stay here for hours each day, and after a few weeks they become really proficient with a computer," says Bayongwa. In the evenings, Bayongwa and his assistants hold courses for adults to teach them basic programming skills. The next stage, he says, is to make sure that the children also pick up some knowledge about the power of information technology (IT). "I have no doubt that IT can change lives," he tells me.
Establishments like Queen's are proliferating throughout the Rwandan capital, and would seem to mark the beginning of a transformation for the economy. Fourteen years on from the genocide which brought in its wake grim economic prospects, the average income is $260 per year. With the country's staple food, beans, reaching the price of almost $1 per kilogram, most of the population is hard pressed just to subsist. Since the beginning of the decade, President Paul Kagame has emphasised that his vision for the country is based on the development of information technology as a poverty reduction tool. Policymakers in Rwanda believe that IT can reduce poverty in two main thrusts: by improving the circulation of technical knowledge and thus increasing the productivity of the agricultural sector, and, for the long term, by creating employment in new, globally competitive IT enterprises. Kagame is confident that by 2020, Rwanda could be transformed into a knowledge-based economy. Rwandan officials are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. "There has been great progress towards our goals, which can be seen in several key indicators," says Professor Romain Murenzi, the minister of science and technology in the President's Office, a post that was created last year to boost Rwanda's IT development.
Mobile benefits
A good place to start to assess how far along the road Rwanda is to prosperity is to try and spot the humble mobile telephone. It is good news according to Murenzi. "Mobile line usage has increased to 660,000, starting from a subscriber base of almost zero just a few years ago," he says. The number of mobile subscribers increased from zero to 250,000 between 1998 and 2006, and then doubled to 500,000 in 2007. The country's two cellular operators--MTN Rwanda, owned by MTN Group of South Africa, and the previously state-owned Rwandatel, sold to Lap Green Networks of Libya--are projecting growth to more than a million lines next year.
"This has many benefits for farmers and small traders, who are able to circulate important information," Murenzi says. He points out that farmers in remote areas are now able to check and inform each other about the price of coffee on the open market, and thus not fall prey to middlemen who have offered them inferior prices in the past. More importantly, they are able to share their technical knowledge and improve the quality of their produce. With the improved quality comes an improved price: while farmers in Rwanda sold a pound of coffee for only $0.5 in 2001, the price has now gone up to more than $3 per pound. One of the most significant IT projects in Rwanda is the deployment of a fibre-optic cable system throughout the countryside in an effort to provide high-bandwidth internet access to impoverished farmers.
This network will connect to Uganda, and at a later stage to Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi. The system is set to kick in around 2009, upon the completion of one of the two submarine fibre optic cable projects--known as the East African Marine System (TEAMS) and The Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy)--that will land in Mombasa and give East Africa direct access to the worldwide cable network.
The cable, once complete, will greatly reduce internet costs in the region--particularly in rural areas-where currently there is exclusive reliance on expensive satellite communications to get a speedy connection
With the new cable in place, data costs--the price of transferring one megabit per second per month for Internet Service Providers--will begin to drop from the current regional average of $7,000 per megabit, to less than $500. For comparison, in the UK the price per megabit per second is normally around $4. Kenya, with the most developed infrastructure in the region, will see the immediate benefit from the price drop. Business leaders see a future in which the country will be the regional hub for assembling IT products, as well as provide data processing services for major international companies. However, the Kenyan government's policy towards IT, unlike that of Rwanda, remains ambiguous. For instance, while computers are now exported to Kenya duty-free, computer parts are still taxable, thereby placing an obstacle to the development of a computer-assembling industry. This is not the case in Rwanda, where all IT products are imported duty-free.
Education revolution
To enable the population to make use of these technologies, Rwanda puts great emphasis on education. Enrolment for primary and secondary schools has increased to two million pupils, from a base of 940,000 at the beginning of the decade, and 40% of secondary schools now have computer labs. Enrolment for higher education has increased tenfold since the pre-genocide level of 4,000, and is now at more than 40,000, after passing the 10,000 mark in 2000 and doubling again to 20,000 in 2002. While pre-genocide Rwanda had only one institute of higher learning-the National University of Rwanda at Butare-it now has 20 such institutions. Many, such as the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), which is the main training ground for IT-related professions, have been funded through UN and donor money. The government also encourages private sector involvement in education. Two-thirds of Rwanda's higher education institutions are in private hands, thus easing the budgetary strain on the government.
But will the drive for IT development truly change the lives of Rwandans and eat away at the poverty currently in the country? Nkubito Bakuramutsa, director of Rwanda's Information Technology Authority (RITA) who recently left a position with Hewlett Packard to return to the country of his birth, is convinced that the change will be profound. He says that once the education revolution is firmly underway all the rest will follow. "We have launched a portal that is meant to provide, in one site, all the necessary information about Rwanda for citizens, investors and tourists," he says. He also speaks glowingly about how, in the not-too-distant future, all Rwandan government departments will be online. By next year, he estimates that Rwandans will be able to get all their essential documents-birth certificates, ID cards and land records-without having to queue at a distant government office.
But the big prize is when he sees IT pulling Rwandans from poverty through employment. "Our aim is to become an attractive destination for outsourcing of software development and call-centres, on the same model India implemented several years ago. Once we have reached that stage, we believe that the IT sector can become a significant employer."
Famine in East Africa due to drought and food prices
from Red Dragon FM
The direct link below also has some video, that I couldn't embed here. Another report on how the rising food prices are hitting the poorest regions of the world. - Kale
Millions of East Africans are at risk of starvation due to rocketing food prices, Oxfam has warned.
Spiralling costs combined with successive droughts, violent conflict and endemic poverty have left up to 13 million in the region in urgent need of aid.
Oxfam has called for immediate action and increased donor support to avert the coming crisis, noting that a UN appeal for emergency assistance for Somalia has received only 37 per cent of funding needed.
Food costs have soared in recent months, with the cost of imported rice in Somalia rising by 350 per cent since the beginning of last year.
Areas of Ethiopia have seen the price of wheat more than double over a six-month period.
It is estimated that in those two east African nations alone there are an estimated 7.2 million people in need of emergency assistance.
In Turkana, northern Kenya, an Oxfam survey suggests that a quarter of children are suffering from acute malnutrition.
Oxfam's Rob McNeil, who has just returned from the region, said: "This is a catastrophe in the making. We have time to act before it becomes a reality.
"The cost of food has escalated by up to 500 per cent in some places, leaving people who have suffered drought after drought in utter destitution.
"Some of the roads we travelled on were littered with dead livestock.
"People are increasingly becoming desperate. I saw people in one village reduced to pounding the food pellets intended for their animals into porridge to feed their families."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
The direct link below also has some video, that I couldn't embed here. Another report on how the rising food prices are hitting the poorest regions of the world. - Kale
Millions of East Africans are at risk of starvation due to rocketing food prices, Oxfam has warned.
Spiralling costs combined with successive droughts, violent conflict and endemic poverty have left up to 13 million in the region in urgent need of aid.
Oxfam has called for immediate action and increased donor support to avert the coming crisis, noting that a UN appeal for emergency assistance for Somalia has received only 37 per cent of funding needed.
Food costs have soared in recent months, with the cost of imported rice in Somalia rising by 350 per cent since the beginning of last year.
Areas of Ethiopia have seen the price of wheat more than double over a six-month period.
It is estimated that in those two east African nations alone there are an estimated 7.2 million people in need of emergency assistance.
In Turkana, northern Kenya, an Oxfam survey suggests that a quarter of children are suffering from acute malnutrition.
Oxfam's Rob McNeil, who has just returned from the region, said: "This is a catastrophe in the making. We have time to act before it becomes a reality.
"The cost of food has escalated by up to 500 per cent in some places, leaving people who have suffered drought after drought in utter destitution.
"Some of the roads we travelled on were littered with dead livestock.
"People are increasingly becoming desperate. I saw people in one village reduced to pounding the food pellets intended for their animals into porridge to feed their families."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Video: Edwards promotes "Half in Ten" in Houston
from the Houston Chronicle
Sorry, I'm biased twords this guy. Now that he's no longer running for anything you will start to see him here more. Here is video from a presser in Houston as well as a snippet from an article about it. - Kale
He's urging lawmakers to help halve the number of poor over next 10 years
By DALE LEZON
Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards stopped in Houston Wednesday on a national tour to tout an anti-poverty campaign that aims to cut the number of the country's poor in half in a decade.
Edwards, from North Carolina, said he would "fight with every fiber of my being" to help low-income Americans.
The former Democratic vice-presidential candidate and one-time presidential hopeful joined local community and political leaders in a private roundtable discussion on poverty, the foreclosure crisis and similar issues hosted by ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
City Controller Annise Parker, Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, ACORN leaders and others attended.
At a news conference following the roundtable, local leaders, including state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, pledged support for Edwards' project.
The effort, dubbed Half in Ten, hopes to encourage state and national legislators to enact measures that will help reduce the number of impoverished citizens by 50 percent in the next 10 years.
Edwards said as the campaign's chairman he can bring national attention to the need to raise people out of poverty.
"I've got a soapbox," he said, "and I intend to use that soapbox with every fiber of my being to speak for those who have no voice."
He said that some of the measures that could help the poor and people in financial crisis would be to raise the minimum wage, expand the earned-income tax credit and make child care more affordable.
Texas ACORN president Toni McElroy said nearly 4 million people in Texas live in poverty and others are losing their homes to foreclosure. Texas, ACORN officials said, ranks 6th nationally in foreclosure rates.
State regulations are needed to protect people from lenders and mortgage brokers who encourage them to take out exotic loans, such as those that allow low down-payments for homes but later require balloon payments, ACORN leaders said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Sorry, I'm biased twords this guy. Now that he's no longer running for anything you will start to see him here more. Here is video from a presser in Houston as well as a snippet from an article about it. - Kale
He's urging lawmakers to help halve the number of poor over next 10 years
By DALE LEZON
Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards stopped in Houston Wednesday on a national tour to tout an anti-poverty campaign that aims to cut the number of the country's poor in half in a decade.
Edwards, from North Carolina, said he would "fight with every fiber of my being" to help low-income Americans.
The former Democratic vice-presidential candidate and one-time presidential hopeful joined local community and political leaders in a private roundtable discussion on poverty, the foreclosure crisis and similar issues hosted by ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
City Controller Annise Parker, Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, ACORN leaders and others attended.
At a news conference following the roundtable, local leaders, including state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, pledged support for Edwards' project.
The effort, dubbed Half in Ten, hopes to encourage state and national legislators to enact measures that will help reduce the number of impoverished citizens by 50 percent in the next 10 years.
Edwards said as the campaign's chairman he can bring national attention to the need to raise people out of poverty.
"I've got a soapbox," he said, "and I intend to use that soapbox with every fiber of my being to speak for those who have no voice."
He said that some of the measures that could help the poor and people in financial crisis would be to raise the minimum wage, expand the earned-income tax credit and make child care more affordable.
Texas ACORN president Toni McElroy said nearly 4 million people in Texas live in poverty and others are losing their homes to foreclosure. Texas, ACORN officials said, ranks 6th nationally in foreclosure rates.
State regulations are needed to protect people from lenders and mortgage brokers who encourage them to take out exotic loans, such as those that allow low down-payments for homes but later require balloon payments, ACORN leaders said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Federal minimum wage goes up, but it's little help as costs soar
from the Dallas Morning News
The Federal minimum wage goes up today here in the US. It will help 2 million Americans, but many businesses already pay above the minimum. Kale
WASHINGTON – About 2 million Americans get a raise today as the federal minimum wage rises 70 cents. The bad news: Higher gas and food prices are swallowing it up, and some small businesses will pass the cost of the wage hike to consumers.
The increase, from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour, is the second of three annual increases required by a 2007 law. Next year's boost will bring the federal minimum to $7.25.
Workers like Walter Jasper, who earns minimum wage at a carwash in Nashville, Tenn., are happy to take the raise but will still struggle with the higher gas and food prices hammering Americans.
"It will help out a little," said Mr. Jasper, who with his fiancée supports a family of seven and who earns the minimum plus commissions when customers order premium carwash services.
The bus fare he pays each day to get to work already went up to $4.80 this spring from $4. "I'd like to be on a job where I can at least get a car," he said.
Last week, the Labor Department reported the fastest inflation since 1991 – 5 percent for June compared with a year earlier. Energy costs soared nearly 25 percent. The price of food rose more than 5 percent.
So the minimum wage increase is "a drop in the bucket compared to the increases in costs, declining labor market and declining household wealth that consumers have experienced in the past year," Lehman Brothers economist Zach Pandl said.
The new minimum is less than the inflation-adjusted 1997 level of $7.02, and far below the inflation-adjusted level of $10.06 from 40 years ago, according to a Labor Department inflation calculator.
A full-time worker who earned the $2.90-an-hour minimum wage in 1979 earned enough to pull a family of three out of poverty. That same family would fall nearly $4,000 below the poverty threshold today because the minimum wage hasn't kept pace with inflation.
In fact, to equal the buying power of the 1979 minimum wage, the new rate would have to be $8.74 an hour, according to government calculations.
Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have laws making the minimum wage higher than the new federal requirement, a group covering 60 percent of U.S. workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank.
"You get desperate, because you can't really pay for everything," said Gladys Lopez, 51, a garment worker from Adjuntas, Puerto Rico, who makes military uniforms and has earned the federal minimum for 18 years.
She says she would need to make at least $50 more a week to pay all her bills and take care of her 84-year-old mother, whom she supports.
Bruce Cooper, a full-time minimum wage earner in Kansas City, Mo., buses tables for a living. He said he handles many responsibilities outside his job description and makes far less than his chef's training and skill level merit.
He'll earn an extra $28 a week at the new wage level. But that money will be quickly eaten up by transportation costs for his 52-mile round-trip ride to work each day. Even with the raise, he wonders if the cost of his commute is sustainable.
"I'm going to have to decide whether or not to drop a job I love doing or stick with it and bear through it," Mr. Cooper said.
When the minimum rises again next year, catching up with more states, more than 5 million workers will get a raise, said Lisa Lynch, dean of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.
Some small businesses are making plans to raise prices to offset the higher wages they have to pay their workers.
David Heath, owner of Tiki Tan in College Station, Texas, said the increase will force him to raise prices for his monthly tanning services by about 12 percent. Tiki Tan had been paying its employees $6 per hour.
"There just isn't any room for profit, and so this is why prices will have to go up," he said. "I have to recoup those costs.
The increase in the minimum wage could push food prices even higher by raising the pay for agricultural workers, said Brian Bethune, chief U.S. economist at consulting firm Global Insight.
But he said he did not expect the change to have a major impact on the economy because recent increases in productivity, which enable companies to produce more with fewer workers, are keeping labor costs in check.
That makes it unlikely the minimum wage increase will trigger a "wage-price spiral," in which workers facing higher costs demand more pay, which in turn causes companies to raise prices, sending inflation coursing through the economy.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
The Federal minimum wage goes up today here in the US. It will help 2 million Americans, but many businesses already pay above the minimum. Kale
WASHINGTON – About 2 million Americans get a raise today as the federal minimum wage rises 70 cents. The bad news: Higher gas and food prices are swallowing it up, and some small businesses will pass the cost of the wage hike to consumers.
The increase, from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour, is the second of three annual increases required by a 2007 law. Next year's boost will bring the federal minimum to $7.25.
Workers like Walter Jasper, who earns minimum wage at a carwash in Nashville, Tenn., are happy to take the raise but will still struggle with the higher gas and food prices hammering Americans.
"It will help out a little," said Mr. Jasper, who with his fiancée supports a family of seven and who earns the minimum plus commissions when customers order premium carwash services.
The bus fare he pays each day to get to work already went up to $4.80 this spring from $4. "I'd like to be on a job where I can at least get a car," he said.
Last week, the Labor Department reported the fastest inflation since 1991 – 5 percent for June compared with a year earlier. Energy costs soared nearly 25 percent. The price of food rose more than 5 percent.
So the minimum wage increase is "a drop in the bucket compared to the increases in costs, declining labor market and declining household wealth that consumers have experienced in the past year," Lehman Brothers economist Zach Pandl said.
The new minimum is less than the inflation-adjusted 1997 level of $7.02, and far below the inflation-adjusted level of $10.06 from 40 years ago, according to a Labor Department inflation calculator.
A full-time worker who earned the $2.90-an-hour minimum wage in 1979 earned enough to pull a family of three out of poverty. That same family would fall nearly $4,000 below the poverty threshold today because the minimum wage hasn't kept pace with inflation.
In fact, to equal the buying power of the 1979 minimum wage, the new rate would have to be $8.74 an hour, according to government calculations.
Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have laws making the minimum wage higher than the new federal requirement, a group covering 60 percent of U.S. workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank.
"You get desperate, because you can't really pay for everything," said Gladys Lopez, 51, a garment worker from Adjuntas, Puerto Rico, who makes military uniforms and has earned the federal minimum for 18 years.
She says she would need to make at least $50 more a week to pay all her bills and take care of her 84-year-old mother, whom she supports.
Bruce Cooper, a full-time minimum wage earner in Kansas City, Mo., buses tables for a living. He said he handles many responsibilities outside his job description and makes far less than his chef's training and skill level merit.
He'll earn an extra $28 a week at the new wage level. But that money will be quickly eaten up by transportation costs for his 52-mile round-trip ride to work each day. Even with the raise, he wonders if the cost of his commute is sustainable.
"I'm going to have to decide whether or not to drop a job I love doing or stick with it and bear through it," Mr. Cooper said.
When the minimum rises again next year, catching up with more states, more than 5 million workers will get a raise, said Lisa Lynch, dean of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.
Some small businesses are making plans to raise prices to offset the higher wages they have to pay their workers.
David Heath, owner of Tiki Tan in College Station, Texas, said the increase will force him to raise prices for his monthly tanning services by about 12 percent. Tiki Tan had been paying its employees $6 per hour.
"There just isn't any room for profit, and so this is why prices will have to go up," he said. "I have to recoup those costs.
The increase in the minimum wage could push food prices even higher by raising the pay for agricultural workers, said Brian Bethune, chief U.S. economist at consulting firm Global Insight.
But he said he did not expect the change to have a major impact on the economy because recent increases in productivity, which enable companies to produce more with fewer workers, are keeping labor costs in check.
That makes it unlikely the minimum wage increase will trigger a "wage-price spiral," in which workers facing higher costs demand more pay, which in turn causes companies to raise prices, sending inflation coursing through the economy.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
'180% rise' in destitute refugees
from Ananova
The Government has been urged to take action after a report found that the number of destitute asylum seekers and refugees had increased by 180% in just 18 months.
The survey by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) revealed that there were 331 destitute asylum seekers on the streets of Leeds, West Yorkshire - an increase from 118 in 2006.
A trust spokesman said this was just a sample of the tens of thousands of asylum seekers, refused asylum seekers and refugees now living destitute in the UK.
The More Destitution in Leeds report, which follows a survey carried out in the same city 18 months ago, found that asylum seekers were forced into poverty without access to health care and education or permission to work.
The number of children recorded as destitute in Leeds has increased almost fourfold from 13 to 51, the trust said.
There was also a steep rise in the number of destitute Zimbabweans from four in 2006 to 56 this year. Zimbabweans are now the single biggest national group of destitute asylum seekers in Leeds, forming 21% of the total, while Iranians are the second biggest with 16%.
Bill Kilgallon, a commissioner in the original JRCT inquiry, said the Government's asylum policy was having a "devastating impact" on people in "desperate need of help".
He said: "This survey clearly shows that the asylum crisis highlighted 18 months ago is actually getting worse despite - and, in some cases, because of - the introduction of the Government's New Asylum Model. The scale of overall destitution has almost tripled, more children are suffering and more people are suffering for longer. This cannot go on."
The trust found that the most common reason for people becoming destitute was a delay in Section 4 support, which is available to asylum seekers or refused asylum seekers who are unable to return to their country of origin or who have been given leave to seek a judicial review.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
The Government has been urged to take action after a report found that the number of destitute asylum seekers and refugees had increased by 180% in just 18 months.
The survey by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) revealed that there were 331 destitute asylum seekers on the streets of Leeds, West Yorkshire - an increase from 118 in 2006.
A trust spokesman said this was just a sample of the tens of thousands of asylum seekers, refused asylum seekers and refugees now living destitute in the UK.
The More Destitution in Leeds report, which follows a survey carried out in the same city 18 months ago, found that asylum seekers were forced into poverty without access to health care and education or permission to work.
The number of children recorded as destitute in Leeds has increased almost fourfold from 13 to 51, the trust said.
There was also a steep rise in the number of destitute Zimbabweans from four in 2006 to 56 this year. Zimbabweans are now the single biggest national group of destitute asylum seekers in Leeds, forming 21% of the total, while Iranians are the second biggest with 16%.
Bill Kilgallon, a commissioner in the original JRCT inquiry, said the Government's asylum policy was having a "devastating impact" on people in "desperate need of help".
He said: "This survey clearly shows that the asylum crisis highlighted 18 months ago is actually getting worse despite - and, in some cases, because of - the introduction of the Government's New Asylum Model. The scale of overall destitution has almost tripled, more children are suffering and more people are suffering for longer. This cannot go on."
The trust found that the most common reason for people becoming destitute was a delay in Section 4 support, which is available to asylum seekers or refused asylum seekers who are unable to return to their country of origin or who have been given leave to seek a judicial review.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
UN missing anti-poverty goals, warns Brown
from the Independent, UK
Looks like a big event to mobilize the UK to help meet the Millennium Development Goals will occur today as a part of a conference of Anglican Bishops. - Kale
By James Macintyre
Gordon Brown will warn today that the historic commitments made by the United Nations in 2000 to relieve poverty in the developing world are in danger of being missed.
The Prime Minister will reaffirm his commitment to the Millennium Development Goals in a speech to the Lambeth conference of Anglican bishops which moves temporarily from Canterbury to London today. He will say that while good progress is being made on some targets – such as on the eradication of extreme poverty – other areas including education and sanitation need urgent improvement.
Mr Brown staved off an attempt to water down the G8 commitment at the Gleneagles summit three years ago that the world's richest economies will double aid to Africa to $25bn a year to 2010. But he is concerned that the wider effort by the UN is behind schedule.
As well as eradicating extreme poverty, the development goals are achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women, reducing child mortality, improving mental health, combating HIV, Aids, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development.
The latest World Bank-IMF report warns that most countries will fail on the goals. Many parts of the world are on course to halve extreme poverty by 2015. But the aims of cutting child and maternal mortality are looking highly unlikely. Primary education, sanitation and nutrition goals also look likely to be missed.
The World Bank estimates that food price increases – 74 per cent for rice over the past year, and 130 per cent for wheat – will drive at least another 100 million people into deep poverty.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, will praise the progress achieved by Mr Brown so far, but add a new challenge, urging world leaders to invest in and strengthen their partnership with the church worldwide, so that its extensive delivery network for education and health care, alongside other faiths, is fully utilised in the eradication of extreme poverty.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Looks like a big event to mobilize the UK to help meet the Millennium Development Goals will occur today as a part of a conference of Anglican Bishops. - Kale
By James Macintyre
Gordon Brown will warn today that the historic commitments made by the United Nations in 2000 to relieve poverty in the developing world are in danger of being missed.
The Prime Minister will reaffirm his commitment to the Millennium Development Goals in a speech to the Lambeth conference of Anglican bishops which moves temporarily from Canterbury to London today. He will say that while good progress is being made on some targets – such as on the eradication of extreme poverty – other areas including education and sanitation need urgent improvement.
Mr Brown staved off an attempt to water down the G8 commitment at the Gleneagles summit three years ago that the world's richest economies will double aid to Africa to $25bn a year to 2010. But he is concerned that the wider effort by the UN is behind schedule.
As well as eradicating extreme poverty, the development goals are achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women, reducing child mortality, improving mental health, combating HIV, Aids, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development.
The latest World Bank-IMF report warns that most countries will fail on the goals. Many parts of the world are on course to halve extreme poverty by 2015. But the aims of cutting child and maternal mortality are looking highly unlikely. Primary education, sanitation and nutrition goals also look likely to be missed.
The World Bank estimates that food price increases – 74 per cent for rice over the past year, and 130 per cent for wheat – will drive at least another 100 million people into deep poverty.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, will praise the progress achieved by Mr Brown so far, but add a new challenge, urging world leaders to invest in and strengthen their partnership with the church worldwide, so that its extensive delivery network for education and health care, alongside other faiths, is fully utilised in the eradication of extreme poverty.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
[comment] How to solve the growing global food crisis, in three steps
from the New York Daily News
Bono's guru finally weighs in on the global food crisis. - Kale
BY JEFFREY SACHS
The surge of world food prices this year came like a bolt out of the blue, but warning lights were in fact flashing. Imbalances of global food supply and demand had been building for years beneath the public view.
It's our job now to restore a balance of food supply and demand, and to defuse the long-term factors that can still come back to haunt us.
To date, American policy has been part of the problem, not the solution. In a mix of misguided energy policy and brazen special interest politics, the U.S. adopted a bio-fuel boondoggle. Taxpayers pay billions of dollars each year to subsidize large grain companies to covert corn to ethanol. Yet on balance, corn-based ethanol saves little if any oil and natural gas, since the production of corn and its conversion to bio-fuel uses enormous amounts of energy. Meanwhile, ethanol drives up world food prices, especially considering that as much as one-third of the total corn crop this year is destined for the gas tank.
To add insult to injury, for decades the U.S. and Europe lectured Africa, Haiti and other poor countries not to subsidize their own farmers - even for farmers so deep in poverty that they can't afford to buy the most basic inputs of fertilizer and high-yield seeds in order to get started as commercial farmers.
That bad advice is only now ending, but as a result of it, Africa's and Haiti's peasant farmers have remained stuck with the world's lowest grain yields, roughly one third or one fourth of what they'd get if they planted with fertilizer and improved seeds. Matters have gotten worse over time, as soils have been depleted of nutrients because of the failure to replenish the depleted tropical soils with a proper mix of chemical and organic fertilizers. In our misguided and lobby-driven politics, we wait for food disasters to strike, and then ship emergency food aid.
We have the opportunity to start fixing things, for our own good and the world's, if we do three things fast.
First, the U.S. and other rich countries should increase funding for the World Food Program so that it can cover the rising costs of its urgent programs to feed the world's hungriest and most vulnerable people. The WFP needs around $2 billion in the coming year, which comes to around $2 per each person in the U.S., Europe and Japan.
Second, we need to cut drastically the misguided U.S. bio-fuels program. This will save billions of taxpayer dollars, lower food prices and help to relieve the crisis hitting the poorest of the poor. We should focus instead on developing a second generation of bio-fuels using woodchips and other nonfood biomass rather than corn.
Third, let's truly help Africa, Haiti and other impoverished countries end the cycle of famine and emergency food aid, by helping the poorest farmers get started with fertilizer, improved seeds and small-scale irrigation equipment where applicable. Africa could double its food production within five years. There's already one success story: the southern African country of Malawi, which has roughly doubled its food production since 2005.
Doubling grain production in sub-Saharan Africa would mean roughly 100 million tons more of cereal grains, more than enough to replace its current imports of around 35 million tons. The cost to the rich countries would be around $10 per person per year, one of the great bargains on the planet. Food prices would ease worldwide.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Bono's guru finally weighs in on the global food crisis. - Kale
BY JEFFREY SACHS
The surge of world food prices this year came like a bolt out of the blue, but warning lights were in fact flashing. Imbalances of global food supply and demand had been building for years beneath the public view.
It's our job now to restore a balance of food supply and demand, and to defuse the long-term factors that can still come back to haunt us.
To date, American policy has been part of the problem, not the solution. In a mix of misguided energy policy and brazen special interest politics, the U.S. adopted a bio-fuel boondoggle. Taxpayers pay billions of dollars each year to subsidize large grain companies to covert corn to ethanol. Yet on balance, corn-based ethanol saves little if any oil and natural gas, since the production of corn and its conversion to bio-fuel uses enormous amounts of energy. Meanwhile, ethanol drives up world food prices, especially considering that as much as one-third of the total corn crop this year is destined for the gas tank.
To add insult to injury, for decades the U.S. and Europe lectured Africa, Haiti and other poor countries not to subsidize their own farmers - even for farmers so deep in poverty that they can't afford to buy the most basic inputs of fertilizer and high-yield seeds in order to get started as commercial farmers.
That bad advice is only now ending, but as a result of it, Africa's and Haiti's peasant farmers have remained stuck with the world's lowest grain yields, roughly one third or one fourth of what they'd get if they planted with fertilizer and improved seeds. Matters have gotten worse over time, as soils have been depleted of nutrients because of the failure to replenish the depleted tropical soils with a proper mix of chemical and organic fertilizers. In our misguided and lobby-driven politics, we wait for food disasters to strike, and then ship emergency food aid.
We have the opportunity to start fixing things, for our own good and the world's, if we do three things fast.
First, the U.S. and other rich countries should increase funding for the World Food Program so that it can cover the rising costs of its urgent programs to feed the world's hungriest and most vulnerable people. The WFP needs around $2 billion in the coming year, which comes to around $2 per each person in the U.S., Europe and Japan.
Second, we need to cut drastically the misguided U.S. bio-fuels program. This will save billions of taxpayer dollars, lower food prices and help to relieve the crisis hitting the poorest of the poor. We should focus instead on developing a second generation of bio-fuels using woodchips and other nonfood biomass rather than corn.
Third, let's truly help Africa, Haiti and other impoverished countries end the cycle of famine and emergency food aid, by helping the poorest farmers get started with fertilizer, improved seeds and small-scale irrigation equipment where applicable. Africa could double its food production within five years. There's already one success story: the southern African country of Malawi, which has roughly doubled its food production since 2005.
Doubling grain production in sub-Saharan Africa would mean roughly 100 million tons more of cereal grains, more than enough to replace its current imports of around 35 million tons. The cost to the rich countries would be around $10 per person per year, one of the great bargains on the planet. Food prices would ease worldwide.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Experts ask Congress to boost antihunger funds
from Reuters
There are plans for another economic stimulus package in the US. So politicians are coming up with add ons to the package. Help for those with food stamps is another one. - Kale
WASHINGTON - With food-stamp enrollment at record levels, antihunger experts urged Congress on Wednesday to increase benefits, at least temporarily, in the largest U.S. program that helps poor people buy food.
Some 28 million Americans received food stamps at latest count, the highest total ever except the 29.8 million recipients in November 2005, when emergency aid was given to victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. Benefits average $1 per meal.
"We strongly support efforts to provide a temporary boost in basic food stamp benefit levels to help people afford a basic healthy diet," said George Manalo-LeClair of the California Food Policy Advocates.
Minneapolis physician Diana Cutts and the Food Research and Action Center also backed an increase in benefits as part of a new economic stimulus bill.
Rep. Joe Baca, the California Democrat who chairs the House Agriculture subcommittee that oversees public nutrition programs, said food stamps should be included in a stimulus bill.
"The problem we're going to have is the pay-go requirement," said Baca, referring to a rule requiring budget cuts to offset new spending.
"The United States is quite unique among industrial democracies because we let so many of our people go hungry and we seem to be doing precious little to close this gap," said Larry Brown, of the Harvard University School of Public Health.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
There are plans for another economic stimulus package in the US. So politicians are coming up with add ons to the package. Help for those with food stamps is another one. - Kale
WASHINGTON - With food-stamp enrollment at record levels, antihunger experts urged Congress on Wednesday to increase benefits, at least temporarily, in the largest U.S. program that helps poor people buy food.
Some 28 million Americans received food stamps at latest count, the highest total ever except the 29.8 million recipients in November 2005, when emergency aid was given to victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. Benefits average $1 per meal.
"We strongly support efforts to provide a temporary boost in basic food stamp benefit levels to help people afford a basic healthy diet," said George Manalo-LeClair of the California Food Policy Advocates.
Minneapolis physician Diana Cutts and the Food Research and Action Center also backed an increase in benefits as part of a new economic stimulus bill.
Rep. Joe Baca, the California Democrat who chairs the House Agriculture subcommittee that oversees public nutrition programs, said food stamps should be included in a stimulus bill.
"The problem we're going to have is the pay-go requirement," said Baca, referring to a rule requiring budget cuts to offset new spending.
"The United States is quite unique among industrial democracies because we let so many of our people go hungry and we seem to be doing precious little to close this gap," said Larry Brown, of the Harvard University School of Public Health.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
World Bank Criticized on Environmental Efforts
from the New York Times
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
The World Bank and its partners need to do a far better job of considering the environmental effects of projects they finance in poor countries, its internal review group concludes in a new report.
The review, released Tuesday, examined some of the $400 billion in investments in nearly 7,000 projects from 1990 to 2007. It found that recent pledges for environmental sustainability by the bank and sister institutions, including the International Finance Corporation, were often not put into practice when dollars were turned into dams, pipelines, palm plantations and the like.
The report is available at worldbank.org/oed.
The authors of the 181-page environmental report, the first by the bank’s Independent Evaluation Group since 2002, said it was crucial for the bank and its partners to intensify their focus on measurable environmental protection, given rising vulnerability to environmental risks and the increasing flow of financing for projects related to climate change.
“They need to begin to see the inextricable link between sustaining environment and reducing poverty,” Vinod Thomas, the director general of the evaluation group, said in an interview. “It is clear now from the Amazon to India that if environmental sustainability is not raised as a priority, then all bets are off.”
The report by the internal group included a response from the bank’s management that acknowledged some of the gaps while asserting that in many areas it was already moving to improve its environmental accounting and find ways to make sure that beneficiaries — developing countries and private banks and businesses — changed practices as well.
Cheryl Gray, the director of the review group for the World Bank, said the lack of consistent internal tracking of the environmental facets of projects was an indicator of how much work needed to be done.
The World Bank Group approved its first set of common environmental standards in 2001, for the first time making environmental stewardship part of its core mission of reducing poverty.
But the new evaluation found a persistent lack of environmental focus in each step along the lending chain, from the priorities that shape development projects to the environmental standards and monitoring required in the field.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
The World Bank and its partners need to do a far better job of considering the environmental effects of projects they finance in poor countries, its internal review group concludes in a new report.
The review, released Tuesday, examined some of the $400 billion in investments in nearly 7,000 projects from 1990 to 2007. It found that recent pledges for environmental sustainability by the bank and sister institutions, including the International Finance Corporation, were often not put into practice when dollars were turned into dams, pipelines, palm plantations and the like.
The report is available at worldbank.org/oed.
The authors of the 181-page environmental report, the first by the bank’s Independent Evaluation Group since 2002, said it was crucial for the bank and its partners to intensify their focus on measurable environmental protection, given rising vulnerability to environmental risks and the increasing flow of financing for projects related to climate change.
“They need to begin to see the inextricable link between sustaining environment and reducing poverty,” Vinod Thomas, the director general of the evaluation group, said in an interview. “It is clear now from the Amazon to India that if environmental sustainability is not raised as a priority, then all bets are off.”
The report by the internal group included a response from the bank’s management that acknowledged some of the gaps while asserting that in many areas it was already moving to improve its environmental accounting and find ways to make sure that beneficiaries — developing countries and private banks and businesses — changed practices as well.
Cheryl Gray, the director of the review group for the World Bank, said the lack of consistent internal tracking of the environmental facets of projects was an indicator of how much work needed to be done.
The World Bank Group approved its first set of common environmental standards in 2001, for the first time making environmental stewardship part of its core mission of reducing poverty.
But the new evaluation found a persistent lack of environmental focus in each step along the lending chain, from the priorities that shape development projects to the environmental standards and monitoring required in the field.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Zuma will meet poor whites again
from the Times
Proof that poverty knows no race or ethnicity. A story on poor whites in South Africa. - Kale
Hundreds of poor whites from the Bethlehem informal settlement in Pretoria West would again meet African National Congress president Jacob Zuma tomorrow, trade union Solidarity said.
In a statement, the union said community leaders from at least 40 informal settlements in Pretoria would gather under the auspices of Solidarity Helping Hand to discuss their problems with Zuma.
"Zuma returns to the white informal settlement Bethlehem tomorrow after promising earlier this year to tackle the community’s problems."
The union would also present a report on the growing problem of white poverty in Pretoria to Zuma and the executive mayor of the Tshwane Metro Council Gwen Ramokgopa.
Zuma was expected to be joined by other ministers, government officials and Ramokgopa.
The department of social development would also provide a mobile unit where poor white people could register for social grants.
It was expected that several officials from the department would provide the poor with advice regarding social services, said the union.
The residents would also exhibit products made by them in the informal settlements in an attempt to get support from the department of social development for their community projects.
All the food for the day would be prepared by people living in the informal settlements.
"The myth that white poverty in South Africa doesn’t exist took root as a result of President Thabo Mbeki’s ’Two Nations’ speech," said Solidarity’s general secretary Flip Buys.
He said, according to Mbeki, South Africa consisted of two nations - the one poor and black, the other white and rich.
"White poverty has been a silent poverty over the past decade. We believe that Mr Zuma will once and for all break the silence on white poverty by getting involved himself.
"We want Zuma to declare that poverty isn’t bound to colour," he said.
According to the Helping Hand report to be released tomorrow, only 54 percent of all white people in South Africa can afford a house of more than R200,000.
The number of white people that do not have access to housing increased from 83,000 to 131,000 or by 58 percent between 2002 and 2006.
Structures in backyards increased from 36,000 to 54,000.
The union said it expected that this figure, despite the decrease in the population figure of white people, would increase by 7,500 units annually.
Solidarity said it would also discuss with the Zuma delegation the decision by the Gauteng department of social development, in terms of which subsidies to organisations working among poor white people would be phased out.
Buys said it was "totally unacceptable" that a decision could be taken that a person was denied social support on the basis of race.
"The decision is racist. We are convinced that this decision won’t hold its ground in any court or international forum," he said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Proof that poverty knows no race or ethnicity. A story on poor whites in South Africa. - Kale
Hundreds of poor whites from the Bethlehem informal settlement in Pretoria West would again meet African National Congress president Jacob Zuma tomorrow, trade union Solidarity said.
In a statement, the union said community leaders from at least 40 informal settlements in Pretoria would gather under the auspices of Solidarity Helping Hand to discuss their problems with Zuma.
"Zuma returns to the white informal settlement Bethlehem tomorrow after promising earlier this year to tackle the community’s problems."
The union would also present a report on the growing problem of white poverty in Pretoria to Zuma and the executive mayor of the Tshwane Metro Council Gwen Ramokgopa.
Zuma was expected to be joined by other ministers, government officials and Ramokgopa.
The department of social development would also provide a mobile unit where poor white people could register for social grants.
It was expected that several officials from the department would provide the poor with advice regarding social services, said the union.
The residents would also exhibit products made by them in the informal settlements in an attempt to get support from the department of social development for their community projects.
All the food for the day would be prepared by people living in the informal settlements.
"The myth that white poverty in South Africa doesn’t exist took root as a result of President Thabo Mbeki’s ’Two Nations’ speech," said Solidarity’s general secretary Flip Buys.
He said, according to Mbeki, South Africa consisted of two nations - the one poor and black, the other white and rich.
"White poverty has been a silent poverty over the past decade. We believe that Mr Zuma will once and for all break the silence on white poverty by getting involved himself.
"We want Zuma to declare that poverty isn’t bound to colour," he said.
According to the Helping Hand report to be released tomorrow, only 54 percent of all white people in South Africa can afford a house of more than R200,000.
The number of white people that do not have access to housing increased from 83,000 to 131,000 or by 58 percent between 2002 and 2006.
Structures in backyards increased from 36,000 to 54,000.
The union said it expected that this figure, despite the decrease in the population figure of white people, would increase by 7,500 units annually.
Solidarity said it would also discuss with the Zuma delegation the decision by the Gauteng department of social development, in terms of which subsidies to organisations working among poor white people would be phased out.
Buys said it was "totally unacceptable" that a decision could be taken that a person was denied social support on the basis of race.
"The decision is racist. We are convinced that this decision won’t hold its ground in any court or international forum," he said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Zimbabweans battle money shortages as collectors buy hundred billion dollar notes on eBay
from the International Herald Tribune
Another example of how messy things are in Zimbabwe. Kale
Amid Zimbabwe's mind-boggling hyper inflation, a new 100 billion dollar bank note has more value as a novelty item on eBay than on the streets of the capital.
The note, launched this week, is worth enough to buy a loaf of bread — if you can find one on Zimbabwe's depleted store shelves. Meanwhile on eBay, the bill was on offer for nearly US$80.
Notes in the millions of dollars are useful only as toilet paper and it's cheaper to light a fire with low denomination bills than with newspaper.
In the political and economic turmoil since disputed March 29 elections, prices have risen almost daily. Factories and businesses have shut down amid empty order books and chronic shortages of gasoline, power, water and spare parts for equipment repairs.
President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai signed an agreement Monday to hold talks about power-sharing to end the crisis and restore economic stability. But the news failed to move the exchange rate, since little cash is available.
House prices and lottery prizes are quoted in quadrillions — that's with 15 zeros. Zimbabweans says it's only a matter of time before big ticket items will be priced in the quintillions, which have 18 zeros.
Official inflation is quoted at 2.2 million percent but independent finance houses say it's closer to 12.5 million percent.
One major commercial bank said its automated teller machines are not configured to dispense multi-zero withdrawals and freeze in what it called a "data overflow error." Software writers are busy writing programs to try to overcome the problem.
Urgent electronic transfers in trillions also take several days as electronic accounting systems grapple with transactions in 12 zeros.
Bank transfers command a special rate. A hundred billion dollars is worth US$5 at the official rate, US$1 at the black market rate — but just 30 U.S. cents in a transfer because by the time the funds are processed the Zimbabwe currency can be expected to be worth a lot less.
Shops have dropped six zeros from price tags, adding them again after totals are tallied at tills.
Zimbabwe has 27 denominations of bills and no coins. Lower value bills — 10 million Zimbabwe dollars — are all but obsolete, even in brick-sized bundles. Beggars and street urchins rarely bother to pick up such bills dropped on the street.
But one recent day in Marondera town outside Harare, traffic stopped and business came to a halt when someone — apparently upset by the dizzying rate of inflation — started throwing 50-billion-dollar notes from a moving car. Residents scrambled to collect the money.
The biggest bakery in Harare shut down this month and sent 1,200 workers home on forced leave because flour stocks recently ran out. For years, the bakery donated free loaves every week to a home for the handicapped and charity-run hostels.
One Internet provider has invited customers to pay their fees in gasoline coupons that hold their value.
A 58-year-old Harare financial director who asked not to be identified said his monthly salary is paid in local money which converts to US$50 at the bank rate. When available at his local sports club, a hamburger costs the equivalent of US$12. He hasn't eaten out in a year.
A cup of coffee at a government-owned five-star hotel was 130 billion Zimbabwe dollars, or US$5.30 this week. A waitress at the hotel said she earns 100 billion Zimbabwe dollars, US$4 a month.
A German company stopped shipments of bank note paper to the central bank's printers this month as the European Union looked to strengthen sanctions. The release of new money slowed as the central bank said it was looking to Indonesia and Malaysia to supply the specialized paper.
The daily grind for Zimbabweans to survive in the economic meltdown has won them a rating as the world's unhappiest people in the World Values Survey of the Michigan Institute for Social Research.
Zimbabweans were slightly unhappier than Armenians and Moldovans, also victims poverty and "the legacies of authoritarian rule," the researchers said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Another example of how messy things are in Zimbabwe. Kale
Amid Zimbabwe's mind-boggling hyper inflation, a new 100 billion dollar bank note has more value as a novelty item on eBay than on the streets of the capital.
The note, launched this week, is worth enough to buy a loaf of bread — if you can find one on Zimbabwe's depleted store shelves. Meanwhile on eBay, the bill was on offer for nearly US$80.
Notes in the millions of dollars are useful only as toilet paper and it's cheaper to light a fire with low denomination bills than with newspaper.
In the political and economic turmoil since disputed March 29 elections, prices have risen almost daily. Factories and businesses have shut down amid empty order books and chronic shortages of gasoline, power, water and spare parts for equipment repairs.
President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai signed an agreement Monday to hold talks about power-sharing to end the crisis and restore economic stability. But the news failed to move the exchange rate, since little cash is available.
House prices and lottery prizes are quoted in quadrillions — that's with 15 zeros. Zimbabweans says it's only a matter of time before big ticket items will be priced in the quintillions, which have 18 zeros.
Official inflation is quoted at 2.2 million percent but independent finance houses say it's closer to 12.5 million percent.
One major commercial bank said its automated teller machines are not configured to dispense multi-zero withdrawals and freeze in what it called a "data overflow error." Software writers are busy writing programs to try to overcome the problem.
Urgent electronic transfers in trillions also take several days as electronic accounting systems grapple with transactions in 12 zeros.
Bank transfers command a special rate. A hundred billion dollars is worth US$5 at the official rate, US$1 at the black market rate — but just 30 U.S. cents in a transfer because by the time the funds are processed the Zimbabwe currency can be expected to be worth a lot less.
Shops have dropped six zeros from price tags, adding them again after totals are tallied at tills.
Zimbabwe has 27 denominations of bills and no coins. Lower value bills — 10 million Zimbabwe dollars — are all but obsolete, even in brick-sized bundles. Beggars and street urchins rarely bother to pick up such bills dropped on the street.
But one recent day in Marondera town outside Harare, traffic stopped and business came to a halt when someone — apparently upset by the dizzying rate of inflation — started throwing 50-billion-dollar notes from a moving car. Residents scrambled to collect the money.
The biggest bakery in Harare shut down this month and sent 1,200 workers home on forced leave because flour stocks recently ran out. For years, the bakery donated free loaves every week to a home for the handicapped and charity-run hostels.
One Internet provider has invited customers to pay their fees in gasoline coupons that hold their value.
A 58-year-old Harare financial director who asked not to be identified said his monthly salary is paid in local money which converts to US$50 at the bank rate. When available at his local sports club, a hamburger costs the equivalent of US$12. He hasn't eaten out in a year.
A cup of coffee at a government-owned five-star hotel was 130 billion Zimbabwe dollars, or US$5.30 this week. A waitress at the hotel said she earns 100 billion Zimbabwe dollars, US$4 a month.
A German company stopped shipments of bank note paper to the central bank's printers this month as the European Union looked to strengthen sanctions. The release of new money slowed as the central bank said it was looking to Indonesia and Malaysia to supply the specialized paper.
The daily grind for Zimbabweans to survive in the economic meltdown has won them a rating as the world's unhappiest people in the World Values Survey of the Michigan Institute for Social Research.
Zimbabweans were slightly unhappier than Armenians and Moldovans, also victims poverty and "the legacies of authoritarian rule," the researchers said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Doubling of grants to UN food aid agency urged
from the Financial Times
A report from an UK parliament committee asks for the doubling of aid to the UN's World Food Programme. - Kale
By Javier Blas in London
Donations to the United Nations' World Food Programme must double to secure aid for those pushed into poverty by rising food and fuel prices and to compensate for higher procurement costs, a report warned yesterday.
The UK parliament's International Development Committee said that significant increases to the WFP's budget would probably be needed in the short term and sustained over the years. "The usual annual total of $3bn [€1.9bn, £1.5bn] in voluntary contributions may need to double."
Last year, the WFP received donations of $2.7bn, up from $1.7bn in 1998. After mounting an appeal this year, the WFP received $2.6bn in the first six months of 2008 and is likely to need about $6bn.
The report is the first to look at the WFP's future financial needs. It suggests that the Rome-based agency must sustain over the medium term this year's emergency appeal for extra funds. Although the WFP is likely to raise enough money this year, it is unclear whether it could continue to do so in subsequent years.
Diplomats said that some of this year's large donations, including one of $500m from Saudi Arabia, looked more like one-off contributions than permanent commitments. John Powell, WFP deputy executive director, said: "They [donors] need to recognise that this is not a passing storm, but something that is going to stay with us."
A report from an UK parliament committee asks for the doubling of aid to the UN's World Food Programme. - Kale
By Javier Blas in London
Donations to the United Nations' World Food Programme must double to secure aid for those pushed into poverty by rising food and fuel prices and to compensate for higher procurement costs, a report warned yesterday.
The UK parliament's International Development Committee said that significant increases to the WFP's budget would probably be needed in the short term and sustained over the years. "The usual annual total of $3bn [€1.9bn, £1.5bn] in voluntary contributions may need to double."
Last year, the WFP received donations of $2.7bn, up from $1.7bn in 1998. After mounting an appeal this year, the WFP received $2.6bn in the first six months of 2008 and is likely to need about $6bn.
The report is the first to look at the WFP's future financial needs. It suggests that the Rome-based agency must sustain over the medium term this year's emergency appeal for extra funds. Although the WFP is likely to raise enough money this year, it is unclear whether it could continue to do so in subsequent years.
Diplomats said that some of this year's large donations, including one of $500m from Saudi Arabia, looked more like one-off contributions than permanent commitments. John Powell, WFP deputy executive director, said: "They [donors] need to recognise that this is not a passing storm, but something that is going to stay with us."
U.S. offers farm subsidy cut, is asked for more
from the Washington Post
A concession is being proposed by the US to try to save the global trade talks. - Kale
By Doug Palmer and William Schomberg
GENEVA - The United States sought to kickstart efforts to rescue a global trade deal on Tuesday by offering to cut a ceiling on its contested farm subsidies, but leading developing countries said it was not enough.
U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab announced Washington was ready to cap its trade-distorting farm subsidies at $15 billion a year, on condition countries like Brazil and India also make concessions to save the World Trade Organisation talks.
"This is a major move, taken in good faith with the expectation that others will reciprocate and step forward with improved offers in market access," Schwab told reporters.
The long-awaited U.S. move came on the second day of a week-long push by ministers for a breakthrough on farming and manufacturing -- core trade issues that have dogged the WTO's nearly seven-year-old Doha round of world trade talks.
Developing countries have long complained that huge U.S. subsidies squeeze their farmers out of the market, reducing food supplies and contributing to the recent spike in global prices.
But high prices have lowered U.S. spending on farm programs that encourage production -- which distort trade -- to about $7 billion last year, well below the $48.2 billion allowed under existing WTO rules.
Schwab said Tuesday's offer would require the U.S. Congress to rewrite new farm legislation. President George W. Bush vetoed a 2008 law that boosts subsidies but was overridden by Congress.
Tom Harkin, head of the Senate's Agriculture Committee welcomed the U.S. move, saying in a statement it showed the United States was ready to negotiate in good faith and complete the round but other countries now had to make concessions too.
Stressing the value of the new offer, Schwab said U.S. trade-distorting support was $18.9 billion in 2005 and close to $25 billion in both 1999 and 2000, before the food price surge.
But the move failed to impress some WTO players key to the complex trade-offs needed this week to prevent the Doha round being put on hold, possibly for a couple of years.
Supporters of a WTO deal say it could send a morale-boosting signal to the slowing global economy.
OFFER FAILS INDIA'S "LAUGH TEST"
"My immediate response is it doesn't pass the 'laugh test'," a senior Indian official told Reuters.
Brazil said it wanted deeper cuts. "This is only the second day of the talks here, so we imagine there is room for maneuver to reduce them further," a Brazilian diplomat said.
Brazil and India are key to the negotiations because the United States and the European Union want big developing economies to open up their markets in industrial goods as well as farm products in return for their agriculture reforms.
The EU said the U.S. offer was reasonable but could go deeper depending on how this week's trade talks progress.
After around 30 ministers met to discuss the U.S. proposal and other areas of the talks, European trade chief Peter Mandelson said the emphasis was shifting to industrial goods where "there is a lot of disagreement, a lot of heat but where we have to find an outcome in order to get a deal."
Costa Rican Trade Minister Marco Vinicio Ruiz said ministers would split into small groups on Wednesday to try to find a breakthrough. Senior trade officials said the talks were likely to overshoot their original end date of Saturday.
Proposals by a WTO mediator proposed capping U.S. spending on farm subsidies at between $13 billion and $16.4 billion.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A concession is being proposed by the US to try to save the global trade talks. - Kale
By Doug Palmer and William Schomberg
GENEVA - The United States sought to kickstart efforts to rescue a global trade deal on Tuesday by offering to cut a ceiling on its contested farm subsidies, but leading developing countries said it was not enough.
U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab announced Washington was ready to cap its trade-distorting farm subsidies at $15 billion a year, on condition countries like Brazil and India also make concessions to save the World Trade Organisation talks.
"This is a major move, taken in good faith with the expectation that others will reciprocate and step forward with improved offers in market access," Schwab told reporters.
The long-awaited U.S. move came on the second day of a week-long push by ministers for a breakthrough on farming and manufacturing -- core trade issues that have dogged the WTO's nearly seven-year-old Doha round of world trade talks.
Developing countries have long complained that huge U.S. subsidies squeeze their farmers out of the market, reducing food supplies and contributing to the recent spike in global prices.
But high prices have lowered U.S. spending on farm programs that encourage production -- which distort trade -- to about $7 billion last year, well below the $48.2 billion allowed under existing WTO rules.
Schwab said Tuesday's offer would require the U.S. Congress to rewrite new farm legislation. President George W. Bush vetoed a 2008 law that boosts subsidies but was overridden by Congress.
Tom Harkin, head of the Senate's Agriculture Committee welcomed the U.S. move, saying in a statement it showed the United States was ready to negotiate in good faith and complete the round but other countries now had to make concessions too.
Stressing the value of the new offer, Schwab said U.S. trade-distorting support was $18.9 billion in 2005 and close to $25 billion in both 1999 and 2000, before the food price surge.
But the move failed to impress some WTO players key to the complex trade-offs needed this week to prevent the Doha round being put on hold, possibly for a couple of years.
Supporters of a WTO deal say it could send a morale-boosting signal to the slowing global economy.
OFFER FAILS INDIA'S "LAUGH TEST"
"My immediate response is it doesn't pass the 'laugh test'," a senior Indian official told Reuters.
Brazil said it wanted deeper cuts. "This is only the second day of the talks here, so we imagine there is room for maneuver to reduce them further," a Brazilian diplomat said.
Brazil and India are key to the negotiations because the United States and the European Union want big developing economies to open up their markets in industrial goods as well as farm products in return for their agriculture reforms.
The EU said the U.S. offer was reasonable but could go deeper depending on how this week's trade talks progress.
After around 30 ministers met to discuss the U.S. proposal and other areas of the talks, European trade chief Peter Mandelson said the emphasis was shifting to industrial goods where "there is a lot of disagreement, a lot of heat but where we have to find an outcome in order to get a deal."
Costa Rican Trade Minister Marco Vinicio Ruiz said ministers would split into small groups on Wednesday to try to find a breakthrough. Senior trade officials said the talks were likely to overshoot their original end date of Saturday.
Proposals by a WTO mediator proposed capping U.S. spending on farm subsidies at between $13 billion and $16.4 billion.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Famine looming for 14m in Africa
from the Financial Times
Warnings of another famine in Ethiopia, this time due to the food crisis. - Kale
By Barney Jopson in Khartoum and Murithi Mutiga and Javier Blas in London
Hunger on a massive scale is looming across the Horn of Africa as a combination of drought and high food prices has left more than 14m people in five countries in need of emergency food aid, according to the United Nations.
Ethiopia is the centre of the crisis, with 10.3m people, or 12 per cent of its population, in need of emergency aid in the next few months, the World Food Programme said. But the risk of starvation has spread in an arc that runs from Somalia and Djibouti through to Kenya and Uganda.
The primary cause of the crisis is a prolonged drought across large parts of the Horn which has been exacerbated by the soaring costs of food and fuel.
The impact is compounded because some countries, such as Ethiopia, have nearly exhausted their food reserves as rising prices forced the governments to subsidise food this year.
The strategy was to placate the urban poor and avoid food riots in the hope that global prices would fall soon enough to rebuild stocks with imports. But prices remain high and countries face poor crops without reserves.
“This is a regional crisis and the number of people affected is higher than during the 2006 regional drought when about 11m were at risk,” said Peter Smerdon, a WFP spokesman in Nairobi.
“Rising food prices mean there are more people who cannot afford food even if it is for sale in their area.”
In addition to those suffering in Ethiopia – where 5.7m people were already on food aid but needed more – there are 2.6m in need of assistance in Somalia, where drought has been compounded by conflict between the fragile government and its opponents, which is disrupting agriculture and trade.
In tiny Djibouti, 115,000 people need food aid as do 900,000 in the arid areas of northern Kenya and 707,000 in the Karamoja region of northern Uganda.
While launching an emergency appeal on Monday, Mohamed Diab, WFP country director in Ethiopia, said: “Millions of lives will be at risk if we can’t get food to them within the next two months.” The WFP estimates that it will need an additional $420m in order to meet food needs across the Horn for the rest of the year.
Grain in Ethiopia has become so scarce, the food agency said, that prices for most domestically produced cereals are now higher than for imported grains. Sonali Wickrema, WFP head of programmes in Addis Ababa, said: “This is a shock that we did not foresee.”
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Warnings of another famine in Ethiopia, this time due to the food crisis. - Kale
By Barney Jopson in Khartoum and Murithi Mutiga and Javier Blas in London
Hunger on a massive scale is looming across the Horn of Africa as a combination of drought and high food prices has left more than 14m people in five countries in need of emergency food aid, according to the United Nations.
Ethiopia is the centre of the crisis, with 10.3m people, or 12 per cent of its population, in need of emergency aid in the next few months, the World Food Programme said. But the risk of starvation has spread in an arc that runs from Somalia and Djibouti through to Kenya and Uganda.
The primary cause of the crisis is a prolonged drought across large parts of the Horn which has been exacerbated by the soaring costs of food and fuel.
The impact is compounded because some countries, such as Ethiopia, have nearly exhausted their food reserves as rising prices forced the governments to subsidise food this year.
The strategy was to placate the urban poor and avoid food riots in the hope that global prices would fall soon enough to rebuild stocks with imports. But prices remain high and countries face poor crops without reserves.
“This is a regional crisis and the number of people affected is higher than during the 2006 regional drought when about 11m were at risk,” said Peter Smerdon, a WFP spokesman in Nairobi.
“Rising food prices mean there are more people who cannot afford food even if it is for sale in their area.”
In addition to those suffering in Ethiopia – where 5.7m people were already on food aid but needed more – there are 2.6m in need of assistance in Somalia, where drought has been compounded by conflict between the fragile government and its opponents, which is disrupting agriculture and trade.
In tiny Djibouti, 115,000 people need food aid as do 900,000 in the arid areas of northern Kenya and 707,000 in the Karamoja region of northern Uganda.
While launching an emergency appeal on Monday, Mohamed Diab, WFP country director in Ethiopia, said: “Millions of lives will be at risk if we can’t get food to them within the next two months.” The WFP estimates that it will need an additional $420m in order to meet food needs across the Horn for the rest of the year.
Grain in Ethiopia has become so scarce, the food agency said, that prices for most domestically produced cereals are now higher than for imported grains. Sonali Wickrema, WFP head of programmes in Addis Ababa, said: “This is a shock that we did not foresee.”
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Man Writes A Prayer For Humanity To End Extreme Poverty
from the Hartford Couriant
A unique way to help out, and all you have to do is talk. - Kale
by Susan Campbell
Life feels like we're perched on some kind of weird bubble. Prices (and tempers) are high. Public discourse has descended to name-calling. Drivers seem to be more aggressive.
This kind of thing happens when it looks like resources are shrinking. The string pulls tighter and social niceties go by the wayside.
What we need, says Jonathan Denn, co-director of Trinity Conference Center in West Cornwall, is a little prayer.
Several months ago, Denn was thinking about a place far tougher than Connecticut — Darfur — and trying to find a way to start conversation about that country's plight. He thought about writing a play, but how would one stage that?
Instead, he wrote a seven-second prayer: The world now has the means to end extreme poverty, we pray we will have the will.
He asked some clergy friends if the prayer made sense. They responded overwhelmingly that it did, and Denn offered it publicly for the first time last year at St. Paul's Chapel, the miraculous and historic church just across the street from Ground Zero in New York.
St. Paul's has stood since 1766. George Washington worshiped there. So did Lord Charles Cornwallis. After the terrorist attacks of 2001, the chapel became a haven for thousands of rescue workers and volunteers who slept and wept there for months. Some of the cards and letters left by people who wandered through are on display at the church in a show, "Unwavering Spirit: Hope and Healing at Ground Zero." The affiliation is Episcopalian, but it's really more of a people's chapel.
Because St. Paul's has become something of a part of a pilgrimage, the prayer's inauguration was heavily attended.
And now, Denn is asking faith groups and individuals to say his prayer, more than once and outdoors, if possible, where others will see them and ask questions. One prayer for every billion people living in extreme poverty — that's $1 or less per day — is going to take a lot of prayers. People can pray in person or online at www.countingprayers.org.
In 2000, 189 countries — including the United States — agreed to a list of United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, which includes things like eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, combating diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria, and reducing child mortality. We are far from reaching those goals, or even halfway.
Denn has attended several social justice workshops lately, including one charmingly called Righteous Indignation in May in New York.
He said the general feeling among people who are paying attention is that we're in a kairos moment, a time when something special happens, something like the end of apartheid, or the civil rights movement, when it was cooking. That bubble could pop any time.
We have the means. We lack the will. Perhaps repetition of a simple prayer will move our feet, and a full-on effort would certainly get the attention of decision-makers.
"If you are a person of faith, those things have to be important," said Denn. "If they are important, then we have to act on it now. Acting on it now really is demanding that our representatives do the right thing."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A unique way to help out, and all you have to do is talk. - Kale
by Susan Campbell
Life feels like we're perched on some kind of weird bubble. Prices (and tempers) are high. Public discourse has descended to name-calling. Drivers seem to be more aggressive.
This kind of thing happens when it looks like resources are shrinking. The string pulls tighter and social niceties go by the wayside.
What we need, says Jonathan Denn, co-director of Trinity Conference Center in West Cornwall, is a little prayer.
Several months ago, Denn was thinking about a place far tougher than Connecticut — Darfur — and trying to find a way to start conversation about that country's plight. He thought about writing a play, but how would one stage that?
Instead, he wrote a seven-second prayer: The world now has the means to end extreme poverty, we pray we will have the will.
He asked some clergy friends if the prayer made sense. They responded overwhelmingly that it did, and Denn offered it publicly for the first time last year at St. Paul's Chapel, the miraculous and historic church just across the street from Ground Zero in New York.
St. Paul's has stood since 1766. George Washington worshiped there. So did Lord Charles Cornwallis. After the terrorist attacks of 2001, the chapel became a haven for thousands of rescue workers and volunteers who slept and wept there for months. Some of the cards and letters left by people who wandered through are on display at the church in a show, "Unwavering Spirit: Hope and Healing at Ground Zero." The affiliation is Episcopalian, but it's really more of a people's chapel.
Because St. Paul's has become something of a part of a pilgrimage, the prayer's inauguration was heavily attended.
And now, Denn is asking faith groups and individuals to say his prayer, more than once and outdoors, if possible, where others will see them and ask questions. One prayer for every billion people living in extreme poverty — that's $1 or less per day — is going to take a lot of prayers. People can pray in person or online at www.countingprayers.org.
In 2000, 189 countries — including the United States — agreed to a list of United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, which includes things like eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, combating diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria, and reducing child mortality. We are far from reaching those goals, or even halfway.
Denn has attended several social justice workshops lately, including one charmingly called Righteous Indignation in May in New York.
He said the general feeling among people who are paying attention is that we're in a kairos moment, a time when something special happens, something like the end of apartheid, or the civil rights movement, when it was cooking. That bubble could pop any time.
We have the means. We lack the will. Perhaps repetition of a simple prayer will move our feet, and a full-on effort would certainly get the attention of decision-makers.
"If you are a person of faith, those things have to be important," said Denn. "If they are important, then we have to act on it now. Acting on it now really is demanding that our representatives do the right thing."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Africa's Last and Least
from the Washington Post
In Burkina Faso, many women prepare the meals, but have the rest of their family eat, while they go without. A great story here on the global food crisis. - Kale
Cultural Expectations Ensure Women Are Hit Hardest by Burgeoning Food Crisis
By Kevin Sullivan
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso
After she woke in the dark to sweep city streets, after she walked an hour to buy less than $2 worth of food, after she cooked for two hours in the searing noon heat, Fanta Lingani served her family's only meal of the day.
First she set out a bowl of corn mush, seasoned with tree leaves, dried fish and wood ashes, for the 11 smallest children, who tore into it with bare hands.
Then she set out a bowl for her husband. Then two bowls for a dozen older children. Then finally, after everyone else had finished, a bowl for herself. She always eats last.
A year ago, before food prices nearly doubled, Lingani would have had three meals a day of meat, rice and vegetables. Now two mouthfuls of bland mush would have to do her until tomorrow.
Rubbing her red-rimmed eyes, chewing lightly on a twig she picked off the ground, Lingani gave the last of her food to the children.
"I'm not hungry," she said.
In poor nations, such as Burkina Faso in the heart of West Africa, mealtime conspires against women. They grow the food, fetch the water, shop at the market and cook the meals. But when it comes time to eat, men and children eat first, and women eat last and least.
Soaring prices for food and fuel have pushed more than 130 million poor people across vast swaths of Africa, Asia and Latin America deeper into poverty in the past year, according to the U.N. World Food Program (WFP). But while millions of men and children are also hungrier, women are often the hungriest and skinniest. Aid workers say malnutrition among women is emerging as a hidden consequence of the food crisis.
"It's a cultural thing," said Herve Kone, director of a group that promotes development, social justice and human rights in Burkina Faso. "When the kids are hungry, they go to their mother, not their father. And when there is less food, women are the first to eat less."
A recent study by the aid group Catholic Relief Services found that many people in Burkina Faso are now spending 75 percent or more of their income on food, leaving little for other basic needs such as medical care, school fees and clothes.
Pregnant women and young mothers are forgoing medical care. More women are turning to prostitution to pay for food. And more families are pulling children -- especially girls -- out of school.
The food crisis has not yet led to famine, and in places such as Burkina Faso, people generally appear relatively healthy. The WFP and other agencies have pumped in millions of dollars' worth of aid and food, and markets generally are well-stocked -- just prohibitively expensive. But for poor people, food is increasingly difficult to come by, and many families sometimes eat as little as one meal a day. Aid agencies worry about the long-term effects of dramatically reduced diets.
As the crisis continues to build around the world, perhaps its most pervasive effect is the ache in the stomachs of millions of poor women like Fanta Lingani.
Sweeping for Pennies
Lingani, who sleeps on a concrete floor, began one recent day at 4 a.m. and dressed quietly in the dark. All around her, children slept on the cracked floor under a tin roof, common conditions in a country that ranks 176th out of 177 on the U.N. Human Development Index.
A year ago, Lingani might have started a small fire to boil herself a cup of weak coffee. But even that is now too expensive.
Such sacrifices led to food riots in February in Ouagadougou, the capital, and towns across the country. Hundreds of people were arrested after they set fires and smashed government buildings to protest rising prices. But for Lingani, the struggle is quieter, and harder by the day, and it starts before the sun comes up.
Lingani, who said she is about 50, walked across the dirt courtyard past the two-room hut where her husband was sleeping in his own double bed, with a thick mattress. The dirt street outside was muddy and steamy from an overnight rain shower.
After a half-hour walk on the black-dark streets, she reported for work and pulled on the long green smock of the Green Brigade, a city program that pays poor women the equivalent of about $1.20 a day to sweep streets two mornings a week.
Lingani picked up a pair of small straw brooms and pushed a wheelbarrow onto a wide, deserted avenue. In the orange haze of streetlights, she bent over at the waist, so far that her bottom was higher than her head, and started pushing red dust into little piles.
The "shssssh shssssh" of her sweeping was the only sound, except for the crowing of a few roosters and occasional laughter from men at an all-night bar down the road.
She worked a section of road about 150 yards long, while a dozen others in the all-female brigade swept along. A tanker truck sped down the street, kicking up a cloud of dust into her face and blowing away her little piles. She coughed, pulled her pink head scarf across her face and swept the same dust all over again.
Lingani swept until the sun came up, pushing her piles onto a small metal dish, then dumping them into a wheelbarrow and finally into a pothole on an unpaved side street.
By 7 a.m., she'd finished her section. But she had to wait an hour for a male supervisor to show up and check her work. In two weeks, she would get her monthly pay of less than $10.
'The Job of Women'
Lingani walked a half hour back to her house, where her huge family was starting to stir. She took off her smock and picked up a green plastic basket about the size of a shoebox.
Market time. She and one of her two "co-wives," Asseta Zagre, do the shopping on alternate days. Their husband's other wife, the senior of the three, is nearly blind and can't do chores anymore.
Polygamy is common in much of Africa. In this household, the patriarch is Hamado Zorome, 68, a retired police officer whose pension is the family's main income -- but he doesn't tell his wives how much he gets.
The pension of a mid-level civil servant is probably modest in Burkina Faso, where the United Nations says nearly 72 percent of the country's 15 million people live on less than $2 a day.
Zorome also collects a "tip" of 60 cents from each of his two working wives when they get their monthly pay, which he uses to buy the kola nuts he likes to chew.
Lingani and Zagre, who also sweeps streets, said Zorome doles out small amounts of money for them to buy staples such as cornmeal. But the bulk of the family's meals are paid for out of the wives' sweeping wages.
Preparing to leave for the market, Lingani kept bending over and rubbing her ankles and feet. She said they hurt from sweeping for so long. She has never weighed herself, but she said she can feel a significant loss in her weight and strength in the past year.
Last month's sweeping money was already gone. So she went to her husband, who handed her about $2.50 for groceries. He told her to spend no more than about 75 cents and save the rest for another day. "Women are born with this job" of feeding the family, Lingani said, as she walked around puddles and past goats tied to trees. "The man has to have his share. And we have to make sure the kids have their share. So we eat less."
Lingani said none of the older boys in the family has a steady job, since work is hard to come by in this poor city, so the boys mostly spend their days doing odd jobs or playing soccer. What little money they earn they tend to spend on food and beer for themselves, she said.
"A man can never sit at home. They are always out somewhere," Lingani said. "They don't do anything. They don't help."
Lingani walked past stands where women were selling fruit or water, assisted by small girls. A few men sold bags or charcoal, but most were sitting in the shade and talking.
"Men and women should fight together for the children," Lingani said. "But if the men won't do that, the women have to fight alone."
Zorome, Lingani's husband, said that men don't help with shopping and cooking because "that is the job of women." Like many men interviewed here, he said African culture clearly defines roles for men, who work outside the house, and women, who manage children and meals.
He said that men are willing to work but that jobs are scarce. He would prefer it if his wives didn't have to sweep streets, but "life is much more expensive now."
"Last year, we could eat well, but now, forget it," he said. "My sons don't work, so it's up to me to feed 25 people. That's why the women sweep. We don't have anything, so they have to work. That's life."
On her way to the market, Lingani explained the ugly math: A year ago, she could feed her entire family a nutritious meal of meat and vegetables and peanut sauce for about 75 cents. But now the family gets much lower-quality food for twice the price.
She said the cost of six pounds of cornmeal has risen from 75 cents to $1.50. A kilogram -- 2.2 pounds -- of rice cost 60 cents last year and costs a little more than $1 now. Other basics such as salt and cooking oil have also doubled in price.
Fuel costs have more than doubled for trucks that haul food to landlocked Burkina Faso, helping keep food prices high.
Beef or goat meat is now so expensive -- about $1.20 for a tiny portion -- that the family has given up meat completely, eating cheap dried fish instead. Rather than seasoning their sauces with vegetables and peanuts, they now use the tough leaves of baobab trees, the gnarly giants that flourish here in the dry lands south of the Sahara.
To soften the leaves' sour taste, Lingani mixes in potash, a paste made by boiling down water strained through ashes.
"In the past, our money would last the whole month. We might even have some left over," Lingani said. "But now as soon as it arrives, we spend it."
Dinner happens only if there is a bit of food left over from lunch. Even then, she said, there is rarely enough left for women.
"When the children ask for food, we have to give it to them," she said. "We're mothers."
Never Enough
"Are you sure you don't want more?" the vegetable vendor asked Lingani. "Is that enough for your family?"
Lingani, standing in a crowded neighborhood market, had just asked the woman for 30 cents' worth of baobab leaves.
"No, it's fine," Lingani said, handing over a few coins.
The vendor shrugged and stashed the coins under a sack of tomatoes covered with a beard of small flies. She handed Lingani some change, which she counted carefully.
At the next stall, Lingani bought four small onions. As she turned to leave, the seller tossed in a fifth with an understanding smile. Lingani caught her eye and thanked her.
Moving through the churning mass of people, Lingani bought a bag of dried fish, a small plastic bag of salt, two small cubes of beef bouillon and a bag of potash, the paste made from ashes.
In 10 minutes, her shopping was done. She had spent double her budget of 75 cents.
After the half-hour walk home, with the temperature already above 90, Lingani and Zagre started plucking the baobab she bought at the market, saving the leaves and throwing away the thick stems.
For an hour, the two women methodically pounded the rough leaves in a wooden bowl, then dumped them into a pot boiling over a wood fire. Then Lingani added the dried fish and some of the ash flavoring.
"Of course we would prefer something else," she said. "But it's the cheapest thing we can buy, and we can afford enough to feed everybody."
Two hours after she started cooking, Lingani scooped out six bowls of flavorless food. The first was for Zorome, delivered to his hut. He ate it alone, then said he felt as though he needed a nap.
Others were set aside to be shared by the children.
The last bowl, slightly larger than Zorome's, was to be shared by 10 people: Lingani, Zagre and eight small grandchildren. Lingani took two bites before letting five hungry toddlers finish her food.
Near the front gate, half a dozen children sat in a circle. They had built a play fire out of pieces of bark. On top they had placed a plastic cup, overflowing with street garbage.
They were pretending to cook. "We're cooking rice with meat!" said a beaming Ousmane, 6, the head chef.
His father, Zorome, watched the game and laughed. He was asked if he would eat again today. Yes, he said, Lingani would make him a little rice or porridge for dinner that night.
Nearby, his daughters and granddaughters heard him and exploded. "What are you talking about?" they said. "Why are you saying that? We have no food."
Zorome smiled sadly and admitted his lie.
"When we have food one day, we have to tighten our belt the next," he said. "But it is very hard for a man to admit when things are not good."
In Burkina Faso, many women prepare the meals, but have the rest of their family eat, while they go without. A great story here on the global food crisis. - Kale
Cultural Expectations Ensure Women Are Hit Hardest by Burgeoning Food Crisis
By Kevin Sullivan
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso
After she woke in the dark to sweep city streets, after she walked an hour to buy less than $2 worth of food, after she cooked for two hours in the searing noon heat, Fanta Lingani served her family's only meal of the day.
First she set out a bowl of corn mush, seasoned with tree leaves, dried fish and wood ashes, for the 11 smallest children, who tore into it with bare hands.
Then she set out a bowl for her husband. Then two bowls for a dozen older children. Then finally, after everyone else had finished, a bowl for herself. She always eats last.
A year ago, before food prices nearly doubled, Lingani would have had three meals a day of meat, rice and vegetables. Now two mouthfuls of bland mush would have to do her until tomorrow.
Rubbing her red-rimmed eyes, chewing lightly on a twig she picked off the ground, Lingani gave the last of her food to the children.
"I'm not hungry," she said.
In poor nations, such as Burkina Faso in the heart of West Africa, mealtime conspires against women. They grow the food, fetch the water, shop at the market and cook the meals. But when it comes time to eat, men and children eat first, and women eat last and least.
Soaring prices for food and fuel have pushed more than 130 million poor people across vast swaths of Africa, Asia and Latin America deeper into poverty in the past year, according to the U.N. World Food Program (WFP). But while millions of men and children are also hungrier, women are often the hungriest and skinniest. Aid workers say malnutrition among women is emerging as a hidden consequence of the food crisis.
"It's a cultural thing," said Herve Kone, director of a group that promotes development, social justice and human rights in Burkina Faso. "When the kids are hungry, they go to their mother, not their father. And when there is less food, women are the first to eat less."
A recent study by the aid group Catholic Relief Services found that many people in Burkina Faso are now spending 75 percent or more of their income on food, leaving little for other basic needs such as medical care, school fees and clothes.
Pregnant women and young mothers are forgoing medical care. More women are turning to prostitution to pay for food. And more families are pulling children -- especially girls -- out of school.
The food crisis has not yet led to famine, and in places such as Burkina Faso, people generally appear relatively healthy. The WFP and other agencies have pumped in millions of dollars' worth of aid and food, and markets generally are well-stocked -- just prohibitively expensive. But for poor people, food is increasingly difficult to come by, and many families sometimes eat as little as one meal a day. Aid agencies worry about the long-term effects of dramatically reduced diets.
As the crisis continues to build around the world, perhaps its most pervasive effect is the ache in the stomachs of millions of poor women like Fanta Lingani.
Sweeping for Pennies
Lingani, who sleeps on a concrete floor, began one recent day at 4 a.m. and dressed quietly in the dark. All around her, children slept on the cracked floor under a tin roof, common conditions in a country that ranks 176th out of 177 on the U.N. Human Development Index.
A year ago, Lingani might have started a small fire to boil herself a cup of weak coffee. But even that is now too expensive.
Such sacrifices led to food riots in February in Ouagadougou, the capital, and towns across the country. Hundreds of people were arrested after they set fires and smashed government buildings to protest rising prices. But for Lingani, the struggle is quieter, and harder by the day, and it starts before the sun comes up.
Lingani, who said she is about 50, walked across the dirt courtyard past the two-room hut where her husband was sleeping in his own double bed, with a thick mattress. The dirt street outside was muddy and steamy from an overnight rain shower.
After a half-hour walk on the black-dark streets, she reported for work and pulled on the long green smock of the Green Brigade, a city program that pays poor women the equivalent of about $1.20 a day to sweep streets two mornings a week.
Lingani picked up a pair of small straw brooms and pushed a wheelbarrow onto a wide, deserted avenue. In the orange haze of streetlights, she bent over at the waist, so far that her bottom was higher than her head, and started pushing red dust into little piles.
The "shssssh shssssh" of her sweeping was the only sound, except for the crowing of a few roosters and occasional laughter from men at an all-night bar down the road.
She worked a section of road about 150 yards long, while a dozen others in the all-female brigade swept along. A tanker truck sped down the street, kicking up a cloud of dust into her face and blowing away her little piles. She coughed, pulled her pink head scarf across her face and swept the same dust all over again.
Lingani swept until the sun came up, pushing her piles onto a small metal dish, then dumping them into a wheelbarrow and finally into a pothole on an unpaved side street.
By 7 a.m., she'd finished her section. But she had to wait an hour for a male supervisor to show up and check her work. In two weeks, she would get her monthly pay of less than $10.
'The Job of Women'
Lingani walked a half hour back to her house, where her huge family was starting to stir. She took off her smock and picked up a green plastic basket about the size of a shoebox.
Market time. She and one of her two "co-wives," Asseta Zagre, do the shopping on alternate days. Their husband's other wife, the senior of the three, is nearly blind and can't do chores anymore.
Polygamy is common in much of Africa. In this household, the patriarch is Hamado Zorome, 68, a retired police officer whose pension is the family's main income -- but he doesn't tell his wives how much he gets.
The pension of a mid-level civil servant is probably modest in Burkina Faso, where the United Nations says nearly 72 percent of the country's 15 million people live on less than $2 a day.
Zorome also collects a "tip" of 60 cents from each of his two working wives when they get their monthly pay, which he uses to buy the kola nuts he likes to chew.
Lingani and Zagre, who also sweeps streets, said Zorome doles out small amounts of money for them to buy staples such as cornmeal. But the bulk of the family's meals are paid for out of the wives' sweeping wages.
Preparing to leave for the market, Lingani kept bending over and rubbing her ankles and feet. She said they hurt from sweeping for so long. She has never weighed herself, but she said she can feel a significant loss in her weight and strength in the past year.
Last month's sweeping money was already gone. So she went to her husband, who handed her about $2.50 for groceries. He told her to spend no more than about 75 cents and save the rest for another day. "Women are born with this job" of feeding the family, Lingani said, as she walked around puddles and past goats tied to trees. "The man has to have his share. And we have to make sure the kids have their share. So we eat less."
Lingani said none of the older boys in the family has a steady job, since work is hard to come by in this poor city, so the boys mostly spend their days doing odd jobs or playing soccer. What little money they earn they tend to spend on food and beer for themselves, she said.
"A man can never sit at home. They are always out somewhere," Lingani said. "They don't do anything. They don't help."
Lingani walked past stands where women were selling fruit or water, assisted by small girls. A few men sold bags or charcoal, but most were sitting in the shade and talking.
"Men and women should fight together for the children," Lingani said. "But if the men won't do that, the women have to fight alone."
Zorome, Lingani's husband, said that men don't help with shopping and cooking because "that is the job of women." Like many men interviewed here, he said African culture clearly defines roles for men, who work outside the house, and women, who manage children and meals.
He said that men are willing to work but that jobs are scarce. He would prefer it if his wives didn't have to sweep streets, but "life is much more expensive now."
"Last year, we could eat well, but now, forget it," he said. "My sons don't work, so it's up to me to feed 25 people. That's why the women sweep. We don't have anything, so they have to work. That's life."
On her way to the market, Lingani explained the ugly math: A year ago, she could feed her entire family a nutritious meal of meat and vegetables and peanut sauce for about 75 cents. But now the family gets much lower-quality food for twice the price.
She said the cost of six pounds of cornmeal has risen from 75 cents to $1.50. A kilogram -- 2.2 pounds -- of rice cost 60 cents last year and costs a little more than $1 now. Other basics such as salt and cooking oil have also doubled in price.
Fuel costs have more than doubled for trucks that haul food to landlocked Burkina Faso, helping keep food prices high.
Beef or goat meat is now so expensive -- about $1.20 for a tiny portion -- that the family has given up meat completely, eating cheap dried fish instead. Rather than seasoning their sauces with vegetables and peanuts, they now use the tough leaves of baobab trees, the gnarly giants that flourish here in the dry lands south of the Sahara.
To soften the leaves' sour taste, Lingani mixes in potash, a paste made by boiling down water strained through ashes.
"In the past, our money would last the whole month. We might even have some left over," Lingani said. "But now as soon as it arrives, we spend it."
Dinner happens only if there is a bit of food left over from lunch. Even then, she said, there is rarely enough left for women.
"When the children ask for food, we have to give it to them," she said. "We're mothers."
Never Enough
"Are you sure you don't want more?" the vegetable vendor asked Lingani. "Is that enough for your family?"
Lingani, standing in a crowded neighborhood market, had just asked the woman for 30 cents' worth of baobab leaves.
"No, it's fine," Lingani said, handing over a few coins.
The vendor shrugged and stashed the coins under a sack of tomatoes covered with a beard of small flies. She handed Lingani some change, which she counted carefully.
At the next stall, Lingani bought four small onions. As she turned to leave, the seller tossed in a fifth with an understanding smile. Lingani caught her eye and thanked her.
Moving through the churning mass of people, Lingani bought a bag of dried fish, a small plastic bag of salt, two small cubes of beef bouillon and a bag of potash, the paste made from ashes.
In 10 minutes, her shopping was done. She had spent double her budget of 75 cents.
After the half-hour walk home, with the temperature already above 90, Lingani and Zagre started plucking the baobab she bought at the market, saving the leaves and throwing away the thick stems.
For an hour, the two women methodically pounded the rough leaves in a wooden bowl, then dumped them into a pot boiling over a wood fire. Then Lingani added the dried fish and some of the ash flavoring.
"Of course we would prefer something else," she said. "But it's the cheapest thing we can buy, and we can afford enough to feed everybody."
Two hours after she started cooking, Lingani scooped out six bowls of flavorless food. The first was for Zorome, delivered to his hut. He ate it alone, then said he felt as though he needed a nap.
Others were set aside to be shared by the children.
The last bowl, slightly larger than Zorome's, was to be shared by 10 people: Lingani, Zagre and eight small grandchildren. Lingani took two bites before letting five hungry toddlers finish her food.
Near the front gate, half a dozen children sat in a circle. They had built a play fire out of pieces of bark. On top they had placed a plastic cup, overflowing with street garbage.
They were pretending to cook. "We're cooking rice with meat!" said a beaming Ousmane, 6, the head chef.
His father, Zorome, watched the game and laughed. He was asked if he would eat again today. Yes, he said, Lingani would make him a little rice or porridge for dinner that night.
Nearby, his daughters and granddaughters heard him and exploded. "What are you talking about?" they said. "Why are you saying that? We have no food."
Zorome smiled sadly and admitted his lie.
"When we have food one day, we have to tighten our belt the next," he said. "But it is very hard for a man to admit when things are not good."
McDermott Proposes 'Gas Stamps' For Families In Need
from KIRO
It's about time!! - Kale
Congressman Jim McDermott introduced legislation Tuesday to provide financial assistance to vulnerable Americans struggling to survive under high gasoline prices.
McDermott said that high fuel prices prompted him to propose $5 billion in emergency money to help those most affected.
The Emergency Gasoline Assistance Act would provide every family that is currently living below the federal poverty threshold with $500 in assistance. State governors would have the flexibility to use the money to create programs that target the specific needs of their communities.
The Congressman's office said the average American family will pay $1,000 more in fuel costs this year than last if gas prices remain unchanged.
The bill would give states the discretion to target families most in need of the gas subsidy, provided the gas is used primarily for transportation to work and child care.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
It's about time!! - Kale
Congressman Jim McDermott introduced legislation Tuesday to provide financial assistance to vulnerable Americans struggling to survive under high gasoline prices.
McDermott said that high fuel prices prompted him to propose $5 billion in emergency money to help those most affected.
The Emergency Gasoline Assistance Act would provide every family that is currently living below the federal poverty threshold with $500 in assistance. State governors would have the flexibility to use the money to create programs that target the specific needs of their communities.
The Congressman's office said the average American family will pay $1,000 more in fuel costs this year than last if gas prices remain unchanged.
The bill would give states the discretion to target families most in need of the gas subsidy, provided the gas is used primarily for transportation to work and child care.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Latin Americans' climb out of poverty threatened; Years of progress are being eroded by soaring prices of fuel and grain.
from the Houston Chronicle
This shows the effect of rising rices i Latin America. The countries that are not large importers of oil have had the worst effects. -Kale
Byline: MARLA DICKERSON
SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR - Are exploding oil prices about to burn Latin America?
With the largest petroleum reserves outside the Middle East, the region has been on a roll in recent years.
Record exports of crude oil, as well as grains, fueled economic growth not seen since the 1970s. The region's stock markets roared. Easier credit spawned a consumer class that snapped up homes and cars.
About 26 million Latin Americans climbed out of poverty between 2002 and 2006, according to U.N. data.
But the same forces behind that new prosperity are now, paradoxically, creating misery.
Surging fuel prices have ignited inflation throughout the region, driving up the cost of food, whose prices were already on the upswing thanks in part to ravenous global demand for Latin America's farm products.
In some countries, a gallon of gas now costs more than a typical day's wages.
The region's food prices have escalated an average of 15 percent over the past year, according to the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Prices of many staples have increased much more than that.
The increases are leeching workers' paychecks and eroding years of progress against hunger and indigence.
Food riots have erupted in Egypt, Cameroon and Burkina Faso, in West Africa. Poor consumers have staged demonstrations in India and Indonesia to protest cuts in fuel subsidies.
"There is a whole combination of factors that are putting a tremendous amount of pressure on the poor," said Carlo Scaramella, who heads the World Food Program in El Salvador. "We haven't had an economic shock of this magnitude in years."
Maria and Jose Lopez, who live with their three children in a two-room cinder-block house perched on a hillside in this gritty Central American capital, are among those feeling the strain.
Earlier this year, they scraped together $148.50 for a down payment on their own place in this hard-luck area, aptly named "Thin City." But their dream of home ownership has vanished. The new priority is simply to eat.
Like other low-income people, they spend the largest chunk of their wages on food. Eggs, rice and beans have all jumped by more than 30 percent in the past few months, cutting deeply into the family's $500 monthly income.
Jose, a laborer, pawned his wedding ring to buy groceries following a short bout of unemployment.
Maria, who works weekdays in the central market downtown, cadged a loan from her employer. She recently took a weekend job as a domestic.
They pulled the two oldest children - Laura, 14, and Kimberly, 10 - out of Catholic school. Only Bryan, 7, is attending classes. The family can no longer afford $17 a month tuition for each girl on top of their debts, child care and ballooning food bills.
GRIM FIGURES
In 2007, at least 500,000 people in El Salvador and Guatemala toppled into poverty, the United Nations' World Food Program estimates.
Across Latin America, an additional 15 million people could fall back among the region's 190 million poor if prices keep rising at their recent pace.
If gas and grocery prices continue their relentless climb, at least 100 million people worldwide may be sucked into the same downward spiral, the World Bank estimates.
This shows the effect of rising rices i Latin America. The countries that are not large importers of oil have had the worst effects. -Kale
Byline: MARLA DICKERSON
SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR - Are exploding oil prices about to burn Latin America?
With the largest petroleum reserves outside the Middle East, the region has been on a roll in recent years.
Record exports of crude oil, as well as grains, fueled economic growth not seen since the 1970s. The region's stock markets roared. Easier credit spawned a consumer class that snapped up homes and cars.
About 26 million Latin Americans climbed out of poverty between 2002 and 2006, according to U.N. data.
But the same forces behind that new prosperity are now, paradoxically, creating misery.
Surging fuel prices have ignited inflation throughout the region, driving up the cost of food, whose prices were already on the upswing thanks in part to ravenous global demand for Latin America's farm products.
In some countries, a gallon of gas now costs more than a typical day's wages.
The region's food prices have escalated an average of 15 percent over the past year, according to the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Prices of many staples have increased much more than that.
The increases are leeching workers' paychecks and eroding years of progress against hunger and indigence.
Food riots have erupted in Egypt, Cameroon and Burkina Faso, in West Africa. Poor consumers have staged demonstrations in India and Indonesia to protest cuts in fuel subsidies.
"There is a whole combination of factors that are putting a tremendous amount of pressure on the poor," said Carlo Scaramella, who heads the World Food Program in El Salvador. "We haven't had an economic shock of this magnitude in years."
Maria and Jose Lopez, who live with their three children in a two-room cinder-block house perched on a hillside in this gritty Central American capital, are among those feeling the strain.
Earlier this year, they scraped together $148.50 for a down payment on their own place in this hard-luck area, aptly named "Thin City." But their dream of home ownership has vanished. The new priority is simply to eat.
Like other low-income people, they spend the largest chunk of their wages on food. Eggs, rice and beans have all jumped by more than 30 percent in the past few months, cutting deeply into the family's $500 monthly income.
Jose, a laborer, pawned his wedding ring to buy groceries following a short bout of unemployment.
Maria, who works weekdays in the central market downtown, cadged a loan from her employer. She recently took a weekend job as a domestic.
They pulled the two oldest children - Laura, 14, and Kimberly, 10 - out of Catholic school. Only Bryan, 7, is attending classes. The family can no longer afford $17 a month tuition for each girl on top of their debts, child care and ballooning food bills.
GRIM FIGURES
In 2007, at least 500,000 people in El Salvador and Guatemala toppled into poverty, the United Nations' World Food Program estimates.
Across Latin America, an additional 15 million people could fall back among the region's 190 million poor if prices keep rising at their recent pace.
If gas and grocery prices continue their relentless climb, at least 100 million people worldwide may be sucked into the same downward spiral, the World Bank estimates.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
ARVs extending life, but not improving it
from Plus News
AIDS drugs can help stave off the disease, but those people need other things too. This story tells how the state of being poor can be forgotten in AIDS patients. - Kale
NAIROBI - HIV-positive people are living longer on antiretroviral (ARV) medication, but many of them remain poor and hungry, highlighting the need to create incomes for them, says a new report.
"The long-term sustainability of people on ART [antiretroviral therapy] and the [treatment] programmes are threatened by the continuing lack of food and economic independence," said a press release on the report, produced for CAFOD, a development NGO based in the United Kingdom.
The report noted that ART had had a significant impact on patients, whose expectations had changed from "preparing for death" to looking to the future for ways to sustain themselves and their families.
However, many people had started taking ARVs after periods of illness during which they had lost their jobs and sold their assets to survive, so returning to a more normal life has proved difficult.
"ART programmes need to take into account the fact that people on treatment still need to eat and still need an income," Jo Maher, author of the CAFOD report, told IRIN/PlusNews.
According to James Kamau, coordinator of the Kenya Treatment Access Movement, ART programmes need to include food as part of their support to people living with HIV.
"Most ARV programmes started with the basic aim of keeping people alive, but drugs alone cannot keep you alive - are people going to eat stones?" he said. "If you don't feed people they can't regain enough strength to work and earn a living," he pointed out.
"In Kenya, where more than half the population lives on less than a dollar a day, poverty is a huge problem," he added. "Women in particular suffer because they are responsible for caring for and feeding people in the home, and when they have no means to do this the whole household suffers."
The best person for the job
Maher said programmes needed to decide - based on their individual capacities - what form the income support should take. "HIV-specific organisations, for instance, should decide whether to retain their HIV focus and partner with organisations with better skills in income generation, or expand their activities to include income generation. Sometimes they may not have the skills or manpower to take on the task themselves."
The report said several organisations interviewed during research for the report found challenges in two particular aspects of sustainability: the need and desire of clients to become independent of the programmes, while the organisations need the clients to become self-reliant for the programme's own sustainability.
"If an agency takes on 10 new patients every month then the organisation grows and grows but is not really sustainable, so organisations must find a way to empower people economically so that the organisations themselves can remain sustainable," Maher said.
Kamau said although ARV programmes need to provide food as part of a complete treatment package, they should stop short of going into providing income-generating projects for their clients. "Those who get better should be able to find work for themselves and, if they fail, it is the responsibility of the government to look after their needs," he commented.
"The ARV programmes should concentrate on ensuring access and adherence to the drugs - treatment programmes still have many gaps," he added. "In Kenya, 200,000 people are on ARVs, but another 260,000 need them urgently; and then we still have many people unable to access drugs for opportunistic infections."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
AIDS drugs can help stave off the disease, but those people need other things too. This story tells how the state of being poor can be forgotten in AIDS patients. - Kale
NAIROBI - HIV-positive people are living longer on antiretroviral (ARV) medication, but many of them remain poor and hungry, highlighting the need to create incomes for them, says a new report.
"The long-term sustainability of people on ART [antiretroviral therapy] and the [treatment] programmes are threatened by the continuing lack of food and economic independence," said a press release on the report, produced for CAFOD, a development NGO based in the United Kingdom.
The report noted that ART had had a significant impact on patients, whose expectations had changed from "preparing for death" to looking to the future for ways to sustain themselves and their families.
However, many people had started taking ARVs after periods of illness during which they had lost their jobs and sold their assets to survive, so returning to a more normal life has proved difficult.
"ART programmes need to take into account the fact that people on treatment still need to eat and still need an income," Jo Maher, author of the CAFOD report, told IRIN/PlusNews.
According to James Kamau, coordinator of the Kenya Treatment Access Movement, ART programmes need to include food as part of their support to people living with HIV.
"Most ARV programmes started with the basic aim of keeping people alive, but drugs alone cannot keep you alive - are people going to eat stones?" he said. "If you don't feed people they can't regain enough strength to work and earn a living," he pointed out.
"In Kenya, where more than half the population lives on less than a dollar a day, poverty is a huge problem," he added. "Women in particular suffer because they are responsible for caring for and feeding people in the home, and when they have no means to do this the whole household suffers."
The best person for the job
Maher said programmes needed to decide - based on their individual capacities - what form the income support should take. "HIV-specific organisations, for instance, should decide whether to retain their HIV focus and partner with organisations with better skills in income generation, or expand their activities to include income generation. Sometimes they may not have the skills or manpower to take on the task themselves."
The report said several organisations interviewed during research for the report found challenges in two particular aspects of sustainability: the need and desire of clients to become independent of the programmes, while the organisations need the clients to become self-reliant for the programme's own sustainability.
"If an agency takes on 10 new patients every month then the organisation grows and grows but is not really sustainable, so organisations must find a way to empower people economically so that the organisations themselves can remain sustainable," Maher said.
Kamau said although ARV programmes need to provide food as part of a complete treatment package, they should stop short of going into providing income-generating projects for their clients. "Those who get better should be able to find work for themselves and, if they fail, it is the responsibility of the government to look after their needs," he commented.
"The ARV programmes should concentrate on ensuring access and adherence to the drugs - treatment programmes still have many gaps," he added. "In Kenya, 200,000 people are on ARVs, but another 260,000 need them urgently; and then we still have many people unable to access drugs for opportunistic infections."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Feeling the pinch: Getting by an even greater challenge for poor
from the Champaign News Gazette
Even in areas of low unemployment, people struggle when there are mostly low paying jobs. Here is a story from Illinois. - Kale
By Julie Wurth
A factory worker who takes an overnight shift and daytime cleaning jobs when her hours are cut.
A teacher's aide who travels north to detassel corn because summer jobs are scarce in Texas.
A cancer survivor on disability thrilled to find a free bicycle, so she doesn't have to walk to the store.
The faltering economy is forcing many Americans to cut back on extras as they absorb rising gas and food prices. But for those already living on the economic edge, the choices are much more grim.
They already limit driving – if they even have a car – and spend little on entertainment or eating out. Now they're taking on extra jobs, downsizing their homes and, increasingly, turning to charity for help.
Food pantries and other nonprofits are seeing more and more people who need free food, clothes or help paying bills on a regular basis.
"Some people just put us in their budget," says Shannon Cook, coordinator at the nonprofit Empty Tomb in Champaign.
About 100 people show up each afternoon at Empty Tomb to get free clothes or household items, and every 90 days they can get help with food, medical costs or other bills. Cook is able to give eight families a week $30 toward rent or another bill, but it just scratches the surface.
Once a year, families are eligible for more substantial assistance, perhaps to pay off a past-due power bill. These days, Cook says, it's not uncommon to see bills of $1,000 or even $3,000, up from maybe $500 a year ago. Families are often forced to choose among food, power, rent and medical costs.
"They will sell their food stamps to pay the power bills. These are decisions that they make," she says.
Across town, at Salt and Light Ministries on Anthony Drive, the crowds at the weekly food and clothing giveaway have set new records four times in the last seven weeks. Salt and Light is now the largest emergency food program in Champaign County and gave away its millionth pound of food July 9 – about six weeks earlier than Executive Director Nathan Montgomery projected just last month.
The ministry throws open its warehouse for four hours every Wednesday afternoon to give away food, clothes and household items. By 3:30 p.m. that day, the clothing racks were nearly stripped bare and only a small stack of produce remained.
"We're seeing more and different people," including those seeking help for the first time, Montgomery says. "It has definitely jumped considerably."
Half of the families have at least one working adult, he says, arguing that Champaign County's poverty problem is not unemployment but low-wage jobs, such as food service. While unemployment here is relatively low, he says, only three Illinois counties have a higher poverty rate than Champaign County's 16 percent.
Here are the stories of some struggling families:
A working vacation
Teacher's aide Marissa Garza, who lives in south Texas, spent last summer working in a gravel pit to earn extra income. That company wasn't hiring this year, and neither were most other employers back home.
So Garza, who earns about $800 a month during the school year, decided to join a friend detasseling corn in Champaign County.
It's her first tour as a migrant worker, and she was busy searching for work pants, durable shoes and sun hats at Empty Tomb on a recent Tuesday. The days are long, sometimes 12 hours, and the work is hot and "very muddy," she says.
Joining her in the cornfields outside Philo last week was her 15-year-old son, Rolando. Daughter Daniela, 12, also came to Champaign but is too young to work. Both children attend summer school, too.
Garza said rising gas prices, in particular, have taken a bite out of the family budget.
"I'm trying to pay the most important things first – the mortgage, utility bills, that's about it."
She used to take the kids out to movies or dinner once in a while, but not any more. They haven't planned a vacation this year "except this one," she says with a rueful smile, adding, "Some time away from home is enough."
Her attitude is no-nonsense and upbeat. She hopes the hard work will inspire her children to go to college so they can get a better job someday. Garza is taking her own advice: She's working toward her education degree.
"Life is not easy. You have to work for what you want."
Doing without
Martin Delatorae has noticed the growing crowds at Empty Tomb, where he stops in regularly to hunt for shirts and good books.
Delatorae, 43, can understand why. He works part time as a counselor, and gets partial disability because of a deteriorating spine and complications from cerebral palsy. He's had a tough time making ends meet, especially in the last year.
He has a car but doesn't drive unless he has to, for groceries and other errands. He uses the bus to get around and walks whenever he can.
"I've been noticing a lot more people taking the bus," he says.
Delatorae has stopped eating out – "even a cheap meal is $5 or $6" – and doesn't entertain much any more.
"I like having people over, but it's just too expensive."
He's also more disciplined at the grocery store, passing over nicer cuts of meat or prepared frozen foods.
"I used to like to go grocery shopping. I'd go to the store and just buy things. Now I just buy what I need," he says.
He's not complaining, saying he finds plenty of entertainment reading books or watching TV. And the one luxury he won't give up? His $40-a-month Internet service.
"I'm not starving. I make it. I was taught how to do without when you don't have it."
A move to downsize
When Plastipak Packaging cut her full-time hours in half, Alyshia Bell volunteered for the overnight shift, which pays a higher wage.
She's also trying to find houses to clean during the day, when she's not watching her 2-year-old niece and her own daughters, Alexis, 10, and Laniesha, 8. Her sister works days, so they swap child care.
How does she get by? "Doing a whole lot of robbing Peter to pay Paul," she says.
She goes to Salt and Light for necessities like T-shirts and shorts for the girls. She also gets food stamps, but that "doesn't go as far as it used to," she says. Plus, if she picks up extra work cleaning houses, it can lower her food assistance.
To save on rent and gas, she and her girls moved last weekend from their three-bedroom rental home in northwest Champaign to a cheaper townhouse closer to their school, Robeson Elementary.
She also didn't enroll her daughters in any extracurricular activities this summer, and the family won't be taking any trips. Her effervescent girls, who dream of being a performer and a designer someday, don't seem to mind.
"She's a good mommy," Alexis says.
'Grin and bear it'
Life seems to hit some people with one thing after another.
Kandace Spears, 52, moved back to Champaign-Urbana from California years ago to be closer to her brother, only to witness his murder in 1988. She's suffered from depression on and off ever since.
She worked at various factory jobs but was injured at work and has been on disability since 2000. Then she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
She survives on Social Security disability payments, $41 a month in food stamps, subsidized housing and utility assistance from the state. But she still needs to visit food pantries and charities for extra food and clothing.
"I'm having a hard time with food and paying my bills," she says. "By the time you get rent and the power bill paid, it hardly leaves you anything."
Food prices leave her stunned.
"I like a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, but it's getting so bad you can hardly afford it. An orange is $1."
With few extras in her budget, she's switched to cheaper soap and shampoo to save a few pennies. She also has put off needed dental work.
With no car, she relies on the bus – or her feet – to get around, so she was thrilled to find a free bicycle at Empty Tomb recently. It will also provide exercise, as her cancer medications caused her to gain a lot of weight.
A friend offered to deliver the bike to Spears' house in Urbana, but it wouldn't fit in her trunk. Undaunted, Spears thanked her and limped off happily toward the bus stop in her walking cast: She was just diagnosed with a broken foot.
She misses work but chooses to look at the bright side.
"You just have to grin and bear it," she says. "Thank God I don't have cancer today."
A helping hand
Like other families in need, retiree Alma Smith knows where to go for help.
She spent a career helping others in her job with the Illinois Department of Public Aid, and she later volunteered at Empty Tomb and Salt and Light.
Now Smith, 66, shops there for food and clothes for her latest adopted child, a 5-year-old boy, and any neighbor who needs help. She agreed to take in the boy after his grandmother became ill. He's smart as a whip, she says; he just "needs someone to work with him."
Smith, who has three other adopted children, comes by the instinct naturally. Her mother had 12 children of her own and raised several more.
Smith suffers from asthma, emphysema and arthritis. She had hoped to move into a complex for seniors by now, but she held onto her house so the kids would have a yard to play in. Problem is, she bought it at a high interest rate, her only option at the time, and now is trying to convert it to a more affordable mortgage.
With high gas prices, she tends to stay home a lot. And her medicines are expensive, she says, breathing heavily in the midday heat.
"This kind of weather, I'm not supposed to be out."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Even in areas of low unemployment, people struggle when there are mostly low paying jobs. Here is a story from Illinois. - Kale
By Julie Wurth
A factory worker who takes an overnight shift and daytime cleaning jobs when her hours are cut.
A teacher's aide who travels north to detassel corn because summer jobs are scarce in Texas.
A cancer survivor on disability thrilled to find a free bicycle, so she doesn't have to walk to the store.
The faltering economy is forcing many Americans to cut back on extras as they absorb rising gas and food prices. But for those already living on the economic edge, the choices are much more grim.
They already limit driving – if they even have a car – and spend little on entertainment or eating out. Now they're taking on extra jobs, downsizing their homes and, increasingly, turning to charity for help.
Food pantries and other nonprofits are seeing more and more people who need free food, clothes or help paying bills on a regular basis.
"Some people just put us in their budget," says Shannon Cook, coordinator at the nonprofit Empty Tomb in Champaign.
About 100 people show up each afternoon at Empty Tomb to get free clothes or household items, and every 90 days they can get help with food, medical costs or other bills. Cook is able to give eight families a week $30 toward rent or another bill, but it just scratches the surface.
Once a year, families are eligible for more substantial assistance, perhaps to pay off a past-due power bill. These days, Cook says, it's not uncommon to see bills of $1,000 or even $3,000, up from maybe $500 a year ago. Families are often forced to choose among food, power, rent and medical costs.
"They will sell their food stamps to pay the power bills. These are decisions that they make," she says.
Across town, at Salt and Light Ministries on Anthony Drive, the crowds at the weekly food and clothing giveaway have set new records four times in the last seven weeks. Salt and Light is now the largest emergency food program in Champaign County and gave away its millionth pound of food July 9 – about six weeks earlier than Executive Director Nathan Montgomery projected just last month.
The ministry throws open its warehouse for four hours every Wednesday afternoon to give away food, clothes and household items. By 3:30 p.m. that day, the clothing racks were nearly stripped bare and only a small stack of produce remained.
"We're seeing more and different people," including those seeking help for the first time, Montgomery says. "It has definitely jumped considerably."
Half of the families have at least one working adult, he says, arguing that Champaign County's poverty problem is not unemployment but low-wage jobs, such as food service. While unemployment here is relatively low, he says, only three Illinois counties have a higher poverty rate than Champaign County's 16 percent.
Here are the stories of some struggling families:
A working vacation
Teacher's aide Marissa Garza, who lives in south Texas, spent last summer working in a gravel pit to earn extra income. That company wasn't hiring this year, and neither were most other employers back home.
So Garza, who earns about $800 a month during the school year, decided to join a friend detasseling corn in Champaign County.
It's her first tour as a migrant worker, and she was busy searching for work pants, durable shoes and sun hats at Empty Tomb on a recent Tuesday. The days are long, sometimes 12 hours, and the work is hot and "very muddy," she says.
Joining her in the cornfields outside Philo last week was her 15-year-old son, Rolando. Daughter Daniela, 12, also came to Champaign but is too young to work. Both children attend summer school, too.
Garza said rising gas prices, in particular, have taken a bite out of the family budget.
"I'm trying to pay the most important things first – the mortgage, utility bills, that's about it."
She used to take the kids out to movies or dinner once in a while, but not any more. They haven't planned a vacation this year "except this one," she says with a rueful smile, adding, "Some time away from home is enough."
Her attitude is no-nonsense and upbeat. She hopes the hard work will inspire her children to go to college so they can get a better job someday. Garza is taking her own advice: She's working toward her education degree.
"Life is not easy. You have to work for what you want."
Doing without
Martin Delatorae has noticed the growing crowds at Empty Tomb, where he stops in regularly to hunt for shirts and good books.
Delatorae, 43, can understand why. He works part time as a counselor, and gets partial disability because of a deteriorating spine and complications from cerebral palsy. He's had a tough time making ends meet, especially in the last year.
He has a car but doesn't drive unless he has to, for groceries and other errands. He uses the bus to get around and walks whenever he can.
"I've been noticing a lot more people taking the bus," he says.
Delatorae has stopped eating out – "even a cheap meal is $5 or $6" – and doesn't entertain much any more.
"I like having people over, but it's just too expensive."
He's also more disciplined at the grocery store, passing over nicer cuts of meat or prepared frozen foods.
"I used to like to go grocery shopping. I'd go to the store and just buy things. Now I just buy what I need," he says.
He's not complaining, saying he finds plenty of entertainment reading books or watching TV. And the one luxury he won't give up? His $40-a-month Internet service.
"I'm not starving. I make it. I was taught how to do without when you don't have it."
A move to downsize
When Plastipak Packaging cut her full-time hours in half, Alyshia Bell volunteered for the overnight shift, which pays a higher wage.
She's also trying to find houses to clean during the day, when she's not watching her 2-year-old niece and her own daughters, Alexis, 10, and Laniesha, 8. Her sister works days, so they swap child care.
How does she get by? "Doing a whole lot of robbing Peter to pay Paul," she says.
She goes to Salt and Light for necessities like T-shirts and shorts for the girls. She also gets food stamps, but that "doesn't go as far as it used to," she says. Plus, if she picks up extra work cleaning houses, it can lower her food assistance.
To save on rent and gas, she and her girls moved last weekend from their three-bedroom rental home in northwest Champaign to a cheaper townhouse closer to their school, Robeson Elementary.
She also didn't enroll her daughters in any extracurricular activities this summer, and the family won't be taking any trips. Her effervescent girls, who dream of being a performer and a designer someday, don't seem to mind.
"She's a good mommy," Alexis says.
'Grin and bear it'
Life seems to hit some people with one thing after another.
Kandace Spears, 52, moved back to Champaign-Urbana from California years ago to be closer to her brother, only to witness his murder in 1988. She's suffered from depression on and off ever since.
She worked at various factory jobs but was injured at work and has been on disability since 2000. Then she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
She survives on Social Security disability payments, $41 a month in food stamps, subsidized housing and utility assistance from the state. But she still needs to visit food pantries and charities for extra food and clothing.
"I'm having a hard time with food and paying my bills," she says. "By the time you get rent and the power bill paid, it hardly leaves you anything."
Food prices leave her stunned.
"I like a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, but it's getting so bad you can hardly afford it. An orange is $1."
With few extras in her budget, she's switched to cheaper soap and shampoo to save a few pennies. She also has put off needed dental work.
With no car, she relies on the bus – or her feet – to get around, so she was thrilled to find a free bicycle at Empty Tomb recently. It will also provide exercise, as her cancer medications caused her to gain a lot of weight.
A friend offered to deliver the bike to Spears' house in Urbana, but it wouldn't fit in her trunk. Undaunted, Spears thanked her and limped off happily toward the bus stop in her walking cast: She was just diagnosed with a broken foot.
She misses work but chooses to look at the bright side.
"You just have to grin and bear it," she says. "Thank God I don't have cancer today."
A helping hand
Like other families in need, retiree Alma Smith knows where to go for help.
She spent a career helping others in her job with the Illinois Department of Public Aid, and she later volunteered at Empty Tomb and Salt and Light.
Now Smith, 66, shops there for food and clothes for her latest adopted child, a 5-year-old boy, and any neighbor who needs help. She agreed to take in the boy after his grandmother became ill. He's smart as a whip, she says; he just "needs someone to work with him."
Smith, who has three other adopted children, comes by the instinct naturally. Her mother had 12 children of her own and raised several more.
Smith suffers from asthma, emphysema and arthritis. She had hoped to move into a complex for seniors by now, but she held onto her house so the kids would have a yard to play in. Problem is, she bought it at a high interest rate, her only option at the time, and now is trying to convert it to a more affordable mortgage.
With high gas prices, she tends to stay home a lot. And her medicines are expensive, she says, breathing heavily in the midday heat.
"This kind of weather, I'm not supposed to be out."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Participatory management of water resources has a crucial role to play
from IPP Media
This story details the challenges of water and sanitation programs in Tanzania. - Kale
By Perege Gumbo
As 50 percent of Tanzania`s population remains below poverty line living on less than 1 US dollar per day, poverty becomes the number one concern of government.
However, with over 80 percent of the poor being in rural areas depending on agriculture for survival, how could good water development and management unlock the majority of people from abject poverty? Staff writer Perege Gumbo reports:
THE Tanzania`s Reduction Strategy Paper (PSRP) and the development Vision 2025 testify inalienability of water from the country`s development.
The two documents show clearly that for Tanzania to achieve its development aspirations-eradicate poverty, attain water and food security, sustain biodiversity and maintain ecosystem, then water was critically important.
Water and Tanzania economy:
Several studies have shown that the importance of water to Tanzania`s economy and the role it could play in government`s efforts to fighting poverty was enormous.
The Poverty and Human Development Report of 2007 for instance, underlined that the performance of Tanzania`s economy had largely been dependent on availability of water/rainfall.
This is because the nation\'s key economic sectors such as agricultural sector relied directly on water resources shortage of which has had tremendous negative impact on Tanzania`s household incomes.
The importance of agriculture to Tanzania`s immediate and long-term economic and social development could be three folded.
Firstly, the truth that widespread improvement in the farm income was a precondition to reducing rural poverty.
Secondly, the strategies for addressing food security must involve deliberate measures to improve agricultural and livestock production and farm incomes, all of which required availability of water resources.
Thirdly, since agriculture remained a single major contributor to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and indeed key to Tanzania\'s overall economic development now and in the near future, good water development and management are inevitable.
It is such good development and management of water resources that experts say could enhance the estimated 75 percent of 39 million Tanzania`s population depending on small-scale farming improved production for increased household incomes.
In line with the government\'s high priority of poverty reduction and in recognition of the importance of agriculture in poverty alleviation efforts, the Participatory Irrigation Development Programme (PIDP) was adopted in 2006.
The programme emphasized on attaining improved overall water availability and agricultural productivity which would have great multiplier effect on poverty.
This underlined the fact that improvement of majority rural population`s farm incomes was a must, if Tanzania wanted to reduce rural poverty.
This could be easily attained through good development and management of water resources.
But what real constituted good water development and management and why was participation a preferred process?
The reasons are varied but the process has tended to generate ownership and allow for dealing with varying behaviours, cultures and values.
It highlights practical concerns at early stages by providing multiple reality checks before implementation and perhaps most importantly, it allows for local people to create their own assumptions and institutions, using processes of social learning that uncover aspects of their interactions.
Integrated water development and management broadened the appreciation of water resource availability from the absolute to specific characteristics that support the functioning of ecosystems and society integrity of reverie ecosystems and preserve their ability to provide services valuable to humans.
On the other hand, sustainable management of water would be guaranteed as the participatory approach was adopted because such a process dictated a broad-based involvement of water users, environmentalists, farmers, planner and policy makers, ministries and departments at all levels.
Unlike in the past, when water resource development projects were planned, developed and managed sectorally without involving other user stakeholders, the current water policy 2002 advocates and indeed makes broad-based water project participation mandatory.
The objective for such policy directive was to avoid conflicts among different water users which previously led to frequent failure for realization of most projects\' objectives.
As water sources touched a number of ministries, government departments and other stakeholders, integrated water development and management approach recently been opted for.
Under the new approach, three major areas-comprehensiveness; subsidiarity; and economic prioritization were accorded due importance in all decisions related to water.
Comprehensiveness of water development and management entailed holistic basins approach for integrating multi-sector and multi-objective planning and management that aimed at minimizing effect of externalities to ensure water resource sustainability and protection.
On the other hand, subsidiarity enhanced decentralization of decision-making and devolve the process to the lowest practicable level.
This draws in stakeholders to participate in planning, design and implementation of the management actions as well as decision-making.
Economically, all decision-makings in the public and private sectors and civil society over use of water has to among other things, reflect the scarcity value of water, water pricing, cost sharing and other incentives for promoting its rational uses.
Once wards, districts, regions and planners on one hand, and national water user projects on the other hand were implemented using the participatory approach in alignment with other national growth strategies, it would allow the water sector to maximally contribute to households and national economic growth and consequently to the poverty reduction.
Participatory benefits:
The importance of participatory-based approach in developing and management of water resources has been well documented.
It actually facilitates equitable sharing of water resource benefits which accommodates interests of various parties to the resources.
On the other hand, it allows equitable involvement of men and women in selection, planning, decision-making and implementation of water resource.
Above all, inclusive development and management of water has been important because it provided for sustainable water projects through down-top model of decision-making.
Through participatory water development and management, a comprehensive framework promoting optimal, sustainable and equitable development and use of water resources for present and future generations could be guaranteed.
``Participatory water management seeks to address cross-sectoral interests in water, watershed management and balanced integrated approach to water resources planning, development and management,`` says part of the National Water Policy 2002.
As the Tanzania Development Vision 2025 aspires to among other things, attain food self-sufficiency and security as well as universal access to safe water, the participatory approach to water development and management would not only be a stepping stone for realizing the goals, but also for meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The MDGs requires Tanzania to halve the number of people, who have no sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2010, but experts say slow reforms in the water sector could affect the attainment of government`s water sector targets as well as the MGDs.
Despite Tanzania being on track towards meeting the MDGs for water supply, it still faces challenges since only 54 and 73 percent of rural and urban populations respectively have access to safe water supply.
The targets are to extend water and sanitation services to 65 percent of rural and 90 percent of urban populations by 2010.
Participatory water development and management that foster gender engagement, environment protection and the use of local and affordable technologies could hasten realization of local and international set water and sanitation goals.
Policy objectives versus business principles:
Broad-based water development and management being advocated for by the government face challenges that need solutions before succeeding.
One of the challenges is that as the National Water Policy 2002 encouraged private sector participation in water-related service provision, privately-owned firms defined by profit motives only needed to be cautiously engaged to allow water resources contribute significantly to government\'s poverty reduction efforts.
This calls for close government monitoring of private sector`s water resource development and management to ensure prices of water to common men users remained as affordable as possible against private operators` usual known motives of profit maximization.
For this to happen, the government needs to develop and undertake frequent review as well as improvement on water and sanitation policy.
There should also be a well facilitated, co-coordinated, monitored and regulated provision of water and sanitation services to the Tanzanian public with a gender perspective to relieve the 51 percent of Tanzanian women suffering from water related problems.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This story details the challenges of water and sanitation programs in Tanzania. - Kale
By Perege Gumbo
As 50 percent of Tanzania`s population remains below poverty line living on less than 1 US dollar per day, poverty becomes the number one concern of government.
However, with over 80 percent of the poor being in rural areas depending on agriculture for survival, how could good water development and management unlock the majority of people from abject poverty? Staff writer Perege Gumbo reports:
THE Tanzania`s Reduction Strategy Paper (PSRP) and the development Vision 2025 testify inalienability of water from the country`s development.
The two documents show clearly that for Tanzania to achieve its development aspirations-eradicate poverty, attain water and food security, sustain biodiversity and maintain ecosystem, then water was critically important.
Water and Tanzania economy:
Several studies have shown that the importance of water to Tanzania`s economy and the role it could play in government`s efforts to fighting poverty was enormous.
The Poverty and Human Development Report of 2007 for instance, underlined that the performance of Tanzania`s economy had largely been dependent on availability of water/rainfall.
This is because the nation\'s key economic sectors such as agricultural sector relied directly on water resources shortage of which has had tremendous negative impact on Tanzania`s household incomes.
The importance of agriculture to Tanzania`s immediate and long-term economic and social development could be three folded.
Firstly, the truth that widespread improvement in the farm income was a precondition to reducing rural poverty.
Secondly, the strategies for addressing food security must involve deliberate measures to improve agricultural and livestock production and farm incomes, all of which required availability of water resources.
Thirdly, since agriculture remained a single major contributor to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and indeed key to Tanzania\'s overall economic development now and in the near future, good water development and management are inevitable.
It is such good development and management of water resources that experts say could enhance the estimated 75 percent of 39 million Tanzania`s population depending on small-scale farming improved production for increased household incomes.
In line with the government\'s high priority of poverty reduction and in recognition of the importance of agriculture in poverty alleviation efforts, the Participatory Irrigation Development Programme (PIDP) was adopted in 2006.
The programme emphasized on attaining improved overall water availability and agricultural productivity which would have great multiplier effect on poverty.
This underlined the fact that improvement of majority rural population`s farm incomes was a must, if Tanzania wanted to reduce rural poverty.
This could be easily attained through good development and management of water resources.
But what real constituted good water development and management and why was participation a preferred process?
The reasons are varied but the process has tended to generate ownership and allow for dealing with varying behaviours, cultures and values.
It highlights practical concerns at early stages by providing multiple reality checks before implementation and perhaps most importantly, it allows for local people to create their own assumptions and institutions, using processes of social learning that uncover aspects of their interactions.
Integrated water development and management broadened the appreciation of water resource availability from the absolute to specific characteristics that support the functioning of ecosystems and society integrity of reverie ecosystems and preserve their ability to provide services valuable to humans.
On the other hand, sustainable management of water would be guaranteed as the participatory approach was adopted because such a process dictated a broad-based involvement of water users, environmentalists, farmers, planner and policy makers, ministries and departments at all levels.
Unlike in the past, when water resource development projects were planned, developed and managed sectorally without involving other user stakeholders, the current water policy 2002 advocates and indeed makes broad-based water project participation mandatory.
The objective for such policy directive was to avoid conflicts among different water users which previously led to frequent failure for realization of most projects\' objectives.
As water sources touched a number of ministries, government departments and other stakeholders, integrated water development and management approach recently been opted for.
Under the new approach, three major areas-comprehensiveness; subsidiarity; and economic prioritization were accorded due importance in all decisions related to water.
Comprehensiveness of water development and management entailed holistic basins approach for integrating multi-sector and multi-objective planning and management that aimed at minimizing effect of externalities to ensure water resource sustainability and protection.
On the other hand, subsidiarity enhanced decentralization of decision-making and devolve the process to the lowest practicable level.
This draws in stakeholders to participate in planning, design and implementation of the management actions as well as decision-making.
Economically, all decision-makings in the public and private sectors and civil society over use of water has to among other things, reflect the scarcity value of water, water pricing, cost sharing and other incentives for promoting its rational uses.
Once wards, districts, regions and planners on one hand, and national water user projects on the other hand were implemented using the participatory approach in alignment with other national growth strategies, it would allow the water sector to maximally contribute to households and national economic growth and consequently to the poverty reduction.
Participatory benefits:
The importance of participatory-based approach in developing and management of water resources has been well documented.
It actually facilitates equitable sharing of water resource benefits which accommodates interests of various parties to the resources.
On the other hand, it allows equitable involvement of men and women in selection, planning, decision-making and implementation of water resource.
Above all, inclusive development and management of water has been important because it provided for sustainable water projects through down-top model of decision-making.
Through participatory water development and management, a comprehensive framework promoting optimal, sustainable and equitable development and use of water resources for present and future generations could be guaranteed.
``Participatory water management seeks to address cross-sectoral interests in water, watershed management and balanced integrated approach to water resources planning, development and management,`` says part of the National Water Policy 2002.
As the Tanzania Development Vision 2025 aspires to among other things, attain food self-sufficiency and security as well as universal access to safe water, the participatory approach to water development and management would not only be a stepping stone for realizing the goals, but also for meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The MDGs requires Tanzania to halve the number of people, who have no sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2010, but experts say slow reforms in the water sector could affect the attainment of government`s water sector targets as well as the MGDs.
Despite Tanzania being on track towards meeting the MDGs for water supply, it still faces challenges since only 54 and 73 percent of rural and urban populations respectively have access to safe water supply.
The targets are to extend water and sanitation services to 65 percent of rural and 90 percent of urban populations by 2010.
Participatory water development and management that foster gender engagement, environment protection and the use of local and affordable technologies could hasten realization of local and international set water and sanitation goals.
Policy objectives versus business principles:
Broad-based water development and management being advocated for by the government face challenges that need solutions before succeeding.
One of the challenges is that as the National Water Policy 2002 encouraged private sector participation in water-related service provision, privately-owned firms defined by profit motives only needed to be cautiously engaged to allow water resources contribute significantly to government\'s poverty reduction efforts.
This calls for close government monitoring of private sector`s water resource development and management to ensure prices of water to common men users remained as affordable as possible against private operators` usual known motives of profit maximization.
For this to happen, the government needs to develop and undertake frequent review as well as improvement on water and sanitation policy.
There should also be a well facilitated, co-coordinated, monitored and regulated provision of water and sanitation services to the Tanzanian public with a gender perspective to relieve the 51 percent of Tanzanian women suffering from water related problems.
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