Thursday, August 28, 2008
[Personal] Another vacation
I take a lot of vacation, because I get a lot of vacation. We will return Tuesday morning. Please have bail money ready for me, If I'm not posting then. - Kale
Indian monsoon floods leave a million homeless
from the Guardian
One of northern India worst floods have left over a million homeless and destroyed 250,000 houses. Some are saying that the flooding was 'man-made". The flooding in India last year, led to an increase in child trafficking. - Kale
Randeep Ramesh in Delhi
More than a million people have been forced from their homes and 250,000 houses destroyed in one of the worst floods in northern India for decades, sparking accusations that the destruction was man-made.
Described by the country's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, as a "national calamity", the flooding occurred after the Kosi river burst its banks in Nepal ten days ago, sending floodwaters across a swath of the eastern flank of the Himalayas and submerging large parts of the Indian state of Bihar.
Today the Indian army mobilised, evacuating more than 100,000 people and dropping food supplies from the air. Pratyaya Amrit, Bihar's secretary for disaster management, said that a further 300,000 people would be moved to relief camps in the next 48 hours.
Experts have said that the flooding was not simply an act of nature, and that the failure of the Indian authorities played a large part in the making of the disaster. The Kosi river's flood defences are supposed to be able to handle flows of almost a million cubic feet of water per second. Yet they were breached when the flows were a little more than a tenth of that capacity, pointing to serious defects.
Nepal, where the Kosi originates from, has accused the Indian government of failing to uphold its commitment under a 1954 treaty to maintain the river's embankment. India countered that its engineers could not get access to river.
"We know the monsoon comes every year. Why weren't they ready for the disaster? The fact is that there was much less flow in the river than the stated capacity which exposes the kind of maintenance that was done," said Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of the independent South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People.
Thakkar said that there was an "unfortunate lobby consisting of politicians, bureaucrats, builders and engineers who take money and don't do any work. There is no oversight of this process. That's why we get flooding every year."
Relief agencies said that Bihar's status as the poorest, most deprived state in India meant that victims of the annual monsoons were especially vulnerable.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
One of northern India worst floods have left over a million homeless and destroyed 250,000 houses. Some are saying that the flooding was 'man-made". The flooding in India last year, led to an increase in child trafficking. - Kale
Randeep Ramesh in Delhi
More than a million people have been forced from their homes and 250,000 houses destroyed in one of the worst floods in northern India for decades, sparking accusations that the destruction was man-made.
Described by the country's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, as a "national calamity", the flooding occurred after the Kosi river burst its banks in Nepal ten days ago, sending floodwaters across a swath of the eastern flank of the Himalayas and submerging large parts of the Indian state of Bihar.
Today the Indian army mobilised, evacuating more than 100,000 people and dropping food supplies from the air. Pratyaya Amrit, Bihar's secretary for disaster management, said that a further 300,000 people would be moved to relief camps in the next 48 hours.
Experts have said that the flooding was not simply an act of nature, and that the failure of the Indian authorities played a large part in the making of the disaster. The Kosi river's flood defences are supposed to be able to handle flows of almost a million cubic feet of water per second. Yet they were breached when the flows were a little more than a tenth of that capacity, pointing to serious defects.
Nepal, where the Kosi originates from, has accused the Indian government of failing to uphold its commitment under a 1954 treaty to maintain the river's embankment. India countered that its engineers could not get access to river.
"We know the monsoon comes every year. Why weren't they ready for the disaster? The fact is that there was much less flow in the river than the stated capacity which exposes the kind of maintenance that was done," said Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of the independent South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People.
Thakkar said that there was an "unfortunate lobby consisting of politicians, bureaucrats, builders and engineers who take money and don't do any work. There is no oversight of this process. That's why we get flooding every year."
Relief agencies said that Bihar's status as the poorest, most deprived state in India meant that victims of the annual monsoons were especially vulnerable.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Social injustice cutting life expectancy, UN report says
from the Guardian
This is kind of obvious, but now that the WHO is officially saying it, it may help more to realise it's truth.
Basically, where you live can kill you. Social injustice thru poverty, poor education and bad housing is killing people. The report says "on a grand scale".
by Sarah Boseley,
The gap between rich and poor is such that a child born in the Glasgow suburb of Calton can expect to live 28 years less than one born in Lenzie, eight miles away.
This substantial gap between the life expectancy of children of the most affluent and privileged, and those who are born into deprivation and get fewer chances as they grow up is present in every society around the world, the report finds.
Inadequate education and bad housing are key factors impacting on life expectancy around the world. But some countries are better than others at closing the gap.
The report, by a World Health Organisation commission chaired by the British professor Sir Michael Marmot, shows that the poor health and shorter lives of the least fortunate has reduced life expectancy in the UK to 79 years. It trails Japan, with an average of 83, Australia, Sweden, Canada and Italy.
Stark disparities within the UK are also highlighted by the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. A boy born in Hampstead, London, will live around 11 years longer than a boy from St Pancras, five stops away on the Northern line of the underground.
Adult death rates were generally 2.5 times higher in the most deprived areas of the UK than in the most affluent.
An example from the US recorded the fact that 886,202 deaths would have been averted between 1991 and 2000 if the death rates of white and black Americans had been equal.
Highlighting inequalities between different parts of the world, a girl born in Lesotho, southern Africa, is likely to die 42 years younger than one born in Japan.
In Sweden, one in 17,400 women die during childbirth, compared with one in eight in Afghanistan.
While healthcare, good hospitals and doctors play their part, the report says that the conditions in which children grow up and live as adults are fundamental to their chances of good health, and some have it much better than others.
But the social injustice which leads to health inequality could be eradicated within a generation, it says.
The report says a "toxic combination of bad policies, economics and politics is in large measure responsible for the fact that a majority of people in the world do not enjoy the good health that is biologically possible. Social injustice is killing on a grand scale."
The commission calls for worldwide government action to eradicate the unjust disparities in social background that lead to shorter lives. It wants every government policy and programme to be assessed for its impact on health.
Above all, it says, governments should invest in high-quality education with a major focus on intervening in the earliest years, from the womb to the age of eight. Affordable housing, encouragement for people to use healthier modes of transport, and controls on junk food and alcohol outlets are all important, as is the availability of full, fair and decent employment for all on a living wage.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This is kind of obvious, but now that the WHO is officially saying it, it may help more to realise it's truth.
Basically, where you live can kill you. Social injustice thru poverty, poor education and bad housing is killing people. The report says "on a grand scale".
by Sarah Boseley,
The gap between rich and poor is such that a child born in the Glasgow suburb of Calton can expect to live 28 years less than one born in Lenzie, eight miles away.
This substantial gap between the life expectancy of children of the most affluent and privileged, and those who are born into deprivation and get fewer chances as they grow up is present in every society around the world, the report finds.
Inadequate education and bad housing are key factors impacting on life expectancy around the world. But some countries are better than others at closing the gap.
The report, by a World Health Organisation commission chaired by the British professor Sir Michael Marmot, shows that the poor health and shorter lives of the least fortunate has reduced life expectancy in the UK to 79 years. It trails Japan, with an average of 83, Australia, Sweden, Canada and Italy.
Stark disparities within the UK are also highlighted by the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. A boy born in Hampstead, London, will live around 11 years longer than a boy from St Pancras, five stops away on the Northern line of the underground.
Adult death rates were generally 2.5 times higher in the most deprived areas of the UK than in the most affluent.
An example from the US recorded the fact that 886,202 deaths would have been averted between 1991 and 2000 if the death rates of white and black Americans had been equal.
Highlighting inequalities between different parts of the world, a girl born in Lesotho, southern Africa, is likely to die 42 years younger than one born in Japan.
In Sweden, one in 17,400 women die during childbirth, compared with one in eight in Afghanistan.
While healthcare, good hospitals and doctors play their part, the report says that the conditions in which children grow up and live as adults are fundamental to their chances of good health, and some have it much better than others.
But the social injustice which leads to health inequality could be eradicated within a generation, it says.
The report says a "toxic combination of bad policies, economics and politics is in large measure responsible for the fact that a majority of people in the world do not enjoy the good health that is biologically possible. Social injustice is killing on a grand scale."
The commission calls for worldwide government action to eradicate the unjust disparities in social background that lead to shorter lives. It wants every government policy and programme to be assessed for its impact on health.
Above all, it says, governments should invest in high-quality education with a major focus on intervening in the earliest years, from the womb to the age of eight. Affordable housing, encouragement for people to use healthier modes of transport, and controls on junk food and alcohol outlets are all important, as is the availability of full, fair and decent employment for all on a living wage.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
As Food Costs Rise, So Do School Lunch Prices
from the New York Times
This article explores the effect that rising food prices are having on school lunches. School officials point out that what kids are getting for a dollar or two in the cafeteria would cost 6 to 7 dollars at a restaurant. - Kale
By WINNIE HU
Gas pumps, grocery stores, and now school cafeterias.
Prices on some school lunch lines are going up this fall as school officials, like many others, struggle to pay higher prices and delivery fees for staples like bread, milk, fresh fruit and vegetables. The price increases, generally about 25 cents a meal, come as school districts in New York and across the country try to eke more out of already tight budgets, with some switching to four-day schedules to reduce utility and busing costs, and others asking more of their students to walk to school or limiting out-of-town games for athletic teams.
But for many parents, nothing hits the pockets quite like lunch prices.
“It’s 25 cents a day, but if you have three kids, over a week that’s the price of a gallon of milk,” said Harry A. Capers Jr., a past president of the New Jersey Parent-Teacher Association. “I think it’s something people will notice and I am really concerned about those who have to make tough choices.”
New Jersey’s largest school district, Newark, is raising the full price of its daily lunches to $1.50 from $1.25, as its overall food budget grows to an estimated $5.2 million from $5 million last year. (Most Newark students do not pay the full price. In most cases there and elsewhere, increases in the cost of full-price lunches will not affect the reduced prices — a maximum of 40 cents a meal — that students from poorer families have to pay.)
In Paterson, N.J., the full price is also increasing by 25 cents — to $2.25 in high schools and $2 in elementary schools — to help cover a 23 percent increase in bread prices alone in the last year. The district, which serves 18,000 lunches a day, now pays 12 cents for each hot dog bun, compared with 9.5 cents a year ago.
“It’s something we have to do,” said Tonya Riggins, Newark’s director of food services, who oversees 29,000 daily lunches. “People may not be happy, but it’s the economy and it’s beyond our control.”
Across the metropolitan area, many suburban and rural schools are raising lunch prices while large urban districts are taking other measures to cover rising food bills, from reducing food management costs in Yonkers to shopping around for cheaper plastic plates and cups in Syracuse.
The New York City schools, which serve 626,670 lunches a day, will keep full lunch prices steady at $1.50. But the system will save money by, for example, replacing individual bread rolls and cherry tomatoes in salads with slices of French bread and whole tomatoes that can be bought in bulk. “It’s a lot of little things that add up to big savings,” said William Havemann, a spokesman for the city’s Department of Education.
To help offset higher food costs, the United States Department of Agriculture, which subsidizes school lunches, has increased its average lunch reimbursement to districts this year by 10 cents to $2.57 a meal for students who qualify for free lunches, and $2.17 for those who qualify for reduced-price lunches. Last year, the increase was 7 cents.
The department issued a report this summer, called “Meeting the Challenge of Rising Food Costs,” to help districts develop strategies to control food costs and stretch budgets. In addition to cash reimbursements, it will provide more free food this fall to 101,000 school districts participating in the lunch program. It will also expand another program, which provides free snacks of fruits and vegetables, primarily to low-income districts, to all 50 states from 14 states last year.
But many school officials contend that the federal lunch money is not keeping up with rising food prices, particularly in districts that are stocking their cafeterias with healthier food choices like skim milk, whole grains and fresh fruit.
“When you start including more fresh fruit and vegetables instead of green beans in a can, your costs increase,” said Brian Sirianni, assistant superintendent for business in the Ballston Spa district, north of Albany. His 4,500-student district is raising lunch prices by 35 cents, to $2, in the middle and high school, and by 25 cents, to $1.75, in the elementary schools — and may have to increase prices again in the next two years.
Affluent suburban schools are also feeling the pinch. In New Jersey, the Mount Laurel district, which serves an average of 1,985 lunches a day, will raise its lunch price by 20 cents — the highest increase in recent memory — to $2 in the middle schools, and $1.90 in the elementary schools. “We’re not trying to make a profit, we’re just trying to break even,” said Marie Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the district.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This article explores the effect that rising food prices are having on school lunches. School officials point out that what kids are getting for a dollar or two in the cafeteria would cost 6 to 7 dollars at a restaurant. - Kale
By WINNIE HU
Gas pumps, grocery stores, and now school cafeterias.
Prices on some school lunch lines are going up this fall as school officials, like many others, struggle to pay higher prices and delivery fees for staples like bread, milk, fresh fruit and vegetables. The price increases, generally about 25 cents a meal, come as school districts in New York and across the country try to eke more out of already tight budgets, with some switching to four-day schedules to reduce utility and busing costs, and others asking more of their students to walk to school or limiting out-of-town games for athletic teams.
But for many parents, nothing hits the pockets quite like lunch prices.
“It’s 25 cents a day, but if you have three kids, over a week that’s the price of a gallon of milk,” said Harry A. Capers Jr., a past president of the New Jersey Parent-Teacher Association. “I think it’s something people will notice and I am really concerned about those who have to make tough choices.”
New Jersey’s largest school district, Newark, is raising the full price of its daily lunches to $1.50 from $1.25, as its overall food budget grows to an estimated $5.2 million from $5 million last year. (Most Newark students do not pay the full price. In most cases there and elsewhere, increases in the cost of full-price lunches will not affect the reduced prices — a maximum of 40 cents a meal — that students from poorer families have to pay.)
In Paterson, N.J., the full price is also increasing by 25 cents — to $2.25 in high schools and $2 in elementary schools — to help cover a 23 percent increase in bread prices alone in the last year. The district, which serves 18,000 lunches a day, now pays 12 cents for each hot dog bun, compared with 9.5 cents a year ago.
“It’s something we have to do,” said Tonya Riggins, Newark’s director of food services, who oversees 29,000 daily lunches. “People may not be happy, but it’s the economy and it’s beyond our control.”
Across the metropolitan area, many suburban and rural schools are raising lunch prices while large urban districts are taking other measures to cover rising food bills, from reducing food management costs in Yonkers to shopping around for cheaper plastic plates and cups in Syracuse.
The New York City schools, which serve 626,670 lunches a day, will keep full lunch prices steady at $1.50. But the system will save money by, for example, replacing individual bread rolls and cherry tomatoes in salads with slices of French bread and whole tomatoes that can be bought in bulk. “It’s a lot of little things that add up to big savings,” said William Havemann, a spokesman for the city’s Department of Education.
To help offset higher food costs, the United States Department of Agriculture, which subsidizes school lunches, has increased its average lunch reimbursement to districts this year by 10 cents to $2.57 a meal for students who qualify for free lunches, and $2.17 for those who qualify for reduced-price lunches. Last year, the increase was 7 cents.
The department issued a report this summer, called “Meeting the Challenge of Rising Food Costs,” to help districts develop strategies to control food costs and stretch budgets. In addition to cash reimbursements, it will provide more free food this fall to 101,000 school districts participating in the lunch program. It will also expand another program, which provides free snacks of fruits and vegetables, primarily to low-income districts, to all 50 states from 14 states last year.
But many school officials contend that the federal lunch money is not keeping up with rising food prices, particularly in districts that are stocking their cafeterias with healthier food choices like skim milk, whole grains and fresh fruit.
“When you start including more fresh fruit and vegetables instead of green beans in a can, your costs increase,” said Brian Sirianni, assistant superintendent for business in the Ballston Spa district, north of Albany. His 4,500-student district is raising lunch prices by 35 cents, to $2, in the middle and high school, and by 25 cents, to $1.75, in the elementary schools — and may have to increase prices again in the next two years.
Affluent suburban schools are also feeling the pinch. In New Jersey, the Mount Laurel district, which serves an average of 1,985 lunches a day, will raise its lunch price by 20 cents — the highest increase in recent memory — to $2 in the middle schools, and $1.90 in the elementary schools. “We’re not trying to make a profit, we’re just trying to break even,” said Marie Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the district.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Food, Fuel and Water Crises Converging
from IPS News
The food and fuel crises are bad enough, but add water into the fray and it could be disastrous. The World Bank still insists on water privatization before making loans. - Kale
By Thalif Deen
STOCKHOLM, - "It's the spectre of a food, fuel and water crisis," says Lars Thunell, executive vice president of the Washington-based International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank group.
"I believe we are at a tipping point," he said, because the scarcity of water poses a threat to the food supply just when the agricultural sector is stepping up production in response to riots over food prices, growing hunger, and rising malnutrition.
Speaking at the conclusion of the weeklong Stockholm International Water Conference Friday, Thunell said the growing demand for water is outpacing supply.
The world's current population of over 6.0 billion is expected to rise to about 9.0 billion by 2050, with more than 60 percent living in mega cities.
"Since water consumption goes up where there is development and improved lifestyles, we can expect even greater demands on fresh water," Thunell said.
The most water-intensive sector, agriculture, is expanding and industrialisation and energy production are further driving demand, he added.
The conference, which was attended by over 2,400 water experts and government officials, ended with an ominous warning: that water and sanitation are not far behind the food, energy and climate crises.
Summing up the weeklong proceedings, the Stockholm International Water Institute said that slow progress on sanitation will cause the world to badly fail the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). At the same time, weak policy, poor management, increasing waste and exploding water demands will push the planet towards the tipping point of a global water crisis.
According to U.N. estimates a little less than one billion people worldwide still don't have access to clean drinking water while over 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation.
The MDGs aim at a 50 percent reduction both in the number of people without drinking water and without basic sanitation. The deadline has been set at 2015. But most of the world's poorer nations are likely to miss the deadline.
Colin Chartres, director general of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) said the causes of water scarcity are essentially identical to those of the food crisis.
"There are serious and extremely worrying factors that indicate that water supplies are close to exhaustion in some countries," he said.
He pointed out that current estimates indicate the world will not have enough water to feed itself in 40 years time, "by when the current food crisis may turn into a perpetual crisis."
Chartres said he and his water science colleagues have raised a warning flag that significant investments in both research and development and water infrastructure development are needed, "if dire consequences are to be avoided."
IFC's Thunell said providing clean water and sanitation services are not only business opportunities but also opportunities to improve lives. He said investors see an opportunity in the 450-billion-dollar global water sector, where stocks are performing strongly worldwide.
Private firms also regard water supply as a business risk and are tackling it as an integral part of their risk-management strategy.
"I believe the moment is right," Thunell said. "We can avert a crisis -- as partners, working together."
He said IFC will do its part by investing in companies that pursue opportunities in water conservation and quality, and by fostering public-private partnerships in the water sector.
But Patti Lynn, campaigns director of Corporate Accountability International, has a different take on the role of the private sector.
"The crisis stems from a confluence of problems, but perhaps no contributing factor is more insidious and correctable than the privatisation of the resource," she told IPS. "When people's access to clean drinking water is reliant on the profit interests of a handful of transnationals, all of us pay a premium and because of this many of the world's poor go thirsty."
Asked if the international community will meet the MDGs relating to water and sanitation by 2015, she said: "Not if we don't change immediate course."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
The food and fuel crises are bad enough, but add water into the fray and it could be disastrous. The World Bank still insists on water privatization before making loans. - Kale
By Thalif Deen
STOCKHOLM, - "It's the spectre of a food, fuel and water crisis," says Lars Thunell, executive vice president of the Washington-based International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank group.
"I believe we are at a tipping point," he said, because the scarcity of water poses a threat to the food supply just when the agricultural sector is stepping up production in response to riots over food prices, growing hunger, and rising malnutrition.
Speaking at the conclusion of the weeklong Stockholm International Water Conference Friday, Thunell said the growing demand for water is outpacing supply.
The world's current population of over 6.0 billion is expected to rise to about 9.0 billion by 2050, with more than 60 percent living in mega cities.
"Since water consumption goes up where there is development and improved lifestyles, we can expect even greater demands on fresh water," Thunell said.
The most water-intensive sector, agriculture, is expanding and industrialisation and energy production are further driving demand, he added.
The conference, which was attended by over 2,400 water experts and government officials, ended with an ominous warning: that water and sanitation are not far behind the food, energy and climate crises.
Summing up the weeklong proceedings, the Stockholm International Water Institute said that slow progress on sanitation will cause the world to badly fail the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). At the same time, weak policy, poor management, increasing waste and exploding water demands will push the planet towards the tipping point of a global water crisis.
According to U.N. estimates a little less than one billion people worldwide still don't have access to clean drinking water while over 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation.
The MDGs aim at a 50 percent reduction both in the number of people without drinking water and without basic sanitation. The deadline has been set at 2015. But most of the world's poorer nations are likely to miss the deadline.
Colin Chartres, director general of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) said the causes of water scarcity are essentially identical to those of the food crisis.
"There are serious and extremely worrying factors that indicate that water supplies are close to exhaustion in some countries," he said.
He pointed out that current estimates indicate the world will not have enough water to feed itself in 40 years time, "by when the current food crisis may turn into a perpetual crisis."
Chartres said he and his water science colleagues have raised a warning flag that significant investments in both research and development and water infrastructure development are needed, "if dire consequences are to be avoided."
IFC's Thunell said providing clean water and sanitation services are not only business opportunities but also opportunities to improve lives. He said investors see an opportunity in the 450-billion-dollar global water sector, where stocks are performing strongly worldwide.
Private firms also regard water supply as a business risk and are tackling it as an integral part of their risk-management strategy.
"I believe the moment is right," Thunell said. "We can avert a crisis -- as partners, working together."
He said IFC will do its part by investing in companies that pursue opportunities in water conservation and quality, and by fostering public-private partnerships in the water sector.
But Patti Lynn, campaigns director of Corporate Accountability International, has a different take on the role of the private sector.
"The crisis stems from a confluence of problems, but perhaps no contributing factor is more insidious and correctable than the privatisation of the resource," she told IPS. "When people's access to clean drinking water is reliant on the profit interests of a handful of transnationals, all of us pay a premium and because of this many of the world's poor go thirsty."
Asked if the international community will meet the MDGs relating to water and sanitation by 2015, she said: "Not if we don't change immediate course."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
India Is Home To One-third Of All Poor People In The World According to the World Bank
from Bernama
More on the World Bank statement from yesterday, and some specifics on India. - Kale
NEW DELHI -- India is home to roughly one-third of all poor people in the world and has a higher proportion of its population living on less than US$2 per day, according to the World Bank's latest estimates on global poverty.
The estimates also shows that the rate of decline of poverty in India was faster between 1981 and 1990 than between 1990 and 2005, the Times of India on Wednesday quoted the bank as saying.
This is likely to give fresh ammunition to those who maintain that economic reforms, which started in 1991, have failed to reduce poverty at a faster rate.
India, according to the estimates, had 456 million people or about 42 percent of the population living below the new international poverty line of US$1.25 per day. The number of Indian poor also constitute 33 percent of the global poor, which is pegged at 1.4 billion people.
India also had 828 million people, or 75.6 percent of the population living below US$2 a day. Sub-Saharan Africa, considered the world's poorest region, is better -- it has 72.2 percent of its population (551 million) live below the US$2 a day level.
While the full report has not been released yet, a briefing note sent by the Bank had some of the data and showed that the poverty rate -- those below US$1.25 per day -- for India had come down from 59.8 percent in 1981 to 51.3 percent by 1990 or 8.5 percentage points over nine years.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
More on the World Bank statement from yesterday, and some specifics on India. - Kale
NEW DELHI -- India is home to roughly one-third of all poor people in the world and has a higher proportion of its population living on less than US$2 per day, according to the World Bank's latest estimates on global poverty.
The estimates also shows that the rate of decline of poverty in India was faster between 1981 and 1990 than between 1990 and 2005, the Times of India on Wednesday quoted the bank as saying.
This is likely to give fresh ammunition to those who maintain that economic reforms, which started in 1991, have failed to reduce poverty at a faster rate.
India, according to the estimates, had 456 million people or about 42 percent of the population living below the new international poverty line of US$1.25 per day. The number of Indian poor also constitute 33 percent of the global poor, which is pegged at 1.4 billion people.
India also had 828 million people, or 75.6 percent of the population living below US$2 a day. Sub-Saharan Africa, considered the world's poorest region, is better -- it has 72.2 percent of its population (551 million) live below the US$2 a day level.
While the full report has not been released yet, a briefing note sent by the Bank had some of the data and showed that the poverty rate -- those below US$1.25 per day -- for India had come down from 59.8 percent in 1981 to 51.3 percent by 1990 or 8.5 percentage points over nine years.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Income erodes, poverty gains in Minnesota
from the Star Tribune
Now it's Minnesota's turn. The census bureau also found that the medium income in Minnesota dropped. - Kale
By WARREN WOLFE, Star Tribune
The results reflect the downturn in Minnesota's economy that began two years ago, while the national figures were still improving, said state economist Tom Stinson.
"It's not a surprise," he said. "But the census report does reflect the reality that Minnesota hit the wall in job formation early in 2006 and pretty much stayed there. We probably won't begin to recover until next year."
Even though the report shows Minnesota was declining while national measures were improving, the state remained among the highest in income and lowest in poverty.
Using two-year averages, the report said Minnesota's median income dropped from $59,583 in 2004-2005 to $57,932 in 2006-2007.
That compares with $49,901 nationally, putting Minnesota eighth-highest.
There were about 482,000 Minnesotans in poverty last year, up 60,000 from 2006. The poverty rate rose from 8.2 percent to 9.3 percent.
That dropped Minnesota from fifth-lowest in 2006 to ninth-lowest last year, still well below the national rate of 12.4 percent. The poverty guideline in 2007 was $13,690 for a family of two, or $20,650 for four.
"Our hope is that next year's report won't show any worsening of the situation in Minnesota," Stinson said. "This quarter is probably the strongest of the year, and it will probably be next spring -- my crystal ball's a little cloudy here -- that we begin to see improvement nationally and in Minnesota."
The Legislature responded to recent economic problems with budget cuts "that made it hard for low- to moderate-income workers to make ends meet," said Katherine Blauvelt, policy analyst with the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits. She urged lawmakers to find different solutions as they face another deficit next year.
There was a bright spot in Tuesday's census report.
The number of Minnesotans without health insurance dropped by about 42,000 people to 433,000, from 9.2 percent of the population to 8.3 percent.
With the national rate at 15.3 percent, Minnesota ranked fourth-lowest in the percentage of uninsured.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Now it's Minnesota's turn. The census bureau also found that the medium income in Minnesota dropped. - Kale
By WARREN WOLFE, Star Tribune
The results reflect the downturn in Minnesota's economy that began two years ago, while the national figures were still improving, said state economist Tom Stinson.
"It's not a surprise," he said. "But the census report does reflect the reality that Minnesota hit the wall in job formation early in 2006 and pretty much stayed there. We probably won't begin to recover until next year."
Even though the report shows Minnesota was declining while national measures were improving, the state remained among the highest in income and lowest in poverty.
Using two-year averages, the report said Minnesota's median income dropped from $59,583 in 2004-2005 to $57,932 in 2006-2007.
That compares with $49,901 nationally, putting Minnesota eighth-highest.
There were about 482,000 Minnesotans in poverty last year, up 60,000 from 2006. The poverty rate rose from 8.2 percent to 9.3 percent.
That dropped Minnesota from fifth-lowest in 2006 to ninth-lowest last year, still well below the national rate of 12.4 percent. The poverty guideline in 2007 was $13,690 for a family of two, or $20,650 for four.
"Our hope is that next year's report won't show any worsening of the situation in Minnesota," Stinson said. "This quarter is probably the strongest of the year, and it will probably be next spring -- my crystal ball's a little cloudy here -- that we begin to see improvement nationally and in Minnesota."
The Legislature responded to recent economic problems with budget cuts "that made it hard for low- to moderate-income workers to make ends meet," said Katherine Blauvelt, policy analyst with the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits. She urged lawmakers to find different solutions as they face another deficit next year.
There was a bright spot in Tuesday's census report.
The number of Minnesotans without health insurance dropped by about 42,000 people to 433,000, from 9.2 percent of the population to 8.3 percent.
With the national rate at 15.3 percent, Minnesota ranked fourth-lowest in the percentage of uninsured.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Asian Development Bank Introduces New Way to Measure Poverty in Asia
from the Voice of America
The Asian Development Bank says that Asian countries can eradicate poverty by 2020. With economic growth in Asia the bank has developed a new method to measure poverty. They say the changes can help with policy and compare levels from country to country. - Kale
By Claudia Blume
The Asian Development Bank has developed a new benchmark to measure poverty in Asia. The ADB says in a region that has seen stellar growth rates and rising income inequality, its new Asian poverty line can help policy makers measure and compare poverty levels. Claudia Blume reports from Hong Kong.
Living on one dollar or less a day - that is how poverty is commonly measured around the world. But the Asian Development Bank thinks that in Asia a new benchmark is needed that reflects the region's rapid economic growth and growing income disparities.
In Hong Kong on Wednesday, the non-profit lender introduced its new Asian Poverty Line, which defines poverty as living on $1.35 a day. The ADB arrived at that figure by taking the median of the national poverty lines of 16 developing countries in Asia in 2005.
The U.S. dollar-denominated poverty line is not based on market exchange rates, but on purchasing power parity figures, which use baskets of goods to compare purchasing power across countries. The ADB says it developed a new set of measurements for their study that only compare the prices of goods and services purchased by the poor.
ADB chief economist Ifzal Ali says the bank collected data on where the poor shop, what they buy and on the quantity and quality of their purchases.
"Both you and a poor person might consume rice every day but you would consume a much higher quality of rice than a poor person who would eat coarse rice," he said.
The ADB says different measurements effect estimates of the scope of poverty in Asia. If the traditional method is used, which measures the average purchasing power of all people in a country - including the rich - there are more than one billion poor people in the region. By using the new measurement which only focuses on the poor, the figure drops to 800 million.
Ifzal Ali says it is the first time that a cross-country comparison of poverty lines has been done in Asia. He says by looking at the report, policy makers can determine where they stand compared with other countries in the region.
Ali says the Asian Poverty Line and the new, poor-focused purchasing power measurement can also help predict how inflation will affect the poor in the region. He says the ADB analyzed the likely effect of a 10 percent increase in grains, and a 10 percent increase of general food prices on poverty figures.
"The report shows that if you have a 10 percent increase in - say - cereal prices, the number of poor would go up by 36 million almost immediately. If on the other hand food prices went up - this is going from cereals to food - it would increase by about 85 million people," he said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
The Asian Development Bank says that Asian countries can eradicate poverty by 2020. With economic growth in Asia the bank has developed a new method to measure poverty. They say the changes can help with policy and compare levels from country to country. - Kale
By Claudia Blume
The Asian Development Bank has developed a new benchmark to measure poverty in Asia. The ADB says in a region that has seen stellar growth rates and rising income inequality, its new Asian poverty line can help policy makers measure and compare poverty levels. Claudia Blume reports from Hong Kong.
Living on one dollar or less a day - that is how poverty is commonly measured around the world. But the Asian Development Bank thinks that in Asia a new benchmark is needed that reflects the region's rapid economic growth and growing income disparities.
In Hong Kong on Wednesday, the non-profit lender introduced its new Asian Poverty Line, which defines poverty as living on $1.35 a day. The ADB arrived at that figure by taking the median of the national poverty lines of 16 developing countries in Asia in 2005.
The U.S. dollar-denominated poverty line is not based on market exchange rates, but on purchasing power parity figures, which use baskets of goods to compare purchasing power across countries. The ADB says it developed a new set of measurements for their study that only compare the prices of goods and services purchased by the poor.
ADB chief economist Ifzal Ali says the bank collected data on where the poor shop, what they buy and on the quantity and quality of their purchases.
"Both you and a poor person might consume rice every day but you would consume a much higher quality of rice than a poor person who would eat coarse rice," he said.
The ADB says different measurements effect estimates of the scope of poverty in Asia. If the traditional method is used, which measures the average purchasing power of all people in a country - including the rich - there are more than one billion poor people in the region. By using the new measurement which only focuses on the poor, the figure drops to 800 million.
Ifzal Ali says it is the first time that a cross-country comparison of poverty lines has been done in Asia. He says by looking at the report, policy makers can determine where they stand compared with other countries in the region.
Ali says the Asian Poverty Line and the new, poor-focused purchasing power measurement can also help predict how inflation will affect the poor in the region. He says the ADB analyzed the likely effect of a 10 percent increase in grains, and a 10 percent increase of general food prices on poverty figures.
"The report shows that if you have a 10 percent increase in - say - cereal prices, the number of poor would go up by 36 million almost immediately. If on the other hand food prices went up - this is going from cereals to food - it would increase by about 85 million people," he said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
More Kentuckians living in poverty
from the Lexington Herald Leader
Kentucky regressed in some areas in the census bureau stats. - Kale
By Valarie Honeycutt Spears
The number of Kentuckians living in poverty last year increased only slightly, from 17 percent of the population in 2006 to 17.3 percent in 2007, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report.
A much bigger increase was seen in the percentage of people without health insurance, rising from 13 percent in 2004-2005 to 14.6 percent in 2006-2007. Insurance rates are measured over two-year periods.
Overall, Kentucky ranks 48th among states in income, compared with 45th in 2006. It is the fifth-highest state in terms of the number of people living in poverty.
In reaction to the report, the state's leading child-advocacy group says that families in the state are faring far worse over time. Kentucky's poverty rate has risen significantly since 2001, when it was 15.4 percent, Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, said in a press release.
Median household income in the state also dropped last year and is below the national average of $50,233, according to census figures released Tuesday.
However, Kenneth Troske, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Kentucky, said that although Kentucky is a poor state, he doubts we've grown poorer this past year.
"I don't know whether or not the census numbers are correct, but they just don't fit with other data we have on the state's economy," Troske said.
Troske said there was a 2.3 percent increase in the amount of goods and services produced in Kentucky in 2007, according to national figures.
Brooks, of Kentucky Youth Advocates, said the census numbers on poverty are cause for alarm.
"Despite several years of economic growth, Kentucky's families actually lost ground in reducing poverty, improving health coverage or increasing family incomes," Brooks said.
"Now that the economy has weakened, things are likely to get worse ... for the most vulnerable of Kentuckians," he said.
More children younger than 18 were living in poverty in 2007, 23.4 percent, compared with 22.3 percent in 2006.
Kentucky's median household income decreased from $40,489 in 2006 to $40,267 in 2007.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Kentucky regressed in some areas in the census bureau stats. - Kale
By Valarie Honeycutt Spears
The number of Kentuckians living in poverty last year increased only slightly, from 17 percent of the population in 2006 to 17.3 percent in 2007, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report.
A much bigger increase was seen in the percentage of people without health insurance, rising from 13 percent in 2004-2005 to 14.6 percent in 2006-2007. Insurance rates are measured over two-year periods.
Overall, Kentucky ranks 48th among states in income, compared with 45th in 2006. It is the fifth-highest state in terms of the number of people living in poverty.
In reaction to the report, the state's leading child-advocacy group says that families in the state are faring far worse over time. Kentucky's poverty rate has risen significantly since 2001, when it was 15.4 percent, Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, said in a press release.
Median household income in the state also dropped last year and is below the national average of $50,233, according to census figures released Tuesday.
However, Kenneth Troske, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Kentucky, said that although Kentucky is a poor state, he doubts we've grown poorer this past year.
"I don't know whether or not the census numbers are correct, but they just don't fit with other data we have on the state's economy," Troske said.
Troske said there was a 2.3 percent increase in the amount of goods and services produced in Kentucky in 2007, according to national figures.
Brooks, of Kentucky Youth Advocates, said the census numbers on poverty are cause for alarm.
"Despite several years of economic growth, Kentucky's families actually lost ground in reducing poverty, improving health coverage or increasing family incomes," Brooks said.
"Now that the economy has weakened, things are likely to get worse ... for the most vulnerable of Kentuckians," he said.
More children younger than 18 were living in poverty in 2007, 23.4 percent, compared with 22.3 percent in 2006.
Kentucky's median household income decreased from $40,489 in 2006 to $40,267 in 2007.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Cleveland has second highest poverty rank in US
from Business Week
If you are curious, Detroit was number one. - Kale
By M.R. KROPKO
Cleveland was the nation's second most impoverished big city in 2007, according to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey released Tuesday.
The northeast Ohio city along Lake Erie is among U.S. cities which have suffered from job losses and a rising tide of foreclosures.
The data indicates Ohio has pockets of poverty statewide. Ohio's poverty rate was 13.1 percent, ranking it 19th among states nationally and tied with South Dakota, just a tenth of a percentage point above the national average.
Cleveland, with an estimated 29.5 percent of its population in poverty, is ranked only behind Detroit among cities with 250,000 or more people. Detroit had an estimated 33.8 percent in poverty last year.
The Census data put Cleveland's total up 2.5 percentage points from last year's report. A year ago, the American Community Survey using 2006 data ranked Cleveland as the fourth most impoverished city, with a 27 percent poverty rate.
Two of the three years before that, Cleveland had the highest poverty ranking in the nation.
In the Census data released Tuesday, Cincinnati ranked 10th nationally, with an estimated 23.5 percent of its population in poverty. In last year's report, Cincinnati's estimated poverty rate was 27.8 percent, or third highest nationally among big cities.
Two smaller Ohio cities, Youngstown and Dayton, were estimated to have poverty rates higher than Cleveland's but less that Detroit's.
According to the Census estimates, Youngstown's poverty rate in 2007 was 32.6 percent and Dayton's was 30.2 percent.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
If you are curious, Detroit was number one. - Kale
By M.R. KROPKO
Cleveland was the nation's second most impoverished big city in 2007, according to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey released Tuesday.
The northeast Ohio city along Lake Erie is among U.S. cities which have suffered from job losses and a rising tide of foreclosures.
The data indicates Ohio has pockets of poverty statewide. Ohio's poverty rate was 13.1 percent, ranking it 19th among states nationally and tied with South Dakota, just a tenth of a percentage point above the national average.
Cleveland, with an estimated 29.5 percent of its population in poverty, is ranked only behind Detroit among cities with 250,000 or more people. Detroit had an estimated 33.8 percent in poverty last year.
The Census data put Cleveland's total up 2.5 percentage points from last year's report. A year ago, the American Community Survey using 2006 data ranked Cleveland as the fourth most impoverished city, with a 27 percent poverty rate.
Two of the three years before that, Cleveland had the highest poverty ranking in the nation.
In the Census data released Tuesday, Cincinnati ranked 10th nationally, with an estimated 23.5 percent of its population in poverty. In last year's report, Cincinnati's estimated poverty rate was 27.8 percent, or third highest nationally among big cities.
Two smaller Ohio cities, Youngstown and Dayton, were estimated to have poverty rates higher than Cleveland's but less that Detroit's.
According to the Census estimates, Youngstown's poverty rate in 2007 was 32.6 percent and Dayton's was 30.2 percent.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
World poverty 'more widespread'
from the BBC
The World Bank issued a statement yesterday saying the global poverty may be worse than previously thought.
By Steve Schifferes
It has revised its previous estimate and now says that 1.4 billion people live in poverty, based on a new poverty line of $1.25 per day.
This is substantially more than its earlier estimate of 985 million people living in poverty in 2004.
The Bank has also revised upwards the number it said were poor in 1981, from 1.5 billion to 1.9 billion.
The new estimates suggest that poverty is both more persistent, and has fallen less sharply, than previously thought.
However, given the increase in world population, the poverty rate has still fallen from 50% to 25% over the past 25 years.
"This is pretty grim analysis coming from the World Bank," said Elizabeth Stuart, senior policy advisor at Oxfam.
"The urgency to act has never been greater, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where half the population of the continent lives in extreme poverty, a figure that hasn't changed for over 25 years."
Regional differences
The new figures confirm that Africa has been the least successful region of the world in reducing poverty.
The number of poor people in Africa doubled between 1981 and 2005 from 200 million to 380 million, and the depth of poverty is greater as well, with the average poor person living on just 70 cents per day.
The poverty rate is unchanged at 50% since 1981.
But in absolute numbers, it is South Asia which has the most poor people, with 595 million, of which 455 million live in India.
The poverty rate, however, has fallen from 60% to 40%.
China has been most successful in reducing poverty, with the numbers falling by more than 600 million, from 835 million in 1981 to 207 million in 2005.
The poverty rate in China has plummeted from 85% to 15.9%, with the biggest part of that drop coming in the past 15 years, when China opened up to Western investment and its coastal regions boomed.
In fact, in absolute terms, China accounts for nearly all the world's reduction in poverty. In percentage terms, world poverty excluding China fell from 40% to 30% over the past 25 years.
Millennium goals
The new figures still suggest that the world will reach its millennium development goal of halving the 1990 level of poverty by 2015, according to World Bank chief economist Justin Lin.
"Poverty has fallen by about 1% per year since 1981," he said.
"However the sobering news that poverty is more pervasive than we thought means we must redouble our efforts."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
The World Bank issued a statement yesterday saying the global poverty may be worse than previously thought.
By Steve Schifferes
It has revised its previous estimate and now says that 1.4 billion people live in poverty, based on a new poverty line of $1.25 per day.
This is substantially more than its earlier estimate of 985 million people living in poverty in 2004.
The Bank has also revised upwards the number it said were poor in 1981, from 1.5 billion to 1.9 billion.
The new estimates suggest that poverty is both more persistent, and has fallen less sharply, than previously thought.
However, given the increase in world population, the poverty rate has still fallen from 50% to 25% over the past 25 years.
"This is pretty grim analysis coming from the World Bank," said Elizabeth Stuart, senior policy advisor at Oxfam.
"The urgency to act has never been greater, especially in sub-Saharan Africa where half the population of the continent lives in extreme poverty, a figure that hasn't changed for over 25 years."
Regional differences
The new figures confirm that Africa has been the least successful region of the world in reducing poverty.
The number of poor people in Africa doubled between 1981 and 2005 from 200 million to 380 million, and the depth of poverty is greater as well, with the average poor person living on just 70 cents per day.
The poverty rate is unchanged at 50% since 1981.
But in absolute numbers, it is South Asia which has the most poor people, with 595 million, of which 455 million live in India.
The poverty rate, however, has fallen from 60% to 40%.
China has been most successful in reducing poverty, with the numbers falling by more than 600 million, from 835 million in 1981 to 207 million in 2005.
The poverty rate in China has plummeted from 85% to 15.9%, with the biggest part of that drop coming in the past 15 years, when China opened up to Western investment and its coastal regions boomed.
In fact, in absolute terms, China accounts for nearly all the world's reduction in poverty. In percentage terms, world poverty excluding China fell from 40% to 30% over the past 25 years.
Millennium goals
The new figures still suggest that the world will reach its millennium development goal of halving the 1990 level of poverty by 2015, according to World Bank chief economist Justin Lin.
"Poverty has fallen by about 1% per year since 1981," he said.
"However the sobering news that poverty is more pervasive than we thought means we must redouble our efforts."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Incomes fall in Michigan, number in poverty rises
from the Galveston Daily News
While most states had steady poverty rates, the news wasn't good for our home state of Michigan. - Kale
By JOHN FLESHER
TRAVERSE CITY -- Government data painted a bleak economic picture for Michigan, where the auto industry's downward plunge has rippled across the state.
Michigan was the only state where poverty rose last year, as well as the only one where incomes fell, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics released Tuesday that illustrate the uniqueness of the state's economic swoon.
"It's really a depressing picture," said Amy Rynell, director of the Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty, an advocacy group based in Chicago.
Michigan's poverty rate was 14 percent, up from 13.5 percent in 2006 and more than a full percentage point above the national rate, which was virtually unchanged during the same period. The state's rate has grown steadily since 2000, when it was just above 10 percent. The number of people in poverty increased by 45,000 during 2006-07.
The 2007 median income in Michigan was $47,950, down 1.2 percent or $596 from the 2006 median of $48,546. The state's nationwide ranking slid from 24th to 27th.
Nationwide, the median household income rose to $50,233, a modest increase of $665 from the previous year, although it was the third consecutive annual rise. While the overall poverty rate held steady at 12.5 percent, Latinos, children and the foreign-born - demographic categories that overlap considerably - experienced significant increases.
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm has emphasized diversifying the state's economy, promoting growth of industries such as defense contracting, alternative energy and film production. The Democratic governor and lawmakers this year boosted tax incentives for businesses adding jobs.
Last week, Granholm announced 20 new business expansions or relocations expected to bring $658 million in new investment to the state.
Whether such improvements will be enough to offset continued gloomy news from the automotive sector remains to be seen. But the 2007 statistics, reported in the Census Bureau's annual American Community Survey, offer little reason for optimism.
They also showed Michigan's rate of "extreme poverty" - a yearly income of less than half the poverty threshold, or $10,325 for a family of four - jumped from 6 percent in 2006 to 6.5 percent last year. Eight years ago, the rate was 4.8 percent.
"We know that people with incomes that low are living in unsafe conditions," Rynell said. "Children probably are not getting enough healthy food to eat. People may be living in shelters. Seniors are likely skipping dosages of medication to make ends meet."
The child poverty rate increased from 17.8 percent to 19 percent between 2006-07, while the national rate stood at 17.6 percent.
Detroit's poverty rate of 33.8 percent was highest among cities of 250,000 or more, while Kalamazoo and Flint tied for fifth among cities of 65,000 to 249,999 people. Both had rates of 35.5 percent.
"We know that many people are struggling harder and harder just to get by, and more vulnerable people are turning to public services for help," said Sharon Parks, president and CEO of the Michigan League for Human Services. "This reinforces the need to strengthen our strained safety net, and policymakers must pay attention to these startling figures."
In another report released Tuesday, the Census Bureau said 11 percent of Michigan residents had no health insurance coverage in 2007 - up from 10.4 percent in 2006 and 9.1 percent at the beginning of the decade.
But that was one category in which Michigan fared better than most other states. The national average of uninsured citizens was 15.5 percent, and Michigan ranked 11th best nationally in providing health coverage.
More than 18 percent of Michigan residents get some type of assistance through the state Department of Human Services, said Sheryl Thompson, acting director of outstate operations.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
While most states had steady poverty rates, the news wasn't good for our home state of Michigan. - Kale
By JOHN FLESHER
TRAVERSE CITY -- Government data painted a bleak economic picture for Michigan, where the auto industry's downward plunge has rippled across the state.
Michigan was the only state where poverty rose last year, as well as the only one where incomes fell, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics released Tuesday that illustrate the uniqueness of the state's economic swoon.
"It's really a depressing picture," said Amy Rynell, director of the Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty, an advocacy group based in Chicago.
Michigan's poverty rate was 14 percent, up from 13.5 percent in 2006 and more than a full percentage point above the national rate, which was virtually unchanged during the same period. The state's rate has grown steadily since 2000, when it was just above 10 percent. The number of people in poverty increased by 45,000 during 2006-07.
The 2007 median income in Michigan was $47,950, down 1.2 percent or $596 from the 2006 median of $48,546. The state's nationwide ranking slid from 24th to 27th.
Nationwide, the median household income rose to $50,233, a modest increase of $665 from the previous year, although it was the third consecutive annual rise. While the overall poverty rate held steady at 12.5 percent, Latinos, children and the foreign-born - demographic categories that overlap considerably - experienced significant increases.
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm has emphasized diversifying the state's economy, promoting growth of industries such as defense contracting, alternative energy and film production. The Democratic governor and lawmakers this year boosted tax incentives for businesses adding jobs.
Last week, Granholm announced 20 new business expansions or relocations expected to bring $658 million in new investment to the state.
Whether such improvements will be enough to offset continued gloomy news from the automotive sector remains to be seen. But the 2007 statistics, reported in the Census Bureau's annual American Community Survey, offer little reason for optimism.
They also showed Michigan's rate of "extreme poverty" - a yearly income of less than half the poverty threshold, or $10,325 for a family of four - jumped from 6 percent in 2006 to 6.5 percent last year. Eight years ago, the rate was 4.8 percent.
"We know that people with incomes that low are living in unsafe conditions," Rynell said. "Children probably are not getting enough healthy food to eat. People may be living in shelters. Seniors are likely skipping dosages of medication to make ends meet."
The child poverty rate increased from 17.8 percent to 19 percent between 2006-07, while the national rate stood at 17.6 percent.
Detroit's poverty rate of 33.8 percent was highest among cities of 250,000 or more, while Kalamazoo and Flint tied for fifth among cities of 65,000 to 249,999 people. Both had rates of 35.5 percent.
"We know that many people are struggling harder and harder just to get by, and more vulnerable people are turning to public services for help," said Sharon Parks, president and CEO of the Michigan League for Human Services. "This reinforces the need to strengthen our strained safety net, and policymakers must pay attention to these startling figures."
In another report released Tuesday, the Census Bureau said 11 percent of Michigan residents had no health insurance coverage in 2007 - up from 10.4 percent in 2006 and 9.1 percent at the beginning of the decade.
But that was one category in which Michigan fared better than most other states. The national average of uninsured citizens was 15.5 percent, and Michigan ranked 11th best nationally in providing health coverage.
More than 18 percent of Michigan residents get some type of assistance through the state Department of Human Services, said Sheryl Thompson, acting director of outstate operations.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
557,000 Oklahomans lived in poverty last year
from the Boston Globe
Here are the census stats in regards to the state of Oklahoma. - Kale
By Justin Juozapavicius,
TULSA, Okla. --Nearly one in six Oklahomans lived in poverty last year, even as the state's economy continued to do well, according to figures released Tuesday from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
The survey, which provides statistics on income, earnings and housing, among others, found that 557,000 Oklahomans -- 15.9 percent -- were in poverty in 2007, slightly lower than the 17 percent of residents who lived in poverty in 2006.
Twelve states, including Oklahoma, all had lower poverty rates in the 2007 survey than in 2006.
Even with the slight improvement, the survey found that Oklahoma's poverty rate still remained above the national average of 13 percent in 2007.
Nationally, the survey estimated more than 38 million Americans lived in poverty last year. New Hampshire had the lowest poverty rate in the nation with 7.1 percent, while Mississippi had the highest with 20.6 percent.
The situation in Oklahoma, where continued expansion of the oil and gas industry helped personal income grow by nearly 1 percent in the first quarter of 2008, is a "classic glass half-full, half-empty story," said David Blatt, director of policy for the Oklahoma Policy Institute.
"We have to remember that there is a substantial part of the population that has not enjoyed the boom," Blatt said. "People frequently say a rising tide lifts all boats. We see here with these numbers that a substantial part of the population has been left off the boat and left, frankly, floundering in the water."
Those hit the hardest by poverty in Oklahoma include children, people without high school degrees, ethnic minorities and single-parent families, Blatt said.
The community survey also found that the state's median household income was $41,567 in 2007, an increase of $1,802 from the year before. The figure is still $9,173 below the national median.
Another survey released by the bureau Tuesday, along with data from Oklahoma's Insurance Department, found that more than 661,000, or more than 18 percent, of Oklahomans did not have health insurance from 2006-2007. Oklahoma also has the fifth-highest uninsured rate in the U.S. for residents ages 19-64.
Kim Holland, the state's insurance commissioner, described the situation here as one that's "not gotten much worse or gotten much better," and added that funding for programs remains the challenge.
"How do we generate more revenue that can be dedicated to expanding access for health insurance?" Holland said. "If we could finance what the Legislature has approved, we could go from fifth in the nation to last in the nation in terms of uninsured. We just have to find the funding mechanism."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Here are the census stats in regards to the state of Oklahoma. - Kale
By Justin Juozapavicius,
TULSA, Okla. --Nearly one in six Oklahomans lived in poverty last year, even as the state's economy continued to do well, according to figures released Tuesday from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
The survey, which provides statistics on income, earnings and housing, among others, found that 557,000 Oklahomans -- 15.9 percent -- were in poverty in 2007, slightly lower than the 17 percent of residents who lived in poverty in 2006.
Twelve states, including Oklahoma, all had lower poverty rates in the 2007 survey than in 2006.
Even with the slight improvement, the survey found that Oklahoma's poverty rate still remained above the national average of 13 percent in 2007.
Nationally, the survey estimated more than 38 million Americans lived in poverty last year. New Hampshire had the lowest poverty rate in the nation with 7.1 percent, while Mississippi had the highest with 20.6 percent.
The situation in Oklahoma, where continued expansion of the oil and gas industry helped personal income grow by nearly 1 percent in the first quarter of 2008, is a "classic glass half-full, half-empty story," said David Blatt, director of policy for the Oklahoma Policy Institute.
"We have to remember that there is a substantial part of the population that has not enjoyed the boom," Blatt said. "People frequently say a rising tide lifts all boats. We see here with these numbers that a substantial part of the population has been left off the boat and left, frankly, floundering in the water."
Those hit the hardest by poverty in Oklahoma include children, people without high school degrees, ethnic minorities and single-parent families, Blatt said.
The community survey also found that the state's median household income was $41,567 in 2007, an increase of $1,802 from the year before. The figure is still $9,173 below the national median.
Another survey released by the bureau Tuesday, along with data from Oklahoma's Insurance Department, found that more than 661,000, or more than 18 percent, of Oklahomans did not have health insurance from 2006-2007. Oklahoma also has the fifth-highest uninsured rate in the U.S. for residents ages 19-64.
Kim Holland, the state's insurance commissioner, described the situation here as one that's "not gotten much worse or gotten much better," and added that funding for programs remains the challenge.
"How do we generate more revenue that can be dedicated to expanding access for health insurance?" Holland said. "If we could finance what the Legislature has approved, we could go from fifth in the nation to last in the nation in terms of uninsured. We just have to find the funding mechanism."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
African nations gear up to raise rice production
from Commodity Online
A group of NGO's are trying to double rice production in Africa in 10 years. Here are details on the efforts. - Kale
By Savitri Mohapatra
Everyone to the farm,” is the new decree of President Wade of Senegal—a country that has seen massive riots in the last few months, when thousands of citizens carrying empty rice sacks on their heads marched in protest against soaring rice prices. The President has just unveiled an ambitious agricultural plan called the Great Offensive for Food and Abundance (GOANA), which aims to make Senegal self-sufficient in food staples, especially rice.
GOANA’s target is to produce in the next season 500,000 tons of rice—2.5 times more than the current production. Senegal, where rice-fish called cebbu jen is the most popular daily dish, consumes about 800,000 tons of rice per year and nearly 80% of this is imported at a cost of more than 100 billion CFA francs (US$247 million).
Some Senegalese call this the “tyranny of rice” because of its huge negative impact on the national economy. President Wade has said that GOANA will help free Senegal from this tyranny, urging farmers to grow more rice (and even asking his ministers and government officials to farm at least 20 hectares each).
The government has earmarked 750 billion CFA francs ($1.85 billion) for boosting national rice production. The money will be used to improve irrigation facilities and farmers’ access to seed, fertilizer, and equipment.
Similar announcements have been made by governments of several African countries in the wake of the rice crisis—news that comes as a relief to local rice farmers. “We think that the crisis has forced our government to pay attention to local rice production, which has been neglected for so long,” says Abdoulaye Ouédraogo, a rice farmer from Burkina Faso, which is now investing massively in agriculture.
He added that if the government had listened to the farmers earlier, the country would not have been in such a crisis, referring to food riots that recently broke out in the cities. As expected, in contrast to urban consumers, African farmers are happy about the high price of rice. “I have never seen this kind of price hike in 30 years,” says Abdoulaye. “Just a few months ago, 1 kilogram of paddy [unhulled] rice was selling here for 110 CFA francs [$0.27] and now it is 225 CFA francs [$0.56].” In neighboring Mali, the grain is so much in the limelight today that some citizens joke the country will soon have a Minister of Rice.
In April 2008, the government launched an Initiative riz (rice initiative) as “a structural response to the rice crisis.”
The aim of this program is to double Mali’s annual milled rice production in 2008-09 to 1 million tons, which will not only meet domestic demand but also provide a surplus of 100,000 tons for export. In addition, Prime Minister Modibo Sidibé is placing considerable importance on the national rice research program. “There is no agricultural development without research,” he said. According to the Africa RiceCenter (WARDA), the rice crisis offers a big opportunity for Africa to use its latent potential for production and break from decades of policy bias against agriculture.
Except for Egypt, Africa is a net importer of rice with Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire ranking among the top 10 importers of rice in the world. With nearly 40% of the continent’s total rice consumption coming from the international market, African national rice economies are more exposed to unpredictable external supply and price shocks than those of other continents.
Africa is especially vulnerable because of the high prevalence of poverty and food insecurity. “Africa faces not only problems of affordability of rice but also of availability in the international market because of the rice export bans by several countries,” says WARDA Director General Papa Abdoulaye Seck. “Since 2006, WARDA has been systematically alerting the governments of its member states to a looming rice crisis in Africa.”
According to Dr. Seck, the best option for Africa to manage the crisis is to combine emergency responses in the short term with measures that favor sustainable expansion of the continent’s rice supply in the longer term. Short-term measures include reduction of customs duties and taxes on imported rice and setting up of mechanisms to avoid speculation in rice markets. At the same time, governments must avoid undermining incentives for domestic rice production.
In the medium and long term, taxes on all critical inputs, cost saving agricultural machinery and equipment, and post harvest technologies need to be reduced. Governments should also facilitate access to credit for farmers, expand rice areas under irrigation, and improve rural infrastructure. There also needs to be concerted investment in regional research capacity to support the development of rice varieties resistant to major pests and diseases and sufficiently robust to withstand drought and climate change induced environmental shocks.
To assist the African countries that have been severely hit by soaring prices, an Emergency Rice Initiative for Africa was launched in June 2008 by WARDA, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO), IFDC (an international center for soil fertility and agricultural development), Catholic Relief Services, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. Urgent assistance will be provided to 11 pilot countries in four major areas: seed, fertilizer, best-bet technologies, and postharvest and marketing. WARDA, the International Rice Research Institute, FAO, and Sasakawa Global 2000 will play a key role in enhancing Africa’s rice research capacity and facilitating access to important rice information and knowledge.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A group of NGO's are trying to double rice production in Africa in 10 years. Here are details on the efforts. - Kale
By Savitri Mohapatra
Everyone to the farm,” is the new decree of President Wade of Senegal—a country that has seen massive riots in the last few months, when thousands of citizens carrying empty rice sacks on their heads marched in protest against soaring rice prices. The President has just unveiled an ambitious agricultural plan called the Great Offensive for Food and Abundance (GOANA), which aims to make Senegal self-sufficient in food staples, especially rice.
GOANA’s target is to produce in the next season 500,000 tons of rice—2.5 times more than the current production. Senegal, where rice-fish called cebbu jen is the most popular daily dish, consumes about 800,000 tons of rice per year and nearly 80% of this is imported at a cost of more than 100 billion CFA francs (US$247 million).
Some Senegalese call this the “tyranny of rice” because of its huge negative impact on the national economy. President Wade has said that GOANA will help free Senegal from this tyranny, urging farmers to grow more rice (and even asking his ministers and government officials to farm at least 20 hectares each).
The government has earmarked 750 billion CFA francs ($1.85 billion) for boosting national rice production. The money will be used to improve irrigation facilities and farmers’ access to seed, fertilizer, and equipment.
Similar announcements have been made by governments of several African countries in the wake of the rice crisis—news that comes as a relief to local rice farmers. “We think that the crisis has forced our government to pay attention to local rice production, which has been neglected for so long,” says Abdoulaye Ouédraogo, a rice farmer from Burkina Faso, which is now investing massively in agriculture.
He added that if the government had listened to the farmers earlier, the country would not have been in such a crisis, referring to food riots that recently broke out in the cities. As expected, in contrast to urban consumers, African farmers are happy about the high price of rice. “I have never seen this kind of price hike in 30 years,” says Abdoulaye. “Just a few months ago, 1 kilogram of paddy [unhulled] rice was selling here for 110 CFA francs [$0.27] and now it is 225 CFA francs [$0.56].” In neighboring Mali, the grain is so much in the limelight today that some citizens joke the country will soon have a Minister of Rice.
In April 2008, the government launched an Initiative riz (rice initiative) as “a structural response to the rice crisis.”
The aim of this program is to double Mali’s annual milled rice production in 2008-09 to 1 million tons, which will not only meet domestic demand but also provide a surplus of 100,000 tons for export. In addition, Prime Minister Modibo Sidibé is placing considerable importance on the national rice research program. “There is no agricultural development without research,” he said. According to the Africa RiceCenter (WARDA), the rice crisis offers a big opportunity for Africa to use its latent potential for production and break from decades of policy bias against agriculture.
Except for Egypt, Africa is a net importer of rice with Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire ranking among the top 10 importers of rice in the world. With nearly 40% of the continent’s total rice consumption coming from the international market, African national rice economies are more exposed to unpredictable external supply and price shocks than those of other continents.
Africa is especially vulnerable because of the high prevalence of poverty and food insecurity. “Africa faces not only problems of affordability of rice but also of availability in the international market because of the rice export bans by several countries,” says WARDA Director General Papa Abdoulaye Seck. “Since 2006, WARDA has been systematically alerting the governments of its member states to a looming rice crisis in Africa.”
According to Dr. Seck, the best option for Africa to manage the crisis is to combine emergency responses in the short term with measures that favor sustainable expansion of the continent’s rice supply in the longer term. Short-term measures include reduction of customs duties and taxes on imported rice and setting up of mechanisms to avoid speculation in rice markets. At the same time, governments must avoid undermining incentives for domestic rice production.
In the medium and long term, taxes on all critical inputs, cost saving agricultural machinery and equipment, and post harvest technologies need to be reduced. Governments should also facilitate access to credit for farmers, expand rice areas under irrigation, and improve rural infrastructure. There also needs to be concerted investment in regional research capacity to support the development of rice varieties resistant to major pests and diseases and sufficiently robust to withstand drought and climate change induced environmental shocks.
To assist the African countries that have been severely hit by soaring prices, an Emergency Rice Initiative for Africa was launched in June 2008 by WARDA, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(FAO), IFDC (an international center for soil fertility and agricultural development), Catholic Relief Services, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. Urgent assistance will be provided to 11 pilot countries in four major areas: seed, fertilizer, best-bet technologies, and postharvest and marketing. WARDA, the International Rice Research Institute, FAO, and Sasakawa Global 2000 will play a key role in enhancing Africa’s rice research capacity and facilitating access to important rice information and knowledge.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
U.S. uninsured numbers drop, poverty flat
from Reuters
Here are some of the raw stats and facts from the census bureau. - Kale
The U.S. Census Bureau released 2007 figures on Tuesday showing fewer Americans went without health insurance and the official poverty rate remained steady.
Following are some key numbers issued by the agency.
HEALTH INSURANCE
-- A total of 45.7 million or 15.3 percent of people lacked public or private health insurance in 2007, down from from 47 million or 15.8 percent in 2006.
-- In 2007, 27.8 percent of people had government insurance such as Medicare or Medicaid, up from 27 percent in 2006, while 67.5 percent had private health plans, down from 67.9 percent a year earlier.
POVERTY RATE
-- In 2007, 37.3 million people were defined as living in poverty, up from 36.5 million in 2006, but the official poverty rate was 12.5 percent, unchanged from 2006. Eighteen percent of children (13.3 million) were impoverished in 2007, up from 17.4 percent (12.8 million) in 2006.
-- The poverty threshold in 2007 was $21,203 for a family of four; for a family of three, $16,530; for a family of two, $13,540; and for individuals $10,590.
-- Among large cities, Detroit had the highest poverty rate (33.8 percent). Among the 50 states, poverty rates ranged from 7.1 percent in New Hampshire to 20.6 percent in Mississippi.
-- Among foreign-born people, the poverty rate increased to 16.5 percent from 15.2 percent in 2006. Of U.S.-born people, 11.9 percent were in poverty in 2007, unchanged from 2006.
HOUSEHOLD INCOME
-- Real median household income gained 1.3 percent between 2006 and 2007, from $49,568 to $50,233. It rose in the Midwest ($50,277) and the South ($46,186) from 2006 to 2007, fell in the Northeast ($52,274) and was steady in the West ($54,138).
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Here are some of the raw stats and facts from the census bureau. - Kale
The U.S. Census Bureau released 2007 figures on Tuesday showing fewer Americans went without health insurance and the official poverty rate remained steady.
Following are some key numbers issued by the agency.
HEALTH INSURANCE
-- A total of 45.7 million or 15.3 percent of people lacked public or private health insurance in 2007, down from from 47 million or 15.8 percent in 2006.
-- In 2007, 27.8 percent of people had government insurance such as Medicare or Medicaid, up from 27 percent in 2006, while 67.5 percent had private health plans, down from 67.9 percent a year earlier.
POVERTY RATE
-- In 2007, 37.3 million people were defined as living in poverty, up from 36.5 million in 2006, but the official poverty rate was 12.5 percent, unchanged from 2006. Eighteen percent of children (13.3 million) were impoverished in 2007, up from 17.4 percent (12.8 million) in 2006.
-- The poverty threshold in 2007 was $21,203 for a family of four; for a family of three, $16,530; for a family of two, $13,540; and for individuals $10,590.
-- Among large cities, Detroit had the highest poverty rate (33.8 percent). Among the 50 states, poverty rates ranged from 7.1 percent in New Hampshire to 20.6 percent in Mississippi.
-- Among foreign-born people, the poverty rate increased to 16.5 percent from 15.2 percent in 2006. Of U.S.-born people, 11.9 percent were in poverty in 2007, unchanged from 2006.
HOUSEHOLD INCOME
-- Real median household income gained 1.3 percent between 2006 and 2007, from $49,568 to $50,233. It rose in the Midwest ($50,277) and the South ($46,186) from 2006 to 2007, fell in the Northeast ($52,274) and was steady in the West ($54,138).
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Facts on child poverty in the UK
from Wales Online
Some stats and figures on child poverty in the UK. - Kale
by Jamie Robins, Gwent Gazette
The widely accepted definition of poverty is having an income which is less than 60% of the national average.
For example, in 2005/06 this was £182 per week for a single adult with two children under the age of 14 and £260 per week for a couple with two children under the age of 14.
Poverty shapes children's development. Before reaching his or her second birthday, a child from a poorer family is already more likely to show a lower level of attainment than a child from a better-off family.
By the age of six, a less able child from a rich family is likely to have overtaken an able child born into a poor family.
Children up to 14-years-old from unskilled families are five times more likely to die in an accident than children from professional families, and 15 times more likely to die in a fire at home.
Children growing up in poverty are more likely to leave school at 16 with fewer qualifications.
As many as 2% of couples, and 8% of lone parents, cannot afford two pairs of shoes for each child.
Poverty affects children’s health throughout their lives. When they go on to have children of their own, these effects are passed to the next generation.
Poor children are born too small; birth weight is on average 130 grams lower in children from higher social classes.
Low birth weight is closely associated with infant death and chronic diseases in later life.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Some stats and figures on child poverty in the UK. - Kale
by Jamie Robins, Gwent Gazette
The widely accepted definition of poverty is having an income which is less than 60% of the national average.
For example, in 2005/06 this was £182 per week for a single adult with two children under the age of 14 and £260 per week for a couple with two children under the age of 14.
Poverty shapes children's development. Before reaching his or her second birthday, a child from a poorer family is already more likely to show a lower level of attainment than a child from a better-off family.
By the age of six, a less able child from a rich family is likely to have overtaken an able child born into a poor family.
Children up to 14-years-old from unskilled families are five times more likely to die in an accident than children from professional families, and 15 times more likely to die in a fire at home.
Children growing up in poverty are more likely to leave school at 16 with fewer qualifications.
As many as 2% of couples, and 8% of lone parents, cannot afford two pairs of shoes for each child.
Poverty affects children’s health throughout their lives. When they go on to have children of their own, these effects are passed to the next generation.
Poor children are born too small; birth weight is on average 130 grams lower in children from higher social classes.
Low birth weight is closely associated with infant death and chronic diseases in later life.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Growing our own food - South Africa
from the Mail and Guardian
This article profiles new food co-operatives in South Africa that are being used to combat rising food prices. - Kale
by NOSIMILO NDLOVU
Salaminah Motsoagae (23) is a single mother who lives in an informal settlement in Orange Farm, Gauteng. She lives with her mother, who is a domestic worker and the only income earner in the family.
Rising food prices have put a financial strain on Motsoagae's family, leaving them with less money than before to buy food. "We are down to two meals a day," she says.
"Things are especially tough on people in my community who are HIV-positive because they must eat a nutritional meal each time they have to take their antiretrovirals (ARVs). Most of the time there just isn't enough for them to eat and they become very ill. Our government needs a wake-up call because we cannot continue to live like this."
Motsoagae and her family are among the estimated 1,7-billion people worldwide lacking basic food security as prices soar.
It was against this background that a public policy debate was organised recently ahead of the Southern African Development Community summit in Johannesburg to raise awareness on the extent of the food crisis and explore policy options for urgent action.
Speaking at the panel discussion on food security in Southern Africa, Professor Sam Moyo says: "Food security is not about the physical availability or scarcity of food at the national and household level, but also the qualitative degree and temporality of access in relation to nourishment, social resilience and vulnerability."
Moyo says domestic food production and consumption per capita have declined and led to persistent chronic food insecurity among at least 40% of the regional African population. "These are extremely poor, both as a cause and effect of food insecurity."
Jemina Mkhize, a pensioner from eMpendle, a small rural area in KwaZulu-Natal, says she believes the government should support small-scale farmers and improve rural development as one of the main solutions to the food crisis. "I have a fairly big yard and my house is not that big, so I am left with quite a lot of space to grow food to feed my family. I have spinach, potatoes, cabbages and pumpkin growing in my own backyard," she says with pride.
"I couldn't afford to take a bus to town every weekend to buy food -- the transport was getting expensive, the food was getting expensive. I could see starvation getting closer for my grandchildren, so I decided to spend my money buying seeds to plant the food myself. Now I not only feed my own family, but other people in my community who go hungry because they cannot afford the high-priced food."
Mkhize says the people in her community are working together to secure land they can use to farm food to feed the community, adding that more and more people are opening their gates to allow community members to use their land to plant vegetables.
"This poverty is contributing to more people getting sick. People are weak and falling ill easily, therefore not being able to work at a time when they need all the money they can get to feed their families. If the government wants to solve [the problems of] crime, unemployment, HIV/Aids and TB, it must look at solving the food crisis."
Beatrice Mkwaila of the National Smallholder Farmers' Association of Malawi, says the country's economy is almost entirely dependent on agriculture, which provides 85% of the population with its livelihood. She says while the estate sector is a significant contributor to the economic picture it is not the largest, "for in Malawi the largest producers are the smallest".
Smallholders constitute 90% of Malawi's farmers, but they face a range of challenges including poor infrastructure, lack of resources, lack of access to value-adding technologies, dependency on rain-fed agriculture, increasing costs of production and unreliable produce markets.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This article profiles new food co-operatives in South Africa that are being used to combat rising food prices. - Kale
by NOSIMILO NDLOVU
Salaminah Motsoagae (23) is a single mother who lives in an informal settlement in Orange Farm, Gauteng. She lives with her mother, who is a domestic worker and the only income earner in the family.
Rising food prices have put a financial strain on Motsoagae's family, leaving them with less money than before to buy food. "We are down to two meals a day," she says.
"Things are especially tough on people in my community who are HIV-positive because they must eat a nutritional meal each time they have to take their antiretrovirals (ARVs). Most of the time there just isn't enough for them to eat and they become very ill. Our government needs a wake-up call because we cannot continue to live like this."
Motsoagae and her family are among the estimated 1,7-billion people worldwide lacking basic food security as prices soar.
It was against this background that a public policy debate was organised recently ahead of the Southern African Development Community summit in Johannesburg to raise awareness on the extent of the food crisis and explore policy options for urgent action.
Speaking at the panel discussion on food security in Southern Africa, Professor Sam Moyo says: "Food security is not about the physical availability or scarcity of food at the national and household level, but also the qualitative degree and temporality of access in relation to nourishment, social resilience and vulnerability."
Moyo says domestic food production and consumption per capita have declined and led to persistent chronic food insecurity among at least 40% of the regional African population. "These are extremely poor, both as a cause and effect of food insecurity."
Jemina Mkhize, a pensioner from eMpendle, a small rural area in KwaZulu-Natal, says she believes the government should support small-scale farmers and improve rural development as one of the main solutions to the food crisis. "I have a fairly big yard and my house is not that big, so I am left with quite a lot of space to grow food to feed my family. I have spinach, potatoes, cabbages and pumpkin growing in my own backyard," she says with pride.
"I couldn't afford to take a bus to town every weekend to buy food -- the transport was getting expensive, the food was getting expensive. I could see starvation getting closer for my grandchildren, so I decided to spend my money buying seeds to plant the food myself. Now I not only feed my own family, but other people in my community who go hungry because they cannot afford the high-priced food."
Mkhize says the people in her community are working together to secure land they can use to farm food to feed the community, adding that more and more people are opening their gates to allow community members to use their land to plant vegetables.
"This poverty is contributing to more people getting sick. People are weak and falling ill easily, therefore not being able to work at a time when they need all the money they can get to feed their families. If the government wants to solve [the problems of] crime, unemployment, HIV/Aids and TB, it must look at solving the food crisis."
Beatrice Mkwaila of the National Smallholder Farmers' Association of Malawi, says the country's economy is almost entirely dependent on agriculture, which provides 85% of the population with its livelihood. She says while the estate sector is a significant contributor to the economic picture it is not the largest, "for in Malawi the largest producers are the smallest".
Smallholders constitute 90% of Malawi's farmers, but they face a range of challenges including poor infrastructure, lack of resources, lack of access to value-adding technologies, dependency on rain-fed agriculture, increasing costs of production and unreliable produce markets.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
More people in Nebraska, Iowa lacking health insurance
from the Omaha World Herald
The perspective from the farm belt. The numbers with health insurance dropped by 1 million since the Bush administration began. - Kale
BY CINDY GONZALEZ
The percentage of people in Nebraska and Iowa lacking health insurance is rising, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday.
The figures compare the 2006-2007 average with the average of 2004-2005.
The census figures show that 12.8 percent of Nebraskans were without health insurance coverage in the most current two years, up from 10.5 percent.
In Iowa, the percentage of uninsured went from 8.7 percent to 9.9 percent.
Nebraska and Iowa were among 10 states that had a rate increase.
Both states' rates of uninsured still falls below the nationwide 2006-2007 average of 15.5 percent. The percentage of Americans without insurance in 2005-2004 was 15.1 percent.
The data are part of a new census report on income, poverty, and health insurance coverage in the United States.
The report says both the number and percentage of people without health insurance nationally decreased in the one year period between 2006 and 2007.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
The perspective from the farm belt. The numbers with health insurance dropped by 1 million since the Bush administration began. - Kale
BY CINDY GONZALEZ
The percentage of people in Nebraska and Iowa lacking health insurance is rising, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday.
The figures compare the 2006-2007 average with the average of 2004-2005.
The census figures show that 12.8 percent of Nebraskans were without health insurance coverage in the most current two years, up from 10.5 percent.
In Iowa, the percentage of uninsured went from 8.7 percent to 9.9 percent.
Nebraska and Iowa were among 10 states that had a rate increase.
Both states' rates of uninsured still falls below the nationwide 2006-2007 average of 15.5 percent. The percentage of Americans without insurance in 2005-2004 was 15.1 percent.
The data are part of a new census report on income, poverty, and health insurance coverage in the United States.
The report says both the number and percentage of people without health insurance nationally decreased in the one year period between 2006 and 2007.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Household income up, poverty level falls in Colorado
from the Denver Business Journal
Here they come! The US census bureau figures generally remain the same for the nation. Here is a look at Colorado.
The median household income of Colorado residents has increased by more than 8 percent since 2004, or four times the national average.
The U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday reported the median income in Colorado has risen to $59,209 (based on a two-year average from 2006-07) from $54,719 (based on a two-year average from 2004-2005).
The 8.2 percent increase is considered statistically significant, according to the Census Bureau.
Nationally, the median income rose by 2 percent during the same period, to $49,901 from $48,934.
During the same period, the percentage of Coloradans -— and Americans as a whole — living in poverty dipped. A family of four earning less than $21,203 a year is considered to be living in poverty.
The percentage of Coloradans in poverty dropped to 9.8 percent during the 2006-07 period from 10.7 percent in 2004-05. Nationally, the poverty figure fell to 12.4 percent from 12.7 percent.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Here they come! The US census bureau figures generally remain the same for the nation. Here is a look at Colorado.
The median household income of Colorado residents has increased by more than 8 percent since 2004, or four times the national average.
The U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday reported the median income in Colorado has risen to $59,209 (based on a two-year average from 2006-07) from $54,719 (based on a two-year average from 2004-2005).
The 8.2 percent increase is considered statistically significant, according to the Census Bureau.
Nationally, the median income rose by 2 percent during the same period, to $49,901 from $48,934.
During the same period, the percentage of Coloradans -— and Americans as a whole — living in poverty dipped. A family of four earning less than $21,203 a year is considered to be living in poverty.
The percentage of Coloradans in poverty dropped to 9.8 percent during the 2006-07 period from 10.7 percent in 2004-05. Nationally, the poverty figure fell to 12.4 percent from 12.7 percent.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Ireland Government plan on child poverty in difficulty
from the Irish Times
Child benefit payments have run into a snag in Ireland. The government would like to set up a tier system based on need but it will be difficult. - Kale
by CARL O'BRIEN,
GOVERNMENT ATTEMPTS to tackle child poverty by identifying families who are most at risk of deprivation have run into major difficulties.
Officials have spent several years trying to plan a new child benefit payment which would be targeted at low-income families and those reliant on social welfare. However, briefing material prepared for Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin shows progress on the issue appears to have stalled due to difficulties in identifying families who are most at risk of poverty.
The documents were obtained by The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Government pledged to introduce such a "second tier" child benefit payment in the programme for government and in the latest partnership agreement.
Latest figures indicate that more than one in 10 children are consistently living in poverty and deprived of essentials such as proper winter clothing.
One potential solution under discussion by senior officials at the Department of Social and Family Affairs involves merging two existing welfare benefits, the child dependent allowance - which is paid to families dependent on welfare - and the family income supplement - which is paid to low-income families where a parent is working. However, officials warned that such a step could pose major administrative problems.
"These two payments are currently made to two distinct and different groups, namely social welfare dependent families and working, low-earning employees with families," the briefing paper says.
"For this reason, amalgamating the two payments is extremely complex and would involve the extension of income testing to a much wider section of families than currently applies."
The briefing papers also acknowledge that the Government think tank, the National Economic and Social Council (NESC), was unable to establish a consensus on a suitable way forward.
Another option examined by officials was to dramatically increase the uptake of the Family Income Supplement from its current level of about 40 per cent to about 100 per cent. This would reduce child poverty by an estimated 3 per cent.
This option, according to officials, was worthy of examination as it would not involve dismantling the current system of child income support measures.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Child benefit payments have run into a snag in Ireland. The government would like to set up a tier system based on need but it will be difficult. - Kale
by CARL O'BRIEN,
GOVERNMENT ATTEMPTS to tackle child poverty by identifying families who are most at risk of deprivation have run into major difficulties.
Officials have spent several years trying to plan a new child benefit payment which would be targeted at low-income families and those reliant on social welfare. However, briefing material prepared for Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin shows progress on the issue appears to have stalled due to difficulties in identifying families who are most at risk of poverty.
The documents were obtained by The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Government pledged to introduce such a "second tier" child benefit payment in the programme for government and in the latest partnership agreement.
Latest figures indicate that more than one in 10 children are consistently living in poverty and deprived of essentials such as proper winter clothing.
One potential solution under discussion by senior officials at the Department of Social and Family Affairs involves merging two existing welfare benefits, the child dependent allowance - which is paid to families dependent on welfare - and the family income supplement - which is paid to low-income families where a parent is working. However, officials warned that such a step could pose major administrative problems.
"These two payments are currently made to two distinct and different groups, namely social welfare dependent families and working, low-earning employees with families," the briefing paper says.
"For this reason, amalgamating the two payments is extremely complex and would involve the extension of income testing to a much wider section of families than currently applies."
The briefing papers also acknowledge that the Government think tank, the National Economic and Social Council (NESC), was unable to establish a consensus on a suitable way forward.
Another option examined by officials was to dramatically increase the uptake of the Family Income Supplement from its current level of about 40 per cent to about 100 per cent. This would reduce child poverty by an estimated 3 per cent.
This option, according to officials, was worthy of examination as it would not involve dismantling the current system of child income support measures.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Haunted wasteland saps spirits, lives after cyclone
from the Boston Globe
8 out of 10 families lived in poverty before the cyclone hit Burma. The devastation can still be seen in the area, and many things have not been restored. - Kale
By Seth Mydans,
BANGKOK - Nearly four months after the cyclone, the Irrawaddy Delta in Burma is a flat, dark expanse of ruin populated by dazed survivors, unburied bodies and visions of wandering, moaning ghosts.
The region seems to have avoided mass starvation and epidemic, and people are rebuilding their precarious lives in this vast and often flooded marshland where the margin between survival and death has always been thin.
Within that thin margin, recent visitors say, many of the survivors seem to have lost their spark of life, and some of the dead seem not yet to have disappeared as they haunt the minds of those they left behind.
"There is a weariness in people's eyes here," said a photographer who has been chronicling the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, which struck on May 3. He spoke on condition of anonymity because access to the region is forbidden to foreign journalists.
"There's a lost feeling that you get," he said. "People are physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. Some of them don't have the strength to start over."
After an international furor over the government's refusal to admit foreign relief workers, a tightly controlled system has been put in place, and aid is reaching much of the area, where the United Nations says 2.4 million people were affected.
The cyclone left 138,000 people dead or missing and 800,000 homeless, according to UN figures, after tremendous winds and a storm surge that resembled a tsunami.
It leveled most of the fragile thatch homes in its path, uprooted trees, swept away the livestock and fishing boats that provided a livelihood and polluted many rice fields with salt.
For those fields that survived, this year's planting season has now passed, and experts say it may be more than a year before many people see their next decent harvest.
Although some houses are being rebuilt and some fields are being worked, the delta remains a vista of ruin and debris, where human and animal bones and the last decomposing bodies still cluster at the edges of waterways.
Fantastical tales circulate among the survivors, the photographer said, weaving a tapestry of stories from this world and the next.
There is the tale of the boy who survived by clinging to the back of a crocodile, and the story of the boatload of people stranded at low tide who sat waiting on the silt for the water to rise, surrounded by stranded corpses.
There is the story of the mother who was reunited with her baby after it was swept away in a washtub, and the story of the woman who gave birth as the cyclone hit and pulled her baby from the water by its umbilical cord.
And there are the stories of wandering ghosts, whose cries for help can be heard at night in haunted places that no villager dares to enter.
Among these phantoms and traumas, international relief workers have become the survivors' lifeline, delivering aid to all but the most remote parts of the delta.
More than 1,800 visas have been issued to these workers, aid officials say, though access to the hard-hit delta is slowed by an ever-more-complicated process of permissions and paperwork.
By now, most survivors have received aid, said Andrew Kirkwood, country director for the aid group Save the Children. "But very few people have received enough assistance to get them through the next three months, and almost no one has received enough assistance to enable them to rebuild their lives."
He said the reconstruction of schools, clinics and other infrastructure, which should be well underway by now, still lagged because of delays in delivering basic emergency assistance.
The xenophobic military junta that holds Burma in its grip prevented large-scale foreign aid deliveries for the first three crucial weeks after the cyclone, then loosened its controls only gradually and partially. It never did allow US and French naval vessels to bring in tons of aid and equipment.
But despite the early demands from around the world that the Burmese government permit open deliveries of aid, the United Nations says that nearly half the assistance pledged by foreign donors has yet to appear. Recently it said it had received $339 million in international donations, a shortfall of $300 million.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
8 out of 10 families lived in poverty before the cyclone hit Burma. The devastation can still be seen in the area, and many things have not been restored. - Kale
By Seth Mydans,
BANGKOK - Nearly four months after the cyclone, the Irrawaddy Delta in Burma is a flat, dark expanse of ruin populated by dazed survivors, unburied bodies and visions of wandering, moaning ghosts.
The region seems to have avoided mass starvation and epidemic, and people are rebuilding their precarious lives in this vast and often flooded marshland where the margin between survival and death has always been thin.
Within that thin margin, recent visitors say, many of the survivors seem to have lost their spark of life, and some of the dead seem not yet to have disappeared as they haunt the minds of those they left behind.
"There is a weariness in people's eyes here," said a photographer who has been chronicling the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, which struck on May 3. He spoke on condition of anonymity because access to the region is forbidden to foreign journalists.
"There's a lost feeling that you get," he said. "People are physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. Some of them don't have the strength to start over."
After an international furor over the government's refusal to admit foreign relief workers, a tightly controlled system has been put in place, and aid is reaching much of the area, where the United Nations says 2.4 million people were affected.
The cyclone left 138,000 people dead or missing and 800,000 homeless, according to UN figures, after tremendous winds and a storm surge that resembled a tsunami.
It leveled most of the fragile thatch homes in its path, uprooted trees, swept away the livestock and fishing boats that provided a livelihood and polluted many rice fields with salt.
For those fields that survived, this year's planting season has now passed, and experts say it may be more than a year before many people see their next decent harvest.
Although some houses are being rebuilt and some fields are being worked, the delta remains a vista of ruin and debris, where human and animal bones and the last decomposing bodies still cluster at the edges of waterways.
Fantastical tales circulate among the survivors, the photographer said, weaving a tapestry of stories from this world and the next.
There is the tale of the boy who survived by clinging to the back of a crocodile, and the story of the boatload of people stranded at low tide who sat waiting on the silt for the water to rise, surrounded by stranded corpses.
There is the story of the mother who was reunited with her baby after it was swept away in a washtub, and the story of the woman who gave birth as the cyclone hit and pulled her baby from the water by its umbilical cord.
And there are the stories of wandering ghosts, whose cries for help can be heard at night in haunted places that no villager dares to enter.
Among these phantoms and traumas, international relief workers have become the survivors' lifeline, delivering aid to all but the most remote parts of the delta.
More than 1,800 visas have been issued to these workers, aid officials say, though access to the hard-hit delta is slowed by an ever-more-complicated process of permissions and paperwork.
By now, most survivors have received aid, said Andrew Kirkwood, country director for the aid group Save the Children. "But very few people have received enough assistance to get them through the next three months, and almost no one has received enough assistance to enable them to rebuild their lives."
He said the reconstruction of schools, clinics and other infrastructure, which should be well underway by now, still lagged because of delays in delivering basic emergency assistance.
The xenophobic military junta that holds Burma in its grip prevented large-scale foreign aid deliveries for the first three crucial weeks after the cyclone, then loosened its controls only gradually and partially. It never did allow US and French naval vessels to bring in tons of aid and equipment.
But despite the early demands from around the world that the Burmese government permit open deliveries of aid, the United Nations says that nearly half the assistance pledged by foreign donors has yet to appear. Recently it said it had received $339 million in international donations, a shortfall of $300 million.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Appalachian poverty rate may dip slightly
from the Evening Sun
The census bureau in the US will release the new poverty figures today. So you will see quite a bit mentioned about it here today, and how it relates to certain states or areas of the US. - Kale
By P.J. DICKERSCHEID
The number of Appalachian residents living in poverty is expected to fall slightly.
But anti-poverty experts say the slight improvement should be short-lived as wages drop, the job market weakens and household expenses rise.
The U.S. Census Bureau plans to release figures Tuesday on income, poverty and health insurance coverage from 2007.
In 2006, America's poverty rate was 12.3 percent, down from 12.6 percent the year before.
Appalachia includes all of West Virginia and parts of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
The census bureau in the US will release the new poverty figures today. So you will see quite a bit mentioned about it here today, and how it relates to certain states or areas of the US. - Kale
By P.J. DICKERSCHEID
The number of Appalachian residents living in poverty is expected to fall slightly.
But anti-poverty experts say the slight improvement should be short-lived as wages drop, the job market weakens and household expenses rise.
The U.S. Census Bureau plans to release figures Tuesday on income, poverty and health insurance coverage from 2007.
In 2006, America's poverty rate was 12.3 percent, down from 12.6 percent the year before.
Appalachia includes all of West Virginia and parts of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Poverty ruins elections - FDC's Besigye
from New Vision
During a recent election in Uganda, people were paid not to vote. A politician blames the poverty in the country for the outcome. - Kale
By Ali Mambule
THE election process has been ruined by widespread poverty, the FDC president, Kizza Besigye, said while addressing his supporters at Bwala Social Centre in Masaka town on Friday.
He said it was shocking that some people are paid sh1,000 to give up their rights during elections.
“I have realised this for a number of times. Many Ugandans are given sh1,000 to pretend to be blind during voting time such that the person who paid the money can help him or her cast the vote as he wishes,” Besigye said.
He said even people who are educated have fallen victim to this malpractice especially in rural areas where jobs are scarce.
Besigye was sensitising his supporters about the electoral process to take place soon.
He said: “Even people who are capable and sure of winning an election have succumbed to the crooks who give them as low as sh5m to stand down in their favour.”
He blamed the National Resistance Movement government, saying “It did not have the heart to serve Ugandans.”
“That is why they have insisted on using a one-sided electoral commission which helps them to play their deals as they wish,” Besigye said.
He appealed to the Government to change the commission before the next elections in 2011.
He told the crowd that the party would soon hold elections at all levels.
“FDC is not like the NRM which deceives people that an election can be held with one of the contestants holding the same post he or she is campaigning for. We shall all stand down and if some people are re-elected, they will resume their work,” he said.
He told the gathering that only party card-holders will be eligible for election.
He, however, expressed disappointment over people who sell the cards and spend the money on personal problems.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
During a recent election in Uganda, people were paid not to vote. A politician blames the poverty in the country for the outcome. - Kale
By Ali Mambule
THE election process has been ruined by widespread poverty, the FDC president, Kizza Besigye, said while addressing his supporters at Bwala Social Centre in Masaka town on Friday.
He said it was shocking that some people are paid sh1,000 to give up their rights during elections.
“I have realised this for a number of times. Many Ugandans are given sh1,000 to pretend to be blind during voting time such that the person who paid the money can help him or her cast the vote as he wishes,” Besigye said.
He said even people who are educated have fallen victim to this malpractice especially in rural areas where jobs are scarce.
Besigye was sensitising his supporters about the electoral process to take place soon.
He said: “Even people who are capable and sure of winning an election have succumbed to the crooks who give them as low as sh5m to stand down in their favour.”
He blamed the National Resistance Movement government, saying “It did not have the heart to serve Ugandans.”
“That is why they have insisted on using a one-sided electoral commission which helps them to play their deals as they wish,” Besigye said.
He appealed to the Government to change the commission before the next elections in 2011.
He told the crowd that the party would soon hold elections at all levels.
“FDC is not like the NRM which deceives people that an election can be held with one of the contestants holding the same post he or she is campaigning for. We shall all stand down and if some people are re-elected, they will resume their work,” he said.
He told the gathering that only party card-holders will be eligible for election.
He, however, expressed disappointment over people who sell the cards and spend the money on personal problems.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Humanitarian workers among dead in Guatemala crash
from the Tri City Herald
Utah mission workers were among those found dead in this plane crash. - Kale
By PAUL FOY
SALT LAKE CITY A small plane that broke apart in Guatemala as the pilot attempted an emergency landing, killing 11 of the 14 people aboard, was carrying members of a Utah-based humanitarian group who were on their way to help build a school in a remote, impoverished area of the country.
Seven of the dead were Americans, including the wife of Chris Johnson, acting chief executive of CHOICE Humanitarian, a West Jordan, Utah-based group that arranges relief missions around the world, according to Lew Swain, a board member for the group.
The three survivors also are Americans, including a Utah businessman who was pulled from the wreckage by farmers shortly before it exploded Sunday in a field lined with palm trees.
"We only know the engine had problems and they did not make a successful landing," Swain said Monday.
The single-engine Cessna Caravan, also known as a Cargomaster, broke apart and scattered burned wreckage across a barren field where the pilot made an emergency landing about 60 miles east of Guatemala City, Guatemalan civil aviation director Jose Carlos said.
Johnson was prepared to fly to Guatemala when he got a message from the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City that his wife, Liz, a leader on the expedition, had died, Swain said. Liz Johnson died at 3:15 a.m. Monday, said William Diaz, general manager of Hospital El Pilar in Guatemala City.
Johnson decided to stay in Utah, where he remained in mourning Monday.
"There's not a thing he can do at this point. We're working with the U.S. Embassy to have all of the arrangements made for the repatriation of those who are deceased, and medical flights for those living," Swain said.
The embassy did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
CHOICE Humanitarian is aimed at helping people in poverty around the world improve their own lives. CHOICE stands for the Center for Humanitarian Outreach and Inter-Cultural Exchange.
The group relies on help from volunteers who pay their own way on trips to countries including Guatemala, Mexico, Bolivia, Nepal and Kenya. The volunteers on the flight that crashed were on their way to a Guatemalan town called Sepamac.
Among the dead were Roger Jensen and his son, Zachary, of Amery, Wis. A daughter, Sarah Jensen, 19, suffered minor cuts and bruises and survived along with her mother, April, who had burns and contusions, Sarah Jensen told the AP in a brief hospital interview.
April and Sarah Jensen were expected to return Monday to the U.S. by air ambulance, said Diaz, the hospital official.
The Guatemalans who died in crash include pilot Fernando Estrada; co-pilot Monica Bonilla; and two CHOICE Humanitarian representatives in Guatemala, Javier Rabanales and Walfred de Rabanales, according to civil aviation authorities and Swain.
Utah businessman Dan Liljenquist survived the crash with a broken right leg and broken left ankle.
"There were farmers in the field where they crashed. They pulled my husband out of the plane 30 seconds before the plane exploded," Brooke Liljenquist told the AP in a telephone interview from her home in Bountiful, Utah.
"He has constant pain he says he can deal with. He's just grateful to be alive," she said.
Dan Liljenquist is president and chief operating officer of Focus Services of Roy, Utah, which handles customer service calls for other companies. Brooke Liljenquist said the crash killed four employees of his company, two from Utah and two from another call center in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
The other U.S. passengers who died were Cody Odekirk; John Carter; Jeff Reppe and Lydia Silvia, according to Guatemala's civil aviation authority, which didn't list their hometowns. Swain declined to provide that information.
Roger Jensen, 48, was the maintenance manager at Smyth Companies in St. Paul, Minn., for 12 years, Chief Executive Officer John Hickey said Monday.
"He did everything. He was a carpenter. A multipurpose utility player. He was a very popular employee, forever upbeat," Hickey said. "He was very giving. I think he was in Africa last year."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Utah mission workers were among those found dead in this plane crash. - Kale
By PAUL FOY
SALT LAKE CITY A small plane that broke apart in Guatemala as the pilot attempted an emergency landing, killing 11 of the 14 people aboard, was carrying members of a Utah-based humanitarian group who were on their way to help build a school in a remote, impoverished area of the country.
Seven of the dead were Americans, including the wife of Chris Johnson, acting chief executive of CHOICE Humanitarian, a West Jordan, Utah-based group that arranges relief missions around the world, according to Lew Swain, a board member for the group.
The three survivors also are Americans, including a Utah businessman who was pulled from the wreckage by farmers shortly before it exploded Sunday in a field lined with palm trees.
"We only know the engine had problems and they did not make a successful landing," Swain said Monday.
The single-engine Cessna Caravan, also known as a Cargomaster, broke apart and scattered burned wreckage across a barren field where the pilot made an emergency landing about 60 miles east of Guatemala City, Guatemalan civil aviation director Jose Carlos said.
Johnson was prepared to fly to Guatemala when he got a message from the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City that his wife, Liz, a leader on the expedition, had died, Swain said. Liz Johnson died at 3:15 a.m. Monday, said William Diaz, general manager of Hospital El Pilar in Guatemala City.
Johnson decided to stay in Utah, where he remained in mourning Monday.
"There's not a thing he can do at this point. We're working with the U.S. Embassy to have all of the arrangements made for the repatriation of those who are deceased, and medical flights for those living," Swain said.
The embassy did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
CHOICE Humanitarian is aimed at helping people in poverty around the world improve their own lives. CHOICE stands for the Center for Humanitarian Outreach and Inter-Cultural Exchange.
The group relies on help from volunteers who pay their own way on trips to countries including Guatemala, Mexico, Bolivia, Nepal and Kenya. The volunteers on the flight that crashed were on their way to a Guatemalan town called Sepamac.
Among the dead were Roger Jensen and his son, Zachary, of Amery, Wis. A daughter, Sarah Jensen, 19, suffered minor cuts and bruises and survived along with her mother, April, who had burns and contusions, Sarah Jensen told the AP in a brief hospital interview.
April and Sarah Jensen were expected to return Monday to the U.S. by air ambulance, said Diaz, the hospital official.
The Guatemalans who died in crash include pilot Fernando Estrada; co-pilot Monica Bonilla; and two CHOICE Humanitarian representatives in Guatemala, Javier Rabanales and Walfred de Rabanales, according to civil aviation authorities and Swain.
Utah businessman Dan Liljenquist survived the crash with a broken right leg and broken left ankle.
"There were farmers in the field where they crashed. They pulled my husband out of the plane 30 seconds before the plane exploded," Brooke Liljenquist told the AP in a telephone interview from her home in Bountiful, Utah.
"He has constant pain he says he can deal with. He's just grateful to be alive," she said.
Dan Liljenquist is president and chief operating officer of Focus Services of Roy, Utah, which handles customer service calls for other companies. Brooke Liljenquist said the crash killed four employees of his company, two from Utah and two from another call center in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
The other U.S. passengers who died were Cody Odekirk; John Carter; Jeff Reppe and Lydia Silvia, according to Guatemala's civil aviation authority, which didn't list their hometowns. Swain declined to provide that information.
Roger Jensen, 48, was the maintenance manager at Smyth Companies in St. Paul, Minn., for 12 years, Chief Executive Officer John Hickey said Monday.
"He did everything. He was a carpenter. A multipurpose utility player. He was a very popular employee, forever upbeat," Hickey said. "He was very giving. I think he was in Africa last year."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Malawi Rural Dwellers Benefit from Millennium Villages
from Voice of America
An update on the experimental Millennium villages Project. While this profiles Malawi there also such villages in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda. - Kale
By Lameck Masina
In Malawi, two villages with about 40,000 people have begun reaping the fruits of the United Nations initiative known as the Millennium Villages project. The goal is to reverse the poverty, hunger and disease affecting millions of rural people in sub-Saharan Africa. Voice of America English to Africa Service's Lameck Masina in Blantyre reports that there are two Millennium Villages in Malawi – one in the southern district of Zomba, the other in the central district of Mchinji.
UN specialists have been helping the villagers improve education, health care and small businesses. For example, 30 thousand bed nets have been distributed to households to combat malaria, and nearly 40 boreholes have been drilled to provide access to clean water.
School children in the two Millennium Villages receive corn porridge in an effort that teachers say has almost doubled attendance in primary schools.
Much of the emphasis has been on improving food production. UN specialists in the villages have been emphasizing improved seeds and fertilizers in order to maximize crop production. Farmers are encouraged to create their own fertilizers from manure, because the cost of commercial fertilizers has more than doubled since last year.
Farmers are also encouraged to grow a diverse array of cash crops, including groundnuts, cabbages and tomatoes.
Vailet Mawerenga, a farmer in the Millennium Village in Zomba, says "Before I joined the project, the main problem I was facing was an acute maize shortage, but now food is not a problem, [especially] to those who are working hard."
Mawerenga says in the past she used traditional seed varieties, which produced about four 50kg bags of maize per acre. Today, new hybrid seeds have given her a 10-fold increase.
She says this year is her best yet. Her first priority, she says, is to replace the thatched roof of her house with a metal one. If crop surpluses continue, she wants to open a tailoring shop.
Farmers in Zomba say the rising cost of fuel is the main factor cutting into their profits from increased production. As a result, some farmers have to cycle 25km to sell produce at the nearest town. Others have joined forces to hire pick-up trucks to take their crops to the main market.
Phelire Nkhoma, the agriculture coordinator for both of Malawi's Millennium Villages, says "What we have discovered is that the project has really transformed the lives of these people. We have seen our farmers…with food [now] throughout the season and [with] good houses with iron-sheeted roofs. The cases of malnutrition care are no longer there."
The Millennium Villages were inspired by Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. They were commissioned by the UN secretary general as a way to help achieve the organization's Millenium Development Goals, which focus largely on cutting poverty in half in Africa by 2015.
Financial support for the Malawi villages is scheduled to end in five years. But Nkhoma says the success of the villages may change that, "We are expecting that in 2010 the Millennium Villages project will [end]. However there are some rumors that probably it can extended to another five years."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
An update on the experimental Millennium villages Project. While this profiles Malawi there also such villages in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda. - Kale
By Lameck Masina
In Malawi, two villages with about 40,000 people have begun reaping the fruits of the United Nations initiative known as the Millennium Villages project. The goal is to reverse the poverty, hunger and disease affecting millions of rural people in sub-Saharan Africa. Voice of America English to Africa Service's Lameck Masina in Blantyre reports that there are two Millennium Villages in Malawi – one in the southern district of Zomba, the other in the central district of Mchinji.
UN specialists have been helping the villagers improve education, health care and small businesses. For example, 30 thousand bed nets have been distributed to households to combat malaria, and nearly 40 boreholes have been drilled to provide access to clean water.
School children in the two Millennium Villages receive corn porridge in an effort that teachers say has almost doubled attendance in primary schools.
Much of the emphasis has been on improving food production. UN specialists in the villages have been emphasizing improved seeds and fertilizers in order to maximize crop production. Farmers are encouraged to create their own fertilizers from manure, because the cost of commercial fertilizers has more than doubled since last year.
Farmers are also encouraged to grow a diverse array of cash crops, including groundnuts, cabbages and tomatoes.
Vailet Mawerenga, a farmer in the Millennium Village in Zomba, says "Before I joined the project, the main problem I was facing was an acute maize shortage, but now food is not a problem, [especially] to those who are working hard."
Mawerenga says in the past she used traditional seed varieties, which produced about four 50kg bags of maize per acre. Today, new hybrid seeds have given her a 10-fold increase.
She says this year is her best yet. Her first priority, she says, is to replace the thatched roof of her house with a metal one. If crop surpluses continue, she wants to open a tailoring shop.
Farmers in Zomba say the rising cost of fuel is the main factor cutting into their profits from increased production. As a result, some farmers have to cycle 25km to sell produce at the nearest town. Others have joined forces to hire pick-up trucks to take their crops to the main market.
Phelire Nkhoma, the agriculture coordinator for both of Malawi's Millennium Villages, says "What we have discovered is that the project has really transformed the lives of these people. We have seen our farmers…with food [now] throughout the season and [with] good houses with iron-sheeted roofs. The cases of malnutrition care are no longer there."
The Millennium Villages were inspired by Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. They were commissioned by the UN secretary general as a way to help achieve the organization's Millenium Development Goals, which focus largely on cutting poverty in half in Africa by 2015.
Financial support for the Malawi villages is scheduled to end in five years. But Nkhoma says the success of the villages may change that, "We are expecting that in 2010 the Millennium Villages project will [end]. However there are some rumors that probably it can extended to another five years."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Public-private sectors to fight poverty
from the Daily News Tanzania
This article details a conference happening in Tanzania. - kale
The Chief Secretary of the Revolutionary Council of Zanzibar, Mr Ramadhan Mwinyi Muombwa, has said the public and private sectors have to join hands in fighting poverty and in addressing other economic challenges facing Tanzania.
Mr Muombwa made the appeal in Zanzibar while closing a six-day seminar on leadership attended by senior officials from the Union and the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar as well as representatives from the private sector.
The seminar is the first in a two-year series of seminars to be delivered by the Enhancing Public Service Leadership in the Globalised Era (EPSL) programme targeting leaders from the government and the private sector.
"It is clear to me as it should be clear to you that it is only through increased collaboration and partnership between the private and public sectors that we are going to succeed in our Endeavour to free our people from the trap of abject poverty," the chief secretary told the participants.
Underscoring the two government's readiness to support and strengthen ties with the private sector, Mr Muombwa said Tanzania's competitiveness would not be forged by the government or the private sector in isolation but by the leaders of the two sectors working together to find "effective ways of collaborating and sharing ideas on how to lead our people."
Assuring the government of a reciprocal collaboration by the private sector, the Co-chairman of the CEO Scholarship Fund Trust, Mr Ali Mufuruki, said the private sector viewed the EPSL programme as a welcome initiative to the common goal of establishing better understanding and relations between the two sectors.
The EPSL Programme is a three-year initiative that is jointly funded by the Government of Tanzania, development partners and the CEO Roundtable - a forum consisting of 40 members, mainly chief executive officers from leading private sector companies operating in Tanzania.
The programme aims at providing an innovative training curriculum for selected members of the civil service and the private sector within Tanzania, with the goal of developing flexible leaders who are well prepared to succeed in the changing global business environment.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This article details a conference happening in Tanzania. - kale
The Chief Secretary of the Revolutionary Council of Zanzibar, Mr Ramadhan Mwinyi Muombwa, has said the public and private sectors have to join hands in fighting poverty and in addressing other economic challenges facing Tanzania.
Mr Muombwa made the appeal in Zanzibar while closing a six-day seminar on leadership attended by senior officials from the Union and the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar as well as representatives from the private sector.
The seminar is the first in a two-year series of seminars to be delivered by the Enhancing Public Service Leadership in the Globalised Era (EPSL) programme targeting leaders from the government and the private sector.
"It is clear to me as it should be clear to you that it is only through increased collaboration and partnership between the private and public sectors that we are going to succeed in our Endeavour to free our people from the trap of abject poverty," the chief secretary told the participants.
Underscoring the two government's readiness to support and strengthen ties with the private sector, Mr Muombwa said Tanzania's competitiveness would not be forged by the government or the private sector in isolation but by the leaders of the two sectors working together to find "effective ways of collaborating and sharing ideas on how to lead our people."
Assuring the government of a reciprocal collaboration by the private sector, the Co-chairman of the CEO Scholarship Fund Trust, Mr Ali Mufuruki, said the private sector viewed the EPSL programme as a welcome initiative to the common goal of establishing better understanding and relations between the two sectors.
The EPSL Programme is a three-year initiative that is jointly funded by the Government of Tanzania, development partners and the CEO Roundtable - a forum consisting of 40 members, mainly chief executive officers from leading private sector companies operating in Tanzania.
The programme aims at providing an innovative training curriculum for selected members of the civil service and the private sector within Tanzania, with the goal of developing flexible leaders who are well prepared to succeed in the changing global business environment.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Inflation-hit Kenyan farmers want food where their mouths are
from the Gulf Times
This article show how high inflation has effected farmers in Kenya. - Kale
KAGIO, Kenya: Twenty years ago, Benson staked all his assets to venture into lucrative export crops and started growing the French beans so prized by European consumers.
But with rampant inflation pushing up his costs and a slumping market for French beans, the ageing Kenyan farmer decided to revert to subsistence crops and “plant for his stomach”.
“When prices were good, I was able to build a house, I got a wife and I was able to raise my family,” says Benson Murimi Munga.
“Then, the buyers started dropping prices... I was facing losses in terms of what I had invested in the farm in buying fertilizers, pesticides, seeds and labour, I could not recover.”
Now the 49-year-old has stopped growing French beans and his modest plot in Kagio, a village nestled in the heart of Kenya’s central breadbasket, is planted with rice, bananas and maize.
French beans are Kenya’s top vegetable export but are not consumed locally and a growing number of farmers are opting for crops that will at least feed the family when times get hard.
French beans, seasonal in Europe, were introduced in Kenya and championed as a miracle crop for local farmers since the richer soil and climate here allow for all-year harvests.
“In those days, French beans would give you a good pay, people were planting French beans all over,” says Peter Mwangi, a buyer in the Kagio region who remembers how the farmers’ standard of living improved at the time.
“But the prices are preventing us from farming French beans, they are getting lower and lower. Farmers are running into debt,” he explains.
“Prices were bad the whole of last year, 60% of our production was not bought and we fed the cows with it.”
Kenya’s flagship vegetable export crop has recently suffered from a campaign by European green activists critical of the carbon footprint generated by air freighting goods that are also grown locally.
Kenya’s farmers have also felt the squeeze of increasing competition from countries such as Morocco, Egypt and Senegal and suffered from the soaring cost of chemicals and fertilizers.
“It has become more and more of a challenge to address all this: the fuel prices, the cost of inputs has gone up... and at the same time there is a lot of competition from other countries,” says Shamit Shah, founder and director of Sunripe, one of Kenya’s largest French beans exporters.
Kenya was badly hit by the global food crisis and skyrocketing inflation, heightening fears of food shortages following the disruption to farming caused by the violence that swept the country after the disputed December elections.
“Kenya strayed from sustainable farming and followed the temptation of exporting, when it’s clearly preferable to produce and consume locally,” says Claude-Marie Vadrot, an ecology expert with French weekly Politis.
“With subsistence farming, there’s more or less always a market for your products, but when French or European retailers no longer want beans, then Kenya will be left with nothing,” he explains.
“Kenya can try to cash in on exports to neighbouring countries, but exports to Europe are a lost cause due to the soaring cost of transport, the issue of carbon emissions. Farmers should not waste time in shifting the focus back to indigenous crops,” he says.
But Vadrot’s view is not shared by all in Kenya.
“Encouraging subsistence farming is another way of taking Kenyan farmers out of the international market chain and confining them to poverty,” retorts Stephen Mbithi, the chief executive of the Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya.
“African countries will not become food secure by having enough food in their granary, but by having enough disposable income in their pockets to buy the food they need,” he argues.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This article show how high inflation has effected farmers in Kenya. - Kale
KAGIO, Kenya: Twenty years ago, Benson staked all his assets to venture into lucrative export crops and started growing the French beans so prized by European consumers.
But with rampant inflation pushing up his costs and a slumping market for French beans, the ageing Kenyan farmer decided to revert to subsistence crops and “plant for his stomach”.
“When prices were good, I was able to build a house, I got a wife and I was able to raise my family,” says Benson Murimi Munga.
“Then, the buyers started dropping prices... I was facing losses in terms of what I had invested in the farm in buying fertilizers, pesticides, seeds and labour, I could not recover.”
Now the 49-year-old has stopped growing French beans and his modest plot in Kagio, a village nestled in the heart of Kenya’s central breadbasket, is planted with rice, bananas and maize.
French beans are Kenya’s top vegetable export but are not consumed locally and a growing number of farmers are opting for crops that will at least feed the family when times get hard.
French beans, seasonal in Europe, were introduced in Kenya and championed as a miracle crop for local farmers since the richer soil and climate here allow for all-year harvests.
“In those days, French beans would give you a good pay, people were planting French beans all over,” says Peter Mwangi, a buyer in the Kagio region who remembers how the farmers’ standard of living improved at the time.
“But the prices are preventing us from farming French beans, they are getting lower and lower. Farmers are running into debt,” he explains.
“Prices were bad the whole of last year, 60% of our production was not bought and we fed the cows with it.”
Kenya’s flagship vegetable export crop has recently suffered from a campaign by European green activists critical of the carbon footprint generated by air freighting goods that are also grown locally.
Kenya’s farmers have also felt the squeeze of increasing competition from countries such as Morocco, Egypt and Senegal and suffered from the soaring cost of chemicals and fertilizers.
“It has become more and more of a challenge to address all this: the fuel prices, the cost of inputs has gone up... and at the same time there is a lot of competition from other countries,” says Shamit Shah, founder and director of Sunripe, one of Kenya’s largest French beans exporters.
Kenya was badly hit by the global food crisis and skyrocketing inflation, heightening fears of food shortages following the disruption to farming caused by the violence that swept the country after the disputed December elections.
“Kenya strayed from sustainable farming and followed the temptation of exporting, when it’s clearly preferable to produce and consume locally,” says Claude-Marie Vadrot, an ecology expert with French weekly Politis.
“With subsistence farming, there’s more or less always a market for your products, but when French or European retailers no longer want beans, then Kenya will be left with nothing,” he explains.
“Kenya can try to cash in on exports to neighbouring countries, but exports to Europe are a lost cause due to the soaring cost of transport, the issue of carbon emissions. Farmers should not waste time in shifting the focus back to indigenous crops,” he says.
But Vadrot’s view is not shared by all in Kenya.
“Encouraging subsistence farming is another way of taking Kenyan farmers out of the international market chain and confining them to poverty,” retorts Stephen Mbithi, the chief executive of the Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya.
“African countries will not become food secure by having enough food in their granary, but by having enough disposable income in their pockets to buy the food they need,” he argues.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Gap in Capacity Scuppers Efforts to Uplift Poor
from All Africa
This examines the use of resources to uplift the poor. the authors say that South Africa have many recources but the are under used. - Kale
Business Day (Johannesburg)
By Ted Black and Andrew Black
Johannesburg
ON HIS 90th birthday, Nelson Mandela said: "There are many people in SA who are rich and who can share their riches with those who have not been able to conquer poverty."
We all understand why he said that, but "wealth redistribution" is the wrong focus for the nation. More than enough of it has taken place since 1994 -- legally and illegally.
Over the past 60 years, developed countries have given billions of dollars to help developing ones escape poverty, disease and provide hope. Despite an extraordinary level of financial support, relatively few countries, mainly Far Eastern, have emerged with viable economies. Many others, especially in Africa, have sunk deeper into debt with ever more of their people falling into poverty. Success stories are rare.
Various unstoppable forces contribute to the failure, not least political and economic beliefs and systems coupled to greed. However, as the late Peter Drucker pointed out many years ago, "Capitalism has been proved a false god because it leads inevitably to class war among rigidly defined classes. Socialism has been proved false because it has shown it cannot abolish these classes."
Does this mean the best wish for SA is to have an avaricious, privileged, multiracial elite perched on the lid of a simmering cauldron of unmet expectations? Rather go for a message of hope with the right goal in mind. Again, Drucker defined it clearly for us. "The task is not to make the poor wealthy, but productive," he said.
Of all the forces that work against success, one key factor is the inability to get things done. Moreover, the same assumptions that drive the "big-fix solutions" in business underpin most government social and economic programmes.
A gaggle of experts develops large-scale recommendations for change and presents them. They usually involve big projects -- change in legislation, introduction of new technology, large-scale training and the inevitable restructuring. Human and capital resources are duly committed to these activities.
AS SENSIBLE and informed as the programmes are, their success needs tremendous can-do capacity at national and local government level. This capability is rare and hardly ever developed. Human resource departments can't do it and neither can business schools -- both are like marriage counsellors. They can help, but in the end it is the task of husband and wife to make the marriage work.
It is the same with management development -- it can't be done in a classroom. It has to take place on the job.
This capacity gap -- the one between knowing and doing -- scuppers social and economic progress in developing countries as much as it hampers productivity improvement in businesses.
As Drucker dryly observed: "The wonder of modern institutions is not that they work so badly, but that anything works at all."
However, his sarcasm was deliberately provocative. It pointed to a fundamental truth. There is always a deep reservoir of potential waiting to be tapped.
In the private sector, productivity is higher because of competition but there is still massive opportunity to improve. The power of our major corporations to fix prices allows huge levels of costly incompetence to exist. As to governments worldwide, the potential to improve is boundless.
It means the answer to the poverty problem is not about redistribution of wealth. The poor do not create poverty nor does unemployment sustain it -- the system that surrounds them with its institutions and policies does.
Economists for the poor like Peru's Hernando de Soto, Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, and the late Norman Reynolds in this country, have repeatedly proved that the poor have vast amounts of unused abilities and skills.
In recent years, development professionals working with government officials at local levels in Africa have started tapping into them by using Rapid Results initiatives to building can-do abilities.
The first step is to make the ego-free admission that the way we do things now is not working. It frees you to tackle things in a new way. The projects usually last no more than 100 days but they are not quick-fixes implying rough and ready short-term solutions.
For instance, in Madagascar, more than 40 Rapid Results teams lifted the percentage of regular users of family planning services in one region from 12,5% to 17,5% of women of childbearing age within nine months.
This defied expert predictions and created a performance breakthrough in a culturally sensitive area that had resisted change for decades. Moreover, they accomplished it within budget and existing resources. Today, more than 100 family planning clinics are under way in all 22 regions of the country. A cadre of trained rapid-results coaches from the health ministry supports them.
The new confidence that the projects unleashed triggered more initiatives to tackle other priorities such as maternal risk during pregnancy and birth. Because of these successes, the president of Madagascar has introduced the approach into various parts of the public-service delivery system in the country.
IN SIERRA Leone, the Rapid Results approach proved that the newly elected local councils were ready to manage their own development agendas. To sustain peace after many tragic years of civil strife, decentralisation of responsibility and authority was critical. However, central government was reluctant to release funds to local councils -- "How can we be sure they have the capacity to manage funds in a responsible way?"
Nineteen Rapid Results initiatives silenced the critics. Each local council converted one of its campaign promises into a 100-day goal and delivered on it. Three years later, the councils, supported by trained coaches, still use the approach to organise development projects. For instance, after testing only 1000 people in two years, the National AIDs Secretariat tested 15700 Freetown residents for HIV/AIDS in voluntary counselling and testing centres in 100 days with no additional resources.
In Kenya, coaches trained as part of a World Bank capacity- building initiative are now the core team supporting the "Results for Kenya" public sector reform programme. The government recently won a UN award for it.
A separate initiative emerged after a six-year stalemate between the government and industry on the fortification of staple foods to fight malnutrition. A 100-day project to form a public/private partnership broke through the logjam to fortify 15% of the country's cooking oil with Vitamin A. By the end of the project, the rapid results team had successfully designed and implemented a certification system and placed an official government logo on the three leading cooking oil brands.
The momentum and confidence created by this initial success generated additional efforts. The partnership is moving on to fortify flour products with iron, zinc and folic acid.
IN SA a few years ago Sasol sponsored a small, pilot project in Zamdela Township in Sasolburg. Its aim was to help young people to start their own businesses and to improve the results of existing businesses.
The participants, 20 men and women, were chosen carefully. Eight started street trading and the rest pursued opportunities in the community at large. Six businesses already existed but the rest were start-ups. They included selling cellphone airtime, cabinetmaking, dressmaking, catering, sign writing and photographic and electrical services.
The usual training brief was ignored. Instead, the programme was designed for on-the-job practice and coaching, not theory. A four-day classroom session -- the only training in a nine-month programme -- ended with a 10-day breakthrough project.
Many important lessons were learned during those 10 days, including the fact that nothing drives performance better than a clear, easily-measurable task. The entry ticket was R100 in cash -- not easy for many of them to bring.
Organised into small teams, their goal was at least to double the money per person in 10 days. The winning team would have most sales-in-cash banked, with progress measured by the minute.
None failed, and many discovered elements of lean thinking.
As it was winter, one team sold woollen beanies, gloves and scarves door-to-door with five other products. Schoolchildren became the main customers.
Next, they found that inventory is waste. The stock was sourced in Johannesburg -- a costly journey. Rather than holding products in stock and offering them for sale, they took orders first, negotiated for the right stuff, bought what was needed and sold for cash on-delivery.
They also learned that you get economic results by exploiting opportunities, not by solving problems. After a primary school principal banned them from selling directly to pupils they changed tack and took bulk orders from the school with a volume discount. They turned their cash 20 times in 10 days.
Each team finished with more than it started. Those who made most profit but generated less cash learned about debtors and the cash-to-cash cycle. To increase sales of signboards they gave credit. Instead of having their cash in the bank, customers were still holding onto it after 10 days.
Then two 100-day projects followed. Over a nine-month period, this little group generated R5 sales for every R1 Sasol put in. Almost all of them survived and even expanded to employ more people. Sadly, the sponsoring initiative ended there.
Dr Jo Barnes, a senior lecturer in health sciences at Stellenbosch University, is an exemplar of doing what you can with what you have. An epidemiologist with a special interest in waterborne diseases, she initiated a number of small projects in rural communities to reduce water-pollution levels.
"Each of them, is an example of how small and humble ideas can bring incredible results," she said.
A team of 15 jobless matriculants was trained in trades such as plumbing, painting and woodwork. The municipality provided a year's worth of materials for maintenance and repairs. As part of its practicals, the team repaired the community hall and toilet blocks.
Another group, for only one meal a day, volunteered to patrol their community, pick up litter and clean the rivers.
"Sometimes, they scolded those who were being completely careless towards the environment," she said.
Another campaign was an educational one. Fifteen people walked door-to-door handing out pamphlets typed in Xhosa. They stuck them to the walls of every single dwelling, shebeen, toilet block, police station and spaza shop. There were four, simple instructions on them:
* Always wash hands after using the toilet;
* Accompany children whenever they go to toilet blocks, and stop them from playing nearby;
* Do not to throw rubbish around, such as plastic bags, as these block the toilets; and
* Rub newspaper as if washing it.
"Seeing as toilet paper is so expensive," she said, "most people use newspaper, but it has a layer that makes it non-absorbent. So our last instruction was to rub it to make it soft and absorbent. That way it flushes through the system."
Barnes and her team quickly figured that these four messages were the most important to spread and the results were remarkable. After repeating this process a little while later they followed up with a survey on knowledge retention. They found that 85% of the community still had the pamphlets on their walls.
And the result? Pollution levels downstream from the settlement plummeted, proving that pollution can be reduced rapidly and affordably in rural areas. However, when the team handed the projects over to the municipality, it took only two months for levels to shoot back to where they had been.
As Barnes says: "When a bit of creative thought is applied, it is simple to find a variety of ways to help. But we have to bypass the inertia. The solution is simply to start -- start with what can be done. Push the boundaries by doing what we can do well, no matter how small it may be.
"There is an urgent need to mobilise people who can help and work out simple solutions for those who need them.
"The only way to achieve this is to get real commitment from government -- a commitment that is above politics and above party lines," Barnes says.
"The most necessary message of all, and one that needs to go out to every single settlement, every municipality and every person, rich and poor, is that certain things in life are beyond politics. Environmental and health rights are common to all of humanity."
THE greatest lesson of all, as Yunus found in Bangladesh and elsewhere, is that people, however poor, can lift themselves out of the quagmire of poverty with very little. They need the ability to borrow small amounts of money and, as De Soto advocates, own their homes.
The truth is that SA, like any business, does not have to look outside for more resources. We have them. We pay for them. We don't use them.
Ted Black (jeblack@icon.co.za) is affiliated to Robert H Schaffer & Associates, which sponsors Rapid Results - an initiative to build development capacity.
Andrew Black is head writer for ISIZA magazine, which focuses on the construction industry.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This examines the use of resources to uplift the poor. the authors say that South Africa have many recources but the are under used. - Kale
Business Day (Johannesburg)
By Ted Black and Andrew Black
Johannesburg
ON HIS 90th birthday, Nelson Mandela said: "There are many people in SA who are rich and who can share their riches with those who have not been able to conquer poverty."
We all understand why he said that, but "wealth redistribution" is the wrong focus for the nation. More than enough of it has taken place since 1994 -- legally and illegally.
Over the past 60 years, developed countries have given billions of dollars to help developing ones escape poverty, disease and provide hope. Despite an extraordinary level of financial support, relatively few countries, mainly Far Eastern, have emerged with viable economies. Many others, especially in Africa, have sunk deeper into debt with ever more of their people falling into poverty. Success stories are rare.
Various unstoppable forces contribute to the failure, not least political and economic beliefs and systems coupled to greed. However, as the late Peter Drucker pointed out many years ago, "Capitalism has been proved a false god because it leads inevitably to class war among rigidly defined classes. Socialism has been proved false because it has shown it cannot abolish these classes."
Does this mean the best wish for SA is to have an avaricious, privileged, multiracial elite perched on the lid of a simmering cauldron of unmet expectations? Rather go for a message of hope with the right goal in mind. Again, Drucker defined it clearly for us. "The task is not to make the poor wealthy, but productive," he said.
Of all the forces that work against success, one key factor is the inability to get things done. Moreover, the same assumptions that drive the "big-fix solutions" in business underpin most government social and economic programmes.
A gaggle of experts develops large-scale recommendations for change and presents them. They usually involve big projects -- change in legislation, introduction of new technology, large-scale training and the inevitable restructuring. Human and capital resources are duly committed to these activities.
AS SENSIBLE and informed as the programmes are, their success needs tremendous can-do capacity at national and local government level. This capability is rare and hardly ever developed. Human resource departments can't do it and neither can business schools -- both are like marriage counsellors. They can help, but in the end it is the task of husband and wife to make the marriage work.
It is the same with management development -- it can't be done in a classroom. It has to take place on the job.
This capacity gap -- the one between knowing and doing -- scuppers social and economic progress in developing countries as much as it hampers productivity improvement in businesses.
As Drucker dryly observed: "The wonder of modern institutions is not that they work so badly, but that anything works at all."
However, his sarcasm was deliberately provocative. It pointed to a fundamental truth. There is always a deep reservoir of potential waiting to be tapped.
In the private sector, productivity is higher because of competition but there is still massive opportunity to improve. The power of our major corporations to fix prices allows huge levels of costly incompetence to exist. As to governments worldwide, the potential to improve is boundless.
It means the answer to the poverty problem is not about redistribution of wealth. The poor do not create poverty nor does unemployment sustain it -- the system that surrounds them with its institutions and policies does.
Economists for the poor like Peru's Hernando de Soto, Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, and the late Norman Reynolds in this country, have repeatedly proved that the poor have vast amounts of unused abilities and skills.
In recent years, development professionals working with government officials at local levels in Africa have started tapping into them by using Rapid Results initiatives to building can-do abilities.
The first step is to make the ego-free admission that the way we do things now is not working. It frees you to tackle things in a new way. The projects usually last no more than 100 days but they are not quick-fixes implying rough and ready short-term solutions.
For instance, in Madagascar, more than 40 Rapid Results teams lifted the percentage of regular users of family planning services in one region from 12,5% to 17,5% of women of childbearing age within nine months.
This defied expert predictions and created a performance breakthrough in a culturally sensitive area that had resisted change for decades. Moreover, they accomplished it within budget and existing resources. Today, more than 100 family planning clinics are under way in all 22 regions of the country. A cadre of trained rapid-results coaches from the health ministry supports them.
The new confidence that the projects unleashed triggered more initiatives to tackle other priorities such as maternal risk during pregnancy and birth. Because of these successes, the president of Madagascar has introduced the approach into various parts of the public-service delivery system in the country.
IN SIERRA Leone, the Rapid Results approach proved that the newly elected local councils were ready to manage their own development agendas. To sustain peace after many tragic years of civil strife, decentralisation of responsibility and authority was critical. However, central government was reluctant to release funds to local councils -- "How can we be sure they have the capacity to manage funds in a responsible way?"
Nineteen Rapid Results initiatives silenced the critics. Each local council converted one of its campaign promises into a 100-day goal and delivered on it. Three years later, the councils, supported by trained coaches, still use the approach to organise development projects. For instance, after testing only 1000 people in two years, the National AIDs Secretariat tested 15700 Freetown residents for HIV/AIDS in voluntary counselling and testing centres in 100 days with no additional resources.
In Kenya, coaches trained as part of a World Bank capacity- building initiative are now the core team supporting the "Results for Kenya" public sector reform programme. The government recently won a UN award for it.
A separate initiative emerged after a six-year stalemate between the government and industry on the fortification of staple foods to fight malnutrition. A 100-day project to form a public/private partnership broke through the logjam to fortify 15% of the country's cooking oil with Vitamin A. By the end of the project, the rapid results team had successfully designed and implemented a certification system and placed an official government logo on the three leading cooking oil brands.
The momentum and confidence created by this initial success generated additional efforts. The partnership is moving on to fortify flour products with iron, zinc and folic acid.
IN SA a few years ago Sasol sponsored a small, pilot project in Zamdela Township in Sasolburg. Its aim was to help young people to start their own businesses and to improve the results of existing businesses.
The participants, 20 men and women, were chosen carefully. Eight started street trading and the rest pursued opportunities in the community at large. Six businesses already existed but the rest were start-ups. They included selling cellphone airtime, cabinetmaking, dressmaking, catering, sign writing and photographic and electrical services.
The usual training brief was ignored. Instead, the programme was designed for on-the-job practice and coaching, not theory. A four-day classroom session -- the only training in a nine-month programme -- ended with a 10-day breakthrough project.
Many important lessons were learned during those 10 days, including the fact that nothing drives performance better than a clear, easily-measurable task. The entry ticket was R100 in cash -- not easy for many of them to bring.
Organised into small teams, their goal was at least to double the money per person in 10 days. The winning team would have most sales-in-cash banked, with progress measured by the minute.
None failed, and many discovered elements of lean thinking.
As it was winter, one team sold woollen beanies, gloves and scarves door-to-door with five other products. Schoolchildren became the main customers.
Next, they found that inventory is waste. The stock was sourced in Johannesburg -- a costly journey. Rather than holding products in stock and offering them for sale, they took orders first, negotiated for the right stuff, bought what was needed and sold for cash on-delivery.
They also learned that you get economic results by exploiting opportunities, not by solving problems. After a primary school principal banned them from selling directly to pupils they changed tack and took bulk orders from the school with a volume discount. They turned their cash 20 times in 10 days.
Each team finished with more than it started. Those who made most profit but generated less cash learned about debtors and the cash-to-cash cycle. To increase sales of signboards they gave credit. Instead of having their cash in the bank, customers were still holding onto it after 10 days.
Then two 100-day projects followed. Over a nine-month period, this little group generated R5 sales for every R1 Sasol put in. Almost all of them survived and even expanded to employ more people. Sadly, the sponsoring initiative ended there.
Dr Jo Barnes, a senior lecturer in health sciences at Stellenbosch University, is an exemplar of doing what you can with what you have. An epidemiologist with a special interest in waterborne diseases, she initiated a number of small projects in rural communities to reduce water-pollution levels.
"Each of them, is an example of how small and humble ideas can bring incredible results," she said.
A team of 15 jobless matriculants was trained in trades such as plumbing, painting and woodwork. The municipality provided a year's worth of materials for maintenance and repairs. As part of its practicals, the team repaired the community hall and toilet blocks.
Another group, for only one meal a day, volunteered to patrol their community, pick up litter and clean the rivers.
"Sometimes, they scolded those who were being completely careless towards the environment," she said.
Another campaign was an educational one. Fifteen people walked door-to-door handing out pamphlets typed in Xhosa. They stuck them to the walls of every single dwelling, shebeen, toilet block, police station and spaza shop. There were four, simple instructions on them:
* Always wash hands after using the toilet;
* Accompany children whenever they go to toilet blocks, and stop them from playing nearby;
* Do not to throw rubbish around, such as plastic bags, as these block the toilets; and
* Rub newspaper as if washing it.
"Seeing as toilet paper is so expensive," she said, "most people use newspaper, but it has a layer that makes it non-absorbent. So our last instruction was to rub it to make it soft and absorbent. That way it flushes through the system."
Barnes and her team quickly figured that these four messages were the most important to spread and the results were remarkable. After repeating this process a little while later they followed up with a survey on knowledge retention. They found that 85% of the community still had the pamphlets on their walls.
And the result? Pollution levels downstream from the settlement plummeted, proving that pollution can be reduced rapidly and affordably in rural areas. However, when the team handed the projects over to the municipality, it took only two months for levels to shoot back to where they had been.
As Barnes says: "When a bit of creative thought is applied, it is simple to find a variety of ways to help. But we have to bypass the inertia. The solution is simply to start -- start with what can be done. Push the boundaries by doing what we can do well, no matter how small it may be.
"There is an urgent need to mobilise people who can help and work out simple solutions for those who need them.
"The only way to achieve this is to get real commitment from government -- a commitment that is above politics and above party lines," Barnes says.
"The most necessary message of all, and one that needs to go out to every single settlement, every municipality and every person, rich and poor, is that certain things in life are beyond politics. Environmental and health rights are common to all of humanity."
THE greatest lesson of all, as Yunus found in Bangladesh and elsewhere, is that people, however poor, can lift themselves out of the quagmire of poverty with very little. They need the ability to borrow small amounts of money and, as De Soto advocates, own their homes.
The truth is that SA, like any business, does not have to look outside for more resources. We have them. We pay for them. We don't use them.
Ted Black (jeblack@icon.co.za) is affiliated to Robert H Schaffer & Associates, which sponsors Rapid Results - an initiative to build development capacity.
Andrew Black is head writer for ISIZA magazine, which focuses on the construction industry.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Poverty is UK's hidden child killer
from the Guardian
A new report says that British government has failed to help children with chronic illness and early deaths. - Kale
by Jamie Doward,
An 'epidemic of poverty' in Britain is having a dramatic impact on the survival rates and health chances of children from poor families, an influential coalition will warn this week in a major report that casts doubt on government efforts to close the inequality gap.
End Child Poverty, a 130-strong network of children's charities, church groups, unions and think-tanks, claims that the gap between rich and poor represents a 'huge injustice' in British society and has become one of the major factors affecting child mortality rates.
Its report, based on a wide-ranging analysis of government data, finds that children from poor families are at 10 times the risk of sudden infant death as children from better-off homes. And it reveals how babies from disadvantaged families are more likely to be born underweight - an average of 200 grams less than children from the richest families. Poorer children are two-and-a-half times more likely to suffer chronic illness when toddlers and twice as likely to have cerebral palsy, according to the report, 'Health Consequences of Poverty for Children'.
'Poverty is now one of the greatest dangers faced by our children,' said Nick Spencer, one of the report's authors and professor of child health at the University of Warwick. 'If poverty were an infection, we would be in the midst of a full-scale epidemic.'
The report is likely to revive the debate on child poverty and focus attention on Labour's record when it comes to tackling social inequalities. In March 1999, the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, promised to eradicate child poverty 'within a generation'. This was later defined as a commitment to end child poverty by 2020, with a target of halving the number of children living in poverty by 2010/11.
But last week the Conservatives attacked the government on its record for narrowing the gap between rich and poor. 'Labour has failed, it has created a more unfair society and I think there is a real opportunity for the Conservative party now to lead this debate,' the shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, said.
But while the current row over social inequality has tended to focus on education and benefits, the implications for health have been largely ignored. Now, however, the End Child Poverty report highlights how socio-economic factors affect the entire life of children born into poverty, from foetal development and early infancy through to teenage years and adulthood.
It found that children living in disadvantaged families are more than three times as likely to suffer from mental health disorders as those in well-off families and that infants under three years old in families with an annual income of less than £10,400 are twice as likely to suffer from asthma as those from families earning over £52,000.
The report also suggests the health consequences of being born into poverty continue well beyond infancy. For example, adults who came from deprived families were found to be 50 per cent more likely to have serious and limiting illnesses, such as type two diabetes and heart failure.
'From the day they are born, children's health and very survival are threatened by family poverty,' said Donald Hirsch, co-author of the report and policy adviser to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
'It is one of society's greatest inequalities that poor health is so dramatically linked to poverty. Children in the poorest UK families are at least twice as likely to die unexpectedly before their first birthdays than children in slightly better-off families. This is a huge injustice for the children in one of the richest nations in the world.'
The government claims it is closing the gap between rich and poor, but accepts that more needs to be done. The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, said in June: 'Although we have already lifted hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty with new tax credits, more people in work and better public services, the latest figures show we have not made enough progress.'
He added: 'We will not deny or explain away the figures. We will take them as a spur to action, a call to conscience.'
The government recently announced the introduction of 10 pilot projects to tackle ill health among people from poor backgrounds, including rewarding parents for making sure their children attend health check-ups and receive inoculations.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A new report says that British government has failed to help children with chronic illness and early deaths. - Kale
by Jamie Doward,
An 'epidemic of poverty' in Britain is having a dramatic impact on the survival rates and health chances of children from poor families, an influential coalition will warn this week in a major report that casts doubt on government efforts to close the inequality gap.
End Child Poverty, a 130-strong network of children's charities, church groups, unions and think-tanks, claims that the gap between rich and poor represents a 'huge injustice' in British society and has become one of the major factors affecting child mortality rates.
Its report, based on a wide-ranging analysis of government data, finds that children from poor families are at 10 times the risk of sudden infant death as children from better-off homes. And it reveals how babies from disadvantaged families are more likely to be born underweight - an average of 200 grams less than children from the richest families. Poorer children are two-and-a-half times more likely to suffer chronic illness when toddlers and twice as likely to have cerebral palsy, according to the report, 'Health Consequences of Poverty for Children'.
'Poverty is now one of the greatest dangers faced by our children,' said Nick Spencer, one of the report's authors and professor of child health at the University of Warwick. 'If poverty were an infection, we would be in the midst of a full-scale epidemic.'
The report is likely to revive the debate on child poverty and focus attention on Labour's record when it comes to tackling social inequalities. In March 1999, the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, promised to eradicate child poverty 'within a generation'. This was later defined as a commitment to end child poverty by 2020, with a target of halving the number of children living in poverty by 2010/11.
But last week the Conservatives attacked the government on its record for narrowing the gap between rich and poor. 'Labour has failed, it has created a more unfair society and I think there is a real opportunity for the Conservative party now to lead this debate,' the shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, said.
But while the current row over social inequality has tended to focus on education and benefits, the implications for health have been largely ignored. Now, however, the End Child Poverty report highlights how socio-economic factors affect the entire life of children born into poverty, from foetal development and early infancy through to teenage years and adulthood.
It found that children living in disadvantaged families are more than three times as likely to suffer from mental health disorders as those in well-off families and that infants under three years old in families with an annual income of less than £10,400 are twice as likely to suffer from asthma as those from families earning over £52,000.
The report also suggests the health consequences of being born into poverty continue well beyond infancy. For example, adults who came from deprived families were found to be 50 per cent more likely to have serious and limiting illnesses, such as type two diabetes and heart failure.
'From the day they are born, children's health and very survival are threatened by family poverty,' said Donald Hirsch, co-author of the report and policy adviser to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
'It is one of society's greatest inequalities that poor health is so dramatically linked to poverty. Children in the poorest UK families are at least twice as likely to die unexpectedly before their first birthdays than children in slightly better-off families. This is a huge injustice for the children in one of the richest nations in the world.'
The government claims it is closing the gap between rich and poor, but accepts that more needs to be done. The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, said in June: 'Although we have already lifted hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty with new tax credits, more people in work and better public services, the latest figures show we have not made enough progress.'
He added: 'We will not deny or explain away the figures. We will take them as a spur to action, a call to conscience.'
The government recently announced the introduction of 10 pilot projects to tackle ill health among people from poor backgrounds, including rewarding parents for making sure their children attend health check-ups and receive inoculations.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Thousands of CA Children Could Lose Heath Insurance
from KTLA
The state of California has been trying in insure all children. But that process may take some steps backward. this explains some of the effects that may have. - Kale
By Jordan Rau,
SACRAMENTO -- California's promising strides toward extending medical coverage to all its children, a longtime goal of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and one advocates believed was in reach by decade's end, has stalled -- and thousands of kids are in danger of losing insurance.
The trend is likely to further destabilize California's already shaky healthcare system. Studies have found that children without insurance are less likely to go to the doctor for routine visits that allow early diagnoses and treatment for diabetes, obesity and other increasingly common ailments.
Uninsured children are more likely to end up in the hospital or in the state's clogged emergency rooms, where much of the cost of their care is passed along to insured people through higher premiums. Uninsured children tend to perform worse in school and miss more classes than those with coverage, several studies have found.
Between 2001 and 2005, the number of Californians younger than 19 who were uninsured at any given time decreased 25% to about 763,000, according to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
Most of the drop came through aggressive enrollment efforts in state and private healthcare programs and despite the erosion of employer-based insurance, which was leaving more adults without coverage.
But legislative budget negotiators this year have decided to increase premiums for the state's Healthy Families program, which pays for medical care for more than 850,000 children of low-income workers who are above the federal poverty line.
The state estimates that the parents of 19,000 children will end up dropping out of the program by July because of the $2 or $3 monthly increases. A family with three or more children, earning between two and 2 1/2 times the federal poverty level of $24,800 a year, would see the monthly premium rise to $51.
Lawmakers also have decided to require the parents of 3.4 million Californians who are below the federal poverty line to renew their Medi-Cal health coverage every six months.
The Schwarzenegger administration expects that rule will pare Medi-Cal rolls by about 196,000 children over the next two years.
State officials say some of those families would leave the program anyway either because they moved or found jobs, but advocates believe many who are entitled to the program will fail to file the paperwork and will fall off the rolls.
The changes to subsidized or free health programs come as private health initiatives that pay for the care of children are running out of money, causing them to limit the number they cover.
Altogether, "thousands of California children are likely to lose health insurance coverage they now have," said E. Richard Brown, the director of UCLA's research center.
These privately run initiatives exist in 30 counties, arranging medical care for children who are not legal residents or whose families earn slightly more than the threshold for public programs.
Enrollment in the initiatives has dropped by 8,000 in the last two years, to 80,000, according to Wendy Lazarus, co-president of the Children's Partnership, a nonprofit advocacy group.
Alameda County's initiative, which insures 1,023 children, is ending next month after one of its funders pulled out. The Children's Health Initiative of Greater Los Angeles has not added any children older than 5 since October and is scrambling to secure more funding to continue operating through the fall.
Its enrollment dropped 27% in the last three years, to 33,000 children. There are about 200,000 uninsured children in the county.
"We're certainly disappointed that Alameda will close down," said Elaine Batchlor, chief medical officer at L.A. Care, a nonprofit health plan that runs the program.
"We certainly hope we won't have to."
With its large numbers of poor and undocumented children, California has lagged behind most other states in several indicators of health.
For instance, a quarter of the state's children under age 12 had never visited a dentist, according to a report issued last year by the California HealthCare Foundation, an Oakland philanthropy.
The report is based on data from 2005, the most recent year for which information is available.
In 2005, California toddlers were less likely than the national average to receive the recommended doses of five key vaccines, according to a report from the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit healthcare foundation in New York.
Karen Davis, the foundation's president, said the rankings suggest that California does not have enough healthcare providers regularly serving its low-income people.
"I know the state has made a concerted effort to cover children, but even in that, it ranks 42nd," she said.
State officials fear that children with insurance may have a harder time finding doctors willing to treat them, because lawmakers cut Medi-Cal reimbursements by 10% this year.
During the 2003 recall campaign against then-Gov. Gray Davis, Schwarzenegger said he wanted all children to have medical coverage. Enrollment in the state's children's programs grew steadily during his early tenure.
Then, shortly after his 2006 reelection, Schwarzenegger unveiled a proposal to cover all children and most adults.
But the California Senate in January rejected a $14.9-billion deal between Schwarzenegger and Assembly Democrats.
Lawmakers also declined advocates' appeal to cover all children, saying the roughly $500-million annual cost was too much, given the state's $15.2-billion budget gap.
The state Health and Human Services Agency estimates several thousand children will be newly covered next year because of population increases and families enrolling their children in the state programs after losing private coverage.
"We continue to do outreach; we continue to enroll kids at a rapid rate," said Amy Palmer, an agency spokeswoman.
The privately run initiatives are underwritten primarily by First 5 commissions, which are funded by cigarette taxes; nonprofit foundations devoted to healthcare; and some local health plans and governments. But the foundations and governments supported the initiatives with the idea that they were stop-gaps until the state or Washington devised a comprehensive solution.
Dr. Robert Ross, president of the California Endowment, a Los Angeles-based healthcare philanthropy, said that his foundation's directors have agreed to continue underwriting some of the private insurance efforts for a few more years, but that they expect government to ultimately shoulder the responsibility.
"They're not willing to fund this forever," he said of his directors.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
The state of California has been trying in insure all children. But that process may take some steps backward. this explains some of the effects that may have. - Kale
By Jordan Rau,
SACRAMENTO -- California's promising strides toward extending medical coverage to all its children, a longtime goal of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and one advocates believed was in reach by decade's end, has stalled -- and thousands of kids are in danger of losing insurance.
The trend is likely to further destabilize California's already shaky healthcare system. Studies have found that children without insurance are less likely to go to the doctor for routine visits that allow early diagnoses and treatment for diabetes, obesity and other increasingly common ailments.
Uninsured children are more likely to end up in the hospital or in the state's clogged emergency rooms, where much of the cost of their care is passed along to insured people through higher premiums. Uninsured children tend to perform worse in school and miss more classes than those with coverage, several studies have found.
Between 2001 and 2005, the number of Californians younger than 19 who were uninsured at any given time decreased 25% to about 763,000, according to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
Most of the drop came through aggressive enrollment efforts in state and private healthcare programs and despite the erosion of employer-based insurance, which was leaving more adults without coverage.
But legislative budget negotiators this year have decided to increase premiums for the state's Healthy Families program, which pays for medical care for more than 850,000 children of low-income workers who are above the federal poverty line.
The state estimates that the parents of 19,000 children will end up dropping out of the program by July because of the $2 or $3 monthly increases. A family with three or more children, earning between two and 2 1/2 times the federal poverty level of $24,800 a year, would see the monthly premium rise to $51.
Lawmakers also have decided to require the parents of 3.4 million Californians who are below the federal poverty line to renew their Medi-Cal health coverage every six months.
The Schwarzenegger administration expects that rule will pare Medi-Cal rolls by about 196,000 children over the next two years.
State officials say some of those families would leave the program anyway either because they moved or found jobs, but advocates believe many who are entitled to the program will fail to file the paperwork and will fall off the rolls.
The changes to subsidized or free health programs come as private health initiatives that pay for the care of children are running out of money, causing them to limit the number they cover.
Altogether, "thousands of California children are likely to lose health insurance coverage they now have," said E. Richard Brown, the director of UCLA's research center.
These privately run initiatives exist in 30 counties, arranging medical care for children who are not legal residents or whose families earn slightly more than the threshold for public programs.
Enrollment in the initiatives has dropped by 8,000 in the last two years, to 80,000, according to Wendy Lazarus, co-president of the Children's Partnership, a nonprofit advocacy group.
Alameda County's initiative, which insures 1,023 children, is ending next month after one of its funders pulled out. The Children's Health Initiative of Greater Los Angeles has not added any children older than 5 since October and is scrambling to secure more funding to continue operating through the fall.
Its enrollment dropped 27% in the last three years, to 33,000 children. There are about 200,000 uninsured children in the county.
"We're certainly disappointed that Alameda will close down," said Elaine Batchlor, chief medical officer at L.A. Care, a nonprofit health plan that runs the program.
"We certainly hope we won't have to."
With its large numbers of poor and undocumented children, California has lagged behind most other states in several indicators of health.
For instance, a quarter of the state's children under age 12 had never visited a dentist, according to a report issued last year by the California HealthCare Foundation, an Oakland philanthropy.
The report is based on data from 2005, the most recent year for which information is available.
In 2005, California toddlers were less likely than the national average to receive the recommended doses of five key vaccines, according to a report from the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit healthcare foundation in New York.
Karen Davis, the foundation's president, said the rankings suggest that California does not have enough healthcare providers regularly serving its low-income people.
"I know the state has made a concerted effort to cover children, but even in that, it ranks 42nd," she said.
State officials fear that children with insurance may have a harder time finding doctors willing to treat them, because lawmakers cut Medi-Cal reimbursements by 10% this year.
During the 2003 recall campaign against then-Gov. Gray Davis, Schwarzenegger said he wanted all children to have medical coverage. Enrollment in the state's children's programs grew steadily during his early tenure.
Then, shortly after his 2006 reelection, Schwarzenegger unveiled a proposal to cover all children and most adults.
But the California Senate in January rejected a $14.9-billion deal between Schwarzenegger and Assembly Democrats.
Lawmakers also declined advocates' appeal to cover all children, saying the roughly $500-million annual cost was too much, given the state's $15.2-billion budget gap.
The state Health and Human Services Agency estimates several thousand children will be newly covered next year because of population increases and families enrolling their children in the state programs after losing private coverage.
"We continue to do outreach; we continue to enroll kids at a rapid rate," said Amy Palmer, an agency spokeswoman.
The privately run initiatives are underwritten primarily by First 5 commissions, which are funded by cigarette taxes; nonprofit foundations devoted to healthcare; and some local health plans and governments. But the foundations and governments supported the initiatives with the idea that they were stop-gaps until the state or Washington devised a comprehensive solution.
Dr. Robert Ross, president of the California Endowment, a Los Angeles-based healthcare philanthropy, said that his foundation's directors have agreed to continue underwriting some of the private insurance efforts for a few more years, but that they expect government to ultimately shoulder the responsibility.
"They're not willing to fund this forever," he said of his directors.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Trade in Southern Africa
from IPS News
This explains some opposition that is being voiced to a recent free trade agreement between countries in Southern Africa. - Kale
by Stanley Kwenda
JOHANNESBURG - The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that Southern African Development Community (SADC) governments agreed to will boost large South African companies’ reach in the region at the expense of small-scale producers and shops.
This is according to civil society organisations belonging to the Southern African People's Solidarity Network (SAPSN).
SAPSN contends that the signing of the FTA in the current regional environment will not lead to fair trade. The network adopted a resolution to this effect at its summit which ran parallel to the SADC summit of heads of state last weekend (Aug 16-17). SAPSN represents several non-governmental organisations from across the region.
‘‘We must recognize that such a SADC free trade area will serve the expansionist aims and interests of South African companies, not the equitable and more balanced trade development that enables cross-border trade, especially by small women traders,’’ read a draft of the resolution.
A delegate from Zimbabwe asked, ‘‘where is the fair trade when cross-border female traders are forced to spend hours waiting at the border?’’
Jubilee South Africa’s message was more strident, urging civil society groupings to rally populations in their home countries against the SADC FTA. Jubilee is a non-governmental organisation calling for the cancellation of poor countries’ debt.
The organisation's chairperson, Mallet Pumelele Giyose, said the FTAs will only benefit corporations from South Africa and, in some cases, their parent companies based in the North.
The SADC FTA ‘‘is a deal for South African businesses. There is nothing in it for SADC. All it will do is to choke the life out of small businesses in the region,’’ Giyose told IPS.
He cited examples of how South African big business is spreading its influence across the continent, muscling small businesses out of trade in their home countries.
Giyose lamented the case of Zambia where shopping malls have been taken over by South Africa-based corporations, leading to loss of livelihoods for local producers whose products can't compete with imported products. He added that FTAs are bankrolled by corporate interests that put profit before people.
Thomas Deve, United Nations' Millennium Campaign policy analyst for Africa based in Nairobi, Kenya, gave a slightly different interpretation: ‘‘The SADC FTA is a welcome development but in the region's current state, it is just an elite deal which does not take small business and ordinary people into account. We will not stop campaigning against the FTA, whether it is signed or not.’’
The Millennium Campaign promotes the participation of people in the achievement of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.
A delegate from Zambia at the SAPSN meeting deplored SADC for ‘‘killing’’ markets for small farmers in Zambia. He called on SADC to represent the people's interests and not to parrot the ‘‘gentlemen's club'' of the North which has nothing to do with concern over average people’s lives.
‘‘Cabbages and vegetables are now cheaper in the supermarkets as all farmers are forced to sell their products in the supermarkets,’’ said the delegate.
SAPSN contends that the FTA will not benefit SADC states until the region is fully integrated. This integration process is being undermined by the economic partnership agreements (EPAs) with the European Union (EU) which have been entered into on a bilateral basis, fragmenting the region.
‘‘SADC must reunite as a region and, together, firmly resist the EU's re-colonisation through the EPAs, instead of manoeuvring separately to get EU trade and aid support which is splitting SADC,’’ SAPSN resolved at its meeting.
These views echoed to some extent SADC Executive Secretary General Augusto Tomaz Salamao's remarks that the region will not fully achieve its aspirations if it is not united.
SAPSN also argued that the SADC FTA will further serve to create an open integrated market for EU importers, investors and service corporations.
Meanwhile, the cash strapped Zimbabwean government has suspended exports of basic commodities in a desperate bid to try and replenish empty supermarket shelves. The suspension of exports will last for the next two months. The goods covered under the ban include sugar, cooking oil, salt, soap, candles, rice and sanitary pads.
Basic foods such as sugar, bread, the national staple food maize meal, and cooking oil are often in short supply in Zimbabwe, which was once the regional breadbasket.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This explains some opposition that is being voiced to a recent free trade agreement between countries in Southern Africa. - Kale
by Stanley Kwenda
JOHANNESBURG - The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that Southern African Development Community (SADC) governments agreed to will boost large South African companies’ reach in the region at the expense of small-scale producers and shops.
This is according to civil society organisations belonging to the Southern African People's Solidarity Network (SAPSN).
SAPSN contends that the signing of the FTA in the current regional environment will not lead to fair trade. The network adopted a resolution to this effect at its summit which ran parallel to the SADC summit of heads of state last weekend (Aug 16-17). SAPSN represents several non-governmental organisations from across the region.
‘‘We must recognize that such a SADC free trade area will serve the expansionist aims and interests of South African companies, not the equitable and more balanced trade development that enables cross-border trade, especially by small women traders,’’ read a draft of the resolution.
A delegate from Zimbabwe asked, ‘‘where is the fair trade when cross-border female traders are forced to spend hours waiting at the border?’’
Jubilee South Africa’s message was more strident, urging civil society groupings to rally populations in their home countries against the SADC FTA. Jubilee is a non-governmental organisation calling for the cancellation of poor countries’ debt.
The organisation's chairperson, Mallet Pumelele Giyose, said the FTAs will only benefit corporations from South Africa and, in some cases, their parent companies based in the North.
The SADC FTA ‘‘is a deal for South African businesses. There is nothing in it for SADC. All it will do is to choke the life out of small businesses in the region,’’ Giyose told IPS.
He cited examples of how South African big business is spreading its influence across the continent, muscling small businesses out of trade in their home countries.
Giyose lamented the case of Zambia where shopping malls have been taken over by South Africa-based corporations, leading to loss of livelihoods for local producers whose products can't compete with imported products. He added that FTAs are bankrolled by corporate interests that put profit before people.
Thomas Deve, United Nations' Millennium Campaign policy analyst for Africa based in Nairobi, Kenya, gave a slightly different interpretation: ‘‘The SADC FTA is a welcome development but in the region's current state, it is just an elite deal which does not take small business and ordinary people into account. We will not stop campaigning against the FTA, whether it is signed or not.’’
The Millennium Campaign promotes the participation of people in the achievement of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.
A delegate from Zambia at the SAPSN meeting deplored SADC for ‘‘killing’’ markets for small farmers in Zambia. He called on SADC to represent the people's interests and not to parrot the ‘‘gentlemen's club'' of the North which has nothing to do with concern over average people’s lives.
‘‘Cabbages and vegetables are now cheaper in the supermarkets as all farmers are forced to sell their products in the supermarkets,’’ said the delegate.
SAPSN contends that the FTA will not benefit SADC states until the region is fully integrated. This integration process is being undermined by the economic partnership agreements (EPAs) with the European Union (EU) which have been entered into on a bilateral basis, fragmenting the region.
‘‘SADC must reunite as a region and, together, firmly resist the EU's re-colonisation through the EPAs, instead of manoeuvring separately to get EU trade and aid support which is splitting SADC,’’ SAPSN resolved at its meeting.
These views echoed to some extent SADC Executive Secretary General Augusto Tomaz Salamao's remarks that the region will not fully achieve its aspirations if it is not united.
SAPSN also argued that the SADC FTA will further serve to create an open integrated market for EU importers, investors and service corporations.
Meanwhile, the cash strapped Zimbabwean government has suspended exports of basic commodities in a desperate bid to try and replenish empty supermarket shelves. The suspension of exports will last for the next two months. The goods covered under the ban include sugar, cooking oil, salt, soap, candles, rice and sanitary pads.
Basic foods such as sugar, bread, the national staple food maize meal, and cooking oil are often in short supply in Zimbabwe, which was once the regional breadbasket.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Poverty's punch: Stress, uncertainty haunt children in poverty
from the Janesville Gazette
This profiles some children in the Janesviille Wisconsin area who are growing up poor. It is part of the newspapers series on poverty. - Kale
By STACY VOGEL
JANESVILLE — Cullen McAdory’s eyes flashed as he stood on the front porch, arms crossed over his basketball jersey. He wanted to play outside, but his mom wouldn’t let him because he was suspended from school.
“Cullen, please, let’s not argue today,” his mother, Kathy Patrick, said wearily. “Right now, you’re supposed to be in school, and because you made bad choices, and decided not to go to school today, or they made you not go to school today, that means you need to stay in the house today until 3 o’clock.”
“You grounded me yesterday,” he replied with a lisp that made “grounded” sound like “gwounded.” “You said for one day you’d ground me.”
“From yesterday, that was something different. I’m not gonna argue.”
“You’re the one who starts everything!” Cullen stamped his feet. “You lie to me about, like, everything!”
Cullen has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and when he isn’t on the right medications, his temper can get violent, Kathy explained. His doctor is trying to find the right combination of medicine for him, but meanwhile, the whole family suffers from Cullen’s outbursts.
A few minutes later, Kathy answered her cell phone, and Cullen took his chance to sneak out with his bike.
Children hit hard
Poverty can have profound effects on children, especially those who experience it early in life, according to a report from the National Center for Children in Poverty. Chronic hardship can hinder children’s development and their ability to learn and contribute to behavioral, social and emotional problems, the report states.
Kathy, 36, has seen those effects in her own children as she struggles to pull her family out of poverty.
Carl, 10, and Cullen, 8, have been diagnosed with attention deficit disorders. Neither has a male guardian or role model in his life, and Kathy believes their behavioral problems might have something to do with stress caused by her failed relationship with their father.
Though Carl does well in school, he refuses to do his homework—to the point that he almost failed fourth grade last year. Kathy tries and tries to discipline him, but she’s not sure how. Besides, her own studies and jobs leave her little time to make sure the children attend to their schoolwork.
All four of the children—Carl, Cullen, Kiara, 7, and Keegan, 5,—have trouble trusting Kathy since they were sent to foster homes five years ago. Even little Keegan accused his mother of “lying” to him when she told him she’d make pancakes and didn’t make them right away.
Jessica Grandt is a social worker at Wilson Elementary School, where Kathy’s three oldest children attend and where Keegan will start kindergarten next month. She has seen different reactions from children in poverty to the stress in their lives.
Some, like Cullen, act out. Others withdraw, ashamed of their situations, or worry incessantly. Stress can affect their health, sleeping patterns and schoolwork, she said.
“(Cullen’s) behavioral problems are definitely part of the chaos that is part of their household,” Grandt said. “Being a single parent, and the stress Kathy goes through, I definitely think that contributes to that.”
The children pick up on Kathy’s financial problems, Grandt said. Kathy has struggled to find transportation after an acquaintance crashed her car last fall. Even if she had a car, she probably couldn’t afford the gas to run it, Kathy said.
The family usually has to walk or take the bus. As a result, the children are often late to school, making their days even more hectic, Grandt said.
Kiara and Carl both seem well-adjusted, though, and have solid friendships. And Cullen is a good kid at heart, Grandt said.
“With everything, even with Cullen’s behavioral struggles and all that, everybody at Wilson adores those kids,” she said. “I think despite all the stress and the chaos that exists in their lives, they’re great kids.”
Lack of stability
It’s not just a lack of income that affects children in poverty, the National Center for Children in Poverty writes. These children often experience chaotic and unpredictable home lives. Income rises and falls as parents change jobs or lose them suddenly. Families in poverty tend to move a lot, searching for lower rent or fresh starts, further uprooting the children.
Parents in poverty are more likely to experience severe stress and depression, which also affects their children, the report says.
Children crave stability, and they often don’t find it in low-income homes, Grandt said.
“Kids can be pretty resilient, but it’s hard,” she said. “They’re kids, and they’re dealing with things they should never have to deal with.”
The McAdory children have already been through a lot in their young lives. Kathy had an on-again, off-again relationship with their father, who did drugs and occasionally abused Kathy, she said.
When Keegan was just a few months old, all four children were sent to foster care. Their father was still using drugs, and Kathy didn’t have a job or electricity in her home. Kathy ended the relationship for good after she lost her children, she said.
The children bounced around between relatives and foster parents for more than two years before Kathy got them back.
“That’s affected their behavior completely. I know it has,” Kathy said. “You’re taken from your family at a young age and placed in a complete stranger’s home; you’re thinking, why in the heck are you there?”
Kathy was thrilled to get her children back, but it’s been tough, she said. They’re too young to understand what happened, and she thinks they subconsciously blame her for giving them up.
Meanwhile, Kathy struggles to care for the children on her own while attending school and working part-time jobs.
“I have so much going on in my head and so much going on at home, it’s like very overwhelming,” she said. “It’s like I try to do one thing, and while I’m doing this one thing, something else is going on over here. It’s constantly back and forth, back and forth …
“Families need that two-parent thing; I really, truly believe that.”
So Kathy looks for role models for her children elsewhere. Carl and Cullen both attend weekly counseling sessions, and Cullen has a special counselor assigned to him from the Janesville School District.
She’s eager to get Carl, Cullen and Kiara into the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, but the waiting list is long, she said.
Long-term effects
Life isn’t always stressful in the Patrick household. Keegan and Kiara are friendly and affectionate, especially with their mother, while Carl and Cullen often seem like typical pre-teen boys, running around with their friends, playing games and getting into mischief.
Still, the stress the children go through can have permanent results. Children who grow up in poverty are more likely to drop out of school, have poor adolescent and adult health and struggle with poverty as adults, the National Center for Children in Poverty report states.
Kathy doesn’t want that to happen to her children. That’s why she decided to get her family in order this summer, especially because she was on a break from her work-study jobs. She’s going to have some tough classes in the fall, and she and the children can’t go through another year like they just had, she said.
“That’s why I’m not too stressed about getting a job,” she said. “Yeah, I really want one. Do we financially need one? No. We’ll just have to struggle like we have been doing. But my most important thing now is focusing on getting our family and my kids’ heads straight.”
At a counselor’s suggestion, Kathy put a piece of cardboard on the wall listing the children’s names with space for stickers for when they do their chores. A few days after she put it up, only Kiara had a sticker.
Weathering the storm
A few weeks after Cullen’s bike outburst, a new, hand-written sign hung on Kathy’s front door:
“No smoking!! Take your shoes off!! or don’t come in!!”
Kathy and Cullen sat curled on the couch watching TV as rain poured outside. Cullen was sent home from summer school earlier that day because he didn’t want to participate.
Kiara and Carl were still at summer school; Keegan had gone with a family friend to the Rock County Job Center to play in the day care while the friend collected food assistance.
Cullen wanted to go to a neighbor’s house, but Kathy told him to stay inside.
“Why can’t you stay here and snuggle with me?” she teased as thunder rolled in the distance. “We never get to spend time together.”
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This profiles some children in the Janesviille Wisconsin area who are growing up poor. It is part of the newspapers series on poverty. - Kale
By STACY VOGEL
JANESVILLE — Cullen McAdory’s eyes flashed as he stood on the front porch, arms crossed over his basketball jersey. He wanted to play outside, but his mom wouldn’t let him because he was suspended from school.
“Cullen, please, let’s not argue today,” his mother, Kathy Patrick, said wearily. “Right now, you’re supposed to be in school, and because you made bad choices, and decided not to go to school today, or they made you not go to school today, that means you need to stay in the house today until 3 o’clock.”
“You grounded me yesterday,” he replied with a lisp that made “grounded” sound like “gwounded.” “You said for one day you’d ground me.”
“From yesterday, that was something different. I’m not gonna argue.”
“You’re the one who starts everything!” Cullen stamped his feet. “You lie to me about, like, everything!”
Cullen has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and when he isn’t on the right medications, his temper can get violent, Kathy explained. His doctor is trying to find the right combination of medicine for him, but meanwhile, the whole family suffers from Cullen’s outbursts.
A few minutes later, Kathy answered her cell phone, and Cullen took his chance to sneak out with his bike.
Children hit hard
Poverty can have profound effects on children, especially those who experience it early in life, according to a report from the National Center for Children in Poverty. Chronic hardship can hinder children’s development and their ability to learn and contribute to behavioral, social and emotional problems, the report states.
Kathy, 36, has seen those effects in her own children as she struggles to pull her family out of poverty.
Carl, 10, and Cullen, 8, have been diagnosed with attention deficit disorders. Neither has a male guardian or role model in his life, and Kathy believes their behavioral problems might have something to do with stress caused by her failed relationship with their father.
Though Carl does well in school, he refuses to do his homework—to the point that he almost failed fourth grade last year. Kathy tries and tries to discipline him, but she’s not sure how. Besides, her own studies and jobs leave her little time to make sure the children attend to their schoolwork.
All four of the children—Carl, Cullen, Kiara, 7, and Keegan, 5,—have trouble trusting Kathy since they were sent to foster homes five years ago. Even little Keegan accused his mother of “lying” to him when she told him she’d make pancakes and didn’t make them right away.
Jessica Grandt is a social worker at Wilson Elementary School, where Kathy’s three oldest children attend and where Keegan will start kindergarten next month. She has seen different reactions from children in poverty to the stress in their lives.
Some, like Cullen, act out. Others withdraw, ashamed of their situations, or worry incessantly. Stress can affect their health, sleeping patterns and schoolwork, she said.
“(Cullen’s) behavioral problems are definitely part of the chaos that is part of their household,” Grandt said. “Being a single parent, and the stress Kathy goes through, I definitely think that contributes to that.”
The children pick up on Kathy’s financial problems, Grandt said. Kathy has struggled to find transportation after an acquaintance crashed her car last fall. Even if she had a car, she probably couldn’t afford the gas to run it, Kathy said.
The family usually has to walk or take the bus. As a result, the children are often late to school, making their days even more hectic, Grandt said.
Kiara and Carl both seem well-adjusted, though, and have solid friendships. And Cullen is a good kid at heart, Grandt said.
“With everything, even with Cullen’s behavioral struggles and all that, everybody at Wilson adores those kids,” she said. “I think despite all the stress and the chaos that exists in their lives, they’re great kids.”
Lack of stability
It’s not just a lack of income that affects children in poverty, the National Center for Children in Poverty writes. These children often experience chaotic and unpredictable home lives. Income rises and falls as parents change jobs or lose them suddenly. Families in poverty tend to move a lot, searching for lower rent or fresh starts, further uprooting the children.
Parents in poverty are more likely to experience severe stress and depression, which also affects their children, the report says.
Children crave stability, and they often don’t find it in low-income homes, Grandt said.
“Kids can be pretty resilient, but it’s hard,” she said. “They’re kids, and they’re dealing with things they should never have to deal with.”
The McAdory children have already been through a lot in their young lives. Kathy had an on-again, off-again relationship with their father, who did drugs and occasionally abused Kathy, she said.
When Keegan was just a few months old, all four children were sent to foster care. Their father was still using drugs, and Kathy didn’t have a job or electricity in her home. Kathy ended the relationship for good after she lost her children, she said.
The children bounced around between relatives and foster parents for more than two years before Kathy got them back.
“That’s affected their behavior completely. I know it has,” Kathy said. “You’re taken from your family at a young age and placed in a complete stranger’s home; you’re thinking, why in the heck are you there?”
Kathy was thrilled to get her children back, but it’s been tough, she said. They’re too young to understand what happened, and she thinks they subconsciously blame her for giving them up.
Meanwhile, Kathy struggles to care for the children on her own while attending school and working part-time jobs.
“I have so much going on in my head and so much going on at home, it’s like very overwhelming,” she said. “It’s like I try to do one thing, and while I’m doing this one thing, something else is going on over here. It’s constantly back and forth, back and forth …
“Families need that two-parent thing; I really, truly believe that.”
So Kathy looks for role models for her children elsewhere. Carl and Cullen both attend weekly counseling sessions, and Cullen has a special counselor assigned to him from the Janesville School District.
She’s eager to get Carl, Cullen and Kiara into the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, but the waiting list is long, she said.
Long-term effects
Life isn’t always stressful in the Patrick household. Keegan and Kiara are friendly and affectionate, especially with their mother, while Carl and Cullen often seem like typical pre-teen boys, running around with their friends, playing games and getting into mischief.
Still, the stress the children go through can have permanent results. Children who grow up in poverty are more likely to drop out of school, have poor adolescent and adult health and struggle with poverty as adults, the National Center for Children in Poverty report states.
Kathy doesn’t want that to happen to her children. That’s why she decided to get her family in order this summer, especially because she was on a break from her work-study jobs. She’s going to have some tough classes in the fall, and she and the children can’t go through another year like they just had, she said.
“That’s why I’m not too stressed about getting a job,” she said. “Yeah, I really want one. Do we financially need one? No. We’ll just have to struggle like we have been doing. But my most important thing now is focusing on getting our family and my kids’ heads straight.”
At a counselor’s suggestion, Kathy put a piece of cardboard on the wall listing the children’s names with space for stickers for when they do their chores. A few days after she put it up, only Kiara had a sticker.
Weathering the storm
A few weeks after Cullen’s bike outburst, a new, hand-written sign hung on Kathy’s front door:
“No smoking!! Take your shoes off!! or don’t come in!!”
Kathy and Cullen sat curled on the couch watching TV as rain poured outside. Cullen was sent home from summer school earlier that day because he didn’t want to participate.
Kiara and Carl were still at summer school; Keegan had gone with a family friend to the Rock County Job Center to play in the day care while the friend collected food assistance.
Cullen wanted to go to a neighbor’s house, but Kathy told him to stay inside.
“Why can’t you stay here and snuggle with me?” she teased as thunder rolled in the distance. “We never get to spend time together.”
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Tourism breathes life into Namibian desert mining town
from the Mail and Guardian Online
A town in Namibia has used its ancient culture to attract visitors and dollars. The switch in the economy was prompted be the closing of the town's tin mine. - Kale
Having lost their only income source when the Uis tin mine that was their lifeline shut down, a community in the Namibian desert is slowly being resurrected by locals using innovative tourism.
Discovering the tourist appeal of a pre-historic cave painting in the nearby Dâureb mountain, a group from the community set themselves up as guides, attracting foreigners to their tiny settlement in the desert.
Namibia's highest mountain, the granite sides of Dâureb rise up like a giant fortress in the middle of the desert, housing a long unexploited treasure whose tourism value the community stumbled upon in their darkest hour.
"It was very hard to live. The mine was the only source of revenue", said Alfons !Uwuseb (36) who now proudly bears the title of "Mountain guide of Dâureb".
Better known as Brandberg, or the "burning mountain" as it was renamed by the German colonists, the now inactive volcano gets it name from the fiery colour it often takes on as the sun sets.
This imposing site once sheltered the ancestors of the Damara, one of the people of Namibia, a group of hunters and pastoralists who left behind cave paintings -- touching testimonies to their life.
Water used to flow down the sides of the mountain, providing an oasis in the desert where the Damara could keep their cattle and hunt as animals were drawn to the water.
The most famous of these is the White Lady, which piqued the attention of anthropologists and a few tourists finding their way to the mountain about 30km from Uis.
Even after the main mine shut down in 1990, sparking an exodus from the town, they didn't at first see the potential of the cave painting to help them earn a living.
"We were wondering: what are the white people coming here for? We didn't realise the opportunity to reduce poverty", said !Uwuseb.
It was only when a group of South Africans pressed !Uwuseb in 1995 to recount the Damara version of the White Lady's origin that they realised they could make money by helping tourists.
Discovered in 1918 by a German prospector, the painting nestled in a rock shelter of Dâureb, a 40 minute walk to the middle of the mountain where the long white human form rises among half-man, half-animal spirits.
A monk, Henri Breuil, saw similarities to Cretan paintings and deduced that the figure was a white woman.
The Damara offer a simpler interpretation.
"It was a witch doctor conducting a ceremony to cure a sick person. The Gamab -- which means the men who can heal, make rain and bring good fortune -- painted their bodies with a white powder made of crushed bones," explained !Uwuseb.
The mountain guides of Dâureb have joined about 50 other communities in a local initiative which the Namibian government has encouraged since 1995 -- to devolve authority over wildlife and tourism to local residents.
In these conservancies, which now cover about 15% of the country, the rights to exploit the resources are transferred to communities, increasing their income and increasing wildlife and conservation areas.
Training in history, geology, astronomy, management and ecology is provided thanks to a semi-private foundation.
The Namibian government, in a report published by the tourism ministry, said the project is "effective as a rural development strategy ... generating income for local communities, and providing new skills and expertise."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A town in Namibia has used its ancient culture to attract visitors and dollars. The switch in the economy was prompted be the closing of the town's tin mine. - Kale
Having lost their only income source when the Uis tin mine that was their lifeline shut down, a community in the Namibian desert is slowly being resurrected by locals using innovative tourism.
Discovering the tourist appeal of a pre-historic cave painting in the nearby Dâureb mountain, a group from the community set themselves up as guides, attracting foreigners to their tiny settlement in the desert.
Namibia's highest mountain, the granite sides of Dâureb rise up like a giant fortress in the middle of the desert, housing a long unexploited treasure whose tourism value the community stumbled upon in their darkest hour.
"It was very hard to live. The mine was the only source of revenue", said Alfons !Uwuseb (36) who now proudly bears the title of "Mountain guide of Dâureb".
Better known as Brandberg, or the "burning mountain" as it was renamed by the German colonists, the now inactive volcano gets it name from the fiery colour it often takes on as the sun sets.
This imposing site once sheltered the ancestors of the Damara, one of the people of Namibia, a group of hunters and pastoralists who left behind cave paintings -- touching testimonies to their life.
Water used to flow down the sides of the mountain, providing an oasis in the desert where the Damara could keep their cattle and hunt as animals were drawn to the water.
The most famous of these is the White Lady, which piqued the attention of anthropologists and a few tourists finding their way to the mountain about 30km from Uis.
Even after the main mine shut down in 1990, sparking an exodus from the town, they didn't at first see the potential of the cave painting to help them earn a living.
"We were wondering: what are the white people coming here for? We didn't realise the opportunity to reduce poverty", said !Uwuseb.
It was only when a group of South Africans pressed !Uwuseb in 1995 to recount the Damara version of the White Lady's origin that they realised they could make money by helping tourists.
Discovered in 1918 by a German prospector, the painting nestled in a rock shelter of Dâureb, a 40 minute walk to the middle of the mountain where the long white human form rises among half-man, half-animal spirits.
A monk, Henri Breuil, saw similarities to Cretan paintings and deduced that the figure was a white woman.
The Damara offer a simpler interpretation.
"It was a witch doctor conducting a ceremony to cure a sick person. The Gamab -- which means the men who can heal, make rain and bring good fortune -- painted their bodies with a white powder made of crushed bones," explained !Uwuseb.
The mountain guides of Dâureb have joined about 50 other communities in a local initiative which the Namibian government has encouraged since 1995 -- to devolve authority over wildlife and tourism to local residents.
In these conservancies, which now cover about 15% of the country, the rights to exploit the resources are transferred to communities, increasing their income and increasing wildlife and conservation areas.
Training in history, geology, astronomy, management and ecology is provided thanks to a semi-private foundation.
The Namibian government, in a report published by the tourism ministry, said the project is "effective as a rural development strategy ... generating income for local communities, and providing new skills and expertise."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Pair will devote year to help poor people in Guatemala
from The Northern Echo
A profile on a couple who are taking a year off for a mission trip to Guatemala. The country has a high crime rate, but the pair are willing to take the risk. - Kale
A NURSE and her husband are taking a year-long career break and giving up creature comforts to travel to Central America and help some of the world’s poorest people.
Community psychiatric nurse Sarah Hogg and her husband, Simon, have made the life-changing decision to spend a year in Guatemala, volunteering for a charity which helps street children and destitute single mothers.
However, in order to share their skills and expertise in the extremely deprived town of Santiago Sacatepequez, the couple need to raise £600 in sponsorship for every month they are there.
Mr and Mrs Hogg, both 32, set off for Central America next month.
They will be working for Mission Guatemala, a charity established three years ago by a British family, which has set up a church and school and helped to transform the lives of the 42 children they are educating.
Mrs Hogg, who has worked at West Park Hospital, in Darlington, since 2002, will be teaching and continuing the charity’s outreach work with homeless children, who are often left with no alternative but to live on rubbish dumps.
She also hopes to work with women in the area who are forced to raise children alone and in poverty.
“We had some quite difficult personal circumstances over the past two years, and it gave us a sense of what is important,”
said Mrs Hogg, a qualified nurse of 11 years.
“As a Christian, I felt quite moved that if I could do something to help people, I should.
“When they think of poverty, people tend to think of places in Africa. Central America has been called the forgotten continent. The people are desperately, desperately poor – you are talking about people who are living on less than 50p a day.”
The couple recently visited the mission ahead of their planned trip.
“We were very humbled by some of the people we met who had nothing, yet were so pleased we were there. We went to see a family who were living in just a tin shed, but had decorated the roof with crepe paper for us.”
To sponsor the couple, call New Life Baptist Church on 01609-775396 or email sarahm.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A profile on a couple who are taking a year off for a mission trip to Guatemala. The country has a high crime rate, but the pair are willing to take the risk. - Kale
A NURSE and her husband are taking a year-long career break and giving up creature comforts to travel to Central America and help some of the world’s poorest people.
Community psychiatric nurse Sarah Hogg and her husband, Simon, have made the life-changing decision to spend a year in Guatemala, volunteering for a charity which helps street children and destitute single mothers.
However, in order to share their skills and expertise in the extremely deprived town of Santiago Sacatepequez, the couple need to raise £600 in sponsorship for every month they are there.
Mr and Mrs Hogg, both 32, set off for Central America next month.
They will be working for Mission Guatemala, a charity established three years ago by a British family, which has set up a church and school and helped to transform the lives of the 42 children they are educating.
Mrs Hogg, who has worked at West Park Hospital, in Darlington, since 2002, will be teaching and continuing the charity’s outreach work with homeless children, who are often left with no alternative but to live on rubbish dumps.
She also hopes to work with women in the area who are forced to raise children alone and in poverty.
“We had some quite difficult personal circumstances over the past two years, and it gave us a sense of what is important,”
said Mrs Hogg, a qualified nurse of 11 years.
“As a Christian, I felt quite moved that if I could do something to help people, I should.
“When they think of poverty, people tend to think of places in Africa. Central America has been called the forgotten continent. The people are desperately, desperately poor – you are talking about people who are living on less than 50p a day.”
The couple recently visited the mission ahead of their planned trip.
“We were very humbled by some of the people we met who had nothing, yet were so pleased we were there. We went to see a family who were living in just a tin shed, but had decorated the roof with crepe paper for us.”
To sponsor the couple, call New Life Baptist Church on 01609-775396 or email sarahm.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Friday, August 22, 2008
India sees food crisis easing as plantings rise across the world
from the Wall Street Journal's Live Mint
Finally some good news! Signs that the world food crisis is easing. - Kale
Farmers from Australia to China have increased plantings of wheat, corn, rice and soya bean, helping stockpiles gain from 30-year lows
by Thomas Kutty Abraham and Pratik Parija
Mumbai / New Delhi: A worldwide food crisis that sent wheat, corn and rice prices to records and sparked riots earlier this year may be over after farmers increased plantings, a top official at the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution said.
“I don’t think there’s a crisis now,” said T. Nanda Kumar, food secretary, who is responsible for formulating food security policy in the world’s second most populous nation. “Food will be available.”
Farmers from Australia to China have increased plantings of wheat, corn, rice and soya bean, helping stockpiles gain from 30-year lows. An end to the crisis may help countries including India and Egypt ease trade barriers and cool inflation.
The global production outlook for wheat and soya bean is “very good,” while rice is still expensive, Kumar said on 18 August. “Rice is softening, but I don’t think it has softened adequately.”
Still, grain prices will remain higher than the average of the past five years even as production improves, he said.
Soaring food and energy prices increased the number of hungry people by about 50 million last year, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. The food shortage spurred strikes in Argentina, riots in Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Morocco and Ivory Coast, and a crackdown on illicit exports in Pakistan and the Philippines.
The UBS Bloomberg Constant Maturity Commodity Index of 26 raw materials more than trebled in the past six years as global demand led by China outpaced supplies of crops and metals.
Rice has tumbled 29% from its record, while wheat and corn have dropped 35% and 26% from their peaks.
India, the second biggest producer of rice and wheat, may need a second “green revolution” to meet food demand driven by rising incomes among its 1.1 billion people, Kumar said.
M.S. Swaminathan, the 83-year-old agriculture scientist who spearheaded the country’s Green Revolution in the 1960s, has said the solution to higher farm output lies in providing better remuneration to growers.
“You may call it by any name, what we need is more food,” said Kumar. India needs to increase its wheat and rice production by 3.5 million tonnes (mt) every year to meet its growing demand and cover emergencies, he said.
Supplies of farm products haven’t kept pace with demand from consumers who have become richer in the past five years as India’s economy registered the fastest economic expansion since independence.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Finally some good news! Signs that the world food crisis is easing. - Kale
Farmers from Australia to China have increased plantings of wheat, corn, rice and soya bean, helping stockpiles gain from 30-year lows
by Thomas Kutty Abraham and Pratik Parija
Mumbai / New Delhi: A worldwide food crisis that sent wheat, corn and rice prices to records and sparked riots earlier this year may be over after farmers increased plantings, a top official at the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution said.
“I don’t think there’s a crisis now,” said T. Nanda Kumar, food secretary, who is responsible for formulating food security policy in the world’s second most populous nation. “Food will be available.”
Farmers from Australia to China have increased plantings of wheat, corn, rice and soya bean, helping stockpiles gain from 30-year lows. An end to the crisis may help countries including India and Egypt ease trade barriers and cool inflation.
The global production outlook for wheat and soya bean is “very good,” while rice is still expensive, Kumar said on 18 August. “Rice is softening, but I don’t think it has softened adequately.”
Still, grain prices will remain higher than the average of the past five years even as production improves, he said.
Soaring food and energy prices increased the number of hungry people by about 50 million last year, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. The food shortage spurred strikes in Argentina, riots in Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Morocco and Ivory Coast, and a crackdown on illicit exports in Pakistan and the Philippines.
The UBS Bloomberg Constant Maturity Commodity Index of 26 raw materials more than trebled in the past six years as global demand led by China outpaced supplies of crops and metals.
Rice has tumbled 29% from its record, while wheat and corn have dropped 35% and 26% from their peaks.
India, the second biggest producer of rice and wheat, may need a second “green revolution” to meet food demand driven by rising incomes among its 1.1 billion people, Kumar said.
M.S. Swaminathan, the 83-year-old agriculture scientist who spearheaded the country’s Green Revolution in the 1960s, has said the solution to higher farm output lies in providing better remuneration to growers.
“You may call it by any name, what we need is more food,” said Kumar. India needs to increase its wheat and rice production by 3.5 million tonnes (mt) every year to meet its growing demand and cover emergencies, he said.
Supplies of farm products haven’t kept pace with demand from consumers who have become richer in the past five years as India’s economy registered the fastest economic expansion since independence.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Westports wants to eradicate poverty on Pulau Indah
from the Malaysian Star
A business in Malaysia that tries to eradicate poverty recently won an award in that country. This article profiles Westports, wgho was recognized for their corporate citizenship. - Kale
PETALING JAYA: Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd’s corporate philosophy of growth with equality has led the company to subscribe strongly to the belief that economic development must involve and benefit everyone.
Executive director Ruben Emir Gnanalingam said Westports, which is located in Pulau Indah, Port Klang, had adopted long-term corporate responsibility (CR) policies since its inception in 1994.
“The objectives of our CR initiatives are to eradicate poverty by providing financial assistance and job opportunities, elevate the quality of life, upgrade living standards and to enhance education and health standards of the local community.
“We adopted Pulau Indah as a core CR initiative since 1994, even before the term CR became fashionable,” he said.
Aptly called the “Zero Poverty Programme at Pulau Indah”, the initiative aims to elevate the quality of life of the villagers and improve the development of the island.
As a result of Westports’ efforts, poverty level on the island dropped to below 5% last year from 62% in 1995. In addition, about 60% of Westports’ employees are Pulau Indah residents.
Ruben Emir said the thrust of the port’s initiatives in providing for the less fortunate had always been to enhance income-earning opportunities especially for the people of Pulau Indah as well as complement the Government’s efforts in poverty alleviation programmes.
As a responsible corporate citizen, the port operator has contributed financially and in kind to various community projects.
“Today, Westports not only provides job opportunities for the locals, but also monthly financial assistance to the poor as well as orphaned children.
“Our current CR initiatives are here to stay and will be the framework for us to move ahead,” Ruben Emir said.
He noted that for any CR programme to succeed it was essential that clear responsibilities, resources and leadership roles were assigned across a company to address CR issues on a day-to-day basis.
“It is important for the chief executive officer, board members and senior management to provide leadership; define what CR means to the organisation, make it happen; and finally, be transparent about it,” he said.
Westports is one of the partners for the StarBiz-Institute of Corporate Responsibility (ICR) Malaysia awards presentation dinner tonight. It is a CR Event Supporter under the marketplace and community categories.
Ruben Emir said Westports’ partnership in the StarBiz-ICR Malaysia awards enabled the company to acknowledge industry leaders who had set benchmarks or standards of CR especially in areas of focus such as the community and marketplace, which were integral parts of the port’s development.
“We hope the awards will support Malaysia’s efforts to help companies move from awareness-raising initiatives towards the action and implementation of responsible business practices,” he added.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A business in Malaysia that tries to eradicate poverty recently won an award in that country. This article profiles Westports, wgho was recognized for their corporate citizenship. - Kale
PETALING JAYA: Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd’s corporate philosophy of growth with equality has led the company to subscribe strongly to the belief that economic development must involve and benefit everyone.
Executive director Ruben Emir Gnanalingam said Westports, which is located in Pulau Indah, Port Klang, had adopted long-term corporate responsibility (CR) policies since its inception in 1994.
“The objectives of our CR initiatives are to eradicate poverty by providing financial assistance and job opportunities, elevate the quality of life, upgrade living standards and to enhance education and health standards of the local community.
“We adopted Pulau Indah as a core CR initiative since 1994, even before the term CR became fashionable,” he said.
Aptly called the “Zero Poverty Programme at Pulau Indah”, the initiative aims to elevate the quality of life of the villagers and improve the development of the island.
As a result of Westports’ efforts, poverty level on the island dropped to below 5% last year from 62% in 1995. In addition, about 60% of Westports’ employees are Pulau Indah residents.
Ruben Emir said the thrust of the port’s initiatives in providing for the less fortunate had always been to enhance income-earning opportunities especially for the people of Pulau Indah as well as complement the Government’s efforts in poverty alleviation programmes.
As a responsible corporate citizen, the port operator has contributed financially and in kind to various community projects.
“Today, Westports not only provides job opportunities for the locals, but also monthly financial assistance to the poor as well as orphaned children.
“Our current CR initiatives are here to stay and will be the framework for us to move ahead,” Ruben Emir said.
He noted that for any CR programme to succeed it was essential that clear responsibilities, resources and leadership roles were assigned across a company to address CR issues on a day-to-day basis.
“It is important for the chief executive officer, board members and senior management to provide leadership; define what CR means to the organisation, make it happen; and finally, be transparent about it,” he said.
Westports is one of the partners for the StarBiz-Institute of Corporate Responsibility (ICR) Malaysia awards presentation dinner tonight. It is a CR Event Supporter under the marketplace and community categories.
Ruben Emir said Westports’ partnership in the StarBiz-ICR Malaysia awards enabled the company to acknowledge industry leaders who had set benchmarks or standards of CR especially in areas of focus such as the community and marketplace, which were integral parts of the port’s development.
“We hope the awards will support Malaysia’s efforts to help companies move from awareness-raising initiatives towards the action and implementation of responsible business practices,” he added.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Paying for Performance
from the Washington Post
The experiment of giving cash for good grades is expanding in the US. The hope is that cash can help motivate students in districts with high povcerty rates. This snip from the Washington Post story explains the new program starting in the nations capitol.
Costs of the incentive will be split almost equally between the school system and Harvard's American Inequity Lab, which studies poverty and race issues. The program, Capital Gains, will be run by Roland G. Fryer Jr., an economics professor with the lab. Fryer also operates a pilot program in New York City public schools.
In justifying the program, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) said the city has spent an inordinate amount on a school bureaucracy over the years that has failed students. Instead, he said, why not direct some of the cash to the students.
"If it seems outside of the box, it is," Fenty said.
A cash-incentive program that pays high school students as much as $500 for earning a 3 or more on an Advanced Placement test has been launched in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Kentucky and Virginia.
A study of the program released yesterday by a Cornell University economist said the incentive resulted in higher scores and an increase in the number of students attending college.
Alfie Kohn, an independent researcher whose book, "Punished by Rewards," details the downside of such programs, said incentives "undermine the very thing you're trying to promote by getting them hooked on the rewards."
Rhee said she is targeting sixth- through eighth-graders because some students in the group typically have had intractable behavior and academic problems. She said middle school is a pivotal time because many students are setting the patterns to become high school scholars or dropouts.
District middle-schoolers, often trapped in violent and academically weak campuses, typically flee the system in higher proportions than other groups, school officials said. Thirty-six percent of the city's middle-grade students are proficient in reading, and 33 percent are proficient in math, Rhee said.
The schools need to focus on "how we can ensure that students are engaged, that they are invested in their education," Rhee said. "I think it's incredibly important to make sure students take ownership of their learning."
Parents had mixed reactions to the program. Some said it was an understandable solution to an intractable problem. Others said students should not receive money to go to class. "I just totally disagree with this," said Dionne Davis, whose daughter attends seventh grade at Hardy Middle School. "I think the incentive should come from within, just to want to do well, rather than doing it for a dollar." Her daughter was not so sure.
"I think it's a good idea," said Samantha, 11. "I think middle schoolers should have rewards for getting good grades and stuff on their tests. . . . I would save it for college and maybe give some to charity."
Some school activists expressed shock and anger at the incentive.
"That's pretty pitiful," said Mary Levy, director of the Public Education Reform Project for the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. "It makes me sad to see we've sunk so low that we have to pay kids to show up."
Rhee said that if the incentive program is successful she could expand it to 14 other middle schools and possibly high schools. Parents can choose not to allow children to participate in the program.
Fryer said D.C. school officials will establish criteria for the program and he will track the progress. "The key is innovation, not just sitting around watching the test scores dwindle," he said.
Fryer is working with 62 schools in New York, which provides as much as $500 for fourth- and seventh-graders who perform well on a standardized test.
He said his staff is collecting data to gauge progress. Surveys of students and parents show support for the concept, he said. Results showed that 96 percent of the schools participating in the program reported that they were excited about the money; 91 percent reported an increased focus on exams; and 59 percent reported better classroom performance.
"The kids unquestionably love it. Whether that is translating into higher performance, I can't tell you for a fact" until a report is released in October, said David Cantor, spokesman for the New York Department of Education. The program, funded by private donations, cost $400,000 last year.
A program in Virginia is paying students for passing AP scores at 14 high schools in rural and high-poverty areas across the state.
Students who receive grades of 3 or more receive $100 per test, said Paul Nichols, president of Virginia Advanced Study Strategies. The program also trains AP teachers, subsidizes test costs and provides extra materials to AP classes. It began in spring, but has had an immediate effect on enrollment.
"The numbers of students in these schools that have signed up to take AP classes has more than doubled," Nichols said. "In the small rural schools, it has tripled."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
The experiment of giving cash for good grades is expanding in the US. The hope is that cash can help motivate students in districts with high povcerty rates. This snip from the Washington Post story explains the new program starting in the nations capitol.
Costs of the incentive will be split almost equally between the school system and Harvard's American Inequity Lab, which studies poverty and race issues. The program, Capital Gains, will be run by Roland G. Fryer Jr., an economics professor with the lab. Fryer also operates a pilot program in New York City public schools.
In justifying the program, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) said the city has spent an inordinate amount on a school bureaucracy over the years that has failed students. Instead, he said, why not direct some of the cash to the students.
"If it seems outside of the box, it is," Fenty said.
A cash-incentive program that pays high school students as much as $500 for earning a 3 or more on an Advanced Placement test has been launched in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Kentucky and Virginia.
A study of the program released yesterday by a Cornell University economist said the incentive resulted in higher scores and an increase in the number of students attending college.
Alfie Kohn, an independent researcher whose book, "Punished by Rewards," details the downside of such programs, said incentives "undermine the very thing you're trying to promote by getting them hooked on the rewards."
Rhee said she is targeting sixth- through eighth-graders because some students in the group typically have had intractable behavior and academic problems. She said middle school is a pivotal time because many students are setting the patterns to become high school scholars or dropouts.
District middle-schoolers, often trapped in violent and academically weak campuses, typically flee the system in higher proportions than other groups, school officials said. Thirty-six percent of the city's middle-grade students are proficient in reading, and 33 percent are proficient in math, Rhee said.
The schools need to focus on "how we can ensure that students are engaged, that they are invested in their education," Rhee said. "I think it's incredibly important to make sure students take ownership of their learning."
Parents had mixed reactions to the program. Some said it was an understandable solution to an intractable problem. Others said students should not receive money to go to class. "I just totally disagree with this," said Dionne Davis, whose daughter attends seventh grade at Hardy Middle School. "I think the incentive should come from within, just to want to do well, rather than doing it for a dollar." Her daughter was not so sure.
"I think it's a good idea," said Samantha, 11. "I think middle schoolers should have rewards for getting good grades and stuff on their tests. . . . I would save it for college and maybe give some to charity."
Some school activists expressed shock and anger at the incentive.
"That's pretty pitiful," said Mary Levy, director of the Public Education Reform Project for the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. "It makes me sad to see we've sunk so low that we have to pay kids to show up."
Rhee said that if the incentive program is successful she could expand it to 14 other middle schools and possibly high schools. Parents can choose not to allow children to participate in the program.
Fryer said D.C. school officials will establish criteria for the program and he will track the progress. "The key is innovation, not just sitting around watching the test scores dwindle," he said.
Fryer is working with 62 schools in New York, which provides as much as $500 for fourth- and seventh-graders who perform well on a standardized test.
He said his staff is collecting data to gauge progress. Surveys of students and parents show support for the concept, he said. Results showed that 96 percent of the schools participating in the program reported that they were excited about the money; 91 percent reported an increased focus on exams; and 59 percent reported better classroom performance.
"The kids unquestionably love it. Whether that is translating into higher performance, I can't tell you for a fact" until a report is released in October, said David Cantor, spokesman for the New York Department of Education. The program, funded by private donations, cost $400,000 last year.
A program in Virginia is paying students for passing AP scores at 14 high schools in rural and high-poverty areas across the state.
Students who receive grades of 3 or more receive $100 per test, said Paul Nichols, president of Virginia Advanced Study Strategies. The program also trains AP teachers, subsidizes test costs and provides extra materials to AP classes. It began in spring, but has had an immediate effect on enrollment.
"The numbers of students in these schools that have signed up to take AP classes has more than doubled," Nichols said. "In the small rural schools, it has tripled."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
New threat of flooding in south Vietnam
from IRIN
Most of the rice in Vietnam has been harvested, so flooding shouldn't hurt food supply. However, many people need to be evacuated as the flood waters make their way to southern Vietnam. - Kale
HANOI - Aid officials say emergency supplies have reached nearly all of those affected by recent heavy flooding in northern Vietnam. But as clean-up efforts continue, the country faces a fresh assault as river levels rise dangerously in the south.
“Because of global warming, Vietnam is experiencing more floods and disasters,” said Setsuko Yamazaki, director of the UN Development Programme, addressing an inter-agency briefing this week on the damage done by the latest storm.
A total of 133 people were killed and 34 are missing after tropical storm Kammuri hit Vietnam 7-9 August, government officials said. Many residents died in their sleep when mudslides crushed their homes. Large swaths of rice fields were literally swept away, taking with them families’ livelihoods.
In the province of Lao Cai, 18 percent of farming land was destroyed, said Tran Van Tuan, manager of the Natural Disaster Mitigation Partnership, which is coordinating with national and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and donors to respond to the humanitarian emergency.
Inter-agency assessment teams made up of NGOs, UN agencies, and government experts were dispatched to the hardest hit provinces after the floods hit. At a meeting in Hanoi on 20 August the teams reported that most of the floodwaters had receded and short-term relief was getting to villages previously cut off from aid.
18,000 homes damaged
But in order to repair more than 18,000 damaged houses and clean out 19,000 hectares of rice fields, longer-term aid will be needed, stressed the assessment teams.
“The government has been very active in helping victims,” said Luu Quang Dai of the NGO Plan International who recently returned from surveying the damage in Phu Tho Province. “But the area is too much. It will take more than a year to recover. [In that time] many people will fall below the poverty line.”
There were also concerns that many children will not be able to attend school this autumn. The government said 165 classrooms had collapsed or were washed away. At least 100 more are filled with rocks and mud. The assessment teams said families devastated by the storm would also have a difficult time paying tuition fees or buying books.
Early warning systems
Heavy monsoon rains and flooding are a normal part of Vietnam's weather system. But extreme weather patterns in which storms are arriving earlier and lasting longer are having increasingly deadly effects, according to Vietnamese disaster preparedness officials.
In some areas, early warning systems have been installed to alert residents to evacuate. But when the waters rose, many of the alarms failed to go off.
"We do have some flood warning devices," said Le Thanh Du, deputy director of the Agriculture and Rural Department for Lao Cai Province. "It's just a pilot programme and it didn't work well. On that day, the electricity was cut off so the bell did not ring to warn the local people. I think if we have a comprehensive flood warning system, people living in flood areas could evacuate before the floods come."
Bracing for floods in south
As the northern provinces struggle to recover from the storm, 1,500km to the south, farmers in the Mekong Delta are bracing for a deluge of water dumped by the tropical storm days earlier in Laos and Cambodia. The water, which hit record levels in those countries, is flowing rapidly down the Mekong river into southern Vietnam.
“The water level is now at 3.3m and rising 7-8cm a day,” Nguyen Van Khang, director of Agriculture and Rural Development in Tien Giang Province, told IRIN on 23 August. “The biggest threat now is that the flood coming from upstream could be combined with high tides.”
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Most of the rice in Vietnam has been harvested, so flooding shouldn't hurt food supply. However, many people need to be evacuated as the flood waters make their way to southern Vietnam. - Kale
HANOI - Aid officials say emergency supplies have reached nearly all of those affected by recent heavy flooding in northern Vietnam. But as clean-up efforts continue, the country faces a fresh assault as river levels rise dangerously in the south.
“Because of global warming, Vietnam is experiencing more floods and disasters,” said Setsuko Yamazaki, director of the UN Development Programme, addressing an inter-agency briefing this week on the damage done by the latest storm.
A total of 133 people were killed and 34 are missing after tropical storm Kammuri hit Vietnam 7-9 August, government officials said. Many residents died in their sleep when mudslides crushed their homes. Large swaths of rice fields were literally swept away, taking with them families’ livelihoods.
In the province of Lao Cai, 18 percent of farming land was destroyed, said Tran Van Tuan, manager of the Natural Disaster Mitigation Partnership, which is coordinating with national and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and donors to respond to the humanitarian emergency.
Inter-agency assessment teams made up of NGOs, UN agencies, and government experts were dispatched to the hardest hit provinces after the floods hit. At a meeting in Hanoi on 20 August the teams reported that most of the floodwaters had receded and short-term relief was getting to villages previously cut off from aid.
18,000 homes damaged
But in order to repair more than 18,000 damaged houses and clean out 19,000 hectares of rice fields, longer-term aid will be needed, stressed the assessment teams.
“The government has been very active in helping victims,” said Luu Quang Dai of the NGO Plan International who recently returned from surveying the damage in Phu Tho Province. “But the area is too much. It will take more than a year to recover. [In that time] many people will fall below the poverty line.”
There were also concerns that many children will not be able to attend school this autumn. The government said 165 classrooms had collapsed or were washed away. At least 100 more are filled with rocks and mud. The assessment teams said families devastated by the storm would also have a difficult time paying tuition fees or buying books.
Early warning systems
Heavy monsoon rains and flooding are a normal part of Vietnam's weather system. But extreme weather patterns in which storms are arriving earlier and lasting longer are having increasingly deadly effects, according to Vietnamese disaster preparedness officials.
In some areas, early warning systems have been installed to alert residents to evacuate. But when the waters rose, many of the alarms failed to go off.
"We do have some flood warning devices," said Le Thanh Du, deputy director of the Agriculture and Rural Department for Lao Cai Province. "It's just a pilot programme and it didn't work well. On that day, the electricity was cut off so the bell did not ring to warn the local people. I think if we have a comprehensive flood warning system, people living in flood areas could evacuate before the floods come."
Bracing for floods in south
As the northern provinces struggle to recover from the storm, 1,500km to the south, farmers in the Mekong Delta are bracing for a deluge of water dumped by the tropical storm days earlier in Laos and Cambodia. The water, which hit record levels in those countries, is flowing rapidly down the Mekong river into southern Vietnam.
“The water level is now at 3.3m and rising 7-8cm a day,” Nguyen Van Khang, director of Agriculture and Rural Development in Tien Giang Province, told IRIN on 23 August. “The biggest threat now is that the flood coming from upstream could be combined with high tides.”
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Dormont Couple Living Without Natural Gas
from KDKA
The link below has the video story. - Kale
DORMONT ― With prices of food and gas rising, more people are struggling to keep up with the cost of the necessities, including those monthly natural gas rates that have gone up as much as 65 percent.
When you think of going without natural gas, you think of those cold winters, but even in the summer, getting your gas shut off makes life very difficult.
"We had our gas shut off - had to be at least three months ago or so," John Semplice said.
Since then, life on the second floor of their duplex in Dormont hasn't been easy for John and Caryl.
"I hate it. You know I just wish they could help us more than what they have," Caryl said. " They say you don't miss something until you don't have it."
Not having natural gas not only means the gas stove won't work - the hot water tank doesn't work either.
"We take cold showers. It's not so bad now with the humidity, but even then you come out of a cold shower and you are cold," Caryl said.
The Semplices are among thousands of area families facing this winter without natural gas.
"What I make a month and what my wife makes a month right now on these two jobs alone," John says, "we can't afford to pay what Equitable Gas wants us to pay for a monthly budget."
Those monthly payments are $274 - a payment the Public Utility Commission had helped arrange after the Semplices fell behind in payments once before. The PUC won't help them again and Equitable says if they want their gas turned back on, they have to come up with over $2,000.
"I'm starting to work my second job today so I'll have two jobs ... and he has a fulltime job and he's thinking about getting a second part-time job," Caryl said.
Because the Semplice's gross income is just under 250 percent of poverty level, there is little if any help available.
Starting in November, the Low Income Energy Assistance Program, LIHEAP, and Crisis will offer help to families whose income is at or less than 150 percent of the poverty level. Starting in October, Dollar Energy provides help to families whose income is at or below 200 percent of the poverty level.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
The link below has the video story. - Kale
DORMONT ― With prices of food and gas rising, more people are struggling to keep up with the cost of the necessities, including those monthly natural gas rates that have gone up as much as 65 percent.
When you think of going without natural gas, you think of those cold winters, but even in the summer, getting your gas shut off makes life very difficult.
"We had our gas shut off - had to be at least three months ago or so," John Semplice said.
Since then, life on the second floor of their duplex in Dormont hasn't been easy for John and Caryl.
"I hate it. You know I just wish they could help us more than what they have," Caryl said. " They say you don't miss something until you don't have it."
Not having natural gas not only means the gas stove won't work - the hot water tank doesn't work either.
"We take cold showers. It's not so bad now with the humidity, but even then you come out of a cold shower and you are cold," Caryl said.
The Semplices are among thousands of area families facing this winter without natural gas.
"What I make a month and what my wife makes a month right now on these two jobs alone," John says, "we can't afford to pay what Equitable Gas wants us to pay for a monthly budget."
Those monthly payments are $274 - a payment the Public Utility Commission had helped arrange after the Semplices fell behind in payments once before. The PUC won't help them again and Equitable says if they want their gas turned back on, they have to come up with over $2,000.
"I'm starting to work my second job today so I'll have two jobs ... and he has a fulltime job and he's thinking about getting a second part-time job," Caryl said.
Because the Semplice's gross income is just under 250 percent of poverty level, there is little if any help available.
Starting in November, the Low Income Energy Assistance Program, LIHEAP, and Crisis will offer help to families whose income is at or less than 150 percent of the poverty level. Starting in October, Dollar Energy provides help to families whose income is at or below 200 percent of the poverty level.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Beset by war, beleagured by poverty
from the CBC
Great analysis from the CBC here on Afghanistan. Canada still has many troops still in the country. Most of the write up is about politics, and that can be reached by the link below. - Kale
War, insecurity, poverty.
These are the hallmarks of life in today's Afghanistan. But they're also the dominant themes of the country's recent history despite billions of dollars in aid and military spending by Canada, the United States, Britain and other countries.
The U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 toppled the repressive and unpopular Taliban regime that had given sanctuary to al-Qaeda.
Aerial bombing and soldiers' boots on the ground were part of another mission, though. They were supposed to secure the countryside so humanitarian work and economic development could take place.
So far, that hasn't happened, and statistics tell a grim story of problems that just won't go away.
Start with poverty. According to the United Nations, Afghanistan ranks 174th out of 178 countries on the Human Development Index, a ranking that mixes per capita income with public health statistics, crime rates and other indicators.
Out of every 1,000 babies born in Afghanistan, 142 die before reaching their first birthday. A woman dies in pregnancy every 30 minutes. Overall life expectancy is estimated at just under 42.5 years.
Afghans scrape by on about $1,000 per year. That's an average. More than half of the population earns less than $2 a day.
Most of those statistics are an improvement from 2002, but there's a long way to go. The task of reconstruction isn't made any easier by the persistence of violence and insecurity.
Hunger, malnutrition plague millions
While the per capita annual income of Afghans has gone up since 2002, nearly seven million people don't have enough food to meet minimum daily needs. That's about a quarter of the population.
The grim toll taken by malaria and tuberculosis has dropped considerably in the past six years, but Afghanistan is still beset by infectious and preventable diseases.
Perhaps most ominously of all, the opium trade has become far and away the most important economic activity in the country, worth more than $3 billion in 2007. That's about a third of the gross domestic product and a huge distortion of attempts to build a modern, legal, inclusive economy.
Part of the problem is geography.
Afghanistan is landlocked, bordered by Pakistan, Iran, China, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Only 12 per cent of its territory is arable land.
Almost all imports and exports must flow through neighbouring countries, and that leaves Afghans more vulnerable to regional geopolitics than many other countries.
Pakistan, for example, is far and away the largest trading partner, and its own challenges with poverty and instability frequently spill over into Afghan life.
Most Afghans feel that Pakistan's governments and shadowy military intelligence agencies take far too active a role in their country's affairs.
At the whims of history's empires
Throughout its history, Afghanistan has been subject to the whims of global and regional superpowers.
In the 19th century, the British and Russian empires jockeyed for control and influence over the fractious tribes between the Hindu Kush mountains and the Oxus River (now known as Amu Darya).
Neither were successful. In fact, Britain had to pull back from a disastrous attempt to install a new king on the Afghan throne in the 1840s, losing 15,000 soldiers to snipers and guerrilla attacks during its retreat from Kabul.
A 20th-century imperial force, the Soviet Union's Red Army, invaded in 1979 to prop up a faltering Communist regime and stem the influence of militant Islam on the mainly Muslim Soviet Central Asian republics along Afghanistan's borders.
That, too, failed spectacularly, although it took 10 years of brutal occupation and billions of dollars in aid, training and military support from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United States for anti-Communist mujahedeen guerrillas to force Soviet troops to pull out in 1989.
That war gave rise to the world's worst refugee crisis; more than five million Afghans left their country, and half of them have yet to return.
It was also fertile ground for Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and the Taliban movement.
Each emerged from the wreckage and devastation of a civil war among mujahedeen factions that refused to share power. Their fighting impoverished and isolated their country even more than the Soviet occupation.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Great analysis from the CBC here on Afghanistan. Canada still has many troops still in the country. Most of the write up is about politics, and that can be reached by the link below. - Kale
War, insecurity, poverty.
These are the hallmarks of life in today's Afghanistan. But they're also the dominant themes of the country's recent history despite billions of dollars in aid and military spending by Canada, the United States, Britain and other countries.
The U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 toppled the repressive and unpopular Taliban regime that had given sanctuary to al-Qaeda.
Aerial bombing and soldiers' boots on the ground were part of another mission, though. They were supposed to secure the countryside so humanitarian work and economic development could take place.
So far, that hasn't happened, and statistics tell a grim story of problems that just won't go away.
Start with poverty. According to the United Nations, Afghanistan ranks 174th out of 178 countries on the Human Development Index, a ranking that mixes per capita income with public health statistics, crime rates and other indicators.
Out of every 1,000 babies born in Afghanistan, 142 die before reaching their first birthday. A woman dies in pregnancy every 30 minutes. Overall life expectancy is estimated at just under 42.5 years.
Afghans scrape by on about $1,000 per year. That's an average. More than half of the population earns less than $2 a day.
Most of those statistics are an improvement from 2002, but there's a long way to go. The task of reconstruction isn't made any easier by the persistence of violence and insecurity.
Hunger, malnutrition plague millions
While the per capita annual income of Afghans has gone up since 2002, nearly seven million people don't have enough food to meet minimum daily needs. That's about a quarter of the population.
The grim toll taken by malaria and tuberculosis has dropped considerably in the past six years, but Afghanistan is still beset by infectious and preventable diseases.
Perhaps most ominously of all, the opium trade has become far and away the most important economic activity in the country, worth more than $3 billion in 2007. That's about a third of the gross domestic product and a huge distortion of attempts to build a modern, legal, inclusive economy.
Part of the problem is geography.
Afghanistan is landlocked, bordered by Pakistan, Iran, China, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Only 12 per cent of its territory is arable land.
Almost all imports and exports must flow through neighbouring countries, and that leaves Afghans more vulnerable to regional geopolitics than many other countries.
Pakistan, for example, is far and away the largest trading partner, and its own challenges with poverty and instability frequently spill over into Afghan life.
Most Afghans feel that Pakistan's governments and shadowy military intelligence agencies take far too active a role in their country's affairs.
At the whims of history's empires
Throughout its history, Afghanistan has been subject to the whims of global and regional superpowers.
In the 19th century, the British and Russian empires jockeyed for control and influence over the fractious tribes between the Hindu Kush mountains and the Oxus River (now known as Amu Darya).
Neither were successful. In fact, Britain had to pull back from a disastrous attempt to install a new king on the Afghan throne in the 1840s, losing 15,000 soldiers to snipers and guerrilla attacks during its retreat from Kabul.
A 20th-century imperial force, the Soviet Union's Red Army, invaded in 1979 to prop up a faltering Communist regime and stem the influence of militant Islam on the mainly Muslim Soviet Central Asian republics along Afghanistan's borders.
That, too, failed spectacularly, although it took 10 years of brutal occupation and billions of dollars in aid, training and military support from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United States for anti-Communist mujahedeen guerrillas to force Soviet troops to pull out in 1989.
That war gave rise to the world's worst refugee crisis; more than five million Afghans left their country, and half of them have yet to return.
It was also fertile ground for Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and the Taliban movement.
Each emerged from the wreckage and devastation of a civil war among mujahedeen factions that refused to share power. Their fighting impoverished and isolated their country even more than the Soviet occupation.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A life or death issue for world's poor
from the Pretoria News
Sanitation just doesn't exist for many people in the world. A UK charity has marked Monday as World toilet Day, to shed light on poor hygiene in underdeveloped countries. - Kale
By Pascal Fletcher
Dakar - Going to the toilet is a matter of life and death in the world's poorest countries where lack of sanitation and poor hygiene kill hundreds of thousands, especially children, every year.
"One in four people in the world don't have a safe place to go to the toilet," said Barbara Frost, chief executive of UK-based charity WaterAid which marked World Toilet Day on Monday by launching an international campaign for more hygiene awareness and investment in sanitation.
Speaking from Mali in West Africa, Frost said the absence of clean toilet facilities, access to safe water and efficient sanitation was directly related to the spread of diseases, most preventable, that killed 1,8 million children a year.
These problems are visible in many cities and towns across Africa, the world's poorest continent, where canals or ditches carrying raw sewage often run through crowded neighbourhoods before seeping untreated into rivers, lakes and the open sea.
Parks, roadsides, backyards and fly-blown refuse dumps often serve as public toilets. The risk of epidemics worsens in Africa when floods sweep through towns and villages, spreading water infected with faeces and germs over an even wider area.
"It's a life and death issue," Frost told Reuters by telephone from the Malian capital Bamako, where she joined President Amadou Toumani Toure in stressing the importance of developing sanitation and hygiene infrastructure in Africa.
She said the international community tended to focus on providing food and water in its anti-poverty efforts, but appeared to have a blind spot over the sanitation issue.
"It's the neglected Millennium Development Goal, because I guess sanitation is not something that people like talking about, it has been completely neglected," said Frost.
She urged African leaders and the world's most developed countries to put the issue back high on the agenda of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals which aim to halve extreme poverty in the world by 2015.
"Investment in sanitation can make the biggest difference in terms of economic development, social development and people getting out of poverty," Frost said.
But without safe water, sanitation and improved hygiene practices, efforts to reduce poverty were being undermined.
Frost said that at the current rate of change, the aimed-for UN anti-poverty goals would not be achieved until 50 years after their 2015 target year, and Sub-Saharan Africa was one of the regions suffering most from development lag.
WaterAid's website marked World Toilet Day with a posting saying that 2,6 billion people in the world do not have somewhere safe, private or hygienic to go to the toilet.
# Additional reporting by Tiemoko Diallo in Bamako
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Sanitation just doesn't exist for many people in the world. A UK charity has marked Monday as World toilet Day, to shed light on poor hygiene in underdeveloped countries. - Kale
By Pascal Fletcher
Dakar - Going to the toilet is a matter of life and death in the world's poorest countries where lack of sanitation and poor hygiene kill hundreds of thousands, especially children, every year.
"One in four people in the world don't have a safe place to go to the toilet," said Barbara Frost, chief executive of UK-based charity WaterAid which marked World Toilet Day on Monday by launching an international campaign for more hygiene awareness and investment in sanitation.
Speaking from Mali in West Africa, Frost said the absence of clean toilet facilities, access to safe water and efficient sanitation was directly related to the spread of diseases, most preventable, that killed 1,8 million children a year.
These problems are visible in many cities and towns across Africa, the world's poorest continent, where canals or ditches carrying raw sewage often run through crowded neighbourhoods before seeping untreated into rivers, lakes and the open sea.
Parks, roadsides, backyards and fly-blown refuse dumps often serve as public toilets. The risk of epidemics worsens in Africa when floods sweep through towns and villages, spreading water infected with faeces and germs over an even wider area.
"It's a life and death issue," Frost told Reuters by telephone from the Malian capital Bamako, where she joined President Amadou Toumani Toure in stressing the importance of developing sanitation and hygiene infrastructure in Africa.
She said the international community tended to focus on providing food and water in its anti-poverty efforts, but appeared to have a blind spot over the sanitation issue.
"It's the neglected Millennium Development Goal, because I guess sanitation is not something that people like talking about, it has been completely neglected," said Frost.
She urged African leaders and the world's most developed countries to put the issue back high on the agenda of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals which aim to halve extreme poverty in the world by 2015.
"Investment in sanitation can make the biggest difference in terms of economic development, social development and people getting out of poverty," Frost said.
But without safe water, sanitation and improved hygiene practices, efforts to reduce poverty were being undermined.
Frost said that at the current rate of change, the aimed-for UN anti-poverty goals would not be achieved until 50 years after their 2015 target year, and Sub-Saharan Africa was one of the regions suffering most from development lag.
WaterAid's website marked World Toilet Day with a posting saying that 2,6 billion people in the world do not have somewhere safe, private or hygienic to go to the toilet.
# Additional reporting by Tiemoko Diallo in Bamako
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Fair-trade firm prepares strategy to aid Swaziland
from NE Business
Here is a good profile on a fair trade business. This explores some of the challenges in keeping a workforce when you struggle with diseases like AIDS or malaria.
by Andrew Mernin,
IMAGINE running a business where almost 50% of your employees are infected with a potentially killer disease and the average life expectancy of your workforce is just 31.
Imagine standing by as key employees become severely ill or die on a regular basis, leaving your company and community in a constant state of disarray.
These are just some of the trials and tribulations faced by businesses in the Aids-ravaged, poverty-stricken Southern African state of Swaziland.
However a North East fair-trade company is hoping to change things as it prepares its long-term strategy to help the country, which sits between South Africa and Mozambique.
Today Andrea Wilkinson of the Newcastle-based Shared Interest Foundation will head to Swaziland as part of a 23-day visit to Africa.
The company will conduct what it calls a needs analysis of the country to evaluate how the ethical investment house can help the local community.
From its Newcastle HQ, the society currently co-ordinates regional offices in Costa Rica and Kenya and is soon to open a further base in Peru, with the aim of raising current investment levels from £23m to £75m by 2012.
Through the Shared Interest Foundation, it gives vital training to sustain growth and survival in an increasingly commercial world for third world countries.
Ms Wilkinson, originally from Berwick and a Northumbria University graduate, said: “In Swaziland 42% of people have HIV/Aids and average life expectancy is 31.
“In the handicraft business they have a key craft person who teaches everyone how to make a particular item. But if they are then lost to Aids, there is no contingency plan to keep up with the running of the business. Shared Interest will step in and offer training and a long-term solution to the problem.”
Ms Wilkinson will also visit Kruger national park where its inhabitants have faced huge upheaval in the way they are able to generate income.
She said: “There are groups that used to be hunter gatherers which can’t do that because it’s a national park so now they have to make handicrafts.”
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Here is a good profile on a fair trade business. This explores some of the challenges in keeping a workforce when you struggle with diseases like AIDS or malaria.
by Andrew Mernin,
IMAGINE running a business where almost 50% of your employees are infected with a potentially killer disease and the average life expectancy of your workforce is just 31.
Imagine standing by as key employees become severely ill or die on a regular basis, leaving your company and community in a constant state of disarray.
These are just some of the trials and tribulations faced by businesses in the Aids-ravaged, poverty-stricken Southern African state of Swaziland.
However a North East fair-trade company is hoping to change things as it prepares its long-term strategy to help the country, which sits between South Africa and Mozambique.
Today Andrea Wilkinson of the Newcastle-based Shared Interest Foundation will head to Swaziland as part of a 23-day visit to Africa.
The company will conduct what it calls a needs analysis of the country to evaluate how the ethical investment house can help the local community.
From its Newcastle HQ, the society currently co-ordinates regional offices in Costa Rica and Kenya and is soon to open a further base in Peru, with the aim of raising current investment levels from £23m to £75m by 2012.
Through the Shared Interest Foundation, it gives vital training to sustain growth and survival in an increasingly commercial world for third world countries.
Ms Wilkinson, originally from Berwick and a Northumbria University graduate, said: “In Swaziland 42% of people have HIV/Aids and average life expectancy is 31.
“In the handicraft business they have a key craft person who teaches everyone how to make a particular item. But if they are then lost to Aids, there is no contingency plan to keep up with the running of the business. Shared Interest will step in and offer training and a long-term solution to the problem.”
Ms Wilkinson will also visit Kruger national park where its inhabitants have faced huge upheaval in the way they are able to generate income.
She said: “There are groups that used to be hunter gatherers which can’t do that because it’s a national park so now they have to make handicrafts.”
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
[Comment] The digital war on poverty
from the Guardian
Thanks to market forces, even the world's poorest people are beginning to benefit from the flow of digital information
by Jeffery Sachs
The digital divide is beginning to close. The flow of digital information – through mobile phones, text messaging, and the internet – is now reaching the world's masses, even in the poorest countries, bringing with it a revolution in economics, politics, and society.
Extreme poverty is almost synonymous with extreme isolation, especially rural isolation. But mobile phones and wireless internet end isolation, and will therefore prove to be the most transformative technology of economic development of our time.
The digital divide is ending not through a burst of civic responsibility, but mainly through market forces. Mobile phone technology is so powerful, and costs so little per unit of data transmission, that it has proved possible to sell mobile phone access to the poor. There are now more than 3.3 billion subscribers in the world, roughly one for every two people on the planet.
Moreover, market penetration in poor countries is rising sharply. India has around 300 million subscribers, with subscriptions rising by a stunning eight million or more per month. Brazil now has more than 130 million subscribers, and Indonesia was estimated to reach 120 million. In Africa, which contains the world's poorest countries, the market is soaring, with more than 280 million subscribers.
Mobile phones are now ubiquitous in villages as well as cities. If an individual does not have a cell phone, they almost certainly know someone who does. Probably a significant majority of Africans have at least emergency access to a cell phone, either their own, a neighbour's, or one at a commercial kiosk.
Even more remarkable is the continuing "convergence" of digital information: wireless systems increasingly link mobile phones with the internet, personal computers, and information services of all kinds. The array of benefits is stunning. The rural poor in more and more of the world now have access to wireless banking and payment systems, such as Kenya's famous M-Pesa system, which allows money transfers over the phone. The information carried on the new networks spans public health, medical care, education, banking, commerce, and entertainment, in addition to communications among family and friends.
India, home to world-leading software engineers, hi-tech companies, and a vast and densely populated rural economy of some 700 million poor people in need of connectivity of all kinds, has naturally been a pioneer of digital-led economic development. Government and business have increasingly teamed up in public-private partnerships to provide crucial services on the digital network.
In the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, for example, emergency ambulance services are now within reach of tens of millions of people, supported by cell phones, sophisticated computer systems, and increased public investments in rural health. Several large-scale telemedicine systems are now providing primary health and even cardiac care to rural populations. Moreover, India's new rural employment guarantee scheme, just two years old, is not only employing millions of the poorest through public financing, but also is bringing tens of millions of them into the formal banking system, building on India's digital networks.
On the fully commercial side, the mobile revolution is creating a logistics revolution in farm-to-retail marketing. Farmers and food retailers can connect directly through mobile phones and distribution hubs, enabling farmers to sell their crops at higher "farm-gate" prices and without delay, while buyers can move those crops to markets with minimum spoilage and lower prices for final consumers.
The strengthening of the value chain not only raises farmers' incomes, but also empowers crop diversification and farm upgrading more generally. Similarly, world-leading software firms are bringing information technology jobs, including business process outsourcing, right into the villages through digital networks.
Education will be similarly transformed. Throughout the world, schools at all levels will go global, joining together in worldwide digital education networks. Children in the United States will learn about Africa, China, and India not only from books and videos, but also through direct links across classrooms in different parts of the world. Students will share ideas through live chats, shared curricula, joint projects, and videos, photos, and text sent over the digital network.
Universities, too, will have global classes, with students joining lectures, discussion groups, and research teams from a dozen or more universities at a time. This past year, my own university – Columbia University in New York City – teamed up with universities in Ecuador, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, France, Ethiopia, Malaysia, India, Canada, Singapore, and China in a "global classroom" that simultaneously connected hundreds of students on more than a dozen campuses in an exciting course on global sustainable development.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Thanks to market forces, even the world's poorest people are beginning to benefit from the flow of digital information
by Jeffery Sachs
The digital divide is beginning to close. The flow of digital information – through mobile phones, text messaging, and the internet – is now reaching the world's masses, even in the poorest countries, bringing with it a revolution in economics, politics, and society.
Extreme poverty is almost synonymous with extreme isolation, especially rural isolation. But mobile phones and wireless internet end isolation, and will therefore prove to be the most transformative technology of economic development of our time.
The digital divide is ending not through a burst of civic responsibility, but mainly through market forces. Mobile phone technology is so powerful, and costs so little per unit of data transmission, that it has proved possible to sell mobile phone access to the poor. There are now more than 3.3 billion subscribers in the world, roughly one for every two people on the planet.
Moreover, market penetration in poor countries is rising sharply. India has around 300 million subscribers, with subscriptions rising by a stunning eight million or more per month. Brazil now has more than 130 million subscribers, and Indonesia was estimated to reach 120 million. In Africa, which contains the world's poorest countries, the market is soaring, with more than 280 million subscribers.
Mobile phones are now ubiquitous in villages as well as cities. If an individual does not have a cell phone, they almost certainly know someone who does. Probably a significant majority of Africans have at least emergency access to a cell phone, either their own, a neighbour's, or one at a commercial kiosk.
Even more remarkable is the continuing "convergence" of digital information: wireless systems increasingly link mobile phones with the internet, personal computers, and information services of all kinds. The array of benefits is stunning. The rural poor in more and more of the world now have access to wireless banking and payment systems, such as Kenya's famous M-Pesa system, which allows money transfers over the phone. The information carried on the new networks spans public health, medical care, education, banking, commerce, and entertainment, in addition to communications among family and friends.
India, home to world-leading software engineers, hi-tech companies, and a vast and densely populated rural economy of some 700 million poor people in need of connectivity of all kinds, has naturally been a pioneer of digital-led economic development. Government and business have increasingly teamed up in public-private partnerships to provide crucial services on the digital network.
In the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, for example, emergency ambulance services are now within reach of tens of millions of people, supported by cell phones, sophisticated computer systems, and increased public investments in rural health. Several large-scale telemedicine systems are now providing primary health and even cardiac care to rural populations. Moreover, India's new rural employment guarantee scheme, just two years old, is not only employing millions of the poorest through public financing, but also is bringing tens of millions of them into the formal banking system, building on India's digital networks.
On the fully commercial side, the mobile revolution is creating a logistics revolution in farm-to-retail marketing. Farmers and food retailers can connect directly through mobile phones and distribution hubs, enabling farmers to sell their crops at higher "farm-gate" prices and without delay, while buyers can move those crops to markets with minimum spoilage and lower prices for final consumers.
The strengthening of the value chain not only raises farmers' incomes, but also empowers crop diversification and farm upgrading more generally. Similarly, world-leading software firms are bringing information technology jobs, including business process outsourcing, right into the villages through digital networks.
Education will be similarly transformed. Throughout the world, schools at all levels will go global, joining together in worldwide digital education networks. Children in the United States will learn about Africa, China, and India not only from books and videos, but also through direct links across classrooms in different parts of the world. Students will share ideas through live chats, shared curricula, joint projects, and videos, photos, and text sent over the digital network.
Universities, too, will have global classes, with students joining lectures, discussion groups, and research teams from a dozen or more universities at a time. This past year, my own university – Columbia University in New York City – teamed up with universities in Ecuador, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, France, Ethiopia, Malaysia, India, Canada, Singapore, and China in a "global classroom" that simultaneously connected hundreds of students on more than a dozen campuses in an exciting course on global sustainable development.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Fort Collins Officials Unveil Plan to End Homelessness
from Fort Collins Now
An effort in Colorado to end homelessness. Their goal is to end it in 10 years. - Kale
By Matt Brady
Philip Mangano, executive director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, made a special appearance in Fort Collins at a press conference held at 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 21 to rally locals as the city announced its commitment to ending homelessness in ten years.
In the first step toward that goal, UniverCity Connections' Homelessness Initiative Task Group unveiled a comprehensive report, over six months in the making, that lays out in detail the numbers and makeup of Fort Collins' homeless population. The report also provides recommendations, specially tailored for Fort Collins, for how to end homelessness.
Recommendations include determining how many new units of permanent and supportive housing are needed to shelter the homeless population, and to develop coordinated plans with local medical and detox centers to close gaps in connecting the homeless to services.
The investigative report, funded by an anonymous donor through the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado, was spearheaded by Dr. Jamie Van Leeuwen, who was selected by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper to head up Denver's Road Home. The Road Home is Denver's manifestation of its own 10-year-plan to end homelessness; since its implementation four years ago, Denver has seen a 36% reduction in chronic homelessness.
Dr. Van Leeuwen was brought in to head the report as an objective, outside observer. He said in an interview that it's now Fort Collins task to take the report and put it to action, whereas he will continue on separately with his work in Denver.
"It's not my opinion you need," he said. 'The community needs to say this is what we need and here's where we need it."
Fort Collins Mayor Doug Hutchinson spoke alongside Mangano and Van Leeuwen to announce Fort Collins resolve to join Denver in cities that are choosing to make strides to eradicate homelessness.
He threw his support behind the new initiative by becoming one of nearly 400 Mayor and county officials across the country to sign the America's Road Home Statement of Principles and Action, which was co-convened last October by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and has been adopted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and National Association of Counties.
"The hardest part of solving a problem is finding it," Mayor Hutchinson said to the crowd. He went on to express enthusiasm for the report, which he believes has successfully mapped out the homeless problem in Fort Collins, making it easier to know the tools and efforts needed to address it. "This sets a very solid foundation to build on. It's a tremendous step, a springboard and a foundation."
Mangano praised Fort Collins' initiative in forging the report, saying that the local community has done a great and rare thing by addressing the problem of homelessness before it becomes a local epidemic.
"I'm proud to be in your city today," he said to the crowd. "Many cities that are so beautiful and affluent as yours could be in denial about poverty. You should be so proud to be a citizen of your great community. Your intent is to make it a livable and beautiful community for every citizen."
Mangano went on to say that Fort Collins is now part of a national conspiracy to end homelessness. He said that the methods of "maintaining" homelessness over the last 25 years haven't been working, and that in the last seven years--since he began spearheading government efforts on homelessness--efforts have shifted not toward maintaining but abolishing homelessness.
The philosophy has met success, resulting in nationwide reductions in homelessness. Furthermore, it revolves around the numbers-driven philosophy that it costs the state more in shelter and medical costs to allow a homeless person to drift outside than to set them up in permanent housing and bring medical services to them.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
An effort in Colorado to end homelessness. Their goal is to end it in 10 years. - Kale
By Matt Brady
Philip Mangano, executive director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, made a special appearance in Fort Collins at a press conference held at 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 21 to rally locals as the city announced its commitment to ending homelessness in ten years.
In the first step toward that goal, UniverCity Connections' Homelessness Initiative Task Group unveiled a comprehensive report, over six months in the making, that lays out in detail the numbers and makeup of Fort Collins' homeless population. The report also provides recommendations, specially tailored for Fort Collins, for how to end homelessness.
Recommendations include determining how many new units of permanent and supportive housing are needed to shelter the homeless population, and to develop coordinated plans with local medical and detox centers to close gaps in connecting the homeless to services.
The investigative report, funded by an anonymous donor through the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado, was spearheaded by Dr. Jamie Van Leeuwen, who was selected by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper to head up Denver's Road Home. The Road Home is Denver's manifestation of its own 10-year-plan to end homelessness; since its implementation four years ago, Denver has seen a 36% reduction in chronic homelessness.
Dr. Van Leeuwen was brought in to head the report as an objective, outside observer. He said in an interview that it's now Fort Collins task to take the report and put it to action, whereas he will continue on separately with his work in Denver.
"It's not my opinion you need," he said. 'The community needs to say this is what we need and here's where we need it."
Fort Collins Mayor Doug Hutchinson spoke alongside Mangano and Van Leeuwen to announce Fort Collins resolve to join Denver in cities that are choosing to make strides to eradicate homelessness.
He threw his support behind the new initiative by becoming one of nearly 400 Mayor and county officials across the country to sign the America's Road Home Statement of Principles and Action, which was co-convened last October by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and has been adopted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and National Association of Counties.
"The hardest part of solving a problem is finding it," Mayor Hutchinson said to the crowd. He went on to express enthusiasm for the report, which he believes has successfully mapped out the homeless problem in Fort Collins, making it easier to know the tools and efforts needed to address it. "This sets a very solid foundation to build on. It's a tremendous step, a springboard and a foundation."
Mangano praised Fort Collins' initiative in forging the report, saying that the local community has done a great and rare thing by addressing the problem of homelessness before it becomes a local epidemic.
"I'm proud to be in your city today," he said to the crowd. "Many cities that are so beautiful and affluent as yours could be in denial about poverty. You should be so proud to be a citizen of your great community. Your intent is to make it a livable and beautiful community for every citizen."
Mangano went on to say that Fort Collins is now part of a national conspiracy to end homelessness. He said that the methods of "maintaining" homelessness over the last 25 years haven't been working, and that in the last seven years--since he began spearheading government efforts on homelessness--efforts have shifted not toward maintaining but abolishing homelessness.
The philosophy has met success, resulting in nationwide reductions in homelessness. Furthermore, it revolves around the numbers-driven philosophy that it costs the state more in shelter and medical costs to allow a homeless person to drift outside than to set them up in permanent housing and bring medical services to them.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
36 million people still go smarting under acute poverty: study.
from the United News of Bangladesh
About a quarter of the population of Bangladesh are in acute poverty and hunger. That stat comes from report that was presented at a "Understanding Chronic Poverty and Poverty Dynamics in Rural Bangladesh" workshop in Dhaka. - Kale
Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC), Data Analysis and Technical Assistance Ltd. (DATA) and The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) arranged the workshop.
Government officials, researchers and civil-society representatives attended the workshop with Dr Quazi Shahabuddin, Director General, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), in the chair.
CPRC's Study Coordinator Dr Bob Baulch and Dr Peter Davis presented the pros and cons of the findings.
The study focused on three key aspects of poverty in rural Bangladesh - poor people's perceptions of what makes them poor, the factors that create and perpetuate their poverty and the patterns of loss and gain that they directly experience.
Conducted on 18,000 households across the country, the study found that while close to half the households surveyed moved out of poverty, around one-fifth remained chronically poor and small percentage fell into poverty.
These households were found to be extremely vulnerable to unexpected shocks, such as illness, dowry and wedding expenses and natural disasters like floods and cyclones.
Bob Baulch said unlike previous studies, this research integrates two types of important data-household survey data and individual life histories-to provide a deeper understanding of the causes of chronic poverty in the rural Bangladesh.
The researchers found households having lower education levels, owning less land, holding fewer non-land assets and livestock, and having many young children and elderly members face the most difficulty escaping poverty trap.
DATA's managing director Zihadul Hassan, PROSHIKA's Director of Research Dr Iqbal Khan, CPRC Director Dr Andrew Shepherd and BRAC's executive director Dr Mahabub Hossain, among others, addressed the workshop.
Zihadul Hassan said, "The study makes it clear that rural households are particularly vulnerable to crises."
About a quarter of the population of Bangladesh are in acute poverty and hunger. That stat comes from report that was presented at a "Understanding Chronic Poverty and Poverty Dynamics in Rural Bangladesh" workshop in Dhaka. - Kale
Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC), Data Analysis and Technical Assistance Ltd. (DATA) and The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) arranged the workshop.
Government officials, researchers and civil-society representatives attended the workshop with Dr Quazi Shahabuddin, Director General, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), in the chair.
CPRC's Study Coordinator Dr Bob Baulch and Dr Peter Davis presented the pros and cons of the findings.
The study focused on three key aspects of poverty in rural Bangladesh - poor people's perceptions of what makes them poor, the factors that create and perpetuate their poverty and the patterns of loss and gain that they directly experience.
Conducted on 18,000 households across the country, the study found that while close to half the households surveyed moved out of poverty, around one-fifth remained chronically poor and small percentage fell into poverty.
These households were found to be extremely vulnerable to unexpected shocks, such as illness, dowry and wedding expenses and natural disasters like floods and cyclones.
Bob Baulch said unlike previous studies, this research integrates two types of important data-household survey data and individual life histories-to provide a deeper understanding of the causes of chronic poverty in the rural Bangladesh.
The researchers found households having lower education levels, owning less land, holding fewer non-land assets and livestock, and having many young children and elderly members face the most difficulty escaping poverty trap.
DATA's managing director Zihadul Hassan, PROSHIKA's Director of Research Dr Iqbal Khan, CPRC Director Dr Andrew Shepherd and BRAC's executive director Dr Mahabub Hossain, among others, addressed the workshop.
Zihadul Hassan said, "The study makes it clear that rural households are particularly vulnerable to crises."
[Comment] Farewell my beautiful Zimbabwe
from the Independent
This is a great personal account on a woman who had to flee Zimbabwe to protect her self. - Kale
by, Justine Shaw
The cursor hovers over the "send and receive" icon and I hesitate before pressing enter. I haven't heard from my parents for a week. Although I know the telephone line had been faulty, I desperately hope that it has been fixed – however temporarily – simply so they can reassure me they're OK.
I have three new emails. The first informs that I have enough FlyBuys points to purchase free electronic products online. It has been 19 months since my husband, two children and I settled in Australia, and yet, I'm still amazed by the giveaways, promotions, sales and bonus offers.
The second email is deleted immediately. It's advising me to resend it to seven friends within 10 minutes or be cursed with years of hardship. It's already disappeared, but suddenly I feel superstitious. I'm a Zimbabwean. For years I've binned emails like this. Perhaps all my fellow countrymen did the same? It certainly seems that nothing but misfortune and bad luck have shrouded our beautiful country for more than a decade.
The third message is the one I've been waiting for. I'm relieved and happy, eager to hear my parents' news. I still retain a desperate longing to keep up to date with the dismal state of affairs unfolding at home. The recent flawed election process has once again propelled Zimbabwe into the news and my appetite for information about the situation is insatiable.
My parents, left in the capital, Harare, form part of a population subjected to unabated, deplorable actions sanctioned by their government. In five months' time, I can initiate an application for a visa that will hopefully give them the opportunity to begin a new life with us here in Australia. Whenever I hear from them, left behind there, I feel a terrible sense of guilt, and find myself wondering.... Could I have made a difference had I stayed?
I can't help but feel I have let them – and Zimbabwe – down, choosing to slip through the gap in the fence and run away from the chaos.
When I look at my children, Karly-Emma and Kieran, now seven and six respectively, I see how they have grown in just 19 months. How different they are from the shy, apprehensive, withdrawn immigrants that arrived in Australia. They have become outgoing, confident characters, focused on the business of growing up without being ground down by the transference of our worries, fears, insecurities and stresses. We took them away because we were fortunate enough to be able to move. We took them away because we wanted them to have a normal life, one where their father didn't carry a gun and they weren't afraid of walking out of the front gate.
We have started life again. However, I cannot let go. I am constantly revisiting the place, a cauldron of 33 years' worth of memories – delightful, happy, exhilarating times and ones that still seem so unbelievably tragic that it often seems surreal that I was once a part of them. A piece of me remains in Zimbabwe with my parents. A piece is still trying to comprehend how they lost their farm four years ago and how we lived through and recovered from an armed robbery five years ago.
I regularly ponder how it became possible for one man and his handful of ruthless, greedy colleagues to so carefully orchestrate such devastation and reduce a once thriving country to a desperate, starving nation crying out for salvation.
Of course, we are the fortunate ones to have the choice of starting again. So many thousands have no option but to remain in the country and I can only admire their resilience, their determination and their will to survive this continuing holocaust of suppression, food deprivation and brutality.
I turn back to the email, typed by my unshaven, unwashed father and my mother who is "hanging on with very shredded fingernails".
When they left the farm in 2004 – a household run on borehole water, with ageing power cables and serviced by an erratic party telephone line, 40 kilometres away from the nearest town, they should have been leaving erratic services behind. Their suburban rental in Harare should, by all accounts, have had more efficient services; council water, reliable electricity and a telephone line not shared by neighbouring farms. I continue to read their news.
They have only had municipal water once in two months, and that was only for 12 hours. During this time, they managed to top up the swimming pool – water from which they use for filling up the toilets and doing the laundry. Buckets of cold water are carried from the pool into the shower to wash. It is like a black comedy and I manage a small smile as my mother describes herself "bottoms up and bent over a bucket" in the shower, dousing herself with cold, chlorinated water in an effort to keep herself clean.
They have a quarter of a loaf of frozen bread which they've preserved in the freezer by running the generator for an hour each day. My mother is an artist, but she's now been forced to supplement their income (to cover rent and the spiralling cost of living) by teaching. After work, she begins her search – scouting from shop to shop looking for grossly expensive commodities to ensure they have food for the week. Supermarket shelves are generally empty and street vendors haunt the pavements, selling anything from eggs to cooking oil at extortionate prices that increase daily. Most of their groceries are sourced from various "contacts" that have various "contacts".
The power cuts are frequent, haphazard and unannounced, so they are unable to plan activities around them. They cannot run the generator for too long as there is still the ever present prospect of fuel shortages. Their rent has just gone up 6,250 per cent.
They spend days queuing at banks and building societies with scores of other Zimbabweans, resigned to hours of idleness as they wait to withdraw vast sums of money that will only enable them to buy a loaf of bread or a tin of baked beans. There is an automatic 50 per cent price increase if you pay by cheque, simply because this is the amount the currency will have devalued by the time the cheque is cleared.
My mother has just become used to performing mathematics in the trillions and will now have to reprogram her arithmetic. To date, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has dropped 13 zeroes off the currency, although this does little to lift my parents' spirits. They sign off the email with assurances that they are coping, that they are safe and send much love to their grandchildren.
I stare at the screen and glance across the words, trying to convince myself that the most important thing is that they are fine and that as long as they can battle on until the end of the year, when they will qualify for a migrating parent visa, they have more than many other Zimbabweans can hope for. However, I find myself banging my fists on the computer table with tears in my eyes, screaming, "It isn't fair."
My parents have lost almost everything and instead of arriving at a point where their lifetime of hard work rewards them with adequate pensions, a home of their own and long afternoons of reflection, they are confronted with the overwhelming necessity of starting again.
They are not alone.
The commercial farm invasions continue, intensifying during the election period, in spite of the increasing need for productive agricultural areas to feed a starving nation. While the President, Robert Mugabe, cradles his well-fed belly, he offers little comfort to the nation, reminding us in speeches and interviews that like most of the problems faced by Zimbabwe, hunger is a result of actions sanctioned by Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and George Bush.
Zanu-PF and the ruling elite set the stage for a guaranteed victory when they held the elections earlier this year. Re-education camps were set up to brainwash, beat and coerce people to remain loyal to the dictatorship. Food aid organisations were banned from operating, accused of gathering support for the opposition. Suspected opposition supporters paid the price in life and limb simply for exercising their democratic right to vote. The voices that cried out for change were heard, but only for an instant and then quickly silenced. The results of the elections were ignored and Zanu-PF remains in power, as though there had never been a vote. Terrified Zimbabwean refugees fled across the borders and, in South Africa, found themselves in another hostile environment where they were subjected to horrific xenophobic attacks and blamed for rising unemployment and escalating crime.
Four months later, the talks on power-sharing between Zanu-PF and the opposition MDC have failed to produce a deal. Mugabe has snubbed the world and lords over a crippled nation. The democratic right of the people has been ignored. However, as the impasse drags on, nothing improves for ordinary Zimbabweans and they continue enduring a miserable existence where scavenging for food is the hot topic each and every day. And I can't help but feel guilty.
Perhaps my guilt comes from the fact that we could escape while so many others are sentenced to see things through until the end, and I am powerless to help them. I didn't run away or pack it all in for an extraordinary adventure in a new country. We did what had to be done for our children and I will always cherish the memories and the amazing, unpredictable place I used to call home.
For a while, I had it all. My earliest childhood recollections are a fusion of vague recollections. I was born in colonial Rhodesia and had the geographical privilege of growing up as the country made the transition to independence – as the African nation of Zimbabwe.
My parents played a large part in preparing us for a multiracial inevitability and ensured that we held no biases with regards to race or colour.
We confidently became Zimbabweans and, in spite of the sudden exodus of many white countrymen who predicted doom and degradation of the black ruling party, chose to remain.
My parents purchased a farm, and were committed to a future in a racially tolerant community. After independence, laws stipulated that when farms were made available for sale, they first had to be offered to the government for resettlement or redistribution to the indigenous people. My parents received the required "certificate of no current interest" from the government and embarked on a three-year project of constructing their home, a place in which they imagined they would grow old.
My childhood was an exhilarating period of adventure, experience, lessons and an eager anticipation for a future unknown. I was given the opportunity to dive into whichever activity I deemed imperative to my advancement and drifted through the years, driven by the common aspirations of becoming a princess, an actress or a prima ballerina. I was blessed with storybook parents who made me believe that anything was possible and loved me unconditionally.
My only sibling and younger brother was a friend, accomplice and constant playmate. Together, we tackled life growing up on a farm, playing cowboys on real horses, rearing orphaned calves and climbing lichen-encrusted kopjes. We swam in dams, took annual bilharzia medication and spent our childhood with freckles dancing across our cheeks like small flecks of sunlight.
School inspired, challenged and facilitated the cementing of lasting friendships. It was where I met my future husband, Ross. I was impatient to grow up and become independent, imagining a future of motherhood and homemaking.
However, after a less than a decade of silencing the sceptics, Mugabe and Zanu-PF could no longer disguise the evidence of corruption, embezzling of the country's wealth and constant bleeding of taxpayers' money to feed rapidly swelling personal coffers. Instead of reviewing their mistakes and making proactive decisions in response to the trade unions' riots against rising costs, unemployment and inflation, they diverted the nation's attention by resurrecting promises of returning land to the peasants and embarked upon a destructive course of governance, authorising war veterans to invade white-owned farms and claim them as their own. Soon, Zimbabwe's land seizures made headline news.
I married Ross, and, at the age of 30, I was the mother of two young children. With the responsibility of parenthood came the realisation that Zimbabwe was no longer the country I'd grown up in and that my children would never have the same carefree childhood that I had been so privileged to enjoy. Daily chores had become insurmountable challenges.
My parents relocated into the city, worn down by uncompromising vagrants, threats, blackmail and the sad evacuation of so many neighbours. But in spite of everything, we all clung to the belief that things would be resolved and that the atrocities would have to cease. However, the carnage of the land invasions spilled over into the city. Unemployment spiralled, accelerating residential armed robberies, hijackings and muggings.
In January 2003, armed robbers attacked my family, threatened my children's lives and violated our home and our sanctuary. Suddenly, I could no longer focus on better times to come. I was constantly afraid and found my ability to perform as a mother, wife and Zimbabwean were compromised horribly by fear and loss of hope. I became numb. We were content to go to bed each day knowing that our finances were still adequate, our children were safe and our large wall, alarm system and electrified fence would protect us from any intruders. We ploughed through each day, resigned to the uncontrolled political anarchy, trying to ignore the racism, the inflation, and escalating crime. We received our regular bills for irregular water and electricity.
And we watched as the nightmare "Operation Murambatsvina" (Drive Out Filth) was skillfully executed by the government and military. Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans were left homeless as their humble dwellings were burnt or bulldozed to the ground.
With every new tragedy and every new incomprehensible act of dictatorship we became more and more grateful that we had food on our table, a roof over our heads and a routine to follow each day. I no longer expected anything or hoped for more. Once I refused to entertain bribery. Now we were forced to establish various "contacts" to ensure that passports and vehicle licences were issued.
Finally, we were forced to sit down and take a long, hard, critical look at our lives. The preceding four years had been a vacuum, a regimented sequence of parenting, feeding and protecting an existence that became more desperate with each passing month.
My father always says the hardest part is to make the decision and we made the decision. It made me smile, laugh and explode with uncontrollable tears. I was inspired and devastated. Inspired to begin again and devastated to be leaving my home, my country and my parents.
Life is a constant process of moving forward and leaving behind. Most of the time, this progression goes largely unnoticed among routines and daily commitments. Occasionally, we find we have to take a giant stride in order to move forward. We took our great leap in January 2007 when we packed up our lives and emigrated to Australia.
Now I sit here with a cupboard full of groceries, a deep freeze stocked with meat and a fridge packed with yoghurt and eggs. I am only just starting to regard them as "groceries" and not luxury items. I am only mildly concerned about the world fuel price increases, secretly grateful that I can fill up my vehicle without having to purchase fuel on the black market. I and my family are becoming part of a society that functions, where there are prospects for the hard-working as opposed to the corrupt and connected. I have learnt not to be astounded by the things thrown away during bulk refuse collection days and no longer want to stop and pick up every abandoned television. I am slowly becoming an Australian, but I am humbled by where we have come from and will never take for granted the opportunities that lie ahead.
The Zimbabwean exodus continues and we are a halfway house for family and friends who all hope to have their immigration applications approved. We watch as they walk down the same paths, come to the same conclusions and make the same decisions that we made 19 months ago. Mugabe has crippled Zimbabwe, reducing most of its people to beggars or barterers and black marketeers. The ultimate irony is that, whether by accident or design, it has taken 28 years for them to prove the racist detractors correct when they prophesied that the incoming Zanu-PF government would be incapable of governing the country.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This is a great personal account on a woman who had to flee Zimbabwe to protect her self. - Kale
by, Justine Shaw
The cursor hovers over the "send and receive" icon and I hesitate before pressing enter. I haven't heard from my parents for a week. Although I know the telephone line had been faulty, I desperately hope that it has been fixed – however temporarily – simply so they can reassure me they're OK.
I have three new emails. The first informs that I have enough FlyBuys points to purchase free electronic products online. It has been 19 months since my husband, two children and I settled in Australia, and yet, I'm still amazed by the giveaways, promotions, sales and bonus offers.
The second email is deleted immediately. It's advising me to resend it to seven friends within 10 minutes or be cursed with years of hardship. It's already disappeared, but suddenly I feel superstitious. I'm a Zimbabwean. For years I've binned emails like this. Perhaps all my fellow countrymen did the same? It certainly seems that nothing but misfortune and bad luck have shrouded our beautiful country for more than a decade.
The third message is the one I've been waiting for. I'm relieved and happy, eager to hear my parents' news. I still retain a desperate longing to keep up to date with the dismal state of affairs unfolding at home. The recent flawed election process has once again propelled Zimbabwe into the news and my appetite for information about the situation is insatiable.
My parents, left in the capital, Harare, form part of a population subjected to unabated, deplorable actions sanctioned by their government. In five months' time, I can initiate an application for a visa that will hopefully give them the opportunity to begin a new life with us here in Australia. Whenever I hear from them, left behind there, I feel a terrible sense of guilt, and find myself wondering.... Could I have made a difference had I stayed?
I can't help but feel I have let them – and Zimbabwe – down, choosing to slip through the gap in the fence and run away from the chaos.
When I look at my children, Karly-Emma and Kieran, now seven and six respectively, I see how they have grown in just 19 months. How different they are from the shy, apprehensive, withdrawn immigrants that arrived in Australia. They have become outgoing, confident characters, focused on the business of growing up without being ground down by the transference of our worries, fears, insecurities and stresses. We took them away because we were fortunate enough to be able to move. We took them away because we wanted them to have a normal life, one where their father didn't carry a gun and they weren't afraid of walking out of the front gate.
We have started life again. However, I cannot let go. I am constantly revisiting the place, a cauldron of 33 years' worth of memories – delightful, happy, exhilarating times and ones that still seem so unbelievably tragic that it often seems surreal that I was once a part of them. A piece of me remains in Zimbabwe with my parents. A piece is still trying to comprehend how they lost their farm four years ago and how we lived through and recovered from an armed robbery five years ago.
I regularly ponder how it became possible for one man and his handful of ruthless, greedy colleagues to so carefully orchestrate such devastation and reduce a once thriving country to a desperate, starving nation crying out for salvation.
Of course, we are the fortunate ones to have the choice of starting again. So many thousands have no option but to remain in the country and I can only admire their resilience, their determination and their will to survive this continuing holocaust of suppression, food deprivation and brutality.
I turn back to the email, typed by my unshaven, unwashed father and my mother who is "hanging on with very shredded fingernails".
When they left the farm in 2004 – a household run on borehole water, with ageing power cables and serviced by an erratic party telephone line, 40 kilometres away from the nearest town, they should have been leaving erratic services behind. Their suburban rental in Harare should, by all accounts, have had more efficient services; council water, reliable electricity and a telephone line not shared by neighbouring farms. I continue to read their news.
They have only had municipal water once in two months, and that was only for 12 hours. During this time, they managed to top up the swimming pool – water from which they use for filling up the toilets and doing the laundry. Buckets of cold water are carried from the pool into the shower to wash. It is like a black comedy and I manage a small smile as my mother describes herself "bottoms up and bent over a bucket" in the shower, dousing herself with cold, chlorinated water in an effort to keep herself clean.
They have a quarter of a loaf of frozen bread which they've preserved in the freezer by running the generator for an hour each day. My mother is an artist, but she's now been forced to supplement their income (to cover rent and the spiralling cost of living) by teaching. After work, she begins her search – scouting from shop to shop looking for grossly expensive commodities to ensure they have food for the week. Supermarket shelves are generally empty and street vendors haunt the pavements, selling anything from eggs to cooking oil at extortionate prices that increase daily. Most of their groceries are sourced from various "contacts" that have various "contacts".
The power cuts are frequent, haphazard and unannounced, so they are unable to plan activities around them. They cannot run the generator for too long as there is still the ever present prospect of fuel shortages. Their rent has just gone up 6,250 per cent.
They spend days queuing at banks and building societies with scores of other Zimbabweans, resigned to hours of idleness as they wait to withdraw vast sums of money that will only enable them to buy a loaf of bread or a tin of baked beans. There is an automatic 50 per cent price increase if you pay by cheque, simply because this is the amount the currency will have devalued by the time the cheque is cleared.
My mother has just become used to performing mathematics in the trillions and will now have to reprogram her arithmetic. To date, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has dropped 13 zeroes off the currency, although this does little to lift my parents' spirits. They sign off the email with assurances that they are coping, that they are safe and send much love to their grandchildren.
I stare at the screen and glance across the words, trying to convince myself that the most important thing is that they are fine and that as long as they can battle on until the end of the year, when they will qualify for a migrating parent visa, they have more than many other Zimbabweans can hope for. However, I find myself banging my fists on the computer table with tears in my eyes, screaming, "It isn't fair."
My parents have lost almost everything and instead of arriving at a point where their lifetime of hard work rewards them with adequate pensions, a home of their own and long afternoons of reflection, they are confronted with the overwhelming necessity of starting again.
They are not alone.
The commercial farm invasions continue, intensifying during the election period, in spite of the increasing need for productive agricultural areas to feed a starving nation. While the President, Robert Mugabe, cradles his well-fed belly, he offers little comfort to the nation, reminding us in speeches and interviews that like most of the problems faced by Zimbabwe, hunger is a result of actions sanctioned by Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and George Bush.
Zanu-PF and the ruling elite set the stage for a guaranteed victory when they held the elections earlier this year. Re-education camps were set up to brainwash, beat and coerce people to remain loyal to the dictatorship. Food aid organisations were banned from operating, accused of gathering support for the opposition. Suspected opposition supporters paid the price in life and limb simply for exercising their democratic right to vote. The voices that cried out for change were heard, but only for an instant and then quickly silenced. The results of the elections were ignored and Zanu-PF remains in power, as though there had never been a vote. Terrified Zimbabwean refugees fled across the borders and, in South Africa, found themselves in another hostile environment where they were subjected to horrific xenophobic attacks and blamed for rising unemployment and escalating crime.
Four months later, the talks on power-sharing between Zanu-PF and the opposition MDC have failed to produce a deal. Mugabe has snubbed the world and lords over a crippled nation. The democratic right of the people has been ignored. However, as the impasse drags on, nothing improves for ordinary Zimbabweans and they continue enduring a miserable existence where scavenging for food is the hot topic each and every day. And I can't help but feel guilty.
Perhaps my guilt comes from the fact that we could escape while so many others are sentenced to see things through until the end, and I am powerless to help them. I didn't run away or pack it all in for an extraordinary adventure in a new country. We did what had to be done for our children and I will always cherish the memories and the amazing, unpredictable place I used to call home.
For a while, I had it all. My earliest childhood recollections are a fusion of vague recollections. I was born in colonial Rhodesia and had the geographical privilege of growing up as the country made the transition to independence – as the African nation of Zimbabwe.
My parents played a large part in preparing us for a multiracial inevitability and ensured that we held no biases with regards to race or colour.
We confidently became Zimbabweans and, in spite of the sudden exodus of many white countrymen who predicted doom and degradation of the black ruling party, chose to remain.
My parents purchased a farm, and were committed to a future in a racially tolerant community. After independence, laws stipulated that when farms were made available for sale, they first had to be offered to the government for resettlement or redistribution to the indigenous people. My parents received the required "certificate of no current interest" from the government and embarked on a three-year project of constructing their home, a place in which they imagined they would grow old.
My childhood was an exhilarating period of adventure, experience, lessons and an eager anticipation for a future unknown. I was given the opportunity to dive into whichever activity I deemed imperative to my advancement and drifted through the years, driven by the common aspirations of becoming a princess, an actress or a prima ballerina. I was blessed with storybook parents who made me believe that anything was possible and loved me unconditionally.
My only sibling and younger brother was a friend, accomplice and constant playmate. Together, we tackled life growing up on a farm, playing cowboys on real horses, rearing orphaned calves and climbing lichen-encrusted kopjes. We swam in dams, took annual bilharzia medication and spent our childhood with freckles dancing across our cheeks like small flecks of sunlight.
School inspired, challenged and facilitated the cementing of lasting friendships. It was where I met my future husband, Ross. I was impatient to grow up and become independent, imagining a future of motherhood and homemaking.
However, after a less than a decade of silencing the sceptics, Mugabe and Zanu-PF could no longer disguise the evidence of corruption, embezzling of the country's wealth and constant bleeding of taxpayers' money to feed rapidly swelling personal coffers. Instead of reviewing their mistakes and making proactive decisions in response to the trade unions' riots against rising costs, unemployment and inflation, they diverted the nation's attention by resurrecting promises of returning land to the peasants and embarked upon a destructive course of governance, authorising war veterans to invade white-owned farms and claim them as their own. Soon, Zimbabwe's land seizures made headline news.
I married Ross, and, at the age of 30, I was the mother of two young children. With the responsibility of parenthood came the realisation that Zimbabwe was no longer the country I'd grown up in and that my children would never have the same carefree childhood that I had been so privileged to enjoy. Daily chores had become insurmountable challenges.
My parents relocated into the city, worn down by uncompromising vagrants, threats, blackmail and the sad evacuation of so many neighbours. But in spite of everything, we all clung to the belief that things would be resolved and that the atrocities would have to cease. However, the carnage of the land invasions spilled over into the city. Unemployment spiralled, accelerating residential armed robberies, hijackings and muggings.
In January 2003, armed robbers attacked my family, threatened my children's lives and violated our home and our sanctuary. Suddenly, I could no longer focus on better times to come. I was constantly afraid and found my ability to perform as a mother, wife and Zimbabwean were compromised horribly by fear and loss of hope. I became numb. We were content to go to bed each day knowing that our finances were still adequate, our children were safe and our large wall, alarm system and electrified fence would protect us from any intruders. We ploughed through each day, resigned to the uncontrolled political anarchy, trying to ignore the racism, the inflation, and escalating crime. We received our regular bills for irregular water and electricity.
And we watched as the nightmare "Operation Murambatsvina" (Drive Out Filth) was skillfully executed by the government and military. Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans were left homeless as their humble dwellings were burnt or bulldozed to the ground.
With every new tragedy and every new incomprehensible act of dictatorship we became more and more grateful that we had food on our table, a roof over our heads and a routine to follow each day. I no longer expected anything or hoped for more. Once I refused to entertain bribery. Now we were forced to establish various "contacts" to ensure that passports and vehicle licences were issued.
Finally, we were forced to sit down and take a long, hard, critical look at our lives. The preceding four years had been a vacuum, a regimented sequence of parenting, feeding and protecting an existence that became more desperate with each passing month.
My father always says the hardest part is to make the decision and we made the decision. It made me smile, laugh and explode with uncontrollable tears. I was inspired and devastated. Inspired to begin again and devastated to be leaving my home, my country and my parents.
Life is a constant process of moving forward and leaving behind. Most of the time, this progression goes largely unnoticed among routines and daily commitments. Occasionally, we find we have to take a giant stride in order to move forward. We took our great leap in January 2007 when we packed up our lives and emigrated to Australia.
Now I sit here with a cupboard full of groceries, a deep freeze stocked with meat and a fridge packed with yoghurt and eggs. I am only just starting to regard them as "groceries" and not luxury items. I am only mildly concerned about the world fuel price increases, secretly grateful that I can fill up my vehicle without having to purchase fuel on the black market. I and my family are becoming part of a society that functions, where there are prospects for the hard-working as opposed to the corrupt and connected. I have learnt not to be astounded by the things thrown away during bulk refuse collection days and no longer want to stop and pick up every abandoned television. I am slowly becoming an Australian, but I am humbled by where we have come from and will never take for granted the opportunities that lie ahead.
The Zimbabwean exodus continues and we are a halfway house for family and friends who all hope to have their immigration applications approved. We watch as they walk down the same paths, come to the same conclusions and make the same decisions that we made 19 months ago. Mugabe has crippled Zimbabwe, reducing most of its people to beggars or barterers and black marketeers. The ultimate irony is that, whether by accident or design, it has taken 28 years for them to prove the racist detractors correct when they prophesied that the incoming Zanu-PF government would be incapable of governing the country.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
AIDS in America: Advocates try to help black victims
from the Delaware Online
We talk so much about AIDS in Africa, here is an article on AIDS in America. The story touches on how it effects people in poverty here in the states. - Kale
By HIRAN RATNAYAKE,
Some blacks engage in risky behavior -- such as unprotected sex -- because they believe HIV/AIDS strikes only gay white men. Others say the risks don't faze them because their lives of poverty can't get much worse.
These are reasons cited by advocates in the ongoing struggle among blacks with HIV/AIDS.
They say one of every two Americans infected with HIV or AIDS is black. In Delaware, about 67 percent of the people with it are black.
"You get to a point where you don't care. There's a lack of hope. The future is bleak," said the Rev. Christopher Bullock, pastor of Canaan Baptist Church, a black congregation with an AIDS ministry. Despite the grim news, a positive trend is taking place in Delaware. The number of new HIV/AIDS cases among blacks in the First State dropped from 226 in 2001 to 113 last year.
About $1.3 million in federal money was used last year to support a dozen state organizations in the fight against HIV/AIDS. That was almost $300,000 more than was given in 2002. And nearly 7,500 HIV tests were given to blacks in Delaware last year -- more than the amount given to all other races combined.
But the infection rate among blacks would be closer to that of whites if resources were aimed at eliminating poverty, advocates say.
"If you teach people who are impoverished how to get out of poverty, that gives them hope and that breaks the cycle of impoverishment," Bullock said. "The money needs to be focused on poverty in Delaware."
Renee Beaman has seen the budget of her organization -- Beautiful Gate Outreach Center of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Wilmington -- expand to $169,000 last year, compared to $60,000 in 2002.
And more people will get HIV tests if the center's budget continues to increase, she said.
But she said the community also needs interconnected programs to address poverty. She is sure that some of the women she counsels, who are reluctant to ask their partners to use condoms, would take a stand if they weren't struggling to survive.
"If someone feels good about themselves, they'll be less likely to engage in risky behavior," she said.
When people have something to lose, they're more likely to heed warnings, said Bobby Dillard, an outreach worker for Brandywine Counseling, a substance abuse treatment agency.
"How you live determines how you care about yourself," he said. "Most people who have a decent job, invest in their homes, invest in the things that a job provides, they won't make the same risky decisions. But if you ain't got that job, and that steady income, it's not as important."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
We talk so much about AIDS in Africa, here is an article on AIDS in America. The story touches on how it effects people in poverty here in the states. - Kale
By HIRAN RATNAYAKE,
Some blacks engage in risky behavior -- such as unprotected sex -- because they believe HIV/AIDS strikes only gay white men. Others say the risks don't faze them because their lives of poverty can't get much worse.
These are reasons cited by advocates in the ongoing struggle among blacks with HIV/AIDS.
They say one of every two Americans infected with HIV or AIDS is black. In Delaware, about 67 percent of the people with it are black.
"You get to a point where you don't care. There's a lack of hope. The future is bleak," said the Rev. Christopher Bullock, pastor of Canaan Baptist Church, a black congregation with an AIDS ministry. Despite the grim news, a positive trend is taking place in Delaware. The number of new HIV/AIDS cases among blacks in the First State dropped from 226 in 2001 to 113 last year.
About $1.3 million in federal money was used last year to support a dozen state organizations in the fight against HIV/AIDS. That was almost $300,000 more than was given in 2002. And nearly 7,500 HIV tests were given to blacks in Delaware last year -- more than the amount given to all other races combined.
But the infection rate among blacks would be closer to that of whites if resources were aimed at eliminating poverty, advocates say.
"If you teach people who are impoverished how to get out of poverty, that gives them hope and that breaks the cycle of impoverishment," Bullock said. "The money needs to be focused on poverty in Delaware."
Renee Beaman has seen the budget of her organization -- Beautiful Gate Outreach Center of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Wilmington -- expand to $169,000 last year, compared to $60,000 in 2002.
And more people will get HIV tests if the center's budget continues to increase, she said.
But she said the community also needs interconnected programs to address poverty. She is sure that some of the women she counsels, who are reluctant to ask their partners to use condoms, would take a stand if they weren't struggling to survive.
"If someone feels good about themselves, they'll be less likely to engage in risky behavior," she said.
When people have something to lose, they're more likely to heed warnings, said Bobby Dillard, an outreach worker for Brandywine Counseling, a substance abuse treatment agency.
"How you live determines how you care about yourself," he said. "Most people who have a decent job, invest in their homes, invest in the things that a job provides, they won't make the same risky decisions. But if you ain't got that job, and that steady income, it's not as important."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Nobel winner says don't profit from poor
from the International Herald Tribune
The Grameen Bank is owned by the people who borrow from it. At a Microcredit summit, 11 groups have agreed to report their annual interest rates. A move that may help to keep with sectors charitable roots. - Kale
"If you are making profits you are moving into the same mental mind-set as loan sharks," Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus said by phone from Bali, Indonesia, where he is attending the 11th annual Microcredit Summit Campaign conference, which opened Monday.
When Yunus began making US$27 loans to women in Bangladesh three decades ago, he hoped to rescue the poor from usury. The new language of microfinance, which turns on words like "return on equity," today weighs heavily on his mind.
He believes interest rates should be set to cover costs, not maximize profits.
"Microcredit is about helping poor people get out of poverty," said Yunus, whose pioneering bank, Grameen, has already signed on to the new MicroFinance Transparency initiative.
The rush of new entrants into the microcredit market has created a welter of offerings, but lack of standardized reporting makes it hard for borrowers to figure out how to get the best deal.
"Clients are at a significant disadvantage," said MicroFinance Transparency founder Charles Waterfield.
He aims to bring truth-in-lending standards to the developing world, by publishing standardized annual interest rates on the Internet. The data from lending institutions will be self-reported.
The initiative, a U.S. nonprofit, is still cementing funding and plans to start publishing country-specific data on its Web site in October.
The push for disclosure comes at a time of intense debate within the field, which pits privatization advocates against those who believe you can save the world or make a buck — but not do both at the same time.
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 — 10 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.
He agreed that transparency is key, both to attract capital and give borrowers a fair shake.
The public offering of Mexico's Banco Compartamos, SA., 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.
In an 11-page "Letter to Our Peers" published in June, Compartamos founders Carlos Danel and Carlos Labarthe 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.
Still, many remain galled by what Yunus, who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, calls the "distortion" of the field he forged.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
The Grameen Bank is owned by the people who borrow from it. At a Microcredit summit, 11 groups have agreed to report their annual interest rates. A move that may help to keep with sectors charitable roots. - Kale
"If you are making profits you are moving into the same mental mind-set as loan sharks," Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus said by phone from Bali, Indonesia, where he is attending the 11th annual Microcredit Summit Campaign conference, which opened Monday.
When Yunus began making US$27 loans to women in Bangladesh three decades ago, he hoped to rescue the poor from usury. The new language of microfinance, which turns on words like "return on equity," today weighs heavily on his mind.
He believes interest rates should be set to cover costs, not maximize profits.
"Microcredit is about helping poor people get out of poverty," said Yunus, whose pioneering bank, Grameen, has already signed on to the new MicroFinance Transparency initiative.
The rush of new entrants into the microcredit market has created a welter of offerings, but lack of standardized reporting makes it hard for borrowers to figure out how to get the best deal.
"Clients are at a significant disadvantage," said MicroFinance Transparency founder Charles Waterfield.
He aims to bring truth-in-lending standards to the developing world, by publishing standardized annual interest rates on the Internet. The data from lending institutions will be self-reported.
The initiative, a U.S. nonprofit, is still cementing funding and plans to start publishing country-specific data on its Web site in October.
The push for disclosure comes at a time of intense debate within the field, which pits privatization advocates against those who believe you can save the world or make a buck — but not do both at the same time.
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 — 10 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.
He agreed that transparency is key, both to attract capital and give borrowers a fair shake.
The public offering of Mexico's Banco Compartamos, SA., 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.
In an 11-page "Letter to Our Peers" published in June, Compartamos founders Carlos Danel and Carlos Labarthe 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.
Still, many remain galled by what Yunus, who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, calls the "distortion" of the field he forged.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Food pantries in Maine
from the Ellsworth American
This profiles two leaders of a network of food pantries in the state of Maine
Written by Carrie Jones,
Last week Jackie Thurber perched on a chair at a long, narrow table. Political officials and candidates, activists and bureaucrats surrounded her. She talked. She laughed. She listened, but mostly she pressed upon them the importance of her passion: feeding the hungry.
Thurber is a coordinator of Loaves and Fishes, which is the food pantry based in Ellsworth. It serves much of Hancock County. She and her compatriot, Nancy Hunt, of the Emmaus Center, are my heroes.
Why?
Because they’re making a difference.
Between 2004 and 2005 the rate of children in poverty rose 16.5 percent in Hancock County. It rose 13.9 percent throughout the state. Between 2002 and 2005 food stamp participation increased to 60.1 percent. More and more people are using assistance programs. Food pantry workers say more and more people need help.
You have to wonder why.
According to a presentation by the Food Pantry Network of Hancock County there are a lot of factors. It costs more to live in a home. There is seasonal unemployment. Food costs more. Gas costs more. Medicine costs more. There’s a lack of access to fresh food for people on the islands. Even people who qualify for food assistance (food stamps) aren’t getting all the food they need.
Jackie and Nancy know that.
They know all about that need. They see it every day. They see it and they keep working, keep hoping, keep trying to make it better. That’s why they and the other volunteers at the food pantries across Hancock County are heroes.
There are 12 food pantries in our county and they serve about 3,090 people, which is about 6 percent of the population.
The scariest number are these: 18 % of Hancock County children are on food stamps. 40 % are on Maine Care.
Those are the numbers, Jackie and Nancy, and dozens of volunteers know more than the numbers. They know the faces. They know the stories.
A 63-year-old lady from Northeast Harbor told them, “I live on $787 a month and out of that I have to pay rent, two insurances – one life, one car – phone and I do have basic cable, which is only $17,95, so that’s not too extravagant. But then I have a drugstore bill, which is exorbitant because I take about $2,000 worth of medicine a month. So, it’s a struggle.”
How much of a struggle? Sometimes her meal is a can of tuna without the mayonnaise.
“I can’t afford that either,” she told a team of interviewers from Healthy Acadia.
Those are the kind of things Jackie and Nancy see and hear all the time. They hear and see that and they are still cheerful. They don’t grouse about insurmountable odds. They just keep chugging along, feeding one elderly person, one child, one family at a time, working and working to make it a little bit better. They go to meetings. They create networks. They think of strategies to get more food and better, healthier food to the people who need it.
That’s why they are heroes. They’re heroes because they are making a difference. We all need to be heroes like that.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This profiles two leaders of a network of food pantries in the state of Maine
Written by Carrie Jones,
Last week Jackie Thurber perched on a chair at a long, narrow table. Political officials and candidates, activists and bureaucrats surrounded her. She talked. She laughed. She listened, but mostly she pressed upon them the importance of her passion: feeding the hungry.
Thurber is a coordinator of Loaves and Fishes, which is the food pantry based in Ellsworth. It serves much of Hancock County. She and her compatriot, Nancy Hunt, of the Emmaus Center, are my heroes.
Why?
Because they’re making a difference.
Between 2004 and 2005 the rate of children in poverty rose 16.5 percent in Hancock County. It rose 13.9 percent throughout the state. Between 2002 and 2005 food stamp participation increased to 60.1 percent. More and more people are using assistance programs. Food pantry workers say more and more people need help.
You have to wonder why.
According to a presentation by the Food Pantry Network of Hancock County there are a lot of factors. It costs more to live in a home. There is seasonal unemployment. Food costs more. Gas costs more. Medicine costs more. There’s a lack of access to fresh food for people on the islands. Even people who qualify for food assistance (food stamps) aren’t getting all the food they need.
Jackie and Nancy know that.
They know all about that need. They see it every day. They see it and they keep working, keep hoping, keep trying to make it better. That’s why they and the other volunteers at the food pantries across Hancock County are heroes.
There are 12 food pantries in our county and they serve about 3,090 people, which is about 6 percent of the population.
The scariest number are these: 18 % of Hancock County children are on food stamps. 40 % are on Maine Care.
Those are the numbers, Jackie and Nancy, and dozens of volunteers know more than the numbers. They know the faces. They know the stories.
A 63-year-old lady from Northeast Harbor told them, “I live on $787 a month and out of that I have to pay rent, two insurances – one life, one car – phone and I do have basic cable, which is only $17,95, so that’s not too extravagant. But then I have a drugstore bill, which is exorbitant because I take about $2,000 worth of medicine a month. So, it’s a struggle.”
How much of a struggle? Sometimes her meal is a can of tuna without the mayonnaise.
“I can’t afford that either,” she told a team of interviewers from Healthy Acadia.
Those are the kind of things Jackie and Nancy see and hear all the time. They hear and see that and they are still cheerful. They don’t grouse about insurmountable odds. They just keep chugging along, feeding one elderly person, one child, one family at a time, working and working to make it a little bit better. They go to meetings. They create networks. They think of strategies to get more food and better, healthier food to the people who need it.
That’s why they are heroes. They’re heroes because they are making a difference. We all need to be heroes like that.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Restive tribal area faces mass displacements
from IRIN
A military operation that is going after the Taliban has forced the displacement of thoudands in a village in Pakistan. Bad weather in the reagon has made the situation worse. - Kale
Mohammad Jameel, aged around 30, along with his extended family of 35 people, is among thousands of local residents forced to flee their village in the restive Bajaur tribal agency, north of Peshawar.
The rate of displacements has picked up since last week, when the Pakistani authorities launched a military operation against pro-Taliban militants in the area, say residents.
"We hired three big vans, each costing Rs 1,000 [about US$14] per trip and reached Lower Dir safely," said Jameel, speaking in Timergarah, the main town of the district that borders on Bajaur to the east. They were able to take along some household items and Jameel intends to return to Bajaur (in North West Frontier Province - NWFP) to fetch more stuff.
He saw hundreds fleeing on foot, in some cases covering distances of up to 40km. "There were women, children and even the elderly. Not everyone can afford a vehicle. They had left their homes with nothing, just the clothes they were wearing," he said.
Bajaur is one of seven agencies in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) in northwest Pakistan. The area is among the least developed, and is deeply conservative and poverty ridden, say observers. Six of the seven agencies - North and South Waziristan, Kurram, Orakzai, Khyber, Mohmand and Bajaur - share a border with Afghanistan.
Militants
Briefing the media recently, NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani said that since the operation began, 462 militants and 22 soldiers had been killed. The action came after threats by militants of violence against cities.
According to official sources, over 3,000 armed militants, most of whom are reportedly foreigners - Chechens, Yemenis, Afghans and Afro-Asians - need to be weeded out. Religious parties say the operation is being carried out at the behest of the USA.
Jameel said local people had lost faith in both sides. "Militancy has increased and we are forced to accept their version of Sharia [Islamic law]. On the other hand, the government, which is allied with the USA is also not bothered by our plight," he said.
Memories of a 2006 air-strike on a seminary in Damadola, in Bajaur, in which around 82 students, some of them children, were killed, are still fresh in many minds. The government took responsibility for the attack.
Fear
Jameel, currently staying at a cousin's home, has begun looking for a place to live, as he feels it will be some time before he can return to Bajaur.
For now he is also without work. "My TV channel wants me to send footage of what is happening in Bajaur but I'm scared stiff. Many people I know have been beheaded by the Taliban on the mere suspicion of spying," he said.
Along with the people of Lower Dir, who opened up their homes to those fleeing Bajaur, the first ones to provide shelter and set up camps for the IDPs were, according to Mohammad Javed, working with the government's Social Welfare Department (SWD), and political parties.
400,000 seek refuge in Lower Dir
In the last two weeks, about 400,000 people have left their homes and found refuge in Lower Dir, estimated Sultan Room Badshah, relief officer with the SWD, who is looking after six camps.
Talking to the media, provincial relief commissioner, Jamil Amjad, termed this the biggest internal displacement in Pakistan's history and acknowledged that over 250,000 individuals had been displaced from Bajaur, with more continuing to leave. The NWFP government has set up 17 relief camps.
The relief commissioner (Amjad) said the NWFP government had so far announced Rs13.5 million (about $183,673) for the rehabilitation and relief of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and the federal government had pledged Rs100 million (roughly $1.4 million) and 50 trucks of relief goods for the displaced. Similarly, the FATA Secretariat in Peshawar had announced Rs1 million (about $14,285) for medicines.
The SWD’s Badshah, who is supervising six camps for the IDPs in Jandool, said the government was unable to manage the large influx: "There seems to be no let-up in the number of people coming in every day. People prefer to stay with relatives and friends. Those who cannot, are setting up makeshift tents wherever they find an open place, even along roadsides. We are thinking of setting up tent villages if the influx does not stop."
Schools closed
As a contingency step, the government has closed down all schools and colleges to accommodate the refugees in those buildings.
It's been a tough week for Lal Zada, 26, and his extended family of 15, who fled from the village of Jani Shah, in Bajaur's Mamoond Tehsil administrative unit. "We started walking from our village around midnight and reached the camp around 10 the next morning."
They are among the 4,000 taking shelter at a school in Samarbagh in Satbar Killay, Lower Dir. His parents remain in the village "because somebody needs to feed the animals or they will die", said Lal Zada.
"Between 18 and 20 women and children sleep in the classrooms that are 8x6 metres, while the men sleep outside on the adjoining verandahs," he said. "There's no latrine and no water," he said, adding that they had to fetch water from a spring about 2km away.
Badshah said: "Yes, there is an acute shortage of water in most of these camps as we don't have storage tanks to cater for so many people."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A military operation that is going after the Taliban has forced the displacement of thoudands in a village in Pakistan. Bad weather in the reagon has made the situation worse. - Kale
Mohammad Jameel, aged around 30, along with his extended family of 35 people, is among thousands of local residents forced to flee their village in the restive Bajaur tribal agency, north of Peshawar.
The rate of displacements has picked up since last week, when the Pakistani authorities launched a military operation against pro-Taliban militants in the area, say residents.
"We hired three big vans, each costing Rs 1,000 [about US$14] per trip and reached Lower Dir safely," said Jameel, speaking in Timergarah, the main town of the district that borders on Bajaur to the east. They were able to take along some household items and Jameel intends to return to Bajaur (in North West Frontier Province - NWFP) to fetch more stuff.
He saw hundreds fleeing on foot, in some cases covering distances of up to 40km. "There were women, children and even the elderly. Not everyone can afford a vehicle. They had left their homes with nothing, just the clothes they were wearing," he said.
Bajaur is one of seven agencies in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) in northwest Pakistan. The area is among the least developed, and is deeply conservative and poverty ridden, say observers. Six of the seven agencies - North and South Waziristan, Kurram, Orakzai, Khyber, Mohmand and Bajaur - share a border with Afghanistan.
Militants
Briefing the media recently, NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani said that since the operation began, 462 militants and 22 soldiers had been killed. The action came after threats by militants of violence against cities.
According to official sources, over 3,000 armed militants, most of whom are reportedly foreigners - Chechens, Yemenis, Afghans and Afro-Asians - need to be weeded out. Religious parties say the operation is being carried out at the behest of the USA.
Jameel said local people had lost faith in both sides. "Militancy has increased and we are forced to accept their version of Sharia [Islamic law]. On the other hand, the government, which is allied with the USA is also not bothered by our plight," he said.
Memories of a 2006 air-strike on a seminary in Damadola, in Bajaur, in which around 82 students, some of them children, were killed, are still fresh in many minds. The government took responsibility for the attack.
Fear
Jameel, currently staying at a cousin's home, has begun looking for a place to live, as he feels it will be some time before he can return to Bajaur.
For now he is also without work. "My TV channel wants me to send footage of what is happening in Bajaur but I'm scared stiff. Many people I know have been beheaded by the Taliban on the mere suspicion of spying," he said.
Along with the people of Lower Dir, who opened up their homes to those fleeing Bajaur, the first ones to provide shelter and set up camps for the IDPs were, according to Mohammad Javed, working with the government's Social Welfare Department (SWD), and political parties.
400,000 seek refuge in Lower Dir
In the last two weeks, about 400,000 people have left their homes and found refuge in Lower Dir, estimated Sultan Room Badshah, relief officer with the SWD, who is looking after six camps.
Talking to the media, provincial relief commissioner, Jamil Amjad, termed this the biggest internal displacement in Pakistan's history and acknowledged that over 250,000 individuals had been displaced from Bajaur, with more continuing to leave. The NWFP government has set up 17 relief camps.
The relief commissioner (Amjad) said the NWFP government had so far announced Rs13.5 million (about $183,673) for the rehabilitation and relief of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and the federal government had pledged Rs100 million (roughly $1.4 million) and 50 trucks of relief goods for the displaced. Similarly, the FATA Secretariat in Peshawar had announced Rs1 million (about $14,285) for medicines.
The SWD’s Badshah, who is supervising six camps for the IDPs in Jandool, said the government was unable to manage the large influx: "There seems to be no let-up in the number of people coming in every day. People prefer to stay with relatives and friends. Those who cannot, are setting up makeshift tents wherever they find an open place, even along roadsides. We are thinking of setting up tent villages if the influx does not stop."
Schools closed
As a contingency step, the government has closed down all schools and colleges to accommodate the refugees in those buildings.
It's been a tough week for Lal Zada, 26, and his extended family of 15, who fled from the village of Jani Shah, in Bajaur's Mamoond Tehsil administrative unit. "We started walking from our village around midnight and reached the camp around 10 the next morning."
They are among the 4,000 taking shelter at a school in Samarbagh in Satbar Killay, Lower Dir. His parents remain in the village "because somebody needs to feed the animals or they will die", said Lal Zada.
"Between 18 and 20 women and children sleep in the classrooms that are 8x6 metres, while the men sleep outside on the adjoining verandahs," he said. "There's no latrine and no water," he said, adding that they had to fetch water from a spring about 2km away.
Badshah said: "Yes, there is an acute shortage of water in most of these camps as we don't have storage tanks to cater for so many people."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Albany cuts funds in half to Rochester poverty fighter
from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
The state government in New York cut funds to a children's poverty fighter. The organization called the Rochester Surround Care Community Corp. will see it's budget slashed by 2 million dollars. - Kale
by David Andreatta
The significance of the reduction is difficult to overstate for the fledgling social services organization, which has faced a string of setbacks and false starts in launching its grand vision to revitalize the impoverished northeast section of the city.
As of last week, the organization had received just $700,000 of its original state Department of Education grant but had committed to disburse over $1.1 million to local nonprofit agencies, according to financial records examined by the Democrat and Chronicle.
The agency is designed to bring a holistic array of services to poor neighborhoods. Nearly $884,000 of the earmarked money, intended to cover a wide array of health care, community safety, youth and financial literacy services provided by 20 different agencies, has yet to be delivered.
The depth of the cut stunned the newly named executive director, Iris Banister, who learned of it from a reporter. She said it would undoubtedly force the group to curtail some commitments.
"It is our intent to try to uphold as many of the promises we have made to people as possible," Banister said. "But I can't give you a clear pathway how we're going to do that right now."
Banister, who started her $125,000-a-year job five weeks ago, dismissed the suggestion that the cut could sink Rochester Surround Care altogether. She acknowledged, though, that the news was crushing.
"We are devastated but not discouraged," she said. "We will survive because it's about these children and this community, so we will survive."
The $2 million was among $427 million cut by the Legislature and Gov. David Paterson, who persuaded lawmakers to reopen the budget adopted in April as a first step toward reducing state spending by $1 billion over the next year and a half. The amended spending plan now stands at $120.9 billion.
Surround Care was not the only local nonprofit bloodied by the budget ax. The $980,000 slated for the Hillside Work Scholarship program was cut in half to $490,000. The Rochester Summer Youth program and the Catholic Family Center of Rochester also took hits.
But none of those cuts is arguably as potentially destructive as that sustained by Rochester Surround Care.
"It's an enormous blow because it's half of a lot of money," said Nancy Ares, an associate professor of teaching and curriculum at the University of Rochester's Warner School of Education, who has been studying the organization since its inception in 2005.
"Four million was going to go toward a lot of important things," Ares said. "They have operated on a shoestring for a while, so I wouldn't anticipate that this will stop them, but to have to figure out how to continue their work with half of what they expected will be quite a challenge."
Indeed, many of the organizations that Surround Care pledged to support have received only a small fraction, or nothing, of what was promised.
A group called Slater's Raiders for Peace, an anti-crime and youth mentoring program operated by Grace Community Village in memory of slain Rochester resident James Slater, was granted $181,580. It has received just $46,000.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
The state government in New York cut funds to a children's poverty fighter. The organization called the Rochester Surround Care Community Corp. will see it's budget slashed by 2 million dollars. - Kale
by David Andreatta
The significance of the reduction is difficult to overstate for the fledgling social services organization, which has faced a string of setbacks and false starts in launching its grand vision to revitalize the impoverished northeast section of the city.
As of last week, the organization had received just $700,000 of its original state Department of Education grant but had committed to disburse over $1.1 million to local nonprofit agencies, according to financial records examined by the Democrat and Chronicle.
The agency is designed to bring a holistic array of services to poor neighborhoods. Nearly $884,000 of the earmarked money, intended to cover a wide array of health care, community safety, youth and financial literacy services provided by 20 different agencies, has yet to be delivered.
The depth of the cut stunned the newly named executive director, Iris Banister, who learned of it from a reporter. She said it would undoubtedly force the group to curtail some commitments.
"It is our intent to try to uphold as many of the promises we have made to people as possible," Banister said. "But I can't give you a clear pathway how we're going to do that right now."
Banister, who started her $125,000-a-year job five weeks ago, dismissed the suggestion that the cut could sink Rochester Surround Care altogether. She acknowledged, though, that the news was crushing.
"We are devastated but not discouraged," she said. "We will survive because it's about these children and this community, so we will survive."
The $2 million was among $427 million cut by the Legislature and Gov. David Paterson, who persuaded lawmakers to reopen the budget adopted in April as a first step toward reducing state spending by $1 billion over the next year and a half. The amended spending plan now stands at $120.9 billion.
Surround Care was not the only local nonprofit bloodied by the budget ax. The $980,000 slated for the Hillside Work Scholarship program was cut in half to $490,000. The Rochester Summer Youth program and the Catholic Family Center of Rochester also took hits.
But none of those cuts is arguably as potentially destructive as that sustained by Rochester Surround Care.
"It's an enormous blow because it's half of a lot of money," said Nancy Ares, an associate professor of teaching and curriculum at the University of Rochester's Warner School of Education, who has been studying the organization since its inception in 2005.
"Four million was going to go toward a lot of important things," Ares said. "They have operated on a shoestring for a while, so I wouldn't anticipate that this will stop them, but to have to figure out how to continue their work with half of what they expected will be quite a challenge."
Indeed, many of the organizations that Surround Care pledged to support have received only a small fraction, or nothing, of what was promised.
A group called Slater's Raiders for Peace, an anti-crime and youth mentoring program operated by Grace Community Village in memory of slain Rochester resident James Slater, was granted $181,580. It has received just $46,000.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Price hikes on Gas in the UK from energy fiem E.ON
from the Daily Mail
An energy firm in the UK is raising rates. This adds to the concern that many more people will not be able to stay warm this winter.
The firm E.ON will raise gas bills by 26% and energy bills by 15%. They blame soaring prices for gas on the wholesale market. - Kale
A spokesman for watchdog Energywatch warned last night: 'There'll be no respite for consumers from higher energy bills.
'For the four suppliers who haven't raised prices for the second time this year (nPower, E.on, Scottish&Southern Energy and Scottish Power) it's now a matter of how much they will increase bills and when.'
While Centrica and its rivals are cashing in from household bills, more and more Britons are falling into fuel poverty, which is defined as spending over ten per cent of disposable income on heat and light.
There are already an estimated 4.5million in fuel poverty, but the figure is expected to rise by at least a million this winter.
'UK consumers really could have done without this,' said Damien Cox, senior energy analyst, at John Hall Associates, an independent energy consultancy.
'It's not a serious supply issue at the moment because demand in August is low but it does raise the likelihood of problems this winter.'
Link to full article. May expire in future.
An energy firm in the UK is raising rates. This adds to the concern that many more people will not be able to stay warm this winter.
The firm E.ON will raise gas bills by 26% and energy bills by 15%. They blame soaring prices for gas on the wholesale market. - Kale
A spokesman for watchdog Energywatch warned last night: 'There'll be no respite for consumers from higher energy bills.
'For the four suppliers who haven't raised prices for the second time this year (nPower, E.on, Scottish&Southern Energy and Scottish Power) it's now a matter of how much they will increase bills and when.'
While Centrica and its rivals are cashing in from household bills, more and more Britons are falling into fuel poverty, which is defined as spending over ten per cent of disposable income on heat and light.
There are already an estimated 4.5million in fuel poverty, but the figure is expected to rise by at least a million this winter.
'UK consumers really could have done without this,' said Damien Cox, senior energy analyst, at John Hall Associates, an independent energy consultancy.
'It's not a serious supply issue at the moment because demand in August is low but it does raise the likelihood of problems this winter.'
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Teamwork helps Kenyan village to arise from abyss
from the Courier Post
This story profiles a mission called the Rabuor Village Project, that has targeted a specific community in Kenya that has gone without international aid for years. - Kale
By BARBARA BORST
Loyce Mbewa-Ong'udi was late. Family and friends milled around her parents' house in the green hills overlooking Lake Victoria, waiting for the daughter from America to return home.
At last the taxi bounced over the ruts and made a sharp turn into the compound of small brick and stucco houses. Loyce sprang out to a shower of greetings in the Luo language, hugs, helping hands for 12 enormous suitcases crammed with anti-AIDS medicines, asthma inhalers, storybooks, pencils and sharpeners, recycled eyeglasses.
The supplies were for the Rabuor Village Project, which Loyce runs. In the crowd, she sought the woman who started it all: her mother, Rosemell Ong'udi.
This is the story of a village, spurred by two extraordinary women, rising from the depths of the AIDS epidemic to build a future for itself. In 10 years, with hardly any international aid, this poor farming community has founded a nursery school and feeding program, a pharmacy, a youth group and income-generating projects. The work touches more than 10,000 people in 10 villages and keeps growing.
But it's not just a list of projects; it's a change of heart. Rabuor's work embodies what experts consider the most effective approach to development: "community-owned" programs in which residents, not just donors, set the priorities, and change comes from the bottom up.
District Commissioner Godfrey Kigochi, senior Kenya government official for Kisumu West, says he wishes he had a project like this in every village. Organizations that give money or lend expertise to the Rabuor project -- Slum Doctors, Lift Kids, Pangea, Architects Without Borders -- say the group is unique for its pragmatism and deep community roots. The Rev. Charles Ong'injo, who blessed the work from the start, is helping other congregations launch similar projects.
Kenya's AIDS rate has fallen since the 1990s, and far more people today are willing to go for testing and treatment. Still, about 14 percent of the district's 160,000 people are infected, double the national rate.
The Rabuor project is about a lot more than AIDS prevention: It's about people learning that they can better their own lives. Loyce, 52, bounds into a meeting and revs up the team, with the energy of the field hockey and track competitor she used to be.
Rosemell, 69, tall and sturdy, brings a quiet wisdom instead. She speaks in a girlish voice, and her laugh is soft and low.
She began back in the 1990s, when AIDS was ripping the heart out of almost every family here. Yet people barely whispered about it because prostitutes and truckers were the early conduits of the disease.
Rosemell didn't talk about AIDS either, but she talked about the orphans it left behind. She recalls that the children were "very bad in their bodies" because they didn't have enough food.
She grew up without a father, helped raise her siblings, sometimes went without food herself. In 1998 she began giving the kids food from her own home. Then she turned to a women's group she had founded to see "what we can do for these children, now we are their mothers and fathers."
Worried about the orphans, Rosemell cut short a visit in 2001 to Loyce in Seattle. On her return, she asked Ong'injo if the women could use a room at the Rabuor church. She asked her husband, Wesley, a retired school headmaster, for money to hire a teacher. The women launched a nursery school.
When Loyce visited her childhood home months later, she saw how much had changed. "I had a first-class community and village to bring me up. Everything a child could dream of, I had it," she says. "People rarely died. The first one I knew, I was 18."
So many were dying that villagers spent much of their time and resources on funerals. Loyce, who once worked for the World Bank and the Gates Foundation, looked for a way to help.
She sent her salary. She asked people in her Seattle church to contribute. Then she and supporters founded Rabuor Village Project in 2003 as a nonprofit under U.S. law. The money trickling in helped buy land, build classrooms and hire teachers.
AIDS hit the Ong'udi family directly. Rosemell and Wesley -- parents of 10, grandparents of 19 -- buried two of their children, in 2004 and 2007, AIDS victims who each left behind a healthy child. Another of their children is HIV-positive but taking AIDS drugs.
But people were not ready to discuss AIDS; their focus was on feeding their families.
The first step was to increase crops, starting with corn. Next came projects to earn income, keep children in school and train adults in agriculture, nutrition, vocational skills. Conditions still remain basic: no running water, no electrical service, no cars, but a few cell phones.
Loyce, who calls her mother the Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King Jr. of Rabuor, credits Rosemell's political savvy for finding patrons. Ong'injo says the church's backing shields the work from corrupt politicians. Rosemell's son Kennedy helps navigate bureaucracy and politics as assistant chief.
Rosemell is stepping back, because she doesn't want the work to be seen just as "Ong'udi's thing." The new "chair lady" of the 100-member Karateng Rabuor Women's Group is Yuanita Ong'udi (not a relative). Projects include sunflowers for cooking oil, goats whose milk feeds the children, a donated truck they rent out and, always, help for the poorest.
The nursery school serves two hot meals and a hearty snack every day to 160 students. The Rabuor project pays 25 salaries, including four teachers, four cooks, a nurse and two pharmacists -- people who volunteered before there was money for salaries. Community health workers survey 10 villages.
The youth group was born out of a meeting between Loyce and 150 angry youths in 2005, who felt the Rabuor project wasn't helping them. The group now runs a beekeeping project, raises chickens and makes bricks. In a cultural breakthrough, young men and women teach school and adult groups about HIV prevention, AIDS testing and treatment, including condom use, abstinence and responsible sexuality.
Dawnson Owuor, project manager, says the projects interconnect. For example, the youths rent land from the women's group for their brickwork; when the women's group builds a classroom, it buys bricks from the youths. The projects also help many of the 60 families who fled here during the violence after Kenya's disputed presidential elections in December.
In Seattle, Loyce is the only person the project pays; the team relies on volunteers, including Carol Kinney, a nutritionist who conducted a feeding survey in Rabuor. Treasurer David Anstine, another volunteer, says money sent to Kenya rose from about $39,000 in 2005 to $165,000 in 2007.
Loyce is driven and admits to driving others. Early on, she chided people for wallowing in misery, as if they were saying, "I love the face of poverty. Darling poverty, live with me forever."
But Loyce doesn't own land or live here, and she recognizes the project can only succeed if villagers are involved. Kigochi, the district commissioner, says too many anti-AIDS groups offer training in hotels, at high cost; the Rabuor group works in the villages and "everyone appreciates it."
In May, Rabuor registered an organization called Village by Village to link existing groups and expand into other communities. In June, Loyce launched a project, with Rotary Clubs, to pump drinking water to the village and for a vocational training center to teach tailoring, metalwork and computer skills.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This story profiles a mission called the Rabuor Village Project, that has targeted a specific community in Kenya that has gone without international aid for years. - Kale
By BARBARA BORST
Loyce Mbewa-Ong'udi was late. Family and friends milled around her parents' house in the green hills overlooking Lake Victoria, waiting for the daughter from America to return home.
At last the taxi bounced over the ruts and made a sharp turn into the compound of small brick and stucco houses. Loyce sprang out to a shower of greetings in the Luo language, hugs, helping hands for 12 enormous suitcases crammed with anti-AIDS medicines, asthma inhalers, storybooks, pencils and sharpeners, recycled eyeglasses.
The supplies were for the Rabuor Village Project, which Loyce runs. In the crowd, she sought the woman who started it all: her mother, Rosemell Ong'udi.
This is the story of a village, spurred by two extraordinary women, rising from the depths of the AIDS epidemic to build a future for itself. In 10 years, with hardly any international aid, this poor farming community has founded a nursery school and feeding program, a pharmacy, a youth group and income-generating projects. The work touches more than 10,000 people in 10 villages and keeps growing.
But it's not just a list of projects; it's a change of heart. Rabuor's work embodies what experts consider the most effective approach to development: "community-owned" programs in which residents, not just donors, set the priorities, and change comes from the bottom up.
District Commissioner Godfrey Kigochi, senior Kenya government official for Kisumu West, says he wishes he had a project like this in every village. Organizations that give money or lend expertise to the Rabuor project -- Slum Doctors, Lift Kids, Pangea, Architects Without Borders -- say the group is unique for its pragmatism and deep community roots. The Rev. Charles Ong'injo, who blessed the work from the start, is helping other congregations launch similar projects.
Kenya's AIDS rate has fallen since the 1990s, and far more people today are willing to go for testing and treatment. Still, about 14 percent of the district's 160,000 people are infected, double the national rate.
The Rabuor project is about a lot more than AIDS prevention: It's about people learning that they can better their own lives. Loyce, 52, bounds into a meeting and revs up the team, with the energy of the field hockey and track competitor she used to be.
Rosemell, 69, tall and sturdy, brings a quiet wisdom instead. She speaks in a girlish voice, and her laugh is soft and low.
She began back in the 1990s, when AIDS was ripping the heart out of almost every family here. Yet people barely whispered about it because prostitutes and truckers were the early conduits of the disease.
Rosemell didn't talk about AIDS either, but she talked about the orphans it left behind. She recalls that the children were "very bad in their bodies" because they didn't have enough food.
She grew up without a father, helped raise her siblings, sometimes went without food herself. In 1998 she began giving the kids food from her own home. Then she turned to a women's group she had founded to see "what we can do for these children, now we are their mothers and fathers."
Worried about the orphans, Rosemell cut short a visit in 2001 to Loyce in Seattle. On her return, she asked Ong'injo if the women could use a room at the Rabuor church. She asked her husband, Wesley, a retired school headmaster, for money to hire a teacher. The women launched a nursery school.
When Loyce visited her childhood home months later, she saw how much had changed. "I had a first-class community and village to bring me up. Everything a child could dream of, I had it," she says. "People rarely died. The first one I knew, I was 18."
So many were dying that villagers spent much of their time and resources on funerals. Loyce, who once worked for the World Bank and the Gates Foundation, looked for a way to help.
She sent her salary. She asked people in her Seattle church to contribute. Then she and supporters founded Rabuor Village Project in 2003 as a nonprofit under U.S. law. The money trickling in helped buy land, build classrooms and hire teachers.
AIDS hit the Ong'udi family directly. Rosemell and Wesley -- parents of 10, grandparents of 19 -- buried two of their children, in 2004 and 2007, AIDS victims who each left behind a healthy child. Another of their children is HIV-positive but taking AIDS drugs.
But people were not ready to discuss AIDS; their focus was on feeding their families.
The first step was to increase crops, starting with corn. Next came projects to earn income, keep children in school and train adults in agriculture, nutrition, vocational skills. Conditions still remain basic: no running water, no electrical service, no cars, but a few cell phones.
Loyce, who calls her mother the Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King Jr. of Rabuor, credits Rosemell's political savvy for finding patrons. Ong'injo says the church's backing shields the work from corrupt politicians. Rosemell's son Kennedy helps navigate bureaucracy and politics as assistant chief.
Rosemell is stepping back, because she doesn't want the work to be seen just as "Ong'udi's thing." The new "chair lady" of the 100-member Karateng Rabuor Women's Group is Yuanita Ong'udi (not a relative). Projects include sunflowers for cooking oil, goats whose milk feeds the children, a donated truck they rent out and, always, help for the poorest.
The nursery school serves two hot meals and a hearty snack every day to 160 students. The Rabuor project pays 25 salaries, including four teachers, four cooks, a nurse and two pharmacists -- people who volunteered before there was money for salaries. Community health workers survey 10 villages.
The youth group was born out of a meeting between Loyce and 150 angry youths in 2005, who felt the Rabuor project wasn't helping them. The group now runs a beekeeping project, raises chickens and makes bricks. In a cultural breakthrough, young men and women teach school and adult groups about HIV prevention, AIDS testing and treatment, including condom use, abstinence and responsible sexuality.
Dawnson Owuor, project manager, says the projects interconnect. For example, the youths rent land from the women's group for their brickwork; when the women's group builds a classroom, it buys bricks from the youths. The projects also help many of the 60 families who fled here during the violence after Kenya's disputed presidential elections in December.
In Seattle, Loyce is the only person the project pays; the team relies on volunteers, including Carol Kinney, a nutritionist who conducted a feeding survey in Rabuor. Treasurer David Anstine, another volunteer, says money sent to Kenya rose from about $39,000 in 2005 to $165,000 in 2007.
Loyce is driven and admits to driving others. Early on, she chided people for wallowing in misery, as if they were saying, "I love the face of poverty. Darling poverty, live with me forever."
But Loyce doesn't own land or live here, and she recognizes the project can only succeed if villagers are involved. Kigochi, the district commissioner, says too many anti-AIDS groups offer training in hotels, at high cost; the Rabuor group works in the villages and "everyone appreciates it."
In May, Rabuor registered an organization called Village by Village to link existing groups and expand into other communities. In June, Loyce launched a project, with Rotary Clubs, to pump drinking water to the village and for a vocational training center to teach tailoring, metalwork and computer skills.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Suleja: A Community In Need Of Urgent Attention
from Leadership Nigeria
This article profiles a town in nigeria that many poor workers settle in. - Kale
by Christiana Esebonu
The excruciating and disgusting whiff from compounds and streets that hit you as you walk through Suleja town, the sight of table water sachets, orange and sugar cane peels among other wastes, which litter the streets and gutters, the picture of pretty school-age girls sitting in line beckoning at any passer-by to buy nunu, roasted yams and oranges and young boys between the ages nineten and following people about with plates to beg for money and reciting a slogan, which is very common among beggars "sada-ka-sobo-da-Allah", meaning "Give because of God," is heartbreaking. All these paint a picture of a forgotten and sinking community.
To be sure, Suleja, a community in the Niger State can best be described as a negligible community yet to be hooked on to the national grid because of the darkness that has perpetually enveloped the city. What more? The wonky outlook of houses in Suleja is a strong indication that the area is evidently poverty, stricken and that the residents suffer from economic stagnation, cultural patterns that are unfavourable to development, and alternative employment opportunities.
Suleja is characterised by poor quality of life because of the scarcity of essential goods, facilities and malnutrition, inadequate health facilities and poor sanitation. All these serve as indicators and pointers to under-development. Investigations by our correspondents show that the community experiences high rate of population growth, total dependency burdens, high and rising level of unemployment, poor quality housing and above all, low level of living, not in terms of not having something to eat or drink, but relatively on quality and quantity.
This was the living picture and reality on ground when our reporter visited the area recently. In an interview with some respondents, some aggrieved residents highlighted the major problems affecting the area thus. "Since I came here, I have noticed so many lapses in the area. Their education situation here is zero; there are huge environmental and electricity problems", Mr. Nwokoro Davidson said.
Davidson told our reporters that anyone who lives in Suleja and sees electricity twice a week should "bows down to thank God for touching the minds of the PHCN, even if it is low voltage". "We are used to darkness in the absence of generators, popularly referred to as I pass my neighbour."
He also pointed out that they depend solely on local water vendors (mairuwas) as their only source of water, as they can not drill water well because they are not financially buoyant. He stressed that even if they were, they would not be given a land to do so as they are only tenants. For the few wealthy persons who have wells, "kai", he exclaimed, "they will not spare a drop of it to outsiders, considering its scarcity".
Ms. Vera Paul, a resident of Zone B in the area, decried the educational situation in Suleja as discouraging. She complained bitterly of lack of proper maintenance of school environment, low quality of teachers and lack of interest on the part of both the pupils and students. "Today is school day, but you will see school children, both in mufti and uniforms at parks, doing Agboro (touts) while some are hawking and roaming the streets", she said."
Vera lamented that laxity on the part of education officers must be dealt with if a positive outcome is expected. She said she intended to further her studies in Niger State, but from what she has seen so far, she couldn’t dare it; because "I firmly believe in the saying that your today will determine your tomorrow."
Madam Susan Gbenga, a civil servant who spoke on the general condition of "the voiceless masses", stressed the need for government of the state, to bear in mind that the business of governance is principally to serve the people by lifting them out of the depth of "despondency and abject poverty", which they are plunged into. "Governments should wake up and make incursions into the areas that had, hitherto, been either ignored or treated superficially" she said.
She maintained that government knew the areas that must be attended to but refused to act.
For Malam Yusuf Akilu, Suleja is a nice but dirty place. He said the area council, which was supposed to be a blessed land due to its closeness to Abuja, the nation’s capital, is today dominated by the shackles of poverty. He revealed that the area is made up of amalgamation of Hausa, Nupes, Gwari’s as majority, with some Igbos and Yorubas.
He described the environment as a major threat to development in the area, and the road network as dead traps. On the aspect of security, he said they are protected by God, disclosing that police officers are worsening the situation as they shoot sporadically on several occasions, extorting monies from innocent and frightened citizens of the area, after a thorough search.
Zyxtus Ademola, a trader in Suleja, had this to say: "We are just in the hands of our merciful God, because if not for Him, everybody in Suleja would have been lying lifeless in hospitals and clinics due to what the stinking environment has to offer". He stressed that the absence of culverts, good drainage system, pedestrian walkways, irregular water supply, lack of medical healthcare should be governments priority. He called on government to build schools and clinics as well as eliminate quacks in the area to better the lives of the masses.
Another resident in the community, Mr. Adamu Aliyu, told our reporters that certainly development must mean improvement in living conditions for which economic growth and industrialisation are essential. But if there is no attention to the quality of growth and social change, one cannot speak of development. This, he said, is the clear picture of what Suleja is. "The primary objective of government is to ensure secure and decent livelihood in the area, which they have failed to do or may have possibly forgotten."
Mrs. Bumi Solomon, who resides at Gabodan, also shared the views of most residents who spoke about the absence of good roads in the area, revealing that "if there is heavy down pour, one is not safe as school children who trek along the streets are often drowned with houses collapsing as a result of uncontrollable flood-from the bridge behind Kwamba garage that leads to Gabadan".
With these, one could only imagine the number of lives lost frequently in the community and the pains the residents go through.
Malam Murtala Abubakar, in a chat with LEADERSHIP, explained that the problems faced by Suleja residents are numerous. He stated categorically that both the state and local governments appeared to be less concerned with the social problems they face. He took pains to state details of their afflictions, pointing out that the area is over populated with only one general hospital and few unequipped clinics. "We survive by the help of chemist operators; honestly we are just are alive by God," he stated.
Alhaji Muhammed Sani, a youth leader in Zone C, said the government has failed the people. He explained that apart from the general provisions market called Modi market, Suleja residents would have to board okada to IBB Modern market, which is very far from the town.
He said most residents in the area use commercial toilets popularly called "Gidiwanka" after payment of N10 as fee, and those who may not have the money, choose other alternatives like using bowls to empty it at nights, or dig the traditional hole and cover it with zinc. "Oh what a life", he lamented.
The road network is the worst hit; to visit the next compound or street, you’ll need a stick to support yourself because of the narrowness of the roads. "On several occasions, we individually or collectively construct bridges with sticks and slabs, but we are tired and we are asking for government’s assistance", Sani said.
But the Managing Director, M. K. Photos, Malam Abdulkarim, said Suleja is over crowded with insufficient facilities. He said the Niger State government is trying, but that it just have to put in more efforts to improve the conditions of those who actually voted them into power. On traffic situation, he said the police, civil defence, road safety marshals and vehicle inspectors (VIO) must come to rescue Suleja from the unnecessary traffic jams as a result of untutored driving skills by most truck drivers, okada men who were chased out of Abuja, the increasing number of Abuja civil servant residing in Suleja, as well as bad attitudes of street hawkers, and stall owners who trade on the major roads, especially during the weekly Friday market.
The Chief Matron of Yahaya Alhassan Community Clinic, Kurmin Sarki Ward, Hajiya Ladi, told our reporters that the commonest illnesses in the area are malaria and typhoid, which she attributed to lack of potable water and poor environment.
She said most of the deaths and serious illnesses among residents are due to conditions that could easily be prevented and treated with simple remedies if only the government would cooperate.
In an interactive session with the Vice Chairman, Suleja Local Government Council, Hon. Abduli Adamu Madallah, LEADERSHIP gathered that on assumption of office, a seven-man committee, charged with the responsibility of carrying out projects in their various wards in line with their problems, was constituted.
This, he said, was done on realisation that more schools, markets, as well as hospitals, were needed, given the growing number of persons that need these services. "We acknowledge that dirt is a threat to people’s lives and so have constituted a committee that is assigned the responsibility of evacuating wastes starting from Kaduna Road which, has been achieved, Insha-Alllah. Plans are under way to start work at Iku-South ward Madalla, followed by the rest of the wards", he said.
"In order to achieve this, we have carried out emergency sensitisation campaigns on the committee’s activities, liaising with ward village and district heads for effective coverage and information. "We gave them three weeks to complete their project which is still on", he added.
"As regards real projects, we have started renovating Awala Ibrahim primary school situated in Kurmu Sarki ward".
He disclosed that on the issue of electricity, which is a major problem in the area, 10 new transformers were provided to them on request and have been mounted at different locations. Talking about water supply, he said plans were on ground to create some lines that would connect people with impress dam so that by the end of the year, the problem of water in Suleja Local Government would become history Insha-Allah.
"We officially commissioned comprehensive healthcare centres, and provided lights, water while ensuring that each time the supervisory councillor for health puts up her request, we meet it. On roads, we promised that every damage road in Suleja would be repaired, as we have asked the supervisory councillor of works to go on an inspection, to ascertain what it would take to rehabilitate the roads in Suleja", he added.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This article profiles a town in nigeria that many poor workers settle in. - Kale
by Christiana Esebonu
The excruciating and disgusting whiff from compounds and streets that hit you as you walk through Suleja town, the sight of table water sachets, orange and sugar cane peels among other wastes, which litter the streets and gutters, the picture of pretty school-age girls sitting in line beckoning at any passer-by to buy nunu, roasted yams and oranges and young boys between the ages nineten and following people about with plates to beg for money and reciting a slogan, which is very common among beggars "sada-ka-sobo-da-Allah", meaning "Give because of God," is heartbreaking. All these paint a picture of a forgotten and sinking community.
To be sure, Suleja, a community in the Niger State can best be described as a negligible community yet to be hooked on to the national grid because of the darkness that has perpetually enveloped the city. What more? The wonky outlook of houses in Suleja is a strong indication that the area is evidently poverty, stricken and that the residents suffer from economic stagnation, cultural patterns that are unfavourable to development, and alternative employment opportunities.
Suleja is characterised by poor quality of life because of the scarcity of essential goods, facilities and malnutrition, inadequate health facilities and poor sanitation. All these serve as indicators and pointers to under-development. Investigations by our correspondents show that the community experiences high rate of population growth, total dependency burdens, high and rising level of unemployment, poor quality housing and above all, low level of living, not in terms of not having something to eat or drink, but relatively on quality and quantity.
This was the living picture and reality on ground when our reporter visited the area recently. In an interview with some respondents, some aggrieved residents highlighted the major problems affecting the area thus. "Since I came here, I have noticed so many lapses in the area. Their education situation here is zero; there are huge environmental and electricity problems", Mr. Nwokoro Davidson said.
Davidson told our reporters that anyone who lives in Suleja and sees electricity twice a week should "bows down to thank God for touching the minds of the PHCN, even if it is low voltage". "We are used to darkness in the absence of generators, popularly referred to as I pass my neighbour."
He also pointed out that they depend solely on local water vendors (mairuwas) as their only source of water, as they can not drill water well because they are not financially buoyant. He stressed that even if they were, they would not be given a land to do so as they are only tenants. For the few wealthy persons who have wells, "kai", he exclaimed, "they will not spare a drop of it to outsiders, considering its scarcity".
Ms. Vera Paul, a resident of Zone B in the area, decried the educational situation in Suleja as discouraging. She complained bitterly of lack of proper maintenance of school environment, low quality of teachers and lack of interest on the part of both the pupils and students. "Today is school day, but you will see school children, both in mufti and uniforms at parks, doing Agboro (touts) while some are hawking and roaming the streets", she said."
Vera lamented that laxity on the part of education officers must be dealt with if a positive outcome is expected. She said she intended to further her studies in Niger State, but from what she has seen so far, she couldn’t dare it; because "I firmly believe in the saying that your today will determine your tomorrow."
Madam Susan Gbenga, a civil servant who spoke on the general condition of "the voiceless masses", stressed the need for government of the state, to bear in mind that the business of governance is principally to serve the people by lifting them out of the depth of "despondency and abject poverty", which they are plunged into. "Governments should wake up and make incursions into the areas that had, hitherto, been either ignored or treated superficially" she said.
She maintained that government knew the areas that must be attended to but refused to act.
For Malam Yusuf Akilu, Suleja is a nice but dirty place. He said the area council, which was supposed to be a blessed land due to its closeness to Abuja, the nation’s capital, is today dominated by the shackles of poverty. He revealed that the area is made up of amalgamation of Hausa, Nupes, Gwari’s as majority, with some Igbos and Yorubas.
He described the environment as a major threat to development in the area, and the road network as dead traps. On the aspect of security, he said they are protected by God, disclosing that police officers are worsening the situation as they shoot sporadically on several occasions, extorting monies from innocent and frightened citizens of the area, after a thorough search.
Zyxtus Ademola, a trader in Suleja, had this to say: "We are just in the hands of our merciful God, because if not for Him, everybody in Suleja would have been lying lifeless in hospitals and clinics due to what the stinking environment has to offer". He stressed that the absence of culverts, good drainage system, pedestrian walkways, irregular water supply, lack of medical healthcare should be governments priority. He called on government to build schools and clinics as well as eliminate quacks in the area to better the lives of the masses.
Another resident in the community, Mr. Adamu Aliyu, told our reporters that certainly development must mean improvement in living conditions for which economic growth and industrialisation are essential. But if there is no attention to the quality of growth and social change, one cannot speak of development. This, he said, is the clear picture of what Suleja is. "The primary objective of government is to ensure secure and decent livelihood in the area, which they have failed to do or may have possibly forgotten."
Mrs. Bumi Solomon, who resides at Gabodan, also shared the views of most residents who spoke about the absence of good roads in the area, revealing that "if there is heavy down pour, one is not safe as school children who trek along the streets are often drowned with houses collapsing as a result of uncontrollable flood-from the bridge behind Kwamba garage that leads to Gabadan".
With these, one could only imagine the number of lives lost frequently in the community and the pains the residents go through.
Malam Murtala Abubakar, in a chat with LEADERSHIP, explained that the problems faced by Suleja residents are numerous. He stated categorically that both the state and local governments appeared to be less concerned with the social problems they face. He took pains to state details of their afflictions, pointing out that the area is over populated with only one general hospital and few unequipped clinics. "We survive by the help of chemist operators; honestly we are just are alive by God," he stated.
Alhaji Muhammed Sani, a youth leader in Zone C, said the government has failed the people. He explained that apart from the general provisions market called Modi market, Suleja residents would have to board okada to IBB Modern market, which is very far from the town.
He said most residents in the area use commercial toilets popularly called "Gidiwanka" after payment of N10 as fee, and those who may not have the money, choose other alternatives like using bowls to empty it at nights, or dig the traditional hole and cover it with zinc. "Oh what a life", he lamented.
The road network is the worst hit; to visit the next compound or street, you’ll need a stick to support yourself because of the narrowness of the roads. "On several occasions, we individually or collectively construct bridges with sticks and slabs, but we are tired and we are asking for government’s assistance", Sani said.
But the Managing Director, M. K. Photos, Malam Abdulkarim, said Suleja is over crowded with insufficient facilities. He said the Niger State government is trying, but that it just have to put in more efforts to improve the conditions of those who actually voted them into power. On traffic situation, he said the police, civil defence, road safety marshals and vehicle inspectors (VIO) must come to rescue Suleja from the unnecessary traffic jams as a result of untutored driving skills by most truck drivers, okada men who were chased out of Abuja, the increasing number of Abuja civil servant residing in Suleja, as well as bad attitudes of street hawkers, and stall owners who trade on the major roads, especially during the weekly Friday market.
The Chief Matron of Yahaya Alhassan Community Clinic, Kurmin Sarki Ward, Hajiya Ladi, told our reporters that the commonest illnesses in the area are malaria and typhoid, which she attributed to lack of potable water and poor environment.
She said most of the deaths and serious illnesses among residents are due to conditions that could easily be prevented and treated with simple remedies if only the government would cooperate.
In an interactive session with the Vice Chairman, Suleja Local Government Council, Hon. Abduli Adamu Madallah, LEADERSHIP gathered that on assumption of office, a seven-man committee, charged with the responsibility of carrying out projects in their various wards in line with their problems, was constituted.
This, he said, was done on realisation that more schools, markets, as well as hospitals, were needed, given the growing number of persons that need these services. "We acknowledge that dirt is a threat to people’s lives and so have constituted a committee that is assigned the responsibility of evacuating wastes starting from Kaduna Road which, has been achieved, Insha-Alllah. Plans are under way to start work at Iku-South ward Madalla, followed by the rest of the wards", he said.
"In order to achieve this, we have carried out emergency sensitisation campaigns on the committee’s activities, liaising with ward village and district heads for effective coverage and information. "We gave them three weeks to complete their project which is still on", he added.
"As regards real projects, we have started renovating Awala Ibrahim primary school situated in Kurmu Sarki ward".
He disclosed that on the issue of electricity, which is a major problem in the area, 10 new transformers were provided to them on request and have been mounted at different locations. Talking about water supply, he said plans were on ground to create some lines that would connect people with impress dam so that by the end of the year, the problem of water in Suleja Local Government would become history Insha-Allah.
"We officially commissioned comprehensive healthcare centres, and provided lights, water while ensuring that each time the supervisory councillor for health puts up her request, we meet it. On roads, we promised that every damage road in Suleja would be repaired, as we have asked the supervisory councillor of works to go on an inspection, to ascertain what it would take to rehabilitate the roads in Suleja", he added.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Poverty still grips Pacific
from The Australian
A new AusAID report tracks neighboring countries to Australia, on their progress in meeting Millennium Development Goals
by Siobhain Ryan
A new AusAID report measuring the Pacific's social and economic progress was released in Niue yesterday, where Kevin Rudd signed deals with Samoa and Papua New Guinea during the Pacific Islands Forum.
The Prime Minister's promise of fresh support came as AusAID revealed international aid had barely risen per capita in the past decade.
"The impact of aid on poverty reduction and sustainable development in the region is unclear, as is the impact on individual country capacity," the report stated. "What is clear is that the increased number of donors and activities over the last decade is making co-ordination more difficult."
Australia provides just over half the development assistance being offered and will spend $1billion on the region in 2008-09.
But money spent on technical assistance, such as policy advice and budget management, had achieved only mixed results and the good outcomes from direct service provision ended when project funding did, AusAID noted.
Australia's major donor status could be under challenge, as China is estimated to provide as much as a third of aid funding to the region. University of NSW senior lecturer Karin von Strokirch, who publishes on the Pacific region, said China's aid was driven by more than altruistic motives.
"China has two objectives in the Pacific: one is diplomatic recognition and keeping Taiwan out of the picture; the other is to have access to natural resources, particularly fisheries," she said.
"To get influence in those two areas, the Chinese have been giving aid without accountability."
The AusAID report highlights, however, how much extra help is still needed in the Pacific.
Extreme poverty has increased markedly over the past decade, despite this year's forecast pick-up in growth to 4.8 per cent.
At least three million people live on less than $US1 ($1.15) a day, up to a million children do not attend school and 18,000 children die each year mostly from preventable causes.
Many of the 16 nations tracked in the inaugural annual progress report will not achieve their 2015 Millennium Development Goals, which were adopted in 2000 by the UN General Assembly.
Dr von Strokirch said some of the region's most populous countries were in the biggest trouble, disguising the fact several others were on the improve.
"A lot of the worst statistics are from two countries: that's obviously PNG and the Solomon Islands," she said. "That's going to drag the whole region down."
In Papua New Guinea, for instance, only 54 per cent of children complete primary school, 61 per cent of the population lacks access to improved water sources and child mortality rates are the region's highest.
One fifth of Solomon Islanders are malnourished and East Timorese are poorer than before they gained independence in 2002.
Dr von Strokirch said some of the Melanesian countries were too reliant on local mining and forestry projects, which channelled cash income offshore and returned few benefits to the broader economy.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A new AusAID report tracks neighboring countries to Australia, on their progress in meeting Millennium Development Goals
by Siobhain Ryan
A new AusAID report measuring the Pacific's social and economic progress was released in Niue yesterday, where Kevin Rudd signed deals with Samoa and Papua New Guinea during the Pacific Islands Forum.
The Prime Minister's promise of fresh support came as AusAID revealed international aid had barely risen per capita in the past decade.
"The impact of aid on poverty reduction and sustainable development in the region is unclear, as is the impact on individual country capacity," the report stated. "What is clear is that the increased number of donors and activities over the last decade is making co-ordination more difficult."
Australia provides just over half the development assistance being offered and will spend $1billion on the region in 2008-09.
But money spent on technical assistance, such as policy advice and budget management, had achieved only mixed results and the good outcomes from direct service provision ended when project funding did, AusAID noted.
Australia's major donor status could be under challenge, as China is estimated to provide as much as a third of aid funding to the region. University of NSW senior lecturer Karin von Strokirch, who publishes on the Pacific region, said China's aid was driven by more than altruistic motives.
"China has two objectives in the Pacific: one is diplomatic recognition and keeping Taiwan out of the picture; the other is to have access to natural resources, particularly fisheries," she said.
"To get influence in those two areas, the Chinese have been giving aid without accountability."
The AusAID report highlights, however, how much extra help is still needed in the Pacific.
Extreme poverty has increased markedly over the past decade, despite this year's forecast pick-up in growth to 4.8 per cent.
At least three million people live on less than $US1 ($1.15) a day, up to a million children do not attend school and 18,000 children die each year mostly from preventable causes.
Many of the 16 nations tracked in the inaugural annual progress report will not achieve their 2015 Millennium Development Goals, which were adopted in 2000 by the UN General Assembly.
Dr von Strokirch said some of the region's most populous countries were in the biggest trouble, disguising the fact several others were on the improve.
"A lot of the worst statistics are from two countries: that's obviously PNG and the Solomon Islands," she said. "That's going to drag the whole region down."
In Papua New Guinea, for instance, only 54 per cent of children complete primary school, 61 per cent of the population lacks access to improved water sources and child mortality rates are the region's highest.
One fifth of Solomon Islanders are malnourished and East Timorese are poorer than before they gained independence in 2002.
Dr von Strokirch said some of the Melanesian countries were too reliant on local mining and forestry projects, which channelled cash income offshore and returned few benefits to the broader economy.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Gap-between rich and poor Brits has doubled in the past 30 years
from the London News
A new study warns that the gap between the rich and poor in the UK has doubled in the past 30 years. The report called the "Poverty and Inequality and Children" says that the gap is now the largest in Europe.
The TUC union study found that while disposable income for the wealthiest in society has risen to more than 700 pounds a week, that of the poorest has only gone up marginally - and is still less than 200 pounds.
It claims more Britons are living below the breadline than 20 years ago, and that no other European country has such a gulf between rich and poor.
According to The Telegraph, the report also claims inequality dramatically affects children's chances in life, with babies born to poor mothers more likely to develop health problems in later life, and working-class pupils half as likely to get five good GCSEs as their wealthier classmates.
It comes just a day after the Conservatives accused Gordon Brown of making Britain a less fair place over the past decade by overseeing a widening gap between rich and poor in health, education, living standards and tax.
The TUC is now calling on the Government to put an extra three billion pounds into benefits in order to meet its pledge of eradicating child poverty by 2020.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A new study warns that the gap between the rich and poor in the UK has doubled in the past 30 years. The report called the "Poverty and Inequality and Children" says that the gap is now the largest in Europe.
The TUC union study found that while disposable income for the wealthiest in society has risen to more than 700 pounds a week, that of the poorest has only gone up marginally - and is still less than 200 pounds.
It claims more Britons are living below the breadline than 20 years ago, and that no other European country has such a gulf between rich and poor.
According to The Telegraph, the report also claims inequality dramatically affects children's chances in life, with babies born to poor mothers more likely to develop health problems in later life, and working-class pupils half as likely to get five good GCSEs as their wealthier classmates.
It comes just a day after the Conservatives accused Gordon Brown of making Britain a less fair place over the past decade by overseeing a widening gap between rich and poor in health, education, living standards and tax.
The TUC is now calling on the Government to put an extra three billion pounds into benefits in order to meet its pledge of eradicating child poverty by 2020.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Massachusetts law spurs rise in health coverage
from Reuters India
Here is an update on what is going on with Massachusetts' health care plan. This seems to be written with an international audience in mind, since it came from Reuters India. - Kale
By Jason Szep
BOSTON - Nearly half a million people obtained health insurance in the two years since Massachusetts enacted a pioneering health-care law, officials said on Tuesday, putting the state closer to covering nearly all residents.
The law, seen as a possible national model as traditional employer-based coverage shrinks nationwide, made Massachusetts the first U.S. state with near-universal health insurance when it went into effect in April 2006.
Between June 2006 and March 31, 2008, more than 439,000 people enrolled in private or subsidized health insurance programs, the state's Executive Office of Health and Human Services said in a report.
It said the growth reflected a big expansion in private coverage, which grew by more than 191,000.
"To have insured nearly a half-million people in less than two years is nothing short of remarkable," said Gov. Deval Patrick in a statement.
There was no estimate on how many people remain uninsured.
The law makes coverage mandatory through an "individual mandate" that requires virtually everyone to have health insurance or face tax penalties. For those earning less than the federal poverty level of $9,800 a year, coverage is free.
Those earning up to three times the poverty level can get subsidized plans, according to the legislation, which was signed into law by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, and backed by the state's top Democrats.
Ninety-three percent of Massachusetts residents, or 5.9 million people, had health insurance based on a 2004 survey. Of the 460,000 uninsured, about 40 percent earned more than the federal poverty level.
The bill was hailed at the time as a bipartisan attempt to reverse a trend that has left more than 47 million Americans uninsured.
But the legislation has been heavily criticized. Some health policy experts have questioned whether it can be sustained because it depends heavily in the long term on slowing growth in health-care costs, a prospect that some doubt will happen given the steady rise in costs in recent years.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Here is an update on what is going on with Massachusetts' health care plan. This seems to be written with an international audience in mind, since it came from Reuters India. - Kale
By Jason Szep
BOSTON - Nearly half a million people obtained health insurance in the two years since Massachusetts enacted a pioneering health-care law, officials said on Tuesday, putting the state closer to covering nearly all residents.
The law, seen as a possible national model as traditional employer-based coverage shrinks nationwide, made Massachusetts the first U.S. state with near-universal health insurance when it went into effect in April 2006.
Between June 2006 and March 31, 2008, more than 439,000 people enrolled in private or subsidized health insurance programs, the state's Executive Office of Health and Human Services said in a report.
It said the growth reflected a big expansion in private coverage, which grew by more than 191,000.
"To have insured nearly a half-million people in less than two years is nothing short of remarkable," said Gov. Deval Patrick in a statement.
There was no estimate on how many people remain uninsured.
The law makes coverage mandatory through an "individual mandate" that requires virtually everyone to have health insurance or face tax penalties. For those earning less than the federal poverty level of $9,800 a year, coverage is free.
Those earning up to three times the poverty level can get subsidized plans, according to the legislation, which was signed into law by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, and backed by the state's top Democrats.
Ninety-three percent of Massachusetts residents, or 5.9 million people, had health insurance based on a 2004 survey. Of the 460,000 uninsured, about 40 percent earned more than the federal poverty level.
The bill was hailed at the time as a bipartisan attempt to reverse a trend that has left more than 47 million Americans uninsured.
But the legislation has been heavily criticized. Some health policy experts have questioned whether it can be sustained because it depends heavily in the long term on slowing growth in health-care costs, a prospect that some doubt will happen given the steady rise in costs in recent years.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Survey: Many Wash. farmworkers indigenous Mexicans
from the Wichita Eagle
A quarter of the farmhands in Washington state are Mexicans according to a new survey. Many came to the states because their small farms could not compete with the bigger ones up north.
By MANUEL VALDES
The survey - "A Sustainable Bounty: Investing in Our Agricultural Future" - was conducted by the Washington State Farmworker Housing Trust and released last week. More than 2,800 farmworkers in 14 Washington counties were interviewed for the survey in 2006.
The number of indigenous workers "shows the dire economic situation for indigenous people in Latin America," said Rosalinda Guillen, one of the survey coordinators.
She echoed an argument suggesting that an overflow of American goods - specifically corn - drove the indigenous from their lands after many could not compete with cheap goods from the north. Many were self-sustainable farmers, working small plots of land.
The survey also found that nearly half of the workers say they don't know if they'll continue working the fields, citing sub-par housing conditions plagued by mice, cockroaches and lack of electricity or water.
Moreover, workers have an average annual household income of around $17,500 - below the federal poverty line. Nearly 6 percent of the 2,800 workers described themselves as homeless, living in cars or sheds. That figure jumps to 15 percent for those workers who migrate from community to community in search of work.
"Recruiting and retaining a stable and skilled work force is becoming increasingly difficult," said Brien Thane, trust executive director. "The survey makes it clear housing is a key factor in stabilizing and sustaining that work force."
For the state's key crops - such as apples and cherries - a lack of hands to pick would mean lost harvests. The state has already seen periodic labor shortages.
The survey reports 91 percent of those questioned said better housing would encourage them to continue working in the fields. They also detailed problems with current housing: 32 percent live in overcrowded units, 23 percent reported rodent infestation and others reported lack of heat and poor water quality.
The issue of farmworker housing is contentious. Some farmers and local government officials want the state to relax housing regulations. The state, meanwhile, has to inspect hundreds of housing units and respond to calls of unlicensed camps.
In Douglas County, more than 350 cherry pickers live in military-type tents in a field next to the airport in East Wenatchee.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A quarter of the farmhands in Washington state are Mexicans according to a new survey. Many came to the states because their small farms could not compete with the bigger ones up north.
By MANUEL VALDES
The survey - "A Sustainable Bounty: Investing in Our Agricultural Future" - was conducted by the Washington State Farmworker Housing Trust and released last week. More than 2,800 farmworkers in 14 Washington counties were interviewed for the survey in 2006.
The number of indigenous workers "shows the dire economic situation for indigenous people in Latin America," said Rosalinda Guillen, one of the survey coordinators.
She echoed an argument suggesting that an overflow of American goods - specifically corn - drove the indigenous from their lands after many could not compete with cheap goods from the north. Many were self-sustainable farmers, working small plots of land.
The survey also found that nearly half of the workers say they don't know if they'll continue working the fields, citing sub-par housing conditions plagued by mice, cockroaches and lack of electricity or water.
Moreover, workers have an average annual household income of around $17,500 - below the federal poverty line. Nearly 6 percent of the 2,800 workers described themselves as homeless, living in cars or sheds. That figure jumps to 15 percent for those workers who migrate from community to community in search of work.
"Recruiting and retaining a stable and skilled work force is becoming increasingly difficult," said Brien Thane, trust executive director. "The survey makes it clear housing is a key factor in stabilizing and sustaining that work force."
For the state's key crops - such as apples and cherries - a lack of hands to pick would mean lost harvests. The state has already seen periodic labor shortages.
The survey reports 91 percent of those questioned said better housing would encourage them to continue working in the fields. They also detailed problems with current housing: 32 percent live in overcrowded units, 23 percent reported rodent infestation and others reported lack of heat and poor water quality.
The issue of farmworker housing is contentious. Some farmers and local government officials want the state to relax housing regulations. The state, meanwhile, has to inspect hundreds of housing units and respond to calls of unlicensed camps.
In Douglas County, more than 350 cherry pickers live in military-type tents in a field next to the airport in East Wenatchee.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Tories 'best' to tackle poverty
from the BBC
The debate on how to solve child poverty in the UK seems to be a highly charged debate. Here is the latest salvo. - Kale
George Osborne is set to claim that the Tories are best placed to tackle poverty and create a fair society.
The shadow chancellor is also expected to say Gordon Brown has burdened future generations by reckless borrowing.
Ahead of his speech he said "simply chucking money at people" was not enough without tackling worklessness and improving educational chances.
Treasury minister Angela Eagle said the Tories were trying to avoid scrutiny about "unfunded and unfair policies".
There are 900,000 more people in severe poverty than in 1997, the shadow chancellor will say in a speech to think tank Demos.
Autumn relaunch
He is also expected to accuse the prime minister of treating future generations unfairly by leaving them with large debts to pay off.
In an article in the Guardian, he said he thought that issue would become "the new battle in British politics as the government mortgages our long-term future for the sake of its short-term survival".
He also wrote that the modern Conservative Party was "now winning the argument that the best way to achieve progressive goals is through Conservative means".
His speech later comes ahead of the prime minister's expected autumn relaunch, which is likely to stress Labour's commitment to "fairness".
Earlier Mr Osborne told the BBC: "Simply redistributing money, simply chucking money at people, simply relying on tax credits has failed.
"Child poverty is rising in this country, despite the amount of money that is being spent on the tax credit system. "
He said the party would strengthen tax credits by tackling the "couples penalty" which he says disadvantages couples who live together - and improving administration of the system.
"There is absolutely no Conservative plan to in any way get rid of tax credits, indeed if anything we want to strengthen tax credits."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
The debate on how to solve child poverty in the UK seems to be a highly charged debate. Here is the latest salvo. - Kale
George Osborne is set to claim that the Tories are best placed to tackle poverty and create a fair society.
The shadow chancellor is also expected to say Gordon Brown has burdened future generations by reckless borrowing.
Ahead of his speech he said "simply chucking money at people" was not enough without tackling worklessness and improving educational chances.
Treasury minister Angela Eagle said the Tories were trying to avoid scrutiny about "unfunded and unfair policies".
There are 900,000 more people in severe poverty than in 1997, the shadow chancellor will say in a speech to think tank Demos.
Autumn relaunch
He is also expected to accuse the prime minister of treating future generations unfairly by leaving them with large debts to pay off.
In an article in the Guardian, he said he thought that issue would become "the new battle in British politics as the government mortgages our long-term future for the sake of its short-term survival".
He also wrote that the modern Conservative Party was "now winning the argument that the best way to achieve progressive goals is through Conservative means".
His speech later comes ahead of the prime minister's expected autumn relaunch, which is likely to stress Labour's commitment to "fairness".
Earlier Mr Osborne told the BBC: "Simply redistributing money, simply chucking money at people, simply relying on tax credits has failed.
"Child poverty is rising in this country, despite the amount of money that is being spent on the tax credit system. "
He said the party would strengthen tax credits by tackling the "couples penalty" which he says disadvantages couples who live together - and improving administration of the system.
"There is absolutely no Conservative plan to in any way get rid of tax credits, indeed if anything we want to strengthen tax credits."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Eligibility for free school lunches up in Oklahoma
from the Edmond Sun
The numbers of students in Oklahoma who are eligible to receive low cost or free meals is rising. This article gets some reaction fromeducators. - Kale
Statistics show that the number of Oklahoma students who are eligible to receive free or reduced-cost school meals is rising.
According to the state Department of Education, about 640,000 students in Oklahoma are eligible for the program, or about 55.5 percent. In the Tulsa school district, the state's largest, 82.6 percent of students are eligible, based on their parents' income.
Those numbers have caught the attention of state Superintendent Sandy Garrett.
"Serving two meals a day makes us the largest restaurant in Oklahoma," Garrett said.
Anne Roberts, the executive director of the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy, said that it's often difficult for schools to serve the needs of students who qualify for the program. She said such students often must deal not only with nutritional issues, but with stress at home and gaps in vocabulary and life experiences.
"The free and reduced numbers are the canary in the minefield for me, because they are an indication of poverty, and poverty does bad things to children," Roberts said.
"We happen to be a state that benefits from high oil prices, but at the same time high oil prices are driving some of the poverty that is going on," she said.
Garrett said that in some cases, state agencies, local educators and community civic and faith-based organizations are working to help students who come from poverty-stricken families.
The Camp Fire USA Green Country Council in Tulsa provides services including after-school programming to more than 25 schools.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
The numbers of students in Oklahoma who are eligible to receive low cost or free meals is rising. This article gets some reaction fromeducators. - Kale
Statistics show that the number of Oklahoma students who are eligible to receive free or reduced-cost school meals is rising.
According to the state Department of Education, about 640,000 students in Oklahoma are eligible for the program, or about 55.5 percent. In the Tulsa school district, the state's largest, 82.6 percent of students are eligible, based on their parents' income.
Those numbers have caught the attention of state Superintendent Sandy Garrett.
"Serving two meals a day makes us the largest restaurant in Oklahoma," Garrett said.
Anne Roberts, the executive director of the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy, said that it's often difficult for schools to serve the needs of students who qualify for the program. She said such students often must deal not only with nutritional issues, but with stress at home and gaps in vocabulary and life experiences.
"The free and reduced numbers are the canary in the minefield for me, because they are an indication of poverty, and poverty does bad things to children," Roberts said.
"We happen to be a state that benefits from high oil prices, but at the same time high oil prices are driving some of the poverty that is going on," she said.
Garrett said that in some cases, state agencies, local educators and community civic and faith-based organizations are working to help students who come from poverty-stricken families.
The Camp Fire USA Green Country Council in Tulsa provides services including after-school programming to more than 25 schools.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Numbers of children born in poverty on the rise in pockets of the US
from Newsmax
A new survey that counts women having children, has one result that invoulves poverty. The US Census Bureau released the results. Among the results it shows that more women between the ages of 40 and 44 are childless. One result was on our topic, stating a rise in numbers of childbirths in poverty. - Kale
Differences among states also emerged. California, Nevada, Texas, Arizona, Florida, Illinois, New York and New Jersey had a greater percentage of foreign-born women who became mothers in 2006. A bigger share of women in the Southeast and Southwest who gave birth in the year prior to the survey did so in poverty.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A new survey that counts women having children, has one result that invoulves poverty. The US Census Bureau released the results. Among the results it shows that more women between the ages of 40 and 44 are childless. One result was on our topic, stating a rise in numbers of childbirths in poverty. - Kale
Differences among states also emerged. California, Nevada, Texas, Arizona, Florida, Illinois, New York and New Jersey had a greater percentage of foreign-born women who became mothers in 2006. A bigger share of women in the Southeast and Southwest who gave birth in the year prior to the survey did so in poverty.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Dubai forum to focus on global food crisis
from Emirates Business
The impact of the global food crisi in the middle east will be the subject of an upcoming conference in Dubai. - Kale
The crisis has triggered a broad review of agricultural and economic priorities in the region, where nearly all the states are net food importers. And new challenges such as climate change have hit agricultural production in the poorest countries.
These problems will be discussed at the 2008 Regional Round Table Meeting on Commodity Development. The event is being held on August 24 and 25 by Amsterdam-based Common Fund for Commodities, an international financial institution established by the United Nations.
The round table meetings are normally held in Africa, Asia and Latin America. However, this year the fund decided to hold a separate session in Dubai to address the unique needs and requirements of the region's commodity sector.
"We're holding the 2008 meeting here in Dubai to elevate regional public attention to a number of important issues related to the ongoing food crisis and its impact on the Middle East," said Ali Mchumo, the organisation's managing director.
"We need to rethink and formulate innovative pathways for new policies to boost investments in regional and global agricultural productivity to meet the growing demand for food.
"Certainly this is one way to connect the importance of international action and co-operation on commodity development in producing countries, which form the majority of the fund's membership. The international community must address both the matter of the food crisis and security, as well as economic growth on the part of commodity producers, since their full participation in global trade is the only realistic solution for ending poverty and guaranteeing sustainable food production, supply and security."
The meeting, which has been organised with help from the UAE's Ministry of Environment and Water, will focus on the importance of commodity-related economic development in the Middle East and the Arab World.
Many of the challenges faced by the region are common in the world. But a combination of factors such as climate change, desertification and rising energy production and consumption costs means it is imperative that the Middle East increase its regional integration efforts, says the fund.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
The impact of the global food crisi in the middle east will be the subject of an upcoming conference in Dubai. - Kale
The crisis has triggered a broad review of agricultural and economic priorities in the region, where nearly all the states are net food importers. And new challenges such as climate change have hit agricultural production in the poorest countries.
These problems will be discussed at the 2008 Regional Round Table Meeting on Commodity Development. The event is being held on August 24 and 25 by Amsterdam-based Common Fund for Commodities, an international financial institution established by the United Nations.
The round table meetings are normally held in Africa, Asia and Latin America. However, this year the fund decided to hold a separate session in Dubai to address the unique needs and requirements of the region's commodity sector.
"We're holding the 2008 meeting here in Dubai to elevate regional public attention to a number of important issues related to the ongoing food crisis and its impact on the Middle East," said Ali Mchumo, the organisation's managing director.
"We need to rethink and formulate innovative pathways for new policies to boost investments in regional and global agricultural productivity to meet the growing demand for food.
"Certainly this is one way to connect the importance of international action and co-operation on commodity development in producing countries, which form the majority of the fund's membership. The international community must address both the matter of the food crisis and security, as well as economic growth on the part of commodity producers, since their full participation in global trade is the only realistic solution for ending poverty and guaranteeing sustainable food production, supply and security."
The meeting, which has been organised with help from the UAE's Ministry of Environment and Water, will focus on the importance of commodity-related economic development in the Middle East and the Arab World.
Many of the challenges faced by the region are common in the world. But a combination of factors such as climate change, desertification and rising energy production and consumption costs means it is imperative that the Middle East increase its regional integration efforts, says the fund.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Millions eating food grown with polluted water, says UN report
from the Guardian
A study finds widespread use of waste water used for growing crops. At least 200 million people are at risk of disease from this use of waste water. The study from the UN surveyed 53 cities thought the word. - Kale
by John Vidal
Urban farmers in 80% of the cities surveyed were found to be using untreated waste water, but the study said they also provided vital food for burgeoning cities at a time of unprecedented water scarcity and the worst food crisis in 30 years.
The study from the UN-backed International Water Management Institute (IMWI), said the practice of using waste water to grow food in urban areas was not confined to the poorest countries.
"It's a widespread phenomenon, occurring on 20m hectares across the developing world, especially in Asian countries like China, India and Vietnam, but also around nearly every city of sub-Saharan Africa and in many Latin American cities as well," said IWMI researcher Liqa Raschid-Sally.
"Nor is it limited to the countries and cities with the lowest GDP. It is prevalent in many mid-income countries as well", she said.
The report, launched today at World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden, found the practice "widespread and practically inevitable".
"As long as developing countries lack suitable transport to deliver large quantities of perishable produce to urban areas, urban agriculture will remain important. In the face of water scarcity generally and a lack of access to clean water, urban farmers will have no alternative except to use … polluted water", write the authors.
The report found that few developing countries have official guidelines for the use of waste water in agriculture. Even if they do, monitoring and enforcement rarely happen and may not be realistic. As a result, though the practice may be theoretically forbidden or controlled, it is "unofficially tolerated."
Earlier in 2008, the UN's World Health Organization stated that a global environmental and health crisis was unfolding with more than 200m tonnes of human waste a year being dumped untreated in water systems, exposing hundreds of millions of people to disease.
A study finds widespread use of waste water used for growing crops. At least 200 million people are at risk of disease from this use of waste water. The study from the UN surveyed 53 cities thought the word. - Kale
by John Vidal
Urban farmers in 80% of the cities surveyed were found to be using untreated waste water, but the study said they also provided vital food for burgeoning cities at a time of unprecedented water scarcity and the worst food crisis in 30 years.
The study from the UN-backed International Water Management Institute (IMWI), said the practice of using waste water to grow food in urban areas was not confined to the poorest countries.
"It's a widespread phenomenon, occurring on 20m hectares across the developing world, especially in Asian countries like China, India and Vietnam, but also around nearly every city of sub-Saharan Africa and in many Latin American cities as well," said IWMI researcher Liqa Raschid-Sally.
"Nor is it limited to the countries and cities with the lowest GDP. It is prevalent in many mid-income countries as well", she said.
The report, launched today at World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden, found the practice "widespread and practically inevitable".
"As long as developing countries lack suitable transport to deliver large quantities of perishable produce to urban areas, urban agriculture will remain important. In the face of water scarcity generally and a lack of access to clean water, urban farmers will have no alternative except to use … polluted water", write the authors.
The report found that few developing countries have official guidelines for the use of waste water in agriculture. Even if they do, monitoring and enforcement rarely happen and may not be realistic. As a result, though the practice may be theoretically forbidden or controlled, it is "unofficially tolerated."
Earlier in 2008, the UN's World Health Organization stated that a global environmental and health crisis was unfolding with more than 200m tonnes of human waste a year being dumped untreated in water systems, exposing hundreds of millions of people to disease.
Working Below the Poverty Line in Canada
from The Tyee
A big pay raise for British Columbia officials put more attention to a widening income gap in Western Canada. - Kale
The recent steep pay hikes for B.C.'s senior bureaucrats triggered quite a controversy. Handing out raises in the 20 to 43 per cent range at the top end does seem a bit rich coming from a government that refuses to increase the minimum wage even by a few cents.
BC's minimum wage has been stuck at $8 per hour since 2001. That’s $16,640 a year.
Statistics Canada defines the "poverty line" (or low-income cut off) for a single person living in a major city in 2007 as $21,666 (before tax).
The stark contrast between the huge pay raises of top government bureaucrats and B.C.'s minimum wage illustrates the growing polarization of income in Canada. Over the past fifteen years, we have witnessed an increased concentration of income at the top, while wages and earnings have stagnated in the middle and fallen at the bottom.
A recent Statistics Canada report shows that while B.C. managers saw an average increase of 15 per cent in their hourly wages between 1997 and 2007, the proportion of jobs paying less than $10 per hour has barely budged.
Hourly wages remain stagnant
One would expect that years of low unemployment and strong economic growth would improve the economic well being of those at the lower tiers of the labour market. Wouldn't employers need to offer higher wages and better working conditions in order to attract and retain people in our tight labour market?
That's the conventional economic thinking, but it's not working out in practice. We only need to look to BC Stats' latest numbers to find out that in traditionally low paid occupations, such as trade and accommodation and food services, the average hourly wage rates have increased by a meagre 1 per cent between 1998 and 2007 (when inflation is taken into account).
As the labour market becomes less equal, the need for government action becomes more urgent. There are different policies that can help reduce inequality. A good starting point would be to increase the minimum wage to a level that ensures that no full-time, full-year worker lives in poverty.
B.C.'s minimum wage has been frozen at $8 for a staggering seven years. Taking inflation into account, it is worth 11 per cent less today than it was in 2001.
Back then, B.C. had the highest minimum wage in Canada. However, other provinces have since moved on. In fact, B.C. is the only Canadian province that did not increase its minimum wage this past spring. As a result, we have slipped down the rankings to having one of the lowest minimum wages of the country, on par with the Atlantic Provinces.
A number of provinces have committed to further increases over the next several years, including some of our fellow bottom-ranked provinces. For example, Newfoundland has announced plans to reach a $10 minimum wage by 2010.
$10 the limit for 300,000 B.C. workers
Critics claim that minimum wage policies have a limited effect because few people actually work for the minimum wage. It is true that only 4.6 per cent of B.C.'s paid employees earned minimum wage in 2006 according to BC Stats. However, a recent Statistics Canada study shows that more than 16 per cent of B.C. employees -- more than 300,000 people -- worked for less than $10 per hour in 2007. Increasing the minimum wage to $10 per hour would benefit this much larger group of workers who desperately need a raise.
That said, policy decisions are seldom clear-cut, and it is important to consider the potential problems with a minimum wage increase as well.
Some critics consider the minimum wage a "blunt instrument" to fight poverty, arguing that minimum wage workers are mainly teenagers or youth, many of whom are not poor because they live at home with their parents. Let's look at the numbers.
In 2006, BC Stats analysis reveals that the majority of minimum wage workers were indeed between the ages of 15 and 24, although a substantial minority of 42 per cent were 25 or older.
Similarly, among the much larger number of workers who earn less than $10 per hour, about 45 per cent were 25 or older (latest data is for 2003 and at the national level, but the figures for B.C. should be very similar).
Clearly, a large number of people are trying to live on and support their families on low wages and would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage. Women and recent immigrants are disproportionately affected.
While increasing minimum wages might conceivably benefit some teenagers who are not technically poor, this is but a small price to pay for ensuring that those who are trying to support themselves through full-time, full-year work can escape poverty. Further, higher earnings for youth are not a bad thing, especially given the large hikes in BC post secondary tuition fees over the past decade.
Employers hurt by B.C.'s delay?
The main argument used to stifle calls for a minimum wage increases, however, is that it might cause low wage jobs to be cut because some employers would not be able to afford it.
While the research findings on this question are certainly not unanimous and individual studies can be endlessly cited on one side of the debate or the other, mainstream economists' opinion has shifted towards the conclusion that "modest increases" in minimum wages do not kill jobs. In fact, a joint statement issued in 2006 by over 650 US economists, including 5 Nobel laureates, stated that "a modest increase in the minimum wage would improve the well-being of low-wage workers and would not have the adverse effects that critics have claimed."
The key here is the size of the increase. Some studies point to negative employment effects, but when these studies are reviewed carefully, it turns out that modest job losses are found in response to fairly large increases in minimum wages.
Such sharp one-time hikes are only necessary if the government leaves minimum wages unchanged for long periods -- as B.C. has done.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A big pay raise for British Columbia officials put more attention to a widening income gap in Western Canada. - Kale
The recent steep pay hikes for B.C.'s senior bureaucrats triggered quite a controversy. Handing out raises in the 20 to 43 per cent range at the top end does seem a bit rich coming from a government that refuses to increase the minimum wage even by a few cents.
BC's minimum wage has been stuck at $8 per hour since 2001. That’s $16,640 a year.
Statistics Canada defines the "poverty line" (or low-income cut off) for a single person living in a major city in 2007 as $21,666 (before tax).
The stark contrast between the huge pay raises of top government bureaucrats and B.C.'s minimum wage illustrates the growing polarization of income in Canada. Over the past fifteen years, we have witnessed an increased concentration of income at the top, while wages and earnings have stagnated in the middle and fallen at the bottom.
A recent Statistics Canada report shows that while B.C. managers saw an average increase of 15 per cent in their hourly wages between 1997 and 2007, the proportion of jobs paying less than $10 per hour has barely budged.
Hourly wages remain stagnant
One would expect that years of low unemployment and strong economic growth would improve the economic well being of those at the lower tiers of the labour market. Wouldn't employers need to offer higher wages and better working conditions in order to attract and retain people in our tight labour market?
That's the conventional economic thinking, but it's not working out in practice. We only need to look to BC Stats' latest numbers to find out that in traditionally low paid occupations, such as trade and accommodation and food services, the average hourly wage rates have increased by a meagre 1 per cent between 1998 and 2007 (when inflation is taken into account).
As the labour market becomes less equal, the need for government action becomes more urgent. There are different policies that can help reduce inequality. A good starting point would be to increase the minimum wage to a level that ensures that no full-time, full-year worker lives in poverty.
B.C.'s minimum wage has been frozen at $8 for a staggering seven years. Taking inflation into account, it is worth 11 per cent less today than it was in 2001.
Back then, B.C. had the highest minimum wage in Canada. However, other provinces have since moved on. In fact, B.C. is the only Canadian province that did not increase its minimum wage this past spring. As a result, we have slipped down the rankings to having one of the lowest minimum wages of the country, on par with the Atlantic Provinces.
A number of provinces have committed to further increases over the next several years, including some of our fellow bottom-ranked provinces. For example, Newfoundland has announced plans to reach a $10 minimum wage by 2010.
$10 the limit for 300,000 B.C. workers
Critics claim that minimum wage policies have a limited effect because few people actually work for the minimum wage. It is true that only 4.6 per cent of B.C.'s paid employees earned minimum wage in 2006 according to BC Stats. However, a recent Statistics Canada study shows that more than 16 per cent of B.C. employees -- more than 300,000 people -- worked for less than $10 per hour in 2007. Increasing the minimum wage to $10 per hour would benefit this much larger group of workers who desperately need a raise.
That said, policy decisions are seldom clear-cut, and it is important to consider the potential problems with a minimum wage increase as well.
Some critics consider the minimum wage a "blunt instrument" to fight poverty, arguing that minimum wage workers are mainly teenagers or youth, many of whom are not poor because they live at home with their parents. Let's look at the numbers.
In 2006, BC Stats analysis reveals that the majority of minimum wage workers were indeed between the ages of 15 and 24, although a substantial minority of 42 per cent were 25 or older.
Similarly, among the much larger number of workers who earn less than $10 per hour, about 45 per cent were 25 or older (latest data is for 2003 and at the national level, but the figures for B.C. should be very similar).
Clearly, a large number of people are trying to live on and support their families on low wages and would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage. Women and recent immigrants are disproportionately affected.
While increasing minimum wages might conceivably benefit some teenagers who are not technically poor, this is but a small price to pay for ensuring that those who are trying to support themselves through full-time, full-year work can escape poverty. Further, higher earnings for youth are not a bad thing, especially given the large hikes in BC post secondary tuition fees over the past decade.
Employers hurt by B.C.'s delay?
The main argument used to stifle calls for a minimum wage increases, however, is that it might cause low wage jobs to be cut because some employers would not be able to afford it.
While the research findings on this question are certainly not unanimous and individual studies can be endlessly cited on one side of the debate or the other, mainstream economists' opinion has shifted towards the conclusion that "modest increases" in minimum wages do not kill jobs. In fact, a joint statement issued in 2006 by over 650 US economists, including 5 Nobel laureates, stated that "a modest increase in the minimum wage would improve the well-being of low-wage workers and would not have the adverse effects that critics have claimed."
The key here is the size of the increase. Some studies point to negative employment effects, but when these studies are reviewed carefully, it turns out that modest job losses are found in response to fairly large increases in minimum wages.
Such sharp one-time hikes are only necessary if the government leaves minimum wages unchanged for long periods -- as B.C. has done.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Escaping the Poverty Trap
from All Africa
This breaks down a report from Chronic Poverty Research Centre. - Kale
By Mercedes Sayagues
Pretoria -- What do they have in common - the landless widow with a deaf son in Bangladesh, the 12-year-old miner in Kyrgyztan, the Ugandan farming couple with 12 children and the South African domestic worker who loses her home when her husband dies and her job when she breaks a leg?
They, and their children, are trapped in chronic poverty, even as their countries show economic growth.
Worldwide, between 320 and 440 million people live in chronic poverty. They need not. Five policy measures could help them escape the poverty trap, says the second international Chronic Poverty Report 2008-2009, launched in London last month.
The report was produced by the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC), a global partnership of universities, research institutions and NGOs from countries including Bangladesh, India, South Africa, Uganda and the UK, and is funded by the UK government's department for international development. The centre is led by the University of Manchester, UK and the UK's Overseas Development Institute (ODI).
It intersperses these personal stories with analysis, and identifies five factors which underlie poverty: insecurity, limited citizenship, spatial distribution, social discrimination and poor work opportunities.
The solutions to these 'poverty traps' include nets of social protection, particularly through cash transfers to households; public services for the hard to reach poor; anti-discrimination and gender empowerment measures; building individual and collective assets, and strategic urbanization and migration policies.
Perhaps the report's most interesting proposal is to expand welfare systems to guarantee the chronically poor a basic income, both as their right and as a way out of poverty. The experiences of Brazil, Chile, India and South Africa show that social transfers in cash or in kind reduce vulnerability, allow the poor to engage in more productive economic activities, and are generally judiciously spent.
According to the researchers, social protection is affordable and can be scaled up even in relatively poor countries, as Bangladesh and Uganda have shown.
However, governments often have questions about creating dependency and the long-term financial commitments required. Gaining a constituency for social protection is key, says the report, and it calls on world leaders to commit to the drawing up of a Global Social Protection Strategy by 2010 to target the eradication of extreme poverty by 2025. This strategy would build on the Millennium Development Goals of halving poverty by 2015.
Controversially, the report notes that some governments that have effectively responded to poverty -- Ethiopia, Uganda and Vietnam -- are not wholly democratic. Democracy alone does not guarantee pro-poor policies, says the report. Some 'elite projects' (a polite term for mildly authoritarian regimes) have forged a social compact between citizens and the state that placed chronic poverty seriously on the policy agenda. Policy-makers must get "thinking beyond the contemporary mantra of democracy, elections and decentralization".
What this means, CPRC director Andrew Shepherd told IPS, is that there is sometimes "a tension at the international level between promoting poverty reduction ... and promoting competitive multi-party democracy."
"In many cases democracies produce governments which are very effective in reducing poverty -- witness recent experience in Brazil, for example," he added.
"There are less democratic regimes which have been and are very effective in reducing poverty, and the international community needs to recognise that part of this effectiveness may be due to the nature of the regime, where a strong connection between regime and citizens has been forged through a popular movement, which generates a 'social compact' between elite and the poor as part of a national development 'project'.
"China and Vietnam would also be examples, and there are others during the last 60 years. The implication for the international community would be to exercise caution in attaching political conditionalities to aid or other international negotiations. Of course this does not mean that in extreme cases (eg Zimbabwe) the international community should not take a strong political position."
Duncan Green, head of research at the British charity Oxfam, finds this analysis "courageous". He adds: "We need to talk about this. Especially after traumatic events, autocracies may do nation-building more effectively than elected governments. There is more to politics than ballot-counting."
Only a few 'elite projects' are so considerate. In mineral-rich countries, like Sudan, Myanmar, Angola, and Congo (Brazzaville), predatory elites siphon off, through non-transparent fiscal systems, revenue that could ease poverty. Worse, some violently predatory governments so scare their citizens that they would rather avoid any dealings with the state, says the study.
In one of the most interesting chapters, the report analyses several states. Of the 32 countries identified as chronically deprived, 22 are considered fragile states, racked by conflict, war and greedy elites. A fragile state is one that does not reduce risk to its citizens through providing law and order, services and infrastructure.
"Shoring up fragile states should be as important to donors as tackling climate change", Shepherd said at the launch of the report.
In mineral-rich but 'poor-unfriendly' states, donors should support advocacy efforts to empower citizens and provide technical assistance for social protection, mainly on health and education, nudging such states to become institutions that interact meaningfully with poor people.
In resource-poor countries with 'poor-friendly' governments, donors should step up budget support, reduce aid volatility, and shoulder much of the cost of providing basic services and social protection.
This, until economic growth raises the revenue base. Eventually, functional states should set up effective systems of public finances. People who should pay taxes will do so, instead of evading them, and the poor will benefit.
Economic growth eases poverty, but a rising tide does not lift all boats, warns the report. Growth alone does not automatically benefit the chronically poor. Living in remote areas, suffering from food shortages and poor health, exploited in work, not fully participant in social and economic life, they are locked out of the national growth process.
The much vaunted tool, the Poverty Reduction Strategies, have failed, says the report. Perceived as donor-owned products, they neglect the chronically poor, lack serious analysis of poverty, and ignore issues of justice, discrimination, gender empowerment, and migration. They remain, says the report, a missed opportunity to build a fairer social compact.
Two trends stand out: the dramatic reduction in the numbers of the poor in China, and that in Latin America and the Caribbean poverty is becoming urban rather than rural. In other parts of the developing world, 70 percent of the poor are rural but, given the world's rapid urbanization, a shift towards urban chronic poverty can be predicted.
This demands bold policies towards migration and urban planning. Instead of seeing migrants as a problem, as policy-makers and urban residents tend to, they should be assisted in gaining a share of urban benefits, productivity and growth. In remote areas, establishing urban growth poles can boost local economies.
This breaks down a report from Chronic Poverty Research Centre. - Kale
By Mercedes Sayagues
Pretoria -- What do they have in common - the landless widow with a deaf son in Bangladesh, the 12-year-old miner in Kyrgyztan, the Ugandan farming couple with 12 children and the South African domestic worker who loses her home when her husband dies and her job when she breaks a leg?
They, and their children, are trapped in chronic poverty, even as their countries show economic growth.
Worldwide, between 320 and 440 million people live in chronic poverty. They need not. Five policy measures could help them escape the poverty trap, says the second international Chronic Poverty Report 2008-2009, launched in London last month.
The report was produced by the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC), a global partnership of universities, research institutions and NGOs from countries including Bangladesh, India, South Africa, Uganda and the UK, and is funded by the UK government's department for international development. The centre is led by the University of Manchester, UK and the UK's Overseas Development Institute (ODI).
It intersperses these personal stories with analysis, and identifies five factors which underlie poverty: insecurity, limited citizenship, spatial distribution, social discrimination and poor work opportunities.
The solutions to these 'poverty traps' include nets of social protection, particularly through cash transfers to households; public services for the hard to reach poor; anti-discrimination and gender empowerment measures; building individual and collective assets, and strategic urbanization and migration policies.
Perhaps the report's most interesting proposal is to expand welfare systems to guarantee the chronically poor a basic income, both as their right and as a way out of poverty. The experiences of Brazil, Chile, India and South Africa show that social transfers in cash or in kind reduce vulnerability, allow the poor to engage in more productive economic activities, and are generally judiciously spent.
According to the researchers, social protection is affordable and can be scaled up even in relatively poor countries, as Bangladesh and Uganda have shown.
However, governments often have questions about creating dependency and the long-term financial commitments required. Gaining a constituency for social protection is key, says the report, and it calls on world leaders to commit to the drawing up of a Global Social Protection Strategy by 2010 to target the eradication of extreme poverty by 2025. This strategy would build on the Millennium Development Goals of halving poverty by 2015.
Controversially, the report notes that some governments that have effectively responded to poverty -- Ethiopia, Uganda and Vietnam -- are not wholly democratic. Democracy alone does not guarantee pro-poor policies, says the report. Some 'elite projects' (a polite term for mildly authoritarian regimes) have forged a social compact between citizens and the state that placed chronic poverty seriously on the policy agenda. Policy-makers must get "thinking beyond the contemporary mantra of democracy, elections and decentralization".
What this means, CPRC director Andrew Shepherd told IPS, is that there is sometimes "a tension at the international level between promoting poverty reduction ... and promoting competitive multi-party democracy."
"In many cases democracies produce governments which are very effective in reducing poverty -- witness recent experience in Brazil, for example," he added.
"There are less democratic regimes which have been and are very effective in reducing poverty, and the international community needs to recognise that part of this effectiveness may be due to the nature of the regime, where a strong connection between regime and citizens has been forged through a popular movement, which generates a 'social compact' between elite and the poor as part of a national development 'project'.
"China and Vietnam would also be examples, and there are others during the last 60 years. The implication for the international community would be to exercise caution in attaching political conditionalities to aid or other international negotiations. Of course this does not mean that in extreme cases (eg Zimbabwe) the international community should not take a strong political position."
Duncan Green, head of research at the British charity Oxfam, finds this analysis "courageous". He adds: "We need to talk about this. Especially after traumatic events, autocracies may do nation-building more effectively than elected governments. There is more to politics than ballot-counting."
Only a few 'elite projects' are so considerate. In mineral-rich countries, like Sudan, Myanmar, Angola, and Congo (Brazzaville), predatory elites siphon off, through non-transparent fiscal systems, revenue that could ease poverty. Worse, some violently predatory governments so scare their citizens that they would rather avoid any dealings with the state, says the study.
In one of the most interesting chapters, the report analyses several states. Of the 32 countries identified as chronically deprived, 22 are considered fragile states, racked by conflict, war and greedy elites. A fragile state is one that does not reduce risk to its citizens through providing law and order, services and infrastructure.
"Shoring up fragile states should be as important to donors as tackling climate change", Shepherd said at the launch of the report.
In mineral-rich but 'poor-unfriendly' states, donors should support advocacy efforts to empower citizens and provide technical assistance for social protection, mainly on health and education, nudging such states to become institutions that interact meaningfully with poor people.
In resource-poor countries with 'poor-friendly' governments, donors should step up budget support, reduce aid volatility, and shoulder much of the cost of providing basic services and social protection.
This, until economic growth raises the revenue base. Eventually, functional states should set up effective systems of public finances. People who should pay taxes will do so, instead of evading them, and the poor will benefit.
Economic growth eases poverty, but a rising tide does not lift all boats, warns the report. Growth alone does not automatically benefit the chronically poor. Living in remote areas, suffering from food shortages and poor health, exploited in work, not fully participant in social and economic life, they are locked out of the national growth process.
The much vaunted tool, the Poverty Reduction Strategies, have failed, says the report. Perceived as donor-owned products, they neglect the chronically poor, lack serious analysis of poverty, and ignore issues of justice, discrimination, gender empowerment, and migration. They remain, says the report, a missed opportunity to build a fairer social compact.
Two trends stand out: the dramatic reduction in the numbers of the poor in China, and that in Latin America and the Caribbean poverty is becoming urban rather than rural. In other parts of the developing world, 70 percent of the poor are rural but, given the world's rapid urbanization, a shift towards urban chronic poverty can be predicted.
This demands bold policies towards migration and urban planning. Instead of seeing migrants as a problem, as policy-makers and urban residents tend to, they should be assisted in gaining a share of urban benefits, productivity and growth. In remote areas, establishing urban growth poles can boost local economies.
Poverty-trap Wales – a grim verdict
from Wales Online
It's been a while since we've had an article on UK politics in regards to poverty. A policy adviser in the UK examines the impacts the government has made on poverty. - Kale
In an essay entitled Still Living on the Edge? published in the University of Wales Press academic series Contemporary Wales, Prof Dave Adamson, who helped shape the Welsh Assembly Government’s Communities First initiative, claims:
There has been little change in poverty levels in many communities since 1996;
Many adults in deprived areas expect to be limited by illness and this illness is not always due to industrial disease; Educational failure is the foundation of poverty in Wales, and; It was difficult to see any specific impact from WAG policies on poverty.
Prof Adamson, of the University of Glamorgan, has also cast doubts on whether the Communities First programme – which has spent millions on seeking to regenerate Wales’ poorest communities – could achieve its stated aims.
In an update to his groundbreaking 1996 essay Living on the Edge, Prof Adamson says: “Specific localities still bear the hallmarks of deep poverty, and the impact of government policy is at best marginal.
“For the residents of those communities there has been little change since 1996 and they can be seen very clearly to be still ‘living on the edge’.”
In reference to statistics which suggest that 25% of the population in Wales at any one time will have failed to achieve five GSCEs, and will continue to fail to benefit from adult educational opportunities, Prof Adamson says: “This educational failure is the foundation of poverty in Wales and relegates a significant proportion of the population to labour market failure and consequent patterns of low income, unemployment and benefit dependency.
“The geographical concentration of this population in the most disadvantaged localities in Wales presents an almost insurmountable barrier to the regeneration of our poorest communities.”
On the disproportionate health problems of certain Welsh communities, Prof Adamson says: “Contrary to stereotypical expectations, these statistics are not solely the result of injury and industrial disease inherited from coal mining, steel production and heavy manufacturing.
“Limiting long-term illness is evident in all age groups at higher rates than elsewhere in the UK.
“Communities First areas I have had first hand experience of include Maerdy (62.2% with long term limiting illness), Penygraig (57.5%), Penywaun (60.8%) and Treherbert (57.9%).
“Health aspiration is extremely low and local populations expect adulthood to include illness as a feature of life.
“Many young people carry caring responsibilities from an early age, with devastating impact on their educational achievement and their own health expectations.
“To sit in a public event in such communities is to observe community members in their 30s and 40s with severe mobility problems, respiratory difficulties, obesity, visible dental damage and no expectation that things could be different.
“The overall impact on the quality of life is immeasurable.”
In his analysis of anti-poverty initiatives undertaken by the Assembly Government, Prof Adamson states: “Despite considerable rhetoric to the contrary, Government in Wales has not yet created a more unified and ‘joined up’ approach to poverty which recognises the articulation of education, health and housing within the overall dynamic of poverty.”
Responding to UK and Assembly Government aims to halve child poverty by 2010 and eradicate it by 2020, Prof Adamson writes: “Clearly any assessment of progress toward that objective is premature and the 2010 review will be a critical verdict on WAG’s progress towards the 2020 target.
“It is difficult yet to see any specific impact from WAG derived policies.”
On the impact of Communities First, Prof Adamson refers to criticisms made by the Wales Audit Office, which concluded that regeneration policy was over-complicated and had poor strategic links with other policy and funding streams, including Objective One.
“Currently, it is clear that whilst many communities have responded with remarkable speed and confidence, this has neither been matched by Assembly Government funding or mainstream programme bending to assist them achieve regeneration of their communities,” he says.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
It's been a while since we've had an article on UK politics in regards to poverty. A policy adviser in the UK examines the impacts the government has made on poverty. - Kale
In an essay entitled Still Living on the Edge? published in the University of Wales Press academic series Contemporary Wales, Prof Dave Adamson, who helped shape the Welsh Assembly Government’s Communities First initiative, claims:
There has been little change in poverty levels in many communities since 1996;
Many adults in deprived areas expect to be limited by illness and this illness is not always due to industrial disease; Educational failure is the foundation of poverty in Wales, and; It was difficult to see any specific impact from WAG policies on poverty.
Prof Adamson, of the University of Glamorgan, has also cast doubts on whether the Communities First programme – which has spent millions on seeking to regenerate Wales’ poorest communities – could achieve its stated aims.
In an update to his groundbreaking 1996 essay Living on the Edge, Prof Adamson says: “Specific localities still bear the hallmarks of deep poverty, and the impact of government policy is at best marginal.
“For the residents of those communities there has been little change since 1996 and they can be seen very clearly to be still ‘living on the edge’.”
In reference to statistics which suggest that 25% of the population in Wales at any one time will have failed to achieve five GSCEs, and will continue to fail to benefit from adult educational opportunities, Prof Adamson says: “This educational failure is the foundation of poverty in Wales and relegates a significant proportion of the population to labour market failure and consequent patterns of low income, unemployment and benefit dependency.
“The geographical concentration of this population in the most disadvantaged localities in Wales presents an almost insurmountable barrier to the regeneration of our poorest communities.”
On the disproportionate health problems of certain Welsh communities, Prof Adamson says: “Contrary to stereotypical expectations, these statistics are not solely the result of injury and industrial disease inherited from coal mining, steel production and heavy manufacturing.
“Limiting long-term illness is evident in all age groups at higher rates than elsewhere in the UK.
“Communities First areas I have had first hand experience of include Maerdy (62.2% with long term limiting illness), Penygraig (57.5%), Penywaun (60.8%) and Treherbert (57.9%).
“Health aspiration is extremely low and local populations expect adulthood to include illness as a feature of life.
“Many young people carry caring responsibilities from an early age, with devastating impact on their educational achievement and their own health expectations.
“To sit in a public event in such communities is to observe community members in their 30s and 40s with severe mobility problems, respiratory difficulties, obesity, visible dental damage and no expectation that things could be different.
“The overall impact on the quality of life is immeasurable.”
In his analysis of anti-poverty initiatives undertaken by the Assembly Government, Prof Adamson states: “Despite considerable rhetoric to the contrary, Government in Wales has not yet created a more unified and ‘joined up’ approach to poverty which recognises the articulation of education, health and housing within the overall dynamic of poverty.”
Responding to UK and Assembly Government aims to halve child poverty by 2010 and eradicate it by 2020, Prof Adamson writes: “Clearly any assessment of progress toward that objective is premature and the 2010 review will be a critical verdict on WAG’s progress towards the 2020 target.
“It is difficult yet to see any specific impact from WAG derived policies.”
On the impact of Communities First, Prof Adamson refers to criticisms made by the Wales Audit Office, which concluded that regeneration policy was over-complicated and had poor strategic links with other policy and funding streams, including Objective One.
“Currently, it is clear that whilst many communities have responded with remarkable speed and confidence, this has neither been matched by Assembly Government funding or mainstream programme bending to assist them achieve regeneration of their communities,” he says.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Paraguayan president vows to fight poverty
from the Financial Times
This introduces the newly sworn in president of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo. The new leader of Paraguay promises to work to fight poverty and remove corruption from the government. - Kale
by Jude Webber in Buenos Aires
Wearing a white shirt and his trademark sandals, the 57-year-old, dubbed the "bishop of the poor", donned the red, white and blue presidential sash before breaking into a grin and flashing a thumbs-up sign to a crowd of thousands of cheering supporters.
Mr Lugo's election victory in April achieved what many had considered impossible - the peaceful ousting of the Colorado party, which had ruled Paraguay since 1947, including the 35-year dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner.
"Change is not just an electoral issue . . . today is the end of a Paraguay famous for corruption," Mr Lugo said in his inaugural address.
Although the commodities boom has turned Paraguay into the world's No 4 soy producer and it is the world's third-biggest electricity exporter in an energy-starved region, its $13bn economy has failed to attract foreign investment. Extreme poverty has risen to nearly 20 per cent of the country's 6.8m people, despite economic growth of 6.4 per cent last year.
"The big challenge for the new government will be to keep the economy growing and to generate jobs," Dion-isio Borda, the new economy minister, told the FT.
Mr Borda, a US-trained economist and political independent, is credited with stabilising the economy and enacting tax reforms during his previous stint in the post in 2003-05, and is expected to maintain fiscal discipline
He will have to boost scant state resources to pay for ambitious pledges to halve poverty, streamline the bloated civil service, attract private investment to stumbling state monopolies and add value to the country's agricultural exports. Unpopular tax rises are on the cards.
"We will have to make tax adjustments," Mr Borda said, noting that Paraguay's tax haul was just 11.6 per cent of gross domestic product, the lowest in the region, with corporate and sales tax rates of no more than 10 per cent and no personal income tax.
He would not say if agricultural export tariffs would be introduced. A plan to raise farm export tariffs in neighbouring Argentina was dropped last month after protests and a failed parliamentary vote.
Latin America's latest unorthodox leftwing leader is striving to avoid comparisons with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez or Bolivia's Evo Morales, and sees himself as a moderate.
He will need to be a skilled negotiator, holding together a gaggle of coalition parties, and brokering deals in Congress, where he lacks a majority and outgoing President Nicanor Duarte Frutos is expected to remain an influential force.
This introduces the newly sworn in president of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo. The new leader of Paraguay promises to work to fight poverty and remove corruption from the government. - Kale
by Jude Webber in Buenos Aires
Wearing a white shirt and his trademark sandals, the 57-year-old, dubbed the "bishop of the poor", donned the red, white and blue presidential sash before breaking into a grin and flashing a thumbs-up sign to a crowd of thousands of cheering supporters.
Mr Lugo's election victory in April achieved what many had considered impossible - the peaceful ousting of the Colorado party, which had ruled Paraguay since 1947, including the 35-year dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner.
"Change is not just an electoral issue . . . today is the end of a Paraguay famous for corruption," Mr Lugo said in his inaugural address.
Although the commodities boom has turned Paraguay into the world's No 4 soy producer and it is the world's third-biggest electricity exporter in an energy-starved region, its $13bn economy has failed to attract foreign investment. Extreme poverty has risen to nearly 20 per cent of the country's 6.8m people, despite economic growth of 6.4 per cent last year.
"The big challenge for the new government will be to keep the economy growing and to generate jobs," Dion-isio Borda, the new economy minister, told the FT.
Mr Borda, a US-trained economist and political independent, is credited with stabilising the economy and enacting tax reforms during his previous stint in the post in 2003-05, and is expected to maintain fiscal discipline
He will have to boost scant state resources to pay for ambitious pledges to halve poverty, streamline the bloated civil service, attract private investment to stumbling state monopolies and add value to the country's agricultural exports. Unpopular tax rises are on the cards.
"We will have to make tax adjustments," Mr Borda said, noting that Paraguay's tax haul was just 11.6 per cent of gross domestic product, the lowest in the region, with corporate and sales tax rates of no more than 10 per cent and no personal income tax.
He would not say if agricultural export tariffs would be introduced. A plan to raise farm export tariffs in neighbouring Argentina was dropped last month after protests and a failed parliamentary vote.
Latin America's latest unorthodox leftwing leader is striving to avoid comparisons with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez or Bolivia's Evo Morales, and sees himself as a moderate.
He will need to be a skilled negotiator, holding together a gaggle of coalition parties, and brokering deals in Congress, where he lacks a majority and outgoing President Nicanor Duarte Frutos is expected to remain an influential force.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Bike riders know poverty can be a vicious cycle
from the Grand Rapids Press
Sea to Sea is traveling through my home state. So youknow I had to put a mention of it on here. - Kale
By Paul Kopenkoskey
PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP -- Etched in Bill Dracht's memory is the quadruple heart bypass surgery he endured 20 years ago.
Surviving the operation is a clear signal to the 70-year-old that God did not want him to fritter away his retirement years with self-centered pursuits.
He said that's the reason he joined the Christian Reformed Church-sponsored Sea to Sea Bike Tour.
Plus, it's a chance to dispel the notion that white-haired people are old fogies whose best years are behind them, said Dracht, a retired general contractor who lives in Missaukee County.
"It really hit me how God has blessed me," said Dracht. "I never dreamed I would do something like this one day."
He has only one quibble: "The one thing the Lord doesn't have enough of is a backwind."
Dracht, his wife, Mary, and another 143 cyclists are pedaling 3,881 miles over nine weeks from Seattle to Jersey City, N.J., to raise funds for Christian Reformed Church-affiliated global anti-poverty agencies. About 50 bikers are from West Michigan and, so far, their efforts have raised $2.1 million.
The cyclists have collected money, and donations can be made online at www.crcna.org.
Another 65 cyclists will join them for the final leg of the trip, which concludes Aug. 30 at Liberty State Park.
About 3,000 people hailed the cyclists' efforts Sunday at Fifth Third Ballpark with a standing ovation.
The gathering included an appeal from urban activist Shane Claiborne, co-author of "Jesus for President," to help cast their religion in a new light for those who say many Christians are hypocritical and judgmental.
"We need to show them Christians believe in a God in heaven who cares about those on Earth," Claiborne said.
Bikers Doug and Joy Lutke, of Dorr, said enduring pockets of stifling heat and Colorado's energy-sapping mountains has been worth the front-row view of understanding poverty's root causes.
Their experiences included interacting with some of the 80 homeless people housed at Roseland CRC properties in suburban Chicago.
For Doug Lutke, it brought to the forefront Sea to Sea's slogan: "Cycling to end the cycle of poverty."
"What really made it for me is that evangelism is not just putting up a sign outside," he said. "It's been an eye-opening experience."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Sea to Sea is traveling through my home state. So youknow I had to put a mention of it on here. - Kale
By Paul Kopenkoskey
PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP -- Etched in Bill Dracht's memory is the quadruple heart bypass surgery he endured 20 years ago.
Surviving the operation is a clear signal to the 70-year-old that God did not want him to fritter away his retirement years with self-centered pursuits.
He said that's the reason he joined the Christian Reformed Church-sponsored Sea to Sea Bike Tour.
Plus, it's a chance to dispel the notion that white-haired people are old fogies whose best years are behind them, said Dracht, a retired general contractor who lives in Missaukee County.
"It really hit me how God has blessed me," said Dracht. "I never dreamed I would do something like this one day."
He has only one quibble: "The one thing the Lord doesn't have enough of is a backwind."
Dracht, his wife, Mary, and another 143 cyclists are pedaling 3,881 miles over nine weeks from Seattle to Jersey City, N.J., to raise funds for Christian Reformed Church-affiliated global anti-poverty agencies. About 50 bikers are from West Michigan and, so far, their efforts have raised $2.1 million.
The cyclists have collected money, and donations can be made online at www.crcna.org.
Another 65 cyclists will join them for the final leg of the trip, which concludes Aug. 30 at Liberty State Park.
About 3,000 people hailed the cyclists' efforts Sunday at Fifth Third Ballpark with a standing ovation.
The gathering included an appeal from urban activist Shane Claiborne, co-author of "Jesus for President," to help cast their religion in a new light for those who say many Christians are hypocritical and judgmental.
"We need to show them Christians believe in a God in heaven who cares about those on Earth," Claiborne said.
Bikers Doug and Joy Lutke, of Dorr, said enduring pockets of stifling heat and Colorado's energy-sapping mountains has been worth the front-row view of understanding poverty's root causes.
Their experiences included interacting with some of the 80 homeless people housed at Roseland CRC properties in suburban Chicago.
For Doug Lutke, it brought to the forefront Sea to Sea's slogan: "Cycling to end the cycle of poverty."
"What really made it for me is that evangelism is not just putting up a sign outside," he said. "It's been an eye-opening experience."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Kenya to produce diesel fuel from jatropha tree
from St Petersburg News
I thought this was pretty interesting even though it's a little off topic. This could help development in Kenya, as the country will begin to develop bio-diesel. A tree from South America will be grown in the country that can be used for fuel. - Kale
The jatropha plant can grow more than three meters high and produce golf ball-sized fruit. The fruit's poisonous seeds have been mainly used for medicinal purposes, but in recent years, researchers have discovered that the oil in the seeds can be processed into high-quality diesel fuel.
A senior official at Kenya's Ministry of Energy, Faith Odongo, tells VOA that preliminary tests have shown that the jatropha tree can be successfully grown in Kenya.
She says about 5,000 hectares of land are being set aside for cultivation amid growing expectations that the plant could help the country reduce its fossil fuel imports by five percent in the next four years.
A hectare of jatropha can produce as much as 1,900 liters of fuel, which is several times more than can be produced from a hectare of traditional bio-fuel products such as soybeans and corn.
'We expect it will make a big impact particularly in rural development and in the transport industry,' said Odongo.
Odongo says the government's objective in rural areas is to promote the replacement of kerosene and gasoline with bio-diesel. She says jatropha oil is just as effective as kerosene for lighting lamps and is ideal for fueling bio-diesel electricity generators.
Because the tree is drought-resistant and can be grown on soil that is not suitable for food crops, Odongo says jatropha would not have to compete for land and resources in food-producing areas.
Jatropha production, she adds, may even help alleviate poverty in some rural communities.
'That is why we are trying to promote the plant, so that those who do not have a cash-crop can rely on that as their cash-crop,' she said.
Another benefit for Kenya is that the cultivation of jatropha could significantly counter the effects of deforestation in other parts of the country.
Developed in India for assignments.neb-wire fuel oil, jatropha has been attracting international attention in recent years as a new bio-fuel source.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
I thought this was pretty interesting even though it's a little off topic. This could help development in Kenya, as the country will begin to develop bio-diesel. A tree from South America will be grown in the country that can be used for fuel. - Kale
The jatropha plant can grow more than three meters high and produce golf ball-sized fruit. The fruit's poisonous seeds have been mainly used for medicinal purposes, but in recent years, researchers have discovered that the oil in the seeds can be processed into high-quality diesel fuel.
A senior official at Kenya's Ministry of Energy, Faith Odongo, tells VOA that preliminary tests have shown that the jatropha tree can be successfully grown in Kenya.
She says about 5,000 hectares of land are being set aside for cultivation amid growing expectations that the plant could help the country reduce its fossil fuel imports by five percent in the next four years.
A hectare of jatropha can produce as much as 1,900 liters of fuel, which is several times more than can be produced from a hectare of traditional bio-fuel products such as soybeans and corn.
'We expect it will make a big impact particularly in rural development and in the transport industry,' said Odongo.
Odongo says the government's objective in rural areas is to promote the replacement of kerosene and gasoline with bio-diesel. She says jatropha oil is just as effective as kerosene for lighting lamps and is ideal for fueling bio-diesel electricity generators.
Because the tree is drought-resistant and can be grown on soil that is not suitable for food crops, Odongo says jatropha would not have to compete for land and resources in food-producing areas.
Jatropha production, she adds, may even help alleviate poverty in some rural communities.
'That is why we are trying to promote the plant, so that those who do not have a cash-crop can rely on that as their cash-crop,' she said.
Another benefit for Kenya is that the cultivation of jatropha could significantly counter the effects of deforestation in other parts of the country.
Developed in India for assignments.neb-wire fuel oil, jatropha has been attracting international attention in recent years as a new bio-fuel source.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Mississippi still plugging away at poverty
from WDAM
This story details the state's efforts on fighting poverty. A recent report omitted Mississippi from it's findings, despite it's having the highest poverty rate in the US. - Kale
The report from the Center for Law and Social Policy, or CLASP, discussed Connecticut's initiative to cut child poverty in half by 2014, and Louisiana's goal to do the same thing by 2018.
Mississippi hasn't set a target date for reducing poverty in any demographic. It has created legislative committees and task forces to look at the issue - an approach that's yielded few tangible results.
In 2006, the Legislature created the Delta Revitalization Task Force to focus on a region of the state that's cursed by high poverty and illiteracy rates. The multi-county area also has inadequate health care and decrepit infrastructure.
The task force met with residents, business and community leaders and state officials, collecting information about the systemic problems fueling the poverty rate. For the past two years, the panel has offered legislation based on those findings, but most of the bills were unsuccessful.
House Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, created a select Poverty Committee this year. Its charge was similar to the Delta task force, but applicable to the entire state. Ten bills were referred to the Poverty Committee, including proposals to create a commission on health, to open an obesity clinic in the Delta and to create a task force to study the feasibility of an affordable housing trust fund. All of them died.
The author of the CLASP study, Jodie Levin-Epstein, said Mississippi should have been among the states listed, but she was unaware of the Poverty Committee.
"Just the emergence of the efforts are a signal that the political will that seemed totally nonexistent is at least rebirthing," said Levin-Epstein, referring to the anti-poverty initiatives under way across the nation.
While Levin-Epstein attributes a certain mind-set to the Poverty Committee's creation, state Rep. Reecy Dickson believes personal attitudes and beliefs have hindered some proposed policies and programs.
"What we're finding is such insensitivity among a number of representatives because they don't have the foresight. You have so many folks who only understand their communities and their needs," said Dickson, who was appointed chairwoman of the Poverty Committee.
Dickson, D-Macon, has attended meetings around the state, where she's heard about the lack of job opportunities, the need for childcare, and the probability of poverty rising with a growing elderly population.
"Mississippi is not able to sustain poverty and its impact," Dickson said.
A good place for lawmakers to make a change would be a reduction in the state's 7% grocery tax, said Warren Yoder, executive director of the Public Policy Center of Mississippi. Yoder said 1 of every five Mississippi families doesn't have enough money to always feed children nutritious meals. He said that's the highest rate ever in the U.S.
An attempt to reduce the state's grocery tax failed in 2006. It had been part of a proposal that also sought to raise the tobacco tax.
"There's been no shortage of good ideas. The shortage is of political goodwill to make things happen," Yoder said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This story details the state's efforts on fighting poverty. A recent report omitted Mississippi from it's findings, despite it's having the highest poverty rate in the US. - Kale
The report from the Center for Law and Social Policy, or CLASP, discussed Connecticut's initiative to cut child poverty in half by 2014, and Louisiana's goal to do the same thing by 2018.
Mississippi hasn't set a target date for reducing poverty in any demographic. It has created legislative committees and task forces to look at the issue - an approach that's yielded few tangible results.
In 2006, the Legislature created the Delta Revitalization Task Force to focus on a region of the state that's cursed by high poverty and illiteracy rates. The multi-county area also has inadequate health care and decrepit infrastructure.
The task force met with residents, business and community leaders and state officials, collecting information about the systemic problems fueling the poverty rate. For the past two years, the panel has offered legislation based on those findings, but most of the bills were unsuccessful.
House Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, created a select Poverty Committee this year. Its charge was similar to the Delta task force, but applicable to the entire state. Ten bills were referred to the Poverty Committee, including proposals to create a commission on health, to open an obesity clinic in the Delta and to create a task force to study the feasibility of an affordable housing trust fund. All of them died.
The author of the CLASP study, Jodie Levin-Epstein, said Mississippi should have been among the states listed, but she was unaware of the Poverty Committee.
"Just the emergence of the efforts are a signal that the political will that seemed totally nonexistent is at least rebirthing," said Levin-Epstein, referring to the anti-poverty initiatives under way across the nation.
While Levin-Epstein attributes a certain mind-set to the Poverty Committee's creation, state Rep. Reecy Dickson believes personal attitudes and beliefs have hindered some proposed policies and programs.
"What we're finding is such insensitivity among a number of representatives because they don't have the foresight. You have so many folks who only understand their communities and their needs," said Dickson, who was appointed chairwoman of the Poverty Committee.
Dickson, D-Macon, has attended meetings around the state, where she's heard about the lack of job opportunities, the need for childcare, and the probability of poverty rising with a growing elderly population.
"Mississippi is not able to sustain poverty and its impact," Dickson said.
A good place for lawmakers to make a change would be a reduction in the state's 7% grocery tax, said Warren Yoder, executive director of the Public Policy Center of Mississippi. Yoder said 1 of every five Mississippi families doesn't have enough money to always feed children nutritious meals. He said that's the highest rate ever in the U.S.
An attempt to reduce the state's grocery tax failed in 2006. It had been part of a proposal that also sought to raise the tobacco tax.
"There's been no shortage of good ideas. The shortage is of political goodwill to make things happen," Yoder said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Birth control battle weighs on Philippine economy
from Reuters
Here is a story on the birth control debate that is going on now in the Philippines. This provides a background on the debate for an international audience.Here is a link to the last story we shared on this subject. - Kale
By Carmel Crimmins
Artificial birth control is often taboo in this staunchly Roman Catholic country. Yet with a birth rate that is one of the highest in the world, sustainable population growth is becoming a burning issue, especially as millions of poor people struggle to feed themselves at a time of high food prices.
This year's global food crisis, which saw prices of basic commodities such as rice soar beyond the reach of millions of poor people, created shock waves in the Philippines where over 40 percent of the population live on $2 or less a day.
Spooked by a precarious political and economic situation, some lawmakers are trying to pass a bill that will compel the central government to promote artificial family planning rather than solely focus on natural birth control methods supported by the Church.
Twenty-seven economists, including four former economic planning secretaries and one former budget secretary, have signed a paper supporting the bill.
"The lack of an unambiguous population policy reflects a lack of seriousness in promoting long-term economic growth and poverty reduction," said Ernesto Pernia, a professor of economics at the University of the Philippines, and one of the 27 signatories.
He compares the Philippines to Thailand.
In 1975 both countries had similar population sizes of 41 to 42 million. Then Bangkok launched a major family planning effort.
Now Thailand has a population of around 64 million and is the world's top exporter of rice. Meanwhile, the Philippines with a population of 90 million is the world's top importer of the grain.
Thailand had a gross annual income per capita of $7,880 in 2007, while in the Philippines it was $3,730.
"Our studies show that if the Philippines had followed the (population) growth trajectory of Thailand between 1975 and 2000 the per capita income would have been at least 22 percent higher and there would have been 5 million less poor people," said Pernia. "That is a conservative estimate."
Yet the proposed reproductive health bill will likely never see the light of day as the influential Catholic Church is staunchly opposed to artificial birth control as a violation of its religions tenets.
The Church has denounced the bill as "morally unacceptable" and warned politicians, particularly senators considering running for the presidency in 2010, that their stance will be remembered.
"The Catholic Church knows how to mobilize its members not to vote for anti-life politicians," said Father Melvin Castro of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines in a statement.
Priests at some Sunday masses gave PowerPoint presentations reiterating the Church's line on family planning and one archbishop even suggested denying communion to politicians who supported the law.
Nearly half of the estimated 3.1 million pregnancies that occur every year in this Southeast Asian country are unplanned. Around half a million end in illegal and often dangerous back-street abortions.
While a relatively small middle class in the Philippines can easily afford contraceptives, millions of poor women cannot. A month's supply of the pill costs 39 pesos or around $0.86, around half the average daily salary of almost half the population.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Here is a story on the birth control debate that is going on now in the Philippines. This provides a background on the debate for an international audience.Here is a link to the last story we shared on this subject. - Kale
By Carmel Crimmins
Artificial birth control is often taboo in this staunchly Roman Catholic country. Yet with a birth rate that is one of the highest in the world, sustainable population growth is becoming a burning issue, especially as millions of poor people struggle to feed themselves at a time of high food prices.
This year's global food crisis, which saw prices of basic commodities such as rice soar beyond the reach of millions of poor people, created shock waves in the Philippines where over 40 percent of the population live on $2 or less a day.
Spooked by a precarious political and economic situation, some lawmakers are trying to pass a bill that will compel the central government to promote artificial family planning rather than solely focus on natural birth control methods supported by the Church.
Twenty-seven economists, including four former economic planning secretaries and one former budget secretary, have signed a paper supporting the bill.
"The lack of an unambiguous population policy reflects a lack of seriousness in promoting long-term economic growth and poverty reduction," said Ernesto Pernia, a professor of economics at the University of the Philippines, and one of the 27 signatories.
He compares the Philippines to Thailand.
In 1975 both countries had similar population sizes of 41 to 42 million. Then Bangkok launched a major family planning effort.
Now Thailand has a population of around 64 million and is the world's top exporter of rice. Meanwhile, the Philippines with a population of 90 million is the world's top importer of the grain.
Thailand had a gross annual income per capita of $7,880 in 2007, while in the Philippines it was $3,730.
"Our studies show that if the Philippines had followed the (population) growth trajectory of Thailand between 1975 and 2000 the per capita income would have been at least 22 percent higher and there would have been 5 million less poor people," said Pernia. "That is a conservative estimate."
Yet the proposed reproductive health bill will likely never see the light of day as the influential Catholic Church is staunchly opposed to artificial birth control as a violation of its religions tenets.
The Church has denounced the bill as "morally unacceptable" and warned politicians, particularly senators considering running for the presidency in 2010, that their stance will be remembered.
"The Catholic Church knows how to mobilize its members not to vote for anti-life politicians," said Father Melvin Castro of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines in a statement.
Priests at some Sunday masses gave PowerPoint presentations reiterating the Church's line on family planning and one archbishop even suggested denying communion to politicians who supported the law.
Nearly half of the estimated 3.1 million pregnancies that occur every year in this Southeast Asian country are unplanned. Around half a million end in illegal and often dangerous back-street abortions.
While a relatively small middle class in the Philippines can easily afford contraceptives, millions of poor women cannot. A month's supply of the pill costs 39 pesos or around $0.86, around half the average daily salary of almost half the population.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Yemeni widows hammered by poverty and social norms
from the Yemen Times
This profiles the widowed in the country of Yemen. Widows in that country face a tough challenge as many have lack of skills or may be illiterate. - Kale
Every day is a challenge for Jamila, a 45-year-old Yemeni widow who lives with her five children and her elderly sick parents in a very small room on Siteen Street in Sana’a.
Rarely eating three meals a day, the entire family lives in extremely poor sanitation conditions. Jamila has made one corner of the room a bathroom while the other serves as a makeshift kitchen with a small kerosene stove and a few plates.
The occasional aid (food or clothing) she receives from neighbors or local charity organizations is never enough. She forced her three children to leave school to work as shoemakers, while she works as house cleaner, using what little money they all make to buy food and pay their room rent.
Jamila is one of many Yemeni widows who find themselves struggling alone after losing their husbands and their household’s breadwinners.
Although there are no studies or figures on the number of widows in Yemen, Rashida Al-Nusari, director of the Social Affairs Ministry’s women and children unit, affirms that widows and orphans comprise the majority of Yemen’s poor and are its neediest class.
Such women are more likely to face threats to their economic security. “Even those widows who enjoy social insurance can’t get it directly because all insurance documents must be in a man’s name,” she notes.
However, poverty or financial need isn’t the only obstacle Yemeni widows must deal with; they also face misconceptions within their communities.
Samira Al-Sabahi, director of a local organization to help widows, explains, “A widow always is considered a burden and subjected to more criticism and interference from others.
“For instance, a young widow may not remarry because she must preserve the ‘dignity of her dead husband’s family.’ Moreover, those with children should never consider remarriage or they’ll lose custody of their children,” she adds.
Some Yemeni tribes also may impose a type of isolation upon widows by preventing them from leaving their house or participating in social activities.
Additionally, many conservative families prevent widows from doing any type of work to make a sustainable income and become independence. “Many widows have disclosed that they feel embarrassed about constantly asking their relatives for help, preferring instead to make their own income,” Al-Sabahi notes.
There’s also a misconception regarding widows’ right to receive a share of their husband’s property. As Al-Sabahi explains, “Many widows don’t receive their share of the inheritance because their dead husband’s family controls it and refuses to reveal the will, if it exists.”
She adds that most Yemeni widows from poor families can’t return to their parents because they know they’ll be an extra burden upon them.
Different types of working Yemeni widows
Due to the dual pressures of poverty and extreme need, many widows choose to ignore such cultural norms, face societal criticism and find work. Al-Sabahi explains, “There are three types of working widows in Yemen, the first of which are those who are educated and who can depend on themselves and obtain office work.
“The second type are independent, but have no education or skills, so they work as house cleaners or babysitters. Finally, there are those with no education and no skills, so they depend on others and become beggars.”
Al-Sabahi confirms that the majority of working widows in Yemen are the second and third types.
She continued, “We conducted a study in Mua’een area [of Sana’a governorate], where we found that 90 percent of 2,000 widows in that area are illiterate. Additionally, many women have no income generation skills, which makes it harder for them to make even a small income.”
Al-Sabahi further points out that illiteracy and poverty cause many widows to force their children to drop out of school and work.
The Birth of Hope
Despite increasing poverty and unemployment, widows often insist on providing for their families by themselves, rather than asking others for help. It was for this reason that the Milaad Al-Amal (Birth of Hope) Organization for Humanitarian Services was established.
A widow herself, Al-Sabahi manages and runs the organization. Having married directly after she completed high school, her husband died two months after their marriage. She was lucky in that her father – unlike many other Yemeni fathers – allowed her to finish studying at university – at the college of law.
She recalls, “After I finished university, I started thinking about a project to help the neediest people, so I took a project management training course. During that time, I already was working with my friend to help poor families, providing them food and collecting donations. Through this volunteer work, I discovered that widows comprise the majority of poor families, so I decided to form this organization to help them.”
Al-Sabahi says her organization’s first step is to extract widows from their isolation and renew hope within their spirits.
“The overwhelming majority of widows are in despair. We can’t do anything for them unless we instill hope in their minds and make them feel their importance as effective members of society,” she explains.
Milaad Al-Amal helps remove widows from their isolation and integrate them in order to become effective members of society by providing them alternative work opportunities to help them sustain their families financially.
The organization seeks to train, teach and qualify widows to work in handcrafts and professions suited to their abilities, their circumstances and the demands of the local market, such as sewing, making perfume and making sweets and desserts.
Al-Sabahi and her organization are attempting to reduce the unemployment rate in Yemen by creating job opportunities for widows, noting, “We’re planning to make deals with restaurants and cosmetics stores to buy and market the widows’ products.”
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This profiles the widowed in the country of Yemen. Widows in that country face a tough challenge as many have lack of skills or may be illiterate. - Kale
Every day is a challenge for Jamila, a 45-year-old Yemeni widow who lives with her five children and her elderly sick parents in a very small room on Siteen Street in Sana’a.
Rarely eating three meals a day, the entire family lives in extremely poor sanitation conditions. Jamila has made one corner of the room a bathroom while the other serves as a makeshift kitchen with a small kerosene stove and a few plates.
The occasional aid (food or clothing) she receives from neighbors or local charity organizations is never enough. She forced her three children to leave school to work as shoemakers, while she works as house cleaner, using what little money they all make to buy food and pay their room rent.
Jamila is one of many Yemeni widows who find themselves struggling alone after losing their husbands and their household’s breadwinners.
Although there are no studies or figures on the number of widows in Yemen, Rashida Al-Nusari, director of the Social Affairs Ministry’s women and children unit, affirms that widows and orphans comprise the majority of Yemen’s poor and are its neediest class.
Such women are more likely to face threats to their economic security. “Even those widows who enjoy social insurance can’t get it directly because all insurance documents must be in a man’s name,” she notes.
However, poverty or financial need isn’t the only obstacle Yemeni widows must deal with; they also face misconceptions within their communities.
Samira Al-Sabahi, director of a local organization to help widows, explains, “A widow always is considered a burden and subjected to more criticism and interference from others.
“For instance, a young widow may not remarry because she must preserve the ‘dignity of her dead husband’s family.’ Moreover, those with children should never consider remarriage or they’ll lose custody of their children,” she adds.
Some Yemeni tribes also may impose a type of isolation upon widows by preventing them from leaving their house or participating in social activities.
Additionally, many conservative families prevent widows from doing any type of work to make a sustainable income and become independence. “Many widows have disclosed that they feel embarrassed about constantly asking their relatives for help, preferring instead to make their own income,” Al-Sabahi notes.
There’s also a misconception regarding widows’ right to receive a share of their husband’s property. As Al-Sabahi explains, “Many widows don’t receive their share of the inheritance because their dead husband’s family controls it and refuses to reveal the will, if it exists.”
She adds that most Yemeni widows from poor families can’t return to their parents because they know they’ll be an extra burden upon them.
Different types of working Yemeni widows
Due to the dual pressures of poverty and extreme need, many widows choose to ignore such cultural norms, face societal criticism and find work. Al-Sabahi explains, “There are three types of working widows in Yemen, the first of which are those who are educated and who can depend on themselves and obtain office work.
“The second type are independent, but have no education or skills, so they work as house cleaners or babysitters. Finally, there are those with no education and no skills, so they depend on others and become beggars.”
Al-Sabahi confirms that the majority of working widows in Yemen are the second and third types.
She continued, “We conducted a study in Mua’een area [of Sana’a governorate], where we found that 90 percent of 2,000 widows in that area are illiterate. Additionally, many women have no income generation skills, which makes it harder for them to make even a small income.”
Al-Sabahi further points out that illiteracy and poverty cause many widows to force their children to drop out of school and work.
The Birth of Hope
Despite increasing poverty and unemployment, widows often insist on providing for their families by themselves, rather than asking others for help. It was for this reason that the Milaad Al-Amal (Birth of Hope) Organization for Humanitarian Services was established.
A widow herself, Al-Sabahi manages and runs the organization. Having married directly after she completed high school, her husband died two months after their marriage. She was lucky in that her father – unlike many other Yemeni fathers – allowed her to finish studying at university – at the college of law.
She recalls, “After I finished university, I started thinking about a project to help the neediest people, so I took a project management training course. During that time, I already was working with my friend to help poor families, providing them food and collecting donations. Through this volunteer work, I discovered that widows comprise the majority of poor families, so I decided to form this organization to help them.”
Al-Sabahi says her organization’s first step is to extract widows from their isolation and renew hope within their spirits.
“The overwhelming majority of widows are in despair. We can’t do anything for them unless we instill hope in their minds and make them feel their importance as effective members of society,” she explains.
Milaad Al-Amal helps remove widows from their isolation and integrate them in order to become effective members of society by providing them alternative work opportunities to help them sustain their families financially.
The organization seeks to train, teach and qualify widows to work in handcrafts and professions suited to their abilities, their circumstances and the demands of the local market, such as sewing, making perfume and making sweets and desserts.
Al-Sabahi and her organization are attempting to reduce the unemployment rate in Yemen by creating job opportunities for widows, noting, “We’re planning to make deals with restaurants and cosmetics stores to buy and market the widows’ products.”
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Ethiopia's new famine
from USA Today
I would highly recommend going to the page that has this full article. USA Today has several videos that I couldnt figure out to embed here, and a map showing the hardest hit regions.
The combination of drought, rising food prices and AIDS has really hit Ethiopia hard. - Kale
By Rick Hampson,
KONSO, Ethiopia — Once, the farmers walked for hours to bring their sorghum and maize here to market. These days they trod the same paths, parched grass crunching under foot, to carry their starving children to a feeding clinic.
Like crops, the children are weighed (in a nylon harness seat attached to a scale) and measured (with a tape to record arm circumference). The most severely malnourished are kept overnight for up to a month; the rest go home with a week's supply of Plumpy'nut, a nutritional paste.
The clinic, part of a system that didn't exist five years ago, will save almost all the children from starvation. But it can't sate the hunger that has shattered their families' livelihoods — forcing them to sell skeletal cows for a few dollars, to eat this year's food reserve and next year's seed, to keep children out of school, to flee the land itself.
"We give birth to the children," says Urmale Kasaso, whose listless 4-year-old son's cheeks are puffed up like apples from malnutrition, "but we can't grow them."
Ethiopia, perennially one of the world's hungriest nations, now faces what Oxfam, one of dozens of international aid organizations responding to the crisis, calls "a toxic cocktail."
Its ingredients: drought that in some places killed the entire spring crop; global inflation that has doubled the price of food; armed rebellion in the Somali region that has disrupted food delivery; and assorted plagues, from insects to hailstones.
Unlike 1985, when images of a famine that killed 1 million Ethiopians shocked the West — "We are the world!" pop stars sang at the globally televised Live Aid concert that raised more than $250 million — this year aid workers say there probably will be no mass starvation. An expensive, elaborate social welfare apparatus, erected largely by the world's rich nations to avert another 1985, will not permit it.
Those good intentions, however, have helped produce another problem: A nation that has long seen itself as the most independent in Africa faces an ever-growing dependence on food aid from countries who now must deal with increasing food problems of their own.
At least 14 million Ethiopians — 18% of the nation — need food aid (much of it from the USA) or cash assistance, according to government figures and aid agency estimates.
Since 1985 the population has doubled to almost 80 million, and per-capita farm production has declined. Meanwhile, the global cost of raising and moving food keeps rising.
It all makes Ethiopia's hunger "a ticking time bomb," says Peter Walker, a Tufts University famine specialist.
The problem is personified by Urmale, who like most Ethiopians is known by his first, given name.
With his 4-year-old son Kusse strapped to his back, he walked three hours to the clinic here run by the government and supported by Save the Children USA, the humanitarian aid agency.
The boy had shrunk to 20 pounds after the family's crop failed and market prices outstripped the cash allowance his family gets from a government anti-famine program. Now he's gaining almost a pound a day.
But Urmale, 30, says the boy's three older siblings have a question for which he has no answer: Why did you bring us into the world if you can't feed us?
"It is sad, but I try to calm them," he explains.
"I say, 'Let me go and search for some food.' "
'What else can I do?'
The hunger has spread across two-thirds of Ethiopia, from the slums of Addis Ababa to the parched countryside around Konso to the "green hunger" region where the rains came only after the spring growing season.
The nation's emergency grain reserve is tapped out, and last month the emergency food ration was reduced by one-third. The government says 75,000 children are severely malnourished. Some people are eating cactus, roots and other famine foods.
Oxfam America staffer Rob O'Neil, who visited the Somali and Afar regions, reports that in one village people pounded their animals' food pellets into a porridge for their children.
Such coping strategies get people through to the fall harvest, but also deepen their poverty.
Dararo Darimo, a widow who walked for an hour to carry her grandson to the clinic here, knows that selling her cow only put off the day of reckoning.
"What else can I do?" she asks. "I don't want to see my grandchildren die."
Gale Kalalo, a young mother whose breast milk has dried up, says her family has only a few days' food left. After that, they'll sell their three goats, one by one. After that, they'll leave their farm and move to the city.
The hunger will be waiting.
Urban Ethiopians traditionally were untouched by the hunger that droughts brought to the nation's subsistence farmers.
Now all Ethiopians face annual food-price inflation of more than 75%; only Zimbabwe's problem is worse, according to World Bank economist William Wiseman.
Messret Tesfay, 27, lives with her daughter in a slum of Addis Ababa, the nation's capital. Her husband has left her. Her home is a one-room brick mud hut wallpapered with old newspapers. But she's always been able afford to make injera — the spongy flatbread on which (and with which) Ethiopians hand-eat their meals.
Now, however, even this national staple is denied her.
She says the cost of teff, the iron-rich cereal from which injera is made, has doubled in the past year to more than $2 per pound. That's forced her buy small pieces of cheaper, pre-made injera, or to make injera with a substitute, such as sorghum or rice.
For a moment, her stoicism cracks. "Too bitter," she says of the alternatives, making a face. "Too hard."
Even some middle-class residents of Addis Ababa, the capital, are being forced to put off weddings, carry lunches to work and eat two meals daily instead of three.
Bassie Terefe, 28, a program officer at a humanitarian aid agency, doesn't go out to dinner any more with friends. He knows that sooner or later he'd have to pick up the check, and he can't afford to.
Instead, he stays home nights, reading newspapers.
"You isolate yourself," he says. "You feel ashamed."
Hallelujah Lulie, 24, a freelance journalist, says food prices have postponed his plan to leave home and get his own place. At this rate, he says, he'll never become independent, much less get married.
"I need to learn some life skills," he says. "Now I'm dependent on my mom."
Detecting malnutrition
Famine detection, prevention and alleviation have become a major industry here.
The USA alone will give about $460 million this year just in food aid, part of a $1 billion non-military foreign assistance package. (Ethiopia is the second-largest recipient of U.S. aid in sub-Saharan Africa, behind Sudan).
With each famine, the industry grows.
In 1985, when scenes of emaciated babies and open graves galvanized world opinion, international groups such as Doctors Without Borders and CARE came to stay.
After the drought of 2003, in which more than 13 million people needed emergency food, the government and foreign donors created a system designed to make famine history.
Its components include the Productive Safety Net, a public works program that gives food or cash to more than 7 million poor Ethiopians; the Famine Early Warning System, which uses local indices — rainfall, household income, the average price of a cow — to alert government and aid agencies; a national network of government health extension workers, with two workers per locality, to detect and treat early signs of malnutrition.
In the 2003 drought, Ayelech Echetu's 18-month-old daughter, Hagira, wasted away. "We didn't understand malnutrition then," she says.
But this spring, when the drought hit, a community volunteer visited her home. She examined Ayelech's 4-year-old son, Mattios, and told her to take him to a government clinic in Tulla.
The boy has gained several pounds on Plumpy'nut, but his mother has no illusions about the future. She has sold the family's only goat. The cow is next. Then, she says, "we pray."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
I would highly recommend going to the page that has this full article. USA Today has several videos that I couldnt figure out to embed here, and a map showing the hardest hit regions.
The combination of drought, rising food prices and AIDS has really hit Ethiopia hard. - Kale
By Rick Hampson,
KONSO, Ethiopia — Once, the farmers walked for hours to bring their sorghum and maize here to market. These days they trod the same paths, parched grass crunching under foot, to carry their starving children to a feeding clinic.
Like crops, the children are weighed (in a nylon harness seat attached to a scale) and measured (with a tape to record arm circumference). The most severely malnourished are kept overnight for up to a month; the rest go home with a week's supply of Plumpy'nut, a nutritional paste.
The clinic, part of a system that didn't exist five years ago, will save almost all the children from starvation. But it can't sate the hunger that has shattered their families' livelihoods — forcing them to sell skeletal cows for a few dollars, to eat this year's food reserve and next year's seed, to keep children out of school, to flee the land itself.
"We give birth to the children," says Urmale Kasaso, whose listless 4-year-old son's cheeks are puffed up like apples from malnutrition, "but we can't grow them."
Ethiopia, perennially one of the world's hungriest nations, now faces what Oxfam, one of dozens of international aid organizations responding to the crisis, calls "a toxic cocktail."
Its ingredients: drought that in some places killed the entire spring crop; global inflation that has doubled the price of food; armed rebellion in the Somali region that has disrupted food delivery; and assorted plagues, from insects to hailstones.
Unlike 1985, when images of a famine that killed 1 million Ethiopians shocked the West — "We are the world!" pop stars sang at the globally televised Live Aid concert that raised more than $250 million — this year aid workers say there probably will be no mass starvation. An expensive, elaborate social welfare apparatus, erected largely by the world's rich nations to avert another 1985, will not permit it.
Those good intentions, however, have helped produce another problem: A nation that has long seen itself as the most independent in Africa faces an ever-growing dependence on food aid from countries who now must deal with increasing food problems of their own.
At least 14 million Ethiopians — 18% of the nation — need food aid (much of it from the USA) or cash assistance, according to government figures and aid agency estimates.
Since 1985 the population has doubled to almost 80 million, and per-capita farm production has declined. Meanwhile, the global cost of raising and moving food keeps rising.
It all makes Ethiopia's hunger "a ticking time bomb," says Peter Walker, a Tufts University famine specialist.
The problem is personified by Urmale, who like most Ethiopians is known by his first, given name.
With his 4-year-old son Kusse strapped to his back, he walked three hours to the clinic here run by the government and supported by Save the Children USA, the humanitarian aid agency.
The boy had shrunk to 20 pounds after the family's crop failed and market prices outstripped the cash allowance his family gets from a government anti-famine program. Now he's gaining almost a pound a day.
But Urmale, 30, says the boy's three older siblings have a question for which he has no answer: Why did you bring us into the world if you can't feed us?
"It is sad, but I try to calm them," he explains.
"I say, 'Let me go and search for some food.' "
'What else can I do?'
The hunger has spread across two-thirds of Ethiopia, from the slums of Addis Ababa to the parched countryside around Konso to the "green hunger" region where the rains came only after the spring growing season.
The nation's emergency grain reserve is tapped out, and last month the emergency food ration was reduced by one-third. The government says 75,000 children are severely malnourished. Some people are eating cactus, roots and other famine foods.
Oxfam America staffer Rob O'Neil, who visited the Somali and Afar regions, reports that in one village people pounded their animals' food pellets into a porridge for their children.
Such coping strategies get people through to the fall harvest, but also deepen their poverty.
Dararo Darimo, a widow who walked for an hour to carry her grandson to the clinic here, knows that selling her cow only put off the day of reckoning.
"What else can I do?" she asks. "I don't want to see my grandchildren die."
Gale Kalalo, a young mother whose breast milk has dried up, says her family has only a few days' food left. After that, they'll sell their three goats, one by one. After that, they'll leave their farm and move to the city.
The hunger will be waiting.
Urban Ethiopians traditionally were untouched by the hunger that droughts brought to the nation's subsistence farmers.
Now all Ethiopians face annual food-price inflation of more than 75%; only Zimbabwe's problem is worse, according to World Bank economist William Wiseman.
Messret Tesfay, 27, lives with her daughter in a slum of Addis Ababa, the nation's capital. Her husband has left her. Her home is a one-room brick mud hut wallpapered with old newspapers. But she's always been able afford to make injera — the spongy flatbread on which (and with which) Ethiopians hand-eat their meals.
Now, however, even this national staple is denied her.
She says the cost of teff, the iron-rich cereal from which injera is made, has doubled in the past year to more than $2 per pound. That's forced her buy small pieces of cheaper, pre-made injera, or to make injera with a substitute, such as sorghum or rice.
For a moment, her stoicism cracks. "Too bitter," she says of the alternatives, making a face. "Too hard."
Even some middle-class residents of Addis Ababa, the capital, are being forced to put off weddings, carry lunches to work and eat two meals daily instead of three.
Bassie Terefe, 28, a program officer at a humanitarian aid agency, doesn't go out to dinner any more with friends. He knows that sooner or later he'd have to pick up the check, and he can't afford to.
Instead, he stays home nights, reading newspapers.
"You isolate yourself," he says. "You feel ashamed."
Hallelujah Lulie, 24, a freelance journalist, says food prices have postponed his plan to leave home and get his own place. At this rate, he says, he'll never become independent, much less get married.
"I need to learn some life skills," he says. "Now I'm dependent on my mom."
Detecting malnutrition
Famine detection, prevention and alleviation have become a major industry here.
The USA alone will give about $460 million this year just in food aid, part of a $1 billion non-military foreign assistance package. (Ethiopia is the second-largest recipient of U.S. aid in sub-Saharan Africa, behind Sudan).
With each famine, the industry grows.
In 1985, when scenes of emaciated babies and open graves galvanized world opinion, international groups such as Doctors Without Borders and CARE came to stay.
After the drought of 2003, in which more than 13 million people needed emergency food, the government and foreign donors created a system designed to make famine history.
Its components include the Productive Safety Net, a public works program that gives food or cash to more than 7 million poor Ethiopians; the Famine Early Warning System, which uses local indices — rainfall, household income, the average price of a cow — to alert government and aid agencies; a national network of government health extension workers, with two workers per locality, to detect and treat early signs of malnutrition.
In the 2003 drought, Ayelech Echetu's 18-month-old daughter, Hagira, wasted away. "We didn't understand malnutrition then," she says.
But this spring, when the drought hit, a community volunteer visited her home. She examined Ayelech's 4-year-old son, Mattios, and told her to take him to a government clinic in Tulla.
The boy has gained several pounds on Plumpy'nut, but his mother has no illusions about the future. She has sold the family's only goat. The cow is next. Then, she says, "we pray."
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Children stunted, wasted, underweight - Sri Lanka government health survey
from IRIN
Few die at childbirth, most go to primary school and almost all are vaccinated at the right time, but the sizeable number of Sri Lankan children who are stunted, wasted and underweight for their age are a cause for concern, according to nutritional authorities.
Recently published government statistics show that despite countless initiatives to alleviate malnutrition over the years, the condition is still entrenched in traditionally poor and conflict-hit regions, and affects hundreds of thousands of children.
The Demographic and Health Survey 2006/2007, a draft of which was released by the Health and Nutrition Ministry and the Census and Statistics Department, shows that 22 percent of Sri Lankan children are underweight, 18 percent are stunted and 15 percent show signs of wasting.
The latest figures could be distorted, with the survey leaving out five districts in the Northern Province - Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Vavuniya and Mullaitivu - where government forces are fighting rebel Tamil Tiger separatists, and access to accurate date is almost impossible.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has for some time expressed concern that although Sri Lanka’s overall health indicators are on track to achieve the 2015 Millennium Development Goals.
(MDGs), the nutritional status of children and mothers is the single exception.
The worst-hit districts include Trincomalee and Batticaloa where the conflict raged until last year, causing large-scale displacement of populations. In the districts of Badulla, Nuwara Eliya, Moneragala and Hambantota, poverty among tea plantation workers and farmers has long been endemic.
Stunting, wasting
At the top of the categories, 41 percent of children in Nuwara Eliya District were stunted, while height-for-weight measurements showed that wasting was highest in Trincomalee - 28 percent. In Badulla 32 percent of the children were underweight.
The figures reveal regional disparities, with districts in the western and southwestern parts of the island showing fewer cases of under-nutrition.
“What is very common now is to see people struggling to buy food because of the high prices of staples like rice and bread,” said Judy Devadawson, an adviser to a Trincomalee-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), the Women and Child Care Organisation (WACCO). “In some places, we see very thin children with sunken eyes and they seem lethargic.”
She said she had seen the effects of the rising cost of living and lack of jobs on families, especially in conflict zones such as Trincomalee District, where many have only one breadwinner. “It is almost impossible for them to provide enough food for the whole family.”
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Few die at childbirth, most go to primary school and almost all are vaccinated at the right time, but the sizeable number of Sri Lankan children who are stunted, wasted and underweight for their age are a cause for concern, according to nutritional authorities.
Recently published government statistics show that despite countless initiatives to alleviate malnutrition over the years, the condition is still entrenched in traditionally poor and conflict-hit regions, and affects hundreds of thousands of children.
The Demographic and Health Survey 2006/2007, a draft of which was released by the Health and Nutrition Ministry and the Census and Statistics Department, shows that 22 percent of Sri Lankan children are underweight, 18 percent are stunted and 15 percent show signs of wasting.
The latest figures could be distorted, with the survey leaving out five districts in the Northern Province - Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Vavuniya and Mullaitivu - where government forces are fighting rebel Tamil Tiger separatists, and access to accurate date is almost impossible.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has for some time expressed concern that although Sri Lanka’s overall health indicators are on track to achieve the 2015 Millennium Development Goals.
(MDGs), the nutritional status of children and mothers is the single exception.
The worst-hit districts include Trincomalee and Batticaloa where the conflict raged until last year, causing large-scale displacement of populations. In the districts of Badulla, Nuwara Eliya, Moneragala and Hambantota, poverty among tea plantation workers and farmers has long been endemic.
Stunting, wasting
At the top of the categories, 41 percent of children in Nuwara Eliya District were stunted, while height-for-weight measurements showed that wasting was highest in Trincomalee - 28 percent. In Badulla 32 percent of the children were underweight.
The figures reveal regional disparities, with districts in the western and southwestern parts of the island showing fewer cases of under-nutrition.
“What is very common now is to see people struggling to buy food because of the high prices of staples like rice and bread,” said Judy Devadawson, an adviser to a Trincomalee-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), the Women and Child Care Organisation (WACCO). “In some places, we see very thin children with sunken eyes and they seem lethargic.”
She said she had seen the effects of the rising cost of living and lack of jobs on families, especially in conflict zones such as Trincomalee District, where many have only one breadwinner. “It is almost impossible for them to provide enough food for the whole family.”
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Rochester's poverty levels more concentrated than Buffalo
from the Buffalo News
Here is another story on the Brookings Institution report that is focused on New York State
By, Jonathan Epstein
A new study by the liberal-leaning Brookings Institution shows that the concentration of low-income working families in high-poverty areas is significantly higher in Rochester than in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls area.
According to the Brookings report, to be released today, about 21 percent of Rochester's low-income working families lived in ZIP codes where at least 40 percent of all taxpayers get the federal Earned Income Tax Credit. Low-income families were defined as those who receive the EITC.
In fact, Rochester had the eighth-highest concentration of poverty in the country, among the 58 largest cities studied by Brookings. And it had the fourth-highest increase in that concentration, which rose by 13.2 points from 1999 to 2005.
By contrast, just 13.5 percent of Buffalo's low-income families lived in such concentrated areas. And that was up just 5.1 percent in the six years.
Indeed, the concentration in Buffalo Niagara area almost matches that of the 58 largest cities in the country -- 13.3 percent nationwide.
However, nationwide, the number of low-income families living in high-poverty neighborhoods soared 40 percent, as 34 of the 58 large cities saw higher rates of concentration. Many are in older industrial cities, like Rochester, Detroit and Cleveland, and suburbs saw increases in high-poverty neighborhoods as well.
Brookings blamed the rise on the economic downturn and slow recovery in the first half of this decade. The report said "extremely poor neighborhoods" often discourage private-sector investment, offer less access to job opportunities, and have higher crime rates, underperforming public schools, poor housing, and poor health conditions. That's on top of the regular daily challenges of being poor.
Research director and report co-author Alan Berube called for "smart policies" that foster more "economic integration" throughout metropolitan areas while linking residents of impoverished neighborhoods to labor markets.
Nationwide, the worst metropolitan area for concentration of poverty was Fresno, Calif., where 30 percent of low-income filers live in high-poverty areas, according to Brookings. And that was down by 4.3 points from six years earlier.
That was followed by Augusta, Ga., at 29.3 percent; Detroit at 27.5 percent, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale at 26.7 percent; and Philadelphia at 25.5 percent. Cleveland was seventh, at 21.5 percent.
The lowest concentrations among the 58 cities -- in all cases, zero -- were in Sacramento and San Diego, Calif., and in Washington, D. C. Trenton, N. J., was next, followed by Phoenix, Ariz.
Here is another story on the Brookings Institution report that is focused on New York State
By, Jonathan Epstein
A new study by the liberal-leaning Brookings Institution shows that the concentration of low-income working families in high-poverty areas is significantly higher in Rochester than in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls area.
According to the Brookings report, to be released today, about 21 percent of Rochester's low-income working families lived in ZIP codes where at least 40 percent of all taxpayers get the federal Earned Income Tax Credit. Low-income families were defined as those who receive the EITC.
In fact, Rochester had the eighth-highest concentration of poverty in the country, among the 58 largest cities studied by Brookings. And it had the fourth-highest increase in that concentration, which rose by 13.2 points from 1999 to 2005.
By contrast, just 13.5 percent of Buffalo's low-income families lived in such concentrated areas. And that was up just 5.1 percent in the six years.
Indeed, the concentration in Buffalo Niagara area almost matches that of the 58 largest cities in the country -- 13.3 percent nationwide.
However, nationwide, the number of low-income families living in high-poverty neighborhoods soared 40 percent, as 34 of the 58 large cities saw higher rates of concentration. Many are in older industrial cities, like Rochester, Detroit and Cleveland, and suburbs saw increases in high-poverty neighborhoods as well.
Brookings blamed the rise on the economic downturn and slow recovery in the first half of this decade. The report said "extremely poor neighborhoods" often discourage private-sector investment, offer less access to job opportunities, and have higher crime rates, underperforming public schools, poor housing, and poor health conditions. That's on top of the regular daily challenges of being poor.
Research director and report co-author Alan Berube called for "smart policies" that foster more "economic integration" throughout metropolitan areas while linking residents of impoverished neighborhoods to labor markets.
Nationwide, the worst metropolitan area for concentration of poverty was Fresno, Calif., where 30 percent of low-income filers live in high-poverty areas, according to Brookings. And that was down by 4.3 points from six years earlier.
That was followed by Augusta, Ga., at 29.3 percent; Detroit at 27.5 percent, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale at 26.7 percent; and Philadelphia at 25.5 percent. Cleveland was seventh, at 21.5 percent.
The lowest concentrations among the 58 cities -- in all cases, zero -- were in Sacramento and San Diego, Calif., and in Washington, D. C. Trenton, N. J., was next, followed by Phoenix, Ariz.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Aid group suspends Afghan work after slayings
from AFP via Google
This aid group has worked in Afghanistan for over 25 years. Four of their workers were shot dead, to cause the stoppage. - Kale
The killings, claimed by the insurgent Taliban, were the deadliest here in years involving international aid staff, and came amid warnings about deteriorating security.
The women -- a British-Canadian, a Canadian and a Trinidadian-American -- were members of the International Rescue Committee, which works with refugees in Afghanistan.
One Afghan driver was killed and another critically wounded in Wednesday's ambush by gunmen who shot repeatedly at their vehicle near the capital Kabul, police and their organisation said.
The IRC, headquartered in New York, said in a statement it was "stunned and profoundly saddened by this tragic loss."
"These extraordinary individuals were deeply committed to aiding the people of Afghanistan, especially the children who have seen so much strife."
It added that the group had "suspended its humanitarian aid programmes in Afghanistan indefinitely" following the slayings.
The women were being driven to Kabul in two vehicles when they came under attack near the town of Pul-i-Alam, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of the capital, Logar province police chief Ghulam Mustafa said.
A car cut in front of their vehicles and then opened fire, he told AFP.
"Three females, foreign nationals, and an Afghan male have been killed," he told AFP.
Logar deputy police chief Abdul Majid Latifi told AFP their vehicle had a clear IRC logo on it.
He said it appeared the attackers had broken the windows and shot them at close range.
"There were signs of about 10 bullets on the vehicle but more bullets on the body of the victims. They were hit by dozens of bullets," he said.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahed, said men from his militia had ambushed a two-vehicle convoy in Logar carrying "military personnel, most of them female."
"We killed several of them... they were all military," he said.
Michael Kocher, the IRC vice president for international programmes, said there had been no signs of imminent danger in the area in the days leading up to the attack.
"We work very closely with local authorities. We don't work anywhere where we are not wanted," he told AFP.
The women, aged 31, 32 and 40, had worked around the world and had been in Gardez town "to provide technical support for children's programmes there," he added.
They were helping recently established schools, making sure their teachers were correctly trained, that they had enough supplies and that the curriculum was appropriate.
The IRC employs about 540 people in Afghanistan, comprised almost entirely of Afghan staff, and concentrates on education, water and sanitation, as well as community development and social programmes for children.
President Hamid Karzai condemned Wednesday's killing as "unforgivable" and blamed "enemies of Afghan people who do not want the international community to help the poverty-hit Afghan people."
Afghanistan's international aid community was also shocked.
"This is a senseless act of murder which is morally indefensible," said a senior foreign aid worker who asked not to be identified.
"This highlights the deterioration in security conditions, which are worse than at any point since 2001," when the hardline Taliban milita was ousted from power, the worker said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
This aid group has worked in Afghanistan for over 25 years. Four of their workers were shot dead, to cause the stoppage. - Kale
The killings, claimed by the insurgent Taliban, were the deadliest here in years involving international aid staff, and came amid warnings about deteriorating security.
The women -- a British-Canadian, a Canadian and a Trinidadian-American -- were members of the International Rescue Committee, which works with refugees in Afghanistan.
One Afghan driver was killed and another critically wounded in Wednesday's ambush by gunmen who shot repeatedly at their vehicle near the capital Kabul, police and their organisation said.
The IRC, headquartered in New York, said in a statement it was "stunned and profoundly saddened by this tragic loss."
"These extraordinary individuals were deeply committed to aiding the people of Afghanistan, especially the children who have seen so much strife."
It added that the group had "suspended its humanitarian aid programmes in Afghanistan indefinitely" following the slayings.
The women were being driven to Kabul in two vehicles when they came under attack near the town of Pul-i-Alam, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of the capital, Logar province police chief Ghulam Mustafa said.
A car cut in front of their vehicles and then opened fire, he told AFP.
"Three females, foreign nationals, and an Afghan male have been killed," he told AFP.
Logar deputy police chief Abdul Majid Latifi told AFP their vehicle had a clear IRC logo on it.
He said it appeared the attackers had broken the windows and shot them at close range.
"There were signs of about 10 bullets on the vehicle but more bullets on the body of the victims. They were hit by dozens of bullets," he said.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahed, said men from his militia had ambushed a two-vehicle convoy in Logar carrying "military personnel, most of them female."
"We killed several of them... they were all military," he said.
Michael Kocher, the IRC vice president for international programmes, said there had been no signs of imminent danger in the area in the days leading up to the attack.
"We work very closely with local authorities. We don't work anywhere where we are not wanted," he told AFP.
The women, aged 31, 32 and 40, had worked around the world and had been in Gardez town "to provide technical support for children's programmes there," he added.
They were helping recently established schools, making sure their teachers were correctly trained, that they had enough supplies and that the curriculum was appropriate.
The IRC employs about 540 people in Afghanistan, comprised almost entirely of Afghan staff, and concentrates on education, water and sanitation, as well as community development and social programmes for children.
President Hamid Karzai condemned Wednesday's killing as "unforgivable" and blamed "enemies of Afghan people who do not want the international community to help the poverty-hit Afghan people."
Afghanistan's international aid community was also shocked.
"This is a senseless act of murder which is morally indefensible," said a senior foreign aid worker who asked not to be identified.
"This highlights the deterioration in security conditions, which are worse than at any point since 2001," when the hardline Taliban milita was ousted from power, the worker said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Study: Numbers of working poor increase
from USA Today
The number of low income workers living in poor neighborhoods continue to increase in the US. - Kale
By Marisol Bello, USA TODAY
The economy played the largest role in concentrating poor workers in poor communities, a report by the Brookings Institution suggests.
"The people living in these communities are already at the margins," says Alan Berube, co-author of the report. "When things are booming, they get swept up in the growth, and when there's a downturn, they are the first to get affected."
The report focused on the increasing number of low-income workers eligible for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) from 1999 to 2005 and who lived in communities with a high concentration of poverty.
The EITC is a refundable federal income tax credit for low-income working individuals and families, according to the Internal Revenue Service.
Chris Edwards, director of tax policy for the libertarian Cato Institute, says several factors could account for more poor workers concentrating in poor communities, including the housing boom that made once-affordable areas less affordable and the increased attention on getting low-income workers to take advantage of the tax credit.
"Just because more people are using (the credit) may not necessarily mean there are more people who are poor," Edwards says.
According to the report, the metropolitan areas of Allentown, Pa., Detroit and Augusta, Ga., saw the largest increases in the concentration of low-income workers. The Los Angeles, Phoenix and Fresno metro areas had the biggest declines.
The weaker economy in the Northeast and Midwest offered people fewer job opportunities, increasing the number of people making low wages, while areas in the West with a stronger economy provided workers with more options to get out of poverty, Berube says.
The number of low-income workers living in poor neighborhoods rose by 40% during that time period, suggesting the decline in concentrated poverty during the 1990s is reversing, the study finds.
In the 1990s, the number of people living in poor areas dropped by 24%, Berube says.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
The number of low income workers living in poor neighborhoods continue to increase in the US. - Kale
By Marisol Bello, USA TODAY
The economy played the largest role in concentrating poor workers in poor communities, a report by the Brookings Institution suggests.
"The people living in these communities are already at the margins," says Alan Berube, co-author of the report. "When things are booming, they get swept up in the growth, and when there's a downturn, they are the first to get affected."
The report focused on the increasing number of low-income workers eligible for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) from 1999 to 2005 and who lived in communities with a high concentration of poverty.
The EITC is a refundable federal income tax credit for low-income working individuals and families, according to the Internal Revenue Service.
Chris Edwards, director of tax policy for the libertarian Cato Institute, says several factors could account for more poor workers concentrating in poor communities, including the housing boom that made once-affordable areas less affordable and the increased attention on getting low-income workers to take advantage of the tax credit.
"Just because more people are using (the credit) may not necessarily mean there are more people who are poor," Edwards says.
According to the report, the metropolitan areas of Allentown, Pa., Detroit and Augusta, Ga., saw the largest increases in the concentration of low-income workers. The Los Angeles, Phoenix and Fresno metro areas had the biggest declines.
The weaker economy in the Northeast and Midwest offered people fewer job opportunities, increasing the number of people making low wages, while areas in the West with a stronger economy provided workers with more options to get out of poverty, Berube says.
The number of low-income workers living in poor neighborhoods rose by 40% during that time period, suggesting the decline in concentrated poverty during the 1990s is reversing, the study finds.
In the 1990s, the number of people living in poor areas dropped by 24%, Berube says.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Young Refugee Finds Hope
from the Santa Ynez Valley Journal
A story of a Sudan refugee that is trying to make it to America. - Kale
Outside of Juba, the regional capital of Southern Sudan, small villages dot the savannah woodlands and the lush, green forests of acacia, mango and palm trees.
Once, cattle, coffee beans, sorghum, and peanuts thrived in the black-topped red clay soil, and fueled an agrarian economy. Prosperous farmers, tranquility and physical beauty might suggest a comparison to the Santa Ynez Valley.
But two civil wars, from 1953 to 1972 and from 1983 to 2005, ravaged the region, as government-led Muslim militia from the North fought the predominantly Christian South for control of lucrative oil profits. Four million Southerners were displaced and two million were killed in the second civil war. The tranquil beauty was darkened by clouds of smoke as villages were set on fire and the inhabitants killed. Between 30,000 and 100,000 Southerners took refuge in Cairo, Egypt, but — unable to work legally or to attend school — they face a bleak future there.
Sandra Tombe is lucky; the 16-year-old won a partial scholarship to Dunn School, and arrived in the Santa Ynez Valley on Aug. 10.
Life has been difficult for Tombe; in her native village of Oumharaz in Southern Sudan, her Christian family suffered persecution under the country’s Muslim government. During her childhood, the war unfolded; she saw entire towns set on fire, children taken into slavery, men, women and children beaten and killed. When soldiers came four years ago looking for her father, the family fled to Cairo, taking nothing but the clothes on their backs.
Slum living, poor pay in Cairo
Newly arrived African asylum seekers live in abject poverty in Cairo, many in slum areas with neither plumbing nor electricity, with dirt floors and one bathroom for an entire building. Tombe’s mother like most Sudanese women, found work as a maid in a private home for less than $5 a day. Tombe’s father left the family and never returned; since then her mother has supported her five children on income averaging $40 a week.
Tombe is an avid reader, and always dreamed that one day she would go to college. Egypt’s government-run schools are free, but overcrowded and scantily supplied, and are only for legally recognized refugees and citizens. Most refugees hold yellow cards, which indicate that they are in the process of applying for official refugee status. Few possess the coveted blue card, which entitles families to a stipend and, at least in theory, gives refugee children the right to enroll in school.
Most refugees attend education centers housed in church compounds, because even with blue-card status, refugees must present previous school records and a letter from their embassy in order to enroll. Families who fled on a moment’s notice, or whose schools were burned, have no records, and a visit to the Sudanese embassy means identifying yourself to officials of the same government from which these families fled.
Tombe was lucky; her mother enrolled her in St. Andrew’s Education Center, a small school in a church compound with a British-American curriculum. It is Cairo’s only secondary school to teach entirely in English.
Despite the prejudice that African asylum seekers in Cairo face — insults and injuries akin to what African Americans suffered in the Jim Crow South — Tombe survived by focusing on her schoolwork. She quickly became the top student at St. Andrew’s, and the star of her school basketball team.
Dunn alumna takes Tombe in hand
In her second year of high school, Tombe took a writing workshop for young refugees at the American University in Cairo. Her instructor, Brooke Comer, who grew up in the Santa Ynez Valley and graduated from Dunn School, already had helped another talented young Sudanese student and a friend of Tombe’s, Nyuol Tong, get a scholarship to Dunn. She recognized Tombe’s talent and hard work, and suggested that she audit university writing classes.
Tombe’s professors noted her excellent work and helped her apply for a full university scholarship, which she won. It is not uncommon for students to enter Egyptian universities at 15, but Tombe was denied admission because she had no legitimate high school diploma. Comer then helped her to apply for a scholarship to Dunn, and found a host family — Bill and Lillie Shelly of Janin Acres.
Lillie Shelly, who worked in Juba, has both a knowledge of, and an interest in, the Sudanese culture. Nyuol already had distinguished himself at Dunn as a scholar, athlete, and poet, and the school’s nurturing community and rich, challenging curriculum seemed ideal for a motivated student to prove herself.
Then a new obstacle emerged; acquiring a U.S. visa. Even when Tombe was admitted to Dunn and given a partial scholarship, she had no identification papers. Child refugees enter Egypt from Sudan on a mother’s passport. Even when Tombe applied for and received her own Sudanese passport, she needed a one year Egyptian residency permit to claim a U.S. visa. To claim the permit, she needed to be enrolled in a recognized school—but had this been possible, she would not have needed the residency permit in the first place.
Tombe looks to future
Fortunately, the University Provost and connections at the U.S. Embassy helped Tombe get the permit, and she was able to receive her visa. Now she has a chance to complete her education and fulfill her dreams. She looks forward to studying literature and politics and art.
Tombe grew up in a compound of 17 concrete houses surrounded by a fence of green trees. She had seen few trees since her move to Cairo’s vast, urban sprawl, but she’s looking forward to becoming re-acquainted with nature in Santa Ynez. She’s excited by this chance to go to a school with a library, to studying literature and politics.
She’d like to own an iPod. But most of all, she looks forward to being accepted in a community of peace and tolerance.
Interested valley residents can help make Tombe’s dreams come true by making a donation to the Los Olivos Rotary. They are looking for 150 “Angels” to donate $50 apiece to contribute to her living and educational expenses for one year.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
A story of a Sudan refugee that is trying to make it to America. - Kale
Outside of Juba, the regional capital of Southern Sudan, small villages dot the savannah woodlands and the lush, green forests of acacia, mango and palm trees.
Once, cattle, coffee beans, sorghum, and peanuts thrived in the black-topped red clay soil, and fueled an agrarian economy. Prosperous farmers, tranquility and physical beauty might suggest a comparison to the Santa Ynez Valley.
But two civil wars, from 1953 to 1972 and from 1983 to 2005, ravaged the region, as government-led Muslim militia from the North fought the predominantly Christian South for control of lucrative oil profits. Four million Southerners were displaced and two million were killed in the second civil war. The tranquil beauty was darkened by clouds of smoke as villages were set on fire and the inhabitants killed. Between 30,000 and 100,000 Southerners took refuge in Cairo, Egypt, but — unable to work legally or to attend school — they face a bleak future there.
Sandra Tombe is lucky; the 16-year-old won a partial scholarship to Dunn School, and arrived in the Santa Ynez Valley on Aug. 10.
Life has been difficult for Tombe; in her native village of Oumharaz in Southern Sudan, her Christian family suffered persecution under the country’s Muslim government. During her childhood, the war unfolded; she saw entire towns set on fire, children taken into slavery, men, women and children beaten and killed. When soldiers came four years ago looking for her father, the family fled to Cairo, taking nothing but the clothes on their backs.
Slum living, poor pay in Cairo
Newly arrived African asylum seekers live in abject poverty in Cairo, many in slum areas with neither plumbing nor electricity, with dirt floors and one bathroom for an entire building. Tombe’s mother like most Sudanese women, found work as a maid in a private home for less than $5 a day. Tombe’s father left the family and never returned; since then her mother has supported her five children on income averaging $40 a week.
Tombe is an avid reader, and always dreamed that one day she would go to college. Egypt’s government-run schools are free, but overcrowded and scantily supplied, and are only for legally recognized refugees and citizens. Most refugees hold yellow cards, which indicate that they are in the process of applying for official refugee status. Few possess the coveted blue card, which entitles families to a stipend and, at least in theory, gives refugee children the right to enroll in school.
Most refugees attend education centers housed in church compounds, because even with blue-card status, refugees must present previous school records and a letter from their embassy in order to enroll. Families who fled on a moment’s notice, or whose schools were burned, have no records, and a visit to the Sudanese embassy means identifying yourself to officials of the same government from which these families fled.
Tombe was lucky; her mother enrolled her in St. Andrew’s Education Center, a small school in a church compound with a British-American curriculum. It is Cairo’s only secondary school to teach entirely in English.
Despite the prejudice that African asylum seekers in Cairo face — insults and injuries akin to what African Americans suffered in the Jim Crow South — Tombe survived by focusing on her schoolwork. She quickly became the top student at St. Andrew’s, and the star of her school basketball team.
Dunn alumna takes Tombe in hand
In her second year of high school, Tombe took a writing workshop for young refugees at the American University in Cairo. Her instructor, Brooke Comer, who grew up in the Santa Ynez Valley and graduated from Dunn School, already had helped another talented young Sudanese student and a friend of Tombe’s, Nyuol Tong, get a scholarship to Dunn. She recognized Tombe’s talent and hard work, and suggested that she audit university writing classes.
Tombe’s professors noted her excellent work and helped her apply for a full university scholarship, which she won. It is not uncommon for students to enter Egyptian universities at 15, but Tombe was denied admission because she had no legitimate high school diploma. Comer then helped her to apply for a scholarship to Dunn, and found a host family — Bill and Lillie Shelly of Janin Acres.
Lillie Shelly, who worked in Juba, has both a knowledge of, and an interest in, the Sudanese culture. Nyuol already had distinguished himself at Dunn as a scholar, athlete, and poet, and the school’s nurturing community and rich, challenging curriculum seemed ideal for a motivated student to prove herself.
Then a new obstacle emerged; acquiring a U.S. visa. Even when Tombe was admitted to Dunn and given a partial scholarship, she had no identification papers. Child refugees enter Egypt from Sudan on a mother’s passport. Even when Tombe applied for and received her own Sudanese passport, she needed a one year Egyptian residency permit to claim a U.S. visa. To claim the permit, she needed to be enrolled in a recognized school—but had this been possible, she would not have needed the residency permit in the first place.
Tombe looks to future
Fortunately, the University Provost and connections at the U.S. Embassy helped Tombe get the permit, and she was able to receive her visa. Now she has a chance to complete her education and fulfill her dreams. She looks forward to studying literature and politics and art.
Tombe grew up in a compound of 17 concrete houses surrounded by a fence of green trees. She had seen few trees since her move to Cairo’s vast, urban sprawl, but she’s looking forward to becoming re-acquainted with nature in Santa Ynez. She’s excited by this chance to go to a school with a library, to studying literature and politics.
She’d like to own an iPod. But most of all, she looks forward to being accepted in a community of peace and tolerance.
Interested valley residents can help make Tombe’s dreams come true by making a donation to the Los Olivos Rotary. They are looking for 150 “Angels” to donate $50 apiece to contribute to her living and educational expenses for one year.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Darfur Withers as Sudan Sells Food
from the New York Times
Sudan receives a billion pounds of free food from donors, butt he people in Darfur still starve. This article tries to look into why. - Kale
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
ED DAMER, Sudan — Even as it receives a billion pounds of free food from international donors, Sudan is growing and selling vast quantities of its own crops to other countries, capitalizing on high global food prices at a time when millions of people in its war-riddled region of Darfur barely have enough to eat.
Here in the bone-dry desert, where desiccated donkey carcasses line the road, huge green fields suddenly materialize. Beans. Wheat. Sorghum. Melons. Peanuts. Pumpkins. Eggplant. It is all grown here, part of an ambitious government plan for Sudanese self-sufficiency, creating giant mechanized farms that rise out of the sand like mirages.
But how much of this bonanza is getting back to the hungry Sudanese, like the 2.5 million driven into camps in Darfur? And why is a country that exports so many of its own crops receiving more free food than anywhere else in the world, especially when the Sudanese government is blamed for creating the crisis in the first place?
African countries that rely on donated food usually cannot produce enough on their own. Somalia, Ethiopia, Niger and Zimbabwe are all recent examples of how war, natural disasters or gross mismanagement can cut deep into food production, pushing millions of people to the brink of starvation.
But here in Sudan, there seem to be plenty of calories to go around. The country is already growing wheat for Saudi Arabia, sorghum for camels in the United Arab Emirates and vine-ripened tomatoes for the Jordanian Army. Now the government is plowing $5 billion into new agribusiness projects, many of them to produce food for export.
Take sorghum, a staple of the Sudanese diet, typically eaten in flat, spongy bread. Last year, the United States government, as part of its response to the emergency in Darfur, shipped in 283,000 tons of sorghum, at high cost, from as far away as Houston. Oddly enough, that is about the same amount that Sudan exported, according to United Nations officials. This year, Sudanese companies, including many that are linked to the government in Khartoum, are on track to ship out twice that amount, even as the United Nations is being forced to cut rations to Darfur.
Eric Reeves, a professor at Smith College and an outspoken activist who has written frequently on the Darfur crisis, called this anomaly “one of the least reported and most scandalous features of the Khartoum regime’s domestic policies.” It was emblematic, he said, of the Sudanese government’s strategy to manipulate “national wealth and power to further enrich itself and its cronies, while the marginalized regions of the country suffer from terrible poverty.”
Aid groups gave up long ago on the Sudanese government helping the people of Darfur. After all, the nation’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, has been accused of masterminding genocide in Darfur. United Nations officials have said that if they do not bring food into the region, the government surely will not.
That leaves the United Nations and Western aid groups feeding more than three million Darfurians. But the lifeline is fraying. Security is deteriorating. Aid trucks are getting hijacked nearly every day and deliveries are being made less and less frequently. The result: less food and soaring malnutrition rates, particularly among children.
On top of this is the broader problem of trying to find affordable grains on the world market when prices are higher than they have been in decades. United Nations officials in Sudan say that the fact that they have to import some of the same commodities that Sudan not only produces but exports is a source of constant frustration.
“Sudan could be self-sufficient,” said Kenro Oshidari, the director of the United Nations World Food Program in Sudan. “It does have the potential to be the breadbasket of Africa.”
Sudanese officials say that is precisely their goal, and they deny that Sudanese agribusiness is being built at the expense of their own people. They reject accusations that they are neglecting far-flung areas like Darfur, much less waging a war of hunger and deprivation against them.
Instead, Sudanese officials say they are simply trying to build up their economy. They say they know what it is like to be vilified, having been squeezed by American sanctions for more than a decade. And it could get worse, with Mr. Bashir facing genocide charges at the International Criminal Court in connection with the massacres in Darfur.
“Sanctions are never far from our mind,” said Al-Amin Dafa Allah, chairman of the National Assembly’s agricultural committee. “We’re trying to minimize our reliance on the outside.”
In fact, part of the reason relief agencies bring their own food into Sudan stems from the American policy of giving crops, not money, as foreign aid.
Many European countries, by contrast, just give the World Food Program cash, which can be used to buy food locally. Last year, the program bought 117,000 tons of Sudanese sorghum. United Nations officials said they would like to buy more, but they had had run-ins with Sudanese suppliers who could make more money with exports.
“We don’t get discounts,” said Emilia Casella, a spokeswoman for the World Food Program.
Sudanese officials say they want to sell more crops to the United Nations, but lost in this discussion about buying and selling food is whether the Sudanese government should be donating food to its own needy people.
For now, Sudanese officials seem more interested in doing business with their new partners in the Middle East. Sudan is the largest country in Africa, nearly one million square miles. It has 208 million acres of arable land, with less than a quarter being cultivated. The Sudanese government is striking deals left and right with Arab countries just across the Red Sea: the Arab countries bring the money, the soil scientists and the $200,000 tractors. Sudan supplies the land.
“Our country is small and dry and mountainous,” said Man Shuqwara, the Jordanian director of a Jordanian-run farm in northern Sudan that grows wheat, beans, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, oranges and bananas. “By logic we would come to Sudan.”
The same logic is attracting big money from Saudi Arabia. About an hour’s drive north of the Jordanian farm, near the town of Ed Damer, is a huge new $200 million project to grow wheat in what now looks like a 10-mile-wide sandbox. Some of the wheat will stay in Sudan; some will be shipped to Saudi Arabia. A fleet of new John Deere tractors is already lined up for harvest time. A worker on the farm whispered that the tractors had been sneaked into Sudan through Saudi Arabia because of the American trade sanctions.
Sudan’s overall economic strategy is to diversify from oil, which it began exporting in 1999, and to focus more closely on the traditional engine of the country’s economy — agriculture. More than 80 percent of the work force is engaged in raising animals or farming of one sort or another.
“Our sesame oil is the best in the world,” said Mr. Al-Amin, the agriculture committee chairman. “And it’s organic!”
But make no mistake about it: much of Sudan is still a blazing hot, cruelly barren landscape, with specterlike figures in impossibly white gowns tramping through the dust.
But at certain nodes, especially along the Nile River, this country is as green and lush as Florida. It boasts three crucial ingredients for growing things: land, labor and, most important, water.
The Nile and its tributaries flow more than 2,000 miles across Sudan, bringing the silt-rich water right to the fields. The British colonial government was the first to capitalize on this in a big way, building a dam in 1925 on the Blue Nile, one of the two main sources of the Nile River, and a network of canals. Today, that project, called the Gezira Scheme, has thousands of miles of canals irrigating nearly 2.5 million acres of farms. The genius is that it is all done by gravity, which means water flows from the dam through capillaries of canals to seedlings in the field, all without using a watt of electricity.
“We have water 24-7,” said Siddig Eissa Ahmed, the director of the Gezira Scheme, which is government-run, like much of Sudanese agribusiness.
The dark side of all this development is displacement. The conflict in Darfur, in western Sudan, is largely about grazing rights and watering holes — and the government’s brutal counterinsurgency policies in response to an armed rebellion. So far, the most ambitious agricultural projects have avoided the area altogether, and instead are concentrated in the central and northern parts of the country.
Even so, development in Sudan often means uprooting other rural subsistence farmers for large-scale commercial projects, said Alex de Waal, a Sudan scholar at the Social Science Research Council in New York.
“Smallholder food production goes down, commercial food production goes up, and food relief serves as a subsidy to this transformation, keeping the displaced alive,” he said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Sudan receives a billion pounds of free food from donors, butt he people in Darfur still starve. This article tries to look into why. - Kale
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
ED DAMER, Sudan — Even as it receives a billion pounds of free food from international donors, Sudan is growing and selling vast quantities of its own crops to other countries, capitalizing on high global food prices at a time when millions of people in its war-riddled region of Darfur barely have enough to eat.
Here in the bone-dry desert, where desiccated donkey carcasses line the road, huge green fields suddenly materialize. Beans. Wheat. Sorghum. Melons. Peanuts. Pumpkins. Eggplant. It is all grown here, part of an ambitious government plan for Sudanese self-sufficiency, creating giant mechanized farms that rise out of the sand like mirages.
But how much of this bonanza is getting back to the hungry Sudanese, like the 2.5 million driven into camps in Darfur? And why is a country that exports so many of its own crops receiving more free food than anywhere else in the world, especially when the Sudanese government is blamed for creating the crisis in the first place?
African countries that rely on donated food usually cannot produce enough on their own. Somalia, Ethiopia, Niger and Zimbabwe are all recent examples of how war, natural disasters or gross mismanagement can cut deep into food production, pushing millions of people to the brink of starvation.
But here in Sudan, there seem to be plenty of calories to go around. The country is already growing wheat for Saudi Arabia, sorghum for camels in the United Arab Emirates and vine-ripened tomatoes for the Jordanian Army. Now the government is plowing $5 billion into new agribusiness projects, many of them to produce food for export.
Take sorghum, a staple of the Sudanese diet, typically eaten in flat, spongy bread. Last year, the United States government, as part of its response to the emergency in Darfur, shipped in 283,000 tons of sorghum, at high cost, from as far away as Houston. Oddly enough, that is about the same amount that Sudan exported, according to United Nations officials. This year, Sudanese companies, including many that are linked to the government in Khartoum, are on track to ship out twice that amount, even as the United Nations is being forced to cut rations to Darfur.
Eric Reeves, a professor at Smith College and an outspoken activist who has written frequently on the Darfur crisis, called this anomaly “one of the least reported and most scandalous features of the Khartoum regime’s domestic policies.” It was emblematic, he said, of the Sudanese government’s strategy to manipulate “national wealth and power to further enrich itself and its cronies, while the marginalized regions of the country suffer from terrible poverty.”
Aid groups gave up long ago on the Sudanese government helping the people of Darfur. After all, the nation’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, has been accused of masterminding genocide in Darfur. United Nations officials have said that if they do not bring food into the region, the government surely will not.
That leaves the United Nations and Western aid groups feeding more than three million Darfurians. But the lifeline is fraying. Security is deteriorating. Aid trucks are getting hijacked nearly every day and deliveries are being made less and less frequently. The result: less food and soaring malnutrition rates, particularly among children.
On top of this is the broader problem of trying to find affordable grains on the world market when prices are higher than they have been in decades. United Nations officials in Sudan say that the fact that they have to import some of the same commodities that Sudan not only produces but exports is a source of constant frustration.
“Sudan could be self-sufficient,” said Kenro Oshidari, the director of the United Nations World Food Program in Sudan. “It does have the potential to be the breadbasket of Africa.”
Sudanese officials say that is precisely their goal, and they deny that Sudanese agribusiness is being built at the expense of their own people. They reject accusations that they are neglecting far-flung areas like Darfur, much less waging a war of hunger and deprivation against them.
Instead, Sudanese officials say they are simply trying to build up their economy. They say they know what it is like to be vilified, having been squeezed by American sanctions for more than a decade. And it could get worse, with Mr. Bashir facing genocide charges at the International Criminal Court in connection with the massacres in Darfur.
“Sanctions are never far from our mind,” said Al-Amin Dafa Allah, chairman of the National Assembly’s agricultural committee. “We’re trying to minimize our reliance on the outside.”
In fact, part of the reason relief agencies bring their own food into Sudan stems from the American policy of giving crops, not money, as foreign aid.
Many European countries, by contrast, just give the World Food Program cash, which can be used to buy food locally. Last year, the program bought 117,000 tons of Sudanese sorghum. United Nations officials said they would like to buy more, but they had had run-ins with Sudanese suppliers who could make more money with exports.
“We don’t get discounts,” said Emilia Casella, a spokeswoman for the World Food Program.
Sudanese officials say they want to sell more crops to the United Nations, but lost in this discussion about buying and selling food is whether the Sudanese government should be donating food to its own needy people.
For now, Sudanese officials seem more interested in doing business with their new partners in the Middle East. Sudan is the largest country in Africa, nearly one million square miles. It has 208 million acres of arable land, with less than a quarter being cultivated. The Sudanese government is striking deals left and right with Arab countries just across the Red Sea: the Arab countries bring the money, the soil scientists and the $200,000 tractors. Sudan supplies the land.
“Our country is small and dry and mountainous,” said Man Shuqwara, the Jordanian director of a Jordanian-run farm in northern Sudan that grows wheat, beans, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, oranges and bananas. “By logic we would come to Sudan.”
The same logic is attracting big money from Saudi Arabia. About an hour’s drive north of the Jordanian farm, near the town of Ed Damer, is a huge new $200 million project to grow wheat in what now looks like a 10-mile-wide sandbox. Some of the wheat will stay in Sudan; some will be shipped to Saudi Arabia. A fleet of new John Deere tractors is already lined up for harvest time. A worker on the farm whispered that the tractors had been sneaked into Sudan through Saudi Arabia because of the American trade sanctions.
Sudan’s overall economic strategy is to diversify from oil, which it began exporting in 1999, and to focus more closely on the traditional engine of the country’s economy — agriculture. More than 80 percent of the work force is engaged in raising animals or farming of one sort or another.
“Our sesame oil is the best in the world,” said Mr. Al-Amin, the agriculture committee chairman. “And it’s organic!”
But make no mistake about it: much of Sudan is still a blazing hot, cruelly barren landscape, with specterlike figures in impossibly white gowns tramping through the dust.
But at certain nodes, especially along the Nile River, this country is as green and lush as Florida. It boasts three crucial ingredients for growing things: land, labor and, most important, water.
The Nile and its tributaries flow more than 2,000 miles across Sudan, bringing the silt-rich water right to the fields. The British colonial government was the first to capitalize on this in a big way, building a dam in 1925 on the Blue Nile, one of the two main sources of the Nile River, and a network of canals. Today, that project, called the Gezira Scheme, has thousands of miles of canals irrigating nearly 2.5 million acres of farms. The genius is that it is all done by gravity, which means water flows from the dam through capillaries of canals to seedlings in the field, all without using a watt of electricity.
“We have water 24-7,” said Siddig Eissa Ahmed, the director of the Gezira Scheme, which is government-run, like much of Sudanese agribusiness.
The dark side of all this development is displacement. The conflict in Darfur, in western Sudan, is largely about grazing rights and watering holes — and the government’s brutal counterinsurgency policies in response to an armed rebellion. So far, the most ambitious agricultural projects have avoided the area altogether, and instead are concentrated in the central and northern parts of the country.
Even so, development in Sudan often means uprooting other rural subsistence farmers for large-scale commercial projects, said Alex de Waal, a Sudan scholar at the Social Science Research Council in New York.
“Smallholder food production goes down, commercial food production goes up, and food relief serves as a subsidy to this transformation, keeping the displaced alive,” he said.
Link to full article. May expire in future.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Soaring fertiliser prices threaten world's poorest farmers
from the Guardian
A lot of the stories we share on here only touch on the fertilizer issue. This one gives more detail on how the higher costs of fertilizer is hurting food supply. - Kale
by John Vidal
A global fertiliser crisis caused by high oil prices and the US rush to biofuel crops is reducing the harvests of the world's poorest farmers and could lead to millions more people going hungry, according to the UN and global food analysts.
Optimism that soaring food commodity prices could lift millions of developing country farmers out of poverty and lead to more food being grown have been dashed, says the UN. This is because small farmers either consume their own crop or have no access to global markets to take advantage of the higher food prices.
There is little prospect of relief. A world fertiliser forecast report, due to be published by the UN this week but seen by the Guardian, states that prices will remain high for at least three years and possibly longer.
A lot of the stories we share on here only touch on the fertilizer issue. This one gives more detail on how the higher costs of fertilizer is hurting food supply. - Kale
by John Vidal
A global fertiliser crisis caused by high oil prices and the US rush to biofuel crops is reducing the harvests of the world's poorest farmers and could lead to millions more people going hungry, according to the UN and global food analysts.
Optimism that soaring food commodity prices could lift millions of developing country farmers out of poverty and lead to more food being grown have been dashed, says the UN. This is because small farmers either consume their own crop or have no access to global markets to take advantage of the higher food prices.
There is little prospect of relief. A world fertiliser forecast report, due to be published by the UN this week but seen by the Guardian, states that prices will remain high for at least three years and possibly longer.