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.

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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.

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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.'

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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.

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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."

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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.

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African poverty warning from new UK aid agency

from the Irish Times

A new NGO from the UK has warned that 100 million more African people are at risk of extreme poverty. They cite the collapse of the world trade talks and the rising cost of food. - Kale

by GENEVIEVE CARBERY

At the launch of Self Help Africa, the merger of Irish charity Self Help Development International and UK-based agency Harvest Help, the organisation's chief executive Ray Jordan said farming and rural development were key to freedom from hunger and poverty.

"Up to 80 per cent of Africans rely on agriculture for their livelihoods," said Mr Jordan. Unless rural communities and grassroots food production is central to international development, the poverty crisis would get worse, he warned.

Costs of transport and fertiliser, growth of biofuels, and population expansion are undermining rural Africans' efforts to trade their way out of poverty, Mr Jordan said.

The new organisation is "committed to providing communities . . . with the skills and basic resources to adapt to these challenges". Both organisations have worked for some 25 years to help people in rural Africa.

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More on the Anglican Bishops March

from the AFP via Google

Here is more on the Anglican bishops march that took place in London on Thursday. - Kale

LONDON — Hundreds of Anglican bishops from around the world were among 1,500 people who marched through central London Thursday calling for urgent action to tackle global poverty.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown lent his support to their calls, telling them in a speech afterwards that the march was "one of the greatest public demonstrations of faith that this country has ever seen".

The march, organised during a once-a-decade gathering of the Anglican church underway in Canterbury, was aimed at calling on world leaders to do more to meet the UN Millenium Development Goals set in 2000 to tackle world poverty.

In a letter intended as a manifesto for the march, the church's top cleric, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, said most of the goals to halve poverty by 2015 would not be achieved as things stood.

"Christian pastors and other faith leaders cannot stand by while promises are not kept, when nations are tempted by the easier path of preserving their own wealth at the cost of other peoples' poverty," he wrote.

He urged the United Nations -- due to debate the issue in New York in September -- to set a timetable on meeting the goals and commit to carbon emissions cuts to ease climate change which is hitting poor nations hard.

The Millenium Development Goals include halving extreme poverty, halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education by 2015.

Brown, who has made helping developing countries out of poverty a key priority of his premiership, also warned that time was running out to meet the goals in an address after the march.

"You have sent a symbol, a very clear message with rising force that poverty can be eradicated, poverty must be eradicated and if we all work together for change, poverty will be eradicated," he said after the march.

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UK study explores the gulf between rich and poor

from the Telepraph

Streets where no one works, and the only people on the corners are dealing drugs. This is in the UK as well, as a new study sheds light on this. - Kale

The gulf between rich and poor in Britain's inner cities is wider now than at any point since Victorian times, the Tories will say today.

By Simon Johnson

They highlight new research showing some of the country's most deprived communities are literally next door to the most prosperous.

Despite their proximity, these ghettos are described as being "on a different planet" - rife with drug dealers, gangs, knives, guns and children being raised in squalor.

They say the figures are a damning indictment of New Labour's policies.

Chris Grayling, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said: "What we are seeing is the growth of a sub-culture in our society that is utterly divided from and alienated from mainstream British life.

"In many respects these communities might as well be on a different planet from the rest of us.

"This is one of Britain's great social challenges, and the fact that it remains untouched a decade after Gordon Brown and Tony Blair won power will remain one of the great failures of this Government."

The Conservatives claim their research, based on Government figures produced by Oxford University, shows the scale of the divide.

In areas of central London 99.55 per cent of children are officially classified as living in poverty, whereas in other parts of the same area the figure is just 0.64 per cent.

More than 80 per cent of households in one ward in Leicester are officially classified as being "income deprived", while elsewhere in the city the figure is only four per cent.

Manchester city centre has the most divided communities in the country, with nearly half of residents in one electoral ward officially poor, while in nearby streets the figure is just one per cent.

The official unemployment rate is 5.2 per cent but there are pockets of Britain's cities where half the working age population is dependent on benefits.

Mr Grayling will argue in a speech to businessmen in Liverpool tomorrow (tues) that the gulf in social opportunities and life expectancy "is as vast as it has been at any stage since Victorian times."

He will compare the gang culture and deprivation of that era to today, and argue that social mobility under Labour "has come to a halt".

In an attack on Gordon Brown's record, Mr Grayling will claim there is a metaphoric "glass wall" around deprived areas that prevents residents from escape.

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Video: Faith In Action rally

from The Telegraph

Here is some video from the Faith In Action rally that happened in Britain yesterday. - Kale



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Finishing a year of volunteerism

from the BBC

The leader of one of Britain's biggest insurance companies is now back now urging government to do more. - Kale
By Gareth Jones

The former head of one of the world's biggest insurance companies has just come to the end of a year working for charity in Africa.

Richard Harvey, who as chief executive of Aviva ran a global operation employing 60,000 people, has been casting a critical business eye over the aid industry.

This time last year Richard Harvey was still enjoying the perks of office.

His chauffeur-driven limo had dropped him off at Aviva Tower, an executive lift had whisked him non-stop to the luxurious 23rd floor where he was greeted by his top team.

High above the City of London Mr Harvey spoke to his staff, gathered for his leaving do, about his impending departure.

"I never had a gap year before university," he joked. "But the kids have grown up and the mortgage is paid off. So now's the time."

A few months before, Mr Harvey had surprised the City by announcing his early retirement after 10 years at the top of insurance giant Norwich Union and then parent company Aviva.

The 56-year old said he was giving up his million-pound a year job to work in Africa for Hereford-based charity Concern Universal.

He said he wanted to use his 'gap year' to find out how best the continent could be helped to solve its problems.

'Bright future'

So what is his conclusion twelve months on?

"Africa has a bright future if it can be helped to trade its way out of poverty," he believes. "But the West - individuals and organisations- is still making mistakes."

Mr Harvey has been in Africa at a time when the interest of private philanthropists is very high.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, two of the world's richest men, are putting billions of dollars into helping the continent.

I still hear people talking about how many drugs they've delivered, how many injections they've given. That's not what you want to be measuring
Richard Harvey

One of Africa's poorest countries, Malawi - where Mr Harvey spent the last three months of his sabbatical - is also benefiting from money and effort donated by the likes of Scottish entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter, UK-based hedge fund financier Christopher Hohn and former US President Bill Clinton's Foundation.

Richard Harvey had been keen to discover whether all this new funding and that spent by more established charities and governmental organisations was being put to good effect.

"Working for Concern Universal has taught me the importance of preparing communities to receive aid," he says.

"When they help sink a well for example, they get that community to buy into the project by preparing them for six months beforehand with education and training. This means villagers feel they own the project and will look after it when the donor has gone away."

Focus on outcomes

In Malawi, as in other parts of Africa where Mr Harvey worked, erratic rains have been leading to crop failure, hunger and disease.

Villagers and their fields need clean, reliable supplies of water from wells and simple irrigation systems. He says he has noticed how donors are still making mistakes.

"You see them all around you.

"The disused pumps for example. I have spoken to individuals here who, in a very good-natured way, have seen a community in need and rushed out and written a cheque and drilled a borehole in the ground.

"Then it's fallen into disuse either because no-one knew how to repair it or it was in the wrong place and was causing disputes in the village or a dozen different reasons because there was no fundamental ownership."

Western donors need to stop talking about inputs and focus on outcomes instead, he argues.

"I still hear people talking about how many drugs they've delivered, how many injections they've given. That's not what you want to be measuring."

Looking to the future, Mr Harvey said that while current increases in world food prices were a serious threat to Africa's poor, in the longer term they could be to their benefit.

"If African farmers can be helped to take advantage of simple techniques to boost food production, their income will rise significantly, relieving poverty especially in rural areas."

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'180% rise' in destitute refugees

from Ananova

The Government has been urged to take action after a report found that the number of destitute asylum seekers and refugees had increased by 180% in just 18 months.

The survey by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) revealed that there were 331 destitute asylum seekers on the streets of Leeds, West Yorkshire - an increase from 118 in 2006.

A trust spokesman said this was just a sample of the tens of thousands of asylum seekers, refused asylum seekers and refugees now living destitute in the UK.

The More Destitution in Leeds report, which follows a survey carried out in the same city 18 months ago, found that asylum seekers were forced into poverty without access to health care and education or permission to work.

The number of children recorded as destitute in Leeds has increased almost fourfold from 13 to 51, the trust said.

There was also a steep rise in the number of destitute Zimbabweans from four in 2006 to 56 this year. Zimbabweans are now the single biggest national group of destitute asylum seekers in Leeds, forming 21% of the total, while Iranians are the second biggest with 16%.

Bill Kilgallon, a commissioner in the original JRCT inquiry, said the Government's asylum policy was having a "devastating impact" on people in "desperate need of help".

He said: "This survey clearly shows that the asylum crisis highlighted 18 months ago is actually getting worse despite - and, in some cases, because of - the introduction of the Government's New Asylum Model. The scale of overall destitution has almost tripled, more children are suffering and more people are suffering for longer. This cannot go on."

The trust found that the most common reason for people becoming destitute was a delay in Section 4 support, which is available to asylum seekers or refused asylum seekers who are unable to return to their country of origin or who have been given leave to seek a judicial review.

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UN missing anti-poverty goals, warns Brown

from the Independent, UK

Looks like a big event to mobilize the UK to help meet the Millennium Development Goals will occur today as a part of a conference of Anglican Bishops. - Kale

By James Macintyre

Gordon Brown will warn today that the historic commitments made by the United Nations in 2000 to relieve poverty in the developing world are in danger of being missed.

The Prime Minister will reaffirm his commitment to the Millennium Development Goals in a speech to the Lambeth conference of Anglican bishops which moves temporarily from Canterbury to London today. He will say that while good progress is being made on some targets – such as on the eradication of extreme poverty – other areas including education and sanitation need urgent improvement.

Mr Brown staved off an attempt to water down the G8 commitment at the Gleneagles summit three years ago that the world's richest economies will double aid to Africa to $25bn a year to 2010. But he is concerned that the wider effort by the UN is behind schedule.

As well as eradicating extreme poverty, the development goals are achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women, reducing child mortality, improving mental health, combating HIV, Aids, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development.

The latest World Bank-IMF report warns that most countries will fail on the goals. Many parts of the world are on course to halve extreme poverty by 2015. But the aims of cutting child and maternal mortality are looking highly unlikely. Primary education, sanitation and nutrition goals also look likely to be missed.

The World Bank estimates that food price increases – 74 per cent for rice over the past year, and 130 per cent for wheat – will drive at least another 100 million people into deep poverty.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, will praise the progress achieved by Mr Brown so far, but add a new challenge, urging world leaders to invest in and strengthen their partnership with the church worldwide, so that its extensive delivery network for education and health care, alongside other faiths, is fully utilised in the eradication of extreme poverty.

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Doubling of grants to UN food aid agency urged

from the Financial Times

A report from an UK parliament committee asks for the doubling of aid to the UN's World Food Programme. - Kale
By Javier Blas in London

Donations to the United Nations' World Food Programme must double to secure aid for those pushed into poverty by rising food and fuel prices and to compensate for higher procurement costs, a report warned yesterday.

The UK parliament's International Development Committee said that significant increases to the WFP's budget would probably be needed in the short term and sustained over the years. "The usual annual total of $3bn [€1.9bn, £1.5bn] in voluntary contributions may need to double."

Last year, the WFP received donations of $2.7bn, up from $1.7bn in 1998. After mounting an appeal this year, the WFP received $2.6bn in the first six months of 2008 and is likely to need about $6bn.

The report is the first to look at the WFP's future financial needs. It suggests that the Rome-based agency must sustain over the medium term this year's emergency appeal for extra funds. Although the WFP is likely to raise enough money this year, it is unclear whether it could continue to do so in subsequent years.

Diplomats said that some of this year's large donations, including one of $500m from Saudi Arabia, looked more like one-off contributions than permanent commitments. John Powell, WFP deputy executive director, said: "They [donors] need to recognise that this is not a passing storm, but something that is going to stay with us."

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The Scots charity offering a route out of poverty for war-torn Liberia's kids

from the Daily Record

This is a story on the charity called Mary's Meals. This charity gives a lot lore than food to the children of Liberia. - Kale

By Samantha Booth

ORPHANED children wandering alone around city streets is not an unusual sight in Liberia.

The war-torn country is home to thousands of youngsters who have lost parents in the battles between factions who seek to gain control over the gold and diamond mines.

Many are former child soldiers who are desperately trying to adapt to life free from enslavement by the rival armies.

Some are simply lost and lonely children looking for a way to stave off starvation.

Life in Liberia, on the west coast of Africa, is particularly cruel for youngsters with a disability.

One nine-year-old deaf boy was found wandering the streets in the city of Monrovia by the police.

He could not tell officers where he was from, where his family were or even his name.

But thanks to a small Scottish charity, there was somewhere for this little boy to find refuge and care.

Police took him to the newly opened Oscar Romero School for the Deaf built by Scottish International Relief (SIR) with funds donated by the Rozelle Trust in Paisley.

Here, he was given the name Joseph, a warm bed and food.

Most importantly, Joseph now receives lessons in sign language.

As well as enabling him to communicate, it will also be vital in helping him get an education - his only chance of escaping poverty.

Magnus MacFarlane-Barr, founder of Scottish International Relief, said: "Sign language opens up a whole new world for children like Joseph.

"I found it really moving to see him and the other children start to learn how to sign and begin to realise that they did actually have a way of expressing themselves.

"Just the fact they feel they are being respected enough to be given an education means a lot to them.

"It is a real revelation to them to start communicating with people and it really is incredible to see.

"Sadly, Joseph's story is typical of Liberia. There are so many children like that who have lost their parents.

"His is a very moving story but it happens so much out there it would be hard to say I was shocked."

Scottish International Relief have been working in Liberia for 11 years.

They first got involved during the civil war between 1986 and 1996, when they provided emergency aid to the millions of refugees displaced by the fighting.

To begin with all they could do was send container ships full of clothes, food and medical supplies.

Magnus visited the country for the first time in 1997, when people were attempting to move back to their homes after the worst of the fighting had ended.

SIR helped by building schools and by setting up a mobile medical unit to give primary care. In 2002, in the midst of a second bout of fighting, they took theirMary'sMeals scheme to the country.

It provides children with one meal a day in return for their attendance at school.

Magnus said: "So many of the problems and poverty we see in Liberia is due to the war - a war fuelled by diamonds and gold.

"When we first got involved in the country about half of the population were living in refugee camps.

"One of the distinctive things about the war in Liberia is the number of child soldiers there were.

A lot of the children we work with out there used to be child soldiers.

"In one school I was visiting recently 400 out of 600 pupils had fought with one army or another.

"Soldiers would go into a village, kill all of the adults then order the children to carry the loot from the village.

"From there they would be trained up to be soldiers but in the most part they were just slaves.

"Now we have a generation of children and young people who have had no education whatsoever because of the war." Magnus believes that without schooling, Liberia's people have no chance of escaping their devastating poverty.

In one of the many schools in the city of Westport, head teacher Harrison Marshall faces a daily struggle to help his pupils.

There are so many children but so few classrooms that he runs two schools in one building - one in the afternoon and one in the morning.

Tragically, many more children do not attend at all because they have to work. Countless others come to school hungry.

Teachers are paid 60 US dollars a month, enough to buy one large bag of rice.

Harrison said: "This chronic poverty is one of the things that causes families to break up.

"How can we tell our teenager daughters to behave and stay at home when we cannot feed them?

"How can you blame them if they do not respect us and go their own way?"

Each time Magnus visits Liberia to help its people he becomes ever more aware of the problems facing the country's high population of deaf children. Many were born with their disability but many more are deaf due to childhood diseases or infections - illnesses that could easily have been treated with antibiotics.

Magnus said: "In a lot of the other schools we were working in we were coming across a lot of deaf children and it soon became clear that there was no provision for them.

"Over a couple of years we could see that the deaf children would get frustrated at not being able to communicate and would end up getting into trouble. They would feel very excluded from everything and, of course, they have no way of telling anyone how they feel.

"They would also get annoyed by the way they were treated by the other kids.

"There is a huge lack of awareness about deafness and a lot of people were assuming that these children were stupid.

"So a couple of years ago we came up with the idea of starting a school for deaf children and the Oscar Romero School is the result.

"The need for it is so apparent. I was just there for a few days but in that time around 10 children were brought to the school either by parents hoping we would educate their deaf child or, like Joseph, they arrived at our door after having been abandoned or orphaned.

"I think we can accommodate 60 children but unfortunately I think we will reach that quite quickly."

To make a donation to Mary's Meals or Scottish International Relief, call 0800 698 1212 or log on to www.marysmeals.org

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EU executive endorses farm aid plan for Africa

from Reuters

Here are some more details on the EU's newly proposed food fund. It is already being welcomed by NGO's that work in Africa. - Kale

By Jeremy Smith

BRUSSELS - The European Commission backed a plan on Friday to give 1 billion euros to farmers in Africa next year to help tackle high food prices and boost output, despite opposition by many EU states.

The EU cash, largely the result of underspending and leeway in the bloc's massive agriculture budget, comprises 750 million euros earmarked for 2008 and the remainder for 2009. This year's amount could be given retrospectively from mid-June.

At least eight EU member countries, including Britain, Sweden and the Netherlands, have questioned the legality of the scheme but have not challenged the merit of the idea.

EU ministers and the European Parliament, which has also voiced doubts about using unspent EU farm funds, will have to agree to the plan before it can enter into force. The Commission would like cash to start flowing in early January 2009.

"There's a fairly broad consensus on the need to act here, given the crisis which is taking place," Commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger told a daily news briefing.

"In the Commission's opinion, this is the most efficient and most rapid instrument that could be used."

If approved, the money will be channelled to developing countries through international or regional organisations, such as the United Nations and World Food Programme.

Four areas of financial support are envisaged, the main two being to improve access to farming "inputs" like fertilisers and seeds and ways to improve agricultural capacity and production.

But the most difficult debate may come after the summer: how to set eligibility criteria for recipient countries and how much cash will be allocated by country. Those negotiations should be concluded by December, the Commission says.

Criteria are expected to include how much food a country produces to feed itself, its political stability and social vulnerability, its level of food price inflation and reliance on food imports -- including shipments of food aid.

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Hughes enlists directors in fight to end child poverty.

from Community Care, UK

This article covers a children's serivces conference in the UK that addressed child poverty. - Kale

Directors should ensure that early intervention and child poverty are priorities, says minister

by Daniel Lombard

Children's minister Beverley Hughes last week urged directors of children's services to play a lead role in harnessing local support for the government's campaign to eradicate child poverty by 2020.

Hughes told the Association of Directors of Children's Services annual conference that directors should forge partnerships with local authority and primary care trust senior managers to ensure they prioritised child poverty and a "shift to early intervention" in children's services. She said this should be reflected in funding contributions from agencies.

The theme of last week's conference in Manchester was combating family poverty.

Hughes admitted the latest statistics on child poverty, which showed an increase of 100,000 between 2005-6 and 2006-7, were a cause of "great sadness and frustration".

But she said services were well-placed to make inroads over the next 10 years towards the government's target of halving child poverty by 2010 (at 1999 levels) and eradicating it by 2020.

ADCS president Maggie Atkinson backed Hughes' call for directors to challenge partner bodies.

In a separate debate, the chair of the ADCS workforce development committee said councils could tackle child poverty by helping their own low-paid workers and providing job opportunities for unemployed parents.

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A FAIR price to pay?

from journal Live, UK

This is a look into the future for fair trade. With prices going up and the climate changing, will fair trade still be able to help? - Kale

by Jane Hall, The Journal

As the credit crunch bites and we become more conscious about how we spend our money, what does the future hold for prime food brands like Fairtrade? Jane Hall finds out.

IMAGINE having to permanently forego your morning wake-up shot of Peruvian coffee or soothing cup of Assam tea.

Worse still, muse on what it would be like to never again enjoy the pleasure of eating a banana, drinking pineapple juice or adding an exotic twist to your fruit salad with slices of mango and papaya.

Contemplate what life would be like with no more lemons, limes, grapefruit or lychees. No more demerara sugar, cashews or raisins. And no more organic cocoa.

In short, consider what it would be like to exist with no more imported foods. Could you handle it? They say a ripple in America creates a wave this side of the Atlantic, and the credit crunch is threatening to turn us all into penny-pinchers. Already discount supermarket chain Aldi is cashing in on people’s worries with plans to increase its chain of 400 UK stores to a 1,500-strong empire in the next five years.

The German chain’s expansion plans come amid increasing signs that cheap and cheerful high-street retailers are benefiting from a tightening of the consumer purse strings as inflation hits an 11-year high of 3.8% following a ferocious rise in the cost of living in June.

Now there are fears that inflation may soar as high as 4.5% or even 5% by the end of this year as wage growth stays muted and everything from energy bills and fuel to food prices continue to rocket.

It is premium-priced foods like Fairtrade that are likely to feel the sharp end of the economic turndown as consumers ditch them for their cheaper conventional counterparts.

There is already evidence this is happening. A recent survey found that nearly three in five people said paying up to 45% more for fairly- traded goods is no longer an option.

Add concerns over food miles and climate change to the mix, and Britain is now experiencing a bunkering down not seen since the Second World War and the days of rationing.

Nearly 100,000 Britons are on allotment waiting lists (in Blyth Valley, Northumberland, around 1,140 people are currently hoping to be allocated one of the area’s 900 plots, while in North Tyneside the figure is 1,316 for the borough’s 1,718 strips of land across 53 different sites).

Vegetable seed sales increased by 7% last year and the National Lottery is investing £50m into community gardens and school farms.

But as we look to save the pennies and consume less foodstuffs like Fairtrade, how is this going to affect the Third World producers whose income is entirely dependent on our demand for their fruit, tea, chocolate, flowers and cotton?

Fairtrade sales were worth £500m last year. This compares to £2bn for organic foods.

Any drop-off in consumer interest for Fairtrade goods would therefore have serious implications. Even the free trade-focused Adam Smith Institute warned earlier this year that “farmers who have been promised long-term contracts and sustainable prices may be unprepared to cope if Fairtrade’s stock suddenly falls in the public eye.”

Why is this? Because more than seven million people in 62 countries depend on Fairtrade for their livelihood. This is either directly through employment or indirectly by profiting from the schools, hospitals and other benefits.

So is the UK’s dependence on tropical fruits a sustainable one, or are we about to experience an about-turn and head back to the days of our ancestors when they only ate what was in season and had to survive the lean winter months on what had been pickled, preserved and prepared in the months of food glut.

Barbara Crowther of the Fairtrade Foundation believes we aren’t ready yet to abandon our love of the exotic. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to survive on turnips and potatoes for the rest of my life.

“By supporting agriculture in other parts of the world, we enable growers to provide food for themselves and protect the lands of their community so they’re not bought out by huge developers.

“And if we’re worried about the increasing level of food prices, we should send a positive signal to the growers of those products that we’re prepared to invest in their future, as we’re going to keep relying on them to grow things.” But what if Britain decided to go entirely local and seasonal? “I don’t think this would ever happen, as the cost of manual labour in the UK is too high,” claims Edson Marinho of Etica, a Brazilian farmers’ co-operative that grows mangoes for Dutch importer and distributor AgroFair.

“But if it did, it would result in chaos: even the biggest producers of Fairtrade goods wouldn’t have anywhere to sell, prices would fall and whole corporations would end up bankrupt.”

One alternative to eating seasonally and locally, says Robin Murray of TWIN, an alternative trading company that launched Cafedirect and Divine chocolate, is to grow everything Britain wants in Britain.

“Let’s say we could grow bananas in greenhouses in Kent,” says the economist, alluding to the 80-acre Thanet Earth project, which will grow 1.3 million types of fruit and vegetables under seven glasshouses 365 days a year.

“Does that make ecological sense in a lifecycle term? Let’s say it does. Then the banana industry the whole world over would have to be restructured – so should we build houses for Ecuadorians here in the UK to help us grow the bananas they used to grow?”

This notion of responsibility lies at the very heart of Fairtrade, not least because 1.5 million livelihoods in Africa alone are estimated to be dependent upon UK consumption of agricultural and horticultural produce.

But the land that’s used to feed the West could actually be used to feed Africa itself, opponents to Fairtrade have argued, as our purchase of Fairtrade products is coupled with the need to help feed continents that can’t feed themselves.

“They call this Fairtrade,” says Anthony Blay of Vrel, a Fairtrade co-operative with 250 hectares of banana and pineapple plantations in Ghana. “But this isn’t a fair world: there’s a huge difference between the price we sell our mangoes for and the prices in the supermarkets in the UK. There is something going seriously wrong here.”

While Ghana also grows crops like cassava, tomatoes, okra, peas and millet for internal trade, it has had to start importing rice from China to help feed its population of 23 million.

“If we could feed ourselves with our own food, that would be better,” admits Anthony. “But the organic bananas that we export to the UK are too expensive for the average Ghanaian to buy.” Vrel ships 5,000 boxes of bananas in five shipping containers to the UK and France every week. The bananas are put into plastic bags, which are themselves sent from the UK, to help them be differentiated from conventionally grown ones, resulting in 100,000 plastic bags being used every week.

While transport actually only accounts for about 10% of food’s carbon footprint, the rising cost of fuel is expected to bump up shipping costs, which in turn will increase the cost of Fairtrade goods.

But forget the future of Fairtrade, says Anthony Blay: he’s not even sure that farming – Fairtrade or not – is an industry that has much long-term projection.

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WTO deal among keys for food security - UK government

from Reuters


Even prosperous countries are growing more food due to food secuirity concerns. As this Reuters article explains, the British government has a new report on ways to tackle the global food crisis. - Kale

By Nigel Hunt

LONDON - More fertiliser in Africa, a global trade pact and maybe even genetically modified crops could help tackle global food security as rising prices drive millions into poverty, Britain's farm ministry said on Thursday.

Britons are increasingly growing their own food as prices rise and fears mount about future supplies, the ministry said in a report launching a debate on food security.

"High energy prices, poor harvests, rising demand from a growing population, use of biofuels and export bans have all pushed up prices and ... have sparked riots and instability in a number of countries around the world," the report said.

"The effects of these price increases are pushing millions of people in developing countries further into poverty and hunger," it added.

The ministry said global stability depended on there being enough food in the world to feed everyone and for it to be distributed in a way that was fair to all, criticising farm subsidies in the European Union and the United States.

"EU and U.S. tariffs and subsidies hinder the development of the agricultural sector in poorer economies," the report said, adding a world trade pact could lift millions out of poverty.

"They offer unfair incentives to farmers in developed countries to produce food, they deny poorer countries access to markets through protecting tariff barriers and they undermine local production in poorer countries."

Trade ministers from around the world are due to meet at the World Trade Organisation from next Monday as they seek to make a breakthough in the Doha round of negotiations.

The report said average the tariff on non-agricultural goods was 4 percent but tariffs of 70 percent were not uncommon for commodities such as sugar and beef under the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy.

AFRICAN FERTILISER

It said increasing productivity in developing countries would require more fertiliser. Fertiliser use in Africa was the world's lowest at 8 kg per hectare, against 311 kg in Britain.

Genetically modified (GM) crops could also have a role in helping meet future demand for food.

"It is possible that GM crops may be able to make an important contribution to improving crop yields and resilience. We need to see how the technology develops but we must not compromise safety or harm the environment," the report said.

The ministry said there was some evidence that growing demand for biofuels had contributed to rising food prices although the extent of the contribution was unclear.

Britain now produces 60 percent of its food, down from about 80 percent in the mid-1980s when output was boosted by European Union subsidies and trade barriers.

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Why the attack on poverty has failed

from Wales Online, UK

by Steffan Rhys, Western Mail

QUESTIONS were being asked last night about the effectiveness of the Welsh Assembly Government’s measures to tackle poverty, after an official report revealed the most deprived areas in Wales.

The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2008 showed that little has changed since 2005 in terms of the country’s most deprived areas.

Merthyr Tydfil, Blaenau Gwent, Neath Port Talbot and Rhondda Cynon Taf still had the largest proportion of their wards in the most deprived 10% of wards in Wales, leading AMs and community leaders to doubt the impact investment has had in the country’s most vulnerable areas.

Meanwhile, Rhyl West was named as Wales’ single most deprived ward, moving above Butetown in Cardiff, which topped the list in 2005.

The index is the official measure of deprivation for small areas in Wales. It shows that of the 190 wards classed as being in the most deprived 10% in 2005 (out of 1,896 wards in Wales), only 24 had moved out of this bracket by 2008.

The categories it uses to establish overall deprivation are income; employment; health; education, skills and training; housing; physical environment; geographical access to services; and community safety.

In response to the report, Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister For Social Justice, Equality and Housing, Mark Isherwood, said: “This raises worrying concerns about the impact of poverty fighting measures taken by governments in London and Cardiff, about the effective use of public money in order to achieve improved outcomes for the most vulnerable, and about the large number of deprived people living outside the areas of deprivation which have received most attention.

“We must engage communities, trust people, share responsibility and tackle underlying causes, and target need rather than location.”

Betty Campbell, a former headteacher and councillor in Butetown, who now runs community projects, said: “How are we ever going to get out of this situation when there are people coming into the area who are already poor and there are no jobs available for them?

“I don’t know if the council or the Government have put enough effort into helping people in this area get jobs.

“Nothing has really changed. We have a community centre that needs to be demolished and rebuilt. And nothing seems to be sustainable. We get projects which go on for a year then come to a halt. Sustainability is key."

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