from OnPhilanthropy.com
By: Elisabeth Anderson and Tom Watson
Stronger communities and motivated employees create a double bottom line that should encourage corporate philanthropy, even in challenging economic times; that message was clear during the day of festivities and discussion marking National Corporate Philanthropy Day Monday, February 25.
Recognition events in New York City, aimed at "building awareness of the benefits of corporate community investment," began with a CEO conference in mid-town Manhattan, and ended with the Empire State Building lit in blue and green, the official colors of the day. The events were organized by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, an international forum of more than 165 CEOs and board chairs pursuing a mission focused exclusively on corporate philanthropy.
Later in the afternoon, the NCPD festivities continued in the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) chamber at the United Nations. CEOs, giving officers, and UN delegates from around the world participated in an ECOSOC special event, jointly organized by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the UN Office of Partnerships, and CECP, focused on “How corporate philanthropy can contribute to advancing the Millennium Development Goals, particularly for sustainable development.”
The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions. They have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest.
The event, the first of its kind, served as an opportunity for ECOSOC to garner corporate insights that will be considered in its first Development Cooperation Forum this July. The highlights of the event were its two panels, the first focused on applying strategic philanthropy to the MDGs, and the second on leveraging leadership and strengthening partnerships through positive dialogue.
Moderators and panelists including Jeffrey Sachs; Akhtar Badshah, Senior Director, Community Affairs of Microsoft Corporation; and Christina Gold, CEO of Western Union discussed needs and opportunities with the likes of Kathy Bushkin Calvin, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the United Nations Foundation and Hilde Johnson, Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF.
The panels sought to cover a lot of ground in little time, and although it was a day for discussion, not action, the conversations were important in terms of opening up a dialogue between corporate and NGO leadership. It was particularly interesting to see delegates from places as diverse as Afghanistan and Cape Verde, Belgium and the Philippines, sharing with corporate attendees the importance of reaching the MDGs for their own nations. Indeed, the delegate from Cape Verde sought to hold the speakers’ feet to the fire, asking the private sector to bring their influence to bear on wealthy member states to keep their commitments: “Small, poor countries need the capacity to make these promises come true. We cannot live on hope alone; we must also have sustenance.”
Sachs underscored the critical nature of these commitments to global security: “If rich countries cannot meet the commitment of a fraction of 1% to meet these goals, it will be impossible to keep peace in this world.”
Steve Gunderson, the President and CEO of the Council on Foundations, added that he had seen a “paradigm shift” in international giving: “The fastest growth has been in giving for economic and social justice, and we need to facilitate that.”
Earlier, at a luncheon at the McGraw Hill headquarters in midtown, CECP gave its Excellence in Corporate Philanthropy Awards to three different programs.
PNC Financial Services Group won the large company award, which was presented to CEO James E. Rohr. Through the PNC Grow Up Great initiative, the company implemented a ten-year, $100 million investment to help prepare children from birth to age five for success in school and life. This early childhood education effort, with a focus on underserved children, leverages PNC's corporate and philanthropic assets to advocate for a poorly understood but critical economic issue: ensuring children enter school ready to learn. PNC Grow Up Great is grounded in evidence that children with quality preschool do better in school and life. Through the investment in this program, PNC recognizes that learning in a child's early years is essential for long-term success and PNC has the opportunity to provide leadership, advocacy, funding, tools, and volunteers to help educate parents, caregivers, and communities to prepare children to enter school ready to learn.
The winner of the small company award was Moody's Corporation, represented by CEO Raymond McDaniel. Moody’s targeted giving program encourages students to develop a passion for mathematics, economics and finance — a focus that is relevant to Moody's core business. In partnership with the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Moody's created the Moody's Mega Math Challenge, an Internet-based applied mathematics competition for high school students, accompanied by scholarships from the company. The Moody's Mega Math Challenge helps excite students about employing mathematics to solve real world problems. Moody's selected a project that helps students to become more engaged in math, understanding that proficiency in mathematics is a cornerstone of success for many careers in the 21st century, thus building a talent pipeline for the business.
The third award was given to a nonprofit, in this case Community Voice Mail, which was nominated by its corporate partner Cisco Systems. Executive Director Jennifer Brandon explained that the organization, which provides free, personalized telecommunications access to poor and homeless people, empowers these individuals by providing reliable and confidential communication access for prospective employers, landlords, medical providers, case managers, and family members. CVM has a measurable impact on a person's ability to emerge from a sometimes desperate situation, providing the critical link to accessing basic human services. After using CVM for an average of seven months, nearly 70% of clients achieve at least one of their goals of finding a job, housing, or healthcare. This small organization successfully serves 41,000 clients by skillfully leveraging Cisco Systems' financial support and technological capabilities and by partnering with community-based organizations in over 40 cities nationally.
Whether on the community, national or international level, corporate philanthropy often in partnership with NGOs and governments is increasingly seeking, encouraging and achieving a measurable and sustainable impact.
About the Author
Tom Watson, Publisher of onPhilanthropy, is Chief Strategy Officer at Changing Our World, an international consulting firm helping leading nonprofits, corporations and grantmaking foundations achieve their philanthropic goals. He can be reached at twatson@changingourworld.com.
Elisabeth Anderson, corporate philanthropy editor for onPhilanthropy, is a Senior Director in the Corporate Social Engagement division of Changing Our World, Inc. helping corporations create and implement philanthropic programs that positively influence the community while adding value to their core business. You may contact the author at: eanderson@changingourworld.com.
Monday, March 03, 2008
Anti-Poverty Bill Stirs Controversy
from KEYE
By LES BLUMENTHAL
WASHINGTON -- It isn't a high-profile bill, but the Global Poverty Act has lit up the conservative blogosphere, and even Rush Limbaugh has gotten into the act.
Quietly approved by the House last fall with bipartisan support, the measure would require the president to develop a comprehensive strategy to help reduce extreme global poverty.
Conservative critics, including Limbaugh, Tony Perkins -- who heads the Family Research Council -- and others, claim the measure would cost U.S. taxpayers $845 billion over the next dozen or so years. They also say it would tie the United States to the United Nations Millennium Declaration, which, among other things, calls for banning "small arms and light weapons" and ratifying the Kyoto global-warming treaty, the International Criminal Court Treaty and the Convention on Biological Diversity.
They've sought to tie the legislation to much broader goals promoted by the United Nations, including that nations spend 0.7 percent of their gross national product on eradicating poverty and providing other assistance to the world's poor.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., said there's no link to those issues, and there's no additional spending mandated in his bill.
He said the attacks weren't aimed at him but at Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, whom he recruited last year to be the bill's chief Senate sponsor. Smith is chairman of the Obama campaign in Washington state.
Limbaugh, according to a transcript of his radio show, last week called the bill an effort to "soak U.S. taxpayers again to fund global, liberal feel-good garbage."
Smith said he wasn't surprised his bill is under attack.
"Anything can happen in the blogosphere," he said. He denied that his bill would have the consequences Limbaugh and others claim it would.
"It doesn't do any of those things," Smith said. But he said it's time for the United States to take an aggressive role in helping the 1 billion people worldwide who live on less than $1 a day.
The dust-up began last week when Cliff Kincaid, a columnist for Accuracy in Media, a conservative news-media watchdog organization found at www.aim.org, linked the bill to an effort by Democrats to burnish Obama's legislative credentials. His original column was widely distributed on Web sites ranging from www.fishingbuddy.com to www.capitolhillcoffeehouse.com.
On Wednesday, Kincaid ratcheted up his criticism.
"This is how the Washington game of spending more of your money works," he wrote. "This is a budget buster that siphons your hard-earned tax dollars to the U.N. and the rest of the world."
Smith, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, first introduced the Global Poverty Act in 2005. He approached Obama about sponsoring it late last summer, before the Illinois senator's presidential campaign took off.
The bill requires the president to develop a plan to eliminate extreme global poverty and achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people living on less than $1 a day by 2015. The measure doesn't include a set funding amount.
The bill, which had 84 House sponsors, including a handful of Republicans, passed the House on a voice vote in September.
As the Senate Foreign Relations Committee prepared to consider the measure last week, Kincaid published his first column. The committee approved the measure on a voice vote, and it's now headed to the Senate floor.
By LES BLUMENTHAL
WASHINGTON -- It isn't a high-profile bill, but the Global Poverty Act has lit up the conservative blogosphere, and even Rush Limbaugh has gotten into the act.
Quietly approved by the House last fall with bipartisan support, the measure would require the president to develop a comprehensive strategy to help reduce extreme global poverty.
Conservative critics, including Limbaugh, Tony Perkins -- who heads the Family Research Council -- and others, claim the measure would cost U.S. taxpayers $845 billion over the next dozen or so years. They also say it would tie the United States to the United Nations Millennium Declaration, which, among other things, calls for banning "small arms and light weapons" and ratifying the Kyoto global-warming treaty, the International Criminal Court Treaty and the Convention on Biological Diversity.
They've sought to tie the legislation to much broader goals promoted by the United Nations, including that nations spend 0.7 percent of their gross national product on eradicating poverty and providing other assistance to the world's poor.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., said there's no link to those issues, and there's no additional spending mandated in his bill.
He said the attacks weren't aimed at him but at Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, whom he recruited last year to be the bill's chief Senate sponsor. Smith is chairman of the Obama campaign in Washington state.
Limbaugh, according to a transcript of his radio show, last week called the bill an effort to "soak U.S. taxpayers again to fund global, liberal feel-good garbage."
Smith said he wasn't surprised his bill is under attack.
"Anything can happen in the blogosphere," he said. He denied that his bill would have the consequences Limbaugh and others claim it would.
"It doesn't do any of those things," Smith said. But he said it's time for the United States to take an aggressive role in helping the 1 billion people worldwide who live on less than $1 a day.
The dust-up began last week when Cliff Kincaid, a columnist for Accuracy in Media, a conservative news-media watchdog organization found at www.aim.org, linked the bill to an effort by Democrats to burnish Obama's legislative credentials. His original column was widely distributed on Web sites ranging from www.fishingbuddy.com to www.capitolhillcoffeehouse.com.
On Wednesday, Kincaid ratcheted up his criticism.
"This is how the Washington game of spending more of your money works," he wrote. "This is a budget buster that siphons your hard-earned tax dollars to the U.N. and the rest of the world."
Smith, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, first introduced the Global Poverty Act in 2005. He approached Obama about sponsoring it late last summer, before the Illinois senator's presidential campaign took off.
The bill requires the president to develop a plan to eliminate extreme global poverty and achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people living on less than $1 a day by 2015. The measure doesn't include a set funding amount.
The bill, which had 84 House sponsors, including a handful of Republicans, passed the House on a voice vote in September.
As the Senate Foreign Relations Committee prepared to consider the measure last week, Kincaid published his first column. The committee approved the measure on a voice vote, and it's now headed to the Senate floor.
Cultural practices buttress S.Leone poverty -UN
from Reuters
By Katrina Manson
FREETOWN, Harmful cultural practices such as female genital mutilation are hampering efforts to reduce poverty in Sierra Leone, which has the world's worst child and maternal mortality rates, a top U.N. official said.
Discrimination against women is also partly responsible for the social problems that have persisted since the 1991-2002 civil war, said Ann Veneman, executive director of child agency UNICEF, after a three-day visit to rural clinics and schools.
"Sierra Leone needs to change a number of the harmful traditional and cultural practices," Veneman told reporters late on Friday, citing female genital mutilation (FGM), child marriage and pregnancy, and under-age labour.
According to the United Nations, more than a quarter of children die before their fifth birthday in the former British colony, and one in eight women die in childbirth.
Seventy percent of the population live below the poverty line and fewer than 30 percent are literate.
Veneman criticised the high rates of sexual violence that have continued since the war when thousands of women were raped, kept as sex slaves and forced into marriage by rebels.
"A tremendous amount of sexual violence still goes on in this country," Veneman told Reuters after the news conference. "It has to be unacceptable in this society to allow sexual violence against women and children to continue."
Ignorance due to a tradition of not sending girls to school was contributing to problems such as feeding newborns with dirty water and rice milk instead of breast milk, which boosts the immune system, and the failure to use bednets against malaria.
"Poverty is the big problem," Veneman said. "But the young girls have a double problem: they are highly discriminated against and there is a total disregard for women and girls."
She also said girls were prey to secret societies -- closed traditional groups solely for women, that meet in the bush.
"They have secret societies where you learn how to be a woman and how to take care of a man and this is where you get your FGM," she said.
"These women who do this are running a business and have an economic interest in doing it. But it is a harmful practice: it can cause infection, bleeding and HIV/Aids."
UNICEF estimates 90-94 percent of women in Sierra Leone are cut and Veneman says attitudes are not changing quickly enough.
By Katrina Manson
FREETOWN, Harmful cultural practices such as female genital mutilation are hampering efforts to reduce poverty in Sierra Leone, which has the world's worst child and maternal mortality rates, a top U.N. official said.
Discrimination against women is also partly responsible for the social problems that have persisted since the 1991-2002 civil war, said Ann Veneman, executive director of child agency UNICEF, after a three-day visit to rural clinics and schools.
"Sierra Leone needs to change a number of the harmful traditional and cultural practices," Veneman told reporters late on Friday, citing female genital mutilation (FGM), child marriage and pregnancy, and under-age labour.
According to the United Nations, more than a quarter of children die before their fifth birthday in the former British colony, and one in eight women die in childbirth.
Seventy percent of the population live below the poverty line and fewer than 30 percent are literate.
Veneman criticised the high rates of sexual violence that have continued since the war when thousands of women were raped, kept as sex slaves and forced into marriage by rebels.
"A tremendous amount of sexual violence still goes on in this country," Veneman told Reuters after the news conference. "It has to be unacceptable in this society to allow sexual violence against women and children to continue."
Ignorance due to a tradition of not sending girls to school was contributing to problems such as feeding newborns with dirty water and rice milk instead of breast milk, which boosts the immune system, and the failure to use bednets against malaria.
"Poverty is the big problem," Veneman said. "But the young girls have a double problem: they are highly discriminated against and there is a total disregard for women and girls."
She also said girls were prey to secret societies -- closed traditional groups solely for women, that meet in the bush.
"They have secret societies where you learn how to be a woman and how to take care of a man and this is where you get your FGM," she said.
"These women who do this are running a business and have an economic interest in doing it. But it is a harmful practice: it can cause infection, bleeding and HIV/Aids."
UNICEF estimates 90-94 percent of women in Sierra Leone are cut and Veneman says attitudes are not changing quickly enough.
Forum focuses on fighting poverty
from The Times of Trenton
BY MICHELLE McGUINNESS
TRENTON -- The Trenton Area Soup Kitchen provided the setting yesterday morning for a public forum about the causes of and solutions to poverty.
TASK's policy forum brought together residents and experts in social issues to discuss poverty. TASK spokesman Irwin Stoolmacher said the group intentionally invited a wide range of panelists to the 8:30 a.m. forum to show that "one could be conservative or progressive or liberal and still care about the needs of those in poverty."
He said the event was intended to inform the general public, something it seemed to accomplish since the question-and-answer session ran past the scheduled ending time of 12:30 p.m. due to the amount of questions and comments.
"In a time when the state of New Jersey is making some cuts, it is important" for the public to know about the needs of the poor, Stoolmacher said.
According to Jon Shure, president of New Jersey Policy Perspective, one in five working families does not earn enough money to live in New Jersey, yet the government categorizes only 8.7 percent of the state's population as being under the poverty line. This, Shure said, is because the cost of living in New Jersey is much higher than in many states.
Shure said the fact that most people in poverty do have jobs contradicts an American tendency to view poverty as an individual failure or a racial issue, even though "nobody makes it in this country entirely on their own. As someone once said, 'It takes a village to raise a billionaire.'"
Gregg Edwards, president of the Center for Policy Research of New Jersey, said the problem of poverty isn't purely economic, however. Edwards contended that family structure and education is just as important as the economics of poverty. He focused on education for solutions, saying that charter schools and Catholic schools are often good alternatives to public schools, which he believes fail students.
He said the "complete and total failure of our public schools in urban settings" is "the most pressing civil rights issue" facing society. For example, Edwards said, teachers at public schools in urban areas are often young and inexperienced because the compensation at such schools is low.
BY MICHELLE McGUINNESS
TRENTON -- The Trenton Area Soup Kitchen provided the setting yesterday morning for a public forum about the causes of and solutions to poverty.
TASK's policy forum brought together residents and experts in social issues to discuss poverty. TASK spokesman Irwin Stoolmacher said the group intentionally invited a wide range of panelists to the 8:30 a.m. forum to show that "one could be conservative or progressive or liberal and still care about the needs of those in poverty."
He said the event was intended to inform the general public, something it seemed to accomplish since the question-and-answer session ran past the scheduled ending time of 12:30 p.m. due to the amount of questions and comments.
"In a time when the state of New Jersey is making some cuts, it is important" for the public to know about the needs of the poor, Stoolmacher said.
According to Jon Shure, president of New Jersey Policy Perspective, one in five working families does not earn enough money to live in New Jersey, yet the government categorizes only 8.7 percent of the state's population as being under the poverty line. This, Shure said, is because the cost of living in New Jersey is much higher than in many states.
Shure said the fact that most people in poverty do have jobs contradicts an American tendency to view poverty as an individual failure or a racial issue, even though "nobody makes it in this country entirely on their own. As someone once said, 'It takes a village to raise a billionaire.'"
Gregg Edwards, president of the Center for Policy Research of New Jersey, said the problem of poverty isn't purely economic, however. Edwards contended that family structure and education is just as important as the economics of poverty. He focused on education for solutions, saying that charter schools and Catholic schools are often good alternatives to public schools, which he believes fail students.
He said the "complete and total failure of our public schools in urban settings" is "the most pressing civil rights issue" facing society. For example, Edwards said, teachers at public schools in urban areas are often young and inexperienced because the compensation at such schools is low.
One in 3 public school students lives in poverty
from The Grand Rapids Press
Posted by Beth Loechler
At least one in three students -- 51,500 children -- at traditional public schools in Kent and Ottawa counties are poor. In Grand Rapids and Kelloggsville schools, four of every five live in poverty, according to federal statistics on students who get free or reduced-price school lunches.
Every day, DeeDee Johnson is reminded she is one of them.
Her mother, stepfather and two little brothers sold or packed up what they owned and moved to Washington state in September in search of opportunity and a decent paycheck. They left 10-year-old DeeDee in the care of Sandy Pelkey, a woman she calls "grandma," so she could continue in school and have a roof over her head.
"It's very depressing. I feel like I'm being torn two ways," said DeeDee, a fifth-grader at Huntington Woods Elementary in Wyoming.
But she talks to her mom most every day, receiving promises that they'll be reunited soon.
"She's a good student, but I see her struggling, mostly with her emotions," said Pelkey, a 52-year-old daycare provider and mother of eight who has known DeeDee since she was a toddler.
"DeeDee gets a lot of headaches and stomach aches. She's distracted. Wouldn't you be?"
DeeDee has lived in the close-to-the-edge world of poverty ever since she can remember. She is far from alone.
Without exception, every public school district in Kent and Ottawa counties has seen an increase in the number of poor children in classrooms over the past seven years. The changes have forced teachers to rethink how they teach and schools to reach out in ways they had not anticipated even a decade ago.
Today, at least one in three students -- 51,500 children -- at traditional public schools in Kent and Ottawa counties are poor. In Grand Rapids and Kelloggsville schools, four of every five live in poverty, according to federal statistics on students who get free or reduced-price school lunches.
Also, nearly two-thirds of the districts have seen the number of poor students increase by 38 percent or more since 2000.
"The state is in a recession, and the people who get hurt the most are the children who need the most. It's a travesty," said Susan Neuman, a University of Michigan professor and former assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education under President Bush.
At DeeDee's school, 54 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. In a family of four, that means earnings of $20,650 a year or less. When the school opened 15 years ago, a mere 8 percent of the students received subsidized lunches.
"The classroom has changed," acknowledged Huntington Woods kindergarten teacher Lani Dykhouse.
More often than not, poor children come to school with less background knowledge and more limited vocabularies, she said. Their listening skills aren't strong. They haven't been routinely talked to or read to or exposed to lots of books.
"Sometimes it feels like I opened up a box, pulled a child out and set them in kindergarten," Dykhouse said. "I don't remember, even five years ago, children being that disadvantaged."
Grand Rapids Public Schools, historically a high-poverty district, has gone from 66 percent to 81 percent poor students in the past seven years, forcing schools to become "full-service, one-stop social service agencies," Superintendent Bernard Taylor said. "We're not just dealing with education."
Poor children aren't just attending traditional public schools. National Heritage Academies, which operates 35 charter schools in Michigan, says 51 percent of its K-8 students are poor.
Also, two of the Grand Rapids Christian elementary schools have poverty rates of 30 percent or higher, Superintendent Tom DeJonge said. Most of the students receive significant financial aid for tuition.
What schools can do
Schools can't do much about the transient nature of poor families or the stress they feel amid paltry paychecks, eviction notices, steep utility bills and insufficient cash for food and clothes. Dykhouse and others encourage parent involvement, but often come up empty.
The obvious response is longer school days, all-day every-day kindergarten, more and better preschool programs, after-school tutoring and smaller class sizes, educators said.
But those fixes cost money, and the schools with high percentages of poor kids are most often poor themselves, said Neuman, who has written on the link between poor kids and poor grades.
"It's a very unfortunate correlation. It's a relationship that is unfair to the teachers in those schools," she said. Still, the situation isn't likely to change anytime soon, "so we better make smarter decisions with our existing funds."
Some funding comes through grants for at-risk students and the federal Title I program. Grand Rapids, for example, received millions in 1999 to limit most elementary classrooms to 19 students. Those grants expired in 2003.
But many elementary schools waste Title I dollars on classroom aides or computer labs, Neuman said.
"Better to get a highly qualified teacher," she said. "That would make a difference. And do we really need that computer lab? If kids can't read, they can't use a computer effectively. Get rid of it and get more books."
Grand Rapids has not ditched the computer labs, but it has obtained more books. The Student Advancement Foundation, its fund-raising arm, updated all 47 school libraries since 2004 with $1.6 million in donations.
Huntington Woods has a "junior first grade" for those who have finished kindergarten but aren't yet ready for first grade. The school also has before-school and after-school "homework clubs."
"That's been beneficial," Principal Andrea van der Laan said. "When parents are more in survival mode, less homework is getting done."
Godwin Heights, Grand Rapids and Holland offer all-day, every-day kindergarten, even though districts receive the same amount of state aid for full-time and part-time programs.
Schools have traveling dentists and partnerships with hospitals and health clinics. They keep extra coats, boots and mittens on hand.
"We recognize that we need to do everything possible to keep kids in school and support them," said Grand Rapids schools spokesman John Helmholdt.
"The key is keeping the focus on our schools and providing support services to ensure children are healthy, rested, clothed, fed and ready for school," he said.
Wyoming Superintendent Jon Felske pointed out that schools pass along "hidden costs" to parents. He encourages teachers to keep these amounts to a minimum.
Poster board for a homework project or a stop at McDonald's after a field trip may be tough on a poor family. Driver's education is no longer free, nor is attendance at most high school sporting events.
"I know of families where the parents rotate who goes to games because it is just too expensive for both parents (to buy tickets). Or they can't come at all. And how does that make the kids feel?" Felske said.
Kentwood has put a focus on learning the language of poverty. Author Ruby Payne has visited the district three times since 2001 to lead workshops on understanding poverty and how it affects children. She contends that the "casual language of poverty" often is viewed as ignorant or disrespectful; poor students must be taught the language and rules of the middle class.
"All teachers have a college degree and are firmly entrenched in the middle class. Yet when we look at who we serve in Kentwood, 48 percent of students come from poverty," Superintendent Scott Palczewski said.
"If I don't know where you're coming from, how in the world am I going to develop a strong positive relationship?" he added.
The complexity of poverty can't be broken down and understood in a single workshop, so teachers also must be quick studies and learn on the job, Taylor said.
"We must still say focused on what we have to do. These issues still take a back seat to academic achievement."
The relationship is vital, Taylor added, "because these children come to rely on their teacher as the one person who will be in the same place, at the same time, doing the same thing every day. That sense of security can't be underestimated."
Living with Pelkey has brought a degree of stability to DeeDee's days.
Pelkey knows what it's like to be poor because she lived on public assistance for a time years ago. A few of the children she watches during the day or after school also are in poverty.
"It's just really rough out there for some parents," Pelkey said.
She volunteered to keep DeeDee for free, and has spent a lot of time watching over kids whose parents couldn't pay the entire daycare bill.
"I have so many losses, I just work to survive," she said. "I look at it as a way to make a difference."
So she shops the clearance racks and garage sales. She recently splurged on new Easter dresses for DeeDee and a granddaughter "because that's important to the kids." She is thinking about spending her refund check from the IRS on a plane ticket west for DeeDee.
DeeDee hopes to start middle school in Washington next fall. Her mom is working, but the family continues to struggle financially. They are living in a shelter.
Pelkey doesn't want DeeDee to leave. She worries about the transition and the financial well-being of DeeDee's family.
Posted by Beth Loechler
At least one in three students -- 51,500 children -- at traditional public schools in Kent and Ottawa counties are poor. In Grand Rapids and Kelloggsville schools, four of every five live in poverty, according to federal statistics on students who get free or reduced-price school lunches.
Every day, DeeDee Johnson is reminded she is one of them.
Her mother, stepfather and two little brothers sold or packed up what they owned and moved to Washington state in September in search of opportunity and a decent paycheck. They left 10-year-old DeeDee in the care of Sandy Pelkey, a woman she calls "grandma," so she could continue in school and have a roof over her head.
"It's very depressing. I feel like I'm being torn two ways," said DeeDee, a fifth-grader at Huntington Woods Elementary in Wyoming.
But she talks to her mom most every day, receiving promises that they'll be reunited soon.
"She's a good student, but I see her struggling, mostly with her emotions," said Pelkey, a 52-year-old daycare provider and mother of eight who has known DeeDee since she was a toddler.
"DeeDee gets a lot of headaches and stomach aches. She's distracted. Wouldn't you be?"
DeeDee has lived in the close-to-the-edge world of poverty ever since she can remember. She is far from alone.
Without exception, every public school district in Kent and Ottawa counties has seen an increase in the number of poor children in classrooms over the past seven years. The changes have forced teachers to rethink how they teach and schools to reach out in ways they had not anticipated even a decade ago.
Today, at least one in three students -- 51,500 children -- at traditional public schools in Kent and Ottawa counties are poor. In Grand Rapids and Kelloggsville schools, four of every five live in poverty, according to federal statistics on students who get free or reduced-price school lunches.
Also, nearly two-thirds of the districts have seen the number of poor students increase by 38 percent or more since 2000.
"The state is in a recession, and the people who get hurt the most are the children who need the most. It's a travesty," said Susan Neuman, a University of Michigan professor and former assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education under President Bush.
At DeeDee's school, 54 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. In a family of four, that means earnings of $20,650 a year or less. When the school opened 15 years ago, a mere 8 percent of the students received subsidized lunches.
"The classroom has changed," acknowledged Huntington Woods kindergarten teacher Lani Dykhouse.
More often than not, poor children come to school with less background knowledge and more limited vocabularies, she said. Their listening skills aren't strong. They haven't been routinely talked to or read to or exposed to lots of books.
"Sometimes it feels like I opened up a box, pulled a child out and set them in kindergarten," Dykhouse said. "I don't remember, even five years ago, children being that disadvantaged."
Grand Rapids Public Schools, historically a high-poverty district, has gone from 66 percent to 81 percent poor students in the past seven years, forcing schools to become "full-service, one-stop social service agencies," Superintendent Bernard Taylor said. "We're not just dealing with education."
Poor children aren't just attending traditional public schools. National Heritage Academies, which operates 35 charter schools in Michigan, says 51 percent of its K-8 students are poor.
Also, two of the Grand Rapids Christian elementary schools have poverty rates of 30 percent or higher, Superintendent Tom DeJonge said. Most of the students receive significant financial aid for tuition.
What schools can do
Schools can't do much about the transient nature of poor families or the stress they feel amid paltry paychecks, eviction notices, steep utility bills and insufficient cash for food and clothes. Dykhouse and others encourage parent involvement, but often come up empty.
The obvious response is longer school days, all-day every-day kindergarten, more and better preschool programs, after-school tutoring and smaller class sizes, educators said.
But those fixes cost money, and the schools with high percentages of poor kids are most often poor themselves, said Neuman, who has written on the link between poor kids and poor grades.
"It's a very unfortunate correlation. It's a relationship that is unfair to the teachers in those schools," she said. Still, the situation isn't likely to change anytime soon, "so we better make smarter decisions with our existing funds."
Some funding comes through grants for at-risk students and the federal Title I program. Grand Rapids, for example, received millions in 1999 to limit most elementary classrooms to 19 students. Those grants expired in 2003.
But many elementary schools waste Title I dollars on classroom aides or computer labs, Neuman said.
"Better to get a highly qualified teacher," she said. "That would make a difference. And do we really need that computer lab? If kids can't read, they can't use a computer effectively. Get rid of it and get more books."
Grand Rapids has not ditched the computer labs, but it has obtained more books. The Student Advancement Foundation, its fund-raising arm, updated all 47 school libraries since 2004 with $1.6 million in donations.
Huntington Woods has a "junior first grade" for those who have finished kindergarten but aren't yet ready for first grade. The school also has before-school and after-school "homework clubs."
"That's been beneficial," Principal Andrea van der Laan said. "When parents are more in survival mode, less homework is getting done."
Godwin Heights, Grand Rapids and Holland offer all-day, every-day kindergarten, even though districts receive the same amount of state aid for full-time and part-time programs.
Schools have traveling dentists and partnerships with hospitals and health clinics. They keep extra coats, boots and mittens on hand.
"We recognize that we need to do everything possible to keep kids in school and support them," said Grand Rapids schools spokesman John Helmholdt.
"The key is keeping the focus on our schools and providing support services to ensure children are healthy, rested, clothed, fed and ready for school," he said.
Wyoming Superintendent Jon Felske pointed out that schools pass along "hidden costs" to parents. He encourages teachers to keep these amounts to a minimum.
Poster board for a homework project or a stop at McDonald's after a field trip may be tough on a poor family. Driver's education is no longer free, nor is attendance at most high school sporting events.
"I know of families where the parents rotate who goes to games because it is just too expensive for both parents (to buy tickets). Or they can't come at all. And how does that make the kids feel?" Felske said.
Kentwood has put a focus on learning the language of poverty. Author Ruby Payne has visited the district three times since 2001 to lead workshops on understanding poverty and how it affects children. She contends that the "casual language of poverty" often is viewed as ignorant or disrespectful; poor students must be taught the language and rules of the middle class.
"All teachers have a college degree and are firmly entrenched in the middle class. Yet when we look at who we serve in Kentwood, 48 percent of students come from poverty," Superintendent Scott Palczewski said.
"If I don't know where you're coming from, how in the world am I going to develop a strong positive relationship?" he added.
The complexity of poverty can't be broken down and understood in a single workshop, so teachers also must be quick studies and learn on the job, Taylor said.
"We must still say focused on what we have to do. These issues still take a back seat to academic achievement."
The relationship is vital, Taylor added, "because these children come to rely on their teacher as the one person who will be in the same place, at the same time, doing the same thing every day. That sense of security can't be underestimated."
Living with Pelkey has brought a degree of stability to DeeDee's days.
Pelkey knows what it's like to be poor because she lived on public assistance for a time years ago. A few of the children she watches during the day or after school also are in poverty.
"It's just really rough out there for some parents," Pelkey said.
She volunteered to keep DeeDee for free, and has spent a lot of time watching over kids whose parents couldn't pay the entire daycare bill.
"I have so many losses, I just work to survive," she said. "I look at it as a way to make a difference."
So she shops the clearance racks and garage sales. She recently splurged on new Easter dresses for DeeDee and a granddaughter "because that's important to the kids." She is thinking about spending her refund check from the IRS on a plane ticket west for DeeDee.
DeeDee hopes to start middle school in Washington next fall. Her mom is working, but the family continues to struggle financially. They are living in a shelter.
Pelkey doesn't want DeeDee to leave. She worries about the transition and the financial well-being of DeeDee's family.
Breaking the cycle of poverty
from City Press
ANDILE NTINGI
THE country’s second richest province this week dedicated about two-thirds of its R51.2 billion budget for 2008 on education and health, the two areas closest to the hearts of its citizens.
Education received the lion’s share of the budget from the province’s minister of finance and economic development, Zweli Mkhize, who allocated it a mammoth R21.4 billion.
The money will allow the province’s education department to provide free public transport to learners who travel long distances to schools. It will also be spent on early childhood development programmes and the expansion of Grade R in public schools.
“Improving education is the key to breaking the inter-generational cycle of poverty. People who succeed in breaking out of poverty do so through education.
“If our quest for freedom from poverty, ignorance and disease is to be achieved, education needs to be universal, accessible, affordable and mostly free,” said Mkhize in his budg et speech.
Keeping the population of KwaZulu-Natal healthy has also been identified as key if the province’s economic growth is to be sustained. It is with this objective in mind that the health department has been given R15 billion, the second largest allocation after education.
The money will be used to hire additional health practitioners, strengthen primary health care and fight drug-resistant tuberculosis and HIV/Aids.
Over the past four years education and health have been at the top of KwaZulu-Natal’s agenda.
This targeted expenditure has, however, not made a big dent in poverty and unemployment.
“We constantly evaluate whether our government interventions have made a difference proportional to the vast amounts of money we have expended on them.
“Employment and poverty rates have not declined proportionately to the increase in government expenditure and inequality has not improved significantly,” said Mkhize.
Education and health are not the only areas where the provincial government is making interventions to effect changes in the lives of its citizens.
Infrastructure development and support for small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) are also receiving attention as the province strives for faster economic growth and employment creation.
KwaZulu-Natal, which contributes 16.5% to the South African gross domestic product, is growing at over 5% and it is hoped it will achieve a growth rate of 10% by 2014.
Sipho Shabalala, head of the province’s Treasury, said the government had a number of interventions aimed at stimulating SMMEs.
These included facilitating easy access to finance and supporting them through preferential procurement by the public sector.
The provincial government has set a target of channelling 10% of its procurement spending towards cooperatives and 40% to SMMEs.
“With these targets we are sending a strong signal to business. If we are targeting 40% they should also be targeting 40%.
“We are putting money where our mouth is and we are encouraging business to follow suit,” said Shabalala.
Through state-owned financier Ithala Development Finance, the province is providing funding to cooperatives through a R300-million fund and to SMMEs through a R400-million fund.
Over the past three years, 1 996 cooperatives and 1 330 SMMEs have received funding.
To ensure long-term economic growth, KwaZulu-Natal is also upgrading its ports (Durban and Richards Bay), roads, airports and 2010 Football World Cup-related infrastructure.
The province is committed to the Dube Trade Port project, which involves the construction of an international airport, industrial zone, agro-processing zone, trade zone and a cyber zone.
The project is being developed by the Ilembe consortium at a cost of R6.7 billion. Shabalala said the Dube Trade Port would be open for business next year.
The airport which is being built at La Mercy, north of Durban, will cost R2.6 billion. The province was contributing R300 million towards its construction, Shabalala said.
He said there were good investment opportunities in the province, especially in sectors such as construction, agroprocessing and technology.
“Elsewhere in the country you will find that construction is reaching its optimum, but the growth of this sector in KwaZulu-Natal still has a long way to go.
“For instance in Pietermaritzburg, where the provincial government is based, there is a need for office parks and residential houses for middle-income earners.
ANDILE NTINGI
THE country’s second richest province this week dedicated about two-thirds of its R51.2 billion budget for 2008 on education and health, the two areas closest to the hearts of its citizens.
Education received the lion’s share of the budget from the province’s minister of finance and economic development, Zweli Mkhize, who allocated it a mammoth R21.4 billion.
The money will allow the province’s education department to provide free public transport to learners who travel long distances to schools. It will also be spent on early childhood development programmes and the expansion of Grade R in public schools.
“Improving education is the key to breaking the inter-generational cycle of poverty. People who succeed in breaking out of poverty do so through education.
“If our quest for freedom from poverty, ignorance and disease is to be achieved, education needs to be universal, accessible, affordable and mostly free,” said Mkhize in his budg et speech.
Keeping the population of KwaZulu-Natal healthy has also been identified as key if the province’s economic growth is to be sustained. It is with this objective in mind that the health department has been given R15 billion, the second largest allocation after education.
The money will be used to hire additional health practitioners, strengthen primary health care and fight drug-resistant tuberculosis and HIV/Aids.
Over the past four years education and health have been at the top of KwaZulu-Natal’s agenda.
This targeted expenditure has, however, not made a big dent in poverty and unemployment.
“We constantly evaluate whether our government interventions have made a difference proportional to the vast amounts of money we have expended on them.
“Employment and poverty rates have not declined proportionately to the increase in government expenditure and inequality has not improved significantly,” said Mkhize.
Education and health are not the only areas where the provincial government is making interventions to effect changes in the lives of its citizens.
Infrastructure development and support for small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) are also receiving attention as the province strives for faster economic growth and employment creation.
KwaZulu-Natal, which contributes 16.5% to the South African gross domestic product, is growing at over 5% and it is hoped it will achieve a growth rate of 10% by 2014.
Sipho Shabalala, head of the province’s Treasury, said the government had a number of interventions aimed at stimulating SMMEs.
These included facilitating easy access to finance and supporting them through preferential procurement by the public sector.
The provincial government has set a target of channelling 10% of its procurement spending towards cooperatives and 40% to SMMEs.
“With these targets we are sending a strong signal to business. If we are targeting 40% they should also be targeting 40%.
“We are putting money where our mouth is and we are encouraging business to follow suit,” said Shabalala.
Through state-owned financier Ithala Development Finance, the province is providing funding to cooperatives through a R300-million fund and to SMMEs through a R400-million fund.
Over the past three years, 1 996 cooperatives and 1 330 SMMEs have received funding.
To ensure long-term economic growth, KwaZulu-Natal is also upgrading its ports (Durban and Richards Bay), roads, airports and 2010 Football World Cup-related infrastructure.
The province is committed to the Dube Trade Port project, which involves the construction of an international airport, industrial zone, agro-processing zone, trade zone and a cyber zone.
The project is being developed by the Ilembe consortium at a cost of R6.7 billion. Shabalala said the Dube Trade Port would be open for business next year.
The airport which is being built at La Mercy, north of Durban, will cost R2.6 billion. The province was contributing R300 million towards its construction, Shabalala said.
He said there were good investment opportunities in the province, especially in sectors such as construction, agroprocessing and technology.
“Elsewhere in the country you will find that construction is reaching its optimum, but the growth of this sector in KwaZulu-Natal still has a long way to go.
“For instance in Pietermaritzburg, where the provincial government is based, there is a need for office parks and residential houses for middle-income earners.
Sanitation is a mission
from the San Luis Obispo Tribune
Lifewater International of San Luis Obispo
The group headquartered here has helped more than 1 million people in disadvantaged areas of the world gain access to safe water and better hygiene
By Julie Lynem
Dan Stevens had been a pastor in Southern California for 30 years when he decided to pursue another calling.
He had been involved in mission work through his ministry, taking trips to Africa, Mexico and the Philippines. But after becoming acquainted with people with ties to Lifewater International, a Christian training organization that helps bring safe water, sanitation and hygiene practices to villages across the globe, Stevens made the leap from the pulpit to the nonprofit world.
He became the executive director of Lifewater in 2002, about three years after the group, which had formed with a handful of volunteers, moved from Southern California to San Luis Obispo County. The organization was founded 27 years ago by Bill Ashe, the co-owner of Shaw Pump, a pump distributor now based in Torrance.
Today, Stevens leads a staff of 25 at their San Luis Obispo offices, and he is active in the field, working with Lifewater’s partners to drill wells, repair hand pumps, build latrines and conduct sanitation workshops. To date, the organization and its international partners have helped more than 1 million people gain access to safe water.
Stevens, who traveled to Ethiopia this weekend, recently spoke to The Tribune about Lifewater’s mission to give people the education and tools they need to remain healthy.
Q: What do you find most challenging about Lifewater’s work, and what do you do to keep everything moving in the right direction?
A: Our ultimate goal is for communities in developing countries to have safe water and improved sanitation, effective hygiene and knowledge of God’s love. We develop training materials and train North Americans to train our indigenous partners, who then train down into the village. They train communities not only on why you need to wash your hands, but that you need someplace to wash your hands (using a tippy tap, a gallon jug with clean water that hangs in a tree). It’s a big feat to make sure that the information is getting through. That’s why it’s important to do the monitoring and evaluation. If it’s not, then we track it back to see where there was a breakdown. You also have to be conscious of culture. In one Muslim community, the latrines were built with the doors opening east, and people wouldn’t use them because that was considered a bad thing.
Q:When you go into a community, do people in the villages already have a basic understanding of what your organization is about?
A: Our partners have gotten to know these communities and live in the area. They’ll invite the chief and will ask if the community wants to think about water and sanitation. Trainers will train in community health through hygiene. It’s an interactive education, which helps key people in the community understand the need for safe water and healthy sanitation. They come to understand disease pathways, the five critical times to wash their hands and why kids might be having diarrhea on a regular basis. Sometimes, they have had so much diarrhea that they think it’s a normal bowel movement. When you get people to understand what health and well being and disease pathways are, then they begin to explore how to block disease pathways. They begin to say, ‘Gosh, we not only want water closer to the village so we won’t have to walk and get it, we want to get and use water in a safe way.’
Q:What have been some of Lifewater’s recent accomplishments?
A: One of the more exciting accomplishments we’ve had is working in northern Uganda, (a country that has been devastated by war). Over the years we’ve worked with two indigenous national partners and built their capacity to do community water development. They’ve been helping people move out of the (internally displaced persons) camps and back to villages, helping them get water and community hygiene. One of the partners started a soccer program. It has gotten young men and women interested in their community health, where it has generally been the older folks.
Q: President Bush’s recent trip to Africa has brought attention to the continent. What more do you think the
U. S. needs to do to keep the spotlight on Africa, and what are some common misconceptions about the most pressing problems facing Africa today?
A: So much attention is paid to HIV/AIDS, but when patients have AIDS the need for safe water is critical. I think that most North Americans are just not conscious of how difficult it is for people to live without safe water because we have it. You can drink water out of your toilet bowl, and it’s safe. We don’t understand that 1.1 billion people just don’t have access to safe water. Another thing that Americans need to figure out is how to do good without doing harm. How do you help people figure out their own solutions and use their own resources to develop their own assets. That takes a little more time and connectedness, and a little more involvement in people’s lives. Since 1980 there’s been $800 billion given to Africa in aid, and it’s not much further along than it was before. It’s not just about money, it’s about really understanding the root causes of poverty and how do you build capital in an effective manner into a country so that it does progress, and that the country has the ability to help itself.
Q: How can people here at home offer support?
A: People can open up their wallets, volunteer to be educated and help us to train others, which is such a wonderful gift. It’s just awareness. Look at what’s happened with breast cancer and what has happened with AIDS. We hope that with water, sanitation and hygiene, it becomes a movement. We’ve got to help the world have safe water. Schools around the world in developing countries need to teach the kids. That could change in a generation if we would invest in schools.
Lifewater International of San Luis Obispo
The group headquartered here has helped more than 1 million people in disadvantaged areas of the world gain access to safe water and better hygiene
By Julie Lynem
Dan Stevens had been a pastor in Southern California for 30 years when he decided to pursue another calling.
He had been involved in mission work through his ministry, taking trips to Africa, Mexico and the Philippines. But after becoming acquainted with people with ties to Lifewater International, a Christian training organization that helps bring safe water, sanitation and hygiene practices to villages across the globe, Stevens made the leap from the pulpit to the nonprofit world.
He became the executive director of Lifewater in 2002, about three years after the group, which had formed with a handful of volunteers, moved from Southern California to San Luis Obispo County. The organization was founded 27 years ago by Bill Ashe, the co-owner of Shaw Pump, a pump distributor now based in Torrance.
Today, Stevens leads a staff of 25 at their San Luis Obispo offices, and he is active in the field, working with Lifewater’s partners to drill wells, repair hand pumps, build latrines and conduct sanitation workshops. To date, the organization and its international partners have helped more than 1 million people gain access to safe water.
Stevens, who traveled to Ethiopia this weekend, recently spoke to The Tribune about Lifewater’s mission to give people the education and tools they need to remain healthy.
Q: What do you find most challenging about Lifewater’s work, and what do you do to keep everything moving in the right direction?
A: Our ultimate goal is for communities in developing countries to have safe water and improved sanitation, effective hygiene and knowledge of God’s love. We develop training materials and train North Americans to train our indigenous partners, who then train down into the village. They train communities not only on why you need to wash your hands, but that you need someplace to wash your hands (using a tippy tap, a gallon jug with clean water that hangs in a tree). It’s a big feat to make sure that the information is getting through. That’s why it’s important to do the monitoring and evaluation. If it’s not, then we track it back to see where there was a breakdown. You also have to be conscious of culture. In one Muslim community, the latrines were built with the doors opening east, and people wouldn’t use them because that was considered a bad thing.
Q:When you go into a community, do people in the villages already have a basic understanding of what your organization is about?
A: Our partners have gotten to know these communities and live in the area. They’ll invite the chief and will ask if the community wants to think about water and sanitation. Trainers will train in community health through hygiene. It’s an interactive education, which helps key people in the community understand the need for safe water and healthy sanitation. They come to understand disease pathways, the five critical times to wash their hands and why kids might be having diarrhea on a regular basis. Sometimes, they have had so much diarrhea that they think it’s a normal bowel movement. When you get people to understand what health and well being and disease pathways are, then they begin to explore how to block disease pathways. They begin to say, ‘Gosh, we not only want water closer to the village so we won’t have to walk and get it, we want to get and use water in a safe way.’
Q:What have been some of Lifewater’s recent accomplishments?
A: One of the more exciting accomplishments we’ve had is working in northern Uganda, (a country that has been devastated by war). Over the years we’ve worked with two indigenous national partners and built their capacity to do community water development. They’ve been helping people move out of the (internally displaced persons) camps and back to villages, helping them get water and community hygiene. One of the partners started a soccer program. It has gotten young men and women interested in their community health, where it has generally been the older folks.
Q: President Bush’s recent trip to Africa has brought attention to the continent. What more do you think the
U. S. needs to do to keep the spotlight on Africa, and what are some common misconceptions about the most pressing problems facing Africa today?
A: So much attention is paid to HIV/AIDS, but when patients have AIDS the need for safe water is critical. I think that most North Americans are just not conscious of how difficult it is for people to live without safe water because we have it. You can drink water out of your toilet bowl, and it’s safe. We don’t understand that 1.1 billion people just don’t have access to safe water. Another thing that Americans need to figure out is how to do good without doing harm. How do you help people figure out their own solutions and use their own resources to develop their own assets. That takes a little more time and connectedness, and a little more involvement in people’s lives. Since 1980 there’s been $800 billion given to Africa in aid, and it’s not much further along than it was before. It’s not just about money, it’s about really understanding the root causes of poverty and how do you build capital in an effective manner into a country so that it does progress, and that the country has the ability to help itself.
Q: How can people here at home offer support?
A: People can open up their wallets, volunteer to be educated and help us to train others, which is such a wonderful gift. It’s just awareness. Look at what’s happened with breast cancer and what has happened with AIDS. We hope that with water, sanitation and hygiene, it becomes a movement. We’ve got to help the world have safe water. Schools around the world in developing countries need to teach the kids. That could change in a generation if we would invest in schools.
Questioning a Popular Approach to Lasting Development
from the Voice of America
Economists at M.I.T.’s Jameel Poverty Action Lab have found no evidence that paying for a product in the developing world changes how people use it. Transcript of radio broadcast:
This is the VOA Special English Development Report.
If you give something to someone for free, will that person value it and use it? Development experts have debated this question for decades. Some say the act of paying causes people to value something and use it more. Others argue that selling necessary health treatments may deny them to the people who need them the most.
Consider, for example, chemically treated bed nets. These bed nets kill mosquitoes and protect people against malaria while they are sleeping. New York University economist William Easterly says this is one example of development gone wrong. In a recent book, Professor Easterly suggests bed nets given freely in Africa are often used for the wrong purpose.
,span class="fullpost">
Yet, the World Health Organization recommends bed nets be given out freely and used by whole communities. The success of a large free bed net campaign in Kenya led the W.H.O. to announce this recommendation last August.
This debate will likely influence social programs in the developing world. Many non-governmental organizations support the creation of self-sustaining programs in poor countries. Goods and services are sold for a price to help these programs survive.
Rachel Glennerster runs the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The research lab does development and poverty studies. Its goal is to improve the effectiveness of anti-poverty programs in the United States and other countries.
Miz Glennerster tells us that several studies by the research group's economists have proven that small price changes have a big influence on the number of people who use a product. A price change will reduce the total amount of use of the product as well, she says. The economists have also found no evidence that the very act of paying for something changes how people use it.
Finally, some development experts argue that pricing is useful when targeting a product among special populations. When it comes to bed nets, Miz Glennerster says research shows no evidence of this. People are just as likely to use a bed net if they paid for it or not.
And that’s the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. You can find transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our reports at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.
Economists at M.I.T.’s Jameel Poverty Action Lab have found no evidence that paying for a product in the developing world changes how people use it. Transcript of radio broadcast:
This is the VOA Special English Development Report.
If you give something to someone for free, will that person value it and use it? Development experts have debated this question for decades. Some say the act of paying causes people to value something and use it more. Others argue that selling necessary health treatments may deny them to the people who need them the most.
Consider, for example, chemically treated bed nets. These bed nets kill mosquitoes and protect people against malaria while they are sleeping. New York University economist William Easterly says this is one example of development gone wrong. In a recent book, Professor Easterly suggests bed nets given freely in Africa are often used for the wrong purpose.
,span class="fullpost">
Yet, the World Health Organization recommends bed nets be given out freely and used by whole communities. The success of a large free bed net campaign in Kenya led the W.H.O. to announce this recommendation last August.
This debate will likely influence social programs in the developing world. Many non-governmental organizations support the creation of self-sustaining programs in poor countries. Goods and services are sold for a price to help these programs survive.
Rachel Glennerster runs the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The research lab does development and poverty studies. Its goal is to improve the effectiveness of anti-poverty programs in the United States and other countries.
Miz Glennerster tells us that several studies by the research group's economists have proven that small price changes have a big influence on the number of people who use a product. A price change will reduce the total amount of use of the product as well, she says. The economists have also found no evidence that the very act of paying for something changes how people use it.
Finally, some development experts argue that pricing is useful when targeting a product among special populations. When it comes to bed nets, Miz Glennerster says research shows no evidence of this. People are just as likely to use a bed net if they paid for it or not.
And that’s the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. You can find transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our reports at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.
Fighting Poverty With Cash
from All Africa
The Monitor (Kampala)
COLUMN
By James Abola
Kampala
According to the 2005/06 Uganda National Household Survey (UNHS) report produced by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, the national percentage of people living below the poverty line declined from 38.8 percent as per the 2002/03 UNHS report to 31.1 percent in the 2005/06 UNHS report.
The absolute number of poor Ugandans according to the 2005/06 UNHS report is about 8.4 million people. That is a lot of people, to put it another way, almost one out of every three Ugandans is poor.
The government of Uganda together with its development partners have not been oblivious to the level of poverty in Uganda; as a result they developed the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (Peap) whose principle goal is to provoke social transformation by raising incomes of smallholder communities. In order to achieve that goal, the Plan for Modernisation of Agriculture (PMA) was formulated to specifically address the reasons for low productivity.
I hope the reader is not already getting bored or lost; hang on for a second because nothing that involves the input of bureaucrats is simple and straightforward. Under the PMA there is the National Agricultural Advisory Services (Naads) programme which was launched in 2001.
Naads was designed to focus on increasing access to knowledge, technologies and information for profitable agricultural production and contribute to income generation through agricultural-based enterprise development. Both donors and the government have poured billions of shillings into Naads.
The current government campaigned on the platform of "Prosperity for All" during the 2006 Presidential Elections. Come 2008 which is the third year of the five-year presidential term period and some seven years since Naads, there is little to show in terms of improved household income. It is understandable that the political leadership is beginning to demonstrate both frustration and impatience.
In mid February President Museveni was reported to have announced that Shs60 billion which was budgeted for under Naads will be disbursed as free capital for investing in high value agricultural products to 30 homesteads selected from every sub-county in Uganda.
In the second phase, the government shall inject seed capital in each sub county's Sacco, which members will borrow to invest along the same models of the pioneers who received the free capital. And in the third phase, the government will encourage and get involved in the primary processing of the produce so that the farmers receive returns. Will the President's plan work?
From the point of view of Naads, the recent pronouncement by the President must have come as a vicious kick. Well before the Shs60 billion money distribution plan, officials at Naads were already privately complaining that the poverty eradication campaign by the Vice President, Prof. Gilbert Bukenya, was destabilising their efforts to create different agricultural zones in the country and promote appropriate agricultural activities in each of the zones.
Injecting Shs60 billion into rural households will be a good thing for the economy. A group of students visiting with the legendry investor Warren Buffet asked what he thought of investing in infrastructure to stimulate the economy. This is how Warren Buffet replied "I think the best way to stimulate the economy is to give money to the poor. They will spend it. Don't give it to guys like me.
Infrastructure investment makes sense, but we haven't done it in a while and it won't do anything for the next six-12 months. Infrastructure is not big relative to GDP. We are a consumer-driven society, spending 106% of production."
Uganda is a lot less developed than the USA where Buffet lives, but one thing we have in common is our ability to consume which we top up with a good dose of corruption. By proposing to give the Naads funds directly to poor families, the Museveni cabinet could have as well got advice from Buffet.
First, bureaucrats are going to skim off a sizeable portion of the Shs60 billion, then the farmers will be very hard-pressed not to use a portion of what they get to buy mobile phones and pay off long outstanding balances of the bride price owed to impatient in laws. The result is that our economy is going to grow quite briskly in 2008 and 2009.
The next household survey will also report a significant reduction of the number of people living below the poverty line. On the question whether distributing cash to rural households is an effective antidote to the scourge of poverty, I would say the jury is still out.
Mr Abola is a business/finance consultant
The Monitor (Kampala)
COLUMN
By James Abola
Kampala
According to the 2005/06 Uganda National Household Survey (UNHS) report produced by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, the national percentage of people living below the poverty line declined from 38.8 percent as per the 2002/03 UNHS report to 31.1 percent in the 2005/06 UNHS report.
The absolute number of poor Ugandans according to the 2005/06 UNHS report is about 8.4 million people. That is a lot of people, to put it another way, almost one out of every three Ugandans is poor.
The government of Uganda together with its development partners have not been oblivious to the level of poverty in Uganda; as a result they developed the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (Peap) whose principle goal is to provoke social transformation by raising incomes of smallholder communities. In order to achieve that goal, the Plan for Modernisation of Agriculture (PMA) was formulated to specifically address the reasons for low productivity.
I hope the reader is not already getting bored or lost; hang on for a second because nothing that involves the input of bureaucrats is simple and straightforward. Under the PMA there is the National Agricultural Advisory Services (Naads) programme which was launched in 2001.
Naads was designed to focus on increasing access to knowledge, technologies and information for profitable agricultural production and contribute to income generation through agricultural-based enterprise development. Both donors and the government have poured billions of shillings into Naads.
The current government campaigned on the platform of "Prosperity for All" during the 2006 Presidential Elections. Come 2008 which is the third year of the five-year presidential term period and some seven years since Naads, there is little to show in terms of improved household income. It is understandable that the political leadership is beginning to demonstrate both frustration and impatience.
In mid February President Museveni was reported to have announced that Shs60 billion which was budgeted for under Naads will be disbursed as free capital for investing in high value agricultural products to 30 homesteads selected from every sub-county in Uganda.
In the second phase, the government shall inject seed capital in each sub county's Sacco, which members will borrow to invest along the same models of the pioneers who received the free capital. And in the third phase, the government will encourage and get involved in the primary processing of the produce so that the farmers receive returns. Will the President's plan work?
From the point of view of Naads, the recent pronouncement by the President must have come as a vicious kick. Well before the Shs60 billion money distribution plan, officials at Naads were already privately complaining that the poverty eradication campaign by the Vice President, Prof. Gilbert Bukenya, was destabilising their efforts to create different agricultural zones in the country and promote appropriate agricultural activities in each of the zones.
Injecting Shs60 billion into rural households will be a good thing for the economy. A group of students visiting with the legendry investor Warren Buffet asked what he thought of investing in infrastructure to stimulate the economy. This is how Warren Buffet replied "I think the best way to stimulate the economy is to give money to the poor. They will spend it. Don't give it to guys like me.
Infrastructure investment makes sense, but we haven't done it in a while and it won't do anything for the next six-12 months. Infrastructure is not big relative to GDP. We are a consumer-driven society, spending 106% of production."
Uganda is a lot less developed than the USA where Buffet lives, but one thing we have in common is our ability to consume which we top up with a good dose of corruption. By proposing to give the Naads funds directly to poor families, the Museveni cabinet could have as well got advice from Buffet.
First, bureaucrats are going to skim off a sizeable portion of the Shs60 billion, then the farmers will be very hard-pressed not to use a portion of what they get to buy mobile phones and pay off long outstanding balances of the bride price owed to impatient in laws. The result is that our economy is going to grow quite briskly in 2008 and 2009.
The next household survey will also report a significant reduction of the number of people living below the poverty line. On the question whether distributing cash to rural households is an effective antidote to the scourge of poverty, I would say the jury is still out.
Mr Abola is a business/finance consultant
PM seeks to revive child poverty plans
from The Financial Times
By George Parker, Jimmy Burns and Nicholas Timmins
The prime minister is considering ways of using next week's Budget to instill his child poverty strategy with fresh momentum amid warnings that further investment is needed if the government is to meet its targets.
Gordon Brown conceded the seriousness of child poverty in Britain in his Labour party conference speech in Birmingham on Saturday. According to government insiders, the speech was a reflection of what they accept are genuine difficulties in meeting the target to halve child poverty by 2010.
The Treasury said that tackling child poverty was a "very important issue" for the government. "It is certainly being considered in the run-up to the Budget."
While the Treasury was yesterday keeping its options close to its chest, Labour MPs are putting pressure on Alistair Darling, chancellor, to use his first Budget on March 12 to help low income families and accelerate work on meeting the 2010 target. They see it as a chance to draw clearer dividing lines with the Conservatives by taking a more aggressive stance on tackling poverty.
A report published today by the Labour-dominated Commons works and pensions committee says there are 2.8m children living in poverty, and the number is increasing. It estimates that on current projections the government will miss its 2010 target by close to 1m children, or nearly 1.5m if measured after housing costs are taken into account.
The committee backs the government's focus on getting parents into sustainable employment, but emphasises that parents also need to be financially better off in work than on benefits. "While work is the main route out of poverty, having a parent in work is not always a guarantee that the family have been lifted above the poverty threshold," said Labour MP Terry Rooney, the committee's chairman.
The Treasury select committee warned at the turn of the year it feared the government "may have drawn back from a wholehearted commitment" to meeting the 2010 target.
Child poverty was due to have been cut by a quarter by 2005 as a first step to the 2010 goal. But while the numbers were down by 600,000, that was still more than 300,000 short of the interim target.
By George Parker, Jimmy Burns and Nicholas Timmins
The prime minister is considering ways of using next week's Budget to instill his child poverty strategy with fresh momentum amid warnings that further investment is needed if the government is to meet its targets.
Gordon Brown conceded the seriousness of child poverty in Britain in his Labour party conference speech in Birmingham on Saturday. According to government insiders, the speech was a reflection of what they accept are genuine difficulties in meeting the target to halve child poverty by 2010.
The Treasury said that tackling child poverty was a "very important issue" for the government. "It is certainly being considered in the run-up to the Budget."
While the Treasury was yesterday keeping its options close to its chest, Labour MPs are putting pressure on Alistair Darling, chancellor, to use his first Budget on March 12 to help low income families and accelerate work on meeting the 2010 target. They see it as a chance to draw clearer dividing lines with the Conservatives by taking a more aggressive stance on tackling poverty.
A report published today by the Labour-dominated Commons works and pensions committee says there are 2.8m children living in poverty, and the number is increasing. It estimates that on current projections the government will miss its 2010 target by close to 1m children, or nearly 1.5m if measured after housing costs are taken into account.
The committee backs the government's focus on getting parents into sustainable employment, but emphasises that parents also need to be financially better off in work than on benefits. "While work is the main route out of poverty, having a parent in work is not always a guarantee that the family have been lifted above the poverty threshold," said Labour MP Terry Rooney, the committee's chairman.
The Treasury select committee warned at the turn of the year it feared the government "may have drawn back from a wholehearted commitment" to meeting the 2010 target.
Child poverty was due to have been cut by a quarter by 2005 as a first step to the 2010 goal. But while the numbers were down by 600,000, that was still more than 300,000 short of the interim target.
Poverty can be a vicious cycle for Barrie's less fortunate; Town hall meeting focuses on needy
from the Barrie Examiner
Posted By By Kelly McShane
Updated 51 mins ago
In 1996, Bill was sued by General Motors in St. Catharines when he said an employee of his company made a mistake on a contract while working in the plant.
"I was surprised how I let myself down. I had dreams for myself, but when I became homeless, I gave up," said Bill, who asked that his real name not be used.
His business' liability insurance only covered him for 80 per cent. He was already using crack cocaine. This was the first time he found himself homeless.
Over the years, Bill, who has since moved to Barrie and was at the Salvation Army shelter downtown last night seeking assistance, has seen a few of his poverty-stricken pals make it out of the cycle by utilizing the services and programs offered by the government.
"They're the people that have the determination and self-esteem. Some people are just out there spinning their wheels," he said.
Ken Dryden, chairman of the Caucus Committee on Social Development, was in Barrie on Saturday to speak on the issue of poverty at a town hall meeting hosted by the Simcoe County Alliance to End Homelessness.
"I think all agencies are doing the best they can, but it takes serious government attention and money to reduce poverty. Right now, the services are scattered and underfunded," said Rick Jones, chairman of the Simcoe County Alliance to End Homelessness and a federal Liberal MP candidate.
"Most of the services are run by volunteers, which they shouldn't be in a rich country like Canada."
Liberals want to see a 30 per cent reduction in poverty for adults, and a 50 per cent reduction in poverty for children within a five-year period.
A large portion of the Liberal platform is a targeted plan to attack poverty by increasing minimum wage, creating a better childcare plan, and assisting more with benefits for working people once they leave welfare.
According to Jones, a lot of people are reluctant to leave welfare if they will receive less money and no benefits by getting a job.
Maj. Roy Randell of Barrie's Salvation Army sees, first-hand, the challenges the homeless face each day. He says support for the working poor is the missing puzzle piece.
"There needs to be sensitivity for the people who are out there working every day, trying to take care of their families, but just keeping their head above water financially. If they make the effort, we need to acknowledge that and show support," Randell said.
Bill says if the money is budgeted properly, welfare can help if used properly, but he sees people who wait for their cheque at the first of the month, are rich for a week, and go right back to where they started.
He would like to see a program where employers are offered incentives for hiring those on welfare. The employee could work for a token payment while they continue to receive welfare, but for only a few months so they can gain job experience, and, hopefully, a full-time position.
"There's a stigma when you're homeless. It makes it difficult to get a job and keep it. I know I have the potential to do better than what I am, but a lot of it is depression and low self-esteem," Bill said.
Bill, whose daughter is currently in university studying to be a teacher, has just started a new job and plans to be out of the shelter as soon as he receives his first paycheque.
Posted By By Kelly McShane
Updated 51 mins ago
In 1996, Bill was sued by General Motors in St. Catharines when he said an employee of his company made a mistake on a contract while working in the plant.
"I was surprised how I let myself down. I had dreams for myself, but when I became homeless, I gave up," said Bill, who asked that his real name not be used.
His business' liability insurance only covered him for 80 per cent. He was already using crack cocaine. This was the first time he found himself homeless.
Over the years, Bill, who has since moved to Barrie and was at the Salvation Army shelter downtown last night seeking assistance, has seen a few of his poverty-stricken pals make it out of the cycle by utilizing the services and programs offered by the government.
"They're the people that have the determination and self-esteem. Some people are just out there spinning their wheels," he said.
Ken Dryden, chairman of the Caucus Committee on Social Development, was in Barrie on Saturday to speak on the issue of poverty at a town hall meeting hosted by the Simcoe County Alliance to End Homelessness.
"I think all agencies are doing the best they can, but it takes serious government attention and money to reduce poverty. Right now, the services are scattered and underfunded," said Rick Jones, chairman of the Simcoe County Alliance to End Homelessness and a federal Liberal MP candidate.
"Most of the services are run by volunteers, which they shouldn't be in a rich country like Canada."
Liberals want to see a 30 per cent reduction in poverty for adults, and a 50 per cent reduction in poverty for children within a five-year period.
A large portion of the Liberal platform is a targeted plan to attack poverty by increasing minimum wage, creating a better childcare plan, and assisting more with benefits for working people once they leave welfare.
According to Jones, a lot of people are reluctant to leave welfare if they will receive less money and no benefits by getting a job.
Maj. Roy Randell of Barrie's Salvation Army sees, first-hand, the challenges the homeless face each day. He says support for the working poor is the missing puzzle piece.
"There needs to be sensitivity for the people who are out there working every day, trying to take care of their families, but just keeping their head above water financially. If they make the effort, we need to acknowledge that and show support," Randell said.
Bill says if the money is budgeted properly, welfare can help if used properly, but he sees people who wait for their cheque at the first of the month, are rich for a week, and go right back to where they started.
He would like to see a program where employers are offered incentives for hiring those on welfare. The employee could work for a token payment while they continue to receive welfare, but for only a few months so they can gain job experience, and, hopefully, a full-time position.
"There's a stigma when you're homeless. It makes it difficult to get a job and keep it. I know I have the potential to do better than what I am, but a lot of it is depression and low self-esteem," Bill said.
Bill, whose daughter is currently in university studying to be a teacher, has just started a new job and plans to be out of the shelter as soon as he receives his first paycheque.
Cardinal Wamala Blames Genocide On Poverty
from All Africa
New Vision (Kampala)
By Mathias Mazinga
Kampala
THREATS of war and genocide will be less pronounced if citizens are not extremely poor, Emmanuel Cardinal Wamala has said.
He noted that the many wars in Uganda and the region were a result of economic and political injustices, which have their roots in tribalism and other social ills.
"All social groups should be given the opportunity to participate in the production and consumption of the goods of their country," Wamala said.
"If some people are excluded, they will blame their poverty on that tribe that controls the political and economic machinery, who they believe have denied them their share of the national cake."
The former Archbishop of Kampala was speaking during the 17th Joseph Kiwanuka Memorial Lecture in Kampala last week. When people are impoverished, he added, they will see no value in their life. And because of this, they will not value the lives of others.
"This is why there is a lot of disrespect for life in sub-Saharan Africa."
Kiwanuka, a former Archbishop of Kampala who died in 1966, was the first black African bishop south of the Sahara. He was a key player in the development of the Church and state in the continent and Uganda.
The Cardinal stated that equal distribution of wealth would lead to a strong civil society free of tribalism and hatred.
New Vision (Kampala)
By Mathias Mazinga
Kampala
THREATS of war and genocide will be less pronounced if citizens are not extremely poor, Emmanuel Cardinal Wamala has said.
He noted that the many wars in Uganda and the region were a result of economic and political injustices, which have their roots in tribalism and other social ills.
"All social groups should be given the opportunity to participate in the production and consumption of the goods of their country," Wamala said.
"If some people are excluded, they will blame their poverty on that tribe that controls the political and economic machinery, who they believe have denied them their share of the national cake."
The former Archbishop of Kampala was speaking during the 17th Joseph Kiwanuka Memorial Lecture in Kampala last week. When people are impoverished, he added, they will see no value in their life. And because of this, they will not value the lives of others.
"This is why there is a lot of disrespect for life in sub-Saharan Africa."
Kiwanuka, a former Archbishop of Kampala who died in 1966, was the first black African bishop south of the Sahara. He was a key player in the development of the Church and state in the continent and Uganda.
The Cardinal stated that equal distribution of wealth would lead to a strong civil society free of tribalism and hatred.
Lack of modern sanitation systems threatens groundwater, health
from IRIN
CAIRO, 3 March 2008 (IRIN) - Nearly all Egyptians - 98 percent of the population - have access to piped water but only some have proper sanitation facilities. Not much attention has been paid to the effective and safe disposal of sewage, especially in rural areas, say specialists.
In rural areas - deserts and agricultural areas alike - only 58 percent of inhabitants have access to any kind of sanitation, said Rania El-Essawi, water, environment and sanitation officer at the Cairo office of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Most rural sanitation is primitive, and does not involve a proper sewage system.
Toilets generally have either one or two pits, with some kind of elementary filtration mechanism. They may or may not be regularly emptied, and they are not necessarily in households. Latrines may be at local community centres, including local mosques. Waste is either reused or removed by an evacuation truck.
A recent report by Water Aid ranks Egypt the 16th worst place in the world sanitation table.
Millennium Development Goal
The UN water and sanitation Millennium Development Goal implies that Egypt must provide sanitation to 77 percent of its 80 million people by 2015, El-Essawi said. Currently at 70 percent, Egypt appears to be on track, she added.
Yet numbers alone do not tell the full story. The type of sanitation, its potential for contaminating groundwater, its impact on human health, attitudes, education and behavioural change are important factors.
“Sanitation is not [measured] by square metre or by population… There are people with no access and there are people with partial access,” said Mahib Abdelghaffar, a professor of civil engineering at Cairo University.
Agricultural areas
For people in many rural areas, sanitation is simply a hole in the ground, sometimes covered by a ceramic “squat” platform.
In the Nile delta area, which makes up only 2.5 percent of Egypt’s land mass but is home to over a third of the population, people mainly use holes in the ground since they lack sewage systems, El-Essawi said.
“In many households it’s just a hole in the ground… there is no evacuation [the waste is removed for a fee], there is no filtration. They have no way to get rid of massive amounts of liquid waste,” El-Essawi said.
In agricultural areas, latrines - if they exist at all - sometimes overflow or are emptied before the faecal matter has turned into fertilizer. This often leads to groundwater contamination, potentially causing a health hazard to the local population.
“The problem is all near the delta… The houses in delta villages should all be connected to a proper sewage network,” said Abdelghaffar, adding that in some communities, stepping stones help people avoid stepping in sewage as they cross roads.
Desert areas
There is less risk of groundwater contamination in desert areas, where groundwater is deep below the surface and the sand is very porous, so liquid is absorbed and the groundwater remains clean.
A problem in rural areas generally is that toilets and latrines are not kept clean and maintained, and are sometimes built in the wrong place.
Health
Proper disposal of waste would help protect people from diseases arising from water contamination, such as typhoid, diarrhoea, polio, bilharzia and hepatitis C.
“These [diseases] are life-threatening and fatal. One fifth of child mortality deaths are attributed to diarrhoea which is a big threat in Egypt, together with bilharzia,” El-Essawi said. “People need to know how to properly use water so they don’t contaminate it.”
Intermediate solutions
UNICEF promotes intermediate sanitation technology, such as ensuring that latrines are properly built, and attempting to provide basic sanitation services to families until they can access a more advanced sewage system, El-Essawi said.
“You want to provide services such that people can benefit from them,” she said. “Everybody has a right to services that do not affect their health.”
CAIRO, 3 March 2008 (IRIN) - Nearly all Egyptians - 98 percent of the population - have access to piped water but only some have proper sanitation facilities. Not much attention has been paid to the effective and safe disposal of sewage, especially in rural areas, say specialists.
In rural areas - deserts and agricultural areas alike - only 58 percent of inhabitants have access to any kind of sanitation, said Rania El-Essawi, water, environment and sanitation officer at the Cairo office of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Most rural sanitation is primitive, and does not involve a proper sewage system.
Toilets generally have either one or two pits, with some kind of elementary filtration mechanism. They may or may not be regularly emptied, and they are not necessarily in households. Latrines may be at local community centres, including local mosques. Waste is either reused or removed by an evacuation truck.
A recent report by Water Aid ranks Egypt the 16th worst place in the world sanitation table.
Millennium Development Goal
The UN water and sanitation Millennium Development Goal implies that Egypt must provide sanitation to 77 percent of its 80 million people by 2015, El-Essawi said. Currently at 70 percent, Egypt appears to be on track, she added.
Yet numbers alone do not tell the full story. The type of sanitation, its potential for contaminating groundwater, its impact on human health, attitudes, education and behavioural change are important factors.
“Sanitation is not [measured] by square metre or by population… There are people with no access and there are people with partial access,” said Mahib Abdelghaffar, a professor of civil engineering at Cairo University.
Agricultural areas
For people in many rural areas, sanitation is simply a hole in the ground, sometimes covered by a ceramic “squat” platform.
In the Nile delta area, which makes up only 2.5 percent of Egypt’s land mass but is home to over a third of the population, people mainly use holes in the ground since they lack sewage systems, El-Essawi said.
“In many households it’s just a hole in the ground… there is no evacuation [the waste is removed for a fee], there is no filtration. They have no way to get rid of massive amounts of liquid waste,” El-Essawi said.
In agricultural areas, latrines - if they exist at all - sometimes overflow or are emptied before the faecal matter has turned into fertilizer. This often leads to groundwater contamination, potentially causing a health hazard to the local population.
“The problem is all near the delta… The houses in delta villages should all be connected to a proper sewage network,” said Abdelghaffar, adding that in some communities, stepping stones help people avoid stepping in sewage as they cross roads.
Desert areas
There is less risk of groundwater contamination in desert areas, where groundwater is deep below the surface and the sand is very porous, so liquid is absorbed and the groundwater remains clean.
A problem in rural areas generally is that toilets and latrines are not kept clean and maintained, and are sometimes built in the wrong place.
Health
Proper disposal of waste would help protect people from diseases arising from water contamination, such as typhoid, diarrhoea, polio, bilharzia and hepatitis C.
“These [diseases] are life-threatening and fatal. One fifth of child mortality deaths are attributed to diarrhoea which is a big threat in Egypt, together with bilharzia,” El-Essawi said. “People need to know how to properly use water so they don’t contaminate it.”
Intermediate solutions
UNICEF promotes intermediate sanitation technology, such as ensuring that latrines are properly built, and attempting to provide basic sanitation services to families until they can access a more advanced sewage system, El-Essawi said.
“You want to provide services such that people can benefit from them,” she said. “Everybody has a right to services that do not affect their health.”
Saturday, March 01, 2008
There's Still Time To Sign Up To Be Hungry — And Poor
from the Hartford Courant
Susan Campbell
A funny thing happened last year when Rabbi Donna Berman cast about for a way to bring hunger home.
Berman, executive director of Hartford's Charter Oak Cultural Center, thought if regular people would try to live on a food budget of $3 a day — the average amount a food stamp recipient gets — they might be moved to act and think differently when it comes to issues of poverty.
Participants in her Food Stamp Project would agree to go for a day, a week or a month. They would be forced to eat the food that poor people eat: lots of carbs, scant fresh fruit and vegetables — mostly filling, not terribly nutritious food. They would not accept hand-outs from friends or family, but they would be free to visit local food pantries or soup kitchens to supplement their diet.
Berman shared the idea of intentionally living on limited means with a friend who runs a kosher food pantry in Michigan, but "because I have to better everyone, I said we were going to do it as a community," she said.
About 80 people — some elected officials, some just plain folks — signed up, though Berman estimated far more participated unofficially. It was, by every measure, a local success.
And then word got out.
The nonprofit Food Research and Action Center put Hartford's story on its website, and other organizations and cities quickly followed suit. Whole cities participated, as did several members of Congress and even the governor of Oregon.
Berman went to a food conference last year, and people knew Hartford because of her Food Stamp Project.
If you weren't at Charter Oak Cultural Center on Tuesday for the kick-off of the city's second annual Food Stamp Project, it's not too late.
This year, Berman has partnered with End Hunger CT, Foodshare, the Jewish Community Relations Council, and the project's target charity, Hands On Hartford. Berman hopes people will donate food and money to Hands On Hartford's MANNA food pantry, which helps 250 households each month.
Again, project participants pledge to keep their food budget to $21 a week, though Tom Bright of Hands On Hartford says participants can add $1 to their daily budget if they fill out the complicated seven-page application for the real food-stamp program.
Nationwide, the food-stamp program helps 26 million people. Most participate in for just nine months. More than half of the recipients are children.
Those of us who are doing this a second time do so with some trepidation.
Last year, I said goodbye to fresh fruits and vegetables and drank my weight in water. I was dog-tired and could hardly contain my famous temper over the least provocation. That was after just one week. Others fared worse.
Beyond relearning that I really need some patience, I learned how complicated life can be when you have to devote so much attention to getting adequate food on the table on a minuscule budget.
And I wasn't feeding a family. That was just me.
This year, longtime Hartford councilwoman Veronica Airey-Wilson is participating, as are Lorraine Reardon, registered dietitian with the Charter Oak Health Center, and her husband, Victor Arduini.
Both Airey-Wilson and Reardon say they want to better understand the lives of the people with whom they work. Berman calls that kind of learning a "body experience."
But this is not just for public officials or warm-hearted do-gooders.
Even we sinners might be surprised at what they learn.
Berman says that last year's project moved her in ways she hadn't expected.
"There's a way I live with more consciousness, more gratitude, a greater consciousness," she said. "It really is life-changing. I can't believe it's a year already. It still feels urgent. It didn't wear off."
For more information on the Food Stamp Project, visit www.charteroakcenter.org, or call 860-249-1207
Susan Campbell
A funny thing happened last year when Rabbi Donna Berman cast about for a way to bring hunger home.
Berman, executive director of Hartford's Charter Oak Cultural Center, thought if regular people would try to live on a food budget of $3 a day — the average amount a food stamp recipient gets — they might be moved to act and think differently when it comes to issues of poverty.
Participants in her Food Stamp Project would agree to go for a day, a week or a month. They would be forced to eat the food that poor people eat: lots of carbs, scant fresh fruit and vegetables — mostly filling, not terribly nutritious food. They would not accept hand-outs from friends or family, but they would be free to visit local food pantries or soup kitchens to supplement their diet.
Berman shared the idea of intentionally living on limited means with a friend who runs a kosher food pantry in Michigan, but "because I have to better everyone, I said we were going to do it as a community," she said.
About 80 people — some elected officials, some just plain folks — signed up, though Berman estimated far more participated unofficially. It was, by every measure, a local success.
And then word got out.
The nonprofit Food Research and Action Center put Hartford's story on its website, and other organizations and cities quickly followed suit. Whole cities participated, as did several members of Congress and even the governor of Oregon.
Berman went to a food conference last year, and people knew Hartford because of her Food Stamp Project.
If you weren't at Charter Oak Cultural Center on Tuesday for the kick-off of the city's second annual Food Stamp Project, it's not too late.
This year, Berman has partnered with End Hunger CT, Foodshare, the Jewish Community Relations Council, and the project's target charity, Hands On Hartford. Berman hopes people will donate food and money to Hands On Hartford's MANNA food pantry, which helps 250 households each month.
Again, project participants pledge to keep their food budget to $21 a week, though Tom Bright of Hands On Hartford says participants can add $1 to their daily budget if they fill out the complicated seven-page application for the real food-stamp program.
Nationwide, the food-stamp program helps 26 million people. Most participate in for just nine months. More than half of the recipients are children.
Those of us who are doing this a second time do so with some trepidation.
Last year, I said goodbye to fresh fruits and vegetables and drank my weight in water. I was dog-tired and could hardly contain my famous temper over the least provocation. That was after just one week. Others fared worse.
Beyond relearning that I really need some patience, I learned how complicated life can be when you have to devote so much attention to getting adequate food on the table on a minuscule budget.
And I wasn't feeding a family. That was just me.
This year, longtime Hartford councilwoman Veronica Airey-Wilson is participating, as are Lorraine Reardon, registered dietitian with the Charter Oak Health Center, and her husband, Victor Arduini.
Both Airey-Wilson and Reardon say they want to better understand the lives of the people with whom they work. Berman calls that kind of learning a "body experience."
But this is not just for public officials or warm-hearted do-gooders.
Even we sinners might be surprised at what they learn.
Berman says that last year's project moved her in ways she hadn't expected.
"There's a way I live with more consciousness, more gratitude, a greater consciousness," she said. "It really is life-changing. I can't believe it's a year already. It still feels urgent. It didn't wear off."
For more information on the Food Stamp Project, visit www.charteroakcenter.org, or call 860-249-1207
Poverty focussed development and microfinance:
from The Island
Policies and prospects - Part I
by M U A Tennakoon Ph.D,DSc
Early Policies
Sri Lanka, by the 1980s, possessed substantial achievements in human development in areas such as universal primary school enrollment, a high literacy rate, gender equality, lowered infant and maternal mortality, a high life expectancy etc. largely due to the welfare-oriented development strategies followed since independence in 1948. According to the World Human Development Index, Sri Lanka ranked 99th out of 191 countries. Some of those achievements are in par with those of the middle income countries.
In those development aspects, Sri Lanka has already met some of the Millennium Development Goals towards the turn of the twentieth century. But poverty remains a persistent worry. Out of the urban population, about 8 percent still remains poor. More than 23 per cent of the rural population is living in poverty. Poverty of the estate population is a staggering 30 percent. On the whole, out of the island’s population of nearly 20 million, a fourth or less is still living in poverty.
The welfare oriented inward looking development strategies of the post independent era though bolstered some of the human development indices stated above, they did not sufficiently facilitate a speedy economic growth amidst rapid population growth. The population of 8 million at the time of gaining independence (1948), more than doubled during the next three decades while the economic growth was slow.
It was in the late 1970s that, in place of the welfare-oriented inward looking economic development policy, an outward looking and more open development policy with a growing privatization in consonant with the global free market economic development was adopted. By that time, the slow economic growth, rising prices of imports and declining prices of agricultural commodity exports amidst an increased population, reduced the wealth of the nation, while inequalities of income distribution increased alarmingly, leaving a significant proportion of the population in poverty.
From the 1970s to the end of the 1990s, there was a significant change in the broad direction of economic policies. During this period more liberal trade and industrial policies spanned a higher growth in industry while dynamism waned in agriculture largely due to weak infrastructure. As a result, the income growth has become heavily skewed in favour of Colombo and adjoining districts while poverty persists in rural and estate areas. The economy of the North and East too was undergoing the negative impacts of the conflict.
Decline in foreign investment, falling income from tourism, rising cost of imports, slow economic growth all round etc. caused growing fiscal deficiencies, rising interest payments and declining public investment on infrastructure development (roads, water supply, electricity) and strained the nation’s economy as a whole with widening regional imbalances.
Recent Policies
At the turn of the 1980s, poverty alleviation came to be high in the development agenda. Hence, at the dawn of the 1990s the Janasaviya programme aimed at poverty alleviation was launched. Since then, every successive government attempted to alleviate poverty. The approach of the political party in power from 1977 to 1994 and once again from 2002 to 2004 differed somewhat from that of the political party in power from 1994 to 2002 and once again from 2004 to date. The approach of the former with the exception of the Janasaviya programme, was poverty reduction largely aimed through employment creation in the private sector and encouragement of self-employment creation. It desired urbanization more. In fact the desire (rather the expectation) was to facilitate about 60 percent of the population to be urban by the year 2020. This government, though did not discontinue welfare provisions to the poor, demonstrated a tendency to scale down welfare grants. In other words, it relied less on welfare-oriented development and relied more on competitive open market economic development approach.
In 1994, following the change of government, the new government evolved the Samurdhi programme for poverty alleviation under playing the previous government’s Janasaviya programme. In fact, it first wanted to abolish the Janasaviya programme in favour of the Samurdhi programme. However, in 1996 there was a change of heart and Janasaviya was scaled down by disbanding its functions such as Human Resource Development, Community Development, Strengthening Partner Organizations (POs) and Nutrition Programmes, retaining only the Microfinance Division to continue the lending to the poor under a new microfinance institution called National Development Trust Fund (NDTF).
Way back in 1982, when there were neither Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) nor widespread networks of partner organizations (POs) to liaise with the MFIs to provide microfinance on any wide scale, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) set up a Rural Credit Department, established Regional Rural Development Banks and a Training Institute (Rural Banking and Staff Training College) to train requisite personnel to strengthen its agency portfolio of rural credit besides training personnel for central banking. Even though a central bank is purely a regulatory body, CBSL’s extra effort made to expand the rural credit outreach is continued to the present day largely through foreign funded projects is noteworthy.
Vision for the 21st Century
While direct efforts through the provision of microfinance to the poor increased towards the end of the 20th century, overall economic development efforts too contribute to poverty alleviation. With this belief in 1999, the government declared its vision for the 21st Century where it aimed to : (a) maintain a rate of economic growth of 7-8% per annum; (b) raise the per capita income of Rs. 60,000/- per year ($ 850) to Rs. 175,000 ($ 2,500) by the year 2010; (c) raise the income level of the poorest group by raising their income from the current 4 per cent to 15 per cent by the year 2010; and (d) reduce unemployment to 5 per cent by 2010.
Despite all these policy intentions, by the year 2002, Sri Lanka experienced a negative economic growth. A new government which came into power that year, in its ‘Regaining Sri Lanka’ effort, the policy focus was largely on : a) generating a vibrant Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector to take the lead in generating employment opportunities and avenues for production growth and raising income for a large segment of the low income earners; (b) improvement of the SME policy environment (in SME White Paper in 2002) and the establishment of a SME policy unit to monitor SME development, review legislation and co-ordinate donor programmes in the sector; (c) inducement of banks to develop quality credit system suitable for SMEs, ensuring the provision of resources directly to ultra poor communities, with a strong element of community-based mobilization for development (d) the channeling of government subsidies to provide assets (seed capital) in the form of start-up investments, community goods and social capital to augment the resources available to the hard-core poor; (e) vesting the community-based organizations (CBOs) with responsibility, authority and capacity to operate and maintain assets created through community specific investment support; (f) provision of vocational training leadership and personality development training and career guidance to unemployed youth; (g) encouraging banks to forge formal links with the Samurdhi financial institutions while those institutions are required to undertake financial audits as they expand in size; (h) empowering women economically to be effective entrepreneurs by providing facilities to them to produce quality goods in their self-employment in Income Generating Activigties (IGAs) and effectively face the market challenges; (i) supporting microfinance institutions in a way that contributes more towards the development of financial bodies that are sustainable, solvent and secure; (j) re-structuring NDTF to become the apex organization for the development of microfinance with responsibility for the microfinance organizations and complimentary to this was the aim to develop a legal framework that classifies the role and responsibilities of the different organizations involved in microfinance; and (k) encouragement of microfinance entities at the local level to mobilize savings from target communities for investment in IGAs individually or collectively (group-wise).
The ‘Mahinda Chinthana : A Vision for a New Sri Lanka’ introduced in 2006 as a document for development for 10-years aims to increase GDP growth rate over 8 percent (9-10 percent from the 7th to the 10th year) following market oriented economic policies with the domestic aspirations by providing necessary support to domestic enterprises while encouraging foreign investments. It aims to increase economic growth particularly in sectors such as agriculture (4 to 5%), industry (8-9%), services (9-10%) plantation sector, fisheries, livelihood development and social protection, all of which have bearing on poverty alleviation.
There is provisions for gender-balanced development. For instance, in the fisheries sector, livelihood development strategies for women are intended to be established for generating/supplementing IGAs among coastal fisheries communities, and encourage them to promote savings and invest in micro-level IGAs with enhanced institutional micro-credit support. Similarly, in the industrial sector outreach of the formal financial institutions for the delivery of microfinance is to be promoted for the encouragement of the growth of micro enterprises.
Livelihood development and social protection within the context of the ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ has two major components planned – (a) ‘Gama Neguma’ or ‘Village Awakening’; and (b) Samurdhi (Prosperity) programme referred to earlier.
In the former, the concern was more on the improvement of livelihood based rural agriculture and cottage industries in particular with the objectives of : (a) increased productivity ; and (b ) marketing arrangements for the products and improved and expanded markets for traditional crafts. Programmes being launched in this regard include : a) a productivity improvement and marketing programmes; b) 1000 industrial village programmes ; and c) a dairy village programme (‘Kiri Gammana’) with credit facilities up to Rs. 100,000/-.
Policies and prospects - Part I
by M U A Tennakoon Ph.D,DSc
Early Policies
Sri Lanka, by the 1980s, possessed substantial achievements in human development in areas such as universal primary school enrollment, a high literacy rate, gender equality, lowered infant and maternal mortality, a high life expectancy etc. largely due to the welfare-oriented development strategies followed since independence in 1948. According to the World Human Development Index, Sri Lanka ranked 99th out of 191 countries. Some of those achievements are in par with those of the middle income countries.
In those development aspects, Sri Lanka has already met some of the Millennium Development Goals towards the turn of the twentieth century. But poverty remains a persistent worry. Out of the urban population, about 8 percent still remains poor. More than 23 per cent of the rural population is living in poverty. Poverty of the estate population is a staggering 30 percent. On the whole, out of the island’s population of nearly 20 million, a fourth or less is still living in poverty.
The welfare oriented inward looking development strategies of the post independent era though bolstered some of the human development indices stated above, they did not sufficiently facilitate a speedy economic growth amidst rapid population growth. The population of 8 million at the time of gaining independence (1948), more than doubled during the next three decades while the economic growth was slow.
It was in the late 1970s that, in place of the welfare-oriented inward looking economic development policy, an outward looking and more open development policy with a growing privatization in consonant with the global free market economic development was adopted. By that time, the slow economic growth, rising prices of imports and declining prices of agricultural commodity exports amidst an increased population, reduced the wealth of the nation, while inequalities of income distribution increased alarmingly, leaving a significant proportion of the population in poverty.
From the 1970s to the end of the 1990s, there was a significant change in the broad direction of economic policies. During this period more liberal trade and industrial policies spanned a higher growth in industry while dynamism waned in agriculture largely due to weak infrastructure. As a result, the income growth has become heavily skewed in favour of Colombo and adjoining districts while poverty persists in rural and estate areas. The economy of the North and East too was undergoing the negative impacts of the conflict.
Decline in foreign investment, falling income from tourism, rising cost of imports, slow economic growth all round etc. caused growing fiscal deficiencies, rising interest payments and declining public investment on infrastructure development (roads, water supply, electricity) and strained the nation’s economy as a whole with widening regional imbalances.
Recent Policies
At the turn of the 1980s, poverty alleviation came to be high in the development agenda. Hence, at the dawn of the 1990s the Janasaviya programme aimed at poverty alleviation was launched. Since then, every successive government attempted to alleviate poverty. The approach of the political party in power from 1977 to 1994 and once again from 2002 to 2004 differed somewhat from that of the political party in power from 1994 to 2002 and once again from 2004 to date. The approach of the former with the exception of the Janasaviya programme, was poverty reduction largely aimed through employment creation in the private sector and encouragement of self-employment creation. It desired urbanization more. In fact the desire (rather the expectation) was to facilitate about 60 percent of the population to be urban by the year 2020. This government, though did not discontinue welfare provisions to the poor, demonstrated a tendency to scale down welfare grants. In other words, it relied less on welfare-oriented development and relied more on competitive open market economic development approach.
In 1994, following the change of government, the new government evolved the Samurdhi programme for poverty alleviation under playing the previous government’s Janasaviya programme. In fact, it first wanted to abolish the Janasaviya programme in favour of the Samurdhi programme. However, in 1996 there was a change of heart and Janasaviya was scaled down by disbanding its functions such as Human Resource Development, Community Development, Strengthening Partner Organizations (POs) and Nutrition Programmes, retaining only the Microfinance Division to continue the lending to the poor under a new microfinance institution called National Development Trust Fund (NDTF).
Way back in 1982, when there were neither Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) nor widespread networks of partner organizations (POs) to liaise with the MFIs to provide microfinance on any wide scale, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) set up a Rural Credit Department, established Regional Rural Development Banks and a Training Institute (Rural Banking and Staff Training College) to train requisite personnel to strengthen its agency portfolio of rural credit besides training personnel for central banking. Even though a central bank is purely a regulatory body, CBSL’s extra effort made to expand the rural credit outreach is continued to the present day largely through foreign funded projects is noteworthy.
Vision for the 21st Century
While direct efforts through the provision of microfinance to the poor increased towards the end of the 20th century, overall economic development efforts too contribute to poverty alleviation. With this belief in 1999, the government declared its vision for the 21st Century where it aimed to : (a) maintain a rate of economic growth of 7-8% per annum; (b) raise the per capita income of Rs. 60,000/- per year ($ 850) to Rs. 175,000 ($ 2,500) by the year 2010; (c) raise the income level of the poorest group by raising their income from the current 4 per cent to 15 per cent by the year 2010; and (d) reduce unemployment to 5 per cent by 2010.
Despite all these policy intentions, by the year 2002, Sri Lanka experienced a negative economic growth. A new government which came into power that year, in its ‘Regaining Sri Lanka’ effort, the policy focus was largely on : a) generating a vibrant Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector to take the lead in generating employment opportunities and avenues for production growth and raising income for a large segment of the low income earners; (b) improvement of the SME policy environment (in SME White Paper in 2002) and the establishment of a SME policy unit to monitor SME development, review legislation and co-ordinate donor programmes in the sector; (c) inducement of banks to develop quality credit system suitable for SMEs, ensuring the provision of resources directly to ultra poor communities, with a strong element of community-based mobilization for development (d) the channeling of government subsidies to provide assets (seed capital) in the form of start-up investments, community goods and social capital to augment the resources available to the hard-core poor; (e) vesting the community-based organizations (CBOs) with responsibility, authority and capacity to operate and maintain assets created through community specific investment support; (f) provision of vocational training leadership and personality development training and career guidance to unemployed youth; (g) encouraging banks to forge formal links with the Samurdhi financial institutions while those institutions are required to undertake financial audits as they expand in size; (h) empowering women economically to be effective entrepreneurs by providing facilities to them to produce quality goods in their self-employment in Income Generating Activigties (IGAs) and effectively face the market challenges; (i) supporting microfinance institutions in a way that contributes more towards the development of financial bodies that are sustainable, solvent and secure; (j) re-structuring NDTF to become the apex organization for the development of microfinance with responsibility for the microfinance organizations and complimentary to this was the aim to develop a legal framework that classifies the role and responsibilities of the different organizations involved in microfinance; and (k) encouragement of microfinance entities at the local level to mobilize savings from target communities for investment in IGAs individually or collectively (group-wise).
The ‘Mahinda Chinthana : A Vision for a New Sri Lanka’ introduced in 2006 as a document for development for 10-years aims to increase GDP growth rate over 8 percent (9-10 percent from the 7th to the 10th year) following market oriented economic policies with the domestic aspirations by providing necessary support to domestic enterprises while encouraging foreign investments. It aims to increase economic growth particularly in sectors such as agriculture (4 to 5%), industry (8-9%), services (9-10%) plantation sector, fisheries, livelihood development and social protection, all of which have bearing on poverty alleviation.
There is provisions for gender-balanced development. For instance, in the fisheries sector, livelihood development strategies for women are intended to be established for generating/supplementing IGAs among coastal fisheries communities, and encourage them to promote savings and invest in micro-level IGAs with enhanced institutional micro-credit support. Similarly, in the industrial sector outreach of the formal financial institutions for the delivery of microfinance is to be promoted for the encouragement of the growth of micro enterprises.
Livelihood development and social protection within the context of the ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ has two major components planned – (a) ‘Gama Neguma’ or ‘Village Awakening’; and (b) Samurdhi (Prosperity) programme referred to earlier.
In the former, the concern was more on the improvement of livelihood based rural agriculture and cottage industries in particular with the objectives of : (a) increased productivity ; and (b ) marketing arrangements for the products and improved and expanded markets for traditional crafts. Programmes being launched in this regard include : a) a productivity improvement and marketing programmes; b) 1000 industrial village programmes ; and c) a dairy village programme (‘Kiri Gammana’) with credit facilities up to Rs. 100,000/-.
Charity with the personal touch?
from the Times Online
Child sponsorship schemes stand accused of wasting contributors' money, writes Mark Bridge
With a billion children living in poverty worldwide, child sponsorship schemes are a compelling way to give to charity. From about 50p a day, donors can track the progress of an individual who is benefiting from their money. Most receive photographs of the child, reports on development projects in his or her community and personal letters once or twice a year. Sponsors can even visit their sponsored child and witness aid work first-hand.
Despite the name of these schemes, most channel the sponsors' cash towards projects to benefit whole communities rather than a single child. In these cases, the link between sponsor and sponsored is illustrative - and, critics say, “dishonest”. So what is child sponsorship, and why do some charities reject the model?
The example of ActionAid, the international anti-poverty agency, shows just how successful a fundraiser sponsorship can be. Three quarters of the charity's 175,000 regular supporters in the UK are, or have been, sponsors. Richard Turner, of ActionAid, says: “Some say it's a gimmick, but our supporters love it - it's a great way for them to understand our work. And for return on investment, it can't be bettered.”
Supporters pay from £15 a month to sponsor a child. Of that, 70p per pound goes to projects within that child's community, such as raising standards of health or enabling farmers to improve yields, 20p goes to wider projects and 10p covers administrative and other costs. Sponsorship usually continues until the child marries, leaves school or reaches the age of 16, but sponsors can opt to leave the programme at any time.
For their part, sponsors receive an annual report on progress in the community and two messages from, or about, the child, sometimes with drawings. They can write back, Mr Richards says, although most do not. One sponsor who does write - three or four times a year - is Chris Evans. The 53-year-old business consultant, of Wakefield, has been sponsoring Mokoi Rianto, a 12-year-old Masai boy from Narok, Kenya, since 2003. “I asked to sponsor in Africa because it has fascinated me since school and is where help is needed,” she says. “They sent me his picture on approval and I couldn't say no.”
Mrs Evans gives £21.95 a month, £6.95 more than the minimum. Last year she travelled to meet Mokoi and his family, combining the visit with a sponsored trek with ActionAid in the Masai Mara, for which she raised £4,200. She spent four days of the 18-day trip in Narok, seeing Mokoi's home and school, as well as local ActionAid projects, including a “vast” irrigation scheme and new bridges across a river.
“It was eye-opening and in some ways quite upsetting,” she says. “Mokoi lives in a mud hut with his parents and ten brothers and sisters. But the work being done is marvellous. He doesn't speak much English - just a few phrases - but it was obvious how grateful he and the rest of the community are. The Government does not pay for schooling after the age of 11, so ActionAid's help is essential.”
Inspired by the “life-changing“ visit, Mrs Evans is raising £10,000 to build new classrooms for Mokoi's school in a special project co-ordinated by ActionAid. She says that the fundraising events she has organised have raised awareness of sponsorship among her friends. At least two have been inspired to sponsor with ActionAid themselves, in Afghanistan.
Mrs Evans chose to sponsor with ActionAid after hearing a radio advertisement. Other mainstream options with a similar element of contact between sponsor and child are Worldvision and Plan UK. The former charges from £18 a month and puts 85p per pound “toward securing a better future for children living in poverty”. Plan UK, meanwhile, charges from £12 a month. Of this, 80p per pound is spent on projects worldwide.
The overheads of such schemes concern Christian Aid, which, like the Red Cross, does not offer child sponsorship, despite inquiries from the public. Paul Valentin, the charity's international director, explains that Christian Aid objects to the concept because money spent on the mechanics of sponsorship - such as taking photographs and translating letters - meets the needs of the sponsor rather than the child. He adds: “Because money goes to communities rather than one child - which is, in itself, a good thing - there is a fundamental dishonesty to the idea of ‘sponsorship' that is alien to everything we stand for.”
Mr Valentin is also concerned that certain children are “privileged” because they receive letters while their friends and neighbours do not. He adds that the sending of presents to individuals - permitted with Worldvision and Plan UK, but not with ActionAid - is especially “objectionable”. He says: “Donors have no idea what they are doing to the dynamics of a family or community when one child is singled out for special attention.”
He believes that charities can communicate the human impact of their work in ways other than sponsorship, such as by publishing illustrative case studies in campaign material.
ActionAid rejects any suggestion that sponsorship is dishonest or misleading and points out that charities that do not offer sponsorship spend money on supporter mailouts. Mr Turner adds: “People like to think that they are helping that one person, but know how the money is spent.”
Even Mr Valentine concedes: “Some people may need that link to make a donation.
Charities that begin at homes
For a more individual approach to child sponsorship, you could consider Dr Graham's Homes, founded in 1900 to care for neglected Anglo-Indian children in Bengal. For £650 a year, supporters cover the entire cost of educating, clothing and housing one named child.
The “homes” consist of a boarding school and community of 1,200 at Kalimpong, in the foothills of the Himalayas, with a mix of supported and fee-paying pupils. Even today, many of the children are of mixed Indian and European descent.
Veronica Cassie, the charity's secretary, says that supporters are a close-knit group, many of whom have some kind of family link to the Raj. Sponsors receive a Christmas card, photo and annual school report each year and are encouraged to write to the child. For more information, go to drgrahamshomes.co.uk.
A more affordable sponsorship scheme that is also a bit different is operated by SOS Children, part of SOS-Kinderdorf International. Children who have lost their parents are brought up in a protective family environment in “children's villages” in 130 countries. SOS emphasises that sponsors' cash goes directly to caring for children rather than wider communities.
Supporters pay £20 a month to sponsor a child. As the real cost of care is greater than £60, however, children may have several sponsors.
Unlike most sponsorship schemes, 100 per cent of the money goes towards aid work, because overheads are paid for by recovered tax from the minority of supporters who make their contributions though the Government's Gift Aid scheme.
Despite this, the charity, which can be found online at soschildrensvillages.org.uk, points out that equivalent donations made without sponsoring individuals do go further. It adds: “Some people make regular gifts without sponsorship and are highly valued.”
Exchanging gifts
In the same way that “child sponsorship” money is often pooled for general development work, so are many charity “gifts”. When you pay to “give a goat” to Africa, your money does not necessarily pay for a flesh-and-blood animal.
Under Christian Aid's scheme, “gifts” fall into broad categories.
A £15 can of worms, billed as “organic, cheap fertiliser for crops”, means £15 for agricultural projects and livestock. A similar system operates at Oxfam Unwrapped, where £10 for “five bags of seeds” could, in fact, pay for planting an allotment or irrigating fields.
Good Gifts, at GoodGifts.org, differs in that your money is spent on the specific item you choose. Gifts include “a year's supply of tea”, at £15. This buys tea at a fair price from small growers in South India and distributes it to widows, the disabled and poor people in India.
There is more on charity gifts at www.intelligentgiving.com, which recommends schemes such as Good Gifts, which guarantee that what you buy is what you get. Another is Save the Children at savethechildren.sandbag.uk.com.
But whatever you give, read up on Gift Aid at the Revenue website, www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/gift-aid. Under the scheme, charities receive an extra 28p for every pound you donate.
Child sponsorship schemes stand accused of wasting contributors' money, writes Mark Bridge
With a billion children living in poverty worldwide, child sponsorship schemes are a compelling way to give to charity. From about 50p a day, donors can track the progress of an individual who is benefiting from their money. Most receive photographs of the child, reports on development projects in his or her community and personal letters once or twice a year. Sponsors can even visit their sponsored child and witness aid work first-hand.
Despite the name of these schemes, most channel the sponsors' cash towards projects to benefit whole communities rather than a single child. In these cases, the link between sponsor and sponsored is illustrative - and, critics say, “dishonest”. So what is child sponsorship, and why do some charities reject the model?
The example of ActionAid, the international anti-poverty agency, shows just how successful a fundraiser sponsorship can be. Three quarters of the charity's 175,000 regular supporters in the UK are, or have been, sponsors. Richard Turner, of ActionAid, says: “Some say it's a gimmick, but our supporters love it - it's a great way for them to understand our work. And for return on investment, it can't be bettered.”
Supporters pay from £15 a month to sponsor a child. Of that, 70p per pound goes to projects within that child's community, such as raising standards of health or enabling farmers to improve yields, 20p goes to wider projects and 10p covers administrative and other costs. Sponsorship usually continues until the child marries, leaves school or reaches the age of 16, but sponsors can opt to leave the programme at any time.
For their part, sponsors receive an annual report on progress in the community and two messages from, or about, the child, sometimes with drawings. They can write back, Mr Richards says, although most do not. One sponsor who does write - three or four times a year - is Chris Evans. The 53-year-old business consultant, of Wakefield, has been sponsoring Mokoi Rianto, a 12-year-old Masai boy from Narok, Kenya, since 2003. “I asked to sponsor in Africa because it has fascinated me since school and is where help is needed,” she says. “They sent me his picture on approval and I couldn't say no.”
Mrs Evans gives £21.95 a month, £6.95 more than the minimum. Last year she travelled to meet Mokoi and his family, combining the visit with a sponsored trek with ActionAid in the Masai Mara, for which she raised £4,200. She spent four days of the 18-day trip in Narok, seeing Mokoi's home and school, as well as local ActionAid projects, including a “vast” irrigation scheme and new bridges across a river.
“It was eye-opening and in some ways quite upsetting,” she says. “Mokoi lives in a mud hut with his parents and ten brothers and sisters. But the work being done is marvellous. He doesn't speak much English - just a few phrases - but it was obvious how grateful he and the rest of the community are. The Government does not pay for schooling after the age of 11, so ActionAid's help is essential.”
Inspired by the “life-changing“ visit, Mrs Evans is raising £10,000 to build new classrooms for Mokoi's school in a special project co-ordinated by ActionAid. She says that the fundraising events she has organised have raised awareness of sponsorship among her friends. At least two have been inspired to sponsor with ActionAid themselves, in Afghanistan.
Mrs Evans chose to sponsor with ActionAid after hearing a radio advertisement. Other mainstream options with a similar element of contact between sponsor and child are Worldvision and Plan UK. The former charges from £18 a month and puts 85p per pound “toward securing a better future for children living in poverty”. Plan UK, meanwhile, charges from £12 a month. Of this, 80p per pound is spent on projects worldwide.
The overheads of such schemes concern Christian Aid, which, like the Red Cross, does not offer child sponsorship, despite inquiries from the public. Paul Valentin, the charity's international director, explains that Christian Aid objects to the concept because money spent on the mechanics of sponsorship - such as taking photographs and translating letters - meets the needs of the sponsor rather than the child. He adds: “Because money goes to communities rather than one child - which is, in itself, a good thing - there is a fundamental dishonesty to the idea of ‘sponsorship' that is alien to everything we stand for.”
Mr Valentin is also concerned that certain children are “privileged” because they receive letters while their friends and neighbours do not. He adds that the sending of presents to individuals - permitted with Worldvision and Plan UK, but not with ActionAid - is especially “objectionable”. He says: “Donors have no idea what they are doing to the dynamics of a family or community when one child is singled out for special attention.”
He believes that charities can communicate the human impact of their work in ways other than sponsorship, such as by publishing illustrative case studies in campaign material.
ActionAid rejects any suggestion that sponsorship is dishonest or misleading and points out that charities that do not offer sponsorship spend money on supporter mailouts. Mr Turner adds: “People like to think that they are helping that one person, but know how the money is spent.”
Even Mr Valentine concedes: “Some people may need that link to make a donation.
Charities that begin at homes
For a more individual approach to child sponsorship, you could consider Dr Graham's Homes, founded in 1900 to care for neglected Anglo-Indian children in Bengal. For £650 a year, supporters cover the entire cost of educating, clothing and housing one named child.
The “homes” consist of a boarding school and community of 1,200 at Kalimpong, in the foothills of the Himalayas, with a mix of supported and fee-paying pupils. Even today, many of the children are of mixed Indian and European descent.
Veronica Cassie, the charity's secretary, says that supporters are a close-knit group, many of whom have some kind of family link to the Raj. Sponsors receive a Christmas card, photo and annual school report each year and are encouraged to write to the child. For more information, go to drgrahamshomes.co.uk.
A more affordable sponsorship scheme that is also a bit different is operated by SOS Children, part of SOS-Kinderdorf International. Children who have lost their parents are brought up in a protective family environment in “children's villages” in 130 countries. SOS emphasises that sponsors' cash goes directly to caring for children rather than wider communities.
Supporters pay £20 a month to sponsor a child. As the real cost of care is greater than £60, however, children may have several sponsors.
Unlike most sponsorship schemes, 100 per cent of the money goes towards aid work, because overheads are paid for by recovered tax from the minority of supporters who make their contributions though the Government's Gift Aid scheme.
Despite this, the charity, which can be found online at soschildrensvillages.org.uk, points out that equivalent donations made without sponsoring individuals do go further. It adds: “Some people make regular gifts without sponsorship and are highly valued.”
Exchanging gifts
In the same way that “child sponsorship” money is often pooled for general development work, so are many charity “gifts”. When you pay to “give a goat” to Africa, your money does not necessarily pay for a flesh-and-blood animal.
Under Christian Aid's scheme, “gifts” fall into broad categories.
A £15 can of worms, billed as “organic, cheap fertiliser for crops”, means £15 for agricultural projects and livestock. A similar system operates at Oxfam Unwrapped, where £10 for “five bags of seeds” could, in fact, pay for planting an allotment or irrigating fields.
Good Gifts, at GoodGifts.org, differs in that your money is spent on the specific item you choose. Gifts include “a year's supply of tea”, at £15. This buys tea at a fair price from small growers in South India and distributes it to widows, the disabled and poor people in India.
There is more on charity gifts at www.intelligentgiving.com, which recommends schemes such as Good Gifts, which guarantee that what you buy is what you get. Another is Save the Children at savethechildren.sandbag.uk.com.
But whatever you give, read up on Gift Aid at the Revenue website, www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/gift-aid. Under the scheme, charities receive an extra 28p for every pound you donate.
[Book excerpt] Defining Poverty
from The Globalist
By Muhammad Yunus
Every country and every region has its own definition of poverty, caused by variations in cultural habits and living conditions. As Nobel Prize winner and Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus explains, what is most important is a definition of poverty that is of practical use for aid workers on the ground.
At Grameen Bank, we had to develop our own definition of poverty so that we would be able to measure our success in helping people rise out of poverty through microcredit. We could have used a benchmark based on money income — for example, the equivalent of one U.S. dollar or two a day. These are both commonly used markers of poverty in the international development community.
However, we felt that this system would not be practical for day-to-day decision making. Instead, we developed a ten-point system that describes specific living conditions. Once a family has succeeded in clearing all ten of these hurdles, then we at Grameen Bank consider them to have escaped from poverty.
A comprehensive set of criterion
The ten points are:
1. The bank member and her family live in a tin-roofed house or in a house worth at
least 25,000 taka (roughly equivalent to $370). The family members sleep on cots or a bedstead rather than the floor.
2. The member and her family drink pure water from tube-wells, boiled water, or arsenic-free water purified by the use of alum, purifying tablets, or pitcher filters.
3. All of the member’s children who are physically and mentally fit and above the age of six either attend or have finished primary school.
4. The member’s minimum weekly loan repayment installment is 200 taka (around $3).
5. All family members use a hygienic and sanitary latrine.
Beyond survival
6. All family members have sufficient clothing to meet daily needs, including winter
clothes, blankets, and mosquito netting.
7. The family has additional sources of income, such as a vegetable garden or fruit-bearing trees, to fall back on in times of need.
8. The member maintains an average annual balance of 5,000 taka (around $75) in her savings account.
9. The member has the ability to feed her family three square meals a day throughout the year.
10. All family members are conscious about their health, can take immediate action for proper treatment, and can pay medical expenses in the event of illness.
International application
Our ten indicators, obviously, were designed to define an individual and a family who are not in poverty any longer. But absence of the very same indicators can be used to define those who are in poverty.
With appropriate modifications, the same system of indicators might work well in some other developing countries.
Editor's Note: This feature is adapted from CREATING A WORLD WITHOUT POVERTY by Muhammad Yunus. Copyright 2007 Public Affairs. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.
By Muhammad Yunus
Every country and every region has its own definition of poverty, caused by variations in cultural habits and living conditions. As Nobel Prize winner and Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus explains, what is most important is a definition of poverty that is of practical use for aid workers on the ground.
At Grameen Bank, we had to develop our own definition of poverty so that we would be able to measure our success in helping people rise out of poverty through microcredit. We could have used a benchmark based on money income — for example, the equivalent of one U.S. dollar or two a day. These are both commonly used markers of poverty in the international development community.
However, we felt that this system would not be practical for day-to-day decision making. Instead, we developed a ten-point system that describes specific living conditions. Once a family has succeeded in clearing all ten of these hurdles, then we at Grameen Bank consider them to have escaped from poverty.
A comprehensive set of criterion
The ten points are:
1. The bank member and her family live in a tin-roofed house or in a house worth at
least 25,000 taka (roughly equivalent to $370). The family members sleep on cots or a bedstead rather than the floor.
2. The member and her family drink pure water from tube-wells, boiled water, or arsenic-free water purified by the use of alum, purifying tablets, or pitcher filters.
3. All of the member’s children who are physically and mentally fit and above the age of six either attend or have finished primary school.
4. The member’s minimum weekly loan repayment installment is 200 taka (around $3).
5. All family members use a hygienic and sanitary latrine.
Beyond survival
6. All family members have sufficient clothing to meet daily needs, including winter
clothes, blankets, and mosquito netting.
7. The family has additional sources of income, such as a vegetable garden or fruit-bearing trees, to fall back on in times of need.
8. The member maintains an average annual balance of 5,000 taka (around $75) in her savings account.
9. The member has the ability to feed her family three square meals a day throughout the year.
10. All family members are conscious about their health, can take immediate action for proper treatment, and can pay medical expenses in the event of illness.
International application
Our ten indicators, obviously, were designed to define an individual and a family who are not in poverty any longer. But absence of the very same indicators can be used to define those who are in poverty.
With appropriate modifications, the same system of indicators might work well in some other developing countries.
Editor's Note: This feature is adapted from CREATING A WORLD WITHOUT POVERTY by Muhammad Yunus. Copyright 2007 Public Affairs. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.
Young people fight hunger with 30-hour famine
from the Journal and Courier
By BOB SCOTT
Two dozen young people from Lafayette recently fasted 30 hours to raise money to fight world hunger.
The youth group at Sunrise Christian Reformed Church raised about $5,000 as part of its second annual World Vision 30 Hour Famine weekend. The youths raised $1,100 last year.
"Not eating for 30 hours was hard, but it was not as bad as what kids around the world face," said Paul Lyzenga, 17.
"It was pretty cool for me to come in and do something for world hunger."
The senior at Faith Christian School also helped build 1,208 6-by-8-inch wooden crosses that were installed outside the southside church.
The crosses represent the number of children age 5 and younger who die from poverty and hunger each hour worldwide, according to World Vision 30 Hour Famine.
Jean Dahnke, the children's ministry director, said last weekend's retreat was an educational experience for the group.
"I hope they realized that they can make a difference," she said. "Spiritually, I hope they grow in their Christian walk and know they can accomplish a lot of things with Jesus Christ at their side."
She said there were no complaints during the fast and overnight retreat.
"None of them complained," she said. "When you get hungry, you tend to get grouchy. I'm proud of them."
Lyzenga said when the fast ended, the group had rice and then spaghetti. The idea was to give the fasters food that would not upset their stomachs.
"I did have three plates of spaghetti," he laughed. "It tasted great."
The participants also played games that were fun and educational, Dahnke said. The focus was on Indonesia and the impoverished children there.
"One game was called 'earthquake survival,' " she said. "The kids journaled, too."
One game's question was, "How do you think it would be to be separated from your family during a crisis?"
"It made you think," Dahnke said.
Other games focused on the "mosquito menace" and malaria, which is a major killer worldwide.
"It takes $365 to feed a child for an entire year," she said.
Sisters Emily and Maggie Wetzel said it was a "great weekend." Emily, 14, and Maggie, 12, attend Lafayette Christian School.
"The best part was raising money for kids in poverty," Emily said. "We asked our families and friends at church to help."
Maggie said she enjoyed being with her friends for 30 hours.
"Having fun was the best part for me," she said. "But while we were having fun, we knew we were helping people."
The sisters were part of a church team that went to Lima, Peru, last year. They are going back again this year.
"You have no idea what poverty really is until you go down there and see it," Maggie said.
By BOB SCOTT
Two dozen young people from Lafayette recently fasted 30 hours to raise money to fight world hunger.
The youth group at Sunrise Christian Reformed Church raised about $5,000 as part of its second annual World Vision 30 Hour Famine weekend. The youths raised $1,100 last year.
"Not eating for 30 hours was hard, but it was not as bad as what kids around the world face," said Paul Lyzenga, 17.
"It was pretty cool for me to come in and do something for world hunger."
The senior at Faith Christian School also helped build 1,208 6-by-8-inch wooden crosses that were installed outside the southside church.
The crosses represent the number of children age 5 and younger who die from poverty and hunger each hour worldwide, according to World Vision 30 Hour Famine.
Jean Dahnke, the children's ministry director, said last weekend's retreat was an educational experience for the group.
"I hope they realized that they can make a difference," she said. "Spiritually, I hope they grow in their Christian walk and know they can accomplish a lot of things with Jesus Christ at their side."
She said there were no complaints during the fast and overnight retreat.
"None of them complained," she said. "When you get hungry, you tend to get grouchy. I'm proud of them."
Lyzenga said when the fast ended, the group had rice and then spaghetti. The idea was to give the fasters food that would not upset their stomachs.
"I did have three plates of spaghetti," he laughed. "It tasted great."
The participants also played games that were fun and educational, Dahnke said. The focus was on Indonesia and the impoverished children there.
"One game was called 'earthquake survival,' " she said. "The kids journaled, too."
One game's question was, "How do you think it would be to be separated from your family during a crisis?"
"It made you think," Dahnke said.
Other games focused on the "mosquito menace" and malaria, which is a major killer worldwide.
"It takes $365 to feed a child for an entire year," she said.
Sisters Emily and Maggie Wetzel said it was a "great weekend." Emily, 14, and Maggie, 12, attend Lafayette Christian School.
"The best part was raising money for kids in poverty," Emily said. "We asked our families and friends at church to help."
Maggie said she enjoyed being with her friends for 30 hours.
"Having fun was the best part for me," she said. "But while we were having fun, we knew we were helping people."
The sisters were part of a church team that went to Lima, Peru, last year. They are going back again this year.
"You have no idea what poverty really is until you go down there and see it," Maggie said.
SDC cannot solve poverty: Keadilan
from the Daily Express
Kota Kinabalu: Opposition Keadilan claimed the Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) would not be able to resolve poverty issues in Sabah as well as reduce the price of goods.
Its Inanam candidate, Daniel John Jambun, said he is willing to debate the issue with the BN at any time and place.
"The SDC never mentioned about providing opportunities to the people or how it would be able to address poverty and the illegal immigrant issues in Sabah.
"So, how could the government say that it is good for the people?," he said during a Keadilan gathering at Kampung Bantayan, Inanam, Thursday night.
The BN, he claimed, is now going into the villages distributing zinc sheets and plastic water tanks to the people to entice them to vote for BN candidates in the elections on March 8.
However, he believed that 95 per cent of the voters in the Inanam state constituency is fully behind Keadilan.
Daniel said once Keadilan forms the next government, among the first things they would do is to improve the delivery system. He assured that whatever the party does, they would be very transparent.
He said if the reports lodged by Keadilan on corruption are false, "then why is it that until now none of those who lodged the reports has been arrested?"
He also said if the BN is really honest, then the promises it vowed to fulfil within 100 days after the previous elections should have already been fulfilled. "But now, it has been more than 1,000 days and still they have not been able to fulfil all of them," he said.
Daniel, 51, urged the voters to vote for Keadilan if they want changes in their lives. A Political Secretary during the Berjaya government period, he explained that he is not the arrogant person some people make him out to be. "I cannot turn my neck very much because it feels tight due to the tension," he said.
However, he assured the people that his heart is for the people who he claimed have largely been oppressed.
He rated his chances as quite good against BN incumbent Johnny Goh (PBS) and other challengers, Jeffrey Kumin @ John (DAP) and Clarence Chin @ Olay (Independent).
Kota Kinabalu: Opposition Keadilan claimed the Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) would not be able to resolve poverty issues in Sabah as well as reduce the price of goods.
Its Inanam candidate, Daniel John Jambun, said he is willing to debate the issue with the BN at any time and place.
"The SDC never mentioned about providing opportunities to the people or how it would be able to address poverty and the illegal immigrant issues in Sabah.
"So, how could the government say that it is good for the people?," he said during a Keadilan gathering at Kampung Bantayan, Inanam, Thursday night.
The BN, he claimed, is now going into the villages distributing zinc sheets and plastic water tanks to the people to entice them to vote for BN candidates in the elections on March 8.
However, he believed that 95 per cent of the voters in the Inanam state constituency is fully behind Keadilan.
Daniel said once Keadilan forms the next government, among the first things they would do is to improve the delivery system. He assured that whatever the party does, they would be very transparent.
He said if the reports lodged by Keadilan on corruption are false, "then why is it that until now none of those who lodged the reports has been arrested?"
He also said if the BN is really honest, then the promises it vowed to fulfil within 100 days after the previous elections should have already been fulfilled. "But now, it has been more than 1,000 days and still they have not been able to fulfil all of them," he said.
Daniel, 51, urged the voters to vote for Keadilan if they want changes in their lives. A Political Secretary during the Berjaya government period, he explained that he is not the arrogant person some people make him out to be. "I cannot turn my neck very much because it feels tight due to the tension," he said.
However, he assured the people that his heart is for the people who he claimed have largely been oppressed.
He rated his chances as quite good against BN incumbent Johnny Goh (PBS) and other challengers, Jeffrey Kumin @ John (DAP) and Clarence Chin @ Olay (Independent).
Northern Irish and US faith groups tackle environment, poverty and peace
from Ekklesia
Faith groups in Northern Ireland and America have been seeking to learn from one another about making peace in the human and the physical environment together. Earlier this month a US interfaith group visited the province.
The Americans met with church leaders, non-governmental organizations, and government officials in Belfast from 12-14 February, with the aim of discussing how global climate change can relate to the peace and reconciliation process in Northern Ireland.
The delegation also met with community development groups, religious relief agencies, and elected officials including First Minister Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.
The interfaith delegates represented the National Council of Churches USA, the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change, the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life and the Presbyterian Church (USA).
"Because global climate change will effect us all, and those in poverty the most, it transcends religious and political divides and provides vibrant opportunities for faith communities to come together to address this global concern," explained Cassandra Carmichael, eco-justice programme director for the National Council of Churches USA.
The delegation, sponsored by the British Consulate in New York, presented US perspectives on faith engagement on environmental issues to church leaders in the Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church, Church of Ireland, and the Catholic Church.
"Working on climate change is an opportunity to move beyond the past and to work together for the global community to create a stronger peace at home," said Liore Milgrom-Elcott, project manager for the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life.
The inter-connectedness of climate and poverty was a key message that the delegation brought to religious and political leaders in Northern Ireland.
"The focus of our work on has been on the disproportionate impact climate change will have on people in poverty here in the US and abroad," said Dan Misleh, executive director for the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change.
The delegation noted signs of cooperation on environmental issues already happening in Northern Island including the eco-congregations, which has engaged both Catholic and protestant congregations.
"We hope that our presence here in Northern Ireland can be a catalyst for increased dialog and cooperation not only within the faith community but the throughout the wider community," said Renee Rico, of Presbyterians for Restoring Creation.
The National Council of Churches is the ecumenical voice of America's Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican, historic African American and traditional peace churches. These 35 communions have 45 million members in 100,000 congregations in all 50 states.
Faith groups in Northern Ireland and America have been seeking to learn from one another about making peace in the human and the physical environment together. Earlier this month a US interfaith group visited the province.
The Americans met with church leaders, non-governmental organizations, and government officials in Belfast from 12-14 February, with the aim of discussing how global climate change can relate to the peace and reconciliation process in Northern Ireland.
The delegation also met with community development groups, religious relief agencies, and elected officials including First Minister Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.
The interfaith delegates represented the National Council of Churches USA, the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change, the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life and the Presbyterian Church (USA).
"Because global climate change will effect us all, and those in poverty the most, it transcends religious and political divides and provides vibrant opportunities for faith communities to come together to address this global concern," explained Cassandra Carmichael, eco-justice programme director for the National Council of Churches USA.
The delegation, sponsored by the British Consulate in New York, presented US perspectives on faith engagement on environmental issues to church leaders in the Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church, Church of Ireland, and the Catholic Church.
"Working on climate change is an opportunity to move beyond the past and to work together for the global community to create a stronger peace at home," said Liore Milgrom-Elcott, project manager for the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life.
The inter-connectedness of climate and poverty was a key message that the delegation brought to religious and political leaders in Northern Ireland.
"The focus of our work on has been on the disproportionate impact climate change will have on people in poverty here in the US and abroad," said Dan Misleh, executive director for the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change.
The delegation noted signs of cooperation on environmental issues already happening in Northern Island including the eco-congregations, which has engaged both Catholic and protestant congregations.
"We hope that our presence here in Northern Ireland can be a catalyst for increased dialog and cooperation not only within the faith community but the throughout the wider community," said Renee Rico, of Presbyterians for Restoring Creation.
The National Council of Churches is the ecumenical voice of America's Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican, historic African American and traditional peace churches. These 35 communions have 45 million members in 100,000 congregations in all 50 states.
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