Reel Poverty Film Festival at the University of Marquette

A short film festival taks place tonight at the University of Marquette in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Students at the film school record stories about poverty and homelessness in the Milwaukee area. A web video of one of the films can be found at this page, from the University.

From the Marquette Tribune, writer Tori Dykes describes the event.

The films are centered on homelessness and poverty in Milwaukee, but student filmmakers chose how to address the subject matter. So the films will not necessarily all be shot in the style of a straight documentary, said John Ross, one of the festival organizers and a sophomore in the College of Engineering.

"We're trying to make a connection with people through the videos," Ross said. "Once you see these stories, these problems become a lot more apparent."

There will be additional presentations between the films, including a performance by a choir from Repairers of the Breach, a shelter and homelessness outreach center, as well as poetry readings from a man who used to be homeless, Davis said.

The combination of student films and performances from members of Milwaukee's homeless community "gives people more of a complete view" of homelessness and poverty, Davis said.

The festival will also feature a display of photographs submitted as part of a contest sponsored by Hunger Clean-Up, said Megan Heinen, co-chair of the Hunger Clean-Up fundraising committee and sophomore in the College of Nursing.

The photographs will focus on issues of hunger, homelessness and other aspects of social justice.

Building walls to hide poverty

The country of Trinidad is about to host the Summit of the Americas. In preparation for the event some clean up of the city has taken place. Some of the efforts to clean up include taking homeless to shelters, but it also includes building walls to hide sections of the city with high poverty.

From the Miami Tribune again, writer Jacqueline Charles describes how building a wall has sparked a debate about poverty.

The government has erected a wall along the neighborhood's frayed edges, blocking the view into a long troubled community that shares space with the murky waters of industrial waste, overgrown weeds and the constant stench of the nearby landfill.

The 5-foot-tall wall is simply a beautifying touch, say government officials, who have spent months prepping for the arrival this week of 33 leaders including President Barack Obama at the largest and most important gathering of hemispheric leaders.

But to those who live behind the wall, the structure means something else: It's a symbol of years of broken promises, government neglect and the widening gap between the haves and have-nots.

''They can talk prosperity. They can talk about development. But there can be no development in a country if you continue to leave behind any community or any of your people,'' said Sherma Wilson, 42, a mother of four and community activist who has taken on the plight of this long-suffering east Port of Spain community. ``The peace we seek? We can only do that if we develop community by community.''

As Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton prepare to engage regional leaders at the three-day summit that begins Friday, the question of deep-rooted social and income inequalities in the region will be a priority for the new administration.

''We know that there has been progress . . . in this hemisphere on gross domestic product increase and reduction of poverty, particularly abject poverty,'' said Jeffrey Davidow, a former U.S. ambassador in Latin America and now a White House special advisor for the summit.

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Haiti receives renewed pledges of aid

The US renewed it's pledge of aid to Haiti today. The Haitian government got government leaders and other organizations together to help them dig out of huge deficit caused by tropical storms and the collapse of it's government. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton pledged 57 million dollars to Haiti.

From the Miami Herald, writer Jacqueline Charles has the follow up story on the conference.

Clinton told the opening session of the meeting of 20 nations and international organizations that the United States' commitment was designed to generate jobs, build roads and help fight drug traffickers.

''What happens in Haiti affects far beyond the Caribbean and even the region,'' she said. ``Haiti is in danger of stalling. This conference gives us all an opportunity to reignite its path to progress by working as a team with Haiti at the helm.''

At one point, Clinton reduced her philanthropic pitch to the bare essentials, noting that $150 can send a single Haitian child to school for a year -- or vaccinate 15 youngsters.

The daylong meeting is being held at the Inter-American Development Bank. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and representatives of France and Canada were in attendance.

The cash-starved, impoverished nation of nine million is still digging out from last year's four tropical storms and hurricanes that left nearly 800 dead and $1 billion in damage in the aftermath of a series of food riots.

Haiti is seeking $125 million to close a gap in its budget and about $2 billion toward a three-year program aimed at reducing poverty.

In her appeal, Haitian Prime Minister Michèle Pierre-Louis stressed that her country was ready to embark on a new partnership with the international community.

''Timing is of extreme importance,'' she said.

Haiti looks for more from donors

Haiti is holding a one day conference today with other governments and non-governmental organizations that provide aid to the country. The country suffers from very low food aid and a medical system that is inoperable. A five month government crisis and tropical storms made the medical and food systems suffer.

From the Miami Herald, reporter Jacqueline Charles explains the purpose of the meeting in Haiti.

Millions of dollars in the hole, the Caribbean nation is seeking $125 million to plug a budget shortfall and $2 billion toward a three-year poverty-reduction plan.

''The plan,'' Prime Minister Michèle Pierre-Louis told Haitians last week in a national radio address, ``doesn't cover all of the country's needs. But it opens the door for the country to move forward.''

The plan includes new roads and schools, renovations of existing hospitals and revitalization of the country's agriculture, which suffered millions of dollars in losses following last summer's back-to-back hurricanes and tropical storms. The storms came in the midst of a nearly five-month political crisis, triggered by the firing of the former prime minister after rising fuel and food prices on the world market sparked deadly food riots.

In hopes of having donors give, despite the global economic slump and Haiti donor fatigue, the country has promised a new paradigm of cooperation.

''Success at donors conferences is typically measured by how much money is raised. We expect that more aid will be forthcoming, and we're even helping the Haitian government reach out to potential new donors, such as countries in the Gulf region and private foundations,'' said Dora Currea, manager of the Inter-American Development Bank's Caribbean Department. ``But this meeting is more about agreeing on a common vision, shared development priorities, coordination and partnership.''

The conference, which is a year overdue, was initially supposed to tackle improving international coordination between the Haitian government and the hundreds of private, nongovernmental organizations working on the ground in the poverty-stricken nation.

But with Haiti's relative stability at stake following last year's deadly food riots, a political impasse and back-to-back storms that left nearly $1 billion in damage, the gathering quickly became a fundraising effort by a government desperately seeking money for roads, hospitals and 150,000 jobs through investments in manufacturing and other areas.

Poverty on the rise in Stuben County, New York

The local Catholic Charities for Stuben County, New York was profiled in a story today. The word from the workers for the Catholic Charities are that more people are asking for help these days.

From the Evening Tribune, writer Justin Head surveys the amount of need in the area.

“What we are talking about here is the hidden face of poverty. I call it the hidden face of poverty because if you are not looking for it you won’t even know it’s there, but the reality is a lot of people need help and are in troublesome situations,” said Andy Mazzella, assistant director of Steuben County Catholic Charities.

Mazzella said there has been a 26- to 28-percent increase in services being sought after in the Hornell, Bath and Corning Catholic Charities’ offices.

“We are seeing a new group of people coming here, the newly poor. These are people that are poor for the very first time,” said Donna Mehlenbacher, program manager for the Hornell Turning Point. She said her staff is seeing a large rise in the number of people needing help who have jobs but are getting their hours cut because of the bad economy.

She said many people that are assisted at Turning Point are living in their cars or alternating between several different places of their kin and sleeping on the floors of friends’ places.
“Some of these people are well put together,” said Mehlenbacher.

She also reported that since the Internal Revenue Service stopped sending out tax forms, there has been a rise in the number of people requesting help with their income taxes.

Mehlenbacher said since Turning Point opened up in June the location has seen a steadily increasing volume of those who are in need.

Mehlenbacher compiled a write up of some of her cases that include a homeless couple from Hornell that walked the streets for four days, a cancer patient who can’t afford living expenses because of his medical costs and a single mother of four who can’t afford living arrangements even though she works full time at medical facility.

Grameen-Jameel celebrates milestone

One of the Grameen Bank family of companies, Grameen Jameel celebrates a lending miolestone. Grameen Jameel is an arm of Muhammad Yunus' Grameen Bank that gives microcredit loans through the Arab world.

From Al Bawaba, comes this profile of the company.

Two years after being launched as the first poverty-focused social business in the Arab world, Grameen-Jameel Pan-Arab Microfinance Limited (Grameen-Jameel) is celebrating significant milestones that are helping to transform microfinance’s impact across the Arab World.

Through its Guarantee Fund, Grameen-Jameel has brokered more than US$ 44 million in financing for microfinance institutions, including several landmark transactions that are opening new opportunities for microfinance institutions in Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Tunisia. It was the first company to obtain financial leverage on a guarantee in Egypt for its partner, Dakahlya Businessmen’s Association for Community Development, and the first to facilitate a commercial debt facility in Syria for First Microfinance Institution. It has also awarded 312 scholarships for microfinance practitioners to participate in major regional and international training events, which has enabled them to build a peer network to share their expertise and learn from leading institutions in the field.

Fadi Jameel, Grameen-Jameel board member and president of Abdul Latif Jameel Community Services International, says: “The potential microfinance industry in the Arab world is estimated at US$ 5.5 billion and we are already over one third of the way toward our 2011 target of actively helping one million poor people throughout the Arab world exit poverty.”

In 2008 alone, Grameen-Jameel’s partners added more than 110,000 new clients, an increase of 46 per cent over new clients Grameen-Jameel had impacted through its partner relationships as of 2007.

Jameel explained: “This program is about empowering the poor. In most cases, microfinance loans are used by individuals to build a business for themselves. Whether a Jordanian woman uses her skills to produce embroidered gifts, or a group in Morocco sells farm produce, they are making every effort to ensure their micro-business is a success. Escaping from the chains of poverty is an extremely powerful motivation to make these investments succeed.”

Founded in 2007, Grameen-Jameel established its head office in Dubai’s International Humanitarian City in February 2008. Inspired by the work of Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr Muhammad Yunus, in Bangladesh, Grameen-Jameel was created as a social business by US-based Grameen Foundation and Saudi Arabia's Bab Rizq Jameel Limited, a subsidiary of Abdul Latif Jameel Group. The organisation has established strong relationships with twelve microfinance institutions in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen, and most recently in Palestine. The organisation’s partners have benefited from its commitment to improving industry standards throughout the region.

A commentary by the President of Liberia

The President of Liberia has released a commentary on global recession's effects on Africa. In her commentary, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf begins by stating the great progress that Africa has made in recent years. Johnson-Sirleaf says all that progress can be undone by the recession that was not caused by Africa.

Our snippet of the commentary comes from the Guelph Mercury. Johnson-Sirleaf proposes 5 things that can help Africa keep growing through the global recession.

The economic crisis threatens the progress in my country and elsewhere on our continent. An estimated $50 billion in income could be lost in Africa during the next two years. Declining remittances, trade flows and investment could undermine new businesses, throw millions out of work, and increase tensions and instability.

The crisis, which Africa did nothing to cause, demands a strong response. African nations must do their part by continuing to address corruption, eliminate red tape and reduce obstacles to private-sector growth. But just as industrialized countries need a stimulus, African economies need a boost to keep their progress on track. The Group of 20 meeting last week produced a helpful first step. Now, five additional steps are critical.

First, the G-20 pledge to provide the International Monetary Fund with new resources must be fulfilled, and the IMF needs to get those resources to countries quickly and without onerous conditions.

Second, the World Bank and the African Development Bank must better leverage their resources; aggressively front-load support; and better target growth, jobs and safety-net programs. The International Finance Corp., the World Bank's private-sector affiliate, must be especially creative in keeping private investment on track.

Third, bilateral partners must build on their promises to increase aid and make it more effective by reducing bureaucratic delays, speeding disbursements and better aligning programs with African priorities.

Fourth, export credit agencies must use their resources to attack risk and other barriers to trade finance, such as liquidity issues.

Fifth, all countries must resist protectionist pressures so that trade can be the critical engine for restoring global growth.

The citizens and leaders of donor nations should recognize how important their assistance has been to the new leadership in Africa and how appreciative most Africans are for this partnership. Critics say that African economies are shrinking, that poverty is rising and that failing aid is the culprit.

But this argument is at least a decade out of date. Africa's turnaround is real, the evidence indisputable. Africans themselves have been the key to this reversal, but more effective aid has played an important role. Reducing aid would slow private-sector growth, stall poverty reduction, and undermine peace and stability in countries that are struggling to become part of the global economy.

Changing his own life to improve the lives of others

Daniel Germain began using and dealing drugs as a child. A trip to jail and then later a trip to Mexico turned his life around. Seeing the poverty amongst children in Mexico convicted him to do something about it. So in addition to all the aid work he has done in recent years, Germain has started Millennium Summits to bring experts into Montreal to discuss how to fight poverty.

From the Montreal Gazette, reporter Rene Bruemmer introduces us to Germain and his work.

Germain joined a Canadian International Development Agency trip to Mexico, saw 50,000 children living in garbage dumps, and resolved to spend his life helping kids.

He made 60 trips to Mexico and Haiti over the next five years, organizing aid groups of up to 100 people.

Congratulations, an influential activist told him, but what about the less visible poverty in his back yard?

He started the Breakfast Club of Quebec at one Longueuil elementary school in 1994. Today, the program serves breakfast to 15,000 kids a day at 230 schools. The United Nations recognized it as one of the top three school-feeding programs in the world, and it has spread across Canada.

On Wednesday and Thursday this week, Germain is hosting the third annual Montreal Millennium Summit that he founded, gathering experts, celebrities, United Nations officials and ordinary citizens to the Palais des congrès to discuss ways to tackle the world's humanitarian ills.

It's based on the UN's Millennium Development Goals, put forth in 2000, which include halving world poverty and halting the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015.

Why did you start the Montreal Millennium Summit?

Germain: We wanted to create a platform of like minds - foundations, experts, celebrities, NGOs - to come together once a year and harness best practices. And we also want the general public (3,000 tickets have been sold) because I believe ordinary people have extraordinary dreams and strategies, but they don't have the ability to share it.

What do you hope to achieve?

I'm betting on the next great idea that will find a way to provoke the engagement of the world population.

Look at Al Gore with his documentary (on global warming) An Inconvenient Truth. People have talked about this for 60 years, but he achieved more in six months. Now everybody is talking green. It's about coming up with the right thing at the right time in the right way.

Saturday Missions: Tumani Ambassadors from Maryland

A group of Maryland high schoolers have been traveling overseas to help educate. Greencastle Antrim High School has a group called Tumani Ambassodors who travel to Ghana to teach children.

From the Public Opinion, writer Rob Luff describes the teenagers travels.

Seniors TJ Bard and Danel Berman left home last summer and saw how the money raised from their student group, the Tumani Ambassadors, is being put to use in rural China and western Africa.

The group, endorsed by Oprah Winfrey's O Ambassadors program, works with the international charity Free the Children to build schools and improve education in Third World nations.

O Ambassadors accepted the school's application last year, designating western Africa as its area of focus. Any money the group raises is split between the local community and western African countries, particularly Sierra Leone and Ghana.

Greencastle's student ambassadors chose the name Tumani, the Swahili word for hope, to reflect their goal. They raised more than $5,000 last school year through a handful of fundraisers both in and outside of school.

Tumani gave about one-fourth of that money to local residents and a national charity, while the remaining amount went to help develop education in western Africa.

Berman saw the money's work last summer, when she taught for several weeks at Heritage Academy Esiam in Ghana. Her trip was organized through a similar organization, but she said she was able to see what happens to American dollars.

While there, her group presented the school with a new bus, which turned the students' 10-mile walking commute into a daily ride to school.

In addition to raising money to build schools and fund educational programs, O Ambassadors visit the Third World to teach eager students.

Berman took on a formal teaching role, planning and teaching daily lessons for a full school day, while dealing with the cultural differences.

"I never got used to the constant marriage proposals," she said, then listed three marriage requests she got from locals.

Donations asked for Zimbabwe prisoners

The blog This Is Zimbabwe released details on raising funds for political prisoners in Zimbabwe. The money raised will go to supplying food for the prisoners.

From the This Is Zimbabwe blog, are the accounts to send donations to, you can also find more information on political prisoners in Zimbabwe and how they are being treated.

Donations to the following accounts will help raise funds to go specifically towards food for prisoners in Zimbabwe.

All deposits must be referenced Zim Prisons/Zim Food

AOG Worldwide Missions
South Africa
Name:AOG Worldwide Missions
Reg No: NPO 019904
Bank Details: AOG Worldwide Missions
Bank Name: Standard Bank
Account No: 272270148
Branch Code: 050410
Online donations: Click here to visit the AOG Ministeries website and select WWM Zimbabwe Project : Food Aid

Waymaker Ministries
South Africa UK
Name: Missions Outreach (T/A Waymakers)
Reg No: Sec 21 Company 98/23321/08
Registered Public Benefit Organization Reg No: 930002198 Name: Relief Aid Logistics (NB: The UK government donates 28p for every £1 donated)
Charity Number: 1042912
Bank Details: Waymakers
Bank Name: Standard Bank
Account No: 27 21 88 55 7
Branch Code: 02 22 09 00
SWIFT Address: SBZAZAJJ Bank Details: Relief Aid Logistics
Bank Name: HSBC
Address: 1/5 Week Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 1QW
Sort code: 40-31-06
Account no: 51 83 33 32

Saturday Missions: Health trip to Nigeria

A group of doctors from Oklahoma and some professional football players were a part of a mission trip to Nigeria. The nine day trip helped Nigerian doctors to improve health care.

From the Oklahoman, Susan Simpson details the trip.

The medical professionals were recruited for the Changing Africa Through Education mission by the players, who have family ties to Africa. The athletes were former University of Oklahoma standout Tommie Harris of the Chicago Bears; his teammates Israel Idonije and Adewale Ogunleye; Amobi Okoye of the Houston Texans; and Osi Umenyiora of the New York Giants.

Medical participants worked with Nigerian doctors to conduct medical screenings, treat patients and offer educational programs to community leaders and health workers.

Integris pediatrician Dr. Okey Nwokolo said he was glad to return to his native country to help the many in need of healthcare.

"Many of them have medical conditions that required them to be seen in hospitals, but they don’t have access,” Nwokolo said. "There are a lot of sick kids. It is a big job, and they were very happy that we came.”

He said the football players are to be commended for their commitment. "They have big hearts, and they did a lot.”

The clinics in rural areas often operate without running water or electricity, said Dr. Johnny Griggs, medical director of the pediatric intensive care unit at Integris.

"The poverty and disease was mind boggling” Griggs said. "Those people need so much.”

Unsafe water contributes to illnesses such as malaria and parasitic diseases, and many adults have high blood pressure or diabetes from poor, carbohydrate-rich diets.

An EU grant to help Zambia improve health services

A grant of 35 million euros will go to Zambia to improve health services in the country. The grant money from the EU, will be dispersed through the years of 2009 to 2011. Zambia will use the money to expand health services to help the country meet the health services part of the Millennium Development Goals.

From this All Africa story Zambian Health Minister Kapembwa Simbao made a statement at the grant signing ceremony.

Speaking during the signing ceremony of the financing agreement for supporting public health service delivery amounting to 35 million Euros (approximately K261.1 billion) between the Government and the European Union (EU), M r Simbao said that the finances would contribute to the expansion of health services.

He said that the Government was cognisant of the fact that to effectively deliver quality health care services, there was need for motivated, committed and skilled professional workforce.

The objective of expanding health services, Mr Simbao said would drive the nation to attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as enshrined in the Fifth National Development Plan (FNDP).

"This support is a grant under the 10th European Development Fund and the assistance is a further demonstration of our cordial relationship with the European Commission which emanates from as far back as the 1970's," Mr Simbao said.

He said that the health sector was faced with numerous challenges, which were worsened by the high disease burden compounded by the high prevalence of HIV, shortage of health personnel and inadequate and inappropriate infrastructure.

In order to accelerate the attainment of MDGs, he said that the Government has embarked on the national health strategy plan covering 2006 to 2011.

Even Passover meals are being slashed in this recession

In recent years, the government of Israel has moved welfare responsibility to the charitable sector, slashing assistance programs. Now with contributions drying up due to the global recession, food and aid to the poor of Israel is disappearing. Many aid workers says the poverty problem in the country could soon become unmanageable.

From the Jerusalem Post columnist Larry Derfner explains how charitable Passover Seder meals have even been drastically slashed.

Last Pessah, Meir Panim, the country's largest network of "soup kitchens," distributed boxes of Seder meals to 24,000 people. It also gave out NIS 250 grocery coupons to 6,700 people. This Pessah, only a few hundred people will get those coupons. And the number of those who will receive Seder meals-in-a-box? Zero.

"Our Pessah campaign has been all but canceled," says Dudi Zilberschlag, founder of Meir Panim and the leading fund-raiser and power-broker in Israel's haredi world, while multitasking with aides in his office at Jerusalem's Bikur Holim Hospital. In late 2007, his donors, who include the wealthiest Jews here and abroad, began reducing their contributions, but since Lehman Brothers went bankrupt last September and it became clear that the world was in the grip of something much worse than an ordinary, cyclical recession, these contributions have simply dried up.

"The big Israeli corporations are out of the game," says Zilberschlag, in his 50s, a gentle-spoken man who takes hard times philosophically. He mentions a couple of super-rich Israelis, saying that they used to give him about $100,000 each before Pessah. "This time - nothing," he says.

In the last year, Meir Panim has closed five of its 17 soup kitchens, while Koah Latet, its affiliated charity for clothing and household goods, has closed down two of 14 branches. The organization's NIS 50 million budget has been cut by 30 percent; 41 of its 134 employees have been let go.

"We used to give hot meals to 700 kids in our after-school programs, now we're feeding maybe 200. We used to deliver 900 meals to the homes of old, sick, handicapped people who couldn't come in - we've stopped those deliveries completely," says Zilbershlag. "We're basically down to the core of what we do - the restaurants [i.e. soup kitchens]. We're still feeding 6,000 people, we don't turn anyone away, but we can't give them meat every day anymore, so we give them more carbohydrates."

Meir Panim was founded eight years ago, shortly after the second intifada began, the economy nosedived and the government, strapped for cash, began slashing away at financial assistance to poor people. As the welfare state dwindled, private charity picked up the slack, until now there are more than 120 soup kitchens around the country.

Improving technology for small farmers in Uganda

Many farmers in Africa use their instincts and experience on which crops to plant and where. If they also had technology on their side, yields could increase dramatically, and would make the farmers less prone to having their crops wiped out by disease or weather.

From this story in the IPS, reporter Joyce Mulama explains how mobile phone technology is being introduced to help small farmers in Uganda. The phones are being used to determine which locations on farming land are susceptible to disease.

An initiative in two districts of Uganda, has community knowledge workers (CKWs) sending text messages to farmers in a given locality. The information may include how to arrest the diseases, and where to buy uncontaminated seeds, as well tips on how to improve soil quality to increase yields.

Aided by these mobile phone messages, farmers in a pilot scheme in the districts of Mbale and Mbusheni, in the east and west of the country respectively, have arrested the spread of banana wilt, a fast-spreading bacterial disease, and banana bunchy top virus through early diagnosis and treatment.

"We have trained the CKWs on how to use mobile phones to get information to the farmers. They offer agricultural tips and advise through the phones on what to do and not to do to control the diseases. Farmers even ask questions on wilt and BBTV and they receive automated answers on their phones," Whitney Gantt of Grameen Foundation, a global anti-poverty organisation told IPS.

"[The initiative] has increased productivity because farmers have gotten to know where the diseases pose the biggest threat. They have then moved to take necessary control measures in good time before being affected, including getting information on where to get clean planting material," she said.

Banana is the staple food in the east African country, and more than 10 million people depend on it for food as well as cash incomes, according to government figures. Since 2002, banana wilt, whose symptoms include yellow wilting and premature ripening in young plants, has been terrorising farmers and steadily spreading to other parts of the country. In March, authorities launched a national campaign to control the disease which has spread to 21 districts from only 11 last year.

Austrian children in poverty

A new study warns that poverty amongst children is a growing threat in Austria. The study authors says that more jobs can help the children of the country as well as free schooling.

From the Austrian Times, this snippet gives us the study's numbers.

A new study by the Institute for Sociology claims some 250,000 children in Austria are either living in poverty or close to doing so with children of unemployed and migrants most at risk.

Study co-author Irina Vana said today (Thurs) 100,000 children aged seven to 14 lived in homes without PCs and 90,000 lived in excessively small apartments.

Co-author Ursula Till-Tentschert added that in such apartments, noise and a lack of space often meant children unable to do their homework.

Martin Schenk from the Poverty Conference called for more child-care, an integrative school system and a society in which children received the respect due to them.

Social Democrat (SPÖ) Social Minister Rudolf Hundstorfer said child poverty was something that needed to be acted upon.

The minister said: "The proper combination of tax, labour-market, social and educational measures will enable us to deal with the problem and give new chances to our children."

Jeffrey Sachs on the US attempts to support agriculture

In his latest commentary, super poverty fighter Jeffery Sachs examines US efforts to increase food production in the under-developed world. President Obama has called on Congress to double funding for food production. But Sachs proposes the best way to sepnd the money. This snippet of his commentary comes from the New York Times.

PRESIDENT OBAMA has embarked on a promising new course to fight hunger and promote economic growth and political stability in countries like Cambodia, Honduras and Malawi. These countries, and many more, have large populations of impoverished farm families. Tough climates, environmental degradation and a lack of modern farm technology often limit food production to one-third or less of its potential. President Obama recently called upon Congress to double financial support for agricultural growth in developing countries to more than $1 billion in 2010. His program aims to help smallholder farmers get things like better seeds, fertilizer, small-scale irrigation and access to markets so they can overcome hunger and break out of extreme poverty. This new program could have amazing results — if it is properly carried out.

A crucial factor in determining the program’s success will be how Washington delivers aid to the farmers. The traditional approach, and the wrong one in this case, would be for Washington to try to decide what’s best for each country, and then spend considerable time and money on report-writing, site visits and professional advice. When aid programs are operated this way, they can end up spending half or more of their funds on United States-based travel, personnel and administration, and take years to get off the ground. The benefits for poor countries are then much too little and too late.

Rather than have Washington decide the kind of aid each country will receive, the recipient countries should be invited to prepare plans and budgets that would be reviewed by independent experts. These plans would describe the inputs needed by the farmers, the expected increase in production, how the strategy would be put into place and how much money would be required. Such plans, if described with care, could then be closely monitored by the United States and other donors to gauge results and avoid corruption.

Two international programs during the last decade, championed jointly by the United States, other governments and the Gates Foundation, have demonstrated the benefits of such a scientific, results-based aid approach: the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. These programs have saved millions of lives and protected hundreds of millions more from disease and infection. Here’s how they work: Low-income countries submit national action plans to the two programs, which then scrutinize the plans on their scientific, financial and management merits. If the plans are properly put into effect, recipients get more financing.

Somali pirates attack American ship

This time, the Somali pirates tried to seize an American ship that was full of food for the African people. Poverty and civil war have forced some Somali's to resort to becoming pirates, for it's the only "employment" that can be found there.



Writers Edmund Sanders and Julian E. Barnes give us more on the attempted seizure.

With a U.S. warship steaming to the scene, Somali pirates and American seamen engaged in a standoff on the high seas early today after the crew of a freighter loaded with food for Africa fought off the hijackers -- who fled in a lifeboat with the captain as a hostage.

The first such attack against a U.S.-flagged vessel off Africa since the days of the Barbary pirates more than 200 years ago began with an attack against the U.S.-registered Maersk Alabama cargo ship far off Somalia's coast.

The 20-member crew, unarmed according to the ship's owner, managed to overpower at least four pirates and regain control, according to U.S. officials. But the captain -- Richard Phillips of Underhill, Vt. -- was being held by the pirates, according to a U.S. defense official.

His wife, Andrea Phillips, told The Associated Press that her husband has sailed in those waters ''for quite some time'' and that a hijacking was perhaps ''inevitable.'' Attempted seizure of the Danish-owned vessel marks the latest chapter in the piracy saga off Somalia. Poverty, civil war and the lack of a functioning government since 1991 have turned the waters around the Horn of Africa nation into the most crime-infested on Earth.

The attack on the cargo ship was the second in two days, U.S. officials said. After rebuffing the first attempt, the ship's crew radioed Wednesday that two skiffs were closing in. Thirty minutes later, the ship told maritime officials that pirates had attached a grappling hook and were climbing aboard.

It remained unclear how the U.S. crew retook control. A crew member told CNN that one of the pirates had been detained, but then was released in an unsuccessful bid to exchange him for the captain.

Study on poverty for African Americans in Omaha

A new study says that Omaha, Nebraska has one of the highest rates of poverty amongst African American. To make matters worse, those in poverty find it impossible to escape.

From Action 3 News this Associated Press article gives us the details.

The study entitled "Celebrating the Past, Charting the Future: Omaha's African American Community" by done by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change. According to the report, while Omaha rates high on factors that determine quality of life, 30% of African American families live in poverty, compared to 10% of white families. 40% of black children live in poverty, which the study's author, Suzanne Morse, writes, "Poverty among African American children in Omaha was evident in school performance from the early grades to disproportionate high school dropout rates. Broadly put, African American children are too often behind before they start school and never catch up. "

According to the report, a myriad of significant factors hamper Omaha's black population:

* Median income of blacks in Omaha is 14 percent less than blacks nationally.
* Only 4 percent of Omaha businesses are African American owned.
* Two-thirds of African Americans in Omaha lack potential income to support their families at the basic level.
* Median household income for Omaha's African American families is $31,969, versus $50,673 for white families.
* African American unemployment in Omaha is 10.5%, compared to 3.1% for white families.

China's wealth gap continues to grow

Despite the economic slowdown, the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen in China. The numbers of rich people in the country grows but the number of poor increases as well. A wide gap between rich and poor makes it difficult for those in poverty to move up the scale.

From the Asia times online, writer Wu Zhong gives us the statistics of the survey.

At the other end of the wealth scale, more than 40 million farmers survived on 1,196 yuan or less last year, government figures show. Officials now admit that if the internationally used poverty threshold of US$1, or 6.83 yuan, per person per day is adopted, the size of China's poor population could exceed 100 million - that is, at least one out of 13 Chinese still live in poverty.

The wealth survey, which polled 700 respondents through face-to-face interviews or questionnaires from late December, found that the country's estimated 300,000 multi-millionaires at the end of last year possessed a total wealth of 8.8 trillion yuan, equal to 29% of China's gross domestic product of about 30 trillion yuan in 2008. The sum was also equivalent to 39.7% of the country's total household bank savings of 22.15 trillion yuan.

By contrast, the 40 million officially acknowledged poor people had only some 48 billion yuan to live on for the year.

Considering that just three decades ago all Chinese were practically equal in regard to personal wealth (or equally poor), the change is remarkable evidence of the tremendous success of late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping's policy of "allowing some people to become rich first".

However, many Chinese who lived through Mao Zedong's egalitarian rule are increasingly unhappy with the fast expanding wealth gap and particularly with the social injustice behind the wealth disparity. Since the Chinese Communist Party still stubbornly upholds the banner of "socialism" albeit with "Chinese characteristics", it has to make efforts to narrow the gap to calm public discontent.

China plans major investment in medical care

China is about to make a major investment in government supplied medical care. Over the past 30 years medical services in the outlying countryside have deteriorated. China will invest 850 billion yuan to supply 700,000 villages with medical clinics.

From the Guardian, writer Jonathan Watts fills us in on the Communist countries plans.

In a major overhaul, the government will also extend basic medical coverage and insurance to 90% of China's 1.3 billion people, almost a third of whom currently have to meet treatment costs entirely out of their own pockets.

Sickness is the major cause of poverty in China and frustration at expensive medical treatment has sparked protests and violence against hospital staff.

To address this dissatisfaction, the health ministry will train 1.4 million doctors, nurses and other medical practitioners to staff village clinics, in addition to the half a million healthcare workers in towns and cities.

"By 2011, we will remarkably improve the accessibility of basic medical care and healthcare services and alleviate the burden on the general public for medical costs," the vice-health minister, Zhang Mao, said.

Under plans unveiled this week, the government will also build 2,000 county hospitals and build or renovate 3,700 community clinics and 11,000 health service centres in urban areas within three years.

The central government will pay 40% of the costs, leaving the remainder to be covered by local authorities. Prices of essential medicines will be capped and the medical insurance scheme will be extended to nine in 10 people by 2011.