Tag: poverty

Africa, Blog, Education, International Womens Day, Women and Girls

On This #IWD2022 Join CAMFED’s Global Sisterhood to Educate Young Girls

CAMFED is one the world’s leading organizations that advocates for and helps young girls in sub-Saharan Africa attain an education. CAMFED which stands for the Campaign for Female Education has to date supported 379,000 young girls with secondary school scholarships, one million girls attend primary school, and works with 6,787 partner schools across sub-Saharan Africa.

As we all know, girls who are deprived of an education are most likely tethered to a cycle of poverty for an entire lifetime. But girls who are afforded an education can leap out of poverty and and into the realms of economic development. They can take on better jobs, learn to save money, or become entrepreneurs. Women who are educated take better care of their individual environments and therefore take on climate change. And studies show when sub-Saharan women have an education, they fight for their daughter to have an education as well. They become stewards of passing down education and leaders in their communities.

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Jennifer JamesLeave a comment
Blog, Book Reviews, Books, Poverty

Book Review: Reframing Poverty: New Thinking and Feeling About Humanity’s Greatest Challenge

Reframing PovertyReframing Poverty by Eric Meade

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Poverty in all its multitudinous forms is not an easy subject to broach. An age-old problem, poverty, its root causes, as well as poverty reduction have all been studied and theorized, it seems, ad infinitum. It is not often that someone presents poverty in a more nuanced way than generalized and ubiquitous thinking on poverty. In Reframing Poverty: New Thinking and Feeling About Humanity’s Greatest Challenge, Eric Meade takes a deep dive into how poverty is more of an emotional construct that evokes feeling as opposed to the more widely read and globally accepted set of data points. Meade’s conclusions take some time and thinking to wrap your brain around to be sure. In fact, I had to put this book down several times to keep from seething. I do, however, appreciate new ideas that can be engaged in rather than reading the same poverty reduction principles that seem to keep vulnerable communities trapped in a cycle of poverty with Sisyphean tendencies.

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Blog, featured, nonprofits, philanthropy, Poverty, Refugees

IKEA Foundation Grants $53 Million to Support Children’s Right to Play

War and conflict. Poverty. Gender discrimination. Growing up too fast. These are just some of the reasons children in some of the poorest countries around the world are not allowed to play. Play makes children healthier and more resilient. It heals some of their greatest wounds and helps them remain kids without growing up too soon. Additionally, play is every child’s fundamental right according to … Continue reading IKEA Foundation Grants $53 Million to Support Children’s Right to Play

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Africa, Blog, Charity, Children, Ebola, Education, featured, Food, Food Security, Poverty

WATCH: Ed Sheeran Visits Liberia for Red Nose Day

The Red Nose Day campaign to end child poverty returns in the U.S. on Thursday, May 25, in conjunction with a night of special programming and the third annual “Red Nose Day Special” on NBC.

One of the best ways to help vulnerable children in low-and-middle-income countries is by telling their authentic stories to those who can help make their lives a little better.

Along with Comic Relief, Ed Sheeran recently traveled to West Point, one of west Africa’s largest and most dangerous slums, in Liberia’s capital Monrovia. There he saw children whose lives have been routinely ravaged by poverty, the Ebola crisis, and an economy that was devastated by the notorious disease that killed thousands. Today, an estimated 14,000 children (some as young as seven) are living and working on Monrovia’s streets.

In Liberia, Sheeran shot a video set to “What Do I Know,” a track from Ed’s latest album Divide to bring awareness to street kids who live in Monrovia.

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Africa, Agriculture, Blog, child health, Children, Ethiopia, malnutrition, Poverty

What’s Driving sub-Saharan Africa’s Malnutrition Problem?

Jane Battersby, University of Cape Town

Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest level of food insecurity in the world. An estimated 220 million people lack adequate nutrition. The nature of the problem is shifting rapidly, with overweight status and obesity emerging as new forms of food insecurity while malnutrition persists. But continental policy responses do not address this changing reality.

Food insecurity is the outcome of being too poor to grow or buy food. But it’s not just any food. According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation’s definition, people need:

… sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.

Current policy focuses on alleviating undernutrition through increased production and access to food. It does not focus on the systemic issues that inform the food choices people make. This may result in worsening food insecurity in the region.

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Social Good Moms Contributor1 Comment
Food, Food Security, World Food Programme

How to Feed Children in Need and Make Your Kids Happy at the Same Time

If you read this blog enough you know that there are 795 million people who do not have enough to eat on a consistent basis; not even enough to live a healthy lifestyle. The vast majority of this 795 million people live in low- and middle-income countries. Sadly, nearly 100 million children are underweight because they do not have enough sustaining food every day.

A new social endeavor start-up is working to change these statistics in their own way. Cuddle+Kind, a company that creates adorable hand-knit dolls for kids also provides meals for children through the World Food Programme and Children’s Hunger Fund with every purchase. Their ambitious, yet achievable goal is to provide one million meals for children every year.

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Jennifer James1 Comment
Blog, Education, Poverty, United States

How We Can Help American Children in Poverty Learn

Infographic_21It may sound cliché, but a child’s future deeply rests on their ability to learn and to be educated. It starts early and it doesn’t matter where a child lives whether it’s in Kenya or the Philippines or right here in the United States.

Oftentimes we see children who live in impoverished countries who desperately need books, schools that are close to their homes, and just the simple right to an education and we are compelled to help. In the United States, too, there are also many poor children who long for books and don’t have access to them. In fact one in five American children live in poverty and do not have one book in their home. This is heartbreaking because books really hold the keys to one’s future, creativity, imagination, and ability to be a productive adult.

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Blog, Fairtrade, Products With a Purpose, Women's Rights

What Fair Trade is Meant to Be

Did you know that almost half of the people in the world live in poverty, including almost a billion children? Those living in poverty lack access to a varying number of necessities such as shelter, food, water, and medical care. According to the World Food Programme, hunger is the leading cause of death in the world.

Poverty is a complex issue because the longer it exists, the more it grows. Extreme poverty is defined as living on less than $1.25 a day. The countries that have its citizens living in extreme poverty have been in that state for several years, if not decades. However, it is important to note that in 1990, nearly half of the population in the developing regions lived on less than $1.25 a day. This rate dropped to 14 per cent in 2015, according to the United Nations. Poverty is an exponential problem that cannot be fixed on its own. One simple way that we can all help the issue of poverty in low-and middle-income countries in the long-term is by implementing fair trade.

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Sarah Haney
Blog, Children, Food, Food Security

Can Forests Help Fight Global Hunger?

A child’s daily requirement for vitamin A can be met by around 25 g of a deep orange-fleshed mango variety. Photo: Terry Sunderland
A child’s daily requirement for vitamin A can be met by around 25 g of a deep orange-fleshed mango variety. Photo: Terry Sunderland

Currently 805 million people are undernourished worldwide.  That number is based on a number of factors including chronic and systemic poverty, a lack of access to improved growing methods and resources for small-holder farmers, a lack of purchasing power, as well as a lack of highly nutritious foods.

Researchers believe forests can help remedy the hunger problem worldwide. Even though 61.3 percent of the world’s forests are wholly owned by individual governments, that is a sharp decline from 71.4 percent in 2002 according to the newly-released report, Forests, Trees and Landscapes for Food Security and Nutrition [PDF].

Over 60 forest scientists contributed to the new report which outlines the best ways in which available forestland can be utilized to curb hunger. The first way is via tree crops that are often rich in vitamins, proteins, and other nutrients and are associated with more diverse diets. Examples include cashews and the African locust bean.

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Jennifer JamesLeave a comment
Asia, Blog, Charity, Children

New homes recreate shattered lives in the Philippines

This post was originally published on the World Vision USA blog.

At everyone’s most basic level, we all want somewhere to lay our head every night. Filipinos living in the path of last year’s Typhoon Haiyan’s early morning storm surge and over 300km/hour winds lost everything within a 30-minute span, including their homes, and many, sadly, lost loved ones.

Those tracking the storm before it hit on November 8, 2013 projected that Typhoon Haiyan would reach the islands by 9 AM, but it sped up and reached landfall around 5 AM, just as everyone was sleeping. No one knew Haiyan would be as powerful as it was.

New homes recreate shattered lives | World Vision Blog
Photo: Jeana Shandraw/SurfandSunshine.com

After the storm, entire families were relegated to living in tents until temporary shelter kits could be delivered. Some live in makeshift and patchwork homes built from scraps even today, and some still do not have homes to call their own a year after Haiyan. And yet, there are some families who have been given the keys to a new home, one that was creatively designed to withstand high winds, rain, and – yes – even typhoons.

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Africa, Blog, Communicable Disease

The Face of Neglected Tropical Disease

When we think about diseases in Africa we think about the biggest of them – malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and pneumonia. We forget about the neglected tropical diseases that debilitate so many in sub-Saharan Africa and southeast Asia from intestinal worms to elephantiasis. These diseases are real and they are easily prevented, but as their name suggests, these diseases are nearly neglected. In fact, the WHO Regional … Continue reading The Face of Neglected Tropical Disease

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Blog, Poverty

A Compelling Case for a Justice Development Goal

Last Friday we participated in the UN Foundation’s digital rally toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). We helped mark the 1000-day countdown to the MDGs and now that they are squarely in sight, there is much to do to ensure the goals are achieved. In reality, some won’t be met by the 2015 deadline and that is why global leaders have already met to develop … Continue reading A Compelling Case for a Justice Development Goal

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Blog, Popular Posts, Poverty

HBO Presents New Documentary About Poverty – ‘American Winter’

UPDATE: Did you watch American Winter and want to help? Visit their Facebook page for updates. You can also donate to their Kickstarter campaign to help the families profiled in the documentary. Tonight at 9 PM on HBO a riveting new documentary, American Winter, will premiere to millions of people. The award-winning documentary shows the injustices of American families in Oregon as they brave poverty … Continue reading HBO Presents New Documentary About Poverty – ‘American Winter’

Jennifer James9 Comments
Blog, Children, Food Security

Our Newest Partner: No Kid Hungry

We are happy to announce that our newest partner is Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry® campaign. Throughout the year we, along with our the Social Good Moms and Global Team of 200 network of moms, will advocate to ensure all children get healthy food every day. The No Kid Hungry campaign connects kids in need to effective nutrition programs like school breakfast and summer meals and … Continue reading Our Newest Partner: No Kid Hungry

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Africa, Asia, Blog, Poverty, South America

Save the Children Releases Report on Post-2015 Framework for Ending Poverty

As we all know the Millennium Development Goals are set to expire in 2015. While much progress has been made globally over the past twenty years to eradicate poverty and to meet each of the individual goals there is still much to do. With the MDGs on their way out, Save the Children has devised a framework for post-2015 work to end global poverty and spur … Continue reading Save the Children Releases Report on Post-2015 Framework for Ending Poverty

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