Alleviating Poverty by Investing in Women and Girls

Founded in 1976, the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) describes itself as "thought leaders driven by a passion to alleviate poverty and rectify injustice in the world." The Center "reduces global poverty by investing in the lives of women and girls." In particular, ICRW works with girls and boys in their communities to delay marriages in areas where child marriage is an established tradition. In addition it educates policymakers on the adverse consequences of the practice for girls.

The ICRW also focuses on gender equality in agriculture. Time and again, the work of women farmers goes unrecognized. Not only are they often not paid for their farming, but many are not allowed to own land. Yet research demonstrates that women are instrumental in alleviating poverty and hunger when given access to land, equipment and credit as in most cases they are the ones who ensure food gets to their family.

The Center aims to improve the status of women, help protect their rights, ensure their access to reproductive information and healthcare, and increase their opportunities to be educated, hold jobs and own property. It is doing a great deal in these areas in more than 30 countries, as well as in fighting violence against women. Help the International Center for Research on Women in a variety of ways: for example, make a donation, sign up for their newsletter, or join their community.

Reframing the Fight against Poverty for Better Results

In case you missed it, in "Boast, build and sell" (International Herald Tribune, 24 September 2010), Nicholas D. Kristof offers three suggestions to improve humanitarian assistance in fighting poverty:
1. Spread the good news: the fight against poverty currently saves the lives of approximately 32,000 children daily (around 22,0o0 children die per day at present against 54,000 per day in 1960)
2. Promote economic growth over charity
3. Market antipoverty work better

As Mr. Kristof likes to remind us: "We should note that schools have a better record of fighting terrorism than missiles do and wobbly governments can be buttressed not just with helicopter gunships but also with school lunch programs (at 25 cents per kid per day)."
So let's emphasize the positive and recall that today's fight again poverty is "where the success is."

Education and Opportunity at the Grass Roots

Friends of India's mission is to "fight poverty and create opportunities for children and women in Tamil Nadu, India, by supporting basic education for underserved children and investing in vocational training, life-skills development and income generating activities for women." A non-profit, charitable organization, Friends of India was founded in 2001 by its current President, Pamela Walsh.

Friends of India supports skills training for impoverished people who need to take on menial labour to supplement their family’s income. One young woman, for example, learned computer skills and typing, and now works at a local software company. Another learned to make detergents and cleaning products for sale, generating a regular income. The organization has also made the women of Sembakkam aware of their rights and helped them form a self-help group that empowered them to petition local authorities to pipe water to their village rather than spending hours each day walking long distances to collect and carry water home. In 2009 the Richard Walsh Music Project was established to teach music and the performing arts to disadvantaged children in southern India. In addition, the organization has provided financial and advisory assistance and helped fund Anbumalar School for handicapped children.

If interested in these or other Friends of India programs, contact: info@friends-of-india.org

Harnessing the Earth's Resources Efficiently and Equitably

“Environmental issues have the power to unify groups with seemingly irreconcilable differences. Shared concerns about resources and conservation can help resolve even bitter conflicts.”
Environmental Scientist Saleem H. Ali believes “the environment itself can be a powerful force in resolving conflicts, even between groups who seem diametrically opposed over how the world’s limited resources should be used.” Moreover, Ali says natural resources can be a positive force in alleviating poverty. Read more about this remarkable “emerging explorer” who argues we can manage our desire for resources while safeguarding the environment and alleviating poverty!

Progress Undented by Financial Crises

With the US-led crisis just behind us and another unfolding in Europe, one could be forgiven for becoming pessimistic about our prospects. But at the World Economic Forum’s Global Redesign Summit in Doha last week participants were asked to cast their gaze back over the last 60 years and ask, “How are we doing?” The answer: fantastically well. Sixty years ago, after all, Europe and much of Asia were still struggling to emerge from the ashes of the second world war. China has in the past 20 years achieved what the leaders of the Long March never could have imagined. And in just the past decade, Africa has emerged from decades of turmoil, famine and epidemics to become a promising new centre of growth. Incomes are more evenly distributed than ever. Fewer people proportionately live in poverty, hunger or the darkness of illiteracy than ever before. They have more choices than ever before. And now we stand on the threshold of a revolution in health brought about by bioengineering and nanotechnology. Times may be tough, but we have undoubtedly come a long, long way.

Positive Entrepreneurship

First Book is a social enterprise that provides books to low-income school systems and in the process identified a US$ 150 million annual market for the publishing industry in the US.

KickStart, a social enterprise that develops affordable technologies for small African businesses, has created over 800 businesses that together generate revenues equal to 0.5% of Kenya’s GDP.

International Women's Day - March 8, 2010

Featuring Camfed International: Dedicated to eradicating poverty in Africa through the education of girls and the empowerment of young women

Camfed International has successfully challenged the conventional wisdom that cultural resistance is at the heart of girls' exclusion from education in rural Africa, proving instead that chronic poverty is the main barrier. Since 1993, Camfed has pioneered a grassroots approach to advancing opportunities for girls and young women to guarantee a model that is locally inspired and owned. Camfed has proven that girls' education is the most effective means by which girls and their communities can break the devastating cycle of poverty that currently plagues sub-Saharan Africa. (From "Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs 2010", Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, p. 37)