What Is Being Done About Global Poverty?

As I look back on some of my previous posts, I see that my main focus is analyzing situations around the world relating to poverty. Whether it be the Zimbabwe elections, the Millennium Development Goals, or women's relation to global poverty. I decided that the next step should be looking into what is being done to address these issues. Who are the players? What is their course of action? How is their voice being heard? (see right) I chose to explore the blogosphere this week to see what I could find. Fortunately, I came across two blogs that answered my questions from two distinctly different angles. The first, Poverty News Blog, is controlled by author Kale, who posts relevant headlines and articles related to poverty worldwide. The blog is regularly updated with new posts, but one of his earlier posts from this week entitled "A new focus for networking students: global poverty," caught my attention in its explanation of student activism for poverty. Manny Veiga, the author of the article from the Boston Globe, describes how students mostly from the Boston area, are networking, raising awareness, and holding events to promote the alleviation of poverty and reach the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The next blog comes from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) website, which is a US government corporation that works with poor democratic countries around the world. The CEO Blog, run by Ambassador John Danilovich, is a reflection of the MCC programs and updates. Danilovich's most recent post, "Conversations on Global Poverty--From Boardrooms, to Classrooms, to Newsrooms," explains MCC's engagement with the private sector to form sustainable development in the MCC developing countries. Many are working to alleviate poverty, and through these posts, I was able to learn specifically about student organization contributions as well as business corporation contributions. I have provided my commentary on these articles below, or feel free to explore the two blogs with the links provided above.

A new focus for networking students: global poverty
Comment:

Thank you for your inspiring post on student activists in the Boston area. It is quite relieving to see that global poverty is on the forefront of main issues that students are addressing. The most interesting aspect of the Millennium Campus Network is the organization and commitment to addressing poverty. The division of categories and methods of approaching changes to poverty based on each person's specific interest is genius. Flexibility and individualism will only continue to inspire students who before may not have felt their field could contribute to this cause. Furthermore, the network and connection between universities will also inspire more universities to join the network. Independent and group network events allows wider audiences and more publicity. The workshops provided for the students are also a viable and important tool in teaching leadership. My only concern about the Millennium Campus Network is what happens after these students graduate and wish to pursue their careers in their field of interest? The Millennium Campus Network will continue to be run by newer students, but those who have gained the experience and the knowledge from workshops, fundraisers, and concerts may feel they have completed their contribution and move on to their lives. How can the network instill the social responsibility in these students that their actions and contributions should continue in their daily lives after they graduate? Also, it may be beneficial to expand the network to include private corporations, businesses, high schools, and community centers to promote that anyone can be involved and contribute regardless of age or educational experience. Expanding the network can raise more awareness, funds, and allow it to spread across the nation.

Conversations on Global Poverty--From Boardrooms, to Classrooms, to Newsrooms
Comment:

I greatly enjoyed your post on MCC's intent to engage the private sector in assisting the development of poor states. You address some important issues on how the private sector can contribute to sustainable development. I especially enjoyed your point that the private sector should be encouraged to "a strong sense of corporate social responsibility in developing countries where they do business." In a time when global poverty is on the rise, private businesses should take the extra step to forming alternative cheaper means of accessing resources in struggling countries. Although it may hurt their profit, as you stated, sustainable development is key to eradicating poverty. I only hope that the concept of social responsibility will spread beyond the private sector to governments, community centers, and other corporations. The MCC agreement with GE could do wonders in developing countries where wind energy (see left) is environmentally sustainable and affordable. Hopefully, the benefits of this will spread to developed countries so that wind energy can be one of the major steps in sustaining the environment. The MCC's integration of the private sector is highly commendable and socially just in tackling global poverty. One concern I have is how will MCC inspire private businesses to contribute besides the idea of social responsibility. While I find it to be a perfectly rational incentive, I fear that many, if not most private businesses are too concerned with making profit and will need more. Furthermore, how will MCC convince private businesses to contribute to democratic MCC countries rather than other countries MCC does not help but may be in more need? Some businesses may find MCC's guidelines of democratic states elitist and claim that the poor should not be forgotten because their governments are not democratic. If MCC is attempting to inspire the concept of social responsibility to help the poor and provide sustainable development only to its list of democratic countries, then it should promote a political incentive as well. Overall, I am looking forward to MCC's progress and deeply hope the private sector proves to be beneficial in sustainable development.

Resources: Useful Methods to End Poverty

This week, I chose to further explore the internet for more resources relevant to poverty. I used the Webby Awards judging criteria to choose websites I felt were useful as well as the IMSA criteria in my assessment of blogs. As I researched, I found websites with bountiful information relevant to the field of poverty analysis. Global Issues is a website that provides information on issues ranging from human rights to food and agriculture with an overview of each and links to current news. With so much information, it is difficult to navigate but is filled with useful content and strong functionality. The University of Wisconsin's Institute for Research on Poverty is an excellent website for information surrounding poverty in the US. Although its visual design is outdated, its scholarly content is strong and reliable. The International Monetary Fund provides statistics relating to GDP, funds, etc. on virtually any country in the world. It is well organized, making it easy to navigate and search but lacks interactivity like blogs or personal stories. The One Campaign to make poverty history is a useful and up to date website on student and country involvement in the battle against poverty. It has powerful visual design as well as informative content, stimulating photos, and interactive blogs. Poverty.com is also up to date on an hourly hunger death statistic effect it provides. Although its content is rather brief, it gives overviews on leading poverty issues as well as a useful statistics chart on international aid.

Since the majority of these websites lack interactivity, I looked to blogs using the IMSA criteria. Environmental issues can very much relate to poverty, so I found an informative blog called Globally Minded. It is regularly updated with useful posts, videos, and images surrounding the environment and eco-friendly ways of living. The International Medical Corps (IMC), one of its photos to the left, has a website dedicated to blogs to share experiences of its members working on the field. It is not regularly updated but provides powerful stories, encounters, and images by those interacting with poverty-stricken families daily. NGOs like IMC are those we depend on to fight poverty, so I chose to look at NGO Security blog that gives a different perspective of poverty by analyzing NGOs. Although its posts are brief, it is regularly updated and has been an archive of information on NGOs for three years. The Poverty Law Prof Blog also gives a different perspective, which is that of lawyers working on issues surrounding poverty. Although they are primarily domestic issues, it is relevant to understand how the law applies to them. It is regularly updated, interactive, and informative on the lawyers participating in the blog. Finally, The Face of Hunger is a blog by Ray Buchanan, the founder of Stop Hunger now. It provides his personal views and ideas surrounding current issues and his religious inspirations in why people should work to battle them. Buchanan provides relevant links, and moving photos, poetry, and prayers that apply to the battle against poverty. Overall, I was quite successful in my search for informative websites and interactive blogs to further my research on poverty.