UN Agreement to Reduce Electronic Waste

Electronic waste will increase exponentially, especially within developing countries. According to the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU), only 13 percent of electronic is recycled.

ITU has signed a an agreement with the Secretariat of the Basel Convention which stipulates a stronger working relationship between communication technology (ICT) and environmental policymakers to address this problem. ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré has said that this partnership will involve the recycling industry in a holistic solution. The ITU and SBC will collaborate on joint projects to set ICT standards and increase awareness about electronic waste management.

-Akshika Patel


SOURCE: UN News Centre

CEO of Sentinel Investments Joins Borgen Board

Christian Thwaites, a regular expert guest on CNBC and Bloomberg, has joined The Borgen Project's Board of Directors.  Thwaites is the President and CEO of Sentinel Investments, a $26 billion investment management company headquartered in Vermont and owned by National Life Group.  Raised in the United Kingdom, Thwaites later received his MBA from Harvard where he earned distinction as a Baker Scholar before going on to serve as CEO of Skandia Global Funds in London.  In joining the Board of Directors, Thwaites rounds out The Borgen Project's first father-son duo; his son Matthew Thwaites has volunteered as a Policy Associate at The Borgen Project since 2010.

Watch a clip of Christian Thwaites on CNBC.

UNICEF and Partner Fight Malnutrition in Haiti

A UNICEF-supported NGo, Fondation pour le Développement et l'Encadrement de la Famille Haïtienne (FONDEFH) is working towards reducing malnutrition in Port-au-Prince Haiti.

FONDEFH nurse Mirlene Duplessey has identified malnutrition as the biggest problem in the area. However, thanks to the aid provided by FONDEFH there is hope. "Thanks to the Plumpy'nut (a therapeutic food) we receive from UNICEF, we are able to treat the children effectively," said Ms.Duplessey.

Due to the activity of FONDEFH in Port-au-Prince an important grant has been given to the North Department (another area) where rates of malnutrition are the highest in the country. UNICEF Nutrition Specialist Mohamed Ayoya has said that, "This is exactly the type of investment that will have long and lasting results in a country like Haiti."

-Akshika Patel


SOURCE: UNICEF

Alleviating Unemployment in Guinea

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Government of Japan have established a project which will provide skills training to the youth in Guinea. According to UNIDO, the selected communities have been victim to natural hazards, conflicts and refugee influx. Four thousand youths and 50 entrepreneurial groups in both Forest Guinea and Middle Guinea, will benefit from this project.

Ten distrits in Eastern Guinea will participate in this job training program. They will learn entrepreneurial and technical skills for productive activities, income generation and employment opportunities.

UNIDO Representative Bafotigui Sako has said that this project is meant to target specific Millennium Development Goals: poverty reduction, environmental sustainability, and gender equality.

-Akshika Patel


SOURCE: UN News Centre

IWD 2012: Commitment to Education

Photograph: Natacha Pisarenko/AP

Women's rights have certainly made head way since the early 1900's.  The world is undoubtedly a better place for women, but we must not be complacent.  We must recognize that women's rights are human rights and there lies a long road ahead of us to reach this recognition.  To this day, women everywhere are constantly subjected to violence and oppression, denied of basic rights, and are faced with a "barrage of difficulties" due to their sex. 

Less than 20% of world's parliamentarians are women

Less than 10% of countries have female head of state

Less than 3% signatories to peace agreements are women

This all comes down to one word, education.  Studies have shown that education plays a vital role in women empowerment and is the most effective way to fight global poverty and social injustice.  Educating women improves the rights of women in all areas of life.  Sure, gender equality seems a little far fetched, and requires shifting of attitudes, traditions, and practices, but this long-term commitment plan for education needs to happen if we want to see change and the betterment of the female population.     

Mothers who have been educated are more likely to give birth in health facilities

Girls with post-primary education are 5X more likely to be knowledgeable of HIV/AIDS

But, 30 million more girls than boys are out of school and are stripped of the opportunity

Today, we celebrate womanhood and those who have played a transformative role in paving the path that we have before us.  Happy International Women's Day from all of us here at The Borgen Project! 

-Georisa Chang

SOURCE: The Guardian 

UN Helps Developing Nations Use Clean Energy

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is opening access to clean renewable energy for rural households in developing nations. Impoverished people will now be able to turn in their kerosene lamps and diesel generators for clean renewable energy.

Thanks to the Clean Development Mechanism, registered projects will be able to earn salable credits all while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to sustainable development. Furthermore, the CDM enables emission-reduction projects in developing nations to earn certified emission reduction (CER) credits. In an effort to reach the emission targets, as outlined under the Kyoto Protocol, industrialized nations can even trade, sell and use CERs.

The CDM will give communities with no electricity access to renewable electricity generation technologies. As long as 75 per cent of consumers are households, these communities will be able to technology such as solar electric panels.

"This is what the CDM is all about-reducing green gas emission and contributing to a sustainable development," said CDM Executive Board Chair Maosheng Duan.

-Akshika Patel


SOURCE: UN News Centre

Borgen Twins Say Hello World!

Aren't these two the cutest Borgen Project baby models you have ever seen?

-Georisa Chang

Access to Safe Drinking Water Marks First MDG Achievement

Photo: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

United Nations announced today that the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) has been met 5 years ahead of schedule.  The proportion of people without access to safe drinking water has now been cut in half since the end of 2010 (89% - 1% more than the goal set by world leaders), leaving only 11% of the world's population still stripped of their basic right of access to a safe water source.  UNICEF and WHO both deem this victory undeclared.  Millions of people from these poverty stricken nations are still in desperate need of access to water and basic sanitation, and are in great need of our attention.  Sure, this marks a special day in history, but the fight to eradicate global poverty is far from being over.  The water target is one of eight MDGs created to improve hundreds upon millions of lives living in extreme poverty.   

World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan states that "providing sustainable access to improved drinking water sources is one of the most important things we can do to reduce disease.  But this achievement today is only the beginning.  We must continue to ensure this access remains safe.  Otherwise our gains will be in vain." 

-Georisa Chang

SOURCE: The Washington Post

Decrease in Maternal and Child Mortality in Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, it used to be that one in five children wold die from preventable illnesses like pneumonia and diarrhea and one in 11 mothers would die from pregnancy related causes. Recent data released by the Afghan government reveals that maternal and child mortality has been reduced dramatically. Now, one in ten children and one in 50 mothers die due to preventable causes.

Thanks to organizations like Save the Children, more and more midwives are being trained. Four years ago, a province would typically have only four midwives for almost half a million people. With increased training provided by Save the Children, nearly 150 new midwives will deliver 500 new borns a year and in the process save thousands of mothers and babies.

-Akshika Patel


SOURCE: Save the Children 

India's Greatest Public Health Achievement

"It gives me great pleasure to announce that the World Health Organization has taken India's name off the list of polio-endemic countries,"said Ghulam Nabi Azad, India's Minister of Health and Family Welfare, at the Polio Summit. The World Health Organization took India's name off of the list of polio-endemic countries on Saturday, 25 February.

Only recently, in 2009, India had nearly half of the world's polio cases. Considering this, the announcement is India's biggest public health achievement. It is due to a collaborative effort between the Union, State governments, UNICEF, WHO, Rotary International, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, that this achievement was possible. Within recent years, polio immunization rounds in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the most effected by polio, reached up to 99 per cent.

Even after this major public health win, the Indian government is aware that they must stay vigilant. "We are highly mindful of the risks that persist, not only on account of residual indigenous transmission but also from other countries," stated Mr.Azad. Polio summit attendees discussed how to finally eradicate polio in India.

-Akshika Patel


SOURCE: UNICEF

Women's Empowerment in Agriculture

Even in the face of economic constraints and social obstacles, women still play an important role in agricultural growth in developing nations. The U.S. Government's Feed the Future initiative, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) will release a joint report at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. 

This report, which is entitled the Women's Economic in Agriculture Index (WEAI), is the first to measure women's empowerment levels in agriculture. The UN will use this index to evaluate Feed the Future programs worldwide. 

-Akshika Patel

SOURCE: Feed the Future: The U.S. Government's Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative

Removal of Barriers to Women's Economic Empowerment

Today, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon asked the international community to worker harder to get rid of barriers that prevent the full participation of women in the economy. He referred to the lack of access to jobs, markets, credit and property as a few of the obstacles.

Alongside two hundred business leaders, governments, and the UN, Mr.Ban participated in the second annual Equality Means Business initiative. This initiative is a joint effort of UN Women and the UN Global Compact which has produced the UN Women's Empowerment Principles(WEPs).

Over 400 chief executives have announced their efforts to implement the WEPs within the past two years. The WEPs provide companies with guidelines on how to increase the status of women. By implementing these principles, Mr.Ban has said that all the initiatives that focus on sustainable development simultaneously ensure gender equality. Stating the main point of the conference, Mr.Ban told attendees that, "We (cannot) achieve sustainability-at a corporate or a global level-without empowering the world's women."

-Akshika Patel

SOURCE:UN News Centre

UN Women to Further Women's Empowerment

Yesterday, UN Women announced that they will donate $10.5 million to organizations working to empower women economically and politically in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe and Central Asia.  Initial grants of $200,000 will fund initiatives that make visible improvements in achieving gender equality.

Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director for UN Women has already revealed the grant recipients within the Middle Eastern region. The grants, which will total $4.85 million, will fund fifteen organizations in Egypt, Libya, and Yemen. Increasing women's political participation and improving the usage of technology for sustainable energy are just some of the initiatives pursued by these organizations.

Ms.Bachelet has commented that this fund is imperative for overall international economic development. "At this moment of historic shane, we cannot afford to leave women out. These grants will advance women's efforts to achieve greater economic and political equality during this time of transition."

-Akshika Patel


SOURCE: UN News Centre

Haitians Using Cell Phones to Rebuild Their Homes

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Government of Haiti are facilitating mobile phone cash transfers as apart of the initiative Community Support Centres for House Repairs. Those affected by the 2010 earthquake will now have increased access the resources necessary to rebuild their homes. Within the next three months, 1,000 low-income families will receive subsidies of $500 thanks to over 2,000 mobile money transfers.

Digicel, Haiti's larges cell phone service, will facilitate the mobile cellphone cash transfers. Through the usage of cell phones, there will be a greater degree of financial security. Already, four thousand families have registered for the mobile cellphone cash transfer service. Jessica Faieta, Senior UNDP Country Director for Hait, has pointed out that this initiative will benefit women especially. Ms.Faieta said, "Mobile phone vouchers create additional security and convenience here in Haiti, especially for women, who might feel more vulnerable when carrying large sums of money." Since women are heads of over 40 percent of Hatian households, this project will have a significant impact on Haitian households.

-Akshika Patel


SOURCE: UN News Centre

World Bank: Reduction of Extreme Poverty

According to the World Bank, developing nations have already met the Millennium Development goal to halve extreme poverty by 2015. Martin Ravallion, director of the World Bank research group has said that , "We are now confident that the developing world as a whole has reached the first of the Millennium Goals and reached that goal in 2010 despite the crisis". Eastern Europe, the Middle East, East Asia (including India and China) are all regions that have achieved this Millennium Development goal.

Among the regions that have reduced their poverty rates China, the Middle East, and North Africa specifically have made great progress. In 2008, there were 660 million fewer people living under $1.25 a day in China. While in the Middle East and North Africa, the 16.5 million who lived on less than $1.25 a day in 1981 was reduced to 8.6 million people in 2008.

While progress is still necessary, the research done by the World Bank reveals that our international community has already made great strides in global poverty reduction.

-Akshika Patel


SOURCE: Huffington Post

Central America: All Time High for Drug-Related Violence

Drying coca leaves in Bolivia. Photo: UNODC

Reported by the UN Anti-Narcotics panel, the growing rate of violence involving drug trafficking has reached "alarming and unprecedented levels" in Central America, and has been called one of the most violent areas in the world.  North America still remains to be the world's largest drug market to date, with Europe coming in second.  Countries identified to be key transit countries for drug smuggling destined for the US include Honduras, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.  The escalating number of drug cartels in this region have led El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Jamaica to have the world's highest homicide rates due to availability of firearms and proliferation of street gangs.

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has warned that these high risk countries are in major need of appropriate systems to monitor and combat the drug abuse.  The INCB has recommended programs be implemented on drug abuse prevention, treatment and rehabilitation services, in addition to increasing educational, employment, and recreational opportunities.

Poor nations often become easy targets of these drug trafficking organizations and for most, desperate times call for desperate measures.  Their vulnerability gets taken advantage of resulting in a never-ending vicious cycle of cat and mouse.

- Georisa Chang


SOURCE: UN News Centre