Development Educators International

newsman777 — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 10:45:37 +0000

Micro-finance, weapon against poverty

Microfinance institutions have over the past years proven to be a veritable means of poverty alleviation in poor countries.

Harrington Harmon

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 11:34:00

Impelled by the economic down turn in Nigeria in the late 1980’s, Godwin Ehigiamusoe has devoted nearly 20 years of his life to the fight against poverty in Nigeria, and by extension, other parts of West Africa through his Lift Above Poverty Organisation (LAPO).

Following are excerpts of an exclusive interview with Business Day. This is the final slot.

Another thing we’ve been able to manage to mobilize is enough resources; not just having enough resource but managing those resources in such a way that they actually drive our programmes. The last one I would say is that we strongly believe that the hand of God is in this project. We have reasons to say that his hand is in support of this project.

Partners in the fight

We have a wide range of partners, ranging from international institutions or foundations to local.

The Ford Foundation of U.S.A, actually was the first to provide us with support in 1991, we also have support from institutions like the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Recently we have courted good relationships with commercial bankers. Earlier in the year we were able to obtain about N128 million funds from the Nigerian International Bank. We have also been able to acquire funds from Zenith Bank and Skye Bank. So our partners therefore range from non profit international agencies such as Ford Foundation and with various commercial entities like the commercial banks in Nigeria .

The types of support we leverage from these institutions also vary from financial support like grants and loans to technical support like training and provision of micro loans.

But in the past two years, we have actually moved a bit from the grant mode of the microfinance operation.

We therefore obtain loans from commercial banks, but the purpose for this is that LAPO, over the years has attained a degree of financial self sufficiency in the sense that we can cover our operational cost.

We therefore could have to ourselves loans. Secondly the scale of our operation has gone up that the demand of our client is in the range of billions of Naira. That can only be met by loans from commercial banks rather than grants from donor agencies realizing that in most cases grants are usually of smaller amounts and thus that is where we are in terms of partnership.

Mode of operation

Our operation is driven by what we call a set of operating assumptions. The first one of these assumptions is that the poor person or the ordinary person is obviously disadvantage to benefit from services provided by very formal institutions.

He therefore needs an institution that has features of informality that would be better responsive to the nature of poor people, their desire and aspiration and even the nature of their investment. We therefore have eligibility criteria we have set with indicator as to the level and nature of income for the household head.

We don’t talk about the quantum or the volume of the income because it would be difficult to determine.

Instead, we look at regularity of that income. If a husband of about three as a potential beneficiary of LAPO services would have to stay on the road waiting for somebody to hire him, that somebody may not hire him to provide his services for that day. Therefore such a person’s income is very irregular so the wife of such a person would readily be a member or a beneficiary of LAPO. The same thing with the issue of nutrition of the household, we are not interested in the quantity or the quality or quantum of food. what we are saying is how regular it is. That is the situation we are having in this country today. Members of such household are not sure about where the next meal will come from. So women of such household are ready candidates or beneficiary of (LAPO) project.

We therefore set these criteria to be able to select these women and we organize them into credit groups; it is through the credit groups that we deliver our services, training programmes and also prepare for the credit facilities. And the credit facilities are designed in such a way that the size and repayment schedule are such that they reflect the feature of the businesses of our beneficiaries. For instance, if we are asked to carry out very participatory loan-appraisal to be able to determine that this lady will not require more than N10000 for a little business.

The same thing is that you also need to look at the business to determine how often she would be paying the money. Weekly repayment would have to fit in the sort of cash flow of that business so what we do in all is to ensure that we provide services that are responsive to the needs of these poor people and will do it in such a way that will also reflect what they desire in relating with us.

Secondly, we continuously design new products, beginning with the regular ones that are usually smaller to meet the working capital needs of small businesses and this ranges between N10, 000 to N20, 000 as first cycle of loan to loan for specific periods like Christmas period. We have what we call the Christmas business loans that enable the women to benefit maximally from business boom that is associated with Christmas.

Such amount is obviously bigger and the payments are made around Christmas period. We also have credit for share purchase for poor people, which actually won a global award in 2002, whereby we provide credit facilities for very poor people to purchase shares in profitable companies. We have emergency loans and access loans.

http://www.businessdayonline.com/?c=118&a=1410

newsman777 — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 10:45:27 +0000

Micro-finance, weapon against poverty

Microfinance institutions have over the past years proven to be a veritable means of poverty alleviation in poor countries.

Harrington Harmon

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 11:34:00

Following are excerpts of an exclusive interview with Business Day. This is the final slot.

Partners in the fight

We have a wide range of partners, ranging from international institutions or foundations to local.

The types of support we leverage from these institutions also vary from financial support like grants and loans to technical support like training and provision of micro loans.

But in the past two years, we have actually moved a bit from the grant mode of the microfinance operation.

Mode of operation

We don’t talk about the quantum or the volume of the income because it would be difficult to determine.

http://www.businessdayonline.com/?c=118&a=1410

Food for Education – Bangladesh

newsman777 — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 13:09:07 +0000

THE FOOD FOR EDUCATION PROGRAM IN BANGLADESH:

AN EVALUATION OF ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATIONALATTAINMENT AND FOOD SECURITY

Akhter U. Ahmed and Carlo del Ninno (2002)

ABSTRACT

The Government of Bangladesh launched the innovative Food for Education (FFE) program in 1993. The FFE program provides a free monthly ration of rice or wheat to poor families if their children attend primary school. The goals of this program are to increase primary school enrollment, promote attendance, reduce dropout rates, and enhance the quality of education. This paper presents the findings of a recent International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) evaluation of the FFE program that demonstrates the extent to which these goals were met.

This evaluation uses primary data collected from multiple surveys covering schools, households, communities, and foodgrain dealers. The authors first examine the performance of the FFE program, showing that it has largely fulfilled its objectives of increasing school enrollment, promoting school attendance, and preventing dropouts. The enrollment increase was greater for girls than for boys. The quality of education, however, remains a problem. Next, they analyze the targeting effectiveness of the program, its impact on food security, and its efficiency in distributing rations. In general, the FFE program targets low-income households. However, there is considerable scope for improving targeting, as a sizable number of poor households remain excluded from the program even while many nonpoor households are included. Furthermore, the evaluation results indicate that the functioning of the current private-dealer-based foodgrain distribution system of the FFE program is not satisfactory.

Feeding Program in Peru

newsman777 — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 12:56:18 +0000

When science and politics listen to each other: good prospects from a new school breakfast program in Peru

ER Jacoby, S Cueto and E Pollitt
Department of Pediatrics, Program of International Nutrition, University of California at Davis, 95616, USA.

“This article provides an overview of a school breakfast program implemented in 1993 in the Peruvian Andes. The program, designed by the Instituto de Investigacion Nutricional in Lima and supported by the government of Peru, constitutes a clear departure from previous school feeding programs, which were heavily politicized and poorly documented. From the program’s inception, nutritionists, managers, and social scientists have collaborated to produce a sound nutritional design, efficient distribution mechanisms, and effective evaluation methods. During the program’s first year, controlled evaluations conducted in several Andean regions documented improved dietary intake and a significant decline in the prevalence of anemia. An educational evaluation also found improved verbal skills, higher school attendance, and lower dropout rates among recipients of the school breakfast. The results have prompted the Peruvian government to continue supporting the program, thus setting a new standard for the effective management of social expenditure in the context of economic adjustment.”

School Feeding and Math

newsman777 — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 12:43:16 +0000

School feeding in Jamaica: a review of its evaluation

DT Simeon
Commonwealth Caribbean Medical Research Council, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. ccmrc.ds@trinidad.net

This paper reviews two studies that evaluated the school feeding program in Jamaica. The first examined 115 children aged 12-13 y who were enrolled in three classes in a poor, rural school. One class was served the standard school meal at 0900 whereas the other two classes served as controls. The outcome variables included school achievement, attendance, and weight gain. After one semester, the class receiving the meal showed improved arithmetic scores and school attendance compared with the control classes; however, they showed no weight gain. The academic improvement remained significant after school attendance was controlled for. It was therefore hypothesized that the gains in arithmetic resulted from the alleviation of hunger in the classroom. The other study, conducted in a metabolic ward, examined the effects of missing breakfast on cognitive function in 90 children aged 9-10 y and of differing nutritional status. Using a crossover design, the investigators tested each child on two mornings 1 wk apart, once afterserving them breakfast and second without. Breakfast, consisting of theschool program meal, was served at 0800. When severely malnourished,stunted, or wasted children received no breakfast, their performance invarious cognitive tests deteriorated. These results indicate thatalleviation of hunger was one of the mechanisms by which school feedingimproved academic achievement in the previous study. Undernourishedchildren are more likely to benefit from school feeding programs than areadequately nourished children.

Feed the Children – Raise Attendance

newsman777 — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 12:14:12 +0000

A Tennessean Reader Opinion

What can be done to combat Tennessee’s high poverty rate?

There are millions of chronically hungry and malnourished children in the world.

The distribution of food in schools is one of the simplest and most effective strategies in fighting hunger and malnourishment among children and the poor person in general.

When school meals are offered to hungry and malnourished children, attendance rates increase significantly. Improvement in education is one of the most important factors in reducing child malnutrition in our country.

A recent Agriculture Department evaluation found that the Food for Education Initiative pilot program created measurable improvements in school attendance for students, increased local employment and economic activity, produced greater involvement in local infrastructure and community improvement projects, and increased participation by parents in the schools and the education of their children.

It has been shown that this measure, in addition to providing much-needed nourishment for hungry children, also results in a significant rise in attendance rates. This translates into higher literacy rates, job opportunities, and a healthier local economy as these children enter the work force.

Ron Story
Charlotte 37036

Reader Views – Tennessean

newsman777 — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 12:02:30 +0000

September 15, 2007

What can be done to combat Tennessee’s high poverty rate?

Reducing poverty has to begin in the home with personal choices. Single-parent families are the greatest single predictor of poverty, educational failure and crime. As long as the number of unwed births and broken families continue to grow, poverty will remain at high levels. It is a terribly complex social problem that has no quick fix.

We must find a way to better motivate our young people to work hard and finish their education. It is the kids who need education the most who are dropping out, because they are not well-motivated by family or community. We have the best educational system and libraries in history that are free — but they are meaningless unless young people choose to take advantage. In a world of high-tech communication, we are failing to communicate the importance of education to the children most at risk.

Responsible two-parent families with education and a work ethic are almost never poor, and are often very well-to-do. Responsibility, education and determination are all personal choices. We can’t really mandate these values, so we need to find a better way to communicate and encourage them.

Grayson Robertson
Brentwood 37027

Healthy San Francisco

newsman777 — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 11:16:16 +0000

(from the official site of the program)

In February 2006, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom created a Universal Healthcare Council (UHC) to develop a plan to provide access to health care for San Francisco’s 82,000 uninsured adults. This collaborative effort, comprised of representatives from the health care, business, labor, philanthropy and research communities, met for four months. The Council reviewed demographic and actuarial data, and heard from community advocates and employers to identify and quantify the needs of the uninsured.

Mayor Gavin Newsom and Supervisor Tom Ammiano

In a report released June 2006, the UHC presented its recommendations for the development and implementation of a San Francisco Health Access Program (SF HAP). Shortly thereafter, Supervisor Tom Ammiano incorporated the SF HAP into his Worker Health Care Security Ordinance (WHCSO). The ordinance, which passed unanimously on July 18, 2006, calls for implementation of SF HAP in tandem with an employer spending requirement. The date set in the ordinance is July 1, 2007.In April 2007 SF HAP became Healthy San Francisco.

Unlike past City and County efforts to serve the uninsured, Healthy San Francisco is not health insurance. It will instead provide a primary medical home to participants, allowing a greater focus on preventive care, as well as a specialty care, urgent and emergency care, mental health care, substance abuse services, laboratory, inpatient hospitalization, radiology, and pharmaceuticals. Healthy San Francisco will be administered by San Francisco Health Plan (SFHP) in partnership with the San Francisco Department of Public Health (DPH).

Ultimately, the vision is that all San Francisco residents will be eligible to apply for the program regardless of employment, immigration status, or pre-existing medical condition. It is likely that enrollment will initially occur in phases. Phasing will be important to:

test and refine the program as necessary;
protect the City’s legal and moral obligation to provide the lowest income residence access to care; and
accommodate the absorption of participants into Healthy San Francisco efficiently, with as little friction as possible.

To be eligible for Healthy San Francisco, an individual must be uninsured, live in San Francisco, and be ineligible for other government-subsidized health benefits programs such as Medi-Cal, the Health Families Program, or Health Kids & Young Adults.

Healthy San Francisco has a first phase implementation goal of July 2007.

Development Educators International

newsman777 — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 07:38:24 +0000

This blog focuses on issues in development especially poverty reduction.

Some of the basics include:

The Millennium Development Goals

1. Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger

2. Achieve Universal Primary Education

3. Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

4. Reduce Child Mortality

5. Improve Maternal Health

6. Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases

7. Ensure Environmental Sustainability

8. Develop a Global Partnership for Development

http://www.alliance2015.org/index.php/news/content/download/114/466/file/mdg.pdf

Development Areas of Concern, Poverty Reduction

Food Security

Housing

Education

Health Care

Employment and Financial Opportunity

Transportation and Infrastructure

Governance

Measurements and Indicators