Sustainable Development Goals Blog#8

LIBERIA

             Liberia is located on the west African coast. Bordered by the Atlantic Ocean along its entire diagonal southwest coastline of 579 kilometers, Liberia borders Sierra Leone to the northwest, Guinea to the north. The climate of Liberia is covered with tropical rain forest, and the country's terrain ranges from coastal plains to plateau to low mountains. Liberia's climate is tropical.( Africa UNDP,2019)

Is Poverty an issue in Liberia?

Poverty is considered one of the main issues in Liberia. Liberia’s population consists mainly of smallholder farmers that struggle to produce enough to feed their families. The issue of the farmers reduction has led to poverty in Liberia reaching 68 percent and 35 percent of the population being malnourished.

Civil wars have contributed to the over 250,000 Liberian orphans who frequently suffer from malnutrition and are abandoned.

 Liberia’s education and health systems are both in need of great improvement. The lack of health care access often leads to high fatality rates among those with treatable or preventable diseases. The education goes, only half of Liberians are literate, and many Liberian children are kept out of school in order to help on their families’ farms.(UNICEF, Liberia,2019) 

US Role in Liberia 

Eradicating poverty in all its forms remains one of the greatest challenges facing humanity specially in Africa .The number of people living in extreme poverty dropped by more than half between 1990 and 2015  from 1.9 billion to 836 million – too many are still struggling for the most basic human needs. (UN,2019)

The focus of USAID in combating poverty in Liberia is collaborating with the Liberian government to help rebuild the infrastructure and revitalize mining and other utilization of natural resources in the country. Government strategies focus on stimulating the private sector by providing access to credit and infrastructure to Liberians.

Resources in Liberia

One of the main characteristics in Liberia is the landscape and resources available to make it a prosperous country.  The infrastructure can be rebuilt, and resources can be utilized to their full potential when the government is taking place.

 For this reason, one of the pillars of USAID’s action in Liberia is strengthening Democracy and Governance. Once infrastructure is re-built, and this can happen rapidly with the help of USAID, the resources flowing out of Liberia will benefit the global economy and western investment in the country.

In Liberia, UNDP supported the government to develop a Road map for the domestication of the 2030 Agenda and the African Union Agenda 2063 into the country’s next national development plan. The Road map outlines the key steps to translate the SDGs and Agenda 2063 into plans, policies and programs taking into consideration the fact that Liberia.(UNDP,2019)

The Sustainable Development Goals in Liberia and 

Implementation 

Ending poverty in all its forms everywhere is the primary focus of goal one. Despite it remains a major challenge, poverty eradication is the first Sustainable Development Goals. Statistics shows that over 800 million people are still living on less than 1.25 a day without access to basic services.

Africa, the world's poorest continent, has the highest population growth rate from 221 million in 1950 to 1 billion in 2009 with a high number of people living in poverty. In Sub-Sahara Africa, 40% of people live in absolute poverty. Reports suggest that the rate of poverty in Africa might increase due to food insecurity, conflict and climate change.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aims to end poverty everywhere on the globe by 2030.In order to implement the SDGs programs the way to achieve the goal involves increasing access to basic services, improving the living conditions of those in vulnerable situations, addressing climate change to develop the quality of life . (SDGs,2019)

Agencies Taking Actions

*United Nations Development Programs (UNDP)

*United Nations Children Funds (UNICEF)

*World Bank (WB)

*Food Agriculture Organization (FAO)

*African Development Bank (AfDB)

*United Nations Polulation Fund (UNFPA)

All these agencies have made a huge  difference by taking actions in whole entire world not just in Africa ,but  to most of the developing countries to make difference and change for better quality of life to the populations. 

References

United Nations in Liberia

        http://lr.one.un.org/content/unct/liberia/en/home/sdg/end-poverty.html

https://www.africa.undp.org/content/rba/en/home/sustainable-development-goals.html.

United Nations International Children’s Emergency Funds

     https://www.unicef.org/liberia/what-we-do

BLOG#7 Sustainable Development Goals

Madagascar

Madagascar, a country in southern Africa located in the Indian Ocean, east of Mozambique, is the fifth largest island in the world, with a land mass of 587,000 km2 and 25.6 million inhabitants. Despite having considerable natural resources, Madagascar has among the highest poverty rates in the world. (world bank,2019).

Madagascar is among the poorest countries in the world with 75% of the population living on less than $1.90 per day (in purchasing power parity). The country’s human capital index ranking is  among the lowest worldwide and Madagascar has the world’s fourth highest rate of chronic malnutrition, with almost one child in two under five years of age suffering from stunting.(world bank,2019).

 An estimated 1.4 million children dropped out of primary school in 2012.Living conditions remain difficult for most of the population, with a low rate of access to electricity (13%) in particular. Madagascar is one of the African countries most severely affected by climate change impacts and experiences an average of 3 cyclones per year. (world bank,2019).

Is Poverty an Issue ?

Poverty is considered one of the biggest issues in the country and the government of Madagascar has seized the lessons and worked very hard to decrease the ratio of poverty in the country of Madagascar, by investing the country resources such as the agriculture.

                                                                     

                                                                               

 Rice occupies the largest share of total crop average. Many varieties of dry, wet, and irrigated rice are grown in the central plateau, dry rice is also grown in the eastern forests and wet rice in the lower river valleys and along the estuaries, mainly by populations who migrated from overpopulated parts of the plateau. Costly imports are still required.

Madagascar is one of the countries that did not reach the MDGs by the end of 2015. The reduction of poverty by half compared to 1990, the main MDG objectives and targets have not been achieved. Structural problems and especially the interference and recurrence of socio-political crises were partly responsible for the situation. The political crises were partly responsible for the situation.

 The government's issues, especially during the crisis period, poor access to social services, declining development financing and the low level and non-inclusive nature of growth have not improved the living conditions of the population. population and development prospects, including MDG indicators. Madagascar thus continues to be confronted with the unfinished agenda of the MDGs. Lessons learned from their implementation are useful for the SDG process.

According to United Nations Sustainable Development Programs, the government of Madagascar has seized the lessons and works to make the implementation of the MDGs and the 2030 Agenda process as an opportunity to address these challenges and seize opportunities for sustainable development in Madagascar.The issue of poverty been addressed by UN sustainable and development goals of 2030 Agenda, the launch of the process has already made it possible to have elements of appreciation of good national ownership and prioritization of the SDGs, taking into account all the dimensions of sustainable development in the region.

Call for Action

planning and management of development policies and programs (at national and regional levels), strengthening of domestic resource mobilization and coordination of interventions by all the levels and sections in the country.The establishment of an institutional system adapted and supported by a strong political commitment, a good mobilization of domestic resources and their allocation towards the sectors having an accelerating effect for the poverty reduction and the human development, in particular for the vulnerable populations, as well as the monitoring and evaluation system, have been important challenges that will have to be addressed in the context of the 2030 Agenda

The Voluntary Report recalls  along with donations have lessons learned from the implementation of the MDG agenda, presents the SDG process, its preliminary results, the efforts to overcome the challenges and opportunities, the next steps  perspectives of the SDG process and looking forewords to change the quality of life in the country.

References:-

United Nations,un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/2019

     UNICEF,https://www.unicef.org/madagascar/reviewed, November/2019.

          worldbank.org/en/country/madagascar/overview/2019.

    

Sustainable Development Goals In Africa Blog #6

BLOG#6

Mauritania

         country on the Atlantic coast of Africa. Mauritania forms a geographic and cultural bridge between the North African Maghrib (a region that also includes Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia) and the westernmost portion of Sub-Saharan Africa. Back in 1960, Mauritania was administered as a French colony during the first half of the 20th century and became independent on November 28 of 1960.

 Poverty issue in Mauritania

          The people of Mauritania are constantly battling poverty. Over the years, Mauritania has grown more fragile as droughts and food shortages have endangered the survival of its people. However, there have been and continue to be governmental initiatives, as well as efforts made by humanitarian organizations, to give Mauritania a brighter future.

         The shortages of food and water are the most detrimental obstacles in trying to alleviate poverty in Mauritania. In 2011, Mauritania was extensively affected by a severe drought that led to a steep increase in food prices, unsuccessful farming and a startling loss of livestock. This resulted in a food shortage, leaving 700,000 people during a food crisis, as of 2012.

         The SDG implemented in Mauritania by the Government of Mauritania undertook a Rapid Integrated Assessment with UN support to inform its new Strategy of Accelerated Growth and Shared Prosperity for 2016–2030. The assessment will inform the formulation of the new strategy, which marks a transition from 15 years of implementing a strategy and policy focused on poverty reduction, to the formulation of a new, ambitious development strategy through to 2030. (UN,2019)

          In addition, the SDG monitors the Ministry of Economy and Finances provided SDG-related training to the new strategy’s technical team, using UN tools and modules. This training focused on the challenges of integrating the SDGs into national plans, with attention to cross-cutting elements, data and accountability. (UN,2019)

Geography and Climate

Geography and Climate: Only 0.5% of Mauritania’s land a little over 1 million square kilometers is suited for agriculture, but a majority of Mauritanians still depend on agricultural subsistence or raising livestock. Food insecurity is a severe problem due to incessant cycles of drought and erosion; such cycles were severe enough to force nomadic Mauritanians to the main cities in the 1970s and 80s. Because of Mauritania’s placement against the Atlantic Ocean and prevailing winds, the country is afflicted by intense dust storms at times. (UNDP, poverty in Mauritania,2019)

Tools To Help

Since the poverty is still prior issue in Mauritania, the context of the UNCT, UNDP supported the Ministry for the Economy and Finances to convene partners for example from NGOs, the private sector, other ministries and government agencies to discuss the implementation of the SDGs in Mauritania. UNDP also supported a national workshop to provide the tools and the methodology for mainstreaming the SDGs into Mauritania’s new strategy. (UN,2019).

Conclusion

An awareness-raising workshop took place in May 2016 to explain the global SDG formulation processed the future mainstreaming of the SDGs into Mauritania’s new strategy.The a new strategy helps  Mauritania as country and populations to stand up to overcome the crisis of poverty.

 The event brought together multiple government departments and the private sector.For example, the Employers Association and the Chamber of Commerce), civil society (e.g. Platform of Non-State Actors, Organization for the Defense of the Disabled, Observatory of Organizations for Human Rights. All these organizations have one goal is to decrease the ratio of poverty in  Mauritania and help the population to live better quality of life. 

References:-

https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/povert,2019.

     https://undg.org/mauritania-demonstrating-early-efforts-to-mainstream-sdgs-within-a-new-national-development-strategy

The Sustainable Development Goals/ Blog #4

Ghana and Poverty 

            For this week Blog, I focused another country who suffers from poverty, and poverty issue is still the main issue in the country. Ghana was the first country in Sub-Saharan Africa has noticed the poverty, and met the Millennium Development Goal number one. The situation of deep poverty remains in most rural areas, especially in the three northern regions. In urban areas, where poverty incidence has seen some substantial decline, greater disparities and inequalities are being noticed also in the country .

       Talking about poverty.In Ghana the poverty is still number one issue in the country. However; the country is depending on the agriculture to improve the economy, but the the poverty issue is still in the high ratio in many areas in the region.  

           Poverty has many dimensions which can be caused so many  negative outcomes and consequences in the country, include lack of education, low productivity of work, low income, social exclusion, and high vulnerability of certain populations to disasters and diseases. Poverty is detrimental, and if nothing is done to overcome poverty, we will continue to suffer its impact on economic growth and social cohesion, political and social tensions, and, in some circumstances, instability and conflicts.

Things getting better in Ghana

            Although with all the negative consequence that caused by the poverty in Ghana .The agriculture still remains a major part of the economy in Ghana.  Ghana’s agriculture is dominated  most of the populations in the country. The most of  populations are practicing agricultural jobs including working in the farms daily. 

          The  low-level technology and productivity, and un-competitiveness may affect the products and the quality of the products . The small-scale farmer who practices rain-fed agriculture, applies little or no fertilizer, and uses little technology is vulnerable to the unpredictable changes in the weather. Lack of land ownership rights also undermines the small farmer’s ability to invest in land improvements and farm expansion. Unless these issues are remedied, smallholder farmers will remain in a poverty issue.

  

Ghana the country of progress and challenges 

     According to the World Health Organization, Ghana improves the  economic growth, the agriculture improvement helped cut the country’s poverty rate in half, from 52.6% to 21.4% between 1991 and 2012.(WHO, 2012) 
The  national poverty line in Ghana indicates the "Poverty Reduction  Progress and Challenges,” report, sustained poverty reduction requires a commitment to reducing inequality and improving access to opportunities for all citizens in addition to have the technology and finding employment opportunities for most of population in Ghana. Therefore; the poverty issue is not improved as expected in the country. 



References:-

      United Nations. (n.d.). Sustainable Development Goals: Ghana . Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/memberstates/Ghana 

      Poverty Reduction in Ghana : Progress and Challenges. World Bank, Washington, DC. © World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/22732 License: CC By 3.0 IGO.”

Blog#3 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS/ Uganda

Uganda

         Uganda located in East Africa; the population of Uganda is about 30 million people. Uganda is same size of UK. Uganda was relatively independent from UK 1962.  The people of Uganda suffered from misrule of UK until 1986, left hundreds of thousands of its people dead and its economy severely damaged.

Poverty is considered one of the biggest issues in the country and is about 50% of the population is aged 14 years old or younger and life expectancy is around 54 years. 

         Uganda continues to be one of the poorest countries in the world with substandard health care, high rates of malnutrition and diseases such as malaria rampant, assisted by less than half of those living in Uganda having access to safe drinking water.

        The country is trying extremely hard to use all the sources to get ride of the poverty and use the available sources and population to get the country in outstanding level.   In about 80% of people in Uganda are engaged in agriculture where coffee, tea, cotton, tobacco and beef, these are the most agricultural sources and the most important products in the country. 

         The main products with coffee being the country's main export. Its other main exports are fish, tea, gold and cotton.

Furthermore, with all the important products and the usage of the of agricultural sources to get the country out of the poverty, but Uganda continues to be one of the poorest countries in the world with substandard health care, high rates of malnutrition.

             Recent events in Uganda ,  oil discoveries are likely to boost the economy further however Uganda borders on the newly established Republic of South Sudan and the potential for instability there particularly if north Sudan switches off South Sudan's oil pipelines that run through its territory make cause an influx of refugees in a country that that already provides shelter for 215,000 Sudan refugees alongside 28,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo and a further 24,00 refugees from neighboring Rwanda.

      Uganda and sub-Saharan Africa are considered the most poorest countries in the world and below the Human Development Index explain the border line of poverty for these African Countries.

  

References:-

            Murcia, B. A. (2019, October 13). Uganda : How is the implementation of the sustainable       development goals is going in Uganda?

          

           http://www.africa.undp.org/content/rba/en/home/sustainable-development-goals. Uganda     html