The fight to end extreme poverty cannot be won without education. When people have access to a quality education, they’re more likely to live healthy, poverty-free lives. In fact, a quality education for all would be the most effective tool against poverty and instability worldwide. People who are denied equal access to a quality education do not have a fair chance at escaping poverty. This reality continues to affect the world’s girls. Although more girls are now attending primary school,...
Discrimination against sexual minorities in Kenya is costing the country up to US$1.3 billion annually, a report by a coalition of global businesses said, attributing the losses to missed tourism earnings, poor health and less employment of LGBT+ people. The report by Open For Business – an alliance of big companies including tech companies Google and Microsoft and Deutsche Bank – estimated anti-gay attitudes were shaving off up to 1.7% of Kenya’s annual gross domestic product (GDP). “A lot of the...
Today, young people need a wide variety of skills to thrive in the global economy. Alongside traditional academic skills, such as literacy and numeracy, education should foster 21st century skills like creativity, critical thinking and collaboration. This is known as cultivating breadth of skills and competencies. At the same time, half the world’s upcoming generation is at at risk of being left behind. If nothing changes, 825 million young people will not be on track to learn basic secondary-level skills...
By Carmen Belafi Last week, leaders from the world’s largest economies, the G20, came together in Buenos Aires to discuss pressing global issues ranging from economic growth, trade, and security to questions of fair and sustainable development. This year’s summit had some encouraging messages for education globally. Here are 3 of the most important messages: Education is a human right All countries agreed that access to education is not a privilege, but a fundamental right. Education needs to reach all children, and access...
In Part 1 of a two-part report on the informal banks that help women secure financial stability, Women’s Advancement Deeply looks at a savings group in Kenya that grants independence to the women who join it.  Orge Konchora always wanted her children to go to school, but her husband could not raise all the fees from his small salary as a driver, and she knew she had to help out. Although the family also had some livestock, the animals were owned...
What does your future hold? University, your own business, fame and fortune? Whatever your hopes, you will not have imagined a future in which you got married off as a child, were denied an education, or infected with HIV by a husband that’s twice your age. But this is the reality for millions of girls living in extreme poverty. And it’s time to call it out for what it is: Sexist. Nowhere on earth do girls and women have the...
This post was originally written by Emma Batha. Editing by Claire Cozens for Thomson Reuters Foundation The Zambian slum of Chibolya is notorious for crime and drugs, but acrobat Gift Chansa wants to get the township’s youth hooked on a very different high – circus. Chansa is co-founder of Circus Zambia, the country’s first social circus, which provides disadvantaged young people with education and job opportunities while teaching them everything from unicycling and fire-eating to tumbling and juggling. The circus also runs...
Written by Jamie Drummond, ONE’s Co-Founder. Firstly – apologies! Open letters like this can be self-important and irritating, but they can also be a helpful way of driving a set of specific questions upon disparate gatherings – like Davos or UNGA – with the hope of focussing debate and driving towards answers. And given the development sector’s been hit by “UNGA fever” again – here goes. A few years ago, many of us, across the public, private and non-profit sectors, worked together...