Focus Forward Winner Massoud Hassani Turns His Childhood Dreams into Reality

Check out this stunning video that shows the amazing power of innovation and learn about the thought process behind one designer's creation of an economical solution to landmine clearance in Afghanistan.

Teach A [Wo]man to Fish and You Feed [Her] For A Lifetime

Living in Rwanda with her husband and five children, Jacqueline worked as a schoolteacher and her husband was a soldier. But then everything changed. Jacqueline's husband was killed and she lost her job, all in a matter of days. Suddenly, Jacqueline became a widowed, unemployed mother of five with no way of providing for her children. Then she heard about World Vision Micro, a microfinancing organization serving many countries around the world. Once she was approved for and granted a loan, Jacqueline joined her two widowed friends and established a local restaurant. Now, she can provide food for those in her community as well as the little ones living under her own roof, an achievement unfathomable to her prior to World Vision Micro's arrival. Here is how the microloan process works according to World Vision Micro's website:

1. Our Local Lender Approves an Entrepreneur

A World Vision microfinance institution approves the borrower. Typically, they are women in developing countries who do not have collateral or a credit history to secure a traditional loan. The local institution then gives the entrepreneur a loan.

2. The Entrepreneur Appears on Micro

After a borrower has been approved for a loan, their name, story, and business idea are uploaded to Micro for you to review and follow. While World Vision initially fronts the cost of the loan, donations are tracked such that they underwrite the exact entrepreneur of your choosing.

3. You Choose an Entrepreneur

Read their story. See their business idea. Donate to help. With one in five people worldwide surviving on less than $1.25 a day, the need is great.

Visit www.worldvisionmicro.org to loan $35 - $350 to the aspiring businesswoman of your choice. Every penny counts.

Breaking the Cycle of Poverty: One Woman at a Time

Leading economists across the globe all believe that their is an answer to ending the cycle of poverty which plagues so many communities: women. This is because women invest 90% of any income that they make directly back into their families. And yet continually, indigenous women are last to find jobs in their local villages due to both racial and sexual discrimination. Mercado Global works everyday to change this. Started by two college students in 2004, Mercado Global targets and helps artisan women across the world who would like to sell their goods in large international markets. Although first small, this program through their motto of "Empower, Educate, Connect" has actually changed the lives of many women all over the globe.

This short excerpt from their website (mercadoglobal.org) explains just how stunningly their programs have worked:

In a region in which the average child attends school for just 1.9 years , 100% of our original partner artisans’ elementary school-aged children are in school for the third consecutive year.

Food security has more than doubled in the communities in which we work, and nearly 100% of our partner artisans now report having access to electricity and potable water. The role of women is changing, too: artisans report increased participation in household financial decision-making, and nearly half have held leadership positions in their communities.

With results like these, we can only feel inspired. Join the cause by supporting these artisans' work. We love these earrings, this tote, and this pillow!

EcoFuel Africa: Made By Locals, For Locals

 

Walking home one day, Moses Sanga passed his twelve-year-old sister on a road near their home. She was sobbing, incredibly disappointed at having missed school to walk twelve miles and collect firewood for the family's stove.

About eighty percent of Uganda's citizens use firewood as fuel. This has led to a myriad of social and environmental problems: rapid deforestation, death from smoke inhalation, and education deprivation for the women and girls who gather the wood. So Mr. Sanga took action. He left his job, sold all his belongings including his bed, and invested his life savings in his own project that ultimately culminated in the development of something superb. The technology Mr. Sanga created allows families to convert farm and municipal wastes into a revolutionary fuel that burns longer, cleaner, and costs far less than firewood. As a result, the forests have a chance to recuperate and the girls a chance to learn, uninhibited by the dire need for such a harmful source of energy.

Local man turned incredible innovator, Moses Sanga's business endures: EcoFuel Africa. Learn more details about this amazing story at www.ecofuelafrica.com.

(We apologize that this website is currently down. You can, however, find many stories detailing the organization online at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/arts/design/cleaning-up-the-african-kitchen.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 or http://fellows.ted.com/profiles/sanga-moses).

Born, Married, and Divorced, All in One Decade

This Yemeni girl's autobiography conveys the misery of forced early marriage, an all-too-common occurrence in many parts of the world. In a rural village where women with voices, much less girls with voices, is an utterly foreign concept, Nujood moves for a legal divorce, hoping to be liberated from the custody of her terrifying and abusive husband. Resilience seeps through every word of every page of this story.

Goods for Good

Trends, your wallet, and your conscience may not always agree. But NationWares, founded by Amie Mariana Sider, aims to provide consumers with socially, environmentally, and economically conscious goods. Meet the artisans who create and profit from the beautiful handmade bags, shoes, belts, and more that you purchase online at www.nationwares.com.

Gender Preference in India: An Implicit Custom

           Though no longer endorsed by the government, gender preference (and subsequently female infanticide) has its roots deep within the foundation of India's culture. A small and fairly new non-profit, The Shanti Project is composed of a nickel's worth of activists doing a world's worth of good, fostering the empowerment of marginalized Indian women and children through community meetings and discussions. Get a taste of their work through this excerpt from their website, and visit them at theshantiproject.org.

Female Infanticide in Jaisalmer

   Pinkie, a month old, lies out in her crib in the sun for eight or so hours a day. She has scabs on her head and a rash on her entire body. Upon offering to help take her to the hospital, we were informed that the government hospital has horrible conditions. Bimla (Pinkies mom), said she wouldn’t take her there. So we went to investigate the hospital conditions.Once there we saw Bimla’s reasons for not wanting to visit. The hospital was overcrowded and understaffed. To get medical attention most have to wait hours or even days.We were told that another baby is another mouth to feed and Bimla said when we were holding her daughters: “You take home with you, I already have two girls.”

          We gathered this is the general attitude many young moms have towards giving birth to girls. With this, female infanticide in Jaisalmer is on the rise. In a July report, The New Delhi Times cites there have been 38 female infanticides in Jaisalmer in the last 3 months; and this is only the reported deaths. There are numerous others that may be unreported. The 2012 international male to female ratio at birth is 1.07 males per female. The rate in India, according to a 2009 report is 1.12 male(s)/female.
           In the villages surrounding Jaisalmer the situation is worse because of lack of governance. A week ago the leg of a newborn was found after being picked by a dog. The body was found near the village being eaten by dogs. Then another July incident found the body of a newborn girl thrown in the open. Both of these cases were unreported “According to unofficial estimates, nearly 2,500 cases of female foeticide or female infanticide take place in the state of Rajasthan everyday and it does seem that an apathetic government is standing by and watching the story of this silent genocide. According to the central scheme, the Janani Suraksha Yojana, a sum of Rs.1400 is given for every baby delivered in a government hospital. Introduced four years ago, this scheme has gone horribly wrong in this district, where women deliver daughters in hospitals, take their entitlements and go home. Within days the newborns disappear.” (Preeti Choudhry for India Times) In villages where there is the most infanticide the youth are told: “The water from our wells only produces boys.”
           Fortunately, there is a government sponsored program called “Save the Girl Child” that is taking preventative measures. The Shanti Project is working towards providing resources and access to education and tools that will lessen the infanticide in the community.