Discussion of climate change typically involves natural phenomena: raging wildfires, record flooding, ruinous drought. Less frequently examined, but equally important, is the effect of our warming planet on a child’s right to education.
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In a rural village in central Africa, my colleagues and I stood over a registration book for antenatal care clients with the goal of identifying clinic-level data that could be extracted for a project evaluation. As we made our way through the book, the left sides of the pages were filled with names of women, dates and HIV test results — it was clear that almost all of the women who tested HIV positive received some form of antiretroviral therapy (ART). As my eyes ran to the right across spaces for follow-up records, however, the fields became increasingly emptier, and our team began to discuss the various barriers to services, even a highly effective service like prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT).
Access and adherence to the greater continuum of HIV care is influenced by several factors, including community-level gender norms and related behaviors. For example, HIV-positive men may avoid HIV testing and may spend a significant amount of their income attempting to address symptoms of their illness rather than confirming their HIV status. Often, these behaviors are driven by fear that knowledge of a positive HIV test result could compromise their leadership at home and cause family instability. Research has also identified instances when men undermine their wives’ access and adherence to ART, even taking their wives’ medication for themselves. Interestingly, despite such challenges, women are more likely to access and adhere to HIV-related treatment and care than men.
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Perspectives on global education: FHI 360 experts at the 2014 CIES conference
This week, FHI 360’s experts on global education are joining other education researchers, practitioners, leaders and partners in Toronto, Canada, for the 2014 Annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society. The conference, which will take place March 11–15, will explore the theme, “Revisioning Education for All.” FHI 360’s education team will present on six panels on topics such as the value of integrated approaches to education systems strengthening, technology, literacy and providing access to quality education with sensitivity to gender and fragility. Follow our live coverage throughout the conference! Check here for our blogs, videos and photographs.
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Exploring the effect of global education movements on monitoring and evaluation
Large global initiatives have the power to move the conversation on data and measurement forward. But, are they? FHI 360 research explores this topic.
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Data challenges in global education: The limits of what we know
Providing accurate data on global education issues is a challenge. This blog explains some of the reasons why.
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Linguistic diversity: An untapped resource for improving learning
Ei rebum legendos has. Per ad admodum periculis constituam, malis elitr antiopam eos cu, te postea debitis sapientem vim. Ad errem clita oratio eum. Ut petentium evertitur appellantur vim. Id lorem laudem vocibus nam, dolorem expetenda corrumpit eum ne.
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Mind the gap: Turning the focus toward secondary education
The gap in funding for secondary education is a looming crisis that comes at a time when many developing countries are facing dramatic increases in their youth populations.
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VIDEO: FHI 360’s John Gillies on post-2015 global education goals
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have focused the international development community on sustainable solutions for meeting human needs. As we approach the culmination of these efforts, how can the global education community establish new goals? What should these goals be?
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Preceding the opening of the CIES conference in Toronto, Patrick Fine, Chief Operating Officer of FHI 360, calls education “one of the great victories of development.” He offers his thoughts on future education trends and challenges.
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Peacebuilding through practice and partnership
An Interview with
Elizabeth Hume, Technical Director for Peacebuilding and Conflict Mitigation, FHI 360
Anne O’Toole Salinas, Program Director for Peacebuilding and Conflict Mitigation, FHI 360
Why is the PEACE IQC significant?
Through the PEACE IQC, USAID can draw upon experienced and trusted partners to respond to crisis and fragility and to develop a comprehensive program across sectors. Task orders issued under the PEACE IQC will ensure that USAID and its partners understand the causes of conflict, identify the best approaches for mitigating conflict, and gather learning and evidence to inform future programming against conflict and extremism.
What is unique about the approach of FHI 360 and the PEACE Consortium?
FHI 360’s PEACE Consortium, comprised of 18 member organizations, is uniquely able to assist in conflict-affected contexts because we bring an integrated approach to addressing the varied root causes of social and political tensions. With almost two decades experience, we have learned there is never a single driver of conflict, and we have developed the tools to identify the sources and then design cross-sectorial interventions that address the real needs on the ground. We offer an integrated model that encompasses experts working across 122 countries, with the ability to mobilize high-quality teams in quick response to crises.
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Innovative technologies address youth unemployment in Iraq
An Interview with
Rob Kunzig, USAID-Foras Project Technical Officer, FHI 360
What is the Foras project?
The word foras means “opportunity” in Arabic, an apt name for this project, which seeks to dramatically accelerate individuals’ access to employment opportunities in Iraq. USAID-Foras has launched web-based and mobile technology platforms to overcome barriers to employment, linking jobseekers with employers. Our immediate goal is to increase the number of youth and adults placed in jobs, but ultimately we want to introduce a more efficient model for how employers hire their workforce.
Why is this project needed in Iraq?
What USAID-Foras is doing in Iraq is essential to growth of the country’s economy and its stability. About 50 percent of the population in Iraq is 25 years or younger, and roughly half of that demographic is unemployed. Even more alarming, about 400,000 new jobseekers or eligible workers are added the economy yearly, but a vast majority of these individuals remain unemployed. This problem will only worsen without intervention.
What technologies has Foras launched thus far and who has access to them?
In 2013, we launched an online jobs portal, which is used by jobseekers and employers looking to hire. We adapted our portal from a similar tool developed by Microsoft in partnership with Silatech, a Qatar-based nonprofit organization. The original portal allowed jobseekers to upload a personal profile and resume or curriculum vitae (CV) and to look for available positions. We improved on this portal by adding a feature that matches jobseekers based on their skills and experiences to jobs that have been listed on the site by employers. We also made it available in English and Arabic.
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Too many students, more than 1.2 million, drop out of school every year in the United States alone and increasing numbers of young people are unemployed globally. Sadly, of the 13 million children growing up in poverty today, only 1 in 10 will graduate from college. There is evidence that the private sector can to help with filling the academic and skill gaps that hinder our young people from succeeding in high school. Business volunteers in communities around the world inspire students to set career goals; they guide young people in building their confidence through mentorship and project-based learning. The business community and the education community need each other now more than ever but the collaboration between schools and businesses is not always happening at a necessary scale.
I had the pleasure of participating in a regional business-education conference in Fresno, California, recently and walked away with renewed optimism and a few important learnings. First, business-education partnerships are two-way and, when successful, engage all stakeholders including parents and students. Second, to be successful, we have learned that business-education partnerships must have clearly articulated goals and a means of measuring progress including outputs and outcomes. In the end, we need to define the value that these collaborations bring to all of the stakeholders at all stages of the partnership.
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Every year, the United States observes National Condom Week from February 14th (Valentine’s Day) to February 21st. What started as a fun campus event at the University of California–Berkeley in the 1970s has become an opportunity for HIV prevention educators and advocates to engage audiences across the country in conversations about condoms and other tools to protect ourselves and our partners from HIV.In recent years, we have reached major milestones in the fight against HIV and AIDS, and new research has generated hope for an AIDS-free generation. Antiretroviral therapy (the use of drugs to prevent HIV infection) and other prevention methods to control the spread of the virus are available and helping people with HIV live longer, healthier lives. Even more exciting is the existence of medications that HIV-negative individuals can take to help prevent infection, an approach known as pre-exposure prophylaxis. Similarly, people with HIV can also take antiretroviral drugs as part of a method known as treatment as prevention that helps lower their viral load in an effort to protect their sexual partners and helps reduce HIV transmission on a larger scale .
But, one of the most powerful tools in the fight against the epidemic, along with condoms, remains HIV testing. The real power resides in knowing your status. This is particularly important for Latino gay and bisexual men, one of the groups most heavily impacted by HIV. Though Latinos comprise only 16 percent of the population in the United States, they account for 21 percent of all new HIV infections, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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Youth voices series: Perspectives on sexual and reproductive health
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Implementing youth-friendly health services in Malawi
Barwani Msiska, a youth advocate from Malawi, discusses the critical role of policy change in the improvement of youth sexual and reproductive health.
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Why I choose to be a youth advocate for family planning
Burcu Bozkurt, a youth advocate, explains why she is so passionate about the sexual and reproductive health of young people.
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One youth’s quest to improve reproductive health in Nigeria
Isaiah Owolabi, a participant in the Interagency Youth Working Group online forum, Following through on the 2013 ICFP: Youth, SRHR and policy change, offers his views on youth sexual and reproductive health.
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February 5, 2014
We live in a very different world today than when most INGOs were established. Profound demographic, economic and technological changes have reshaped our world. And as the world settles into the second decade of the 21st century, the economic recession in the United States and Europe, the winding down of major relief and reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, new sources of development funding from mega-foundations and private remittances, and new donor nations such as Brazil, China and India are forcing development actors to reassess business models and modes of operating that have changed little in 40 years.
Many NGOs understand the threat to the status quo and see the need to change but don’t know how to remain true to their mission while maintaining the vitality and financial health of their organization. As change comes barreling down the tracks like an on-coming train, many NGOs stand paralyzed like a deer caught in the headlights. This subject is receiving additional attention with the recent publication of a report by the nonprofit consulting firm, FSG. The report, titled Ahead of the Curve, Insights for the International NGO of the Future, was sponsored by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
FSG’s task was complicated by the diversity of the study group. Although the report studied INGOs with at least $30 million in annual revenue, the organizations ranged from single-sector program implementers, to groups more focused on advocacy, to giants like World Vision with tens of thousands of employees and over a billion dollars in annual revenue. While FSG does a good job of describing many of the disruptions brought on by progress and globalization, different organizations will experience them differently depending on their mission and size. It would have been helpful to have tried to tease out some of these differences instead of simply arriving at a set of conclusions where one size clearly does not fit all.
Compounding this problem are some of the examples FSG used to draw general conclusions that, for those who are familiar with them, are not easily generalizable. For example, the fact that Habitat for Humanity successfully used an advocacy model to expand its impact is not a good basis for concluding that the future for INGOs is to become advocacy organizations, as the report does. I was also frustrated that the report didn’t use plain language to explain its points and recommendations. I found the report laden with jargon and vague language, perhaps because it just is not clear what the future holds. FSG’s crystal ball is just as murky as everyone else’s.
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“I will not let you hit your wife!” I yelled. “I work for an organization that is empowering women to end violence in their lives.” Moments earlier, my older brother had joined his wife (my sister-in-law), daughter and me on the balcony of his house. As he ate, he complained that his wife was using the charger for his mobile phone. He grew so angry that he threw his plate of food on the floor and stood up to confront her. He tried to punch her, but I pushed him away.
This was not the first time I had experienced violence. My former partner and the father of my two children threatened to kill me when I was 24 years old. He physically abused me, treating me like I was his punching bag. He often struck my face so people would know he “owned” me. With all of the bruises, I always felt ashamed to walk in public. My past experience with my former partner made me more sensitive to what was happening in my family.