Another great map!

The World Resources Institute report, World Resources 2005 -- The Wealth of the Poor: Managing ecosystems to fight poverty, details the steps necessary to empower the poor to use ecosystems both wisely and for wealth. The book presents lots of current information on environmental, social, and economic trends in more than 150 countries. The full World Resources database is accessible and searchable online at EarthTrends.

Here is one of the maps from the book. It shows how climate change will affect growing seasons in Africa in 2000-2050. The brown areas show which areas will be under greater stress through reduced agricultural production.



As I am deeply interested Tanzania, I peer closely at the map to see how it will be affected. I see that most of Tanzania is brown, meaning shorter growing seasons and lower food production. This means more malnourished children who will die young of preventable diseases.

The following map shows that in 1996 ALL districts of Tanzania had more than 14% of children underweight. In some districts, this was up to 48%. These figures can only get worse when climate change reduces the length of growing seasons.



I feel some relief to see that the northern edge of Tanzania, where the School of St Jude is in Arusha, will have longer growing seasons. Still, the country as a whole is facing the prospect of greater stress on food production.

When we care about an issue, we seek information so we are informed. We want to know what happens at the local level and also at the larger, national level. We want to know what is happening right now, and what the longer term holds. With good information, we have a clearer view and can make informed choices.

I believe that education is an investment in the future. For a relatively small donation to the School of St Jude, you can equip a bright child from the poorest family to be a teacher, doctor, nurse, engineer, a leader of the future. Desperately poor countries like Tanzania CANNOT advance without these professional skills. What a huge gift you will give – to the individual child, their family, their community and their country.



Click here to subscribe to this blog.

Book launch in April 2007

Gemma Sisia’s book ‘St Jude’s’ tells the story of her lively childhood with seven older brothers and how she came to establish the School of St Jude.


All book shops around Australia, New Zealand and South Africa will be selling the book, however if you are not from one of these countries then you can email the School on schoolofstjude [at] habari.co.tz to order a copy. The School will sell the book for $33 and this price includes a free DVD about the school. Proceeds from the book will go directly to the school.

However, if you are from Australia, then it would be great if you could buy your book(s) from one of the many "Friends of St Jude's" functions which will be held around Australia late April/early May. If you do, then you will still receive a free DVD with each copy bought, along with the knowledge of the fact that the proceeds from the book will go directly to the school.

Sydney – Tues 24th April
Brisbane – Thurs 26th April
Melbourne – Mon 30th April
Adelaide Tues – 1St May
Perth Thurs – 3rd May

Gemma's story is as inspiring as her life! The ABC's Australian Story episode about Gemma was selected for the 'Best Of' showcase that went to air a second time. So, I expect that the book will be a good read, and a good gift for friends with a lively curiosity about the world.

Can't wait! Think I'll have to, though.



Click here to subscribe to this blog.

Does international aid make a difference?

There is an entrenched view in some quarters that all the millions of dollars given to poor countries in the past 50 years have made no difference to poverty because the money is wasted, misused or syphoned off by corrupt officials. Those who hold this view have good reason to give nothing and so the continuing cycle of poverty persists.

Students from poor families at St Judes donate to those in greater need

In contrast with this helpless worldview, others have been active in finding ways to ensure that international aid is directed towards reducing poverty. As a result, we see campaigns like the Millennium Development Goals, the End of Poverty, Red, and so forth.

The big shift that has come about from this 'what can we do about it' approach, is that Official Development Aid (ODA) is increasingly tied to performance on poverty reduction.

I have blogged here and here about some specific consequences for Tanzania. Today I read that Bangladesh is being held to account by a group of donor countries on its tardiness in implementing its Poverty Reduction Strategy.

The Local Consultative Group, a platform of the country's bilateral and multilateral donors, has made it clear that unless the government moves forward on implementating the Poverty Reduction Strategy, the donor community will not commit to assisting future programs and projects.

The donor groups have advised the government to hold the Poverty Reduction Strategy Implementation Forum without delay in order to ensure the flow of aid.

This new approach to official aid by the world community should give hope to private donors who support projects like the School of St Judes. Offical aid is important in improving good governance and infrastructure on a country-wide basis. This means that the kids who are getting a great education at the School of St Jude will grow up in a community with better economic prospects and better services.

So, if you get a chance, you can encourage your government to direct its official aid towards the alleviation of extreme poverty in the world's poorest countries. Recently, I wrote to all 150 MPs in the Australian House of Representatives. My own representative, Brendan Nelson, sent a poorly-researched reply that avoided the key points and presented a mix of lies and misrepresentation. I think I will have to reply. No wonder we are constantly disappointed and cynical about our politicians – most of them play the game of defending fixed positions instead of facing issues and presenting useful strategies for moving forward.

Click here to subscribe to this blog.

Every day

Every year, every month, every day is a challenging new adventure at the School of St Jude. The remarkable thing is that this school is run by people who have never done this before. It is growing at such a rapid rate that Gemma and the staff stand in the face of unknowns every day.

The skills learnt in running a four classroom school a couple of years ago need to be extended and adapted to run the 30 classroom school that operates this year.

New classroom with desks and chairs ready for January 2007

Fortunately, Gemma has strong planning skills. Since starting the school, she has gradually built up the leadership team so that now, in 2007, she has little to do with day to day aspects of the academic side of the school. Every Wednesday she meets with staff and on Fridays she meets with the leaders of the school.
Other than that, the day-to-day running of the school is done by the leadership team.

2007 Leadership Team

From left we have Mr Nick (Head of Computers Department), Mr Koringo (Head of Mathematics), Sr Wanyaga (Head of Music, Art, Library, PE and RE), Sitting on the swing is the Academic Master of the entire school, Mr Nestory, and on his right is Miss Diana (Head of Kiswahili), Miss Belinda (Head of Science), Mr Sebastian (Head of Social Studies), Mr Peter (Deputy of the school), Mr Didas (Head of English), Miss Coletha (Head of the Jr School), Miss Husna (Assistant Academic Head) and squatting in the front is Mr Ben (Deputy of the school).

In the front of the picture are Mr George and Mr Rasul who are training to be leaders for the new campus at Usa River that will open in 2008. Gemma is thinking ahead so that the new campus will have the buildings and the staff to serve new classes.

Join the team of supporters and watch this amazing project grow from strength to strength. You can add your support by making a small donation through the Chipin donation tool at the top of the page. Or you can go to the School website to sponsor a child, a bus, a teacher, a computer, or anything else!



Click here to subscribe to this blog.

Millennium Development Goals

Part of the fanfare for the new millennium was the United Nations announcement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). There are eight broad goals and 18 specific targets. Each target is expressed in unequivocal terms that are easy to measure – the whole world can see when targets are not being met.

Goal 1, Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, has two specific targets –

• Target 1. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day
• Target 2. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

As we are now halfway to the target year of 2015, it is time to look at what progress is being made. This graph shows the overall picture for Tanzania.


It is clear that, while progress has been made since 1990, at the current rate the 2015 targets won’t be met.

The UN reports that in terms of progress regarding the specific MDGs, by 2004 Tanzania had achieved targets in

• Primary school net enrollment (MDG 2 Universal Primary Education)
• Equity in primary education (MDG 3 Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women)
• Access to safe water (MDG 7 Ensure Environmental Sustainability).

• Tanzania is also on track to meeting female ratio targets in secondary schools (MDG 3) and other targets for MDGs 2 and 7. Furthermore, preliminary data from the Demographic Health Survey (2004/5) show a trend from 147 to 112 per 1,000 live births. Steep decline in under-five child mortality rates from 1999. While still preliminary, this is indeed very impressive and if such trends are maintained then Tanzania is also on track to achieve MDG 4 (Reduce Child Mortality).

So, it is fantastic that some of these early steps are being achieved. These are just the first steps on a long, hard journey. While overall primary school enrolment targets have been met, this has happened at the cost of ridiculously high class sizes in schools with untrained teachers and few books.

The next step is to keep building more classrooms, keep training more teachers and keep buying more books, equipment and computers for all the new students.

The School of St Jude is making a big contribution towards the MDGs because it gives the poorest children access to a well-equipped school, class sizes of 30 and teachers that get ongoing training to improve their skills. This is possible thanks to the many contributions made by hundreds of supporters world-wide. With your help, we can see the end of extreme poverty in our lifetimes.



Click here to subscribe to this blog.

Fifth African Population Conference

From the Arusha Times

Arusha has been picked to host the Fifth African Population Conference scheduled to be held late this year.

The meeting is being held against the backdrop of the burden of hunger, malaria, HIV/AIDS that is slowing development in the continent.

Prominent researchers, policy makers, program managers, international development partners, and other key stakeholders from different African countries are expected to attend the meeting.

'Hunger and widespread poverty are serious challenges facing Africa,' said the Tanzanian Vice-President, Dr. Ali Shein Mohamed, when opening a preparatory forum in Dar es Salaam for the forthcoming meeting.

Tanzania HIV/AIDS indicators survey conducted between 2003 and 2004, shows that 7 per cent of the adults aged 15 to 49 years, on the mainland, were infected with HIV.

Infection rate among women, according to the latest statistics, is higher, standing at 8 per cent compared to men, 6 per cent.

He described rapid urbanization as another development challenge derailing fast economic growth in African countries.

The problem led to the creation of a segment of urban poor, living in informal settlements that lack basic amenities. Emerging evidence shows that the urban poor face health, economic, and social disadvantage compared to other sub-groups.

In Tanzania, population living in urban areas increased from 5 per cent in 1967 to 13 per cent in 1978, and from 21 per cent in 1988 to 27 per cent in 2002.

The vice president has also launched the 2006 country’s population policy to direct development of other policies, strategies and programs to enhance development sustainability and reduce poverty.

The policy, which has been revised, also targets to increase and improve availability and accessibility of high quality social services, attainment of gender equity, equality, women empowerment, social justice and development for all, and harmonious interrelationships between population, resource utilisation and the environment.

.........................................

The Tanzanian government is setting policy directions that will support economic development and a culture of fairness and justice. This is another step towards better governance.

Click here to subscribe to this blog.

Dynamic map of African history

Here’s a gorgeous thing from Brown University.

Animated Atlas of African History

The Animated Atlas of African History is a map that shows year-by-year changes of selected themes in the history of Africa between 1879 and 2002. Toggle buttons allow you to select which thematic layers to activate. Choices include:

• Territory names
• Changing boundaries, imperial rulers and political systems
• Violent conflicts
• Economic and demographic trends

You can advance or reverse the chronology and change the speed and pause on particular years. The site also offers a textual summary of the year-by-year changes. The Flash-based animation may be operated interactively on the web or downloaded as Mac OS X or Windows executibles.

The map is designed to be an instructional tool at the secondary and college levels as well as for the general learner.

Brown University teaches a course in African Environmental History. Check out the online course guide for some great resources.

What a great educational resource! And because it is online, the kids at St Judes can use it to learn about African history. I love it when these extremely poor children living in homes with dirt floors and no electricity can access excellent learning resources like this!

Thanks Brown University! This outreach program is great!



Click here to subscribe to this blog.