Haitians Using Cell Phones to Rebuild Their Homes

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Government of Haiti are facilitating mobile phone cash transfers as apart of the initiative Community Support Centres for House Repairs. Those affected by the 2010 earthquake will now have increased access the resources necessary to rebuild their homes. Within the next three months, 1,000 low-income families will receive subsidies of $500 thanks to over 2,000 mobile money transfers.

Digicel, Haiti's larges cell phone service, will facilitate the mobile cellphone cash transfers. Through the usage of cell phones, there will be a greater degree of financial security. Already, four thousand families have registered for the mobile cellphone cash transfer service. Jessica Faieta, Senior UNDP Country Director for Hait, has pointed out that this initiative will benefit women especially. Ms.Faieta said, "Mobile phone vouchers create additional security and convenience here in Haiti, especially for women, who might feel more vulnerable when carrying large sums of money." Since women are heads of over 40 percent of Hatian households, this project will have a significant impact on Haitian households.

-Akshika Patel


SOURCE: UN News Centre

Millons to Receive Solar Energy

Half of the world's population lacks reliable access to modern energy. Over 20 percent, that is 1.4 billion people, lack access to electricity. Furthermore, due to a dependency on biomass fuel, household air pollution will cause more than 1.5 million deaths a year by 2030.

For the following four years, a Mauritus-based company will provide access to low-cost solar energy for 33 million people in Africa and Asia. This is a part of a UN Development Programme (UNDP) backed Business Call to Action (BCtA)  initiative to fight global poverty. Through this initiative, the UNDP is pushing the private sector to create business models that have a positive impact on development.

ToughStuff, the solar energy provider, will provide low income communities in Burundi, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, South Sudan, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Nepal with low-cost solar panels and solar battery packs. It is estimated, that $520 million will be saved by the switch from kerosene to solar energy. Furthermore, carbon emissions will be reduced up to 1.2 million tons by 2016.

Susan Chaffin, programme manager for BCtA has said this "commitment will help to boost development and improve social equity in a sustainable way that is good for the environment and good for business."

-Akshika Patel


SOURCE:UN News Centre

UN Honors Sustainable Businesses

UNDP Administrator Helen Clark

The United Nations has invited businesses to the tenth annual World Business and Development Awards (WBDA). Businesses who practices successful sustainable business models, which help improve social, economic, and environmental conditions, are eligible.

Companies that practice business models that specifically increase access for low-income people to goods and that involve them in value gains as direct employees will be given special preference during this year's awards. Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator, said that these innovative companies, "can be a tremendous source of innovative and sustainable solutions which help transform people's lives for the better."

Representatives of various NGOs, Universities, companies and international institutions will judge this year's nominees.

It is important to note that this award ceremony is an attempt to highlight that businesses play a critical role in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

-Akshika Patel


SOURCE:UN News Centre

UNDP's International Centre for Private Sector in Development

A new UNDP center opened its doors last week in Istanbul, Turkey. This new facility is called UNDP's International Centre for Private Sector in Development, and according to UNDP administrator Helen Clark, it aims to engage the private sector in anti-poverty efforts and to be a source of expertise on building business models that promote home-grown enterprises and create employment in developing nations. The private sector has a main role in fostering economic growth and development, and institutions like this centre will be of great help, since they serve as knowledge depots and a way to link local, regional and global development actors.

“People in country after country are calling not only for new freedoms and an end to injustice, but also for the chance to earn a decent wage and improve their standard of living. To meet their aspirations, countries need dynamic and competitive businesses creating jobs and spurring innovation” claimed Clark during the opening event. By actions like this brand new centre, UNDP tries to involve the private sector in international development and commit it to advance towards the accomplishment of the Millennium Development Goals.

- David Nebreda

SOURCE: UNDP

Did you know?

On December 10, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly passed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document enshrining more than two dozen unalienable rights given to all people regardless of citizenship, sex, race, or religion.

One of the rights mentioned in the U.D.H.R. is the right to work. The belief that all people should have an equal opportunity to earn enough money to provide for themselves and their family. This has been a controversial right at times and is much easier promoted than actually implemented For example, how can we as a society, particularly in times of economic recession, ensure that all citizens have employment?

I bring this up because in 2005 the United Progressive Alliance of India was re-elected primarily on their promise that they would guarantee one hundred days of work for each rural adult who would perform public service manual labor. Many rural Indians perform agricultural work during the growing season and then travel to the cities to perform construction work, but the slowing of the economy has meant that those urban jobs are no longer there. Thankfully, India has provided an important safety net to ensure that families are still able to earn a wage. The work that they do ranges from water conservation projects to planting trees and building roads, all important to ensure that India continues its path of development.

While there have been criticisms of the program, ranging from its cost to its universal methods of application (meaning individual villages are not consulted on their needs but are subjected to what the national government believes they need), the 45 million Indians who were given a job because of it are surely grateful that India supports the right to work.

-Corey Cox

SOURCE: United Nations Development Programme