Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Africa at the Crossroads: Time to Abandon Failing Green Revolution

 

Africa at the Crossroads: Time to Abandon Failing Green Revolution
Million Belay and Timothy A. Wise
As COVID-19 threatens farming communities across Africa already struggling with climate change, the continent is at a crossroads. Will its people and their governments continue trying to replicate industrial farming models promoted by developed countries? Or will they move boldly into the uncertain ... MORE > >

Scientists Draw up Guidelines to Help Agri-food Companies Align with 2030 Agenda Isaiah Esipisu

 

Scientists Draw up Guidelines to Help Agri-food Companies Align with 2030 Agenda
Isaiah Esipisu
In Amuru district, 47 kilometres from Gulu town in northwestern Uganda, the Omer Farming Company has proven that it is possible to farm on thousands of acres of land using methods that conserve the environment and its biodiversity. On a 5,000 acre piece of land, the company is growing upland ... MORE > >


How to Make Nutritious Food Affordable for the 1 Billion Africans

 

How to Make Nutritious Food Affordable for the 1 Billion Africans
Dr Lawrence Haddad and Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko
One of the biggest revelations of the COVID-19 pandemic has been that people with pre-existing, diet-related conditions such as obesity, heart disease, and diabetes, are more at risk of suffering severe forms of the disease leading to a need for intensive hospitalization. In Kenya, for ... MORE > >


Tuesday, September 29, 2020

The Hidden History of Monopolies: How Big Business Destroyed the American Dream October 15, 3:30 - 4:30 PM ET

 

The Hidden History of Monopolies: How Big Business Destroyed the American Dream

October 15, 3:30 - 4:30 PM ET

American monopolies dominate, control, and consume most of the energy of our entire economic system–but we’ve broken the hold of behemoths like these before, author Thom Hartmann says, and we can do it again.

In this webinar presentation, Thom Hartmann and David Korten will share how monopolies threaten our systems and economy, and the damage that they have done to so many industries and individuals, pulling from Thom's new book The Hidden History of Monopolies: How Big Business Destroyed the American Dream.

They will explore America’s long history of trust busting, taking us from the birth of the nation as a revolt against monopoly, to the largely successful efforts of both Presidents Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt and other like-minded leaders to restrain corporations’ monopolistic urges, to the massive changes in the rules of business starting during the Reagan years. Join Hartmann and Korten as they explore the current challenges we face, and what common sense measures we might engage in to retake control from monopolists and favor businesses dedicated to the wellbeing of the communities they serve.

In the book’s forward, Ralph Nader writes, "This is the most important, dynamic book about the cancers of monopoly by giant corporations written in our generation.”

Thom Hartmann is a four-time Project Censored-award-winning, New York Times best-selling author of 30 books in print and the #1 progressive talk show host in America for more than a decade. Thom has co-written and been featured in 6 documentaries with Leonardo DiCaprio, and his book The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, about the end of the age of oil, is an international bestseller and used as a textbook in many schools and colleges. A former psychotherapist and entrepreneur, Thom and his wife Louise live in Portland, Oregon with a small menagerie of cats, dogs, ducks & geese.

David Korten is co-founder of YES! Magazine, president of the Living Economies Forum, and a member of the Club of Rome. He writes a regular column for YES! and is the author of numerous books including Change the Story, Change the Future: A Living Economy for a Living Earth, Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth, and the international best-seller, When Corporations Rule the World. He holds MBA and Ph.D. degrees from the Stanford Business School, has served as a Harvard Business School professor, and has thirty years of experience as a development professional in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Funding Opportunities: Washington, D.C.. What about your community? September 2020

 

Are funding opportunities available in your community similar to those in Washington, D.C. listed below?

 

From Washington, D.C., Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Baltimore, San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles.  Nationally within the U.S. and globally with the World Bank and others.

 

The funding environment has changed since March 2020 with the start of the COVID-19 crisis.

 

Your mission & vison for your nonprofit in the U.S.  Must have certain perimeters in place for award and success.  You cannot be a separate island in seeking your funding as in the past.  Your mission & vision and program must be enhanced with some sustainability and resiliency to meet the future demands for your community that you serve.  Addressing disasters, emergencies, and impact of climate change must be a part of your ‘enhanced’ mission & vision.

 

  • Are you a U.S. IRS 501c3 nonprofit?  Foundation?
  • Do you have a resiliency plan, or business continuity plan?
  • How have you adapted to the COVID-19 crisis, and recovery for 2020?
  • How will you adapt to the extended recovery up to 2022?
  • Are you partnered or practicing Cooperation, Collaboration, Communication, Coordination, Community engagement, and  Partnering (C5&P) with a local or national, or even an international nonprofit organization?            

 

Is your organization a member of BEMA International. This differs from your individual membership.

 

Do not consider, ADD BEMA International as your subject matter expert membership association to your grant proposal for your organization.  You’ll be surprised at the response.  Your individual membership takes on a whole new meaning when your organization becomes a member.

 

Without BEMA International.  You may be just business as usual.

 

bEMA International

 

“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today.  We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.  In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late.  Procrastination is still the thief of time.  Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost opportunity.  This may well be mankind’s last chance to choose between chaos or community.”

 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., ‘Where Are We Going From Here:  Chaos or Community’.

 

Cooperation, Collaboration, Communication, Coordination, Community engagement, and  Partnering (C5&P)            

 

A 501 (c) 3 organization

            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Funding Opportunities and resources:

COVID-19 Grant Funds

Supporting Impactful Charities During The COVID-19 Pandemic

  • Deadline: Rolling
  • Available Funds: $5,000

The Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Emergency Grant

  • Deadline: Rolling
  • Available Funds: $15,000

FY 2021 Great Streets Retail Small Business Grant

  • Deadline: 9/28/2020
  • Available Funds: up to $50,000

Funding Opportunities

AWS Imagine Grant Program

  • Deadline: 9/30/2020
  • Available Funds: varies; up to $100,000

Lumina Foundation Grant Program

  • Letter of Inquiry Deadline: 9/30/2020
  • Available Funds: varies

Erie Insurance Giving Network

  • Deadline for requests over $10,000: 11/15/2020
  • Funding Requests $10,000 and under can be submitted for consideration at any time

Grassroots Exchange Fund Updated for COVID19

  • Deadline: 10/5/2020; twice-monthly rolling cycle
  • Available Funds: $1,000

MEAF National Grant

  • Letter of Inquiry Deadline: 10/15/2020
  • Available Funds: $10K to $100K/year, for one to three years

American Bar Endowment’s Opportunity Grant Program

  • Deadline: 9/30/2020
  • Available Funds: varies

NOFA Release - Improving Colorectal Cancer Screening Rates in the District

  • Deadline: 11/17/2020
  • Available Funds: $75,000

Michael J. Fox Foundation Target Application Program

  • Deadline: 10/22/2020
  • Available Funds: up to $150,000 for 18 to 24 months

Rural Healthcare Grant Program

  • Deadline: 11/13/2020
  • Available Funds: $40M

Center for Craft: Craft Futures Fund

  • Deadline: 10/1/2020
  • Available Funds: $5,000 

District of Columbia Opioid Response (DCOR2) Grant Opportunities

  • Deadline: 10/26/2020
  • Available Funds: varies

General Motors Grant

  • Deadline: 9/30/2020
  • Available Funds: varies

Robert & Toni Bader Charitable Foundation

  • Deadline: 9/30/2020
  • Available Funds: varies

RFA Update - Telemedicine Innovations in Medication Assisted Therapy (“TeleMAT)”

  • Preliminary Questions Deadline: 10/26/2020
  • Available Funds: $250,000

Sparkplug Foundation Grants

  • Preliminary Questions Deadline: 10/5/2020
  • Available Funds: varies

_______________________________

 

 

Monday, September 28, 2020

Global Inequity: Across the Board. 8 Cities with the World's Largest Slums. September 2020

 https://www.usnews.com/news/cities/articles/2019-09-04/the-worlds-largest-slums

8 Cities With the World's Largest Slums

  • Manshiyat Nasser, Cairo.
  • Cite-Soleil, Port au Prince, Haiti.
  • Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa.
  • Tondo, Manila, Philippines.
  • Dharavi, Mumbai.
  • Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl (Neza), Mexico City.
  • Kibera, Kawangware and Mathare, Nairobi, Kenya.
  • Orangi Town, Karachi, Pakistan.

THE UNITED NATIONS defines slums as areas within a city lacking clean water, sanitation facilities, adequate living space, durable houses and/or housing security. But while slums like Canada Real Galiana in Madrid or Rocinha in Rio de Janeiro have a reputation for violence, addiction and poverty, slums can also be hives of industry and ambition. Here are some of the largest slums in the world, and the challenges their residents face.
 

1. Manshiyat Nasser, Cairo
Population: 262,000
Dubbed "Garbage City," this slum at the base of the Mokattam hills in southeastern Cairo is home prdominantly to Coptic Christians who work as Zabbaleen, or garbage collectors. As such, it's a hive of recycling, and vital to the functioning of the Egyptian capital, yet most homes lack sewers, electricity or running water. A move to slaughter all of Egypt's pigs following an outbreak of swine flu in 2009 hit Manshiyat residents particularly hard, since they use pigs to consume organic waste and earn extra money by selling the meat. A remarkable mural looms over Manshiyat's streets, painted in pieces on dozens of buildings in 2016.

2. Cite-Soleil, Port au Prince, Haiti
Population: 300,000
In Cite-Soleil, criminal gangs outgun the police. Health care and education facilities are scarce and sub-standard. And until 2017 the district was effectively sequestered from the rest of the Haitian capital by the armed soldiers of MINUSTAH, the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, deployed to wrest the slum from the control of criminal gangs.

3. Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa
Population: 400,000 to 1.2 million
The last census pegged the population of this sea of ramshackle wood and iron shacks at 400,000 in 2011, but activists estimate the real number of residents could be three times that. It was set up in the 1980s as a ghetto for black workers who migrated to Cape Town in search of jobs during the apartheid era, though it grew rapidly after the oppressive system was abolished in 1994. Some residents must line up for hours at communal water pumps to fill a bucket or two that must serve all their needs for the day, thousands of homes aren't equipped with toilets, unemployment runs around 70% and local police say they handle four murders every weekend due to criminal gangs and other violence.

4. Tondo, Manila, Philippines
Population: 600,000
Built on a dumpsite on the outskirts of metro Manila, Tondo has a population density of 80,000 people per square kilometer. Dirty water and other hygiene issues mean that disease is rampant, and sorting through the rubbish for items that can be sold or recycled is the only source of income for many residents who are lucky if they earn $2.50 a day. In one area of the slum, known as "Happyland," residents eke out a living by collecting chicken scraps from the garbage and boiling them to make a dish called "pagpag" for sale to other destitute slum dwellers.
Population: 1 million

5. Dharavi, Mumbai

Population: 1 million

Romanticized in the Oscar-winning film "Slumdog Millionaire," Dharavi is a sprawling warren of narrow lanes, interconnected shacks and single-room living spaces that double as factories. Residents work as potters, leather tanners, weavers and soap makers amid the slum's open drains; some estimates peg the teeming community's annual sales as high as $1 billion.

6. Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl (Neza), Mexico City
Population: 1.1 million
While some contend that Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl, also known as Neza, has evolved from a slum into a suburb, the brick-and-mortar houses are scattered among improvised shanties, and the neighborhood is considered extremely dangerous, even by drug war-plagued Mexico's standards. Community action prompted the government to formalize land titles, start garbage collection and build some other key infrastructure. Now, about 70% of residents work within the area, which is Mexico's most densely populated municipality.

7. Kibera, Kawangware and Mathare, Nairobi, Kenya
Population: 1.5 million
More than two-thirds of the residents in the Kenyan capital live in three slums crowded into just 6% of the city's land. Kibera, for instance, is a sprawling community of 15 interconnected villages of mud huts and tin shacks. Though infrastructure improvements like piped water, tarmac roads and streetlights are improving lives in Kibera and other Nairobi slums, criminal gangs, political violence and extrajudicial police killings are still serious problems.

8. Orangi Town, Karachi, Pakistan
Population: 1.5 million to 2.4 million
This cluster of 113 settlements on the outskirts of Karachi, on Pakistan's western coast, sprawls across some 8,000 acres and is home to at least 1.5 million people, though many estimates peg the total closer to 2.4 million. Residents live in houses made from concrete blocks, with eight to 10 people sharing two or three rooms. Deprived of government services, the community has financed and built its own sewer system — with locals taking responsibility for maintaining it — and many residents are employed making carpets, leather goods and other products. But overcrowding and lack of access to clean water (or any water at all) contributes to health problems including malaria, drug-resistant typhoid and water-borne diseases like Naegleria fowleri, a brain-destroying amoeba.

 

Global Inequity: United Arab Emirates. Then and now in 2020. What you are never told. Look beyond your highrise. September 2020

 https://borgenproject.org/10-facts-about-poverty-in-the-united-arab-emirates/

"This media focus gives outsiders the illusion of a rich and prospering country, and here are 10 facts about poverty in the United Arab Emirates worth knowing. "

10 Facts About Poverty in the United Arab Emirates
















The United Arab Emirates (UAE) GDP per capita is a whopping 49,000, and the unemployment rate is as low as 2.4 percent. At first glance, the country appears to be thriving with room for growth; yet, there is a large population living in poverty in the UAE. This is not present in the news as the focus is usually on the prosperous cities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, both of which control the majority of the UAE’s total wealth.

This media focus gives outsiders the illusion of a rich and prospering country, and here are 10 facts about poverty in the United Arab Emirates worth knowing.

Facts About Poverty in the United Arab Emirates

  1. There is no official data on poverty in the UAE. The government does not release official data regarding any local poverty levels. This lack of facts should raise some questions regarding the government’s concerns and relief efforts.
  2. The UAE is one of the top ten richest countries in the world, and yet a large percentage of the population lives in poverty — an estimated 19.5 percent. This percentage is alarming as the nation is still considered wealthy on the whole even though almost a fifth of its people are not.
  3. Abu Dhabi and Dubai control 83.2 percent of the UAE’s wealth. This means that the other five emirates depend on the federal government for financial support.
  4. At least 98 percent of the families that get help from government aid have loans that prohibit them from paying for living essentials. Some blame this on the high standards of society and the cost of living expenses in the UAE.
  5. There are rules to receiving governmental financial aid. Before one is eligible for aid, the government looks at a family’s income, properties, ratio of family member to rooms, rent and health statuses.
  6. Poverty in the UAE can be seen in the labor conditions of the working class. Migrants come to Dubai looking for work and send remittances back to their families. They are promised good pay and healthy living conditions; unfortunately, these assurances are rarely fulfilled.
  7. The economic crisis of 2008 confused poverty statistics. Pre-economic crisis, the poverty rate of the UAE was around 20 percent; currently, the UAE reports their poverty rate to be zero, based on a poverty line of around $22 a day.
  8. Reporters in the UAE are discouraged to write about poverty. The government controls information surrounding the state and has the power to suppress facts about reality.
  9. The economy is entirely dependent on trade and oil. Thus, government subsidies are needed when global prices fall.
  10. Economic distinctions are based on nationality and gender. Women are routinely discriminated against in hiring decisions, contributing to a gap in the poverty rates.

Room for Growth in the UAE

These facts about poverty in the United Arab Emirates show that although stable in many regards, the UAE could do with foreign aid and government assistance.

While the country has impressive employment rates and GDP per capita, the percentage of citizens living in or at poverty level is striking. Thankfully, the local government of the UAE has implemented assistance programs in an effort to reduce and relief local poverty. But also in the meantime, assistance should be offered and readily available for those in need.

– Haley Hine
Photo: Google

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