While 86 percent of people living in Uganda make their living through farming, more youth are seeking jobs in urban areas often leaving small agricultural plots of land in rural areas uncultivated. The soil in Uganda is fertile with two rainy seasons and two harvests per year. In 2013, a first attempt was made to involve youth in the cultivation of the land through an agricultural project raising geese and ducks, pigs, goats and cows. After two years, the raising of the animals was successful but the farming of the land did not yield enough vegetables to feed the students at the school.

In 2015, with better farming techniques and better cultivation of the land, the farm produced cabbage, carrots, onions, beans, corn, manioc, eggplant, peppers and sweet potatoes in abundance. Recently, the program expanded to include a piggery with three pigs, one of which produced eight piglets that will be raised on the school farm. With a goal of eventually raising more than 200 pigs, construction has begun on the piggery in order to house a larger population of pigs and install water pipes to be used for cleaning as well as providing drinking water for the animals.

“The Don Bosco Children and Life Mission is in a constant state of improvement to increase its agriculture output in order to provide nutritious food for its students,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Thanks to this agricultural project, many youth have also learned a trade that guarantees them future employment and the ability to help their communities.”

With the addition of more quality teachers, the agriculture program continues to expand its training. The goal of the school is to provide young farmers with a basic education as well as advanced studies in the latest agricultural practices and modern technologies while moving towards efficiency in farming by exploring and testing new techniques in agriculture, horticulture, floriculture and animal husbandry. The school provides both classroom education and hands-on agriculture and livestock training on a working farm on the school campus.

Close to 67 percent of Ugandans are either poor or highly vulnerable to poverty, according to UNICEF. While the country has seen some economic growth as well as improvement in its Human Development Index ranking over the last 20 years, the country still ranks near the bottom at 163 out of 188 countries. After decades of war left many displaced, the people of Uganda face many significant challenges as they work to rebuild their country.

Uganda’s literacy rate has improved with 73 percent of the population literate but only 23 percent of Ugandans go on to acquire a secondary education. According to UNICEF, one of the biggest challenges in the country is combating the serious increase of HIV/AIDS that has left millions of children orphaned.

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Sources:

ANS – Uganda – Agricultural education for young people of Don Bosco Kampala

Don Bosco Children and Life Mission

Human Development Report

UNICEF – Uganda 

The post UGANDA: Salesian Missionaries Provide Agriculture Training to 140 Students first appeared on MissionNewswire.

The most common health issues treated at the clinic include malaria, diarrhea, gastroenteritis, hypertension, malnutrition (especially in children), skin diseases, asthma and urinary and lung disorders. Financial support from the Australian Salesian Mission Overseas Aid Fund helps to support staff salaries, medications and the cost of vehicle and clinic maintenance. Necessary medical equipment and items such as bandages, gloves, gauze and other medical supplies have been donated to the clinic.

The Maria Auxiliadora Medical Clinic is one of more than 200 medical clinics and hospitals, mostly in rural areas, that handle a wide range of medical care needs and are operated by Salesian missionaries. Leprosy, otherwise known as Hensen’s disease, has been a focus of Salesian-run medical clinics for more than 100 years. Salesian leper hospitals and leprosy control programs can be found in Brazil, Colombia, India, Thailand, Macau and a number of nations in Africa. HIV/AIDS prevention programs are also a vital component of Salesian healthcare initiatives in Africa. In many countries with Salesian programs, additional dental and other necessary health services are offered.

“The health of the young people we serve is very important to us,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “The work we do in East Timor and in programs around the globe goes beyond education. We serve the whole person by making sure the basic needs of health and nutrition are met in addition to other social service needs.”

East Timor has endured a decades-long civil war and is home to 1.1 million people. According to the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Index, in 2007, East Timor ranked 162 out of 182 countries for life expectancy, access to education and standard of living. The World Bank estimates that East Timor has just over 49 percent of its population living in poverty with over one-third of the population regularly experiencing food shortages.

Access to nutrition, education and health services is essential to creating a sustainable society and optimistic future. Salesian missionaries in the country have been providing programs to help residents recover and rebuild in the wake of a devastating civil war that claimed countless lives, decimated entire communities and resulted in living conditions that are among the worst in the world. Since the violence has subsided, efforts are being focused on helping the needy, restoring hope and providing new opportunities for the future.

“The Salesians are engaged in a wide range of programs to improve the lives of the people of East Timor,” adds Fr. Hyde. “Poor youth and their families receive support at community health centers, orphanages, parishes and youth centers. In addition, classes are conducted in primary, secondary, technical and agricultural schools – many of which provide room and board to their students.”

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Sources:

Salesian Missions Australia Province Newsletter – Year in Review 2015

World Bank – East Timor

The post EAST TIMOR: Salesian-run Medical Clinic Provided Care for More Than 7,300 People in Poverty first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Through the programs, Daughters of Mary Help of Christians provide for the basic needs of young East Timorese including housing, nutrition, clothing and education. Educational programs aim to impart life skills such as responsibility, self-discipline and organization in addition to offering traditional schooling that enables students to advance to technical and skills training programs to prepare for the workforce.

East Timor has endured a decades-long civil war and is home to 1.1 million people. According to the United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Index, in 2014, East Timor ranked 128 out of 187 countries for life expectancy, access to education and standard of living. The World Bank estimates that East Timor has just over 49 percent of its population living in poverty with over one-third of the population regularly experiencing food shortages.

Salesian missionaries in the country have been providing programs to help residents recover and rebuild in the wake of the devastating civil war that claimed countless lives, decimated entire communities and resulted in living conditions that are among the worst in the world. Since the violence has subsided, efforts are being focused on helping the needy, restoring hope and providing new opportunities for the future.

“Salesian missionaries offer a wide range of programs that work to improve the lives of the people of East Timor,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Poor youth and their families receive support at community health centers, orphanages, parishes and youth centers. In addition, classes are conducted in primary, secondary, technical and agricultural schools – many of which provide room and board to their students.”

Access to nutritious meals allows youth to be better prepared to take part in school activities and focus on their education. Prepared students are more likely to learn valuable skills that will help them gain employment, break the cycle of poverty in their lives and give back to their communities.

“Feeding hungry children is often the first step to providing an education,” adds Fr. Hyde. “Once children have their most basic needs met, they are then able to concentrate on their studies and further their education.”

Stop Hunger Now partners with Salesian Missions (in New Rochelle, N.Y.) which works to identify needs and coordinate delivery of 40-foot shipping containers full of meals, supplemented with additional supplies when available. The partnership was developed in 2011 and since that time, more than 60 shipping containers, including more than 16 million rice-meals, have been successfully delivered to 19 countries around the globe. The meals and life-saving aid has helped to nourish poor youth at Salesian schools and programs and care for those in need of emergency aid during times of war, natural disasters and health crises.

“The partnership with Stop Hunger Now allows Salesian Missions to expand the scope of services to youth in need,” says Jessica O’Connor, property and logistics officer at the Salesian Missions Office for International Programs. “Operating feeding programs for youth in Salesian schools whose families cannot afford to feed them is very important and integral to the success of our students and their ability to gain an education.”

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Sources:

World Bank – East Timor

The post EAST TIMOR: Donation of Nutritious Rice-Meals by Stop Hunger Now Benefits More than 1,100 Youth first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Salesian missionaries in the country have been providing programs to help residents recover and rebuild in the wake of a devastating civil war that claimed countless lives, decimated entire communities and resulted in living conditions that are among the worst in the world. Since the violence has subsided, efforts are being focused on helping the needy, restoring hope and providing new opportunities for the future.

“Salesian missionaries offer a wide range of programs that work to improve the lives of the people of East Timor. These include programs that provide access to nutrition, education and healthcare, all services that are essential to creating a sustainable society and optimistic future,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Poor youth and their families receive support at community health centers, orphanages, parishes and youth centers. In addition, classes are conducted in primary, secondary, technical and agricultural schools – many of which provide room and board to their students.”

The Don Bosco Orphanage in the city of Lospalos accommodates 109 boys in grades three to nine. The orphanage provides for the boys’ basic needs such as housing, nutrition, clothing and education. Schooling at the orphanage aims to impart life skills such as responsibility, self-discipline and organization as well as offering traditional early education to prepare students to go on to mainstream high schools. In 2014, more than 20 boys left the orphanage to continue their education in high schools around East Timor.

“Successfully completing their early and high school education is the prerequisite for more advanced professional and technical training. Training that will help youth find and retain employment allowing them to break the cycle of poverty and lead productive lives,” explains Fr. Hyde.

The Don Bosco Orphanage owes much of its success to donors who have helped to provide everything from beds and furnishings to school uniforms, clothing and school supplies.

For Arlindo Silva, aged 14, the Don Bosco Orphanage made continuing his education possible. Due to family circumstances, he had to move to his grandmother’s village which was a substantial distance away from his school in Lospalos. Without any means of travel to get to his school, it was unlikely that Arlindo would be able to advance to the seventh grade. His grandmother reached out to the Don Bosco Orphanage where Arlindo was accepted and is now living and continuing his studies. Arlindo has adapted easily and made friends and thrives on the orphanage’s routine with structured time for play, chores and school work. In addition, Arlindo enjoys three meals a day and a stable place to live and learn.

“Youth need a secure and stable environment where all of their needs are met so they can more easily focus on their education. The Don Bosco Orphanage meets its students’ needs while providing them with a sense of family and community,” adds Fr. Hyde.

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Sources:

Salesian Missions – East Timor

The post EAST TIMOR: Don Bosco Orphanage Helps Youth Prepare for Academic Achievement first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Close to 67 percent of Ugandans are either poor or highly vulnerable to poverty, according to UNICEF. While the country has seen some economic growth as well as improvement in its Human Development Index ranking over the last 20 years, the country still ranks near the bottom at 161 out of 186 countries. After decades of war left many displaced, the people of Uganda face many significant challenges as they work to rebuild their country.

Approximately 86 percent of Uganda’s 34 million inhabitants make their living farming but nearly 40 percent of Ugandans lack access to clean water for work and household use. Uganda’s literacy rate has improved with 73 percent of the population literate but only 23 percent of Ugandans go on to acquire a secondary education. According to UNICEF, one of the biggest challenges in the country is combating the serious increase of HIV/AIDS that has left millions of children orphaned.

The donated meals from Stop Hunger Now are helping to enhance the educational environment for poor youth at three Salesian programs in Uganda. Students in elementary, technical and vocational schools in Kampala, Luweero and Kamuli were among the recipients.

The schools serve vulnerable children and focus on ending the cycle of poverty through education and workforce development opportunities. Through primary, secondary and technical schools, Salesian missionaries in Uganda focus their efforts on helping poor youth obtain an education and later, the job skills necessary for stable employment.

“We have seen the devastating results of conflict on individual lives, families and countries but we are also seeing how people, especially poor youth in Uganda, are making enormous efforts to overcome the challenges that they’ve faced to build better lives for themselves,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco.

Don Bosco Children and Life Mission, located just outside of Kampala, the largest city and capital of Uganda, was the primary recipient of the rice-meal donation. Through an educational program at the mission, more than 200 at-risk boys aged 8 to 17 have access to primary, secondary and technical education along with sports programming, youth clubs, guidance counseling and life skills training.

The meals are provided to students during the school day and serve as an incentive for families to send their children to school. As a result of the donation, students are thriving. Many have gained weight, suffer fewer illnesses and are more focused on their studies. Teachers are seeing better student performance in class as well as less conflict among students.

“Access to nutritious meals allows youth to be better prepared to take part in school activities and focus on their education,” adds Fr. Hyde. “Prepared students are more likely to learn valuable skills that will help them gain employment, break the cycle of poverty in their lives and enable them to give back to their communities.”

With programs in more than 130 countries around the globe and extensive knowledge and experience with aid shipments, Salesian Missions has one of the largest networks currently working with Stop Hunger Now. Salesian Missions’ programs make up an integral part of the existing infrastructure in many countries and the organization plays an important role in making sure aid from the United States reaches its destination country and gets into the hands of those who need it most.

“The partnership with Stop Hunger Now allows Salesian Missions to expand its scope of services to youth in need,” says Jessica O’Connor, property and logistics officer at the Salesian Missions Office for International Programs. “Operating feeding programs for youth in Salesian schools whose families cannot afford to feed them is very important and integral to the success of our students and their ability to gain an education.”

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Sources

UNICEF – Uganda

The post UGANDA: Salesian Missions Coordinates Delivery of Stop Hunger Now Meals to Vulnerable Youth Taking Part in Educational Programs first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Don Bosco Children and Life Mission, St. Mary’s Secondary School, St. Joseph’s Primary School and Sacred Heart Sisters School will utilize the books for years to come.

“A new book in the hands of a student opens him or her up to the opportunities that are available through education,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco headquarted in New Rochelle, NY. “While this is true whether it takes place down the street or across the globe, it is especially powerful in places like Uganda.”

More than 550 boxes of books were donated to the four schools, covering a variety of subjects including geography, science and music, and have been made available in the classrooms and school libraries at these primary and secondary institutions.

“The books bring a great value to our school and academic performance,” says Barshir Sadick, a student at Don Bosco Children and Life Mission, one of the secondary schools that was a primary recipient of the donation. “Some of the books are quite colorful with drawings and images that the young students in the primary grades have also found fascinating and enjoyable.”

Don Bosco Children and Life Mission is located just outside of Kampala, the largest city and capital of Uganda, and provides services to more than 200 at-risk boys aged 8 to 17. The program offers primary, secondary and technical education along with sports programs, youth clubs, guidance counseling and life skills training. The donated books will aid the students in their academic pursuits.

As each boy at the mission grows and develops, he moves through different stages of the program until reaching the final goal of leading an independent, productive life.

“We have seen the devastating results of conflict on individual lives, families and countries but we are also seeing how people, especially poor youth in Uganda, are making enormous efforts to overcome everything that they’ve faced and build better lives for themselves,” adds Fr. Hyde.

Close to 67 percent of Ugandans are either poor or highly vulnerable to poverty, according to UNICEF. While the country has seen some economic growth as well as improvement in its Human Development Index ranking over the last 20 years, the country still ranks near the bottom at 161 out of 186 countries. After decades of war left many displaced, the people of Uganda face many significant challenges as they work to rebuild their country.

Approximately 86 percent of Uganda’s 34 million inhabitants make their living farming but nearly 40 percent of Ugandans lack access to clean water for work and household use. Uganda’s literacy rate has improved with 73 percent of the population literate but only 23 percent of Ugandans go on to acquire a secondary education. According to UNICEF, one of the biggest challenges in the country is combating the serious increase of HIV/AIDS that has left millions of children orphaned.

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Sources

UNICEF – Uganda

Salesian Missions – Uganda 

The post UGANDA: Donated Books Help Improve Educational Opportunities for Poor Youth first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Those living in rural areas make up close to 75 percent of the country’s poor and the World Bank classifies Liberia as a low-income, food-deficit country, reporting that half of the population is food-insecure or highly vulnerable to food insecurity. Orphans, street children and adolescent ex-combatants often find themselves on their own facing adult responsibilities with little support and no education.

Salesians have been working in Liberia since starting a vocational institute there in 1979. Since then, Salesians in the country have been developing programs with a focus on providing youth with the education and skills necessary to transform their lives and their country.

Recently, Salesian-run Don Bosco Technical High School and Mary Help of Christians Catholic High School, both located in the capital city of Monrovia, received desks, chairs and other furniture thanks to an ongoing partnership between Salesian Missions and the Institution Recycling Network (IRN). More than 1000 students at both schools benefited from the new furniture in their classrooms, libraries, laboratories and school offices.

“The children have comfortable tables and chairs to use and students, especially those in the elementary grades, are very happy with the improvement,” says Father Sony Joseph Pottenplackal, rector and principal of Don Bosco Technical High School. “The furniture has contributed greatly to their discipline and learning environment, and has brought a smile to the faces of many of the young students. This has been a great contribution to the school.”

Desks and chairs help to provide a more dignified and organized educational environment for students to complete their studies. As a result, students are often more focused on their classroom work and more prepared for their lessons.

Salesian Missions’ partnership with IRN has provided valuable furniture to equip Salesian classrooms, offices and administrative buildings around the world, including desks, bookshelves, workstations, chairs, whiteboards, filing cabinets, auditorium seating and more.

“There was a clear match between Salesian Missions’ need for furniture and equipment for their worldwide projects, and the supplies of surplus to which IRN has access,” says Mark Lennon, principal of the Institution Recycling Network. “Salesian Missions has been an excellent partner.”

The Institution Recycling Network was started in 1999 to match surplus items that need to be recycled with organizations and people who need them. Every education, commercial, and healthcare organization in the U.S. has surplus furniture and equipment they need to get rid of. Hundreds of millions of people living in poverty or recovering from natural disasters worldwide are in desperate need of the kinds of surplus goods these very organizations are discarding. IRN makes the match and facilitates the distribution of the surplus into the hands of the organizations and people who need it most.

IRN partners with nonprofits who are known to be reputable and effective providers of relief and development assistance, and who are able to use the types of surplus that IRN can provide. The organization has a “wish list” from each of its nonprofit partners of the types and quantities of surplus they can use.

In addition to the donation in Liberia, IRN has sent shipments of furniture and workstations to Salesian sites in Haiti, Guatemala, the Philippines, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Togo as well as other sites around the globe.

“IRN donations have furnished Salesian schools and development offices in Central America, South America, Africa, and Asia,” explains Jessica O’Connor, property and logistics officer for Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “We plan to continue working with IRN because they are a reliable partner who is eager to assist in our mission and provide quality donations to our programs.”

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Sources

Salesian Missions – Liberia

World Bank – Liberia

The post LIBERIA: More Than 1,000 Students Benefit from New School Furniture first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Once released, many youth feel they have no choice but to continue a life of crime given the lack of opportunities in the country for legitimate means of earning a living. According to UNICEF, almost two thirds of the population lives below the poverty line. And although the violence has ended, Sierra Leone is still recovering from a brutal 10-year civil war. More than 500,000 people were displaced and more than 60,000 children were orphaned and are homeless. The Human Development Index ranks Sierra Leone last out of 179 countries for the well-being of its people.

Salesians in the country are giving new hope to young prisoners of Pademba Prison. Don Bosco Fambul, a leading educational and vocational program for disadvantaged youth in Freetown, is expanding its services to reach youth inside the prison. A new long-term partnership between the prison and Don Bosco Fambul has recently been established and formalized.

This partnership includes the opening of a new youth counseling center for the prisoners that will be staffed four hours each day with two social workers and three assistants. The goal of the counseling is to give youth and their families the necessary tools for rehabilitation and reintegration upon release.

“Youth incarcerated in Sierra Leone must see hope for the future if we expect to deter them from crime and other dangerous behavior,” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Our goal is for youth to use their time in prison constructively and, through counseling, begin to address what brought them to the prison in order to prevent their return.”

Long-term, the goal is for the Salesians of Don Bosco Fambul to assist with the construction of a water supply for 1,500 people as well as sanitation facilities at the prison. In addition, plans are underway to establish a school and training center as well as a fully equipped library.

The Salesians in Sierra Leone hope that with a mixture of counseling services and educational opportunities, youth will be able to leave prison with skills that enable them to become productive members of society, breaking the cycle of poverty and crime in their lives.

“The Salesians saw a great need here in Sierra Leone and because they have been working in these communities for many years, they know what is needed to help rehabilitate the local youth. We want to give these youth hope and show them that there are opportunities in life despite what they have experienced in their young lives,” adds Fr. Hyde.

Sources

ANS – Sierra Leone – A new Alliance in Freetown: The Salesians and Young Prisoners

UNICEF – Sierra Leone

The post SIERRA LEONE: New Salesian Program Brings Rehabilitation and Hope to Young Prisoners first appeared on MissionNewswire.

Many youth in Ghana are eager to learn job skills to open their own businesses and make a better life for themselves. Salesians in the country are working to meet this growing demand for skills training. A Salesian training center was opened in 1992 and has been developing new programs to meet the needs of local youth ever since. Early on, the center expanded to include training in a wide range of skills from carpentry and metal work to graphic arts. The Salesians have also developed a credit program to aid training center alumni in financing new businesses.

In addition to the training center and credit program, the Salesians run agricultural programs in the country. Through these programs, students learn about vegetable gardening, cooking, annual crops and the business of farming.

Recently, a tractor, trailer and some farming equipment was donated to a Salesian agricultural program in the city of Sunyani. The tractor was a gift from AGCO, an important manufacturer of agricultural machinery, while the trailer and the rest of the equipment were donated by the firm, Africatrack.

“Donations such as these help increase the capacity of our programs and allow students access to necessary equipment to learn the hands-on skills they need.” says Father Mark Hyde, executive director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. “Salesian-run agricultural schools offer more than just agricultural training – they are often part of a larger program that also offers literacy education and other vocational training, in addition to feeding programs for hungry children.”

Donations of equipment can have a big impact on an agricultural program. During the handover ceremony for the tractor, Mr. Helmuth Gehling, representing AGCO, said that he was impressed by the Salesian training programs for youth and for the development of agricultural production in the area. He encouraged the community to continue its important work and hoped for further collaboration in the future.

“Investing in agriculture education in developing countries is vital to a community’s livelihood and essential not only to overcome hunger and poverty, but also to ensure overall economic growth for the surrounding villages and cities,” adds Fr. Hyde.

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Sources

ANS – Ghana – A “great gift” for the formation of the young and for social development

UNICEF – Ghana

The post GHANA: Tractor Donation Increases Capacity for Students at Salesian Center first appeared on MissionNewswire.

“The rise of the South is unprecedented in its speed and scale,” says the Human Development Report 2013, which uses the term “South” to mean developing countries and “North” to mean developed nations. “Never in history have the living conditions and prospects of so many people changed so dramatically and so fast.”

Meanwhile, the slowdown in economic growth, austerity measures and rampant unemployment in the industrialized world has brought pressure to bear on governments and societies in the North. Global economic and political structures are in flux and the sustainability of the growth spurt in the South is subject to the interrelated issues of governance and public investment.

The year’s report, entitled The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World, emphasizes that this change represents a global rebalancing far greater than that experienced during the Industrial Revolution, with the South becoming the main driver of economic growth and societal change for the first time in centuries.

“The Industrial Revolution was a story of perhaps 100 million people, but this is a story about billions of people,” said Khalid Malik, the report’s lead author.

The Human Development Report, released annually by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), assesses the state of human development on the basis of health, education and income indicators, as an alternative to purely macroeconomic assessments of national progress.

The initial report was published in 1990 by its authors, the late Mahbub ul Haq and Amartya Sen, and introduced a Human Development Index (HDI), which had been calculated by UN economists from 1975, and was essentially a ranking of countries based on strides made with a people-centric model of progress.

The HDI became an influential paradigm that would prod economists, government agencies, planners and development experts to rethink the income-based indicators that were in standard use to measure development success.

Launched today in Mexico City by UNDP Administrator Helen Clark and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, this year’s report singles out big economies which have shown significant growth over the past 20 years, namely China, India and Brazil. It estimates that by 2020, the combined output of these three countries will surpass the aggregate production of the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Canada.

However, the ‘rise of the South’ goes well beyond these economies as more than 40 developing countries have made greater human development gains in recent decades than what was predicted.

Countries such as Indonesia, Mexico, Bangladesh, Tanzania and Yemen all registered significant growth, while nations such as Afghanistan and Pakistan had some of the fastest growth rates in the world with 3.9 percent and 1.7 percent over the past 12 years, respectively.

How has the South achieved such dramatic growth levels?

The report attributes many of the achievements of the South to smart national strategies that have allowed them to engage in the global economy while at the same time implementing social programmes that protect those most vulnerable.

“Economic growth alone does not automatically translate into human development progress,” Miss Clark says in the report’s foreword. Southern States are therefore not just tapping into global trade, but they are also improving health and education services, which have allowed them to sustain their growth. This comes in contrast to policies adopted by many developed countries which include austerity measures and cutting social programmes due to the economic crisis.

In Latin America, many countries have put in place programmes to eradicate poverty and address inequality such as Brazil’s Bolsa Familia, Mexico’s Oportunidades, and Chile’s Chile Solidario. These are conditional cash transfer programmes which offer to increase people’s income as long as they fulfil certain conditions such as visits to health clinics and school attendance.

This combination of policies has allowed the middle class in the South to expand and, by 2030, the report projects that more than 80 percent of the world’s middle class will reside in developing countries and account for 70 percent of total consumption expenditure.

Increasing online and mobile connectivity in the South

Increasing connectivity thanks to greater access to technology is also a factor that has contributed to the South’s growth. Globally, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and Mexico have more daily social media traffic than any country except the US. China also has more than half a billion people accessing the Internet daily through smart phones.

Indonesia, for example, invested extensively to connect its large cluster of far-flung islands to open the country to the outside world, and as of 2010, 220 million mobile phones were registered in a country of 240 million people.

In Africa, Asian-built mobile phones have made cellular banking cheaper and easier, while leading to better market performance and increased profits by small farmers, as seen in Kenya, Niger and Uganda.

Increasing incomes and the diffusion of technology have also given way to a more informed middle class that has social and political expectations, Mr. Malik said in a press briefing on Tuesday, which means that “the relationship between the State and its citizens is changing.”

He warned that if States are not mindful of these expectations, it could lead to social instability, as was the case in 2011 in various countries across the Middle East.

“The turmoil in several countries in the Arab States is a reminder that people, especially the young, who are better educated and healthier than previous generations, put a high premium on meaningful employment, on exercising a voice in affairs that influence their lives, and on being treated with respect,” the report says.

Booming South-South partnerships

The report highlights the increase in South-South trade and partnerships and projects that trade between them will overtake that between developed nations.

“Emerging partners in the developing world are already sources of innovative social and economic policies and are major trade, investment and increasingly development cooperation partners for other developing countries,” Miss Clark said.

China is already influential in Africa through trade investment as well as through assistance and cooperation. Between 1992 and 2011, China’s trade with Sub-Saharan Africa rose from $1 billion to more than $140 billion.

India is increasingly playing a larger role as a supplier of affordable capital goods to other countries of the South. For instance, Indian firms are supplying affordable medicines, medical equipment and information and communications technology (ICT) products and services to many countries in Africa.

In addition, migration between developing countries has recently surpassed net migration from South to North. “In our changing world, solutions are moving across the South, not from the North to the South,” said UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, Ajay Chhibber.

However, a substantial share of South-South trade is driven by demand in the North. For example, since 2007, US exports to China and Latin America and the Caribbean have grown two and a half times faster than US exports to traditional markets in the North. A growing “app economy” supported by companies such as Apple, Facebook and Google employs more than 300,000 people whose creations are exported across borders, and developing country economies continue to be sensitive to shocks in the industrialized world.

Women’s education as a silver bullet for sustainable growth

While there has been remarkable progress, the report warns that there are still many challenges ahead for countries in the South, including an aging population, environmental degradation and inequality. Poverty and inequality are particularly worrying, as an estimated 1.57 billion people, representing 30 percent of the population in the 104 countries studied for the report, still live in multidimensional poverty.

The report provides a series of recommendations and, in particular, highlights education for girls as “the closest thing to silver bullet formula for accelerating human development.”

Many of the countries in the South still have dramatic gender disparities, and their challenge will be to boost efforts to allow women to participate freely in all aspects of their society.

“Gender inequality is especially tragic not only because it excludes women from basic social opportunities, but also because it gravely imperils the life prospects of future generations,” the report says, referring to findings which correlate women’s education to greater child survival, healthier children and better access to contraception.

The report also notes that the global system will need to adjust itself to the rise of the South, which is currently largely underrepresented in global institutions. For example, China, which is the world’s second largest economy, has had a smaller voting share in the World Bank than either France or the United Kingdom.

“Stronger voices from the South are demanding more representative frameworks of international governance that embody the principles of democracy and equity.”

Meanwhile, it merits mention that not all countries in the South are racing ahead. Of the world’s 49 Least Developed Countries, many are lagging behind in this revolution. Even as some are beginning to benefit from Foreign Direct Investment of the emerging giants like China, India and Brazil, there is much more to be done in terms of development transformation.

The report observes that there are three drivers of transformation: a proactive development state, tapping of global markets and determined social policy inclusion. Looking back at the inception of the HDI, it appears that countries that started at the same level – India and Pakistan, or Chile and Venezuela, or Liberia and Senegal – have ended up with different outcomes.

“History and initial conditions matter, but they are not destiny,” according to the report.

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See this United Nations article at its original location >

Rice fields in Sichuan, China. UN Photo/John Isaac

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