With Easter weekend upon us, millions of children all over the U.S. are looking forward to waking up Sunday morning to a basket full of candy and chocolates. On another continent, however, chocolate means an entirely different thing to its children. Many children on Africa’s Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) have never even tasted chocolate but [...]
Archive for the ‘Poverty’ Category
This Easter: Go for the Fair Trade Chocolate Bunny
Posted by Casey on April 7th, 2012
Posted in Children, Poverty 
Tags: Child labor, chocolate, cocoa, Cote d'Ivoire, Easter, Fair Trade, Global Breakthrough, Ivory Coast 
No Comments »How Early Marriage Targets Girls in Poverty
Posted by Casey on March 12th, 2012
At the intersection of poverty and gender discrimination lies early marriage for young girls. Early marriage can be both psychologically and physically detrimental, and one crippling result for some girls living in poverty is obstetric fistulas. Defining Early Marriage Early marriage is defined as the marriage of a girl between the ages of ten [...]
Posted in Poverty, Women Tags: early marriage, Global Breakthrough, maternal morbidity, obstetric fistulas, poverty No Comments »Water: A Crisis of Poverty
Posted by Casey on February 20th, 2012
At Global Breakthrough, we celebrate other’s efforts to alleviate poverty and to address other social justice concerns. Today we give props to charity:water. Charity: water is a non-profit organization designed to help the impoverished access sources of clean and safe water close to their homes. The Statistics According to water.org, one in eight people lack [...]
Unvoiced Diseases of Poverty Killing Millions
Posted by Casey on February 10th, 2012
Over one billion people suffer from what are called neglected diseases (WHO). Neglected diseases are conditions inflicting people in the poorest countries of the world. They are dubbed ‘neglected’ due to the fact that these diseases are often overlooked by pharmaceutical companies, the news media, government officials, and public health programs, and since these diseases [...]
Posted in Poverty Tags: elepantiasis, Global Breakthrough, malaria, neglected diseases, poverty, World Health Organization No Comments »Closer Look: Child Labor in Cambodia
Posted by Casey on February 3rd, 2012
At seven years old, Doung Paeaktra is the sole provider for his family. His father is dead and his mother is nursing a new born babe. He sits on the banks of a river sifting through trash and looking for plastics he can recycle and thereby gain a few cents. Doung is not alone; it’s been [...]
Posted in Poverty Tags: Cambodia, Child labor, Global Breakthrough, International Labour Organization, poverty No Comments »Poorest of the Poor: the Dalit Children of India
Posted by Casey on January 22nd, 2012
Imagine you’re 12 and you have a job. Now imagine your job is to be lowered into a manhole to clear blocked sewers, with no protective gear. Imagine you’re 9 and you have a job that only you can do because of your social class. You’re job is to dispose of dead animals by dragging [...]
Let’s Talk Microfinance
Posted by Casey on January 14th, 2012
In recent years, the enthusiasm for microfinance has grown in leaps and bounds. The following is an up-close look at the good, the bad and the ugly of microfinance, and how to capitalize on the good. The Good: Opportunities for income, especially for women, are often limited in many developing countries, and microloan empowers the [...]
Posted in Business Training, Poverty Tags: economic growth, Global Breakthrough, India, microfinance, microloans, poverty, Pro Mujer No Comments »Debt Bondage: Yet Another Form of Slavery
Posted by Casey on December 30th, 2011
Just because it’s not called slavery, doesn’t mean that it’s not: debt bondage is a little-known, but widely practiced, form of slavery. From rock quarries in Uttar Predesh, India to logging camps in the Amazon, millions of people are subject to debt bondage. Shanti’s Story Shanti is a bonded laborer in Uttar Pradesh. She [...]
Global Girlfriends: How One Mom Made It Her Business to Help Women in Poverty Worldwide
Posted by Casey on October 3rd, 2011
The following is a book review of the remarkable story of Stacey Edgar and how she used a small investment to bring forth incredible change. At thirty-two years old Stacey Edgar was a restless social worker, a wife, a mother of three small children, had no passport, and no business plan. What she did have [...]
Posted in Poverty Tags: business, Economy, Empowering Women, Fair Trade, Human Trafficking, investment, Poverty Alleviation, Womens Rights No Comments »Students in Free Enterprise: Making a Difference World-Wide
Posted by Casey on August 10th, 2011
Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), is a student led non-profit organization that is rapidly gaining attention with their world-wide program, impacting nearly 1,300 different universities. SIFE makes it possible for university students to make a difference in their communities while developing their business skills. One particular university, the Shri Ram College of Commerce, has excelled [...]
