I learned extensively about how the United Nations operates during my time in high school by participating in Model UN. Whether doing mock sessions in the classroom or attending multi-day conferences with fellow high schoolers, I devoted time to research, oratory skills and argument-building. My ability to think critically benefited greatly from this period in my life - but it is the diplomacy and goodwill that I experienced in the program which resonates with me most clearly to this day.

Show Your Support for Peacemaking

Today, October 24^th, is United Nations Day, a moment to celebrate the UN’s impact, spread its mission, and build international support for its goals. Here at Jolkona, the United Nations’ Millennium Goals vitally inform the partners and projects we align ourselves with. They are a set of ambitious targets endorsed by all 193 member states in the UN. The breadth and depth of the goals serve to arm non-profits, governments, politicians, activists and citizens all over the world with a blueprint for change.

Jolkona’s projects below relate directly to the UN’s ongoing objectives. They are geared towards the health, education and empowerment of children, men, and women – among other exceptional missions!

United Nations Millennium Development Goals

Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger

1. Target 1A: Halve the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day
2. Target 1B: Achieve Decent Employment for Women, Men, and Young People
3. Target 1C: Halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

Feed a Hungry Family in Nicaragua and contribute to long-lasting food development for families in Nicaragua. Through the help of MADRE, donations will provide seeds, farming supplies, and agricultural training to men and women in need. Sustainable models for saving people from poverty and hunger are achievable with nonprofits such as MADRE.

Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education

1. Target 2A: Ensure all children can complete a full course of primary schooling by 2015

Give Books and Education to Children in Myanmar by supporting Educational Empowerment, an organization Jolkona started partnering with in August 2012. Educational access and opportunity is their modus operandi; and with a simple $25 gift a library in Myanmar, Burma can be stocked with local books for elementary-age children. Do what you can to facilitate the UN’s goal to successfully provide primary education for all.

Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

1. Target 3A: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015

Provide Business Opportunities for Peruvian Women through Awamaki, a non-profit based in Peru that works on economic development in rural communities in the area, where opportunities for education and entrepreneurship are scarce. Basket-weaving women from Quechua-speaking villages are presented with workshops and materials to improve the quality of their product – and even resources for ascertaining greater business independence. Give to Awamaki through Jolkona and empower women today.

Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality Rates

1. Target 4A: Between 1990 and 2015, reduce the rate of mortality for children under five by two-thirds.

Save a Young Child from Diarrhea in India with a gift of only $10. Calcutta Kids has been tirelessly aiding Indian children since 2004, providing access to and education on health care, nutrition, and medicine. Oral rehydration solution and Zinc Sulphate is administered from top Calcutta medical professionals to ensure children do not succumb to deathly dehydration. Calcutta Kids’ follow-up therapy and life-counseling is life-changing.

Check in tomorrow to learn about the UN’s four additional Millennium Development Goals, and celebrate United Nations week all week long with Jolkona.

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The latest Census Bureau numbers on poverty in the U.S. probably don’t come as much of a surprise: Americans’ income has fallen, and more people, 46.2 million, are living below the official poverty threshold than at any time in the 52 years the bureau has been publishing poverty estimates. More than one in seven Americans is now officially poor, the highest rate since 1993.

Amidst the barrage of bleak economic news, these poverty figures caught my attention and raised my ire. How can it be that we are letting so many Americans fall behind? Why can’t we do better? If you haven’t read much about these stats, take a look at some of the details below.

Minorities and low-income Americans hit hardest

The greatest increases in poverty were among black and Hispanic Americans, about 27 percent of whom now live in poverty. As The New York Times’ infographic below shows, the number of black and Hispanic Americans living below the poverty line exceeds the combined populations of Michigan and Illinois. And Americans at the bottom of the income spectrum had the biggest drop in median income — for those in the bottom tenth, median income fell by 12 percent from 1999, while it dropped by just 1.5 percent for the top 90th percentile, according to The New York Times’ analysis. This compares to an overall drop in median income of 2.3 percent from 2009 and 7 percent from the peak in 1999.

Click on the image to view the infographic at full size:

What is “poverty”?

The official poverty line is $22,314 for a family of four and $11,139 for a single person (including Social Security and other cash benefits, but excluding non-cash benefits such as Medicare or housing assistance). Can you imagine trying to live on that in most parts of the U.S.?

The official poverty measure has been widely criticized for being an overly simplistic calculation that has not been updated since it was created in 1964. This fall, however, the bureau will release revised poverty figures based on a new Supplemental Poverty Measure that incorporates a more complex set of factors and is adjusted for geographic differences in the cost of housing. The Center for American Progress has an excellent summary of how the current poverty threshold is calculated, its flaws and efforts to update it.

Jolkona’s partners address poverty around the globe

Ameliorating poverty in the U.S. — and globally — is a complex, long-term endeavor. In the meantime, a number of Jolkona’s partners are helping individuals and communities improve their economic well-being in the near-term.

As a Jolkona intern this summer, I visited and wrote about Jubilee Women’s Center, a transitional housing program for homeless women, and Washington C.A.S.H., which gives low-income entrepreneurs the training and support to build successful businesses. I saw firsthand how these programs are helping people regain their self-sufficiency and increase their income.

You can see full the range of partner projects that address the United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger by using the filtering feature at the top of Jolkona’s project page.

Poverty isn’t going away any time soon, but these projects are “drops of water” that give the world’s most vulnerable citizens a chance for a better future.

Infographic credit: The New York Times, 2011

So over the last few months I have been involved in several debates on the issue of aid versus trade especially in light of the rejuvenated debate on development financing . I thought it would be a good idea to show you what I wrote (its really middle of the fence) while I prepare a more detailed analysis about why this rehashed 70′s debate is the wrong debate for all these great smart development people to be having.

So here!

What do poor people think of our debate!

PS: By the way, if this post should inspire you to give to a Jolkona Project, I would strongly suggest clicking on the education and empowerment tabs …so locals are empowered to contribute to this debate and save themselves from poverty!