October 17 is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, or End Poverty Day as it is often known, one of the most important days on the calendar for people working in governments and development agencies all over the world.

Let me be clear: poverty is not a problem specific to Laos, and not even a problem confined to less developed countries. There are poor people everywhere in the world, often living in the richest cities that humans have built.

This is an issue which should concern us all, for there are enough resources in the world for everybody to live comfortably, without suffering lack of food, shelter, education, healthcare, and all the other markers that are used to indicate poverty. On End Poverty Day, we try to increase awareness of this and call for actions that actively address poverty.

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The post End Poverty — Build a More Resilient Economy in Lao PDR first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

The UN’s top humanitarian official in Myanmar said on Thursday the country’s people are living in “a severe crisis,” with a level of poverty not seen for at least 20 years.

In a virtual briefing for UN correspondents, Andrew Kirkwood said the number of people in the country needing aid has tripled to 3 million since the military takeover on Feb. 1, while a total of 20 million are living in poverty, or nearly half the population, AP news reported.

Speaking from Yangon, Kirkwood said the crisis is the result of increasing communal strife, the military ouster of the country’s democratically elected government and the coronavirus pandemic, which saw “a devastating third wave” of infections this summer.

“So, effectively, what we have here is a crisis, on top of a crisis with yet another crisis on top of that,” he said.

Since Feb. 1, Kirkwood said, the UN food and cash assistance program has reached more than 1.4 million people in rural communities all around Myanmar as well as in some urban and semi-urban centers.

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The post UN Says Poverty in Myanmar at Worst Level in 20 Years Following Coup first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

Myanmar, a Southeastern Asian country roughly the size of Texas, houses almost 54 million people. In 2005, almost half of Myanmar’s population lived in poverty. However, a report released by the Central Statistical Organization (CSO) determined that Myanmar successfully increased its GDP and cut poverty to 24.8% by 2017. This demonstrates that innovation in Myanmar is a real possibility and will likely continue to develop in the future.

The CSO Poverty Report concluded that remaining poverty centers, especially around rural areas, correlate with low education, employment in agriculture and disability. Recently, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and companies in Myanmar have sought to address these multivariate factors through digital innovation. Using technology to diversify residents’ sources of income beyond the agricultural sector is one way to improve. Innovation also includes improvement for the economic potential of agricultural centers. Additionally, access to employment services has increased and educated the rising generation.

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The post Innovation in Myanmar: 4 Organizations Reducing Poverty first appeared on Open Development Mekong.

Countries that rely on large hydropower dams for their electricity suffer higher levels of poverty, corruption and debt than other nations, a study has found.

The study by the University of Sussex and the International School of Management in Germany compared the security, political governance, economic development and climate change performance of major hydropower states against oil-producing and all other countries using 30 years of World Bank data.

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The post Hydropower dams linked to poverty and corruption first appeared on Open Development Mekong.