SEATTLE — Improving infrastructure in Ethiopia is right at the top of the government’s to-do list and they are proving such a priority in significant ways. The Ethiopian government announced in March of 2018 that spending has hit over $15 billion thanks to a partnership between the Ethiopian government, Chinese investors and their government, the World Bank, European Union Nations and the African Financial Development Bank. These partners are also sponsoring projects which are improving Ethiopian infrastructure. Ethiopia’s economy has been booming since the early 2000s, growing at a rate of between 8 and 11 percent each year. The population…
Author: Nicholas DeMarco
SEATTLE — Primary school language education programs for migrants in Europe continue despite political and social backlash from EU member states against the migrant crisis. The education of young migrants is important to both the European Union as a political entity and the individual member states. Studies by the RAND Corporation in conjunction with the European Union, along with independent studies conducted by the European Union, show that migrant children and descendants of migrants are twice as likely to leave school early. This is attributed to the language barrier the students face in their new country. The language barrier also…
SEATTLE — The rise of British foreign aid in the 1960s was a culmination of its responsibility to its old colonies and Cold War politics. During the years prior, the British government sent economic assistance to its colonies and eventually ex-colonies in exchange for profit, but Western nations soon felt the need and duty to do more to aid the recovery of these “third world” countries after they had gained their independence. For countries that were teetering on the edge of communist ideology, the West saw foreign aid as proof that its economic system, capitalism, was superior and that it…
SEATTLE — The Indus River civilizations, Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt are often considered the precursors to modern civilization. Languages, trade, math and settlements all began in these areas, and it was all made possible by rivers. The Indus, Tigris, Euphrates, and Nile rivers helped to give birth to the world as we know it today. However, trade was not the first reason that people began to settle around these rivers; it was the easy access to water. As was well documented in Ancient Egypt, annual flooding allowed communities to begin to farm. Over time, as these communities grew, so did…
SEATTLE — The International Red Cross Red Crescent Movement (ICRC) was officially founded in Geneva, Switzerland in 1863. In a conference over four days in October 1863, 16 major states, including the major European powers of the time and philanthropic organizations around the world, discussed and created the goals of the ICRC movement. These objectives were based on ideas from the book A Memory of Solferino by Henry Dunant. The most important was the idea that relief societies should be created in every country. Daniel Palmieri, an ICRC historian, claims that this laid the foundation for the expansion of the movement…
SEATTLE — It is no secret that the European migrant crisis has hit Italy hard. The country’s government and society have had a difficult time keeping up with refugee integration in Italy after the recent economic crisis. It is estimated that Italy is now home to more than 180,000 refugees. The majority are living in and around Rome. Doctors Without Borders estimates that up to 10,000 of these refugees are living in inhumane conditions. In its most recent election, fringe party anti-immigration stances began to seep into mainstream Italian political parties. This distress is nothing new and has been seen…
SEATTLE — The first years of the 1990s were a time of revolution and change in the ex-Soviet nations of Eastern Europe and Eurasia. The end of the Cold War left many newly independent countries looking to the West with a combination of mistrust and curiosity. Previous generations looked at the United States as a former adversary or with envy, while others only wanted to get on with their lives. Seeing an opportunity to create a cultural exchange between the former Eastern Bloc countries and the United States, the 102nd Congress of the United States passed the Freedom Support Act…
SEATTLE — North Korea, also known as the Hermit Kingdom, has been in a perpetual food shortage since the 1990s, and it has been up to international aid organizations in North Korea to help feed the hungry masses. According to The Guardian, two out of every five North Koreans are undernourished. The United Nations reports that out of a population of 18 million people, 70 percent of the population relies on food subsidies provided by the government and international aid organizations in North Korea. The United Nations has six permanent agencies operating in North Korea: FAO, WHO, UNFPA, WFP, UNICEF and…
SEATTLE — As West Germany recovered from the Second World War with help from the Marshall Plan, it decided it was time to give back. Slowly Germany began to offer and give foreign aid around the world. The idea was that this new German foreign aid would be seen as altruistic, the right thing to do after the war. Germany wanted to be careful, however, that this aid was not seen as a way to influence other nations, but only as funding to help countries recover or grow. This was decided before Germany helped found the European Union, and to…
SEATTLE — The Central African Republic, as its name suggests, is located in the center of the African content. Recent political strife caused by the former president, Francois Bozize, who was deposed by a coup in 2013, created religious conflict within the country. The new president and former prime minister Faustin-Archange Touadera was elected by the people in 2016 with the hope that he would bring an end to the sectarian violence. Much of the country’s economy relies on subsistence agriculture, meaning that people or villages farm for their own use rather than for a market. Political turmoil, internal violence and…