Author: Rachel Cooper

SEATTLE — More than 800 women die every day from preventable pregnancy-related causes, and 99 percent occur in developing countries. Childbirth and pregnancy-related problems are the main cause of death among women in Myanmar, mostly because women are not able to reach emergency care in time. Myanmar has one of the highest maternal death rates in its region, with 282 deaths per 100,000 births, or about eight deaths each day. Proper medical care before, during and after childbirth is crucial to women’s health in developing countries. That’s why Dashi Hkwan Nu opened the Central Midwifery School in Yangon to reduce…

SEATTLE — In recent years, scientists around the world have made major breakthroughs in the water collection method of moisture harvesting. Today, one in 10 people in developing countries lack access to clean, safe drinking water. About half of the people drinking water from unprotected sources live in sub-Saharan Africa; 80 percent of those live in rural areas. Many developing countries are near large bodies of water, but desalination is an expensive solution the countries cannot afford. Other countries are in arid regions and can’t use mesh systems to harvest fog due to low humidity levels. Researchers at University of…

DAMASCUS — On April 8, 2017, people filed into a humid auditorium in Atchison, Kansas for The Aleppo Crisis Benefit Concert. Local musicians sang songs about love and peace, and Nadia Schroeder gave the keynote address, recalling her youth in Syria. “Syrians are just like us,” she said, “with dreams and jobs and Facebook accounts.” Twenty-five years ago, Schroeder’s father founded Questscope, an organization currently working to end poverty in Syria. Questscope is a social organization that partners with USAID, UNICEF, the World Bank and more local and international organizations to help thousands of marginalized youth. Questscope’s goal is to…

SEATTLE — The six-year civil war in Syria has displaced millions of families and forced 2.5 million children out of school. Many displaced children experience trauma and high levels of stress as a result of their experiences in the Syrian civil war. Adding to this trauma is their limited access to educational opportunities. In January 2016, recognizing the need for education for refugees, All Children Reading partnered with a Norway-led coalition to introduce the EduApp4Syria competition. Up to 86 percent of children in Syrian refugee camps have access to a smartphone, and smartphone technology can facilitate continued learning for millions…

SEATTLE — March 22 was World Water Day, established by the U.N. General Assembly in 1993 to address the water crisis: 1.8 billion people around the world drink from a contaminated water source that puts them at risk of contracting debilitating, and sometimes deadly, diseases. In communities like Kubacha, Nigeria, Sunlight Water Centers are sources of safe, clean water that not only cut down on the disease but also free up thousands of hours of productive time for women and girls. Around 319 million people in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to safe water sources. Women and girls are…

SEATTLE — The push for teaching in universal languages such as English has been shown to hinder children’s educational progress in developing countries. Right now, many children learn in a language that is different from the one they speak at home, which is why civil organizations around the world are advocating for mother tongue education. It often takes children who speak a minority language at home until the third or fourth grade to learn English or a national language. As a result, many students fall behind in their subjects and drop out of school. Approximately 40 percent of students around…

SEATTLE — One out of ten girls in Africa will skip or drop out of school because of her menstrual cycle. AFRIpads, a social enterprise based in Uganda, is manufacturing and supplying women and girls around the world with reusable sanitary pads to change this statistic affecting women in developing countries. Many girls and women in developing countries either cannot afford or do not have access to menstrual products, so they often improvise with rags, foam mattress pieces, toilet paper, leaves and banana fibers. Not only are these solutions ineffective, they are also uncomfortable and unhygienic. Oftentimes, poor menstrual hygiene…

SEATTLE — On Feb. 8, IBM announced an investment of $70 million in a new initiative for digital literacy in Africa. The initiative is IBM Digital – Nation Africa, a program that will educate 25 million African citizens in IT over the next five years. IBM’s goal is to increase digital literacy and equip entrepreneurs with the skills to start new businesses and develop technological solutions to long-running issues in Africa, poverty being one. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) will support IBM Digital – Nation Africa. IBM is reaching out to African millennials who need digital literacy to succeed…

SEATTLE — Due to 20 years of civil unrest, 7,000 schools in Sindh, Pakistan’s second-largest province, have been abandoned or destroyed since the early 1990s. Despite efforts to repair the education system in Sindh and other cities, there are still challenges when it comes to access to education in Pakistan: lack of facilities, poor infrastructure and decreasing student and teacher attendance. The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is working with the World Bank Group and the Sindh government on a technological solution to Pakistan’s growing education problems – The Sindh School Monitoring System. The World Bank Group implemented The Sindh…

SEATTLE — A kindergarten in Pănăşeşti, Moldova is one among many schools that received a portion of the $13.2 million grant from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) in 2005 and 2011. Students in the small village attend school in a 30-year-old building that the World Bank repaired in partnership with GPE. The rehabilitated kindergarten has become a focal point in the community and a motivation for people to make decisions about the town in which they live – all thanks to the revitalization of early childhood education in Moldova. Since 2000, Moldovan authorities have been trying to improve access…