Social+Impact+-+Poverty+-+FA11


 * Somalia Social Impact: **

The better part of Somalia is in Somaliland (North West) and in Puntland (North East). The southern part of Somalia is the worst. In the south, there is a humanitarian crisis. The north is doing so well that they’re willing to send medical aid to help out the south. The Social groups, indigenous groups, and ethnic minorities that were vulnerable in the 1990’s, have fallen into bad poverty. Women have low rights and status in this country which doesn’t give them much freedom. They have very little education, and almost no access to health and family services (45 women die a day from pregnancy). The people in Somalia are becoming unable to reach enough food and they suffer. Then there are stronger tribes and clans that need food also and have to conquer the big agriculture land. The smaller and weaker tribes are starting to lose their agricultural land due to the stronger tribes. There is a big conflict between the competition of resources and gathering them.

 Maternal mortality rate in Somalia is very high. Many kids now must work and get money from the streets in order to survive. More and more kids are having to work because of the fighting in the are. Schools are being destroyed so an education is not an option. Kids are getting shot and killed because of the violence of the war between gangs or clans. A 13 yr old who has been in the streets collecting/working for money since he was ten earns (on a good day) 18,000 shillings/50 cents. Since 2006, there has been fighting between Islamic insurgent fighters and Ethiopian troops.


 * Congo Social Impact:**

Because of the poverty in the Congo, parents don’t have enough money to support their children, and as a result they have to send them off to the streets to fend for themselves. For example, “according to a survey by the Network of Educators for Children and Young People on the Street, the capital Kinshasa alone hosts approximately 20,000 children.” Some children find shelters and stay there until they are old enough to find a job, if there are any available. Also, schools don’t have a lot of funding, so the poverty has led to an even worse education system.

People for many years have been losing their focus on agriculture, instead choosing to look to other things. This has led to a massive agricultural decline all throughout Africa, not just in the Congo. Foreign aid has not proved to be very helpful in this regard. This impacts the people socially because it is affecting their jobs and work. Also, the long term plan of the foreign aid is to get people back to focusing on agriculture, so it affects them socially because they will begin to see how important agriculture is to them. Socially, they will have evolved, however slightly, and start working to eliminate poverty.