Dear friend,

The world is on fire but don't worry I'm not going to give you bad news week after week. Despite the shitstorm we're experiencing, some good things keep happening as well. This week, researchers from The Nature Conservancy released their research on Hawai'i's coral reefs and good news: the coral reefs that experienced a massive bleaching in 2014 and 2015 are now healing! They found that the corals that were healing the quicker were the ones with limited exposure to humans, shocking right. Read more about these wonders of nature.

Ever wonder how meat became such a staple in our lives and diets? Turns out Victorians are all to blame. The global mass-meat industry as we know it today took its first steps in Britain. It revolutionized the British diet and how the rest of the world consumed meat. Read about the fascinating story of how 'big meat' came to be.

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Education is the most effective way to beat a virus like COVID-19

Solutions

Written by
Poppy Millar

on
23 October 2020

It is education that tells us to wash our hands, use hand-sanitiser, wear masks and to take other precautionary measures in order to avoid infection. It is informed learning that gives us the tools to identify medical threats, treat patients and avoid future plagues. Education is the key to solving this global disaster and we must focus on ensuring everyone has access to clear, coherent and correct information.

Education begins with children. Many argue Gen Z will save the world from catastrophe but first, we need to uplift, enlighten and provide for all children. Unfortunately, there are still many places in the world where children do not have access to basic human rights such as housing security, access to clean water and high-quality education. According to the WHO, local communities and societies suffer greatly when children struggle to access good schooling. This disproportionately affects disadvantaged children and their families because it exacerbates pre-existing social, economic and environmental disparities, all of which have been further affected by the global pandemic.

Education equals futureproofing. By providing children with access to high-quality and engaging education, we can count on them to become kind, literate and socially aware adults. The transferable skills children acquire from a good education are life-saving in crisis situations like a global pandemic. The more educated we are as a global society, the better prepared we will be to tackle future outbreaks. In fact, by making high-quality education a priority for younger generations, we can become wiser, proactive global citizens, ones who can prevent the threat of future pandemics completely.

Street Child NL works with local communities to get vulnerable children off the streets and into safe housing. They also build schools and provide educational and financial support for students and teachers to strengthen these communities through the power of education. Their work is vital, now more than ever, therefore, your charitable donations not only provide safety and guidance for vulnerable children but also work towards eradicating the virus. If you would like to support Street Child NL, consider donating to them today below.

All images courtesy of Street Child NL

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3 challenges to systemic change and how to overcome them

Solutions

Written by
Deniz Gulsoken

on
20 October 2020

In collaboration with the local government and communities, Karuna Foundation Nepal has been working to establish a community-based rehabilitation and prevention programme in the past 12 years. In 2019, the government decided to adopt the foundation’s programme in its healthcare system, realising the value it will bring to society.
The program aims to help 540,000 pregnant women, 800,000 children and 100,000 children and adults with a disability and their families, in Province 1 by 2022.

While the adoption of the Karuna Foundation’s project into the healthcare system is a success story, making change happen on a legislative level is hard work and requires overcoming many challenges. Karuna Foundation describes 3 main challenges they face in the journey of systemic change and why overcoming them is crucial.

1. Timing and pace
Making lasting and positive change happen within the governmental context is hard work. It requires energy, momentum and a strong commitment to the cause by the parties involved. It’s crucial to delicately arrange the pace of campaigning and taking action since losing momentum can cause losing valuable time and resources. Putting local communities and the foundation under some healthy pressure to realise goals has been key to Karuna Foundation’s success. Their current scaling strategy is quite ambitious. They plan to introduce their programme into all municipalities in Province 1 before the provincial elections in 2023. This will make sure that all necessary changes will be made under the current leadership who are all enthusiastic about the foundation's aims.

2. Quantity versus quality
What has made Karuna Foundation’s programme the success story that it is, is the high-quality services they provide to the people of their pilot areas. The success stories that resulted from these high-quality services are the reason local communities took to the programme so enthusiastically. As the foundation scales their operations to the whole region of Province their challenge is to maintain the quality of the services while significantly increasing their quantity. With meticulous monitoring and continuous improvement, Karuna Foundation expects to not only maintain the high quality of its services on a large scale but also exceed it.

3. Risk bearing versus conservative funding
Finding funding for a project that aims for systemic change is challenging. The first phase of the Karuna Foundation’s programme was made possible by a group of funding partners. As the project developed, the budget had to be altered after careful reviews. Due to delays in implementation, all tangible results of the project aren’t visible yet and the second phase of the project is not yet fully funded. In order to overcome these challenges, the Karuna Foundation ensures that funding is well organised and highlights the positive results of the project while keeping the forward momentum alive.

They need your support!
Would you like to be a part of systemic change in Nepal? You can do so by supporting Karuna Foundation so they can reach their goal and fully realise the second phase of their project. Donate below to help protect vulnerable children and people with disabilities.

All images courtesy of Karuna Foundation

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Youth homelessness is an urgent problem with long-lasting consequences

Obstacles

Written by
Deniz Gulsoken

on
14 October 2020

According to a 2019 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), homelessness amongst several groups, including young people have increased. In addition, for young people, there has been an increase in ‘hidden homelessness. Hidden homelessness refers to cases of unhoused people that don’t appear in official statistics. These people are often not in contact with support services, may not be eligible for such services or may not count as ‘emergency’ cases, or simply live in their cars or drift across friends’ and family houses.

Youth homelessness is an urgent problem not only in developing countries but also in many developed countries. Causes of youth homelessness range from family conflict, pregnancy, substance abuse, school problems, gang crime and physical and mental health problems. Young people often leave their homes because it’s no longer safe to stay. Youth homelessnes is often accompanied by issues like petty crime, drug use and unsafe sex.

Becoming homeless can have devastating effects on the rest of a young person’s life. They often fall victim to violence and abuse, their education is cut short and they have problems finding employment, thus making it nearly impossible to lift themselves out of homelessness.

Centrepoint is a UK based organisation aiming to end youth homelessness in the country. The organisation doesn’t stop at giving young homeless people with housing support but they also provide health support and life skills so they can get back on their feet, continue with their education and find employment. Alongside helping young people gain skills to live independently, Centrepoint also advocates for change and campaigns for national and local policy change.

Together with their partners, Centrepoint supports over 14.000 young people every year. However, with over 100.000 young people seeking homelessness support each year, they still have a lot of work to do. You can support Centrepoint and help them lift young people out of homelessness by donating to them below.

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No Nemo without corals

Dear friend,

More Stories

Education is the most effective way to beat a virus like COVID-19

3 challenges to systemic change and how to overcome them

Youth homelessness is an urgent problem with long-lasting consequences