Post-independence affirmative action policies to redress the class imbalance in India include reserved spots at schools for lower castes. Photo: Thatcher Cook for Mercy Corps.

Few Indians make it across the divide between poor and rich. But some so-called “untouchables” who have crossed it see only one way to bring fellow Dalits across: employ them themselves.

Lydia Polgreen writes in The New York Times of the struggles faced by Dalits, who occupy the very bottom rung of Hinduism’s social hierarchy, in today’s booming Indian economy. She says that while Indian law officially prohibits caste-based discrimination, ongoing social stigma in the private sector—in the form of exclusion from all but the lowest-paying jobs—has left the group among the poorest in the country.

Most struggling Dalits never turn their rags to riches, but the few whose successful businesses have catapulted them to the top have “bought rank in the market economy,” Polgreen writes. Many of their successes are, in part, the product of post-independence affirmative action policies to redress the class imbalance, including reserved spaces for lower castes in education institutions and public jobs.

Just last month, the Indian government continued this trend by requiring state and public companies to make 20 percent of their purchases from Indian businesses, specifying that a fifth of those purchases be made from businesses belonging to the country’s lower castes, like Dalits. Four percent of public purchases equals about USD $1.3 billion, which is nothing to sniff at.

The push to expand affirmative-action policies into the private sector, particularly in hiring quotas, has met harsh criticism. The Economist argues that moves in this direction would be disastrous, resulting in even more social polarization and hiding the real source of inequality—lack of access to good education— which is already being addressed by older policies, albeit inefficiently.

Meanwhile, Dalit business owners have developed their own solution. The Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is a thriving hub of corporate leaders bypassing government intervention altogether by networking with qualified jobseekers and filling purchase orders from other Dalit businesses. And if the group’s growth in membership and activity is a harbinger, we’ve found the bridge to cross the divide.

More consumers are choosing products that are both hip and support a cause. Photo:mariahfleming (Flickr)

This article was republished in The Christian Science Monitor.

We already know that good marketing does not equal good aid. Tom’s Shoes has earned a fair amount of criticism for its “One for One” model—a pair of shoes is donated to a child in need for every pair bought by the consumer—but, after seeing the marketing benefits, more and more for-profit businesses are using a similar model to donate goods in developing countries.

Here's the basic problem of the “One for One” model: when everyone in a community can get a free pair of shoes, the local shoe vendor goes out of business. Not only does it hurt the local economy, but it is also a short-term solution that creates long-term problems. Tom’s model may also encourage poverty tourism, as the company allows people to pay to travel along with distribution trips as shoe fitters. Niharika Jain writes more in-depth about the unintended consequences of charitable giving for the Harvard Crimson, and Peace Corps volunteer Zachary Mason discusses Tom’s Shoes from a public health perspective, questioning the cost-effectiveness of the model for reducing disease.

Despite the unintended consequences of its “One for One” program, Tom's has a cult following. Chances are if you don’t already have a pair, you know someone who does. Is Tom’s merely a fashion statement, or are consumers drawn to the company for its cause, creating an atypical status symbol? It’s hard to know what motivates individual purchases of Tom’s products, but a 2010 Cone Cause Evolution study shows that 85 percent of consumers surveyed feel more positively about companies that support a cause they care about. When price and quality are equal, most consumers choose the product supporting the cause.

If we want to be socially conscious consumers it’s important to understand the impact of Tom’s and similar products. We can learn from Tom’s marketing success, but to alleviate poverty in the long-term we need to promote sustainable programs the support local economic development.

Warby Parker, another for-profit enterprise that donates its product in developing countries, is getting a lot of attention for the innovative way that it sells eyewear to the consumer and sends glasses around the world to people who can’t afford them—earning them the B Corp status. Like Tom’s, they are popular among the fashion-conscious and have a hugely successful marketing campaign.

Warby Parker partners with a non-profit called Vision Spring in order to donate their glasses abroad. Vision Spring is in tune with how local economies function and what kind of products are culturally appropriate—something that Warby Parker itself may not have the resources to know. Vision Spring receives funding and glasses from Warby Parker to train low-income local entrepreneurs to start their own businesses selling glasses at affordable prices.

Warby Parker uses the same “buy one, give one” strategy as Tom’s, which is successful at attracting consumers, but is sensitive to the impact donations have on local economies. Warby Parker and Vision Spring’s mission is to help entrepreneurs sustain a business and to create jobs—not create a dependency on unpredictable donations which unintentionally creates economic stagnation.

As socially conscious consumers, we should reserve some skepticism for businesses that claim to do good. Transparency and randomized studies are need in order to assess their impact. A recent randomized control trial by the University of Michigan found that people who bought Vision Spring glasses earned 20 percent more, but more research is needed. It is also promising that Vision Spring is continually learning and evolving its strategy to increase its impact, as recognized by Duke's Fuqua School of Business Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship.

This partnership between a for-profit business and a non-profit looks promising and solves some of the problems with Tom’s “One for One” model. “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,” is what we’re told. It’s an excellent example of the ability of corporations and non-profits to do what they do well and team up to do good. Hopefully, organizations that inform consumers—like B Corp—will make this kind of partnership more attractive.

Have you bought or would you buy Warby Parker glasses and Tom’s Shoes? What drew you to the brand?

Monica Gerber is a 2011 graduate of Reed College. Read her other contributions to Global Envision.

Could soccer help the developing world score more electricity? sOccket, a plug-in soccer ball that captures energy during a game and uses it to charge LEDs and batteries, could be a game changer.

Developed by four Harvard University students connected by their travels to Africa and other developing nations, the idea for the sOccket was originally kicked around for an engineering course assignment, explains the Harvard Gazette. Their ingenious concept involves inserting a soccer ball with an inductive coil mechanism that transforms the toy into an eco-friendly portable generator. The kinetic movement of the sOcket ball propels a magnet through a coil that induces a voltage to generate electricity.

The newest ball requires as little as 10 minutes of play time to generate three hours of energy on an LED light. "The beauty of sOccket is that a kid in a developing nation can play a game of soccer after school, leave the playground, take the ball home, plug a basic lamp into a built-in fixture and have enough light to do homework," observes the blog Social Innovation.

Currently most African nations use kerosene, an expensive and toxic substance, to power their homes. However, sOccket is sidelining the oil-based fuel. With over 46 million soccer players in Africa alone, soccer has become the continent's most electric sport.

A flourishing economy has enabled many Chinese citizens to climb the socio-economic ranks. Photo:xiaming (flickr)

The spirit of 1989’s Tiananmen Square is alive in China, except the swarm of charged students has been replaced by a disgruntled, expanding middle class.

Inadvertently, an economic boom has resounded with cries for change.

2011 has been an exceptionally rough year for government officials trying to maintain social complacency across China’s far-reaching borders. Perhaps inspired by the Arab Spring, Chinese civilians took to the streets in February to enact their own “Jasmine Revolution” (taken from the Tunisian movement of the same name), demanding greater accountability and transparency from their current one-party system. At least 54 activists, including lawyers and intellectuals, were arrested, and, the New York Times reports, the term “jasmine” was blocked on internet search engines. In recent months, labor strikes have swept the People’s Republic, resulting in street rallies filled with middle class voices expressing their frustrations with meager wages and unhealthy work conditions.

However, the butterfly effect of protests—originating from the Arab Spring and expanding into the Occupy Wall Street movements—reaches beyond income inequality. Much of the Chinese middle class will no longer play the passive bystander to haphazard industrialization. On July 23rd, a high speed train collision, killing 40 passengers, moved government-backed news broadcasters to risk publicly questioning the Chinese Communist Party’s ability to provide the public with safe, accessible infrastructures.

In early August, more than 12,000 people converged in the city of Dalian to stop the re-opening of a paraxylene plant (a toxic chemical used to make polyester) after a storm had exposed citizens to chemicals known to cause leukemia and birth defects. The plant’s closure provided a significant win for the protesters—the government agreed to the shutdown despite a reported $1.5 billion invested in the industry.

In a land where censorship and submissiveness are ingrained in the cultural psyche, why are so many compelled to take a stand now? It’s a complex question, but part of the explanation lies in the problem itself: the rise of China’s economy.

Globalization, specifically global export trade, has upshot China into a leading economic powerhouse. Now the fulcrum of production in the globalized world, many Chinese workers are finally transitioning from poor to middle class (defined by The Brookings Institution as households that spend $10 per person daily).

By 2015, the Brookings Institution estimates that for the first time in 300 years, "the number of Asian middle class consumers will equal the number in Europe and North America. By 2021, on present trends, there could be more than 2 billion Asians in middle class households. In China alone, there could be over 670 million middle class consumers, compared with only perhaps 150 million today.”

The Chinese Communist Party has come to rely on the middle class for support; in the past they have served as a relatively quiet buffer between a populous but powerless poor class and a power-driven rich minority. The Economist observes that China has “kept themselves to themselves as a result of the implicit social contract offered by the Communist Party: you let us rule and we will let you get rich.”

China's middle class wants to renegotiate this contract, demanding more environmental and wellness security from their political leaders. “As many previously poor people adopt middle-class lifestyles in the decades ahead,” Brookings researchers observe, “they may find themselves not only consuming more but also more forcefully advocating for less pollution and lower emissions.” In other words, more money means more demands.

If the party chooses to reinvest its money into the people’s pockets through increased incomes, subsidized health care, lowered taxes, and environmental protection, the middle class is expected to grow by leaps and bounds in the coming years. However, one only needs to look back at China’s Great Leap Forward to see that blind fixation on economic prowess can result in a neglected, damaged social sector. Looks like China will need to take a middle-road approach if it hopes to flourish.

Calls to make changes to our international financial system are being heard. Will they be listened to? Photo: itspaulkelly (Flickr)

Mass unemployment, an overwhelming sense of unfairness and a loss of hope need no translation. Even without written demands, the sentiments of Occupy Wall Street have been interpreted through similar protests in 941 cities in 82 countries - and counting.

Global leaders are taking note. And they agree: A lot has gone wrong in the banking sector. While the basic purpose of the financial sector must remain intact, it’s gotten off track. After all, we still need a secure place to store our money, we still need credit and loans, and advice on how to grow our nest eggs. We need banks.

Can we hit the reset button?

The global financial crisis we’re in is incredibly complicated, and it’s not going away soon. And sadly, there’s no reset button. But changes are needed and changes are happening.

In forthcoming posts, we’ll explore the origins of the crisis, key players, innovative solutions, how the decisions made by developed world financial sectors affect the global poor, how local protests affect global politics, and where we go from here. And we hope to hear your thoughts, too.

Our Series Begins:

An historical look at "too big to fail," in four acts:

•      Act 1: The battle over the lessons of the Great Depression.
•      Act 2: The first bailout leads to the next, and the next.
•      Act 3: The value and perils of deregulation.
•      Act 4: Banking crises go global.

Surrounded by financial chaos, developing nations start throwing up barricades

For China, flush with cash, the financial crisis may mean political opportunity

Europe's financial troubles worry its neighbors

Amid financial crisis, China is the new champion for carbon reduction

East Africa seeks to learn from the Eurozone's mistakes

A new model for Middle East economic practices starts with Tunisia, Libya

Bank transfer day: A symbolic move

Related Past Posts:

Microfinance and the Economic Crisis: What to Believe?

A Triple Threat: Food, Fuel and Financial Crises in the Developing World

One Big Deal

The IMF Boosts Financial Aid to Poor Countries

Rural China Could Gain from Financial Crisis

Goodbye Piggy Banks, Hello Working ATMs: Why the Middle East May be More Sheltered from the Global Financial Crisis

Social Workers Getting to the Root of Debt

On Monday, the world welcomed its 7 billionth person. The implications of population growth are similarly staggering in number, but here are five of the more important things to know about the growing world community.

There might not be 7 billion of us. Yet.

The October 31st date was chosen by the United Nations Population Fund, and it’s somewhat symbolic. "There is a window of uncertainty of at least six months before and six months after the 31 October date for the world population to reach seven billion," UN population estimates chief Gerhard Heilig told the BBC. However, the crux of the matter—the ever-increasing world population and the problems that come with it—stands.

Human being No. 7,000,000,000 is probably poor—and it's likely the parents didn't plan the pregnancy.

The developing world acted as the engine for most of the last decade's population growth. It’s home to the world’s seven fastest-growing cities, according to Foreign Policy. As such, it’s attracting the attention of policymakers and crystal-ball-gazers alike. Many, like the Worldwatch Institute’s Robert Engelman, propose extending access to contraceptives and encouraging smaller family size to curb population-related problems, though a recent Economist article says that this would only have a modest effect in the face of scarce world resources.

Sure, resource scarcity is a problem, but maybe it doesn’t have to be.

Not all commentators are equally pessimistic about continuing population growth. Some of the most basic problems, like access to food and water, might really be problems of efficiency rather than scarcity. Global Envision contributor Ben Osborn recently wrote about a study by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research that showed that given proper integration and storage of water resources, no one would have to go thirsty. On the food front, a scientific study published in Nature showed that proper agricultural reforms “could increase global food availability by 100–180%,” more than enough to meet the needs of our growing population.

The antidote to population could be migration.

Ensuring good quality of life for the earth’s inhabitants goes beyond just food and water. The UN’s State of the World Population 2011 report identifies migration as a trend that can be used to help aid in economic development. Wealthy countries with declining fertility rates could provide job opportunities for workers disenfranchised in their overpopulated home countries. At the same time, migration is a hot-button issue for developed nations that may not be so keen to open their borders. The report also cites increased access to education as a key factor in reducing population growth and providing better opportunities for youth in developing nations.

Maybe we should all just learn to stop worrying and love the population bomb.

Many fear rapid population growth in a world with limited resources, but given the proper policies it might not have to be so scary. Since there’s no “undo” button for world population, perhaps the best question to ask in light of the 7 billion marker is “How can we make the best of it?”

Want to know where you fit into the 7 billion? Check out The BBC’s “What’s Your Number” tool.

Margo Conner is a senior at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, majoring in international affairs. Read her other contributions to Global Envision.

A Victorian stained glass window depiction of the "Good Samaritan" story from the Gospel of Luke. Photo: Lawrence OP (flickr)

This article was republished by The Christian Science Monitor.

The Good Samaritan of Biblical lore was different than you and me: he was able to help without the fear of being sued.

Disturbing footage of an unattended Chinese girl being run over twice and ignored by 18 witnesses has shed unflattering light on China’s civil society. Two-year-old Xiao Yueyue (which translates as Little Joy in Chinese), daughter of two migrant worker parents, died on October 21st in a Guangdong hospital, eight days after the horrific incident.

Disapproving fingers are being pointed in various directions: from the disintegration of society’s morality to the government’s neglect of protecting civil liberties. Yue Yue’s unexpected death has revived a fierce international debate over Good Samaritan laws.

If you missed the final Seinfeld episode, Good Samaritan laws protect people who assist victims of injury or crime. “They are intended to reduce bystanders' hesitation to assist, for fear of being sued or prosecuted for unintentional injury or wrongful death," as Wikipedia puts it.

Prior to the broadcasting of Yue Yue’s tragedy, several sensational lawsuits had embittered the public toward performing heroic deeds for strangers. Specifically, in 2007 an elderly woman sued a young man by the name of Peng Yu for escorting her to the hospital after she had fallen and broken her leg. Mr. Peng was ordered to pay the damages to the elder woman under the judge’s logic that the man wouldn’t have helped her unless he was guilty of injuring her in the first place. Some litigators suggest that lawsuits of this nature create legal disparity between the affluent and the less privileged. Perhaps had the woman not belonged to the poorer class, in need of money, no such lawsuit would have been filed.

A recent China Daily poll reveals that approximately 87 percent of Chinese citizens are unlikely to aid an elderly person who has fallen in the street because they want to avoid being blamed for the accident. “The public's lack of a sense of trust has been made obvious by recent media stories that have looked at the hesitation people feel before they come to someone else's aid," Xie Jing, a communications professor at Fudan University, told the newspaper.

While Good Samaritan Laws in the United States are not federally imposed, the largest jurisdictions in the United States—New York, California, and Texas—have statutes that shield voluntary assistants from liability in the case of an accident. Yet “Good Samaritans” in California and Vermont may be prosecuted if they don’t act in the medical interest of the victim. In 2007 a woman who pulled a friend out of a wrecked car, leaving the friend paralyzed, was liable to civil damages in California because “the perceived danger of remaining in the wrecked car was not "medical," the court ruled.”

One explanation for not imposing more collective responsibility on individuals: separation of morals and law.

"Our common law has always refused to transmute moral duties into legal duties,” Virginia Law Professor Charles O. Gregory noted to Time Magazine in 1965, when the killing of a woman within earshot of dozens of her neighbors prompted a national debate about civic duty. Today, every state has some form of Good Samaritan law protecting people from liability for trying to save a life, according to HeartSafe America.

In Canada, too, each province has its own set of laws concerning Good Samaritan acts. Quebec’s Charter of Rights gives citizens a "duty to rescue:" individuals must assist anyone in jeopardy, unless there is reasonable evidence that it would cause danger to himself or a third party. Abstaining from helping someone is not considered a criminal offense, since it comes from the provincial level. Yet the majority of provinces have adopted a version of the Good Samaritan Law, most of which provide some form of protection for voluntary passers-by from liability for the victim’s damages, unless it can be proven that the damages were caused by the gross negligence of the person.

In France, witnesses to a person in distress can be arrested for not intervening. A Frenchman who fails to help another when he can do so without risk is liable for up to five years in prison and fined several thousands in Euros. The French logic follows that a witness is a participant in the crime if he/she does nothing to prevent it.

In spite of the outrage bubbling in China over society’s apparent moral decline, the majority of the population is reluctant to follow in France’s footsteps. According to one online poll, 77.7 percent of Chinese respondents disagree with the idea of establishing a 'duty to rescue' law. Most claim they don’t want moral acts to be legally enforced. With restrictions on individual freedom already so tightly monitored, the Chinese appear weary to have one more government mandate imposed.

It took the death of a two-year-old girl to bring greater awareness to what it means to do the right thing. Perhaps what is most disturbing about Yue Yue’s death is the realization that an underlying current of fear has become inherently attached to what should be a visceral reaction of compassion. Had the Samaritan described by Luke in the New Testament been bound by today’s laws, perhaps he would not have been so good.

Gap opens in Shanghai. Photo by kreep (flickr)

What would happen if you took off every article of clothing not made in America? asks ABC at New York’s Grand Central Station (video).
_____

Gap is betting big on China, announcing plans to triple its retail stores there by the end of 2012, reports the Associated Press. But in doing so, the chain will directly compete with its own Chinese suppliers, which for years have been sharpening their teeth making cheap knockoffs of the popular clothing.

Gap is not the only global brand to jump on what they hope will emerge as the next massive consumer class. Apple, Nike, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Walmart have all positioned themselves to profit from China's nouveau riche. Despite these expectations, the New York Times reports that China’s consumer spending has actually plummeted in the last decade as a portion of the overall economy, to about 35 percent of gross domestic product, from about 45 percent - the lowest percentage for any big economy anywhere in the world.

The remarkable growth the nation has seen has not translated into fruits for middle class families, but rather state-run banks, government-backed corporations and the affluent few with connections, says Carl E. Walter, a former JP Morgan executive who is co-author of “Red Capitalism: The Fragile Financial Foundation of China’s Extraordinary Rise.” Worse yet, low-wage workers who make the clothing sold in stores like Gap simply can’t afford the finished goods. Marketplace’s Kai Ryssdal visited a new Gap store in Shanghai recently; the most striking thing he found about the store was how empty it was. Sales of global “brands” come mainly in the form of the counterfeits and knockoffs sold at busy outdoor markets.

The New York Times suggests the “state capitalism” that’s fueled much of China’s growth must be dismantled before ordinary Chinese citizens will start feeling flush enough to buy Gap’s ‘nostalgic’ 1969 jeans - even the made-for-China version. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao asserts that the government is ready to make some of those changes. Until then, hedge your bets.

The "Fight Back" application will allow woman to report attacks anonymously. Photo:MissMessie (flickr).

Reporting a rape can be as easy as sending a text message.

Women in New Delhi will soon be able to fight back against attackers with the use of a phone application that alerts friends, family and police, and sends a message to her social networks with a GPS location.

One in four Indian rapes takes place in New Delhi, according to The Christian Science Monitor, making it one of the unsafest cities for woman in India. Women are exposed to constant harassment and many incidents go unreported because of shame and lack of response by authorities.

"Safety for women has become such a huge issue here and we felt that citizens of Delhi, where possibly the problem exists the most, could use this type of technological intervention," said Hindol Sengupta, co-founder of Whypoll, which created the application and touts itself as "India's only open government platform."

The “Fight Back” application will be available for a small fee through the Whypoll website and is compatible with cell phones such as Nokia and Black Berry. SOS alerts will cost the same as an SMS.

The stigma and dishonor of rape leads women to not report the crime. Whypoll willrecord and reflect incidents on its website, but ensure users remain anonymous.

Recording what types of crimes occur and where will provide important information to help push for action in the places it is needed the most.

Reporting crimes against Indian women is on the rise. As more women attain political power, gender-related issues are brought to the forefront and action is taken. The “Fight Back” application will provide a new platform for women to be heard.

Nothing builds prosperity better than peace. And sometimes, a new study finds, nothing builds peace better than a few healthy arguments.

As crises and conflicts ebb, international groups are looking to create sustainable peace in places where peace has been the exception of late. One tactic is the promotion of civil society through education and reform campaigns. But is it possible to educate the violence out of a society?

Consider Liberia, which is still vulnerable five years after a 14-year civil war. The UN, in tandem with the Liberian government, has initiated a campaign to resolve current conflicts and prevent future ones by educating citizens on civic cooperation. Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) monitored the results in a robust 22-month study and produced some promising findings.

The campaign was conducted in three of Liberia’s counties most scarred by war and sought to educate citizens on their rights and those of others, to promote collective problem solving, and to encourage non-violent conflict resolution. Citizens went through eight days of workshops and were then asked to teach what they had learned to others in the community.

Afterward, IPA measured the impact of attending the workshops. Little impact was found on political participation, civic knowledge, and awareness of human rights. The study did, however, find a striking impact on the prevalence of disputes and their resolution.

More disputes occurred after the campaign than before, as neighbors were more prone to confront each other over grievances and assert their rights, but overall violence decreased and the propensity to resolve conflicts grew.

The number of overall violent outbreaks and the small sample size call into question the statistical significance of the results, but IPA found that communities that had undergone treatment were 59 percent less likely than untreated communities to experience violent disputes.

Since peace and prosperity often go hand in hand, such civic education programs may come to show that how well we live is a function of how well we get along.

Ben Osborn is a 2011 graduate of Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Read his other contributions to Global Envision.

A SELCO technician installing solar panels. Photo courtesy SELCO

This article was reposted on The Christian Science Monitor's Change Agent section.

Harish Hande is democratizing electricity. In India, nearly half of all households lack power. Hande has made it his life’s work to change that, and he’s doing it with affordable, sustainable technology.

Hande is the managing director of SELCO, a social enterprise in Bangalore, India, that develops sustainable technology to improve the lives of India’s underprivileged masses. In the past ten years, Hande says, SELCO has increased Indian fuel efficiency, enhanced the financial power of India’s rural banks, and improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of low-income Indians.

Dr. Harish Hande.

In a September talk at MercyCorps in Portland, Ore., sponsored by the Lemelson Foundation, Hande told SELCO’s story to an enthusiastic audience. It was a glimpse into the potential of sustainable technology and the difficulties of motivating charitable service in a profit-oriented culture.

SELCO works to customize products for underprivileged consumers, using sustainable values to cut costs and improve lives. In India, “sustainability is not getting subsidized," Hande explained. "Sustainability is subsidizing other industries.” SELCO ‘subsidizes’ the work of India’s poor, he said, by providing sustainable technology that boosts productivity and income for poor workers.

For example: Most street vendors in India use kerosene lights, which leave a substantial carbon footprint. Perhaps more importantly, kerosene costs about 15 rupees per day. So SELCO offers these street vendors solar lighting for about 10 rupees a day: a 33% personal savings. Those savings can make all the difference for many of SELCO’s clients.

SELCO’s recent success belies the difficulty it had in getting off the ground. According to Hande, his venture is quite unique, making it difficult to gain traction in Indian culture.

First, how do you convince entrepreneurs that values are more important than sales?

Most salespeople “sell up,” meaning they sell to clients who are of a higher socioeconomic standing than they are. But SELCO's sales team “sells down” to people with little expendable income, and Hande feels it's ethically unacceptable--contrary to SELCO's business, in fact--to sell clients products they don't need. This complicates SELCO's worker training, and in a caste system like India’s, these relationships are all the more difficult.

Another challenge for Hande: recruiting young employees. How do you convince economically minded parents that joining a not-so-lucrative industry is a solid decision? As Hande explains, his “biggest question is, 'How do we convince our parents?’” India’s economy is growing fast, developing a success-oriented culture that prioritizes profitable career choices over service-minded work.

And once you’ve convinced the parents, how do you get urban youth to think and care about the rural poor? Satisfying these conditions is key for recruiting what Hande calls "holistically oriented" salespeople who care about what they do and whom they do it for.

Yet despite these difficulties, SELCO is bringing sustainable technology to India’s underprivileged classes, improving their lives and helping the environment with more than 115,000 new solar energy systems in the last 15 years. Overcoming the cultural barriers, Hande has found a ready supply of holistically minded entrepreneurs. SELCO’s base has grown quickly in recent years, and the resumes keep coming in.

The Invisible Problem. Photo: carl.jones (flickr)

The world is facing a "global human rights emergency in mental health," says the World Health Organization (WHO) via the Guardian. It's a quiet crisis keeping millions out of the global marketplace.

Mental health problems (including autism, substance abuse, schizophrenia, depression, dementia) account for an estimated 14 percent of all global health conditions, yet receive less than 1 percent of most countries' health-care budget, according to the Guardian. Overall, the WHO estimates a 75 percent coverage gap in many countries with low and lower-middle incomes. One-third of all countries lack a mental health program, and only one of 10,000 UK charities listed on GuideStar is dedicated to international mental health.

Saudi Ali Mufreh exemplifies the problem, having lived in chains for 35 years since developing mental problems at age 15. Ali spends his days alone, hearing little more than the sound of “his clanking iron restraints,” says Al-Riyadh. Ali's brother Omar explained:

I was forced to chain my brother in this small room to protect him and protect others from him. I am searching for a cure to his condition, but I have had no luck yet. If I let my brother go, then he will place the whole family in danger. On two occasions, he tried to burn down the house. Both times we escaped, but the whole house was severely damaged.

Ali is not alone. Dr. Irmansyah, Indonesia's director of mental health services, estimates that 30,000 mentally ill people are restrained in cages, stocks or chains. Some suffering from mental illness are deposited at camps like Indonesia's Yayasan Galuh, where patients live on a hard tile surface surrounded by open sewers, according to PBS NewsHour.

In addition to violating basic human rights, the isolation of those with mental illness also creates an economic burden on developing countries, says the Guardian.

Mental illness adversely affects people's ability to work, creates a potential career burden on their families and generally leads to greater poverty.

But, there's hope.

In 2008, the WHO launched the Mental Health Gap Action Program to improve conditions for the mentally ill, primarily in developing countries. The WHO asserts that “with proper care, psychosocial assistance and medication, tens of millions could be treated for depression, schizophrenia, and epilepsy, prevented from suicide and begin to lead normal lives&emdash;even where resources are scarce.”

Four critical areas for emphasis going forward include:

• Reaching people in the countryside: Many of the developing world's mentally ill live in the countryside, and what few treatment services that exist are likely far away in the capital cities. Large numbers of non-specialist field health workers could be trained in basic mental health care and drug distribution, serving as a first line for treatment and as a conduit for passing more serious cases onto city hospitals.
• Changing Public Awareness and Perceptions: The mentally ill are often hidden from society due to the social stigma and marginalized, so it is little surprise they receive minimal help. The U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals make no mention of mental disabilities, and discussion of mental health is often considered "something of a luxury" among policymakers and the media. Making the topic visible and less stigmatized encourages donations, research and advocacy.
• Preventing illness before it develops: Aiding malnourished or overworked mothers and their newborns is a critical step to preventing mental illness in the first place. According to one WHO report,“improving nutrition and development in disadvantaged children can lead to healthy cognitive development, improved educational outcomes, and reduced risk for mental ill health."
• Seeing the mentally ill as potential workers: In one study from India, the onset of mental illness reduced working hours by 64 percent (from 28 to 10) — not including increased family care — suggesting major economic benefits accruing to countries who get the mentally ill treated and back to work. In other words, there may be only one aid program a family like Ali’s needs: treatment for Ali himself.

Developing countries and NGO's will eventually realize the advantages of treating the mentally ill. However, changing the way the general population perceives the mentally ill may be just as difficult as treating the mentally ill themselves.

Girls who lack access to sanitary pads may miss up to 40 days of school a year. Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps.

In the United States, missing close to two months of school every year might get you expelled. For millions of women and girls in the developing world, it's a routine.

They lack access to something many modern women in the developed world probably take for granted: sanitary pads. Even when pads are locally available, many girls simply can’t afford them: UPI reports that in South Africa, a pack of 10 might cost $2. In many areas, that is more than a day’s worth of wages, according to North Carolina State University. Girls who don’t have access to pads during their period miss school due to embarrassment, fear of being teased and cultural taboos. Some try to use newspaper, old rags, or mud instead, methods that pose health risks and barely even work.

Many girls fall behind in school or drop out entirely as a result of this simple problem. For a variety of reasons, it’s one that’s not often discussed openly. So how do you solve a problem that no one wants to talk about? Fortunately, many businesses and organizations are looking for solutions.

At the same time that FemCare, a part of Procter & Gamble, sells Always-brand sanitary pads in U.S. supermarkets, it seeks to provide the same products to African schoolgirls. But the problem is thornier than you might expect. Beyond a simple lack of supplies, schools also often lack the facilities that allow girls to use feminine products in the first place. They need private spaces to change pads during the day and running water to wash their hands. To address this, FemCare built bathrooms and constructed water pipelines to schools, says the New York Times. They also provide disposal containers and have taught teachers how to incinerate the waste. Of course, there’s something in it for P&G, too: they hope that girls in Africa will become lifelong users of their products.

The problem has also inspired a great deal of innovation as individuals attempt to design new products that can be manufactured more cheaply and sustainably than name brands. Swedish university students used water hyacinth, an invasive species that chokes off Kenyan water routes, to create the Jani pad. In a double whammy, It’s both biodegradable and made from a seemingly endless resource that no one likes.

Starting in 2008, Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE) tried another tack: it designed a manufacturing process that anyone could replicate. Their award-winning approach makes pads from readily available materials like banana-stalk fibers, which are then processed on inexpensive machines that local people can purchase. Hopefully, SHE’s innovations will better enable people in developing nations to start their own businesses to manufacture the pads. This also lets the finished product be tailored to the needs of women and girls from diverse cultures.

Other projects are born from the creativity of local entrepreneurs. Makapads, invented by a university professor in Uganda, are made from papyrus and waste paper and produced on locally manufactured machines, reports IRIN.

Often, trying to solve a problem in the developing world is like trying to solve a Rubik’s cube. Each group toggles the pieces a bit differently. Hopefully, in the end, someone makes them all line up.

Washington, D.C.’s bike sharing program has 1,100 bikes. London’s system has 6,000. And Paris has more than 20,000.

But on the other side of the globe, Hangzhou, China has them beat with more than 60,000, according to a recent report by National Geographic.

To see how it all works, check out this short from Streetfilms:

Bike shares -- where a user can pick up a bicycle at one service point, ride it, and then drop it off at another and walk away -- are growing in popularity. China, along with many other developing nations, has a long-held cultural tie to bicycling. Demand for automobiles skyrocketed in recent decades, but in a city of 6.7 million like Hangzhou, it would be impossible to build enough roads to support this, not to mention environmental concerns.

Bike shares are cheap (nearly free for many in Hangzhou), highly accessible, and part of a sustainable urban growth model. Hangzhou hopes to expand its system to 120,000 bikes by 2020 and other cities are taking notice of its success. Companies in Beijing, Rio de Janeiro, and Mexico City are making a go of it and hope to remove the training wheels soon.

A father with his child in Bali. Photo: Jeda Villa Bali (flickr)

The UN has pledged to promote gender equality. So why are social development initiatives ignoring men?

On Sunday, June 17, children across the world will honor their fathers with homemade gifts, heartfelt cards, and breakfast in bed. However, for many children in African countries, Father’s Day will be just another yearly reminder of the gaping hole in their families left by an absent or deficient father.

According to a study about men and fatherhood in Africa covered by the Inter Press Service, “by 2002, less than 40 percent of all African children aged 15 years or younger were reported as living with their fathers, compared to almost 90 percent of white children.” While the suspected causes of these figures vary by country and historical and economic contexts, the implications for children raised with absent fathers are clear. Girls who grow up with a father in the household face a diminished chance of sexual abuse and will be psychologically better off later in life. Correspondingly, boys raised with positive male role models in the household are seen as less likely to abuse their spouses later in life, and can better appreciate the value of practicing gender equality.

International development programs know that absent fathers are a problem. So why aren’t they doing more to solve it? The influx of international aid projects over the past decade has been overwhelmingly directed at women. The development milieu in Africa is dominated by efforts to increase women’s empowerment and equality, and it’s not hard to understand why. It is easier to get behind a poor uneducated mother trying to feed her children than it is to find the man who took off when faced the financial and emotional responsibilities of fatherhood.

The importance of empowering women to overcome gender inequality and poverty is undeniable. But some are asking: what is the place of men and fathers in achieving these goals?

Men’s organizations are often neglected by grants that prefer to aid women. Trevor Davies, director of the Zimbabwe-based organization African Fathers explains to IPS that stereotypes are a big reason why women are targeted in development over men. “There is little recognition of the intergenerational link between poverty and the persistent stereotyping of men as obstacles to development rather than partners in solving problems.” Additionally, cultural stigma makes it difficult for individual men to make a difference in their communities. In South Africa, for example, where patriarchy still clearly dictates gender roles, this stigma deters men from taking on “feminine” domestic roles. “Men are often left out of community initiatives, particularly care and the upbringing of children,” said Patrick Godana, project manager for Sonke Gender Justice.

The few NGOs that have found support, however, have been hugely influential. A group of seven men who were trained by the NGO Sonke Gender Justice have shown their communities the benefits of overcoming gender inequality through their work as caregivers for an HIV/AIDS group in South Africa. Initially criticized, these men are now role models for social change in their communities, the Inter Press Service reported in 2008. Women still do “ten times more care work then men”, says Sonke co-Director Dean Peacock. Nonetheless, programs that help raise awareness for issues of gender equality and challenge male attitudes towards childcare will continue to benefit men and women alike in the long run.

These programs stress that the role of a father is not limited to the biological parent. Says Davies, “Many men can play the role of father to a child, including grandfathers, uncles, stepfathers, foster-fathers, older brothers, cousins or family friends.” What’s important is that children are not deprived of all the benefits and happiness a supportive father-figure can provide.

Too many men are missing from families. They shouldn't go missing from the world's development agenda, too.