Increasing Family Planning Access in Kenya Through Engagement of Faith-Based Health Facilities, Religious Leaders, and Community Health Volunteers

Relevant article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6816806/ The article above presents a project taking place in Kenya since 2013 to increase faith-based organizations’ impact on their communities, particularly related to providing family planning services. The project aims to increase knowledge of and access to family planning for citizens in Kenya, as well as to advocate for improved family planning

School Dropout Risks Among Girls in the Asia-Pacific Region

Relevant article: https://thediplomat.com/2020/11/covid-19-leaves-millions-of-girls-at-risk-of-school-dropout-in-asia-pacific/ As The Diplomat’s article describes, the COVID-19 pandemic has absolutely devastated educational access and attainment for girls located within the Asia-Pacific region. In East Asia and the Pacific, twenty percent of girls (about 40 million girls) have been left out of remote learning options due to resource limitations, including a lack of

COVID-19 and The Lives of Refugees

Since the Covid-19 lockdowns began in March 2020, there have been unprecedented changes to lifestyles and well-established institutions. Public schools and universities have found ways to adapt to the pandemic through online schooling and fostering greater communications with students and parents. Employers and governments have worked with employees in order to secure benefits and provide

The Rise of the Young and Urban in Africa

This past month, I have been working on an article for the Harvard International Review that explores the rise of Bobi Wine, a rapper turned political rebel, in Uganda (Check it out!). While his rise is mostly driven by the unique circumstances that he experiences in Uganda, it’s also driven by greater trends that’s happening

Refugees and Resettlement During the Pandemic

In the wake of the pandemic and chaos that has come to define 2020, it seems that the world has forgotten about the plight of some of our most vulnerable: refugees. Indeed, the UNHCR has recently reported that the world is set to hit a “record low” for refugee resettlement in 2020. Empirically, only 15,425

Eritrean Detainees Face Heightened COVID-19 Risk

With the still raging COVID-19 pandemic, Eritrean political detainees face an even larger risk within prisons. In 2001, twenty-eight people were detained for voicing their opinions within an open letter to President Afwerki, including journalists writing about the issue. Most individuals have not been seen since that time. They were detained without being charged with

The United States’ Impact on Trade During the Pandemic

For the past four years, President Donald Trump made it an emphasized political goal to manipulate America’s role in global trade. Specifically, by imposing global tariffs on exported goods, Trump aimed to strengthen the domestic economy and put pressure on other trade partners in order to benefit the United States. When the COVID-19 pandemic swept

Gender Inequality in Education

The statistics are more than alarming. Recently, UNICEF indicated that as many as 132 million girls were out of school around the world, with 34.4 million girls excluded at the primary school age.  This situation exists despite the fact that getting an education as a young girl vastly improves quality of life for female students.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Developing Countries

A recorded seminar from July 22, 2020 (the link can be accessed at the end of this post, should you choose to include it in your research) features a roundtable discussion of four Harvard Kennedy School scholars on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on developing countries, especially in Latin America, and what has caused

The Global Digital Divide During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The global digital divide, or separation between countries or groups based on access to technology and the internet, has been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) found that only 18% of the population in the least developed countries use the internet compared to 41% in moderate developing countries compared