Final Presentation: Conclusion (Pt. 2)

Use of Technology: My computer was my best friend throughout this process. Researching ALL of my information for my paper, evaluating every source I came across to determine whether it was valid and reliable to include on my paper. Blogging every time I learned something new, and including pictures as well. Engaging in an online course, which I had never done before, and learning to answer questions about readings and videos related to global poverty. 

Growth: This course challenged me in a way that no other courses did. First of all, it was on my own, mainly. I was required to figure nearly everything out for myself, research myself, find my own information, write my own paper, and determine my own success with little guidance. Secondly, it forced me to think in a much different way. It wasn’t like AP Lang where I have to memorize vocabulary words and their definitions in order to succeed on a quiz in class next time, I had to think. I had to critically think, create, determine, develop, fail, try again, and persevere through many different tasks throughout this journey. It was different than a reiteration of facts, it was deep critical reflection, and it was absolutely necessary in order to develop a successful paper about solutions to hunger and corrupt government in Sudan. 

Future: This experience has impacted my future in plenty of ways. It prepared me more for college where I’ll have much less guidance on assignments, and I will have to rely more heavily on myself and my ability to research and find information for myself. The assignments will also be much more difficult, and require much more in depth thought and contemplation. It also opened my eyes to many things globally (mainly issues) that I was completely unaware of before. 

Quick Reflection: Technology was very important to my success on this paper. ALL of the work don't to create my paper, research my paper, type and develop and edit my paper were done on my computer. Growth was displayed through my ability to work on my own. To research and do everything by myself with very little guidance. I was self-reliant and it was no one else responsibility but my own to become successful throughout this course. I also had to DEEPLY think. Not just reiterate facts. That was much different and much more difficult. I had to reflect and develop and work very hard to write a successful paper. My future was impacted because of the new found knowledge and eye-opening experiences throughout the course, and through preparing me to think more critically and work more on my own in college. 

Final Presentation: Conclusion (Pt. 1)

Research Skills: Throughout this project, I was forced to do an abundant amount of research. Not only did I have to find information, I had to organize the information into categories within my paper, determine which information was useful for which section of my paper, which was relevant and reliable, and I had to cite them properly. Because the paper was factual and professional, I had to research properly and carefully to make sure that everything I included in the paper was accurate. 

Creative Thinking: Creative thinking was a skill that I exhibited through my solution for my government in Sudan. Instead of focusing on the federal government (which everyone seemed to attempt - unsuccessfully) I brainstormed for a while, and developed a solution I hadn’t even heard of before. Going local, and starting smaller rather than focusing on the federal government.

Critical thinking and logical problem solving skills: This skill was easily developed for me throughout this journey. I was working to solve a VERY large problem! Hunger and corrupt government in one of the worst off countries in the world. The accuracy required by the paper forced me to take everything into account when attempting to problem solve. It forced me to predict what would happen if a certain solution were to go into place, to infer how it would change the lives of the Sudanese people if certain things were to be changed in certain ways. It forced me to adjust MANY decisions when I deemed one solution unsuccessful. 

Communication Skills: My presentation, speech, and discussion skills were obviously put to use at the World Food Prize event in Ames. I had to not only present my entire paper in three short minutes, I then had to discuss it with professionals and discuss other students’ papers as well. These open ended discussions with professionals AND students/scholars my age easily improved my communication skills.

Quick Reflection: Research skills were primarily gained through the use of online research in the EdX class and other findings about my topic. Critical thinking was used to determine a solution different than every other solution, to attack the federal government. Critical thinking and logical problem solving skills were used to take everything into account when determining solutions. To predict the outcome if certain solutions were implemented, and to under how it would alter the lives of the Sudanese people if specific events were to occur. It forced me to adjust many times along the way. Communication skills were heavily strengthened at the Round Table discussion at Iowa State.

Final Presentation: Research Outcome (Pt. 2)

Proposed Solution: My proposed solution is to look past the federal government which has had so much money thrown at it with no advancements made, and focus on the local governments. My plan is to focus on the three most suffering areas of Sudan and to implement or improve existing small scale governments in those areas. Legal and regulatory framework, budget, financial plans, laws, etc. U.S. or outside assistance from U.S. allies in Africa such as Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria is necessary to implement these government systems, and to ensure that they function correctly and everyone is benefitting properly. If this is successful, the harsh lives or many Sudanese people living in the three worst areas of Sudan would be improved. It would lead to the second half of my solution, tackling food security. If the governments were to be successful, and in turn begin to generate profit from a small economy based around market and agriculture, subsistence farming improvements could be made. Water pumps on individual farms, livestock vaccinations, water harvesting (done through the use of chisel ploughs), and educating farmers on how to best gain the highest yield with what they’re given. In the future even GMO’s.

How to implement them? I see foreign aid as completely necessary. Sudan doesn’t have the funds, the incentive, man power, or knowledge to implement these solutions themselves. Help from the U.S., America’s closer allies in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, and the UN are the most probable. The U.S. or its allies could assist with making decisions as to the framework of the governments. They could then provide funds and man power to implement them. They could also provide funding and man power to continuously be sure that the governments are successfully benefitting everyone properly. As far as food security, there are organizations such as The Water Project, and Water for Sudan which could all potentially assist in providing water to make farming easier. The IFDC is a corporation that could potentially assist with educating farmers.

Online Class: The online class titled “Challenges of Global Poverty” was very relatable to the topic of my paper. The big picture finding as I did research (both for the online course and for my paper itself) is that it’s very difficult. It’s very difficult, because of the insane amount of aspects that funnel into poverty. The government is effected by so many other things and has the power to change so many things. Health care, birth control, education, sanitization, insurance, risk, fertility, supply and demand, and so much more. SO many aspects factor into the success of defeating poverty as a whole. This class examined many of those ways, and it related to the plethora of things that are wrong with Sudan and need to be fixed there as well. There are way too many to tackle at once, but they’re in such bad condition that a lot of people are dying. Obviously, something needs to change.

Quick Reflection: My proposed solution and implementation strategies were taken almost directly from my paper. I only had to shorten them up so that they could be discussed in a timely manner on the day of my presentation. The online class and how it related could have been much longer as well, however for the sake of time its shortened. The main take away from that for me was how many issues were involved and created global poverty. That is the main way I was able to see the relation between global poverty, Sudan/my paper, and the class. It relates perfectly to my thesis statement as well.

Final Presentation: Research Outcomes (Pt. 1)

Problems: Food Security: Millions of displaced Sudanese people from the war between the North and the South leads to overpopulated refugee camps where a bunch of people starve. The very high majority practices subsistence farming to feed themselves and their family. The dry, drought-prone climate, lack of equipment and technology, lack of knowledge on how to successfully farm, and unpredictability of rainfall make harvest extremely difficult. Livestock often have diseases that either transport to the people or kill the livestock before they can be used to their full potential. Government: The staff is poorly paid and poorly trained. Bribes are often paid to authorities without consequence. There is no information about funds, or anything given to the public by the government. Over 2.3 billion in public funds have been embezzled.

Past Solutions: The United States and the United Nations have both attempted to help (not directly fix the government in Sudan), or entirely food security either, rather to provide relief. The U.S. has given billions of dollars to the federal government of Sudan in hope that it uses that money to provide for its people and make sure they aren’t starving and dying. This only results in the selfish and corrupt Sudanese politicians embezzling the funds. The whereabouts of billions of dollars given to the Sudanese government is still unknown.

Quick Reflection: There are so many issues that are outlined in my paper dealing with food security AND government in Sudan. I picked the majority of them, if not all of them. For government I left a few out because there were so many. I picked the ones that I saw as the most impactful. I also shortened them and summed them up because I am limited to the amount of time I'm aloud to speak on them, and this isn't even the important part of my presentation. The past solutions were difficult, because there hardly were any. Nothing had been solved, therefore no solutions. A few small scale efforts to strictly receive the lives of the Sudanese had occurred, but absolutely nothing like my solutions where they are an attempt to wholly solve the issue, rather than temporarily relieve the suffering in Sudan. 

Final Presentation: Project Experience

Why? When I was told that I had to write a paper concerning world hunger, of course, my mind went “Well, what countries are the hungriest?” Sudan was near the top of the list. We also got to choose from a very long list of “factors”. Government stuck out to me as the factor that I wanted to choose because I am very interested in government. I want to pursue legal and political studies in my higher education, so I saw no other option other than government as my “factor”

Background knowledge/skills: The background knowledge that I had about Sudan’s food security and government situation was little to none. However, I possess fair writing skills/abilities that were very useful throughout.

Research Processes: The research was done a multitude of ways. Online libraries, encyclopedias, documents, readings, and statistical findings were the main way that information was found. For the Challenges of Global Poverty class, the research was done on the EdX, MIT online coursework in readings and videos.

Quick Reflection: The why aspect was very simple, and very truthful as I enjoy learning about legal and political issues. Also, Sudan made for a great case study because it was suffering so largely in both food security and governmental issues. The background knowledge about the government/food security situation in Sudan was absolutely zero. However, I do enjoy English class and possess a fair amount of writing skills. The research was almost all completed online using the preceding ways.

Final Presentation: Introduction

Intro:
Max Maharry
Topic - Global Poverty and World Hunger
Thesis: Global Poverty is an extremely large, complicated,

and convoluted issue. There are numerous troubling and difficult factors that combine to create global poverty. One thing is clear, however, and that is that it needs to be attended to immediately.

Quick Reflection: The thesis statement was definitely difficult to come up with. So many topics and ideas were covered and tackled throughout this entire process, that summing it ALL up into one sentence seemed impossible. However, I think to mention the convolution, complication, and numerous difficult factors involves allows for discussion to be furthered throughout my powerpoint about my experiences this semester.

Risk and Insurance II

What I learned: The discussion begins by talking about risks again. It discusses risks that the majority of famers have (since they have a lot and they dominate the majority of populations in less developed countries). It talks about how to reduce these risks, specifically for farmers. Farm several pieces of land that are far away from each other, from then select crops that may be more successful since the proximity isn't so great. Giving up efficiency by attempting to specialize in more than one profession. This would limit the amount of risk because then if something were to demean the farming effort, an individual would have a plan to fall back on rather than letting the potential risk weigh one down os heavily in their farming effort. The discussion then shifts to the size of the risk and possibly reducing said risk. High interest rates lead to great difficulties as well. Examples of these risks and how potentially demeaning they can be are discussed through Nigeria and Thailand. There are different ways to deal with the risk, of course. That includes "village level", and increasing from there all the way up to federal level. There's also a moral hazard involved. The increasing of funds can be acquired a multitude of ways, but within these countries, religious and cultural aspects can hinder what individuals or even large populations are willing to do about the "risky" status of their economy. The context for community insurance is a difficult conversation for those in the less developed nations as well.

How it relates: Once again, this relates almost identically to the previous blog about "risk and insurance." The only difference is the idea that in order to continue to decrease risk by specializing in more than one profession. High interest rates, village through deferral level ways to deal with the risk, moral hazards, and the context in general for a suggested "community insurance." These are all things that could be taken into consideration when potentially implementing insurance to the people of Sudan through their strong localized governments.

Risk and Insurance I

What I learned: The lesson begins by discussing global and local financial crises. It discusses the characteristic of these crises in places like Thailand (in 1998) and India. It then goes into more depth with the Southeast Asian crises on 1998. The devaluing of money, the inflation in the price of basic goods such as rice, etc. It talks about how the farmers were actually the most well off during these times, and the majority of those who suffered were the ones with "good" jobs like teachers, government members, etc. It talks about how the risk is so much different for urban workers and rural farmers. The risk is then discussed. Famers have a LOT of risks. Bad harvest is the biggest one, resulting in issues with rainfall, pests, varying income, etc. There is also a risk for those employed as "casual workers". Those who work on a day to day basis and don't have a steady income through a "nailed down" job. There's also the ones with the steady jobs, contract, and steady income. They don't have a lot of risk when it comes to their job security, but their risk comes with inflation and a suffering economy where they may be laid off or have a more difficult time surviving the economic downturn. It's then discussed how when under situations for potential risk, the people are uneducated and poor decisions regarding their job and source of income are made. Their lack of education makes these situations even harder and more negatively impactful on their lives. Of course, coping with this risk can also be a huge issue. There's the risk itself, which may be inevitably powerful (in a bad way), but how do they cope and recover? They don't. It's too difficult. This relates to the poverty trap idea, where once this risk has occurred it's difficult to develop a successful solution to cope and respond to its occurrence. Insurance is briefly discussed. The pros, cons, and overall the demand for it in these countries so that this huge risk can be taken away.

How it relates: This relates to my paper that I wrote for the World Food Prize greatly. Of course, government was my topic and played a huge role in developing my paper. All of the risks that every person (for the most part) in a developing country faces are serious. In the U.S. of course we have economic risks also. Who doesn't? The difference is the insurance that we have to cover these risks. With more research, I could see if these risks previously discussed directly relate to Sudan. If not, which risks do. From then, once my small scale governments are proving to be more successful, insurance could be a great idea to help the overall lifestyle and success of the Sudanese people. Like I said though, at this point the governments would have to be very successful and be able to fund such a thing. Economic prosperity would need to be on the rise.

Gender Discrimination

What I learned: The world has 4% more women than men. EXCEPT in North Africa and Korea... what is happening to those women? These "missing women" in Sub-Saharan Africa are living in the poorest parts of the world. The reason that this region is the only region with more men then woman is because of childbirth. These regions are so poor, that childbirth is a humongous cause of death for women. Even leading to less women than men. So... what's the answer? More development? That isn't always plausible. These ratios of infant mortality and dying mothers is increasing, therefore, it continues to get worse as time goes on. "Stopping rules" are discussed, which would be what China's one child policy is. The question is, how would these ever be implemented in Sub-Saharan Africa? Though family sizes are much too large, the social aspects and "benefits" of childbirth tell these individuals that they need to have more children. China was developed enough that this plan was somewhat successful in slowing down their population overload. Another contributing factor to the "less women" phenomenon is the assumption that women (since they are typically smaller than men) need less to eat, so you feed them less. This isn't supposedly an attempt to kill them off, rather a tradition.

How it relates: This relates to the paper I developed about government and hunger in Sudan slightly, but not as much as others. Mothers not surviving though child birth is an issue in Sudan, absolutely. However, when I was conducting my primary research for my paper, it was not one of the main factors that seemed like a significant concern at the time. This could be because I was primarily researching food security and government, but, I don't recall deaths during childbirth ever coming up as a significant issue throughout my research. I'm sure it is an issue within the rural communities, however, and once again if the small scale governments I suggested began to become increasingly successful, assistance with mothers surviving child birth could be something else that could be included.

What drives fertility decisions?

What I learned: The discussion opens with talking about what the main determinant of family size is The first factor is social. It is what the community thinks is right, what the country thinks is right, and what their husband thinks is right. The other factor is the cost and benefits of having sex. A majority of fertility decisions are fueled by social learning. A humongous example of the social learning factor that plays into fertility decisions is the "telenovelas" in Brazil. This is a soap opera that became extremely popular on television (first in urban areas, then spread to rural areas as well). Since the soap opera aired, the amount of children being had by women has gone down. Also, a lot of the children being born are named after characters on the show. The show depicts families with less children, that maybe even possibly promote not having so many children, and the effects are significant. An experiment was cast in which school uniforms were purchased for students in a specific country in Africa. The results were that these students, because they were provided with a school uniform, stayed in school longer. Then, sex-ed was implemented. Teachers were very hesitant to speak about sex and STD's. When done, however, the amount of pregnancies declined. How do families decide to have children? Specifically, the mother and father. The decisions are either made by the entire family discussing it as a whole, or one of the family members making the decisions. When it comes down to it, views within the family are almost always going to be different. Men and women have much different views on how many children they want and the benefits that will really come from that. This isn't surprising since women have to bear the children and go through all of the difficult procedures of having the children. Within the family some could be more interested in other things (like education), be more or less patient, or be more interested in furthering their family in something other than the amount of children they have. Of course, income is then discussed and the large role it plays as well.

How it relates: This relates almost identically to the previous blog I wrote about family planning and family size. When possibly in Sudan implementing these changes within the amount of children all of these families are having, it is now much more clear about the thought process behind families and why they have so many children, the huge social aspect, and different views even within a family (that the whole family doesn't decide to ramp up the amount of kids they have). This could all be tremendously helpful information when it possibly came to lessening the amount of children that are conceived in Sudan.

Somewhat unorthodox findings on the family

What I learned: The first pillar of population policy is the worldwide tendency on the topic of families is that poorer families are larger families. The second pillar is that poorer families means that you have to spend less on your children. Poorer families are unable to control fertility because of lack of access to birth control. This is important because these things are all considered when policies on family and population are created. There needs to be a way of controlling population and family size (sterilization, etc.) without forcefully sterilizing men (like happened in India) and forcing everybody to have one child like in China. It discusses Thomas Malthus' theory that the number of people would out compete the amount of food that we have on planet earth. Obviously this theory was incorrect. It discusses that his theory is still applicable in some ways, however, such as we only have so much land to use so eventually when it is all used up and the population is still growing by so much then we could run into food shortages, but not for a very long time. The main issue with Malthus' theory is that he left no space for innovation. With all of the innovation that has occurred, his theory coming true seems impossible. This goes for families and family planning... innovations could be the solution. Quality vs. Quantity of children is discussed. In having so many children, that is a lot of separate bodies competing within one family for resources, parental attention, money, time, etc. If one "quality" child was born, and had all of the families resources, parental attention, money, time, etc. wouldn't having that ONE child be much more helpful than having so many and hoping they all contribute? The question is, why do we care? We care because in the past, unsuccessful plans have been implemented to try to control growing family populations. China, Israel, and India, are all examples of failures (to one degree or another) in controlling population of families. Access to contraception, and again, innovation included in that could be a potential solution as well.

How it relate: This can strongly be related to my paper that I wrote about government and food security in Sudan. In Sudan, I suggested small scale governments to be implemented and strengthened. Once they can take care of the basic needs of food and water, overpopulation among families is a huge issue in Sudan. Outside of the capital city Khartoum the average family size is 6 to 7 people. Even inside the city it's 3 to 4. Assistance with lowering the amount of children that all of these Sudanese mothers are having could be a wonderful advance to be focused on, after the initial plans of restoring the government (to a certain degree) and making sure people are fed.

Beyond Supply and Demand Wars

What I learned: The discussion begins with the widely accepted statement "Education is beneficial for those who receive it." It then moves to the fact that there is simply a lack of sufficient evidence in poverty-stricken countries that have been examined to uphold this statement. It speaks of education being a long term investment. The rate of return in education is good. It speaks of the returns that come with education, that are proven to improve the quality of life and have a positive effect. The question is then raised "If most people know education is a good thing, why is attendance to school so low and why do people avoid education?" The answer is that they're thinking in the moment, in whats best for right now. They aren't thinking about what'll benefit them the most in the future. Parents tend to think of education as a tunnel. While you're in the education tunnel, nothing good will happen. When you come out, possibilities will be greatly increased. But it isn't until you come out of the tunnel that the opportunities present themselves to you. While you're in the tunnel, you're useless. The benefits of education aren't just the potential job at the end of the tunnel. The benefits are everything that can be learned and bettered within everyday life because of an ability to read and write and even think in better terms. Some parents refuse to put their children in school (or take them out soon after they enroll them) because they don't believe they're smart enough or they match up to their peers. This is actually a terrible predictor of how smart someone will be or how well they will do at such a young age.  Stereotype threat, peer relationships, teachers, and educational policies all play a huge part as well.

How it relates: This relates to the same thing as the previous blog, since it's still on the topic of education. More specifically, however, if the small scale governments were to provide assistance to the educational systems, the things listed above would greatly assist them in knowing what to do. As previously mentioned, it is extremely difficult to implement a successful education system that has huge effects, but if (in my scenario) the Sudanese governments were able to help the education programs, this information could help them do so in an attractive manor.

How to make schools work for the poor

What I learned: The discussion begins with a country which has nearly 100% of its children enrolled in school, but it states that the achievement is low. Although children are in school, they lack the ability to read and write even after a few years of school (first, second, third grade). A little less than half of the kids enrolled in standard 3 to 5 can't read a sentence. The curriculum that is being taught to the students is not sticking, and they are not comprehending it fully. Though so many students are enrolled, the attendance is low. The rate of absence for children is typically thirty to fifty percent. Some of the teachers (that aren't absent that day) don't teach every day either. The schools are very baron. Less desks than students, a few textbooks, and  of course no technology. More textbooks, according to a study, wouldn't have that huge of an effect. An abundance of changes have attempted to have been made regarding the education system, and yet nothing has been proven to be greatly successful.

How it relates: This, again, being on the topic of education, doesn't relate as much to my paper about Sudan and government. One way it could relate to the government aspect however, is that the government could help with the little existing educational platforms in the country if said government was improved. In my paper I spoke of small governments directly assisting agriculture once their "feet were in the ground" and they were stable. Of course, that was because my topic was food security to go along with education. However, it is necessary for a country to make leaps in education if they want to climb out of poverty. Along with the changes and help to agriculture, these small scale governments that I suggested in my paper could help in benefiting and implementing education at a more successful level as well. To do this, however, it would have to be done CORRECTLY. As this lesson and previous lessons made very clear.