Tag Archives: Travel

Cash Grants – A Poor WoMan’s Hope To Economic Recovery

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Lydia, a widow in her late 30's and with five (5) children to rear, lives in one of the poorest rural places in South East Asia. Just like majority of the women in the said place, Lydia is a homemaker used to spending most of her time attending to their young children's needs even during the time when her husband was still strong to till the soil of their landlord. Despite the hardships however, Lydia and her husband were happy and contented with what they have, with the only one full meal a day, and even without the basic needs for their children. But their happy humble days was cut short, Lydia was left alone, she was in “limbo” and didn't know how to cope with the sad situation. She had no choice but to learn to face the problem with the help of a community worker in their place.

Lydia is accustomed to a slow-paced life in their town. Initially, she had no difficulty dealing with the family's acute austere life style, trying to act now as both the mother and father of the household. Without realizing what she was doing, without too much concern about the future of her children, she taught them about life, her own way, particularly on how to be satisfied and thankful for everything. Not being able to graduate elementary herself and naïve of the existing privileges and assistance provided by their Government to family like hers, she allowed her kids to grow and stay at home. Her oldest child for instance who is turning 10 yrs. old, has not been able to go to school as she has already been given a responsibility to take care of her younger siblings at a young age while their mother works at a neighbor's house as a household helper with a measly daily salary of less than $2/day, and without social security benefits. The community worker called her attention and discussed the matter with Lydia specifically on the right of her children to formal education and other health related services.

The foregoing depressing situation being experienced by Lydia's family  is not an isolated case. There are billions of people out there in distressed and poorer countries who are encountering the same problems as Lydia's, left with no choice but to be satisfied living with daily income of less than $2 or even worse, with only a dollar , or even less than that or with nothing at all. Can we blame these people, can we point a finger at and accuse them of making themselves miserable? For sure, if you will ask them, especially the rural poor, they will not complain, they will just coyly respond to you with a smile on their faces or sometimes their heads bowed down, and say “we're okay”, “we have been into this for a long time, we have been used to it”, we're truly thankful to God for our lives”, and so on and so forth. Believe me, the rural poor are on the conservative side, they are timid vis-a-vis the urban poor who are more conscious, vocal and assertive of their human rights.

The truth is, poor people just like Lydia, would not want to be poor all the time, all their lives. They didn't make it up. More so, they did not formulate a medium or long term plan on how to be “professional poor”. They have actually been dug in to the very bad situation that they are in, such that they find it very difficult to rise up in view of so many constraints, e.g. lack of resources, lack of education, lack of right connections, lack of opportunities or probably “lack of luck”. No person, in his right mind, would want or desire a life without food to eat, water to drink, clothes to wear, no access to education, healthcare and the like. Logic dictates that every person would want, at least, the basic necessities of life, much more for a quality life.

The aforesaid  observation is in response to certain groups who are still skeptical about the true character of a poor man, and still hesitant to share their wealth to these people because of the notion that poor people became who, what and where they are now primarily due to laziness. This is also in response to the claims of some political figures that cash grants are costly, a waste of time and money than other proposed legislative measures such as the   reproductive health bill. These are the same groups who have expressed reservations on certain Government-initiated programs that are expected to alleviate poverty in the short and long term.  One program which  still elicits opposing views in certain countries is the controversial so-called “Conditional Cash Transfers” (CCTs).

CCTs are considered as one of the financial tools available and provided by some Governments in collaboration with multilateral institutions such as the World Bank (WB) to the poorest of the poor in the society. It is one of the programs designed to help end poverty in certain countries, specifically by providing financial assistance, normally in the form of cash grants, to qualified poor beneficiaries, subject to certain terms and conditions. Basically, CCT is geared towards improvement in poor children's economic status as far as their education and heath care are concerned. The program has been in existence more than a decade ago and was first successfully implemented in Latin America, particularly in Brazil and Mexico. Based on WB impact studies and policy reports, CCT has had positive effects on poor households especially those with children such as, among others, in reducing poverty, in raising the utilization of education and preventive health services and also in household consumption (go to world bank website for further details).

In view of the successes and effective lessons learned from the Latin American's experience on CCT, other poor and developing countries such as that of Lydia's have followed suit and replicated the said program in their own native lands. As a matter of fact, advanced nations such as the United States, likewise tested this program but on a different context, on a much higher level. One example was the program initiated by NYC Mayor Bloomberg's office to promote quality learning for quality students by giving cash benefits or rewards to them should they be able to hurdle the State's Examinations. What a privilege! How lucky the NYC students are! However, the said arrangement appeared to have not much impact on the students as there were certain issues raised on this matter.

CCT likewise helps in empowering poor women in the society.   One of  the requirements of CCTs is that  the money is  to be released to  women, normally to mothers in the family. The mothers are given the responsibility to do the funds budgeting and spending in behalf of the kids for their daily school and health care needs. Normally, mothers are perceived to be nurturing and more concerned on their children. Remitting the funds directly to the older women (e.g. mothers) in the family was proven to be effective as the mothers were frugal than men. Some men are seen to be more care free based on observations in   certain environments where most of the men   spent a portion, if not all, of their earnings for drinking,  and other non-essential things.  However, such financial arrangement on releases may be hostile to some male egotists in the family and may have negative effects on them in the long run, affecting the children's welfare. 

Going back to Lydia's case, fortunately she was able to avail of the financial assistance with the help of their local community/social worker. Two of her kids are now enrolled in a public elementary school and used some of the money to buy school bags, uniform, slippers, shoes and other necessary school materials. All of their children have also been taken regularly to the health centers or clinics for physical examination and she started to buy milk and other nutritious food for her children. Without the CCTs and the help of their Government, Lydia would not be able to give her kids the right attention and care to them if she only relied on her own resources.  However, in addition to the money given to her family by the Government,  she got involved herself in livelihood programs where she is now  a member of a cooperative making roofing shingles from palm tree.

Using Lydia's family case as an example, CCT proved to be extraordinarily essential in her quest to make her children get out of poverty and at least taste what quality life is. She's now fully aware and has realized that CCT is not a form of mendicancy, that it would not be there forever, as such, she's really doubly working hard for her children's future.  Six (6) or seven (7)  yrs. henceforth, two of them will hopefully complete elementary grade, a start of their childhood dreams, maybe a form of investment on Lydia's part but it is the only legacy which she can leave to her children.

With the CCTs,  Lydia truly hopes that her family would be able to overcome their difficult yet challenging travel even on rough and chocolate roads to economic recovery!! 

Each Country Faces Brain Drain – Now, What?

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The Brain Drain phenomenon may have probably occurred even before the British Royal Society first coined the term to describe the flight of its intellectuals from England to the Americas. This would involve scientists and inventors like Joseph Priestly and Alexander Graham Bell who both originated from England but came to US to explore opportunities and expand their horizons But that was long ago when the world was still quite primitive and education system was scarce. However, with the present developments, particularly in science and technology and where education system can be offered anywhere, the brain drain issue may no longer be applicable. So, what's the current fuzz all about? Why do governments have to worry as of late about emigration of some of its skilled and talented citizens to seek greener pastures in other countries? Why waste enormous amounts of money discussing and doing research papers on the subject? There are various reasons why these people decide to leave and migrate, one of which is that they possibly want to utilize and hone their abilities to the full extent which their home country failed to offer, plain and simple. And I see nothing wrong with this. As Clark Gable had said in the movie, Gone with the Wind, “Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn”! May I say this famous movie script once again, candidly my dear readers, “I don't give a damn” on the opinion of some economic experts and policy makers that brain drain poses a threat to a country's economic development.

Coming from a country where unemployment rate is high and where talented people are underutilized primarily due to a massive over supply of high-skilled and educated manpower, the movement of “brains” from one country to another would have no adverse effect at all on the development of the home country's economy. I have not read of any impact studies undertaken by multilateral institutions like the World Bank that is comprehensive empirical enough to support that the departure of highly educated individuals has contributed to the poor economic performance of their home lands. What's hovering over the web instead are white papers, policy briefs,  and technical working documents undertaken by these institutions in collaboration with certain Governments indicating, among others, that many of educated workers in least developed countries in Africa, Asia, Central America and the Caribbean are flocking to rich developed countries transferring their technical know-how which allegedly can be bad to their native lands' economic growth.

The said findings are actually:

1.Unfair to those learned but underutilized people who exerted too much effort and suffered the pain felt at leaving their homelands, particularly their loved ones, only to start a home and earn a living in a place alien to them. For all we know, these people would even be able to substantially contribute, at the end of the day, in the Government's revenue generation efforts in view of their cash remittances. However, not all of the best and brightest minds who have migrated to other countries are able to land in a job commensurate to their qualifications as some of them are forced to accept relatively lower level occupations just so to earn something for their families, but still they are able to contribute in a way in solving their home country's unemployment problem. Examples are medical doctors who have migrated to an advanced nation and are employed as either nurses or teachers. I hope you still remember Ana in the previous blog article, the underemployed immigrant from Bulgaria who holds a Doctor of Philosophy and a Masters Degree in Engineering in their country's top university. She did not get the stellar job she longed for in the U.S. but she is now a Mathematics teacher, one of the noblest professions, in a prestigious private middle school in Manhattan. Economically and financially, this is still good for them as they are able to earn far better income than in their homelands, thus uplifting their standards of living and making them successful in money terms.

Similarly, there are also situations where brainy and highly skilled people of certain developing and developed countries are not needed and are not actually hired by employers as their salaries and perks demands are not met. Thus, they end up exploring in other countries to try their luck too and later become successful and probably have decided or will decide  to go back to their homelands to establish a business of their own. And this is what I call the visible gains of brain migration.

2.Unfair to those equally talented people who have remained to stay and serve their country and its people. Using the term “brain drain” as one of the causes for a country's economic failure is definitely not pleasing to some of them. It would only affect the self esteem of some of these people and may be unproductive to some extent.

That's what I'm trying to say, that there's nothing for Governments to fret about brain drain and its related variants. Exporting underutilized or untapped local manpower, high profile or not, is one clear effective and successful policy in steering the country's economic development. These successful overseas workforce bring home the bacon, so to speak, in the form of cash remittances to their families and relatives whereby the latter would spend the money for basic necessities and other services, thus helping their home countries economy afloat, fueling consumer spending and shoring up dollar reserves.

What Governments and the CEOs in the private sector could do rather with some of its personnel, especially the talented and scarce professionals (e.g. pilots, volcanologists, seismologists, medical specialists to some, etc.) whose unique knowledge requires regular technical upgrade, is to send them to further studies and trainings abroad to harness their potentials and for them to echo the knowledge gained to its subordinates. What is also imperative is for Governments to find ways and means to create jobs for its people to make them stay and be with their family.

At the back of my mind, I would like to believe that the current brain drain brouhaha could be a mere ploy or one of the scapegoats of some Governments to protect themselves from being accused of inefficiency. Why did I say this? In a country for instance where there are highly educated personnel but politics play a crucial role in tapping managers to head government agencies, you will find some competent bright people who are left untapped to pave the way for the so-called “best and the brightest “ allied to government administrations but have learned to become corrupt and greedy, thus creating an environment of inefficient government officials. We have heard stories that some of this so-called graduates of top-tiered schools have actually participated in squandering the resources of a particular government. And this is where brains are tested and easily corrupted. This kind of scenario is present in all Governments throughout the world, be in third world or industrialized nation, thus it could also happen in the future not only in the public arena but also in the private sector. It's not what you know but whom you know nowadays, which means that, if you have the right and influential connections, you will definitely have the competitive edge over the person who is far better than you.

I know someone previously connected with Government, a  very bright and technically well-equipped person, in fact he is even knowledgeable than his superiors as far as finance and IT related matters are concerned.  He introduced new innovations in the organization despite a measly salary  but because of his  low profile personality and not being affiliated to any political organizations, he was left behind as far as top managerial promotions are concerned.    He resigned from the organization, left the country and looked for his dream job.    Because of his qualifications, he got hired easily and is now happy with his newly found job, not to mention the  fruits of his labor.    What's saddening and ironical about this is that,  his previous Government organization hired a consultant to do the same project (since there was no one left who is well versed enough on the subject) and paid the man a hefty sum of money.  That's what you call stupidity in Government's spending and by the way decisions like this happen too in  private sector's boardrooms.

I would like to point out that given the choice and opportunity, a person would opt to remain in his native land as it brings joy to him/her to serve one's country. In situations, however ,where countries failed to provide the opportunity or could not afford to tap the talents or did not hire the person in lieu of a preferred individual, the person (intellectual or not) would be compelled to leave the country for survival. As such, Governments could probably  refrain from issuing pronouncements that “brain drain” allegedly has ill effects on its economy.

Note that each person has the right to travel and explore possible options in other countries . As a matter of fact, the UN itself is emphatic on the right of a person to migrate, regardless of one's status, whether skilled or unskilled. As such, no Governments can prevent an exceptionally talented person to leave the country and offer one's services in another country. Rather, Governments must do its responsibility and exert best efforts to entice its citizenry to stay and happily served their Mother land.  

Finally, this is my plea to all Governments, "Don't pass the buck"  to someone else.  Just do something to rectify any bad policies or wrong doings within the ranks.