This past weekend, as I was sitting in one of the “Breakout Sessions” at the Global Missions Health Conference in Louisville, Kentucky, it suddenly occurred to me.

Think of it this way: It was as if I had been spent hours and hours staring at an acclaimed piece of abstract art, wondering what made it so special, when, amazingly, in a stunning revelation, I realized what it was.

For a moment, I reveled in my mental accomplishment. I felt like I had figured out a piece of the public health puzzle. I wanted to sketch my message on a white board just like the famous 1992 Clinton campaign saying: “It’s the economy stupid.” But instead of that message, I would write my most recent revelation:

“It’s All About the Women”

Because it is. Public health (and, for the most part, health in general) is all about the women.

Let’s go over the basics:

(1)    In the majority of situations, who is the primary health care provider in the household? Women

(2)    In the majority of situations, who controls the cleanliness of the household? Women

(3)    In the majority of situations, who prepares the food and water for the household? Women

So, if we look at public health from this perspective, suddenly it seems that women have direct influence over three crucial factors in public health: (a) Primary Care, (b) Cleanliness/Sanitation, and (c) Food & Water.

It’s All About the Women

Public health programs need to target women in order to maximize their effectiveness. Educational initiatives ought to begin with women (the real “heads of the household”) in order to catch on and spread throughout the community. Similarly, micro-finance programs ought to be targeted towards women and their entrepreneurial goals.

Some might argue that women shouldn’t have to be responsible for the health of the household. To this point, I’d agree. Women should be given the opportunity to receive a high-quality education and should be promoted to positions of leadership (including political representation) in their communities. They should be provided with the power and opportunity to pursue whatever goals they desire.

Nonetheless, public health policy-makers would be remiss to overlook the current critical importance of women. It Really Is All About the Women… Stupid

This is part of a series we hope to maintain on the Watchdog blogs, specifically alerting individuals to issues affecting young men in development. We will certainly be writing extensively on gender affecting both men, women, and those in between in other blogs, but hopefully others will find these entries valuable to explore concerns affecting men that have otherwise remained invisible in international development work.

As the world has broadcast overwhelming attention to the recent US election and win of Sen. Barack Obama, little notice has been paid to status of terrorist groups that provoked the current intervention in Iraq and War on Terror. Indeed, CIA director Michael Hayden reported this week that while Osama bin-Laden may be cut off from the daily operations al-Qaeda, the organization still poses a significant threat against the United States. Furthermore, he notes that al-Qaeda’s influence has grown in the Middle East and Africa, with special attention to the surge of support in Somalia and Algeria, where extremist groups in both areas have joined with al-Qaeda.

Although gendered perspectives are often applied exclusively to women and girls (sometimes by feminists themselves), I am perplexed as I consider the possibilities facing young men around the globe today. In the aftermath of 9/11, some writers, such as Lionel Tiger, have focused on the specific role of young, Muslim males in recruitment of terrorist organizations, such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Yet questions about young men have dissipated over the past seven years, despite the fact that recruitment has increased within ‘Islamist’ terrorist organizations and that young remain important, though invisible, in all parts of the world. In his article from 2001, Tiger, a professor of anthropology, writes,

One of the most difficult tasks for any social system is figuring out what to do with its young males. These are invariably the most impressionable, energetic, socially exigent, and politically inept members of any group. They cause trouble for their elders and ruthlessly hassle each other. They pose chronic danger to public order when they drive, drink and take drugs.

Though Tiger’s article highlights the dilemmas young Muslim men face (granted, in a problematic way that seems to generalize young men while ignoring that men of many cultures also face difference challenges and influences), he is correct to recognize that young males are vital as well as vulnerable in populations.

But then why do we (as students, academics and practitioners) continuously forget young men? In development work, the focus remains on providing services and assistance to vulnerable populations such as ‘women’ and ‘children’. Don’t we see that highlight ‘women’ and ‘children’ as vulnerable creates distinctions that girls and women are forever victims while ‘men’, rather than boys, can never be victimized? While this type of thinking is problematic for too many reasons to count, at its fundamental roots, conceptualizing male identity without vulnerability is simply an inaccurate depiction. It is essential that international development projects directly incorporate the potential of young men, especially in African countries where militancy and violence can be attractive and overbearing influences. Arguably, focusing specific and directed attention on young men and boys may even be ways to stop and prevent conflicts, depending on what techniques are used.

Focusing on young men is certainly not to suggest that women and girls are not important or vulnerable populations. It is crucial, however, that academics and practitioners alike recognize that young men face their own challenges that also need targeted solutions and assistance. And as more organizations that recruit civilians into militias creep into the African continent (on top of the ones that were already there), it is truly important that international development practices create safe, sustainable spaces for young men to participate in their communities outside of violence.

SCOUT BANANA, in conjunction with Michigan State University’s African Studies Center and Office of International Development, invites you to submit a manuscript to Articulate: Undergraduate Scholarship Applied to International Development.

Articulate is a new undergraduate scholarly journal that publishes academic papers and writings (research papers, field work, interviews, etc.) on issues in international development, focusing primarily on African studies and health care issues. Articulate seeks to educate, motivate, and activate the public about its mission and vision working towards solutions for Africa’s health care crisis.

Our journal focuses on relationships between development, foreign aid, health care and Africa. Articulate is a forum for students to contribute to, as well as make, the debates in international development. Undergraduate students remain a vital, untapped force that can bring new ideas, perspectives, and concepts into the development dialogue. Our goal is to spark, share, and spread knowledge to create innovative change now.

Articulate is peer-reviewed by an editorial committee consisting of undergraduate students. Editorial decisions are based on relevance, quality, and originality. We ask for submissions that are roughly 10-15 pages long and formatted in the Chicago Manual of Style. In addition, we ask that the author’s name, major, college, and university appear on a separate cover sheet, with no reference to the author within the manuscript.

Potential topics, include, but are not limited to:
The effectiveness of foreign aid
Intersections of gender, ethnicity, and sexuality in African development
Comparative studies of health care systems
Ethics and development in African countries
Land rights reform/redistribution as a development policy
Historical analysis of development programs in Africa
Politics of water in Africa
The role of African youth in development programs and projects
Effects of conflict and forced migration on health care and development

Papers will be accepted on a rolling deadline until September 15th with an intended publication date of November 23rd 2008. For submissions or more information, please contact the Editor-in-Chief at articulate@scoutbanana.org. Click for more information on SCOUT BANANA.

Not an undergraduate student? Paper too long? Still want to get your ideas published as a volunteer or researcher in the field? Inquire about the Banana Tree Papers at: banana@scoutbanana.org

Launched in September at Michigan Technological University (MTU) with the Michigan Organization of Residence Halls Associations (MORHA).

Charity:Water and SCOUT BANANA believe that access to clean water is a basic human right, and this year, 2007, we are doing something about it. Charity:Water was founded in 2006 and since has provided people with clean drinking water through construction and rehabilitation projects on wells. Through on-the-ground organizations Charity:Water has built 158 wells in five African countries that will give close to 100,000 people clean drinking water. SCOUT BANANA is an organization dedicated to providing access to basic health care. Access to clean water is extremely important to being and staying healthy as 80% of all sickness is due to unsafe water. In Michigan, we take for granted that we are surrounded by the world’s largest source of freshwater. The Great Lakes hold enough water for each of the 300 million people of the US to have 19 million gallons of water. Between 2000 and 2004, Michigan increased its water use by 1 billion gallons per day (gpd), to almost 11 billion gpd, or 4 trillion gallons per year, with 81% being withdrawn by power plants. This is enough to cover the entire land area of Michigan with 4 inches of water. 89% of water withdrawn in Michigan comes from Great Lakes sources. The remaining 11% comes from inland surface and groundwater sources (DEQ 2004 Report). There is a term in water management known as “unaccounted for” water. This is treated water that leaks from faulty pipes and is completely wasted. This water, ready for usage, that leaks from pipes every year in Detroit alone would be enough to give every person in the combined countries of the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Liberia, Malawi, and Uganda with 297 gallons of treated water. (www.uswaternews.com, August 2002). In Africa just $20 can give a person clean water for 20 years. The estimated cost of the leak is $23 million worth of water that never reaches homes and businesses, this could provide over one million people with the clean water they so desperately need.

Charity:Water Facts
• Over 1.1 billion people on the planet do not have access to clean drinking water.
• 42,000 people will die this week from disease related to poor drinking water. 90 percent of them will be children under age 5.
• A child dies from unsafe water every 15 seconds.
• 80 percent of all sickness on the planet is caused by unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation. It kills 2.2 million people every year. That’s more than all forms of violence, including war.
• Millions of women in developing countries walk 3 miles every day, to get water is likely to make them sick.

Bobi, Uganda
The first six wells built and rehabilitated by Charity:Water were in the war-torn region of northern Uganda. In the village of Bobi, 31,000 people now have access to clean water. Here is the story from Charity:Water founder, Scott Harrison.
“20 years of war displaced nearly two million people in Northern Uganda. Seeking solace from Joseph Kony’s rebel soldiers, they gathered in camps for safety. Bobi is the largest IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camp in the Gulu Province. When I visited in August, I found 31,638 people living there. They drank from only one working well. On October 24th our partners on the ground in Northern Uganda used those contributions to begin work in Bobi. The rehabilitation of 3 broken hand pumps and 3 newly constructed wells were completed in November. Water committees were formed and trained to maintain the new water sources. The wells have transformed the lives of the 31,638 men, women and children living there. Bobi, one of the most hopeless and depressing places I’ve ever visited in Africa, now looks to the future with hope and health.”

Uganda Facts
(CIA, The World Factbook)
• Slightly smaller than Oregon with a population of over 30,250,000.
• Life expectancy at birth is approximately 52 years.
• The high rates of HIV/AIDS have significantly increased mortality, impacting life expectancy and population.
• There is a very high risk for contracting waterborne diseases including: bacterial infections, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever.
• 35% of the population lives below the poverty line with average income at $1,500.
• The country hosts over 250,000 refugees from Sudan, the DRC, and Rwanda, along with 1 million internally displaced peoples (IDPs).
• Agriculture employs 80% of the workforce. The major export of the country is coffee.

To Fetch A Pail of Water
Of all the water on earth, 97.5% is salt water. The remaining 2.5% is fresh water, 70% is frozen in the polar ice caps and the other 30% is soil moisture or lies in underground aquifers. In all, less than 1% of the world’s fresh water is readily accessible for direct use. Moreover, there is a natural inequity in resource distribution that allows some countries to be rich in water, while others struggle.

On Thursday October 23rd Michigan State University’s chapter of SCOUT BANANA hosted our main event of the semester, Capture the Banana. The event was a take on a traditional game of capture the flag with real bananas used as “flags”. We played in the area surrounding Beaumont Tower on campus with sidewalks and roads as boundaries. Yearbook staff was there to take pictures as the yellow and red teams, distinguished by colored arm bands, hid their bananas and began to play. Our first game began at 7 and lasted about an hour, with the second game lasting 30 minutes.

One especially entertaining part of our version of capture the flag was the live banana (a chapter member in a banana suit) running around the area every few minutes. If you tagged the banana all your prisoners were set free. At the end of the event every player received prizes donated from local businesses including free burrito or coffee coupons and t-shirts from the bookstore, making the event charge of 3 dollars per player definitely worth it.

After purchasing fabric for armbands, bananas, and raffle tickets, it only cost about 12 dollars for our club to host this event. We began advertising two weeks in advance with flyers on and around campus and a Facebook event. We expected about 100 people to come play but our actual count was 30. Unfortunately we were competing with an Invisible Children event on campus the same night!

Capture the Banana was a very easy event to put together with a lot of appeal for college students looking for a fun and slightly ridiculous way to spend their evening. Participants also had the opportunity to add their names to our listserve to get more information about our chapter meetings and activities. Finally, we are happy to report that only one banana was squished in the planning and playing of this game.