In America, we probably would not be able to function without instant Internet access or our technological devices. Believe it or not, the luxuries that we claim as everyday vices are slowly being introduced in to rural villages in sub-Saharan Africa by the United Nations (UN) through the concept of Millennium Villages.
As reported by The Associated Press, Millennium Villages serve as hubs to introduce assistance and simple technology to places and act as one method that the U.N. has chosen to advance its Millennium Development Goals of reducing global poverty and increasing educational opportunity, gender equality and health by 2015.
There are 14 of these innovative communities scattered around 10 different countries in Africa. One such example of a Millennium Village exists in Dertu, Kenya.
Dertu can be described as a village of straw huts in the middle of a desert, somewhat isolated from surrounding areas. Communication is at a standstill as there is little electricity and no television. The water well draws many people, and it was built by UNICEF only 13 years ago.
If farmers wanted information about crops or market prices, they would have to travel for hours. About 70 percent of Dertu's people earn less than $1 a day, and most depend on food aid.
Thanks to the Millennium Village initiative, though, Dertu now has a cell phone tower where people can communicate via text messages instead of making day trips for information. There are other improvements as well: four new health care workers, free medicines and vaccines, a birthing center and laboratory under construction and bed nets to ward off mosquitoes.
School attendance has doubled for boys and tripled for girls, and there are high school scholarships and a dorm for boys. Each village gets $120 in spending per person per year - half from the villages' project and the rest from the government or aid groups.
Even with the advancements, the Millennium Villages are still a polarizing topic: "A lot has to be done still to meet the Millennium Development Goals. A lot has been done and for that we are thankful," said Ibrahim Ali Hassan, a 60-year-old village elder with dyed red hair who waves a cell phone in his hand as he talks.
Of the complainers, he remarks:
"They think now that we are a Millennium Village they will be built a house with an ocean view."
Mohamed Ahmed Abdi, 58, heads the Millennium Village Committee and acts as a liaison between the project and the villagers. He gripes that there are too few teachers, and that the well water is salty and unhealthy: "There is a difference between what we have been told and what really exists. We have been told that 'Your village is the Millennium Village.' We have been told that 'You will get roads, electricity, water and education,'" he said.
The U.N. is planning to review the success of its Millennium Development Goals at a summit during the week of September 20th since the goals were set 10 years ago. The man behind the project is Jeffrey Sachs, a Columbia University economist who serves as special adviser to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on the Millennium Development Goals.
Sachs readily acknowledges that Dertu hasn't made a breakthrough, calling it "one of the most difficult venues on the whole planet." But he points to other advances in lifting villages out of extreme poverty:
Sachs readily acknowledges that Dertu hasn't made a breakthrough, calling it "one of the most difficult venues on the whole planet." But he points to other advances in lifting villages out of extreme poverty:
"I think on the whole they've been a tremendous success, not only in what they are accomplishing on the ground but also opening eyes to what can be accomplished more generally," Sachs told The Associated Press. "They're a proving ground of how to create effective systems in health, education, local infrastructure, business development and agriculture."
Additionally, Sachs notes that Nigeria plans to adopt the idea of the Millennium Village and launch a major initiative to increase its reach to 20-million people. The real truth is that the concept of Millennium Village was developed to be embraced by the residents and expand the concept of assistance to a much wider audience.
Nicolas van de Walle, a fellow at the Center for Global Development and a professor at Cornell University, is an open critic of the Millennium Villages:
"In general, I think these villages are largely a gimmick and a substantial waste of money." The idea that if you spend a lot of money on poor villagers in Kenya, their lives will improve, is not seriously in doubt. The real issue is how to do this at a national level, in a sustainable way that builds individual and institutional capacity, empowers citizens and their democratically elected governments. It seems to me that in that sense the villagers have failed."
For this year at least, there have been some tangible results reflected in the increased use of preventive medical care, such as mosquito nets, decrease in malaria rates and chronic malnutrition, increase in crop production and delivery of babies by health care professionals across all 14 villages.
Even with the successes in Dertu, the need still exists. Because the expectation for Millennium Village was so high, the demand for services has outpaced the community's growth, leading to more sophisticated problems. There have also been allegations of corruption. Sofia Ali Guhad, the head teacher at the Dertu school, reflects the problem of exaggerated expectations and the pitfalls of success:
"The expectation was very high for the community, but we have received very little," Guhad said. Still later on she added, "Life is good. In fact it has improved. They are assisting us as much as they can."
Additionally, Sachs notes that Nigeria plans to adopt the idea of the Millennium Village and launch a major initiative to increase its reach to 20-million people. The real truth is that the concept of Millennium Village was developed to be embraced by the residents and expand the concept of assistance to a much wider audience.
Nicolas van de Walle, a fellow at the Center for Global Development and a professor at Cornell University, is an open critic of the Millennium Villages:
"In general, I think these villages are largely a gimmick and a substantial waste of money." The idea that if you spend a lot of money on poor villagers in Kenya, their lives will improve, is not seriously in doubt. The real issue is how to do this at a national level, in a sustainable way that builds individual and institutional capacity, empowers citizens and their democratically elected governments. It seems to me that in that sense the villagers have failed."
For this year at least, there have been some tangible results reflected in the increased use of preventive medical care, such as mosquito nets, decrease in malaria rates and chronic malnutrition, increase in crop production and delivery of babies by health care professionals across all 14 villages.
Even with the successes in Dertu, the need still exists. Because the expectation for Millennium Village was so high, the demand for services has outpaced the community's growth, leading to more sophisticated problems. There have also been allegations of corruption. Sofia Ali Guhad, the head teacher at the Dertu school, reflects the problem of exaggerated expectations and the pitfalls of success:
"The expectation was very high for the community, but we have received very little," Guhad said. Still later on she added, "Life is good. In fact it has improved. They are assisting us as much as they can."