Bulgaria & Chad in Guatemala
28. Jul, 2008 
5 Comments
An article in a recent edition of Prensa Libre, one of Guatemala’s main newspapers, gives some striking data on the level of inequality in Guatemala. That’s not, in itself, news. Many reports over the years have characterized Guatemala as among the most unequal nations in Latin America, and Latin America among the most unequal regions in the world. And newspapers here frequently run stories about the poverty and inequality in Guatemala. What was noteworthy about this Prensa Libre story is how they expressed it, apparently drawing from a new report by the United Nations Development Program.
The UNDP calculates a Human Development Index to measure and compare the overall quality of life in countries around the world. According to the article, Guatemala City would rank alongside the country of Bulgaria in its Human Development Index [53 out of 177 nations], while the village of Jocotán would fit in next to the African nation of Chad [170 of 177]. Not that it makes much difference, but Bulgaria and Chad are 1,500 miles apart on two different continents, while Jocotán is a village less than 80 miles northeast of the capitol.
Along with a number of other measures of inequality, the article quotes the UNDP report author as lamenting that “Guatemala has neither a strategy for reducing inequality nor a plan for national development.” That got me thinking. While it would be a wildly self-aggrandizing exaggeration to say that Common Hope has a national development plan, we do have a strategy to reduce inequality and promote development, at least on the local level.
I don’t have precise data on this at hand, but using ballpark figures about average incomes and education costs, you could easily argue that the direct support we provide families in school fees and highly-subsidized medical care alone are equivalent to at least a 50% effective increase in household income. In some cases, the saved out-of-pocket expenses would surpass the family’s total real income.Since inequality is generally measured by income, that effect would make a significant impact on the level of inequality. And if you add in the value of social work, tutoring, housing, and other services, the effect would be greater still.
This is a more complex topic than the space of a single blog entry can address [in fact I meant to post this out Thursday but couldn't figure how to wrap up the package, so I'm going with what I got and will come back to it later]. And solving the problems facing Guatemala is in no way a simple affair, but I wanted to make the point that it’s not true that there are no plans to address inequality and poverty. True, the government isn’t in position to roll out the Common Hope model nationwide, and neither are we. But reducing inequality and laying the foundation for better lives isn’t a mystery. It can be done. We’ve proved that.
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I appreciated the new angle and fresh take on some of these long standing issues. I felt like the statistical story you took us on was easy to follow and illustrates what an impact Common Hope’s work can have on the children and families they partner with.
What is the population of Guatemala, and what is the GDP? How does this compare to the US?
Minor detail. HDI and inequality are two different things. Inequality is typically measured by the GINI index. In all studies Guatemala is also high on the GINI index (wealth is concentrated in a few hands) as well as low on the HDI (human development index).
I think this can be taken another step to complete and make the case even more compelling
1. Guatemala is a poor country..among the poorest in some areas.
2. Common Hope provides a significant increase in Household income. Jeff
estimates 50% or more.
3. And, the help that Common Hope provides helps people pull themselves from poverty..it is truly life changing..a hand up, not a hand out.
The last point is , for me, a strong motivator to give and support
Common Hope
John
Good site I \”Stumbledupon\” it today and gave it a stumble for you.. looking forward to seeing what else you have..later