Yr12 - Development - Mozambique - The Economy

Rather a useful documentary about the economy of Mozambique.

Very in-depth look at the economy of Mozambique - but it does give you some background on how the country may develop in the future.
Note its trade partners and the industry it is developing. Also the huge dependency it has on Agriculture (Farming) - this is obviously a very vulnerable sector (it could be damaged by extreme weather, flooding or drought!).

Yr12 - Reducing differences in development

Another of the big problems facing Mozambique is the fight against the spread of Aids (HIV).

Preventing the spread of Aids/HIV in Mozambique is vitally important when attempting to develop the country. Reducing the strain on the health care system and keeping people healthy is really the only way the economy of the country will develop.

The statistics shown below - taken from the United Nations website illustrate the full impact of this disease on the population of Mozambique.

HIV and AIDS estimates (2014)

Number of people living with HIV - 1.5 million

Adults aged 15-49 with HIV - 10.6%

Women aged 15 and up living with HIV - 830'000

Children aged 0-14 living with HIV - 160'000

Death due to AIDS - 45'000

Orphans due to AIDS - 610'000

UNICEF has been attempting to make sure that women are educated about HIV and how to prevent the spread of AIDS and HIV.

Yr12 - Reducing differences in Development

You are likely to get a question on how we can reduce the differences between one country and another. This is normally the last question in the assessment paper and one that traditionally people struggle with! However, if you know your case study, it can be one of the easiest :)

Some general things that can be done globally to help reduce the differences between one country and another are listed below.

Trade – The action of buying and selling goods and services.

Market access – Allowing all countries to sell and buy goods without any restrictions.

Fairtrade – Ensuring that countries get paid a fair price for their food.

Debt Relief – Writing off or reducing the money owed by poor countries.

Aid – Supplying food, water, labour, technology to those countries that need help.

Remittances – People working abroad who send money home to their country.

Remember this video we watched in class about dropping the debt?

Or this one on Fairtrade?

Both of these videos are examples of what can be done generally to reduce the differences between one country and another.

However you will need to also give specific examples of things that can be done to improve life for people in Mozambique.

1. Reduce the spread of Malaria.

Malaria is a life-threatening blood disease caused by parasites and is transmitted to humans by the mosquitoes. Once bitten, parasites multiply in the host's liver before infecting and destroying red blood cells.

Malaria is the leading killer of children in Mozambique. About 36,000 children die from malaria every year and the disease accounts for 40 per cent of all out-patient consultations and up to 60 per cent of in-patients in paediatric wards.  

There are three principal ways in which malaria can contribute to death in young children. First, an overwhelming acute infection, which frequently manifests as seizures or coma, may kill a child directly and quickly.  

Second, repeated malaria infections contribute to the development of severe anaemia, which substantially increases the risk of death.

Third, low birth weight – frequently the consequence of malaria infection in pregnant women – is a major risk factor for death in the first month of life.  

One of the best ways to prevent malaria, together with house spraying with insecticides, is to sleep at night under an insecticide-treated bed net or the newer long-lasting insecticidal nets, which do not need retreatment. Mozambique has a widespread programme for the distribution and promotion of insecticide-treated mosquito nets.

Between 2000 and 2009, UNICEF (United Nations Internationsal Childrens Emergency Fund - an NGO (Non Governmental Organisation)) supported the distribution of 2.9 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets to pregnant women, children under five, orphaned and vulnerable children and people living with HIV across the country, out of a total of over 6 million nets distributed by various partners.

By 2009, pregnant women in all provinces except Maputo received a long-lasting insecticide treated mosquito nets through antenatal services.

The UNICEF-supported programme complements the government’s Indoor Residual Spraying programme.

The insecticide-treated mosquito nets are distributed free of charge to pregnant women through routine antenatal care services in health facilities and to children under five through health campaigns.

UNICEF has worked with the Ministry of Health and a range of partners to develop a cost effective strategy of mosquito nets distribution at district level under the management of District Health Teams.

How will this help to reduce the differences between Mozambique and other countries?
How will this improve the life of people in Mozambique?

• Reduce the number of deaths from Malaria.
• Reduce the spread of disease by mosquitoes.
• Allow people to grow up healthy and work to earn money and improve their country.
• Reduce the amount of money spent on health care which can be spent elsewhere to improve the country.

You could also discuss the policies that are attempting to reduce the spread of Aids which I will post about at a later date.

This Article on Mozambique becoming land mine free was only published earlier this month and describes how the country has just been declared land mine free. This is likely to have a huge impact on the ability of the country to develop. It means that people can now use all of their land without worrying about the risk of being blown up! Could allow them to develop the land and their economy at an increasing rate and therefore improve their level of development. Could be worth mentioning in the assessment!

Yr12 - Historical Factors Affecting Development - Mozambique vs New Zealand

Historical Factors - Mozambique

• Mozambique was colonised by the Portuguese in 1498.
• They turned the indigenous population into slaves and took a lot of the countries wealth in the form of gold and ivory.
• From 1964-1974 - Mozambique War of Independence. Anti-colonial viewpoints spread across Africa and the widespread belief that the white European population were still gaining benefits that would never reach the indigenous population, war broke out and the fight for independence began.
• 1975 - Mozambique became independent from Portugal. Within the year 250,000 Portuguese left the country. (some were forced to leave by the new Mozambique Government and only allowed to take what they could carry - other left before this independently).
• 1977-1992 - Mozambique Civil War. The new independent government was a Marxist one (belief that everyone is equal and wealth should be spread evenly) and was supported by Cuba and the Soviet Union. Opposition groups were formed who did not want the country run in this way and a long and violent civil war began. South Africa and other nearby countries kept the conflict going by supplying weapons and supporting resistance fighters.
• 1992 - Civil War ended. UN peace keeping force was initially sent. 
• 1993 - 1.5 million Mozambique refugees returned to the country from neighbouring countries they had fled to during the war and drought.
• 1994 - first democratic elections held.
• 2000 - Devastation cyclone hits the country. Caused widespread flooding and destroys infrastructure (roads, rail, power supplies, homes, businesses).

Historical Factors - New Zealand

• One of the last land masses settled by humans!
• Settled by eastern Polynesians between 1250-1300 (although these dates are disputed!)
• 1769 - British explorer James Cook discovered the country. Whalers and sealers followed. Then many European settlers!
• 1801-1840 - Musket wars between Maori tribes killed 30-40,000 Maori.
• 1840 - Treaty of Waitangi signed - NZ became a British Colony.
• 1860-1870 - New Zealand land wars - due to confiscation of Maori land as more and more European Settlers arrived.
• 1907 - NZ became a dominion within the British Empire, which reflected its self governing status.
• 1914-1918 - NZ fought in the first World War.
• 1949-1945 - NZ fought in the second World War.
• 1947 - NZ adopted the Statute of Westminster which meant England could no longer enforce laws on New Zealand.

Yr 12 - Case Study Mozambique vz New Zealand - Fact Files

MOZAMBIQUE FACT FILE

Location - South East Africa. Bordered by Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and South Africa.
Population - 24,692,144 (2014 estimate)
Size - 801,537 km2
GDP - $14,600 billion
GDP per capita - $650
HDI - 0.393 (low 178th)
Life Expectancy - 49.8yrs
Infant Mortality Rate - 62/1000 births
Birth Rate - 39/1000
Literacy Rate - 48%

NEW ZEALAND FACT FILE

Location - Island in the south western Pacific. 1,500 km east of Australia.
Population - 4,596,700 (2015 estimate)
Size - 268,000 km2
GDP - $191,730 billion
GDP per capita - $42,017
HDI - 0.910 (high 7th)
Life Expectancy - 81yrs
Infant Mortality Rate - 5/1000 births
Birth Rate - 13/1000
Literacy Rate - 99%

MOZAMBIQUE CLIMATE

Tropical climate with two seasons. Wet season from October to March and a dry season from April to September. Rainfall can be heavy along the coast but it can be dry inland towards the mountains. Cyclones can be common in the wet season causing flooding near the coast.

NEW ZEALAND CLIMATE

Mild and temperate maritime climate. (no extremes of temperature and influenced by the sea as we are an island!). Rain varies across the country and it can be very wet on the west coast and very dry in central Otago. Snow falls in the winter months on the high ground and on the South Island but it is sub-tropical in the very far north.

MOZAMBIQUE ECONOMY

Mozambique has a large number of natural resources, such as oil and natural gas which was found recently and may improve the wealth of the country in the future. At the moment the economy is based largely on agriculture (farming). There is some industry, which is mainly food and drink, however there is also some chemical manufacturing and aluminium and petroleum production.
The warm climate, beaches and wildlife also means that the country's tourism sector is growing. There main trading partners at the moment are South Africa, Portugal, Brazil, Spain and Belgium.

NEW ZEALAND ECONOMY

Historically New Zealand has made a lot of money from primary industries like mining and forestry. Agriculture has also been a major income, particularly since the availability of refrigerated shipping and the country was able to export meat and diary products. The UK was traditionally the main market but when it joined the European Union in 1973, New Zealand lost out to competitors from within Europe.
In 2008 China and New Zealand signed the New Zealand and China free trade agreement which will hopefully secure income for the future. New Zealand is very dependent on international trade, food products made up 55% of its exports in 2014 and wool was the second largest.
The service sector (banks, shops, tourism, anything that provides a service) makes up the largest section of industry. Tourism is very important as people travel from all over the world to view the countries natural beauty. Tourism employs 9.6% of the workforce and contributes $15 billion to the total GDP.

So why are these countries so different? Why is New Zealand so much more developed that Mozambique?

Yr 12 - Development Revision - Measuring Development

How can we measure development?

The above video is made for UK students but covers a lot of what we need to know when trying to measure development.

You need to be able to explain the advantages (good things) and limitations (things they can't tell you) of the following ways of measuring the development of different countries.

Development Indicator	What it is?	Notes
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
GDP – Gross Domestic Product	The value of output (everything made) produced within a country during a time period.	Reliability of data? How accurate is the data that is collected? Distribution of income? How is the income distributed – does a small proportion of the population earn a high percentage of the income or is income more evenly spread? Quality of life? Can changes in economic growth measure changes in the quality of life
GDP/GNP per head/per capita	Takes account of the size of the population. The figure is the amount each person within a country would have if the wealth was spread evenly.
SOCIAL INDICATORS
Life Expectancy	Is the average lifespan of someone born in that country.	This can be affected by factors such as wars, natural disasters and disease. The higher the life expectancy the more developed the country.
Birth Rate	Measures the number of babies born per thousand people per year.	The higher this is, the less developed a country is supposed to be. The UK has around 13 babies born per year for every 1,000 people.
Adult Literacy	- Is the percentage of the adult population able to read and write.	The more people who can read the more developed a country and the better the education available in that country.
Infant Mortality	Measures the number of children who die before they reach the age of one for every thousand live births per year.	The figure of 1000 is used so that countries of vastly different size can be compared. t. It is one way of finding out what is happening within a country.
THE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX	The HDI measures a country in three basic dimensions of human development: Life Expectancy, Literacy Rate and GDP per capita.	It gives a measurement up to a total of 1. The nearer the figure is to 1 the more developed a country is! NZ = 0.913

Yr12 - Guidance on Global Assessment Write Up

Yr12 - Disparities in Development (differences in development)

Some useful videos!

Differences in Development - What do people have for school dinner around the globe?

What do students eat at school around the globe?

Below is a link to a good article about a photographer who took pictures comparing what the wealthy and poor eat in countries across the globe. Some of it is quite shocking.

Huffington Post Link

And...what does the world eat for breakfast?

Toilets from around the world!

Great article on toilets around the world.

Some absolutely brilliant pictures highlighting the differences between countries and facilities around the world.

Could be useful for development and a possible topic for the internal assessment.

Yr12 - Strategies to reduce differences between one country and another

NZ ranks in the top ten of countries!

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11300036&ref=NZH_FBpage

Article in NZ Herald describes how the latest Human Development report puts us a number 7!!

However this image still indicates that life in NZ isn't always fair!

New Zealand graded as a "Good" Country

 I always thought New Zealand was a great place to live and here apparently is the proof!

An article in a British newspaper has ranked all the countries in the world according to various factors which can be used to judge whether a country is a "good" place to live or not.

We currently come in at number 5 in the world!

Do you agree with this surveys findings?

Original article here

:) Have a good holiday

Just how do 32 teams from 32 different countries communicate during the world cup?

Here is a link to an interesting article explaining how they do.

Communication during the world cup


 

Here is also a great article by Oxfam looking at inequality between the development of different countries in the world cup.

Oxfam World Cup Inequality

Yr12 - Photographs of people who live on just a dollar a day!

The link below goes to an article with photos and details about people who live on just $1 a day or less. The pictures really demonstrate the difference between living standards and lifestyles across the globe.

Article in the Guardian on people living on $1 a day

Sustainability vs the need for money and jobs!

Ecuador wanted $3.6 Billion to save the rainforest. Now it's going to start drilling for oil!



The article below explains why.

Article in the Smithsonian Magazine

YR13 & YR12 - Comparison of how much people eat across the globe

Its amazing to see how much different people eat across the world - it varies hugely from country to country!

 

Link to photos of how much people eat each day across the globe.

Too many people still living without a clean water supply

This article on the number of people still living without basic sanitation could be useful for the level 3 global patterns assessment or for information on development at level 2.

Either way it makes very interesting but depressing reading!

UN report on lack of clean water

Yr12 - Where the worlds poor live!

A report by the world bank shows where the poorest live (defined as those that live on less than $1.25 a day).

The article below argues that maybe we should not be calculating development on just the economic gains a country makes.

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2014/may/02/development-policy-human-rights

Yr12 - UNICEF ways to descrease poverty.

The last few weeks we have been covering the following things.

• Natural factors which influence the development of a country. (climate, landscape, natural disasters)
• Cultural factors which influence the development of a country. (type of government, economic composition (primary, secondary and tertiary), social traditions and beliefs).
• Ways in which we can reduce poverty and encourage the development of a country 

The link below takes you to the UNICEF website. There are many useful videos and ideas on this site and descriptions of how the charity is helping to reduce poverty around the world.

UNICEF website