The first time Almaz, a teenager living in rural southern Ethiopia, went to the crowded health care clinic in her village to get contraception, she was told they only helped older women with children. The second time, she waited hours only to find out that her preferred method of contraception was out of stock and she would have to return another day. [Video Below]

The people of northern Kenya currently face many daily hardships. Primarily pastoralists by livelihood, their cycle of life focuses on the basics – securing food and water for family and livestock, constructing shelter from the unforgiving sun, and finding sustenance when periodic droughts ravage the region. A 2011 drought affected millions of people, and tens of thousands of livestock died. Approximately 90 percent of the area’s population lives below the poverty line.

It’s not often that we are presented with the perfect opportunity to affect a broad set of development policies as we are currently with the UN’s post-2015 agenda.

The use of storytelling, through evocative writing, short films, infographics, and maps, to convey global issues is increasingly popular, yet few organizations are able to invest the time and energy needed to develop emotionally compelling and visually expressive content. [Video Below]

Today approximately 44 percent of the world’s 7.2 billion people are under 24 years old – and 26 percent are under 14. Of those 7.2 billion people, a staggering 82 percent live in less developed regions of the world – primarily sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Currently, the global median age is 29.2 years old, a sharp contrast to Europe, for example, where the median age is 41.

The original version of this article appeared on the Inter Press Service.

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