Diversity at Work

A major issue that many companies face today is how to promote diversity in the workplace. While federal laws and company policies give protection to diversity on the workplace, there still stand certain barriers that inhibit its growth. In effect, the purposes of these efforts are defeated. Therefore, it is important for firms to address how to overcome these barriers.Having been a longstanding issue, many studies have been devoted to defining and managing diversity, identifying obstacles to diversity, and ways in which these hurdles can be won. In all these studies, experts agreed that diversity is not an easy task.Moreover, promoting diversity in the workplace requires proponents to face the issues of fear, lack of cooperation from the workgroup, mistakes in planning, and problems with funding and training schedules, among other dilemmas. Diversity at Work—How to Make it Work? presents and explores these barriers that impede the expansion of diversity in workplaces, as iden tified by experts. In turn, the paper will also attempt to raise suggestions as to how these barriers can be overcome as well as how diversity can be promoted more effectively. Barriers to Diversity There is never any fool-proof plan.Companies most especially, regardless of size or industry, are fragile to facing challenges when they introduce plans that can adversely affect its operations and employees. However, companies should not be hindered by these challenges, and thus continue with plans that can contribute to the growth of the firm and its workforce. This applies essentially when a company decides to take a step in making theirs a diverse workplace. Diversity, being a sensitive issue that it is, can be filled with difficulties that many companies who subscribe to it end up unsuccessful.While it is impressive for a company to put efforts in promoting diversity in their firm, it is equally important for it to know that there are hurdles to their efforts to promote diversity in their workplaces. It is also necessary for them to identify and address these obstacles to allow for diversity to be effective. In doing so, the time, money, and effort that the company will put in to promoting diversity will not be put to waste. Here are some of the things that experts identified as barriers to making diversity flourish in organizations:Wrong leaders. Diversity is a sensitive initiative, and because it involves the employees it is normal for companies to create committees to lead the program, or appoint the human resources people to do the job. However, the sensitive nature of promoting diversity can make employees defenseless against other employees, even if they are human resources heads. (Simmons, 2003) Fear. According to Thiederman (2003), many companies who decide to face diversity tend to be afraid with the things attached to it.In many cases, diversity committees take considerable time planning the diversity initiatives because of their many fears such as t o offend a minor group, or to make a mistake in the policies that they are making. Defective objectives. Companies may become unrealistic with their goals and either create objectives which are not applicable to their workplace, or too ideal that it can never be executed at all. (Thiederman, 2003) Simmons (2003) seconds this by saying that often, companies create diversity objectives that are not in line with the vision and mission of the company, to which everything should be based.Lack of cooperation from employees. The mere promotion of diversity introduces the fact that differences exist in the organization, and in fact further proves the existence of such. Despite the fact that diversity aims to equalize and create inclusiveness with all members of the workforce, there are instances when employees see loopholes and will not want to cooperate. (Thiederman, 2003) By promoting diversity, the dominant party or majority may also feel that they are receiving less opportunities in the company’s effort to promote equality and inclusion.These employees may feel that in the company’s efforts t please the minority, they are being left out and thus it will be difficult for them to cooperate. (Common barriers to diversity, 2000) Stereotypes. It is human nature to stereotype people. Often, people make assumptions of others consciously or not without considering how it can affect others and the environment in which they are in. Stereotyping affects companies in such a way that when employees judge each other, they are already working against diversity. (Common barriers to diversity, 2000)Co-membership Syndrome. It is not surprising that employees will likely group themselves according to their similarities. Thus commonly, white males will most likely group together in the same way that employees in their mid-20s will group together. However, this is one defect in companies that prevent diversity from happening. When employees group themselves, they unconsc iously form factions that tend to be exclusive to them based on their similarities. A negative effect of this scenario is the tendency for these factions to create biases within their groups.For instance, when a member of the group has to be evaluated by a co-member fair and true judgment may not be given. (Common barriers to diversity, 2000) Insider Dynamics. In the creation of informal splinter groups in the workplace, it is inevitable for employees to feel either included or excluded in the factions. This highly affects the performance of the employees. When an employee is a member of a group, he considers himself an insider and can get the support of her co-members in any corporate initiative.On the other hand, employees who are different and thus does not enjoy the membership to a group (the outsiders to a group) do not get the backing they need in corporate initiatives. This damages their confidence and self-esteem. On a larger scale, it denies them the right to influence othe rs, make decisions for themselves, their positions, and their departments, and may give them less access to vital information that can help them play their professional roles. (Common barriers to diversity, 2000) Cues and gestures.With the differences in race, gender, culture, education, age, and other aspects, people may have different cues and gestures that may mean differently to others. While this is normal, it greatly affects diversity efforts and can even create communication chaos. (Common barriers to diversity, 2000) Generalities in diversity training. Because diversity involves the inclusion of all employees regardless of differences, diversity trainings also tend to be diverse in nature and given on a whim without consideration on the different levels of understanding and acceptance that employees have as well as roles that they play.This makes most diversity trainings ineffective and wasteful. (Simmons, 2003) Lack of professional trainers. The demand for diversity trainin gs is on the rise, and it attracted non-professionals to join the bandwagon of diversity trainers despite lack of training and expertise on the subject. This creates more problem than solution, as non-skilled trainers can give unnecessary or wrong ideas to employees who can end up confused and frustrated. (Bennet, n. d. ) Time and cost.Promoting diversity and using diversity seminars is a mean feat. It can cost thousands of dollars to hire a diversity speaker, additional expenses to set up the training with all the requirements of it, and additional money for formulating policies and implementing them. Apart from this, it will also take time from employees and corporate heads alike, and in business time is also commensurate to money. When a company decides to promote diversity, both top-level executives and employees need to allot and spend time in cooperating.Company officials need to take the time to plan the initiative, create policies, assign executors, and monitor the progress of the plan first-hand to ensure that efforts are not put in vain. Employees will likewise need the time to meet with company officials and executors to discuss the plan for diversity, as well as allot a notch in their schedules to attend trainings and seminars. Thereafter, every member of the company must take time every single day at work to see that diversity is being practiced.Thus, time and cost are also barriers for many companies who are willing to promote diversity in their firms. (Bennet, n. d. ) Overcoming Barriers After identifying the barriers that companies experience in promoting diversity at work, it is essential for solutions to be classified as well. To begin with, Simmons (2003) states that diversity initiatives should be lead by the chief executive officers and top-level executives. This will make the plan appear to be of primary importance, as what it already is.The involvement of the higher ranks will also induce cooperation among employees. Fear is yet another obstacle in achieving corporate diversity and to aid this, Thiederman (2003) says that it will be helpful for the proponents and leaders of the initiative to speak with their people and find out exactly what their thoughts and views are to bring about the actual necessities in the issue and avoid mistakes, especially in the area of policy making. Matching the goals of diversity with the goals, mission, and vision of the company will also set the goals of the initiative straight.(Simmons, 2003) It is important for companies to create realistic objectives that are consistent with the beliefs that their companies subscribe into. Likewise, companies that are just starting with their diversity plans should study and learn from companies who have already succeeded in managing diversity in their firms. (Thiederman, 2003) However, it is inevitable to have employees who are not willing to cooperate with diversity efforts regardless of attempts in the part of the company.According Thiederman (2003), involving everyone is the key to soliciting cooperation. Because diversity plans often put importance to the members of the minority in the workplace, dominant parties can feel left out and refuse to collaborate. Likewise, members of minor parties may feel that diversity highlights their difference all the more, especially when companies overdo the use of political correctness to the point of pretentiousness. Thus, companies should strive to make everyone a part of the effort in diversifying.The proponents should also refrain from adjusting and minimizing the company standards just to accommodate the minority as this will not be agreeable to all employees, dominant or not, and can cause them to think twice about cooperating. Heathfield (2007) agrees, saying that to promote diversity the company must keep itself on the winning court. Simmons (2003) also stressed that any complaint on reverse discrimination should be readily addressed. Trainings and information dissemination m ay also address most concerns related to diversity such as stereotyping, co-membership, insider dynamics, and cues and gesture differences.Companies who invest on and effectively carry out such trainings encourage and inform their employees that holding and sharing assumptions and judgments about other people, especially their co-employees, can adversely affect them, their relationships, and their workplace. Efficient trainings and seminars on diversity can also eliminate the formation of factions and, ultimately, avoid the existence of insider and outsider dynamics within the organization. Differences in cues and gestures and the multiplicity of their interpretations may also be addressed by proper training and information.When employees understand that their cues and gestures may mean differently with others, they will become more sensitive with their actions and strive to act more appropriately in a manner that is appropriately understandable to others according to what they real ly mean. However, diversity trainings must be executed efficiently. One problem on diversity training is the use of generalities, often to address the need for diversity information of all employees at one time. This leaves a part of the audience informed, and a part of the audience misinformed or uninformed.Diversity trainings should therefore consider that every employee hold positions that require them to play different roles. Thus, every employee will need to learn how to inject diversity according to the tasks that they do on a daily basis and the responsibilities that they handle. (Simmons, 2003) Interestingly, however, Simmons (2003) suggests that in defining diversity, one should be as broad as possible and attempt to cover the different aspects in which an organization should be diverse. This allows diversity to cover a global scope, as compared to merely promoting race or gender equality.These explain that while diversity training should be as specific as possible accordin g to the skills and roles of each employee, discussing diversity per se should be generalized and cover as much difference as one company can cover based on the cases within the organization. Lack of professional trainers also poses a problem in many diversity efforts. While the number of companies who are willing to subscribe to diversity is on a steep rise, the number of diversity trainers is also on the fast track up. However, the number of professional trainers—the experts—, which is an entirely different thing, is on a forward drag.While the solution to this problem may not be on the hands of companies, it is important that firms trying to start diversity trainings in their workplaces do not hire just any available trainer around. Professional trainers provide high-quality trainings and give expert consultation that no low-cost, readily available trainer can offer. If financially feasible, companies may also outsource the training to third-party consulting firms i f professional trainers are not available. Time is also an essential consideration that hinders diversity programs from becoming effective.As shown, diversity can take a lot of precious time; and as mentioned above time in business equals money. It is therefore important that every minute spent on diversity is used efficiently. Monitoring and consistent evaluation can help companies achieve this and avoid wastage. Costs may also be a hurdle for companies to provide diversity plans for their employees. To get by, companies must assess how much actual money they are willing to spend on their diversity initiative. It is also important to allot the money properly according to the priorities of the plan so that each aspect of the plan is funded accordingly.Similar as the time barrier, monitoring and evaluation should be done to ensure that the money being allotted for the diversity plan is properly spent. Apart from these means in overcoming the barriers identified, it is worthy to consi der several other suggestions from experts in managing and promoting diversity at work. According to Bennet (n. d. ), storytelling is one of the experts’ ways to promote variety because by sharing stories of both discrimination and diversity, listeners tend to think and feel.This allows for emotions to be tapped, a powerful way to convince people to support diversity and do away with discrimination. Heathfield (2007), on the other hand, presents an interesting key in unlocking diversity. While it has been mentioned a while ago that a barrier to diversity is the co-membership syndrome where employees tend to bond with others who are like them, Heathfield suggests that similarities be used to promote diversity saying that by highlighting the things where the employees are alike diversity can be promoted.One common ground to begin with is the goal set that employees may have for working in the firm. Most importantly, diversity initiatives must respect and value people, specifica lly employees, and their contributions. It is important for companies to understand that diversity does not aim to widen the privilege entitlement of minority groups. By doing so, the workplace will be a more interesting and enjoyable place to be in.

Food for Education Improves Girls’ Education the Pakistan Essay

In the last decade, access to primary education has improved significantly in many parts of the world (World Bank, 2006). Yet, 77 million children of primary school-age, are not in school and 57 percent of them are girls. Despite overall advances in primary enrolment, significant gender disparities remain particularly in certain regions, notably the Arab States, South and West Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Beyond the primary level, the gender inequalities in education are even more significant. In secondary education, only one-third of countries have reached gender parity and women account for 64 percent of the world’s illiterate adults – a figure, which has not progressed during the last decade (UNESCO, 2007). Girls’ education is affected by a variety of factors relating both to the demand and supply side of schooling: gender-stereotyped curricula and teaching practices, school infrastructure not adapted to the needs of girls (lack of separate toilets, school fencing, girls boarding facilities, etc. ) risks for girls’ safety on the way to and at school (girls being abducted, at risk of rape at school) or negative socio-cultural practices (early marriage, low value given to education of girls). One of the most significant obstacles to girls’ education is the direct and opportunity cost of schooling, which affects girls disproportionately. Girls from poor households register very low levels of school completion in many countries (Bruns, Mingat, and Rakotomalala 2003). In India, for example, a study found that, amongst poor girls, less than 10 percent had completed elementary education (grade 8), compared to 85 percent of rich boys (15-19 years age group). Educational attainment of girls was consistently lower than for boys across all income groups (Filmer 1999). Research from Guinea concluded that â€Å"Family income or wealth is a key variable that explains differences in educational opportunities and attainment between families. †¦ Poverty in a family will have a more detrimental effect upon the decision to enrol a girl in school than boys (Tembon and Al-Samarrai 1997). This is linked to the fact that girls spend a significant amount of their time on work, particularly domestic chores and agricultural labour. Their ‘child work benefit’ for parents, and thus the opportunity costs of their schooling, are thus greater than for boys. A survey in northern India found that girls’ responsibility for domestic labour and for sibling care was by far the most important reason for not sending them to school or for their dropping out (The PROBE team 1999). A study from Bangladesh came to the following conclusion: â€Å"Normally, a rural Bangladeshi woman works 10-14 hours a day, though most of this work is not visible or reflected in national statistics. †¦ The need to perform domestic chores to help their mothers impedes girls’ participation in formal education, forcing them into irregular attendance and/or to leave school† (UNESCO 1998). In addition, there is evidence that direct educational costs are higher for girls than for boys, for example because girls need safe transport to school or better school clothing to â€Å"look decent† (Herz and Sperling 2004). Where women and girls have low societal status, poor parents are often more reluctant to invest their meagre resources into the education of girls rather than that of their sons. Food for Education (FFE) programmes – school feeding (school meals or snacks) and, particularly, the provision of take-home food rations (THRs) – have proven to be an effective means of addressing these obstacles, enrolling more girls in school, keeping them enrolled, and enhancing their adulthood wellbeing and productivity as a result. In this paper we review the rationale behind FFE, particularly of THRs in supporting access to education  for girls and summarise the findings on the effectiveness of THR programmes available in the published literature. We then complement the evidence with a case study on a FFE programme in Pakistan designed to support girls’ education. Cost-effectiveness is central to policy-making on achieving gender equality in education; to date, however, there are very few studies that assess the costs and cost-effectiveness of FFE programmes. The Pakistan case study attempts to fill this gap by analysing the costs and benefits of the girls’ education programme. 2 Programme Description FFE programmes are widespread in developing and higher income countries. In 2005 the UN World Food Programme supported FFE programmes in 74 countries, benefiting almost 22 million students of whom 48 percent girls. Some 3 million girls received dry, take-home food rations in support of their education. Take-home food rations typically consist of food commodities that are of high value to families and part of their standard food basket, such as cereals or vegetable oil. They are distributed monthly or quarterly; sometimes, the distribution time is also targeted to the agricultural lean season, when family food supplies are lowest and little food available on the local markets. Receipt of the food ration is conditional upon the student’s regular attendance; in the case of WFP-supported FFE programmes, for example, a minimum of 80 percent monthly attendance rate is required. This helps to ensure that students don’t just enrol but actually attend school regularly. FFE interventions are generally designed to improve school participation amongst poor, vulnerable, food insecure populations and target areas where access to school and school completion are weak, particularly for girls. The risk of not accessing and/or completing primary school, a form of â€Å"educational vulnerability† anchored within a context of poverty and food insecurity, may be used to describe the common characteristic shared by the children targeted by FFE. This idea reflects the reality that household choices regarding education are often a result of complex decision processes, where poverty and hunger play an important role in determining the schooling outcomes (Dreze and Kingdon, 2001). As we have seen above, these factors are particularly significant in the case of girls’ education.. In a general model of FFE (WFP, 2007), the initial outcome that drives increased school participation is the incentive to the household to send children to school. Generally, the incentive is achieved by way of an income transfer to the family of the student and also through an enhancement of the services provided at school (Bergeron & Del Rosso, 2001). FFE also has an incentive effect on pupils actually wanting to go to school to receive some food, rather than staying at home and missing out. Both of these effects will contribute to shift, in the short-term, a households’ decision towards increased schooling. The effects are most significant amongst poorest populations and where education, including girls’ education, is not well established. Figure 1 summarises the main impact theory for THRs and traces the causal links between inputs and the desired educational outcome of increased access, promotion and completion for primary school children, particularly girls. Food for Education (FFE) programmes providing take-home rations are more suitable to target individual students such as girls and less complex to implement than conventional school meal programmes that require substantial investments both in terms of infrastructure and community inputs. For instance, THRs in the form of 4 litre vegetable oil cans are fairly easy to store and distribute, and THR distributions take place only once per month or less. More important, however, take-home food rations provide a more direct, higher value income transfer to families than school meals, which in turn provide the incentive for increased school participation. From this perspective, THRs provide an immediate, income based benefit, and another long-term benefit stemming from the returns to increased education, serving as both protective and promotive social protection (Devereux and Sabates-Wheeler, 2004). On the other hand, THR are not suitable to address nutritional and health issues affecting school children and their education, particularly cognitive capacity, which is a well established outcome of school meals (Kristjansson et al. , 2007). 3 MDG 2&3 Improved attendance Food Take-home rations distributed on condition of pupils’ regular attendance Targeted HHs received THRs on condition of their children’s regular attendance Incentive for HHs reduced drop-out Increased enrolment Better academic performance Changing parents’ attitude regarding schooling. Figure 1: Food for Education impact theory for take-home rations Impact of FFE programmes on girls’ education Evaluations of FFE programmes (see Adelman et al. , 2006) have shown that FFE programmes lead to increased enrolment and attendance, of girls in particular, reduced dropout particularly in the lower primary school grades, and for on-site meals or snacks programmes improved student learning capacity. Literature databases were searched to identify relevant studies on the physical and social benefits of FFE programmes to girls. The educational outcomes considered included school participation (including enrolment, attendance and drop-out). Primary school age children were the primary subjects of all the studies considered. Only one study was found on the impact of THR programmes highlighting the gap in evidence on this topic. Another paper was found on the comparative effects of the different modalities of FFE including THRs. One field-oriented evaluation of a WFP FFE programme was also identified in Pakistan and this is included in the main body of this paper as a case study. In Bangladesh, IFPRI and the World Bank evaluated the impact of a Government FFE programme (Ahmed and Del Ninno, 2002) that covered over 2 million children in 2000. The enrolment in FFE programme schools was found to have increased by 35 percent over the two year period between the programme start and after its first year. This increase was driven by a remarkable 44 percent increase in girl’s enrolment and by a 28 percent increase for boys. In non-programme schools enrolment increased by 2. 5 percent (5. 4 for girls and 0. 1 for boys) during the same period. Attendance in FFE assisted schools was found to be 12 points higher than in non-assisted schools (70 percent compared to 58 percent respectively). Drop-out rates were also found to be 9 points lower in FFE assisted schools than in non-assisted schools (6 percent compared to 15 percent respectively). The overall programme costs were reported to be US$0. 10 per child per day, though no analysis of the costs was provided. Another study analysed the comparative effects of the different modalities of FFE, including onsite meals combined with THRs (Gelli, Meir and Espejo, 2007). The results of this study of WFP monitoring and evaluation data showed that the provision of the FFE programme contributed to increasing absolute enrollment in WFP-assisted schools by 28 percent for girls and 22 percent for boys in the first year. Enrollment patterns after the first year varied according to the type of FFE program. Where provision of take-home rations for girls was combined with on-site feeding for all pupils, the increase in girls’ absolute enrollment was Increased access, promotion & completion, particularly for girls 4 sustained at 30 percent after the first year. However, in schools providing on-site feeding alone, the rate of increase in absolute enrollment after the first year reverted to the rates of increase found in the year prior to FFE implementation. The provision of take-home rations also appeared to reduce the dropout rate of female students, particularly in the higher grades. In addition, an analysis of WFP project expenditures in 2005 (Gelli, Al-Shaiba and Espejo, 2007) showed that the average cost of WFP THR programmes was US$29. 94 per child per year, the most expensive of FFE modalities. However, the cost driver for THR was mostly the large volume of food provided (72 percent of total programme costs, compared to 58 percent for school meal programmes). A study by Dreze and Kingdon from 2001 examined the effects of a wide range of determinants of school participation in rural northern India, focusing on school participation as a household decision. Amongst the school quality determinants, it was found that female school participation was about 15 percentage points higher when the local school provided a mid-day meal (MDM). Mid-day meals also were found to have a major positive effect on girls’ grade attainment; chances of completing primary education were 30 percentage points higher for girls living in a village with MDM. However, the MDM did not affect the enrolment of boys. The study confirmed that female schooling is far more influenced by household economic status than boys’ schooling: â€Å"parents are not generally opposed to female education but they are reluctant to pay for it. School meals could make a big difference here by reducing the private costs of schooling. † An earlier study found that the noon meal programme in Tamil Nadu in India attracted more girls to attend school and improved the attendance of those already in school (Devadas, 1983). The Pakistan Girls’ Education Programme Data on women’s participation in education in Pakistan shows low girls’ primary school net enrolment (59 percent) and female adult literacy rates (35 percent). Although female enrolment is increasing rapidly in all regions, girls’ participation rates at all levels are lower than that of boys and gender gaps persist, particularly in rural areas (WFP Pakistan, 2005). Since 1995, WFP has been providing food assistance to support the efforts of the Government of Pakistan (GoP) to improve access, retention and completion of girls’ primary education in 28 selected food-insecure districts of Pakistan, including seven districts of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). The seven districts within the NWFP of Pakistan were identified by a WFP vulnerability analysis and mapping (VAM) study as being amongst the most food insecure areas in the country. Women and girls in these areas face huge barriers in terms of access to education. At the time when the project started, female literacy in rural areas was only around 10 percent and the primary participation rate of girls less than 30 percent. As a result, a take-home rations programme was introduced within these seven districts with the objective of increasing enrolment, retention and completion at girls’ primary schools. In 2005, THRs were provided monthly to 326,784 girls in 2,697 schools in vulnerable areas within 28 districts in the 5 provinces of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and NWFP. Ration distribution was condition to regular school attendance. The monthly THRs consisted of a 4 litre tin of vegetable oil fortified with vitamin-A, and had an estimated value on the local market of US$5. Implementation Process Under the Country Programme agreement signed by the GoP and WFP, WFP is responsible for providing the commodities for the FFE programme to the port of Karachi. The GoP is responsible for the food distribution to the 28 districts, as well as the management of the timely delivery of the food in good condition from all the district warehouses to the assisted schools. Project Implementation Units (PIUs) were set up by the GoP in each assisted province to run the FFE programme. WFP provided a small truck for each district at the beginning of the project to facilitate the logistics and implementation. However, because of the very difficult terrain in the targeted low profile districts of NWFP, ensuring a timely 5 supply of the THRS to the schools has been challenging. As a result, many schools received the oil supply every second month or even later. Only two oil tins at the most, are distributed to a student to cover the back-log of non-supply during the previous period. At the school level, the head teacher generally receives the oil rations and supervises the distribution to the pupils, conditional to monthly attendance rates of at least 80 percent. The entitlement of each student is checked against the school monthly attendance registers before the THR is distributed. The District Officers Education & Deputy or Assistant District Officers also pay monitoring visits to the schools and verify this aspect. Programme costs Project expenditure data was reviewed in order to estimate the costs of the FFE programme. WFP reports annually on project expenditures, alongside other project statistics, in its standard project reports (SPRs). Expenditures are broken down into commodity, transport, landside transport shipping and handling (LTSH), other direct operational costs (ODOC), direct support costs (DSC) – which added together form the direct project costs (DPC). A percentage of the DPC is then factored in as indirect support costs (ISC) to support WFP Headquarters. Table 1 presents a breakdown of total WFP expenditures in the country in 2005 alongside an estimate of the expenditure on the FFE programme, broken down by WFP cost category. Table 1: 2005 WFP total and estimated FFE expenditures in Pakistan Country Programme Total WFP Country Programme expenditures (USD) 11,667,043 970,358 0 90,856 621,934 874,879 14,225,070 Estimated school feeding expenditure (USD) 6,133,819 510,155 0 47,767 326,975 459,958 7,478,673 % FFE over total expenditures 82% 7% 0% 1% 4% 6% 100%. Commodities Transport LTSH ODOC DSC ISC Total Regarding the government contributions to the programme, the 2005 expenditures for each of the PIUs, divided into direct and indirect expenditures, are shown in Table 2Table 1. Direct expenditures have been divided into two parts i. e. (i) PIUs expenses which include staff salaries, renting of stores/warehouses, and other running expenses and (ii) the Transportation Cost incurred on the transportation of oil from Karachi to respective districts/tehsils/schools. Indirect expenditures include the expenditures (adjusted by proportion of time spent on programme activities) of other staff members of government who manage the FFE programme i. e. distribute oil, monitor its distribution and send reports to PIUs from Districts / tehsils / schools level whose salaries are not charged to PIUs. These staff members include the Executive District Officers, District Education Officers (Female), Deputy District Education Officers, Assistant Education Officers, Store keepers, School Teachers and Peons etc. These expenditures have been calculated by WFP Pakistan based on estimates following discussions with each respective PIU. As the entire FFE programme is managed by the provincial governments, PIU expenditures include all cost items required to deliver and manage the FFE programme. In 2005, school feeding activities accounted for 53 percent of food distributed in the whole WFP Country Programme. There were no further expenses incurred by the community in the running of the FFE programme. 6. Table 2: A breakdown of GoP budgeted expenses in 2004/2005 for FFE (THR) activities PIU Provinces Punjab Sindh Balochistan AJK* NWFP Total PKR 328,568 6,444,556 7,612,000 1,162,000 3,306,300 18,853,424 Direct Expenditures Transportation US$ PKR US$ 5,569 109,230 129,017 19,695 56,039 319,550 9,004,158 2,490,927 1,778,225 6,678,000 3,495,000 23,446,310 152,613 42,219 30,139 113,186 59,237 397,395 Indirect Expenditures PKR 22,984,227 23,795,400 20,183,829 25,194,939 92,158,395 US$ 389,563 403,312 342,099 427,033 1,562,007 PKR 32,316,953 32,730,883 29,574,054 7,840,000 31,996,239 134,458,129 Total US$ 547,745 554,761 501,255 132,881 542,309 2,278,951. Having collected estimates for the different costs that are associated with the FFE programme, from the procurement of food down to the distribution of the THRs to the school girls, we estimated the total cost of FFE in Pakistan for 2005. WFP and GoP contributions for 2005 total $9,757,624 USD, and dividing this by the number of beneficiaries resulted in $29. 85 USD per school-girl per year. In 2005 in Pakistan, food costs accounted for approximately 63 percent of the total cost. The share of WFP expenses over the total cost was 77 percent, with the remaining share covered by the GoP. The cost per beneficiary increases to $63 USD per child per year if we adjust for full food distribution to all the planned beneficiaries, and assume perfect attendance. Key outcomes and Impact. In 2004-2005, a set of surveys were carried out to assess educational and other socioeconomic programme outcomes (WFP Pakistan, 2005). The evaluation included the collection and analysis of detailed school-level records from all the 826 WFP-assisted schools and a set of 79 randomly selected non-assisted schools (control) in the region. A secondary study of the available literature (GoP, WFP, and other partners) and data was also undertaken, including an analysis of data from the Education Management Information System (EMIS) and in-depth interviews with various partners involved such as government, WFP officials, community members, parents, teachers and students. The evaluation showed that the programme had multiple benefits for girls’ education: †¢ The overall enrolment at sampled schools increased by 135 percent between 1998/99 and 2003/04, whereas during the same period enrolment at control school increased by only 29 percent. There was a particularly strong increase in enrolment in the first grade of primary school (Kachi class): 211 percent at programme schools, compared to 5 percent in control school. This indicates that the programme was particularly successful in stimulating enrolment of girls who, until then, had never entered a school. On average, 88 percent of students attended school for twenty or more days per month (and were thus eligible for the take-home ration). Despite the positive effects on enrolment and attendance, completion of primary school remains a problem. Out of every 100 female students enrolling in 1998/99, only 44 percent reached grade 5. Although the primary school completion rate improved to 47 percent for the cohort starting school in 1999/2000, this only reflected a national trend, and programme schools actually showed worse results than control schools. This shows that the effect of the food incentive is not sufficiently strong to ensure that girls stay in school as they get older, and older girls of the family might be replaced by their younger siblings. †¢ †¢ †¢ 7 †¢ †¢ The programme also broke new ground and increased awareness of girls’ education. Before the programme started, 48 percent of households did not send any of their daughters to school; now all parents educate at least one daughter. While 38 percent of respondents said that the food incentive was the only reason for sending their daughter to school, 29 percent they would continue educating their daughters even if the programme stopped. 27 percent said that general hostility to girls’ education in the community was no longer an issue. The food incentive was much appreciated by the families and provided them with tangible benefits. 32 percent of community members interviewed said that their income had increased, generating savings in the family budget and that they had more free time for agricultural activities or business. Costs and benefits of the FFE programme A basic framework was developed by WFP in order to evaluate the cost and benefits of the FFE intervention designed to support girls’ education (Espejo et al. , 2006). In this model, the benefits from FFE are assumed to consist of two components; the first is the monetary value of expected lifetime additional earnings after successful completion of primary school, whilst the second is the market value of a monthly take-home ration, provided on condition to a girls’ school attendance throughout the programme duration. If we apply this cost-benefit framework to the FFE programme in Pakistan the results show that every USD spent on the FFE yields approximately 1. 68 USD in benefits. An alternative to estimating the benefits of education through the monetary value of expected lifetime additional earnings after successful completion of primary school is to estimate the extra school days gained through the effect of a particular intervention aimed at increasing school participation. Comparisons of actual pupil attendance days to the perfect attendance day total can provide a single measure of school participation that encompasses enrolment, drop-out and absenteeism, the three main educational outcomes linked to FFE. A simple model developed to estimate the gain in pupil attendance days in FFE schools using averages for attendance, drop-out and enrolment resulted in an estimated 25 extra school days per child per year (WFP, 2007). This translates into approximately $240 USD per additional year of schooling for girls in Pakistan. The cost and effects of the THR programme are summarised in Table 3. Table 3: Estimated measures of cost-effectiveness of THRs in Pakistan (Source WFP Pakistan 2005, WFP SSFS 2003). Enrolment Effect (per year) Cost 22% increase Education Attendance 10% increase Drop-out 5% decrease 25 extra school days per year per pupil 30-60 USD per child per year Lessons learnt â€Å"Of all the programmes initiated in NWFP, this one has made the most visible impact. It has contributed a lot in this province† Fazle Manan, Director of Schools and Literacy from the Ministry of Education, when asked of WFP’s assistance to girls’ primary education. The FFE programme triggered a marked increase in enrolment of girls in assisted schools in Pakistan. The enrolment more than doubled during the first three years of intervention. These types of incentives and awareness campaigns are imperative to boost girls’ education, to improve female literacy and reduce the gender gap, especially in remote rural areas. However, the retention of girl students in the school system and further improvement of the participation rate is essential to achieve universal primary education. 8 As a result of the increased enrolment, the nearly empty school buildings have become more used, providing a better return of investment to the community and the government. However, the quality of education, itself a major incentive for sending children to school, has been constrained by the lack of teachers. Moreover, many of the assisted schools suffer from a want of adequate facilities, including furniture, water, sanitation, and boundary walls. This issue highlights the need to ensure that once children are in school, efforts are made to enhance the learning environment, as well as to support pupil attendance and retention. The involvement of the community and the local government has been essential to mobilise the resources necessary for improving the school infrastructure. The FFE project has raised the awareness among the assisted communities about the importance of educating girls. Even the most reluctant parents are now sending their daughters to school. This change in attitude is a remarkable achievement against the backdrop of the social and cultural taboos that had prohibited the education of girls in the past. The mothers of the girl students now get out of their homes and visit schools to enquire about the progress of their daughters. Most of the females in far-flung rural areas were previously not allowed to step outside their homes; now girls are going to schools and their elderly female relatives visit schools to enquire about the attendance, progress in studies and probable dates of supply of oil. This change in social attitude and behaviour is an important achievement of the programme. Future plans The impact of the THR programme in supporting access to education for girls in rural, food insecure areas of Pakistan has been remarkable. Though WFP was involved in the design, management and implementation the FFE intervention, the ownership of the overall programme was, through the course of the programme, handed over to the Government of Pakistan. As of 2005, project implementation units staffed with senior level Government officials took-over the full responsibility of the programme in terms of food delivery to schools, programme monitoring and reporting. Financial contributions from the Government of Pakistan have also been essential to the success of the programme to date. The successful hand-over of the programme management will be critical to ensure the sustainability of the FFE programme in the future. 9 References Adelman S, Gilligan DO, Lehrer K. (2006). A review of the economics of Food for Education programs. International Food Policy Research Institute. Ahmed AU, Del Ninno C. (2002) Food for Education program in Bangladesh: an evaluation of its impact on educational attainment and food security. Food Consumption and Nutrition Division, Discussion Paper 138. International Food Policy Research Institute Bruns B, Mingat A, Rakotomalala R. (2003) Achieving Universal Primary Education by 2015: A Chance for Every Child. Washington, D. C, World Bank. Del Rosso J. (1999) School Feeding Programmes: Improving Effectiveness and Increasing the Benefit to Education. A Guide for Programme Managers. Devadas RP. (1983). The Honorable Chief Minister’s Nutritious Meal Programme for Children of Tamil Nadu. Coimbatore, India: Sri Arinashilingam Home Service College Devereux S, Sabates-Wheeler R. (2004) Transformative Social Protection’, Working Paper 232, Brighton: Institute of Development Studies. Dreze J, Kingdon G. (2001) School Participation in Rural India. Review of Development Economics. 2001; 5 (1), 1-24. Espejo F, Gabriele A, Gelli A. and Knips V. (2006) Submitted. Evaluating Food for Education Programmes: A Pragmatic Approach. International Journal of Educational Development. Gelli A, Al-Shaiba N, Espejo F. Estimating the cost of Food for Education Interventions. 2007. Filmer D. (1999) Educational attainment and enrolment profiles: A resource book based on analysis of demographic and health survey data; Development Research Group; Washington DC, World Bank Herz B, Sperling G. (2004) What works in girls’ education: Evidence and policies from the developing world. New York, Council on Foreign Relations Kristjansson EA, Robinson M, Petticrew B, MacDonald J, Krasevec L, Janzen T, Greenhalgh G, Wells J, MacGowan A, Farmer A, Shea BJ, Mayhew A and Tugwell P (2007) School feeding for improving the physical and psychosocial health of disadvantaged elementary school children. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews Issue 1. Tembon M, Al-Samarrai S. (1997) Who gets primary schooling and why? Evidence of gender inequalities within families in Guinea; IDS Working Paper 85; Brighton, Institute of Development Studies The PROBE Team (1999) Public Report on Basic Education in India; New Delhi, Oxford University Press United Nations Children’s Fund, World Food Programme. The Essential Package. Twelve interventions to improve the health and nutrition of school-age children. WFP, 2005. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation. Education For All Global Monitoring Report. Strong Foundations. UNESCO, 2007. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation. Education for All Global Monitoring Report. The Leap to Equality. UNESCO, 2004. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation Bridging the gap between intention and action: Girls’ and women’s education in South-Asia. Bangkok, UNESCO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, 1998. World Bank. From Schooling Access to Learning Outcomes: An Unfinished Agenda: World Bank, 2006 World Food Programme Pakistan. Situation Analysis: WFP’s Assistance to Girl’s Primary Education in selected districts of NWFP. WFP Pakistan, 2005. World Food Programme. Food for Education works: a review of WFP FFE monitoring and evaluation 2002-2006. WFP 2007. 10.

Torture: Human and Inescapable Frailty

In â€Å"the Abolition of Torture,† Sullivan argues that we have to ban torture in order to save America. Sullivan insists that we halt abuses on prisoners and terrorists, antithesizing his view with Krauthammer’s for most of the part in the essay. Torture is merely a brutal act of destroying a human being, a completely deplorable execution. And if America observed its favor in this vile act, there would be no more America. To start with, Sullivan says it is absurd that the Bush administration, in the name of military necessity, had permitted aggressive abuse of enemy soldiers.And the abuses in Iraq War resulted in murders of innocent captives. Before discussing the permission of torture, however, we have a severe problem failing to argue: we only swear that torture is morally wrong, before explaining why it has to deal with morality. And Sullivan clarifies it is morally wrong because torture and freedom perfectly counter each other. A human being owns the right to prot ect his or her body. Whereas U. S. Constitution exists in order to protect one’s rights, torture becomes merely against the law.If one is forced to be physically harmed, then he or she is defended by the Constitution. Human beings have â€Å"inescapable frailty† regarding bodily needs. However, torture hinders people’s autonomy, nudging them in the â€Å"inescapable frailty. † People lose their control, then; if one has lost his control over his body or mind, his state becomes â€Å"subhuman. † The Western Freedom was based on the duty to save a victim’s soul. The victim’s body would be damaged, but a lesson was always learned. But today, people are losing their souls as well as bodies.A notion has suddenly been established that in a few cases, we can accept inhumane treatments on whom Krauthammer call are â€Å"so depraved† that they deserve those treatments. Krauthammer says the depraved are so subhuman to be categorized as m onsters. But Sullivan says monsters are still humans, if they have murdered numberless innocent civilians. Humans are responsible for what they have done, a fact which is not applied to animals. Then, humans are not monsters. Moreover, Krauthammer’s excuses are simple hypotheses that rarely happen in the real world.Krauthammer has put three extraordinary events into one scenario and gives a pathetic shot to convince people. If the scenario became a true story, then Sullivan would concede the legalization of torture; the scenario has a chance of about 0. 01% to become true, though. Besides, Krauthammer has not recognized how risky the accessibility of torture will be. Even if abuse were fit in only particular circumstances, torture would be a common scene, because it tends to proliferate. If one abuses another, others will learn by seeing them, and exercise torture.Then, the only means to control torture will be declaring torture to be illegal. Another point does Sullivan oppo se Krauthammer’s idea. Krauthammer claims that torture brings about untrustworthy information. When a captive gets tired of being tortured, to survive, he will spit any words whether they are true or not. Then, such information becomes an option. Sullivan criticizes Krauthammer’s attitude toward this problem, because people torture a person to be classified as subhuman and still get nothing tangible or accurate.After correcting Krauthammer’s perspective, Sullivan provides us a solution. If we look forward to other techniques of extracting information than torture, a vast number of them are awaiting. But, before keeping our eyes on the techniques, we have to give up on our tyrannical behaviors favoring torture. If we remove totalitarian aspects on our faces, we can save America, preserving its fundamental values. However, if we do not completely wipe that violent speck, America will succumb to self-destruction.

Success with Agile Project Management in General Dynamics Essay

Success with Agile Project Management in General Dynamics - Essay Example It allows the allocation of different tasks to each individual, and a creation of a discussion forum to evaluate the progress of each of the development team members (Cockburn, 2007). The stand-up meetings in the Agile Project Management are essential in the provision of information on the individually allocated responsibilities, as well as provision of a proper communication platform for discussion on the software development information. In agile software development, stand-up meetings have significant value in delivering crucial information to the individuals involved within the project. The concept of agile software development revolves around providing solutions through assessment of operational problems, through constantly and continuously reviewing the essential requirements (Schuh, 2005). In Agile project management, the projects are normally broken down into pieces for faster completion and the individuals divided into numerous teams working on different sections of the proj ect (Cockburn, 2007). The projects cycle normally remains the same and is repeated on the various sections identified by the project managers, and team leaders. Agile project management in software development ensures that the software development cycle is unaltered, and hence the project is completed on time and within the allocated resources (Cockburn, 2007). ... gile project management facilitates and encourages continued communication, which remains a fundamental component for any agile software development methods (Cockburn, 2007). In the General Dynamics, the use of the Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM) proved suitable to the Defence Equipment and Support, in addition provide for a study ground for testing the effectiveness and possible future use of DSDM in other software development projects. The Dynamic Systems Development Method proved effective in the General Dynamics due to ensuring the delivery of the Combat Identification Server (CIdS) Technology Demonstrator Project (TDP) within the stipulated time, allocated resources, and high quality (General Dynamics, 2010). Dynamic Systems Development Method helped in the swapping of requirements, and hence the provision of flexibility that ensured delivery within the stipulated time and within the allocated budget and other resources. This is contrary to the traditional project mana gement that mainly focused on meeting the technical requirements of the project and ended up compromising on the project cost and duration (General Dynamics, 2010). The Dynamic Systems Development Method is a fixed process that strictly adheres to the allocated time, budget and quality assurance, regardless of the economic and technology trends. The only dynamic factor in Dynamic Systems Development Method is the features. However, the traditional project management methods tend to have the features as the fixed factor in the project, with uncertainty on quality and suitability of the resultant software and the need for additional time and resources for the project completion (General Dynamics, 2010). In other words, the traditional project management is inconsistent in the terms of

Hospital Human Resource Department Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Hospital Human Resource Department - Assignment Example The paper will have an overall view of the human resource department in a community hospital. Hospital organization hierarchy and structure An organization hierarchy is a form of organizational structure in which every entity apart from one is subordinate to the other. This means that the subordinate departments and sections report to one another within the hierarchy. This ensures that there is a chain of command flowing from the top. The human resource department in community hospital has a hierarchy in which the chain of command flows from the human resource manager. The human resource manager is at the top of the hierarchy given that he/she is the senior most person in the department. He/she oversees the relationship between staff and the organization and establishes the human resources vision. Subordinate to the HR manager are the employee relations manager, compensation and benefits manager and training manager. The training and development manager handles all issues related to recruitment, placements, and selection. Within the same hierarchy exists the employee relations manager who handles matters related to employee grievances and safety issues. The compensation and benefits manager handles issues related to workers’ remuneration, allowances, and incentives. The hierarchy is as shown in the chart below. Fig 1: A chart of Human Resource department’s organizational hierarchy and structure Basic responsibilities of the Hospital HR department The hospital’s human resource department is charged with the responsibility formulating human resource policies, and recruiting and employing staff, training, establishing workers’ remuneration packages and solving any problems related to staffing. This ensures that the hospital meets its personnel requirements and its missions. When formulating new HR policies, the department considers several factors both internal and external to the organization The human resource department ensures that the hospital maintains adequate staff so that no shortage is experienced in the same respect. Staff shortage may affect the hospital grossly to an extent of putting the lives of patients at risk. In so far as staffing is concerned, the department is charged with the responsibilities of recruiting, selecting, and training the employees. The department also offers placement opportunities to trainees and promotion to those staff members that have contributed a lot to the hospital after evaluating the employees (Goyal, 2005). The human resource department of the community hospital ensures that favorable relations exist between employees and managers. It does this by organizing training programs, meetings, and workshops. This has proved beneficial in the hospital as it makes employees feel that they are valued in the hospital and that their contributions in the organization are recognized. The human resource department also ensures that employee’s morale is boosted. This it does b y developing and revising incentive schemes depending on the prevailing situation and considering various factors. The human resource department also ensures that proper procedures and policies are in place for handling employees’ grievances. This goes a long way in avoiding industrial actions including strikes, go slows and litigations as noted by Goyal (2005). Type of department The hospital has a centralized human resource department considering that most of the major decisions are made by the managers. All policies and major decisions a

(Elements of Drama) - Drama imitates reality through representation Essay

(Elements of Drama) - Drama imitates reality through representation rather than imitation - Essay Example During the analysis we will look for evidences that can prove our original idea. We’ll overview the tragedies without retelling their plots and going into details. Both pieces of literature belong to the field of tragedy. Let’s briefly remind us of the main requirements to the tragedy proposed by the Aristotle in his famous â€Å"Poetics† and later by the representatives of the Enlightenment. According to Aristotle, tragedy is the imitation in dramatic form of an action which is serious and complete, with occurrences that evoke sympathy and fear /Aristotle, 1999/. Aristotle believes that the writer should use pleasant language that must fit the situation in which it is used. The main characters of a tragedy are noble and well-off people, performing noble actions. Aristotle also made a statement in his work â€Å"Poetics† that tragedy should lead to the catharsis of the audience when they experience and share emotions of the characters and sympathize to their suffering /Aristotle, 1999/. Enlightenment writers proposed that according to its structure tragedy should be composed of five acts and involve three main characters which should be noble and famous. The author should begin the tragedy in the middle of the action, make use of noble language and refrain from the scenes of horror on the stage. From the Aristotle times it was considered that the ideal piece of tragedy should consist of two main parts. They are complication and unraveling. Those incidents that are inessential to the development of the plot are mostly combined with of the action proper in order to mould the complication. So we can say that the complication is the whole amount of actions from the beginning to that part of the play where the course of events changes either for good or for bad. The unraveling then is all that remains. It begins with the end of the complication and extends to the end of the tragedy / Wikipedia/. According to the structure,

MidSouth Chamber of Commerce Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

MidSouth Chamber of Commerce Case Study - Essay Example He proved, though for a short time, to be a capable marketing manager for MSCC. Nevertheless, he failed in getting more suitably positioned individuals involved in the new system implementation; forcing him to serve as the project’s champion throughout the whole process-a role he was not qualified to play. 3. Simon Kovecki-Systems analyst at the MSCC-happens to be a fresh computer science graduate having no experience with administrative software or membership organization. Kovecki was the only IS professional in MSCC and spent his 3 months at MSCC learning both the organization and its computing systems. He kept the old system running smoothly. He was not involved in system implementation during the initial stages because of not receiving the task for leading MSCC’s computer operations and his distaste of the aspects of software package chosen. Unluckily when he eventually became involved in the project, he failed to make the new system operational. Ed Wilson-Vice president of Public Affairs and Operations of the MSCC-he was initially tasked with computer operations and actually introduces the MSCC to the world of data base management and micro-computers. They later became friends with Lassiter with Wilson providing Lassiter with some support during the Unitrak acquisition process. Greg Ginder-President of Unitrak software Corporation-made concessions so as to sell his company’s software to the MSCC comprising unlimited support during system installation. Unitrak’s support however was missing when MSCC needed them most. It is evident that many of the above discussed roles require modification. Both Kovecki and Hedges-the 2 very significant IS players were fulfilling their activities, with Lassiter unable to have their cooperation or enhancing their effort level. Similarly, the Executive Committee and Walling Ford should have talked in the face of crisis that befell MSCC and ought to have done

Big Brothers Big Sisters Mentoring Activities --Savannah, GA Essay

Big Brothers Big Sisters Mentoring Activities --Savannah, GA - Essay Example The organization is undoubtedly one of the best charitable organizations in the area. The chapter is highly effective considering most of the activities the organization offers here. Its impact is widely felt through the contribution it has made to the children of this area. Firstly, volunteers are deployed through a highly rigorous process. This is done by thoroughly screening everyone coming in to offer services. This is done through interviews as well as background investigations. This way the organization is able to provide top-notch level of services to the children. In addition, most of the reports from the officials indicate that there is a notable positive effect among youth (Stone, 2009). Looking at the programs offered by the organization, I would more likely classify them as prevention measures than diversion. This is so because, the services provided by the volunteers are focused in making the young people gain good values that are generally acceptable in the society. The y are keen in coaching the youth on how to keep away from harmful behavior such as using illegal drugs and criminal activities. Although there are other programs that aims at helping this generation of kids become more diverse as far as their careers is concerned, the main goal is to bring up children of high morals (Jano, 2008). Another reported outcome of the program is bringing up self-confident young people who can easily mingle with other people. BBBS Chapter Programs / Competition The local chapter offers a variety of programs that have become so successful in achieving positive results. The mentoring programs are set up based on the needs of the children. The mentors in different programs come from all walks of life and the organization matches these experts with the requirements of the young people seeking guidance. One of the most common programs is the academic mentoring. Here, an experienced college professor participates in mentoring a student through a particular projec t. Secondly, there is the career mentoring that aims at guiding youth through career choices and along the path of career chosen. Lastly, there is the personal development mentoring that provides counseling to young people when they are experiencing personal crisis (To’angutu, 2005). This also helps children with less privileged lives. The activities of the programs mostly leave other social service organization with less to offer, due to their wide support in terms of funds and staff, the BBBS has the competitive edge. The organization has reduced expenses since they do not incur staff expenses; they also have so many experts at their disposal who mostly volunteer their services to the program (Stone, 2009). The other organizations should try to specialize with offering social services that are not covered by BBBS. This will decrease the level of competitions that would otherwise arise from offering the same services as BBBS. BBBS versus Juvenile Justice System BBBS goals di ffer from those of the juvenile justice system. The latter is determined in rehabilitation of children accused of committing criminal offences. This is very different from the goals and the role of BBBS, which is guidance and counseling. The juvenile justice system only focuses with helping the children who are on the wrong whilst the BBBS focus on every child. Another difference is that the Juvenile justice system has the interest of the community at large where they aim at

Opinion Essay on Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

Opinion on Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe - Essay Example I like the novel because it shuns away from discussing the pre-colonial life Eden. Instead, the author sketches a world in which war, suffering and violence exist, but are balanced by a powerful sense of social coherence, ritual, along with tradition. I also liked the fact that Achebe’s Ibo protagonist, Okonkwo, was a self-made person (Roberts 14). Okonkwo was the sons of a charming neer-do-well, who worked extremely hard all his life to triumph over his fathers weakness. As the novel progresses, this young fighter eventually gained prosperity, and became a widely respected person in his village, Umuofia (Roberts 17). His villagers could now depend on Okonkwo for advice. Okonkwo was a prosperous farmer, a champion wrestler, father to several children and a husband to three wives. He was also a person who exhibited flaws well-renowned in Greek tragedy (Achebe 34). Okonkwo controlled his household with a grave hand. His spouses, in particular the youngest, lived in unending fear of his burning temper, and also his little children. This portrays how African families lived before the European exploration. Such a line also shows how African men were powerful in the colonial days (Achebe 36). Maybe Okonkwo, down in his heart, was not a mean person. However, his entire life was subject to fear, the fear of not succeeding and of weakness. It was more intimate and much deeper than the fear capricious gods, evil and magic. Oknokwo was also more fearful of failing than the fear of forests and nature. Okonkwos fear of failing was much greater that the factors mentioned above (Roberts 23). It could not be observed openly, but lay deep within himself. He feared that one day he might follow the steps of his father, living as a deprived person. It is essential to note that Africans, back in the colonial days, were extremely superstitious. Therefore, for a p erson to not believe in nature among other factors is overwhelming. Such as

Week 4 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Week 4 - Assignment Example Policy is a set of principles or ideas which act as a guide in the process of decision making. Proper policy in the healthcare has a direct influence to each citizen’s daily life. There is a great need for a good review on health policies for the sake of public safety. There are several processes that must be put into consideration to turn the topic of health care into a policy. This involves the different stages which need to be addressed for a given topic to reach a policy status in the health care system. The prior stages include formulation stages, legislation stage and implementation stage. In this paper, evaluation stage, analysis and revision stages which are mandatory in policy making would be defined and discussed (Ubokudom, 2012). Each stage has its vital importance since infant health is a big consumer of the health care department. New topics and ideas undergo several transitions and phases before policy implementation. In any institution, there are individuals who have the responsibility of brainstorming and implementing new topics and ideas for a better safe and easier policy. The paper also presents a framework for discussing the key questions which require answers for a better-informed decision when coming up with a new policy. It is also crucial for policy makers and administrators to identify the knowledge needed in decision making in regard to both new and existing programs (Kronenfeld, 2002). Evaluation stage is the overall effective assessment planning process in policy making after implementation process. It involves the estimated reward from various calculated opportunities and alternatives face comparisons together with the associated risk estimations. The stage of evaluation can only occur in a fertile ground. It is made to ensure the functionality of the policy. In this case, the key actors appreciate the analysis and use it for the correct decision-making process. An active discussion is also needed

Effects of Caffeine Essay Example for Free

Effects of Caffeine Essay Because of its transparency we can observe the effects of substances on its body without surgical procedures. We can observe the heart rate of daphnia magna to be dorsal to the backbone just behind the head. (Helms 1998) the average daphnia magna has a heart rate of 180 beats per minute under normal conditions. We will observe the effects of water, alcohol and caffeine on the ectothermic animal. Alcohol is a depressant; this means the body systems will slow down when alcohol is introduced. The heart rate will get consistently lower if too much alcohol is added. Caffeine is a stimulant; this means that it will cause the nervous system to work faster, also it will cause the blood vessels to constrict. (LaFave 2003) These effects will work together to increase an animal’s heart rate under normal circumstances the heart rate will increase as more caffeine is added. Questions Does changing the daphnia magma’s environment change its heart rate? How will alcohol affect daphnia’s heart rate? How will caffeine affect daphnia’s heart rate? Hypothesis Daphnia magna are sensitive creatures and therefore they will respond to slight changes in their environment. Since alcohol is a depressant and can lower human heart rate it should also lower daphnia’s heart rate. Since caffeine is a stimulant it can cause the nervous system in humans to work faster it should also raise the heart rate of daphnia. Predictions If the environment affects daphnia heart rate as it does in humans the exposing it to different environment’s should affect its heart rate. If daphnia is exposed to alcohol at varying concentrations, then daphnia heart rate should fall. If daphnia is exposed to caffeine at varying concentrations then daphnia heart rate should rise. Materials and methods For monitoring the effect of environmental, medium on the heart rate of daphnia magna the specimen was placed on a clean deep well slide with a small drop of water and placed under a microscope. The heart rate observed after 15 seconds and recorded. A corner of a Kim wipe was used to wipe off excess water and repeat the experiment. The daphnia is then placed in a beaker labeled recovery. Use a second daphnia to repeat the experiment. With a third daphnia place it on a deep clean well slide, add small drop of water (0% alcohol) and view the daphnia under a microscope and then record the heart beats within 15 seconds on the table. Remove the drop of water around the daphnia using a Kim wipe and add 1 equal drop of 1% alcohol, let daphnia sit in alcohol for 60 seconds. Record the heart beat within 15 seconds. Repeat the step with increasing concentration of 2%-5% alcohol observe the heart beats of the daphnia at each concentration and record. Place this daphnia in a beaker labeled recovery and use a second daphnia to repeat step 7-10. Obtain a fresh daphnia and remove the water around the daphnia using the corner of a Kim wipe, add an equal drop of 0% caffeine. Record the number of heart beats within 15 seconds on a table. Add an equal drop of 1% caffeine let sit in caffeine for 60 seconds. Record the heart beat within 15 seconds. Repeat the step with increasing concentration of 2%-5% caffeine observe the heart beats of the daphnia at each concentration and record. Place this daphnia in a beaker labeled recovery and use a second daphnia to repeat step 7-10.

Impacts of Cruising Essay Example for Free

Impacts of Cruising Essay There are both positive and negative impacts to cruising on different countries. Some can have a great affect on the ship and the area where the ship docks, others can have a negative affect on the cruise area itself and the people who live in and around the ports of call. The first positive impact which I am going to talk about is there are more jobs created by having a port where a big cruise ship comes into. Jobs will be available: †¢ Servicing the port and ship †¢ Jobs in construction – up-dating port facilities, ship building and in the local area, for example building more shops and tourist attractions †¢ Increased jobs in and around the port The table to the left shows the amount of tourists that visits different cruise area’s around the world. As you can see from 1997 onwards cruising has increased in popularity greatly. This has created more jobs for people as more people are going on cruises. Some of the jobs which it has created are jobs working in the port, like checking people’s passports before they get on the ship, too putting people’s luggage on the cruise ships and also many more jobs in construction. It does not only create jobs in the port it will create jobs on the ship, as they will need people to help out on the ship, like they will need waiters, entertainers, cleaners. Another way you may get a job is as there are more people stopping at the port they will be going on different excursions and the cruise companies will need people who know the local area to help out by given guided tours and taking them too and from the port to the attraction. This is where jobs in transport come in. Cruise companies will want to work with coach companies to take people to and from the port to different attractions, as the cruise port becomes busier they will need more coaches, therefore bringing in more money for the coach company and creating more jobs for local people. As the port gets busier and more tourists come into the area, tourists will go into shops, bars, restaurants and pubs and will spend their money. This will bring the area in more income and will create more jobs for the local people because the places will become busier and they will need more staff to cope with the demand. However one problem with jobs is although there may be the demand for them, they will usually only be seasonal when the cruise liners dock into the port. So people will not have jobs for the whole year round so they will have to save their money, to live until they can get a job again. Another benefit with there being more jobs is the local people will have more disposable income and the town/place where the port is. This is called the multiplier affect by more people coming into the area, it will create more jobs, which will create more income, which will then get put back into the local area improving facilities for both tourists and the people who live there which will then attract more people to come back to the town as it is improving. Like I said above as more people come to the area it will bring in more income which will be put back into the local area to improve it for the people who live there. For example they may use it to improve the infrastructure and make it easier for tourists to get from A to B, this will then be good for the local people as they will have access to better transport. It may also create more courses like a travel and tourism course, and catering courses for local people so they can go and get a good job in the industry or working on the ship. So all around the improvements of the facilities will benefit everyone. As well as improving the local economy by creating more jobs and bringing in more income it will help for cultures to be more recognised and will create a greater awareness of different cultures. This is good because it allows for the people around the port to keep the cultures and for them to not become diluted, which can happen, the reason it can happen is because more and more people from different countries will come into the destination and will bring their culture and idea’s with them which may dilute traditional culture. But in another respect it will help the culture to stay the same as people will be buying traditional artefacts from their culture like pottery and food and much more which will help keep the culture strong. Unfortunately not all impacts are positive; there are several negative impacts as well. When the passengers on the cruise ship disembark and visit the local area, they may not go into the local area, they may be going straight off the cruise ship onto a coach and to a tourist attraction, although the tourist attraction and coach company will benefit from it, the local people in the town will not as the trade will not go to the town so they loose out on money. Another problem is tourists may be on an all inclusive cruise ship so may go around the town and spend a bit of money but are unlikely to buy any food or get anything to drink as it is all available to them on the ship where they can eat and drink as much as they want. This means the local economy will miss out. Most cruise ships either accept UDA or Euros which means that the locals lose money. Cruises tend to be seasonal, meaning that if there is bad weather they may not get off the ship at all, and in low season the local tow n will not make a lot of money, especially if they are reliant on tourism because they will not make a lot of money in low season, which could cause business to go bankrupt. This also ruins the local economy. Coral Reefs and Sea Life is being ruined by oil spillages coming from the cruise ships and the waste being dumped from them. Cruise ships are not allowed to dump any waste into the sea, however this does not happen, although there is a law against it cruise ships manage to avoid it, by not dumping waste within 3 miles of the shore then they dump all of their rubbish and waste there. When they do this they ruin sea life, they pollute the sea and kill wildlife. Ships also have an impact when they are docked, they are meant to declare all waste when they are in port and take it back with them. Many cruise ships are not doing this, as they are illegally dumping their waste, fuel and ballast into the sea. All of this leads to pollution and high costs for locals to clean up. As more people are going on cruises over crowding increases the traffic, and the car/taxi pollution is high. Over crowding in one area ruins the local attractions where people are walking all over the place. Water is also limited, of which the tourists use more than the locals. Too many visitors in one small economy can cause lots of noise and less of the local identity. The people in the local area may get offended by tourists walking around in inappropriate clothing. Tourists tend to take all of their personal belongings with them such as camera, phone, iPod, money and jewellery. This increases the amount of crime and theft because the locals are poor. They can thieve this and sell it on. There is also an increase of the sex trade and prostitution. Tourists also tend to buy gifts and souvenirs that they don’t really want such as catholic countries selling tacky Virgin Mary souvenirs to tourists to encourage their local religion. Impacts of Cruising in Alaska Cruise liners that cruise to Alaska cut the capacity by 17% in 2010 which cut it by about 140,000 passengers. The reason for this is because of the $46pp environmental tax that they have to pay, the reason why the have put this into place is to help cut down on pollution, and to help pay for the clean up for cruises. In 1984 before cruising became popular Juneau was a run down crumbling area which now is one of the main points of call. This gives cruise companies a lot of power as they can move to different docks or areas. 50% of the excursions are sold by the cruise company. These prices are negotiated with the locals. Visitors to Alaska spend over $1.5billion on their Alaska trip in 2007. Juneau Juneau is the 2nd largest port in Alaska, but like I mentioned before in 1984 was a run down crumbling area. This area has the usual port facilities such as baggage facilities, covered walk ways, and taxis. . They have cafes and museums near to the port. The impact from this is that it is brining a profit in to the local area which will help to improve it in the future. Juneau has 2 cruise ship terminals meaning that they can have more tourists there at one time which will help bring in more money to the area, to help improve the port, the facilities, the infrastructure and the attractions to attract more cruises in the future. It is a self sustain port, which has no public funding. It is a deep water port, which has direct access to the local town and facilitates. The port has high fees of $46pp, this means that lots of vessels aren’t going to Alaska, because they have to pay a lot of money to get their tourists into their, which puts them off. This will have an effect on Jun eau because they will be losing out on money because fewer cruises are coming into the area, which brings in less tourists, which means they lose out on money and will not have much to spend on improving the area. Environmental issues are a big issue in Alaska, especially because of cruising. Water resources that are in Juneau have to be shared with tourists as well as the locals, and the rate that tourists and ‘westernised’ people use water then it does not leave a lot left for the locals. Hot weather also causes a problem because tourists will drink a lot more water, and will use double to what the local people do. Bus drivers tend to leave the motor running for a long time so that the tourists have the air conditioned bus that they want, this has an impact on the area because all of the fumes from the buses will go into the air and will pollute it; so the air is not as fresh and clean as it should be. This can cause health problems to become worse like Asthma, which some locals may have, so it could worsen their condition. Deep water port constructions will mean that builders will have to disturb the economy and the marine life, meaning they will have to relocate all of the animals elsewhere, this can cause damage to habitats, and it may disturb other animals that come into the port regularly. All of the building will have an effect on the area because it will increase noise pollution and the area that should be peaceful will not be that peaceful. This also means loss of animal habitat and less scenery. This means the area will become a building sight until everything is finished. The increase of infrastructure may not benefit the locals as it may produce more traffic while building the roads, and will ruin the scenery and land, and some farmers may be moved from their land to another to make way for bigger roads. Princess Cruise Liners have reduced air pollution created by idling vessels in port. To do this they have modified their engines so they can be turned off while they are docked. This helps to reduce air pollution from the cruises, as the power is off and no fumes will be clogging up the air. While they are docked they are plugged into a nearby land-based hydro-electric power plant. The power from these power plants is transferred to the ships via specially designed cables. Juneau is the only port that does this, and it cost them $4.5million to do this. This is because the cruise line feels it’s worth the environmental investment and hopes to expand this because it will encourage more people to go their to help improve the local economy and also if it is successful here they may use it in other places. Lax State and Federal Laws allows cruise ships to dump untreated sewage from toilets once the ship is three miles from the shore. When they are three miles away from shore, they can dump sewage from toilets that as been treated by marine sanitation devices. Sewage from sinks and showers can be dumped without treatment. Although this may seem far away from the shore, if there is a fast current the waste can easily reach the shore, and ruin marine life and kill of animals which some people depend on for example fishermen. Local fishermen may suffer from all of this as some of the fish life will get killed off from all of the waste and chemicals being dumped into the sea. In June 2003 Oceanas Stop Cruise Pollution campaign set our to convince Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines to improve its waste treatments. In May 2004 they then agreed to this and have installed advanced wastewater treatment technology on all of their ships. (http://na.oceana.org/en/our-work/stop-ocean-pollution/cruise-ship-pollution/overview) A lot of wastewater from toilets showers, laundry and cleaning contains lots of detergent, grease and chemicals which are dangerous to the marine life, and can kill a lot of marine life. A lot of these chemicals come from the hairdressers, photographers and everyday cleaning and medical facilities that are on board. A lot of the water also contains food particles from the washing up. Many cruise ships now have systems on board to help clean up gray water and black water. Things such as paint, solvents, light bulbs, batteries and out of date or unused medicines are thrown over board. Make realistic recommendations about how to maximise positive and m inimise negative impacts of cruising I think one of the positive things about cruising in Alaska is the jobs which it can create for local people. I think cruise companies could draw on the fact that they can offer them jobs and could highlight the different jobs which they could do. I think what cruise companies could do to create better jobs, like they could get local people in on the cruise in the evening to show people about their different culture, as well as creating more jobs, it will give tourists a better understanding of their culture and it may lead to them respecting it a bit more. Another thing which they could do is they could offer people on board a ‘cooking class’ where they get local chef’s to come in and promote their restaurants by showing people how to cook their traditional food. This will attract tourists to eat in local restaurants where they offer the local cuisine. They could also give vouchers for the restaurants to encourage people to eat there. This will help maximise the income for local businesses. I think another thing which they could do to offer local people jobs is they can hire them as tour guides, to give information on the history in the local area and different cultures, they can take them to the best places to eat and the little traditional shops so smaller businesses can benefit from this. This will look great on cruise ships if they do this because it will help to maximise the positive effects which cruising has on the local people. Environmental issues are a very negative impact of cruising, I think to make minimise the effects which cruising has on the area’s it visit’s is to highlight on the things which they have been doing to minimise these effects. One of the things which has worked well is what Princess Cruise’s have been doing as well as what the local area has been doing. Like I mentioned before in Juneau there is a land-based hydro-electric power plant, which the ships can ‘plug’ into to give themselves power. This is a great thing to do because the ships will not need to keep their engines on, so they will reduce the amount of pollution which goes into air. This is a great idea and it is working really well. I think what they could do is other cruise liners could team up with Alaska and they could equally invest into putting this facility into all of their ports. This will create great press for them as they will be doing it in all of their ports and it will look good on the cruise companies because it will show they care and want to do something about the environment to help to make cruising more sustainable. In June 2003 Oceanas Stop Cruise Pollution campaign set our to convince Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines to improve its waste treatments. In May 2004 they then agreed to this and have installed advanced wastewater treatment technology on all of their ships. I think this was a great thing to do because again it looks good on the cruise company showing that they do care about what they are putting back into the sea. I think that all cruise operators should try investing in this facility or something similar to help reduce the waste which is going back into the sea.

Impact of Social Media On Graphic Designers

Impact of Social Media On Graphic Designers The emergence and popularity of online social networks in recent years has changed the Internet ecosystem leading to a more collaborative environment. Nowadays, hundreds of millions of Internet users participate in social networks, form communities, produce and consume media content in revolutionary ways Introduction The internet is basically about people but it is recently seen differently in comparatively terms. Currently, the transformation that is tossing both the worldwide web and the numerous markets that depend and feed on it is possibly in economic terms a correction that is forcing it into being a web of people or a community that utilise websites as communication channels to interact with other people (Fraser Dutta, 2010). In view of this, the composition of the internet has been taking over by web 2.0. Social media can be described as a vehicle for the sharing and cooperative creation of information by individuals and communities (Hansen et al 2010). It particularly depicts online communication tools and applications. Features of a social media platform may include: Collaboration it promote interaction and contribution by audience. It provides an alternative way of transmitting information. Thus, social media tools particularly promote and support feedback, comments, and sharing of information. Community social media furnishes an infrastructure for interaction among existing communities and the formation and interaction of primarily or exclusively web-based communities around common interests or goals. Connectedness social media helps to connect people and information in one place. Web 2.0 is often talked about in the same breath as social media. Web 2.0 is a term that is used to define the evolution of the World Wide Web. While there isnt a hard and fast line between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, Web 1.0 can be understood to represent a web as information model and Web 2.0 to represent a web as participation model of web activity (Cormode Krishnamurthy, 2008). Characterized by the creation and interaction with content, users take part and collaborate through virtual communities and social media tools which help easy sharing of information and ideas. Examples of social technologies used to create social media include those from communication (such as Blogs), collaboration (such as Wikis), communities (such as Facebook), reviews and opinion (such as Amazon reader review) and multimedia (such as YouTube). On the web, social networks are contained versions of blog network which are spreading out in different directions. To join a social network, users normally create a profile and then build a network by connecting to friends and contacts in the network, or by inviting real-world contacts and friends to join the social network (Goodings2010). These communities retain the interest of their members by being useful to them and providing services that are entertaining or help them to expand their networks (Booth, 2008). Such networks provide an extremely suitable space to instantly share multimedia information between individuals and their neighbours in the social graph. Social networks provide a powerful reflection of the structure and dynamics of the society of the 21st century and the interaction of the Internet generation with both technology and other people (Kumar, 2012). Social Media platforms are not new and almost every graphic designer is reasonably aware of it uses, benefits and effects it. It is a complex web and one shared link leads a graphic designer to another. Generally, individuals from all walks of life are engaged in the use of social media. Similarly, graphic designers patronise social media websites and many of them are reasonably fond on one or more of the social networks. However, noticeably, the current developments and challenges in graphic designing show that, social media has turned to be more of a requirement for almost every graphic designer. Currently, industries, institutions, corporate organizations, government and non-governmental organizations are changing their concentration towards social media for its ability to publicise and promote their interests and activities. With this development, the graphic design industry is no exclusion of this new development as most graphic designers employ the services of social media in one way or the other. By using social media, graphic designers share their views and their designing work and provide useful feedback to each other. Every new development in technology has its own advantages and disadvantages. Social media has its peculiar advantages and disadvantages just as every other technology available to the public for use. Generally, an innovation can either lead to advancement or destruction. Social media has an infinite benefit for graphic designers, however at the same time; it can demonstrate to be having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences. With abundance of internet connectivity and its low cost availability, social media has become the most inexpensive of all promotional media. Also, social media provide the designers an opportunity to learn from fellow designers and put that learned thing into their practice. In spite of the fact that social media provides enormous benefits to graphic designers, its overindulgence is bad. Likewise, too much indulgence in the social media websites may render most designers unproductive and redundant because designers often forget their basic work and go off-the-track from their main purpose and functional duties. It is of this backdrop that this article seeks to find the impact of social media on graphic designers; tailored to unravel the associated benefits and disadvantages derived from the use of social network platforms. This article presents an equilibrated analysis of social media and its impacts on graphic designers. Materials and Methods This is a qualitative research which seeks to investigate the impact of social media on graphic designers in Ghana. Observations and in-depth interviews were used to examine designers participation in online social media networks and its impact as they discharge their functional duties and responsibilities in their respective organizations. The sample frame of this research was drawn from all advertising companies, printing houses, printing presses and marketing companies in the Kumasi metropolis. This was because most of the graphic designers work with these companies and discharge similar or almost the same duties.

Mathew Shepard Case Brief :: essays research papers

Matthew Shepard Case Brief Facts: Twenty one year old, University of Wyoming college student, Matthew Shepard, died October 12, 1998 at 12:53 a.m. after spending five days in a comma due to massive injuries and head trauma in a robbery and hate crime assault (Matthew Shepard, 2000 [on-line]). Matthew Shepard met Aaron McKinney (22) and Russell Henderson (21) of Laramie in a local bar called Fireside Lounge. McKinney and Henderson had been drinking. The two led Shepard to believe they were gay and lured Shepard to their truck. McKinney pulled out a gun and said, Guess what- we’re not gay and you’re gonna get jacked. McKinney then told Shepard to give him his wallet. When Shepard refused, McKinney hit him with the gun. With Henderson behind the wheel, McKinney continued to strike Shepard. McKinney then told Henderson to get a rope out of the truck. McKinney allegedly tied Shepard’s beaten body to a wooden split-rail post fence, robbed him of his wallet and patent leather shoes, continued to beat him and left him to die for over 18 hours. Chasity Vera Pasley (20) and Krista Lean Price (18), the suspect’s girlfriends, hid the bloody shoes of Henderson and provided the suspects with alibis. Shepard’s shoes, coat and credit card were found in McKinney’s pick-up truck; his wallet was found in McKinney’s home. A .357 Magnum was also found in McKinney’s home (Matthew Shepard, 2000 [on-line]). On April 5, 1999, 22 year old, Aaron McKinney was found guilty of felony murder, second-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery. 21 year old, Russell Henderson pled guilty to kidnapping and felony murder and was sentenced to two consecutive life terms. Two women described as the suspects girlfriends, Chasity Vera Pasley (20) and Krista Lean Price (18) were charged as accessories after the fact of first-degree murder (The Data Lounge, Issues 2000, [on-line]). Issues: Aaron James McKinney seemed to believe that his allegation that Shepard had made a pass at him was sufficient grounds to justify joining with friend Russell Henderson in savagely beating Shepard, clubbing him with a handgun, lashing him to a wooden fence and leaving him to die. McKinney’s attorney wanted the jury to accept that because McKinney has a homosexual encounter when he was younger and that he was under the influence of both drugs and alcohol when he alleges Shepard made a pass at him, that he was therefore not responsible for his actions.