Chinese government Essay Example for Free

Chinese government Essay Ai WeiWei blurred the lines between the aesthetic and the political. According to the internet, aesthetic is defined as concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty. Ai WeiWei used art to â€Å"protest† against the Chinese government. Ai Weiwei was a creative man who thought of ideas how to represent the names of all the children who were killed in a deadly earthquake. A commentator in the movie claimed that Ai WeiWei was doing a job that the government should be doing. A deadly earthquake collapsed many buildings including homes and schools. Thousands of children were killed and were left unrecognized. Ai WeiWei wasn’t going to let this go. He assembled a project, full of volunteers to help him search for the names of the children who were killed in the disaster. He placed every individual name on his wall. The project inspired him to create more pieces of art work to revolt against the Chinese government. Ai WeiWei was a fearless man. Ai WeiWei was very involved with social media. He used twitter to share to the world how corrupt China’s government was. He left China when he said â€Å"Fuck You Mother Land. † Cameras are sometimes forbidden in China. Ai WeiWei was assaulted by a police officer, but that did not stop him from taking pictures in front court houses or of an officer who was at the scene when he was attacked. Ai WeiWei created a wall full of back packs to make other individuals aware of the children that died in the earthquake. During the 2nd anniversary, Ai WeiWei asked his followers to pick a name and record it on tape and share it to the world. Ai WeiWei was sharing his experience in China of the corrupt government with thousands of people around the world. Ai WeiWei made people aware of what was going on in China. Ai WeiWei became well-known through his work of art. He expressed his ideas through his work. Not only did his art make him well-known, Ai WeiWei captured many supporters to revolt against the corrupt system. Ai WeiWei was a man with no selfishness. He looked out for others and he was always looking and searching for ideas that would help him and his followers. Ai WeiWei was not afraid of the consequences, as long as he knew it was for the good.

Training And Development In Oil Companies Management Essay

Training And Development In Oil Companies Management Essay The results obtained from the surveyed oil and gas companies provide a rich source of qualitative data and insights into the companies perspectives on training and development. This chapter contains recommendations of the TD systems components, determinants and successful training development approaches as they may apply to firms () in the Yemen oil industry. This chapter also presents the conclusions review and concludes with suggested recommendations for future research. Conclusion Implication: In conclusion, it appears that oil gas companies, as represented by Yemen, are found to be committed to training developing their workforces. They are more or less implementing the training development process along with modern TD theory and practice. They have sufficient budgets allocated for their training development activates and many are in the process of reassessing and systematically improving their approaches to advanced and long term skill and competency development. The great majority of companies recognizes that the skill levels of their employees are fundamental to the success of the business, and that they need to invest and develop these skills in the same way that they maintained improve their infrastructure. While most companies are aware of the training development functions and processes, they arent much familiar with many of the specific components details and structure of what constitutes a training development system. Although the companies aim to have a well-trained staff and are, in general terms, aware of the functions and process stages of training development, they dont attach great importance to systematic training and development structures and they arent aware of the specific components of the TD system framework. For example, the organizational determinants that impact training development activities, such as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦andà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ are never considered. Although most of the TD process stages are followed two phases of the TD process are highly deficient, namely, the training needs assessment and program evaluation phases. Ad hoc needs assessments and evaluation practices may have served in the past but the new economic and social realities of Yemen, make these practices vulnerable. The researcher believes that this is partially due to the fact that the training focus has more or less linearly followed the short term planning of the the day-to-day needs and operations of the businesses, and that it served the direct needs only to ensure that the Oil Gas companies would remain sustainable in the Oil Gas industry. In fact, the training has so far been mainly reactive, where existing employees were trained as identified specific needs arise. Not having clear TD objectives, nor defining or stating specifically the required outcomes has caused some frustrations among the Human Resources or Training Specialists in the oil companies. In some cases their objectives were to only demonstrate to the Ministry of Oil that they are spending significant amounts of money in training and developing their Yemeni workforce. In spite of this, most companies claim that the currently applied TD systems are satisfactory. I believe this satisfaction is mainly due to the sufficient amounts of TD budgets they are currently spending and to the fact that they have an expatriate workforce ready to intervene whenever a Yemeni employee isnt performing as per required standards. So, the effectiveness of their TD activities isnt really a major problem till so far. Companies often consider training as a stand alone process with no ties or links to the major features of their business strategy nor to other parts of the total training development system, such as the surrounding environment of its different components, methods selection procedures (?), or the various burdens affecting employee training. Linking employee Training Development activities with other activities (e.g. career pathing, performance appraisal and reward systems and management by objectives) would put training in a perspective and give the trainee an incentive to learn and apply learned norms. While there is evidence that a considerable amount of existing employee Training Development is undertaken by the Oil Gas companies and their commitment to the continuous training development of their staff at all levels of the workplace (Sentence is not clear). The companies approach to the continuous training development of their existing workforce is unsystematic and dependent on the initiation and enthusiasm of employees and on the government requirements. Training opportunities, both formal and less formal, are open to all staff, but the company does not put pressure on employees to engage in training and development. When companies dont have TD qualified specialists as found by at least two companies, they (= higher management?) rely on the personality, and existing skills and knowledge of its workforce to address these issues. Due to the absence of awareness for restructuring their TD activities in a systematic manner, it is expected that long term development and career plans may not be possible in the Oil Gas companies.. Short-term plans (1-3 years), however that focus on the next promotion may be possible (Muna, 1987). This research has led the researcher to conclude that the Yemen Oil Gas sector is not fully aware of the importance of having a systematic training development system. However, external (Yeminization) and internal (call for promotions) pressure forces the companies to reassess the present practice and to introduce TD systems to link the modern and complex Oil Gas infrastructure with a highly qualified workforce. The potential is there. Recommendations The findings of this study shed light on the training development structures and practices in the oil gas industry in Yemen; and the issues raised in this research may be of value to practitioners in other industries and multinational companies operating in Yemen. On the basis of the result findings and conclusions of this research the following recommendations are made. General company recommendations The findings regarding the considerable amount of existing employee Training Development suggest a growing commitment to employee training in the Yemen oil industry. However, the deficient in not considering the organizational factors that impact the effectiveness of the TD activities needs to be reconsidered. Similarly, TD needs assessment and evaluation systems need to be remedied. It is important that a link is made between the application of systematic TD approaches with proper selection criteria and the required TD outcomes including effective Yemenization. Only through effectively and continuously developing and training their employees are the companies in the Oil industry able to acquire the core competencies needed to sustain their operations and to be flexible or ready to cope with changes. Training Development that is built around action rather than theory and characterized by encouraging a work habit of reflection and learning and self-development is what companies in the Oil Gas industry in Yemen in particular and in all industries in general should be looking at. It is suggested that systematic thinking should guide the planning, analysis, implementation and follow-up of employee development efforts in these companies. Perhaps the clearest messages from this study is with serious effort on their part these companies may be able to define the TD (input output) determinants that have most impacts on the outputs they value most. The cooperation between HR or training departments and all units in the company will enhance the training efficiency in planning and developing employee TD programs. HR, training and all units in the respective companies can work together to find out more about why each one approaches rules the way they do, and work out some compromises. People in various departments should understand what is really required and HR and training should also translate needs in training programmes and figure out how legitimate exceptions can be made to make things work for companys business. The research findings suggest that department managers who are not aligned with HR and training often fail to communicate or implement critical policies that help improve employee engagement. Without cooperation between HR and the various units in the company, both spend too much energy putting out fires, like recruiting new people because the good people leave the company. When HR and other departments leaders work together effectively, the results often include: Clear business roles that ensure the right people are doing the right jobs Performance management processes that relate the core competencies of each departments roles and enable ongoing development of employees Incentive plans that pay for performance and align with business strategy. Previous research (Schimel, 1979) has emphasized the importance of dual roles to be played simultaneously by management of companies and the government, namely, passivity and support. The acquiescence of Yemeni nevertheless at the managerial level and their willingness to permit experimentation and failure is a good approach for the success of Yemeni development (Comment: What do you want to say here? Is the management lenient to the support of the Government?). Moreover, the findings suggest increasing the role of the top management and government involvement in setting the training development strategies, objectives, proper budget allocation of what is spent on training which is short-term and more spending on development which ensures continuity of operations once the international oil companies leave Yemen. Company specific recommendations To enhance training and development effectiveness, it is suggested that the following feature be incorporated in the five Oil Gas companies Training Development functions: Supported by key strategies, objectives, systems, structures, policies, and practices: to ensure a true return on companies TD investments, it is suggested that Training Development in the five companies are aligned with and directly supported by key areas such as organizational structures, lines of authority, decision making, values, planning, budgeting, career development, performance management, rewards and recognition, staffing, recruiting, and succession planning. Specifically, the TD strategies in all five companies should be aimed at knowledge retention and transfer to the workplace, enabling employees to be more effective and to acquire more skills. In addition, there should be explicit alignment between programs, learning objectives, and business objectives. These direct links will help to both set boundaries and reinforce desired results. Best companies now realize that many Training and Development initiatives take years to fully achieve their goals. Consequently, the las t suggestion in this point would be that companies identify these timeframes up front, where possible, and the TD programs evaluated at those points. Companies must seek mutual benefit that is reflected, on the one hand through the employee in the development of his career and achieving personal goals, and , on the other hand, through the leader of these companies in achieving the set of business goals and a more effective management of his subordinate employees. In this way, appropriate staff will be trained and able to contribute to the success of the company. Driven through many Methods and Approaches: companies are encouraged to further investigate and utilize multiple modalities such as the classroom, workplace, blended learning, eLearning, technology support tools, however in a systematic manner to ensure that people get the right skills at the right time, in the right way, and at the right cost to succeed. Modalities are suggested to be selected to match specific learning styles, business issues, budgets, and required training development outputs. Employees are usually keen to participate in programs that add to their current and future work effectiveness and that will contribute to their companys success. Therefore, Training Development programs should be relevant to both the company and to the employees work requirements. All selected Oil Gas companies, and in particular (Companies 3 and 4), are encouraged to train their employees through real tasks and/or assignments in their international branches rather than teaching theory, so that after training employees are able to apply what they have learned in their own work. Also training in projects type of work, is suggested, however, because of the value placed on job rotation discussed in the literature review, the Yemeni government should encourage Oil and Gas companies to establish permanent training slots in major departments, ensuring ongoing exposure of Yemeni employees to new tasks and responsibilities, nevertheless at the management level.(Comment: reword sentence) Yemeni employees identified for management positions may be given the opportunity to test his or her skills in a number of different roles (positions?) such as in finance, operations, and exploration, before settling on a full-time management role within the company. Additionally, companies should encourage their employees to identify their own needs, create individual learning plans, and to seek learning opportunities. Relevant software packages that facilitate such employee interaction was only found in company 2 and therefore the other four companies are strongly recommended to use similar TD information systems. (Comments: but should also be given the opportunity to follow the programs as was mentioned in chapter 4) Participative approach in the application of their TD Processes: Training Development is best when conducted by line managers supported by the TD specialists experience and employee feedback. Line managers set performance objectives, and also perform evaluations. Even where the training is designed and delivered by (= for?) a specific function or department, TD programs should respond not only to organizational needs, but also to individual needs as identified through appraisals, counseling meetings, assessments, and career development plans. One of the most important elements of best practice training and development is that it should be easily transferred back to the workplace. The five Companies can achieve this through the timing of the training, the quality of the content, and the quality and appropriateness of the delivery method. Another crucial element to this transferability is the role of line managers (effective management of subordinate employees) in the maintenance of t he new skill or knowledge once training has been completed. All companies should remember that skills and knowledge that are not used constantly will quickly atrophy (= disappear? forgotten?). Consequently, to bring about lasting change in behaviors and habits, all Companies are encouraged to have a continuous learning process. To achieve this, the Companies should ensure that learning occurs before, during, and after scheduled TD events. The process of doing, reflecting, learning, and doing again should never cease. Another way to achieve this transferability is in the 2nd TD process phase, when designing the training materials. Companies could consider the Performance-Based Training Design method which teaches employees job performance that enables them to go back to work and do the job, not just know how to do the job. TD Input, Process and Output elements: It is no longer feasible to address the complex needs and requirements of Training and Development activities in the contemporary organization in a less than comprehensive approach. Today, the five selected Companies are operating in a surrounding organizational environment where several Input, Process Output indicators impact the quality of the organizational Training and Development function. It is suggested (= recommended?) that all of the five companies TD systems are structured based on the TD basic systems framework as used in this research; such that: TD Input consisting of: Clear TD objectives and strategies Participative environment Sufficient budget and resources Strong support from companies management: Management support is empirical to the success of training programs for resources and support, including time, money and motivation. When the companys top management does not take responsibility for TD policy rather imposed by the HR or training department, can lead to potentially spread the gap between training development and organizational requirements. Clear support from government, through establishing laws and regulations that monitor and sets minimum TD activities that are required to be implemented. TD Process: To ensure a successful Training and Development system, Oil Gas companies need to effectively go through the entire Training and Development process, such that there is: Assessment: assessing the needs for training and the area of improvement, setting training objectives, and determining the budget. In addition, keep track of available inventory of skills and competencies that will assist in proper planning of gaps. Involvement: participation of individual, departments, HR and top management should be involved in designing or selection of the training programs, including the training topics, training methods, place, and the trainers. Personalized: using real world issues and ease studies Interactive: employee training programs will involve open dialogue, role-playing and small-group sessions to increase team building and excitement. Evaluation and Control: the shallow reactive mode governing the program evaluation process should be replaced by a comprehensive evaluation system which focuses on the results of training and transference of knowledge to the workplace. This recommendation is consistent with the suggestions of Kirkpatrick (Kirkpatrick, 1979) who stated that the best evaluation system focused on the effects of the application of information and learned concepts on the organization. Establish follow up procedure that properly measures the TD effectiveness, Employee change and satisfaction, etc. TD Output: Have clear training and development outcomes that include: It isnt enough to evaluate what employees have learned rather what learning have they applied on the job: Standard measurement of productivity and profitability: Yemenization: is an important aspect that requires proper planning, measurement and regular monitoring. Correlation between training development determinants: The literature (Al-Khayyat, et al., 1997) shows that for each output indicator there is a unique set of input and process indicators that have significant effects over it. For example, the adequacy of resources allocated for Training and Development have significant effect on all output indicators such as (application of learning, performance improvement, productivity profitability). Similarly, clearly stated long-term policies of HRD have a significant effect on productivity and profitability. The logical inference of this is that companies should clearly identify and focus on the set of (input and process) indicators that are related to the output they value most, or the desired output in a given time. The view of output-related indicators is much differentiated; each has a somewhat unique path to achieve. Finally, Both the literature review for this research and the data analyzed from the surveyed companies informed ( = contributed to?) the development of a comprehensive TD Determinants model that includes: all relevant TD determinant indicators as well as the full TD process cycle. This improved model is depicted in the following figure that gives an overall picture or model that is suggested to be followed: Comprehensiveness of HRD Perspectives Resources Allocation Strategic Planning Long-term HRD Policies, HRD Objectives Senior Management Gov. Support and Involvement invlovement Employee and Customer Satisfaction Learning Application Yemenization. Productivity Profitability Productivity Work output Input Process Output Needs Assessment Implementation Method Selection Evaluation Control TD Process Change TD Environment TD Model Oil Gas Companies One of the particularly admirable features of the industry is the way that, once a person is accepted into the these surveyed companies industry, the educational sector from which the person emerged fades into insignificance as companies take care of developing their own people. Several directions for further research There are several directions for future research to consider, these include: The degree of agreement between the various oil companies needs to be investigated further. The future studies analysis should be at the organizational level (analysing the data for each organization separately) instead of doing it at the aggregate level (all subjects working in different companies together, as was done in this study). The issue of the differences between effective and less effective companies should be explored further. The analysis should be at the organizational level, that is, identify specific effective and less effective companies and then explore the differences between them with respect to input and process indicators. Identify the elements which contribute to successful training in the Oil Gas companies and factors that influence implementation of training and learning in the workplace (Ridoutt et al. 2002). And how do firms measure the success of their training practices Nonetheless, the major determinats uncovered are significant and gave an indication of the broad brush of what impacts training and skill development in the Yemen oil gas industry. It would be beneficial to test these determinants in other industries. Maybe a statement about making further study on ways the Government could speed up the Yemenization process using TD system.

Role of micro finance in natural disasters

Role of micro finance in natural disasters The impacts of natural disasters are mainly faced by the poor community people in every country. It is very much tough for the poor people to cope with the impacts of natural disasters. Micro-finance has not only generated enormous hope for the poor people in many developing countries but also played a vital role in natural disasters affected areas. In this paper, the roles of micro-finance in mitigating the impacts of natural disasters are illustrated. It has been seen that micro-finance institutions provide support on poor community people prepare for the onslaughts or rehabilitation needs of the disaster victims, show coping mechanism during a disaster hits and how people can wake of a post natural disaster both at the personal level and generally. Key words: Role of Micro-finance, impacts of natural disasters, poor, support, coping, developing countries. Introduction: Over the years, natural disasters seem to have become more frequent across the world, resulting in enormous human and economic losses. Natural disasters take many forms like earthquakes, floods, cyclones, tsunamis, tornados and droughts, which threaten the very existence of the local communities. Further, it has been observed that the effects of natural disasters are more acute in developing countries than in developed ones. Natural disasters have had devastating dev ·as ·tate  Ã‚   tr.v. dev ·as ·tat ·ed, dev ·as ·tat ·ing, dev ·as ·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. .. Click the link for more information.  effects on the poor. For example, in 1998, Bangladesh experienced the flood of the century. Households exposed to flooding had major crop failure, suffered various water-borne diseases, lost shelter, assets and the ability to meet basic needs. Results show that the burden of medical expenditures due to flood-related sicknesses is significantly higher for poorer households, and for households more exposed to flooding. More positively, econometric results indicate that social cohesion built on group-based micro-finance programs provide an informal social insurance that reduces sickness shocks. The strength of group-based micro-credit in coping with natural disasters is yet to be fully explored. Micro-credit may not be effective in the case of a large-scale natural disaster that creates a covariate shock. However, even in the case of a large-scale natural disaster (e.g. 1998 flooding), social capital developed through micro-credit programs is s hown to play a positive role in reducing the burden of sickness shocks. Micro-finance is the provision of financial services to low-income clients or solidarity lending groups including consumers and the self-employed, who traditionally lack access to banking and related services. At the end of 2009, 1,084 MFIs that were serving 74 million borrowers ($38 billion in outstanding loans) and 67 million savers ($23 billion in deposits). For example, In Indonesian context, micro-financial savings and lending institutions support families to ensure consumption against illness shocks. Micro-finance actually helps the poor and vulnerable poor people. So, micro finance reduces vulnerability and increases coping against socio-economic shocks, including Natural disasters. At the same time, microfinance can provide relief in direct response to disasters. Thus it is possible to make micro finance tools a part of diverse disaster relief programs or response. Objective of the study: Disaster mitigation practices needs to be tied up throughout the life cycle of micro-finance tools in order to make poor community people sustainable and minimize non-financial losses. As just mentioned, the roles of micro-finance in mitigating the impacts of natural disasters are the purpose of this study. This study is prepared based on the following questions: What are the roles of micro-finance in mitigating the impacts of natural disasters, coping mechanism during or after disaster period? What are the main lessons and challenges of micro-finance to mitigate the impacts of natural disasters in poor community? Microfinance and Disaster Mitigation: Some Conceptual Issues The attributes of microfinance, which are applied in reducing household level risks, are relevant for reducing disaster risks too. Microfinance instruments help poor households diversify their income by source and season. They also diversify income by earner as it provides opportunities to women to earn. Multiplicity of income-earning opportunities and asset building through microfinance help poor households in dealing with disasters better. Microfinance also provides explicit and implicit insurance to the households. There is growing interest and constant experimentation in using microfinance in disaster management. The role of microfinance and microfinance institutions in disaster situations, however, is to be clearly analyzed here. Microfinance deals with the poor who are vulnerable to various types of risks. The poor are more likely to be hard-hit hard-hit adj. Badly or adversely affected: Official rescue and recovery efforts were just getting underway in this ravaged port city and more than a dozen other hard-hit towns  R. .. Click the link for more information.  by disasters like drought drought,  abnormally long period of insufficient rainfall. Drought cannot be defined in terms of inches of rainfall or number of days without rain, since it is determined by such variable factors as the distribution in time and area of precipitation during and before .. Click the link for more information., floods, cyclones, and earthquakes. Disasters normally give rise to two kinds of needs, namely relief and rehabilitation. What is required immediately after a disaster is relief to take care of food, shelter, medicine and other immediate needs of the victims. Through its long term impacts of reducing poverty and supporting sustainable development, microfinance reduces the vulnerability of the poor to disasters. Microfinance cannot, however, provide standalone protection against disasters. It must be part of a greater strategy of disaster risk reduction. MFIs must be prepared for disasters by developing disaster management plans that ensure the survival of the MFI and sustainable delivery of its services. Education on microfinance and disaster mitigation is needed for both successful poverty reduction and disaster impact reduction. Microfinance must be linked to disaster mitigation, especially during rehabilitation when the links between recover y and preparedness are clearly evident. MFIs like BRAC, ASA, Grameen Bank, Shakti etc. are working to reducing vulnerability during natural disaster by providingClint-responsive loans, housing improvement loans, adaptation of current lending, emergency reconstruction loans etc. They help to so compulsory savings, voluntary savings, adaptation of forced loans etc. MFIs suggest people for doing Insurance (best established before disaster). MFIs provide money transfer services (remittances likely to increase), Grants and donations (for increasing power and building financial discipline), Livelihood relief (no payment) to the poor community people. Microfinance Institutions also provide non-financial services like training, information dissemination, distribution of supplies etc. In the aftermath of a disaster, microfinance can quickly provide relief, and then support sustainable recovery and rehabilitation. Microfinance institutions can additionally provide post-disaster communication and coordination through their established community networks. Microfinance requires a degree of self-management by clients and is normally community based, thus fostering recovery ownership, dignity and community cohesion during traumatic and unstable times. Microfinance can reduce the cost of post-disaster recovery financing, while reducing aid dependency. At the same time, however, post- disaster aid can distort markets, adversely affecting microfinance performance. Post-disaster activities must be carefully considered to prevent negative long-term impacts on local markets and MFIs. To best reduce disaster impacts on a community, MFIs should offer a suite of flexible products to adapt to specific needs and situations. Links and/or partnerships with the formal financial secto r are needed to enhance liquidity and support institutional and managerial capacity. IV.Cases (Disaster management of Micro-finance programmes): Flood in Bangladesh (1998): Bangladesh is largely a flat deltaic country formed by the confluence of great river systems of the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna. These river systems annually drain a vast basin about 12 times its own size. Apart from this, hilly regions experiences flash flood after heavy rainfall and due to frequent depressions in the Bay, Bangladesh experiences regular threats of cyclonic storms, often catastrophic. The role of microfinance services in responding to disaster risks was demonstrated first during the 1998 flood. Bangladesh experienced the worst floods in its history from July to September 1998. The damages to standing crops, livestock and houses were overwhelming. The income generating activities of rural landless people were almost suspended. There had been a huge loss of property and human and animal lives during the SIDR attack in 2007 in the coastal areas of Bangladesh, nearly 4 millions affected, and more than six thousand people died, thous ands of livestock perished, and 0.9 million homes fully or partially damaged. All the MFIs in Bangladesh responded to the unprecedented situation of floods and SIDR. During the floods and cyclones, MFI workers even went on boats to ensure that weekly contacts with all members were maintained. Workers carried money with them and provided immediate interest-free consumption loans so that the members would not go hungry. the MFIs allowed the members to withdraw their savings. Grameen Bank, BRAC, ASA, Proshika, TMSS, CODEC, GUK and many other small MFIs despite a very serious financial consequence for their liquidity, opened access to compulsory savings account in an attempt to reduce the precipitous decline many households experienced in their incomes. In non-disaster times, members of these institutions did not have access to these funds unless they had fully repaid any outstanding loans and decided to leave the MFI. BRAC also operated disaster-related deposits, which allowed members to keep their assets safe from loss or damage due to the floods. A number of MFIs such as ASA and others provided voluntary savings facilities to their members. These facilities provided the members more assistance in disasters than compulsory or disaster-related savings with less negative financial consequences for the MFI. Tsunami -Micro Finance in Sri Lanka(2004): The December 2004 tsunami is one of the worst natural disasters experienced by Sri Lanka in recorded history. With over 35,000 dead and over 800,000 displaced it is a disaster of a magnitude that the country was ill equipped to deal with. Thirteen of the countrys twenty five districts were affected with the North and East provinces accounting for over two thirds of deaths and nearly 60% of the displaced. Sri Lanka (RADA) estimates that about 150,000 people lost livelihoods about 80 per cent of the affected lost their main source of income; 90 per cent lost their productive assets including the abodes. There were several issues facing the micro finance sector even pre-tsunami. The micro finance market has been pluralistic with high penetration by many different types of institutions, employing a wide range of micro finance models and methods. Bulk of micro credit is funded through Government banks and programmes, through subsidized credit, w hich is not sustainable. Agro Micro-Finance, BRAC, Arthacharya Foundation were working in Sri Lanka during tsunami. While these MFIs might be fulfilling their social mission, they were not charging interest rates that would achieve cost recovery. Capacity building of these institutions was a priority. Agro Micro-Finance was operating in eight districts in Sri Lanka, many of which were affected by the tsunami. Arthacharya Foundation is a national not-for-profit NGO functioning in seven districts. This organization is working with a large number of donors in promoting micro enterprises through savings and credit, and also working in health and sanitation. BRAC set up operations in Sri Lanka for undertaking post-tsunami rehabilitation activities. BRAC has quickly expanded the outreach as well as loans since establishing operations in Sri Lanka. Within a year of operation the number of clients reached has touched 26,373 making it one of the larger MFIs in Sri Lanka. Well established man agement practices and systems have enabled the MFI to quickly scale up. Though the initial operations were through grant funds from BRAC and Oxfam NOVIB, BRAC has recently approached commercial banks for loans for expanding its loan portfolio. Pre-tsunami, voluntary savings was offered by four MFIs and compulsory savings by ten MFIs. Overall, there have been several positive developments due to post-tsunami funding by donors. Lessons and challenges of micro-finance: As we look broadly at micro-finance as an industry, and at specific experiences in the natural disaster context, it is possible to draw several broad lessons: Microfinance cannot be a financial safety net to an entire affected community, but can play an increasingly constructive role in disaster preparedness and response as it expands its range of products and services. Establishment of long-term relationships between individuals and MFIs allow poor households access to existing MFI products that can help reduce some of the hardships caused by natural disasters. Preparedness of the MFIs staff and systems is the key to providing timely response to clients. Timing of MFI services matters to clients: emergency loans must be available quickly after disaster strikes, while reconstruction support is useful once the household has fully passed the emergency stage. Along with these broad lessons, there are also clear bottlenecks that limit the role MFIs currently play in natural disaster response and mitigation: Most MFIs do not have the liquidity position (or access to a Disaster Loan Fund) to respond quickly or fully in a disaster context. MFIs-from management, to field staff, to reserves, to information and communication systems-are not currently prepared to either weather or respond to a natural disaster situation. MFIs have not considered client needs from an emergency perspective; rather products and services are primarily geared to day-to-day business or household concerns. Demand for special services may be small, yet may require significant institutional investment. Therefore, individual MFIs are unlikely to invest in developing or maintaining these services. Regulatory restrictions and limits to institutional capacity will keep most MFIs from mobilizing voluntary savings for the foreseeable future. Findings of the study: Although the concept of using microfinance for disaster mitigation is a novel idea, the relevance of microfinance under disaster conditions especially for the poor is yet to be fully established. Microfinance even under normal circumstances faces quite a few limitations in bringing about improvement in livelihood. While microfinance can ensure livelihood protection by reducing various shocks and vulnerability, it cannot lead to livelihood promotion unless it is accompanied by other equally important measures like training, market linkages and technology development. As micro-finance institutions involved in livelihood restoration interventions, they are aimed at establishing funds that could be used in normal situations and during times of disaster. Their main aim during normal times was disaster preparedness. By taking up various activities aimed at disaster preparedness, they secured livelihoods and resources, improved the lives of the communities, made them less vulnerable and bet ter equipped to face disaster. In case of an emergency, the projects assisted the communities in mitigating mit ·i ·gate  Ã‚   v. mit ·i ·gat ·ed, mit ·i ·gat ·ing, mit ·i ·gates v.tr. To moderate (a quality or condition) in force or intensity; alleviate. See Synonyms at relieve. v.intr. To become milder. .. Click the link for more information.  the effects through loans reserved for the purpose. Insurance could be a useful instrument of risk mitigation for the poor especially under disaster situation Micro-insurance can take up under MFIs to provide protection to the women against loss of life, accidents, prolonged pro ·long  Ã‚   tr.v. pro ·longed, pro ·long ·ing, pro ·longs 1. To lengthen in duration; protract. 2. To lengthen in extent. .. Click the link for more information.  illness and hospitalization, and damage or destruction of houses and household assets. Thus, both during normal and disaster times, the MFIs funds were used mainly through loans. The core objective of the MFIs is to reach out to the most vulnerable among the target groups. As observed in the study, the members would like to depend upon MFIs for their social, economic and emotional security. For protection and improvement of their livelihood, they need diverse financial services. Many of them would like to take up income generating activities to strengthen their economic base. Moreover, no significant attempt is made by these interventions to adopt an integrated approach required for improving the livelihood of the disaster-affected households. Given the fact that the members of the poor households in the study area are faced with many social and economic constraints like illiteracy, severe caste and gender discrimination, and landlessness, m ere introduction of microfinance may not help them in bringing about any significant improvement in the livelihood. VI. Methodology: The study mainly uses secondary sources. Secondary data on Flood in Bangladesh (1998) was colleted from Bangladesh Country Report by Sirajul Islam (INAFI Asia Bangladesh) and Tsunami Micro Finance in Sri Lanka (2004) was collect from Review of Post-Tsunami Micro Finance in Sri Lanka by Girija Srinivasan. Moreover, I have taken help from different websites and books. VII. Conclusion: Reducing the Poors vulnerabilities to disasters and emergency situations is the role of micro-finance in disaster risk mitigation. It can immediately relieve financial burdens caused by the on set of calamities, especially if savings and micro-insurance is included in the package of services. It can further support consequent initiatives for sustainable disaster recovery and rehabilitation. Since, MFI is private in nature; it has great potential to provide financial and non-financial services in all stages-relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction and development. However, micro-finance services alone cannot immediately translate into a stand-alone successful disaster recovery enterprise but needs to form part of an over-arching disaster risk mitigation strategy. The success of the microfinance industry in various disasters is indicative of future accomplishments in exploiting microfinance for pre- and post-disaster mechanisms. While micro-finance can be an entry-point for the delivery of sustained services in disaster situation, it still needs the prompt provision of services from the government, like installation of damaged infrastructure and other rehabilitation interventions and active participation of other civil society groups for training, counseling and organizing. A more thorough understanding of microfinance and disaster mitigation is needed for poverty reduction and disaster impact reduction. Finally, it can be said that micro-finance institutions can be an entry point or a point of convergence of poverty alleviation and disaster mi tigation programs.

Essay --

Kassandra Rodriguez Professor Goner Abuse in the workplace Abuse in the workplace is behavior that causes the workers any emotional or physical harm. Discrimination, sexual harassment/harassment, violence and bullying are forms of workplace abuse. These actions are not always detectable from each other because they often overlap. Harassment could be discriminatory, bullying could be a form of harassment, and any of these behaviors can lead to violence in the workplace. There are many questions that could be asked about this like, Do men often report sexual harassment? Do minorities report Discrimination? Do men or women really experience violence in the workplace? Violence in the workplace as an threat or act of physical harm toward another person at the work site. the abusers might use verbal abuse or physically assault their victims to intimidate them. A person who threatens a coworker with physical harm is usually considered a ‘typical’ bully. However, the boss or supervisor who often requests an employee to do work or threa tens to fire them also is a bully. Bullies sometimes pretend to ignore their coworkers to make them feel invisible. Bullies also use other tactics to humiliate their victims, such as rumors to spread lies about them or try to sabotage their work. Discriminatory behavior treats workers very unfair usually on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or age. Discrimination is prohibited by federal and state laws. Unfair actions incorporate retaliation, harassment, denying employment and making decisions that affect people in these categories. Bullying, violence and discrimination often are categorized as workplace harassment. Therefore, harassment victims suffer the sa... ...t down and come up with some statistics and go over our data. Now, participant observation is a little different, The main objective of participant observation is to grasp a deep understanding and become familiar with a certain group of individuals. So where would we conduct this? in an office where there are more than 5 people being ran by 1 boss. How long? anywhere from 6 months to a year. We would keep close eye on how the boss/supervisor interacts with their employees. The main goal is to try and see how the working population is treated behind closed doors. Maybe, this study can help change the way people are treated for working hard. Change the way it is handled, make it more serious when someone files a complaint against a worker for sexual harassment or bullying. Would you want your kids to be treated in this manner? so lets try and stop it head on.

The American Within :: essays research papers

The American Within! Many people believe that if you were born in a certain country you will be forever labeled as a citizen of that country for the rest of your natural born life. We as humans should be able to express ourselves freely without the risk of being harmed. Americans are not necessarily born they are created at heart. Unlike many other countries, America has established a separation between church and state to give everyone the choice of what they want to do with their life. I believe an American should take advantage of what the country has to offer, benefit the country in a way you see fit, and also follow the guidelines that has been set forth by our founding fathers. America is known for their unlimited opportunities, and these opportunities were meant to be taken advantage of by the American citizens. Citizens are given many freedoms other third world countries do not even consider releasing to the public. In most cases, countries outside the United States have governments that take action on those who choose to speak freely or participate in a different religion. Freedoms such as freedom of religion, free speech, the right to assemble, etc. are all characteristics of an average American. If someone doesn't have the right to perform any of those just listed then they are obviously not an American. All of these freedoms and rights are not only allowed, but they are strongly encouraged. It is what this country fought so long and hard for. Normally, people who were not born in America come here for the labor. People of America are raised to get an education and a job, and to find some way to benefit the country. That's how America is economically and financially supported. Taxes are what keeps our country on its' feet. You are morally and legally obligated to pay these fees issued to you by the government. If you don't pay your taxes you're not supporting the country that gave you liberty and justice, and by not paying taxes your just committing a selfish act. We would not be here today if everyone in America did whatever benefited themselves. Everyone in this country puts together what they can to improve their country, we are united! Hence the name United States. Like any other country, the government is what keeps everything in place. The government is not there to make your life miserable, at least not in America.

Big Black Good Man

Big Black good Man and Battle Royal I believe Richard Wright's story â€Å"Big Black Good Man† was written in a time when racial prejudice was a major factor in society. In Today’s society we still have racial prejudice, but it is not as strong as back then. The point in which Richard Wright wanted to get by writing this story is that people should â€Å"never judge others by their race†. In the story, Olaf mentioned Jim was not the first black man he serviced, but he started to make drama of Jim’s behaviors in his head. I think Olaf was the type of person who is ignoring that he is a racist but he actually is one.This was the most important point that Richard Wright was trying to make. This story is focusing more on characters. There were two characters, which responded very differently to the black man. Olaf, whom was working in a hotel for guest services, has an average life, average job and also average thinking. Based on the story Olaf is a type of ma n that is happy with his life and lifestyle and respects others the way they are. Although, as soon as it comes to big black man who enters the hotel every thing about him suddenly changes, some unexpected fear surrounds him.However, every day of Jims stays in the hotel Olaf would gain more fears of a big black man. In his mind, Jim is a big, black, loud and violent man that wants to kill him. On the other hand, Lena responded very differently to the black man. Based on the story, Lena was poor and wiling to do anything such as prostituting to earn money, in order to take care of her four children. Even at the arguments she had with Olaf, she mentioned that he is just another man with manly needs â€Å"He’s just a man†¦I handle ‘im. † She was seeing his as an ordinary man who had good money and wants her; of course it was no fear of him to her conflicting than Olaf.She was called to Jim’s room every night and she was willing to continue. I believe she wouldn’t care if he is black or if he is big, all that matters was the reality of Jim as a man who has money to lead her for taking care of her children. They also ended up liking each other, and started dating and at the end of the story Jim was thankful to Olaf as well. Lena stopped prostituting and making love with Jim; she must have seen him as a good man so she was willing to drop her income. On the other hand, when the story ends Olaf realized Jim was not a violent and harsh man he actually is a big black good man.In addition, when it comes to comparing we can compare â€Å"Big Black good Man† by Richard and â€Å"Battle Royal† by Ralph Ellison. The point in which both narrators wanted to make was the fact of differences in race and struggling of being different. â€Å"Battle Royal† is about young African American who is ? struggling to have a place in their society. It was kind of hard for people back then to deal with this situation and it was al so hard for black people to get into white society. It was all about equality and identity, which they did not have, back then.However, this story was written in 1947, black society in the U. S. was struggling to find an identity for itself separate from the unfair force accrued by a white culture. Ellison uses the theme of blindness throughout the story as he describes the relations between the narrator and the characters in the story. The paper describes the story, beginning with a strange type of the death of the narrator's grandfather and the advice he gave him about life and how to behave as a black man. Grandfather’s advice leads the whole story making narrator to fallow his advice and using it trough his life.In the story, young black boy struggle to get ahead in a predominately white society, he wanted to reach this goal in using his grandfathers advice. His grandfather told him to â€Å"live with your head in the lion’s mouth. I want you to overcome ‘em with yeses, undermine ‘em with grins, agree ‘em to death and destruction, let ‘em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open†. I believe his grandfather was trying to tell him to conform to the white people. The whole story shows his struggle and hardships his taking to reach his goal by fallowing grandpa’s advice.At the end of the story he also gives out a successful speech of this advice at his graduation. In conclusion, throughout time racism has been the cause of millions of deaths. In early centires racial prejudice was a major factor in society, now we see less racial prejudice. So many people still struggling because of racist people and some people are hiding their racisom. In both stories authors are trying to tell audiences stop judging people by their look, color and culture, there is absolutely no different between white and black it’s just a color. Human is a human and life goes on with all differences in people. Big Black Good Man â€Å"Big Black Good Man† Racism has existed for as long as humans have walked the earth. â€Å"Big Black Good Man,† by author Richard Wright takes place in 1957 in Copenhagen, Denmark at a cheap hotel on the docks. Olaf Jensen is a 60 year old white night porter who sees all kinds of people come there for a room. When Jim, a 6 1/2 foot tall black sailor who works for American Continental Line, arrives, the dilemma begins. Olaf is frozen by the sight of Jim and wonders whether he should give him a room. But we must read more deeply into the text to know what Olaf is actually feeling.Despite appearances, Olaf is not a racist because he has a multi-cultural background, he is afraid of Jim's size and power, not his skin color, and he feels insecure in Jim's presence. First, Olaf is not a racist because he has a multi-cultural background. In his youth Olaf was a in the services he was a sailor. While in the services over the world traveled all over the world. During his wor ld travels, Olaf has been exposed to a diversity of people from different background, races and cultures.While in navy, Olaf lived side by side with people of color â€Å"In his days, he’d worked and eaten and slept and fought with all kinds of men. † Olaf had been exposed to so much with so many culture. Olaf even lived in the melting pot on the world. â€Å"He lived in New York city for ten years. † For him to live so long in a city with such diversity suggests a open-mindedness to tolerance for different. During his travels, he even had learned 8 languages: â€Å"English, French, German, Danish, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian and Spanish. He took the time to learn these languages so he could better understand the people he was associating with. This makes it hard to believe that he was a racist. 1950’s segregation was still going on at this time, but it didn’t make any difference to Olaf. He actually states â€Å"It was not the hotel did not admit men of color†¦. He took all comers, blacks, yellows, whites, and browns. † Olaf did not discriminate on the basis of skin color. â€Å"to Olaf men were men. † Second, Olaf is not a racist because he is afraid of Jim's size and power, not his skin color.Jim’s sheer size at â€Å" 61/2 feet into the air, almost touching the ceiling. † Would cause any men to be afraid. Olaf constantly emphasize Jim’s enormous physique and power, describe as â€Å"His chest bulged like barrel† and â€Å"his rocklike shoulders hinted mountain ridgesâ€Å" and â€Å"the stomach ballooned like a threatening stone. † Olaf description of Jim gives a great image of Jim as a massive size and intimating features. It is easy to understand Olaf fear of Jim. He afraid so Jim that â€Å"With just one look at Jim’s hands he would have shivers†. Olaf was completely terrified of Jim.Later in the story, Jim walked in to the office and demand Olaf to s tand. Standing inch apart Jim lifted his mammoth hand his around Olaf throat. † Olaf lost control of the reflex of his body and felt a hot stickiness flooding his underwear. Olaf fear made him loss control over his own bodily function. I only could imagine this situation and reacting any different then Olaf. Third, Olaf is not a racist because he feels insecure in Jim's presence. Olaf is a small 5†7† 60 years old Caucasian man. Although he wasn’t poor he wasn’t rich, either a lifetime of working, he was still only a night potter.In comparison, Jim who has money, youth and power. He envied Jim â€Å" the easy manner in which it moved with such a creeping powerful motion† He felt that Jim presence command attention and respect. Having this enormous men in his presence frightened and insulted Olaf. â€Å"He believed that this man had come here expressly to remind him how puny, how tiny, and how weak he was. † Olaf offers to take Jim‘s bag, but Jim replies â€Å"That‘s too heavy for you, big boy: I‘ll take it† Olaf feel that this man makes him inferior and less of a man. As a result, Olaf â€Å"Seethed against himself for his involuntary weakness†.He was angry for allowing this men to make him feel weak. Unable to stand up to Jim, he feels â€Å"Him self beaten†, stating â€Å"He thinks am nothing. † Olaf felt so belittle by this man specially after what happen with Jim in his office when due to true fear he wet him self he was so embarrassed that he couldn’t even tell his wife â€Å" he wept†¦. He went home and lied to his wife, he had an upset stomach. † Olaf was so embrace about what had happen he lied. Olaf was so insecure of him self after meeting Jim. This essay has made it clear that Olaf is not a racist but just a very afraid men.A men that aloud his fear cloud his judgments. Even thou he was afraid he never aloud him self to act upon his fears. T his story is a great example of how important close reading is. If you just focus on the vocabulary without putting any thought to what you read you could believe he is a racist. But once you look into the text and take into count the complete picture. An after only after you have read and reread is that the truth come to light. This story show us a great example of not judging a book by it cover. Even thou Jim was huge and scary he was one of the nice people.

Describe How and Why the Fertility Rate in Brazil Is Changing

Describe how and why the fertility rate in Brazil is changing Brazil, along with Russia, India and China (known collectively as the BRIC countries) is industrialising rapidly and going through dramatic demographic change. Its rate of growth has far exceeded that of current MEDCs, experiencing in 25 years the kind of change that would be expected in 100 years. The changes range from the economy, the industry and agriculture to the population and trends associated with it.As of 2011 the fertility rate in Brazil is a mere 1. 83, far lower than the other BRIC countries. For example the fertility rate of India is currently 2. 62. Brazil’s story is abnormal as its fertility rate is below the replacement rate (2. 1), especially when considering that much of the working population is still involved in agriculture and industry. The reasons for the sharp decline in fertility are similar to those associated with development, albeit Brazil has experienced these over a much shorter period of time.Education has improved drastically in the past 50 years in brazil; state-funded education is now compulsory for children aged 6-14 with most children continuing their studies beyond this. By the 1980s education reached a level of equality for boys and girls, but perhaps surprisingly females on average continued their studies for 1. 3 years longer than males (as of 2000). This shows that women are much more career driven than they used to be in the 1960s, when women were a small part of the total workforce.As of 2000 this has completely turned on its head, with women making up 54% of the working population. In the past if a woman did have a job it tended to be low-responsibility with mediocre career prospects and pay, but now many women occupy important roles in society and earn large salaries. With women now working more they have less desire to start a family. This means that they put off marriage until a lot later in life, meaning that when they do settle down they have le ss time to have children.Television has played a surprisingly large role in this change, and has a large influence on the lives of many Brazilians. ‘Novelas’ (soap operas) are extremely popular and have altered the way many people live. The people in these novelas always have small families (3-4 people) and the children are usually well stocked with the latest gadgets such as mobile phones. It is assumed that many Brazilians aspire to live this kind of life and many will take note that this is partly down to small families. The female characters are often particularly strong-willed, successful business omen who focus on their career over their love life. President Dilma Rousseff reinforces this statement and has one child, a daughter, and has proved that women can lead extremely successful lives in Brazil. President Rousseff, along with other women’s rights campaigners, helped take down the problem of ‘machismo’ in Brazil. An example of their protect ion of women is separate ‘women only’ carriages on night trains to prevent rape. Advertisements on tv and bill boards promoting contraception and family planning are also omnipresent.The incredibly high accessibility to contraception, abortions and family planning services is an incredibly significant reason for changing fertility rates in Brazil. It is surprising considering the country’s catholic beliefs which rejects all forms of contraception and birth-prevention. As a result of this abortions are still only allowed in the case of rape or threat to the mother. Despite this illegal abortions are commonplace and over-the-counter drugs that initiate termination are easy to come by. Despite being strictly illegal little is done to stop this.Whilst abortion does remain a sensitive subject (as it does in most countries) contraception is freely available. In fact a 2011 survey showed that 85% of Brazilians were against amendments to the abortion law. Many doctorâ₠¬â„¢s surgeries go so far as to give out condoms for free especially in cities and favelas where fertility is at its highest. Urbanisation in Brazil has been very rapid due to the increased industry. Many live in favelas, and much of the rest of the urban population lives in cheap high-rise apartments. These homes are small by design and having a family of more than 4 could lead to lack of space.The favelas are so common in Brazil that a drop in fertility should be a huge relief to many. Rochina, a favela next to Rio de Janeiro, has a population of somewhere between 150,000 and 300,000 although this is difficult to accurately measure. Small cars are popular, and shops sell food in serving sizes suited for 4 people. This appears to show a shift towards products being suited to small families. As families get smaller, parents have more money to spend on each child, so gadgets and expensive toys are becoming more popular, with their advertisement on television increasing too.In the 180 0s the death of a child was common so families were large to ensure that at least some survived, but nowadays this is less likely and Brazilian families are now starting to illustrate this change. The value of a child is significantly higher and families often don’t recover from the loss of an offspring. Parents are spending more on their children not only because they can now afford to, but also because they want to give the few children that they have the best shot at success. Economic and industrial development of Brazil has increased the standard of living as a whole.Since 2000, life expectancy has jumped from 54 to 72, and infant mortality rates have nearly halved from 38 to 20/1000 live births. Sanitation improving enormously has helped, and people who move in to cities now often find clean, fresh water and sanitation facilities (e. g. clean toilets and sinks). Even favelas are improving in this case, with communal development projects becoming increasingly common. Heal thcare has improved dramatically too (as shown by the shockingly sharp decline in infant mortality) and even the poor can access healthcare as basic care is free.Brazil can be considered an anomaly; however there does appear to be a growing trend in rapid development in the LEDW. Falling fertility rates has reduced the pressure on healthcare and education allowing more money to be spent per person equalling a better overall experience and service. Female empowerment is very important too, in both the economic output of the nation and the fall in fertility rates. However Brazil must be wary of the potential pitfalls of this rapid growth – e. g. an elderly population.