The Food And Agriculture Organization - 1218 Words

One of the main arguments for GMOs is that this process will provide more food and help end world hunger. But with more research being done on this topic, it is the organizations that are beginning to advocate against the GMO issue overall. GMOs are not the answer when trying to find ways to end world hunger, produce faster farming practices. The two biggest organizations focusing their attention on this topic, is the Obama administration as well as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The FAO facilitates and new resolution in hopes to end world hunger and improve nutrition standards across the board. Fighting for this change for about 20 years now, the FAO gets closer to what they believe in, but have a lot more to overcome until the policy is achieved. For these past 20 years however they have published many articles articulating and claiming of harms of GMOs on the environment, the human body, and logistics on socio economic statues of those producing and consuming. Stress ing those GMOs can change the genes of the environment, untimely having the potential to create supper plants of these genes end up in different places. Not only will there be environmental changes but allergies and antibiotic resistance can come from the over use of these modifiers for humans. If antibiotic resistance was an outcome after years of consumptions this would create a lot of issues for the overall survival of human in the future. The Obama administration is also concerned with theShow MoreRelatedThe Food And Agriculture Organization1388 Words   |  6 Pages The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations estimated that 239 million people (around 30 percent of the population) or one person in every four, lack adequate food for a healthy and active life, and record food prices and drought are pushing more people into poverty and hunger in sub-Saharan Africa. African countries like Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia , Djibouti and South Sudan is struggling with a ccess to food has become a humanitarian catastrophe. The U.N. Millennium Project reportedRead MoreThe Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations847 Words   |  4 PagesThe Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) defines certified organic products as â€Å" those which have been produced, stored, processed, handled and marketed in accordance with precise technical specifications (standards) and certified as organic by a certification body† (FAO, 1999). Here, this is a common definition oriented by the production process of the â€Å"organic† product and the label of verification of a certification body as opposed to and verification of product qualityRead MoreThe Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations1202 Words   |  5 Pagespercent of total volume of water in the Earth. In addition, we also have 1.74 percent of clean water which can be seen in different places such as the ice, glaciers, and permanent snow, but the se resources are almost untouchable. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) projects that two-thirds of the planet will be water stressed by 2025 (Kimball). So are you ready for living in shortages of clean water yet? Without fresh water, people cannot survive because there will beRead MoreFood And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations1467 Words   |  6 Pagesclimate suffer quite often from terrible floods which entail to a catastrophe for the production of bananas. All the aforementioned factors make areas close to the Equator appropriate for cultivating this exotic fruit. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) published data, banana has become the most traded fruit all over the world. Particularly, the volume of total exports has recently reached a high record of more than 16 million tons per year ((FAO), 2013).Read MoreThe Food Chain : Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations2318 Words   |  10 Pagesstart with de definition of food chain, FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) defines the food chain as responsible for the supply of food that is safe, healthy and nutritious, which is completely traceable from farm to fork (Fao.org, 2014). The food chain is reported as both a supply chain and a value chain (Havas and watts 2014). Therefore, supply chain consists of all parts, from primary producers, food processing, food distribution, food retail, food catering /hospitality toRead MoreChief General Of The Un Food And Agriculture Organization1428 Words   |  6 PagesForme r Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Jacques Diouf, once commented, Defeating hunger is a realistic goal for our time, as long as lasting political, economic, financial, and technical solutions are adopted. In his speech, Diouf referred to a sustainable development issue known as food security, an international issue that involves the availability, access, utilization, and stability of food. With recent global attention directed towards seemingly moreRead MoreThe Fao ( Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations1074 Words   |  5 PagesThe FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) carries one main effort, which is to achieve food security for everyone around the world. Their goals include the elimination of hunger, food insecurity, malnutrition, and poverty. Not only do they want to focus on food and agriculture, but they also want to drive forward the economic and social progress for all. In essence, they strive to create sustainability and resilience. Sustainability is a development that meets the needsRead MoreCommunity Food Security And Food Availability And Accessibility1310 Words   |  6 PagesINTRODUCTION Community food security relates to food availability and accessibility. To be considered community food secure, all individuals in a community should have access to sufficient amounts of safe, nutritious, culturally appropriate food that are produced in an environmentally sustainable way (Desjardins et al, 2002). However, reduced agriculture land due to increased urbanization has decreased the accessibility of food to the public and has led to food insecurity in many communities locallyRead MoreEssay on The Misconceptions of the American Agriculture Industry1260 Words   |  6 PagesHave you ever thought about what the world would be without Agriculture? Have you thought about going to the meat department of your local grocery store and there is no meat, but vegetable substitutes? The same people that are telling you that soy is an appropriate alternative to meat, have never been on a farm, and wouldn’t know the first thing about it. There are many organizations that lie to the American public each day to fulfill their self centered agendas. The organic sub-cultureRead MoreThe world’s population is increasing at a rapid rate. According to Worldometers, by 2050 there will1400 Words   |  6 Pagesfeed 9.2 billion people globally (http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/). This translates to an increase in global food production by 70 percent to meet the global goal (http://www.populationinstitute.org/resources/populationonline/issue/1/8/). However, current food production methods are not sustainable and the amount of arable lands is decreasing. The agriculture industry experiences different challenges ranging from global to technological aspects. The global aspect is the most prominent

Reality TV Essay Sample free essay sample

Unlike the other innovations. the scientist that came out with the thought of telecasting ( Television ) is hard to be acknowledged. While the issue of its discoverer is still being greatly disputed. the figure of Television channels viing in the market has been quickly increasing. Remembering the scarceness of pick the populace faced a few old ages back. the universe has advanced by giving the society an advantage to get away from the fuss of their lives through its prosecuting beginning of amusement. Recently. world Television shows have caused a displacement to the showbiz industry and bit by bit became an effectual instrument used to pull more viewing audiences. However. it has been suggested that the family-based world Television programme brings more injury than good to the society. Although most of the shows encourage household bonding. it is evident that the audience of all ages are more vulnerable to the negative images shown in the Television shows. Since family-based world Television shows portray a negative contemplation to the society. it detriments the public mentally. socially and physiologically. Family-based world Television shows produce psychological jobs to the populace. Contrary to the popular belief that the map telecasting is to entertain its viewing audiences. the shows really lead its spectators to be more emotionally disturbed. John P. Robinson and Steven Martin from University of Maryland have stated that Television â€Å"causes† sadness ( Robinson 85 ) . This is because the chief purpose of the manufacturers to maximise their net incomes has undeniably motivated them to emphasis on demoing a great trade of nerve-racking scenarios. For case. the manufacturers tend to demo audiences to disturb stimulation affecting household play ; dissension. battle and divorce. In the family-based world Television series Keeping Up of The Kardashians. the audiences are exposed to Kim’s nerve-racking life style including her divorce to a hoops participant. Kris Humphries after 72 yearss of their glamorously publicized matrimony ( Levine 4 ) . Hence. it is incontrovert ible that these effectual attention-seeking tools are potentially harmful to the mental health of spectators. Obviously. the audiences are likely to be reminded to their ain concerns. As stated by Professor of Media Arts. Professor John Ellis. â€Å"Reality Television formats tend to put participants in nerve-racking state of affairss. and their response to emphasize can frequently trip behavior that many viewing audiences find objectionable† ( Ellis 111 ) . From the action of judging the participants responses. it is unmistakable that the viewing audiences project themselves in the places of the famous persons. As they are positioned in a negative environment. the viewing audiences are non merely losing their chance to entertain themselves but they are prone to add more unneeded emphasis to their lives. Therefore. it is clear that the images shown by a family-based world Television shows generate negative tenseness in the society. Furthermore. the narrowly defined attractive images portrayed in the shows produce some negative physical effects to persons. It must be distinguished that . it is â€Å"easy for the media environment to go excessively focussed on descriptions of functional features of female beauty and physical attraction in order to market products† ( Lin 67 ) . Expectedly. the audience is unconsciously susceptible to higher order conditioning or inactive advertizement shown by the famous persons in the shows. Unfortunately. the media fails to value the cost of the substances delivered to the society. The chief subject that demonstrates a regular life style of the famous persons have successfully brainwashed the audiences to reason that the thought of being physically modified is ordinary. A survey shows that. â€Å"Patients who regularly watched†¦reality telecasting show reported a greater influence from telecasting and media to prosecute decorative surgery ( and ) felt more knowing about decorative surgery† ( Crockett 1 ) . Immediately. audiences are inclined to undergo beauty alterations such as plastic surgery. suction lipectomy. and assorted implants similar to their anecdotes. Hence. the family-based Television shows bring negative physical effects to the society. Furthermore. family-based world Television shows construction the societal norm of the populace. Since the shows reveal the dramatic life styles of the rich and celebrated in a series of episodes. most fans strive to avoid losing any show. Harmonizing to American Time Use Survey in 2011. â€Å"people age 15 and over spend about 2. 8 hours per twenty-four hours by making the leisure activity that occupied the most clip. which is watching television† ( 3 ) . Likewise. the manner their spend clip when non watching the shows has besides bit by bit alteration. Increasingly. most overzealous viewing audiences start to impart their involvement throughout their day-to-day modus operandis. The expert in Media Arts besides added that. â€Å"Reality Television allows unfettered chances for chitchat and guess by all the agencies that are now available in web logs and message boards. wireless phone-ins. newspapers and magazines. every bit good as mundane face-to-face conversation† ( 110 ) . Although the disadvantages of this peculiar wont may non be direct. it does lend to most community issues today. Implicitly. the charmed spectators are potentially going less committed in their plants ; hence. their productiveness degree is likely be affected. In some worse scenarios. some of them find problem socialising as they â€Å"interact† their telecasting sets at place. It is illustrated that. â€Å"TV might impact societal life. peculiarly visits with friends and neighbours. since one could now be â€Å"visiting† with entertainers and other famous persons in 1s ain home† ( 75 ) . Therefore. these little bugs efficaciously expose how family-based world Television shows act upon the populace in a negative manner. In decision. the assorted negative effects presented psychologically. physically and socially indicate family-based world Television shows to be damaging to the society. The presentation of negative portraitures in the shows adversely affect the viewing audiences heads while subtly drive them to be addicted. Without gaining. their dependence bit by bit motivates them to unconsciously act in a physically harmful mode. Despite the known unsafe results. the increasing figure of family-based world Television shows really signals that the society demands this signifier of amusement. However. it is seen that some states are seeking t o avoid these negative effects by seting high limitation on their amusement. While the inquiry of commanding media is still being argued. it is besides of import to observe that society is by and large mentally capable to take between what is right and what is incorrect. Plants Cited Robinson. John P. and Steven Martin â€Å"Of Time and Television. † The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 625. 1 ( 2009 ) : 74-86. Print. Levine. Stuart. â€Å"Split Disturbances E! Program. † Daily Variety 313. 22 ( 2011 ) Print. Of Time and Television Author ( s ) : Reviewed work ( s ) : Beginning: Annalss of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Vol. 625. The End ofTelevision? Its Impact on the World ( So Far ) ( Sep. . 2009 ) . pp. 74-86Published by: Sage Publications. Inc. in association with the American Academy of Political and SocialScienceStable Uniform resource locator: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. jstor. org/stable/40375906. Accessed: 16/01/2013 23:02 The Performance on Television of Sincerely Felt Emotion Author ( s ) : John Ellis Reviewed work ( s ) : Beginning: Annalss of the American Academy of Political andSocial Science. Vol. 625. The End of Television? Its Impact on the World ( So Far ) ( Sep. . 2009 ) . pp. 103-115 Published by: Sage Publications. Inc. in association with the American Academy of Political and Social Science Stable URL: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. jstor. org/stable/40375908. Accessed: 15/01/2013 15:12 Comparing Society’s Awareness of Women: Media-Portrayed Idealized Images and Physical Attractiveness Author ( s ) : Chyong-Ling Lin and Jin-Tsann Yeh Reviewed work ( s ) : Beginning: Journal of Business Ethics. Vol. 90. No. 1 ( Nov. . 2009 ) . pp. 61-79Published by: Springer Stable URL: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. jstor. org/stable/27735225. Accessed: 16/01/2013 23:33 Crockett. Richard J. . Thomas Pruzinsky. and John A. Persing. â€Å"The Influence of Plastic Surgery â€Å"Reality TV† on Cosmetic Surgery Patient Expectations and Decision Making. † Plastic and rehabilitative surgery 120. 1 ( 2007 ) : 316-24. Print.

The Space Shuttle Challenger an Example of the Topic Government and Law Essays by

The Space Shuttle Challenger by Expert Tutor Maya | 29 Nov 2016 The Space Shuttle Challenger and Columbia Accidents It has been claimed that the engineers were to blame for both the Challenger and Columbia Space Shuttle accidents and we shall, therefore, look into the failure on the part of management and the extent to which they are responsible for the failures of the two missions. Need essay sample on "The Space Shuttle Challenger" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed People Often Tell EssayLab support: I'm not in the mood to write my paper. Because I want to spend time with my family Professional writers suggest: Multitasking Essay Helper Space programs have enormous implications, pressure and expectations as regards the result as in countries like America the whole is usually watching. This paper I will argue that the decision-making power on whether to launch or not should be made by the engineers and not the management as they are in a better position to establish whether a space shuttle can be launched without the risk of accidents. As per the investigations that have been carried out into the causes of both the Challenger and Columbia disaster the management was found to have played a role in the disaster. The NASA management in the case of the Space Shuttle Challenger was found to have ignored safety concerns raised by the engineers. Therefore it is, therefore, safe to say that if the management had paid attention to the concern raised by the engineers the accident would not have taken place. The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster was attributed to structural flaws though in almost all previous missions a foam insulator had broken off but had not caused any significant amount of damage. However, in this particular case, the chief thermal protection system engineer and other engineers raised concern but the managers did not respond. The Space Shuttle Challenger burst into flames just 73 seconds after launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, killing all seven crew on board. This was caused by the failure of the O-ring in the right Solid Rocket Booster at liftoff. The O-ring is a rubber ring which seals the joint around the connection point between the Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) and the Hydrogen tank. The failure of the O-ring was attributed to low temperatures, close to 31F (1C), at the launch which was below the minimum temperature permitted for launch. The engineers at Morton Thiokol, the contractor responsible for the construction and maintenance of the shuttles SRBs, had raised concern that the temperature would affect the resilience of the rubber O-rings and that they did not the data necessary to establish whether the joint would seal properly. This was discussed by the engineers and managers at Morton Thiokol, NASA managers from the Kennedy Space Center and those from the Marshall Space Flight Center. The concerns were not heeded by the Morton Thiokol management who recommended that the launch proceeds as scheduled. NASAs managers pressured the Morton Thiokol management by requiring them to prove that the launch was unsafe rather than prove it was safe and since they were unable to prove that the launch would unsafe their concern and recommendation was totally disregarded. The launch proceeded as planned and barely 2 minutes into the flight, the Challenger burst into flame killing all the seven crew onboard. Subsequent investigation revealed that the O-rings were responsible for the tragedy and further investigation revealed that the failure was caused by the failure of the O-rings to seal the joint between the SRBs. This, therefore, points to a breach of engineering ethics and negligence on the part of the management both at NASA and at Morton Thiokol, and thus they were entire to blame for the tragedy. The Space Shuttle Columbia burst into flames during its re-entry into the earths atmosphere only 16 minutes before it was scheduled to land at CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida. This was attributed to the damage caused when a piece of foam insulation broke off the Space Shuttle external tank and struck the left wing during liftoff. The foam piece is said to have struck the leading edge of the left wing which damaged the Shuttles Thermal Protection system (TPS) which shields the Shuttle from the extreme heat generated as a result of friction between the Shuttle and the earths atmosphere during re-entry. The NASA manager back on earth downplayed the extent of the damage caused by the insulation foam and went on to make a statement that it was not a safety threat, they even declined to request from other agencies claiming that nothing could be done. This notwithstanding the engineers should have gone on and taken the images they required to establish whether This was an outright poor management decision by Lind Ham, head of the Space Shuttle Managers, as she declined several requests made by NASA engineers for high-resolution images of the left wing to be taken to establish the exact extent of the damage. The managers also rejected the idea to have an image of the shuttle's left wing taken before re-entry. This was attributed to the managers low level of concern and their one minded decision to have the mission continue, this made the engineers found themselves in a position similar that of those responsible for the Challenger in that they were required to prove that the situation was unsafe rather the norm which was to prove that the situation was safe. Therefore though this tragedy was mostly attributed to structural flaws the management could not be let off the hook as they had to try and come up with a solution. The problem, in this case, is that though the engineers tried to do something nothing could be done as the final decision was reserved to the Space Shuttle Program management. Decision-making on whether a shuttle should be launched or not should be made by the engineers and not the management. It was evidence in the case of the Challenger whereby the decision making was left to the management who in trying to comply with their launch schedule disregarded the safety concerns raised by the engineers both at NASA and at Morton Thiokol. The management can be said to have been driven by the fear of having any more delays as this would make them look incompetent and they were, therefore, afraid that they would lose funding which they received from the government. The NASA management was fully briefed of the danger that was posed by proceeding with the launch in those kinds of temperatures. They were even part of the group, include engineers from the Kennedy Space Center and Marshall Space Flight Center, that discussed what would be the outcome if the shuttle was launched in such conditions to which the engineers responded that they did not have enough information to determine whether the O-ring would seal the SRB joint properly. This should serve as enough evidence that such kind of decision should not be left to people who do not have the safety concerns of their colleagues as the top priority no matter the stake. It should be noted that where an engineer(s) raise concern, the mission should not go any further until those concerns have been addressed and there is no other concern or doubt on the performance of any of the equipment on the shuttle(s). The managers also find themselves in very difficult situations as in most situations they are under pressure to deliver in the provided time failure to which they will be assumed to be incompetent and not capable of delivery. The Space Exploration program is considered to be a symbol of Americas intellectual power and also serves as a show of its might and it is used as a way to remind the rest of the world that America is still the most developed country in all facets. Therefore in cases where the managers are under tremendous amounts of pressure, they tend to downplay small hitches which involve overlooking engineering ethics and order the continuation of the mission so that they can come out as being able to deliver this acts as a boost when they seek funding (Charles, 2008). Therefore as per the evidence that was tendered in investigation into both the Columbia and Challenger disasters the decision to launch should be an engineering decision and not a managerial decision as in the case studies above the management disregarded very credible concerns by the management which if heeded even if not in the Columbia case would have prevented the disaster. Reference Charles, B. (2008). Engineering Ethics. New Jersey : Pearson/Prentice Hall "Major Malfunction." Space Shuttle Challenger Springer Praxis Books, pp. 231272. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-49679-5_6. Space Shuttle Challenger. Place of Publication Not Identified, Book On Demand, 2012. "Space Shuttle Challenger." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger.

Listening as the Theme in Son essays

Listening as the Theme in Son essays Theme is an essential element to any story, serving as a central message the author means to convey to the reader. In Sonnys Blues, a short story by James Baldwin, the theme of the story shows the reader the importance of listening, both in the narrators life, but also in the readers life. By following the difficult lives of two brothers who grew up in Harlem, New York, Baldwin explains the painful process of one brothers learning to listen. As the two brothers attempt to heal wounds left from the past, the story illustrates the importance of learning to listen. To Baldwin, listening seems to carry a double meaning: the true ability to communicate with one another and really caring for one another. The relationship between the two brothers shows throughout the story the first type of listening. In the beginning of the story, the narrator is a man who does not know how to listen, and who finds himself unable to assist Sonny in his time of need. When the police arrest Sonny for heroin addiction, the narrator then describes his reaction: "A great block of ice got settled in my belly and kept melting slowly all day long [...] Sometimes it hardened up and seemed to expand until I felt my guts were going to come spilling out or that I was going to choke or scream" (Page 272). Shock and sorrow physically plague the narrator, paralyzing him from any expression. Due to this event, he does not even contact Sonny until the death of his daughter, a year later. Then, in his own time of need, he reaches out for Sonny, perhaps realizing that Sonny might be able to help him. Through this tragedy, he is finally able to respond to Sonny's trouble because of his own suffering. Before the death of his daughter, he can not hear or understand Sonny at all, although he really wants to. After her death, he is able to keep in touch with Sonny, and to communicate with him a little when he returns to Ha...

Religious Aspects of Social Location Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Religious Aspects of Social Location - Essay Example From very small things like always telling the truth to huge societal obligations like respecting women, learning, rules of living in society, and treating even my enemies well, my religious learning has shaped every aspect of my life. Offering my prayers five times a day made me humble, disciplined, and made me believe in my blessings. It has strengthened my belief in a superior power and made me a positive thinker at even the oddest hour. I abstain from bad habits, such as illegal relationship, liquor, fights, backbiting, conspiring just because Islam taught me so. I am interested in getting myself educated and travelled to America because my religion asked every one including women, children, and men to get educated even if we have to travel for longer periods. I offer prayer five times a day in any mosque with other Muslims and Imam. If there is no mosque nearby, I offer it alone on a clean surface. Every year, in the month of Ramadan, I observe fast for a month which is followed by Eid-ul-fitar. It is followed by another religious practice called sacrifice of animals on Eid-ul-adha; I practice this tradition with my family. My family gives alms to poor; it is a certain amount on our money which is given as charity. I have also performed Hajj and Umrah.

Privatization of State Owned Enterprises Research Proposal

Privatization of State Owned Enterprises - Research Proposal Example Governments in developed countries (e.g. Britain and Japan) started privatizing SOEs in the early 1980s; by the late 1980s it had become apparent that a privatization revolution would sweep the world (Young, 1987). While the bulk of privatizations during the past decade occurred in developed countries, in recent years the emphasis has shifted to developing countries (The Economist, 1993). In these countries, capital markets can hardly absorb the large amounts of privatized equity, and governments are offering to sell SOEs to western multinationals as strategic owners (The Economist, 1993; Ramamurti, 1992). In addition, these countries look to western multinational enterprises for managerial and technical know-how. This trend creates possibilities for growth and entry into countries whose economies are currently expanding faster than most developed economies. While privatization in the 1980s created opportunities for portfolio investments, the 1990s also promise the control of privati zed firms through mergers and acquisitions (Freudenberg and Bird, 1991; Nankani, 1990; Ramamurti, 1992). For these reasons, privatization is considered here to be an international management concern. Empirical research and theory on direct investment into former SOEs, unfortunately, is scant. Economists generally agree that reducing government ownership of companies improves the macro-performance of an economy, and they also expect that a competitive environment and market discipline should increase the efficiency of the privatized firm (Donahue, 1989; Hutchinson, 1991; Ramamurti, 1992; Vickers and Yarrow, 1988). Empirical research on this latter point, however, has yielded conflicting results (Cook and Kirkpatrick, 1988; Hutchinson, 1991; Parker and Hartley, 1991). Strategic management research considering the performance of the SOE after it is acquired by a private firm is missing entirely. No mergers and acquisitions work has yet considered the purchase of SOEs, nor have researchers examined the conceptual relationship between traditional mergers and the acquisition of an enterprise from the government. On the one hand, the public/private shift inherent in privatization might imply that acquisition processes work differently for privately and publicly owned firms. The strategy, structure, and culture of the public organization can be expected to differ significantly from those of private firms because of the often special missions of SOEs and distinct environments in which they may be operating (Aharoni, 1986). Since post-acquisition integration processes are determined by the historic conditions of the merging firms (Nahavandi and Malekzadeh, 1988; Shrivastava, 1986), these differences may crucially influence the success of a merger between a private firm and a newly privatized SOE. The pre-acquisition conditions of the target also influence performance (Datta et al., 1992), and thus the distinctive contingencies of the SOE can be expected to affect post-acquisition performance as well. Furthermore, the objectives of a government selling an SOE are as much political -- that is, cat ering to specific stakeholder groups, for instance current employees of the SOE -- as economic, a fact that should significantly affect the negotiations and may also determine the post-privatization performance of the former SOE. Only recently has the strategic management literature begun to examine the implications of government policy for

Mia philippines Essay Example for Free

Mia philippines Essay The Philippines was first put on the map by Portuguese adventurer Magellan working for the Spanish throne on March 16, 1521. The Philippines had become a Spanish colony and was the first country to be named after a sovereign, Phillip II of Spain.1 Spanish rule had continued until 1898 when the Philippines had become an American colony following the Spanish-American War for the stately sum of $20 million. In 1942 during WWII, the Philippines had fallen under Japanese occupation and was liberated by American and Filipino forces under the leadership of General Douglas MacArthur in a fiercely contested battle that raged on between 1944 and 1945. The Philippines had attained its independence on July 4, 1946, and had a functioning democratic system. 2 The Philippines Archipelago consisted of 7,100 islands, covering an area of 299,735 square kilometers and was slightly larger than Arizona. The capital city of Manila was situated on the largest Philippine island of Luzon (see Exhibit 1). The Philippines had a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of $3,400.3 The percentage of the population of the Philippines living below US$2 a day was 45.2 per cent in 2006.4 PHILIPPINE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Research conducted in 2009 showed that the Philippines was ranked 140th for ease of doing business and 155th for starting a business, out of a total of 178 countries. It took on average 15 procedures and a total of 52 days to complete business startup procedures in the Philippines compared to six procedures and 44.2 days and 5.8 procedures and 13.4 days for the same process in Asia and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, respectively.5 The Philippines had the second lowest savings and investment as share of GDP ratio in Asia6 (see Exhibit 2). PHILIPPINE FISHING INDUSTRY The Philippines has total territorial waters of 2.2 million square kilometers, of which coastal waters comprise 266,000 square kilometers and coastal reef area (10 to 20 fathoms deep, where reef fishing takes place) comprise 27,000 square kilometers.7 In 2003, the Philippines ranked eighth among the top fish-producing countries in the world with its total production of 3.62 million metric tons of fish, crustaceans, mollusks and aquatic plants (including seaweed). The production constituted 2.5 per cent of the total world production of 146.27 million metric tons.8 The fishing industry’s contribution to the country’s GDP was 2.3 per cent and 4.2 per cent, at current and constant prices, respectively. The industry employed a total of 1,614,368 fishing operators nationwide,9 of which the artisanal fisheries sector accounted for 1,371,676.10 Artisanal fishing operations were typically family-based and used smaller craft. There were a total of 469,807 fishing boats in the Philippines, of which 292,180 were non-motorized and 177,627 were motorized.11 Fish was not only an important source of nutrition, but as fishing did not require landownership or special permits it was an employment of last resort for people who had no other means of subsistence. MIA, DENMARK MIA was established in Denmark in 1975 by wealthy businessman Hagen Nordstrom, who dedicated the NGO to his wife Mia and made fighting poverty his life’s work. (MIA stood for â€Å"beloved† in Danish.) MIA had initially focused solely on poverty-alleviating projects in Africa and had expanded its operations to Latin America and the Caribbean only in the early 1990s. The grandson of Nordstrom, Gillis Nordstrom, had taken over as MIA chairman in 2004 on the eve of the Bander Aceh Tsunami of December 26, 2004, which devastated Southeast Asia and killed as many as 130,000 people.12 Nordstrom had taken initiative and redirected MIA to focus on disaster recovery and poverty alleviation projects in Southeast Asia. MIA had established an office in Manila in January 2006, and the young Danish development economist Borje Petersen was hired to manage the MIA Philippines office. Petersen was paid a starting salary of $75,000 a year plus housing, slightly below average for a comparable development economist position. Petersen knew that MIA’s attention was focused on Indonesia and Malaysia, which had been the hardest hit by the tsunami, and was anxious to carve out a position for MIA Philippines by designing an exceptional project. As the expansion into Asia was the pet project of MIA’s chairman, Petersen felt assured that funding would be easily appropriated and even expedited. Petersen knew that the average overseas posting for a development economist for MIA was two years and had quickly established contact with local and international stakeholders and set up numerous meetings with large development project counterparts such as the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and the German development aid organization GFZ to get an expedited understanding of the Philippines and its unique needs. Based on the initial research, Petersen had decided that, whereas an agricultural project would be feasible, it would take a long time to realize and the outcome could be complicated given the Philippines’ proneness to be hit by typhoons. Petersen’s research had revealed that small-scale aquaculture projects had been successfully implemented in the Philippines in the past. However, there were hardly any projects to speak of directed at artisanal fishing and picking up on the vested opportunity and his desire to deliver fast results and prove himself worthy of the task that MIA and its chairman demanded, he had chosen to design a project helping artisanal fishermen. Petersen had researched the possibility of helping a fishing village close to Manila and the search for the ideal village had come to a successful ending when MIA’s driver, Vicente Tubo, had mentioned how some of his distant cousins fished for a living in a fishing village seven to nine hours by car from Manila. A factfinding mission to the village Barangay San Hagon was undertaken and the village was thus chosen as the beneficiary of MIA’s pilot project in the Philippines. BARANGAY SAN HAGON Barangay San Hagon boasted 125 households and had a resident population of 625. San Hagon lay on the south coast of Luzon, the largest island of the Philippines. The Barangay was the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and stemmed from the Spanish â€Å"Barrio.†13 Barangay San Hagon was administered by a local government unit (LGU) and consisted of seven Barangay council members and a chairman. The chairman of Barangay San Hagon was Rafael Buenaventura, age 59, who had held office for more than a decade. Fishing villages in the Philippines were very vulnerable to external risk, especially natural calamities such as typhoons, flooding and fish kills, which severely affected their financial situation.