Archive for May 29th, 2009
Posted on May 29, 2009 - by Vic Desotelle
Can Life Coaching Stop Global Warming? Guidance for Those Who Desire a Healthy, Sustainable World
Dave Wheitner asked:
Idealists frequently entertain ideas about how our lives and the world around us might be different. Our thinking extends beyond current reality, as we spend significant time considering the “big picture” complexities of how everything fits together in the world. Because of this, we see many problems and many possibilities that others often miss.
In fact, we may spend so much time thinking about the issues of the world that we ignore ourselves–and the future. Because living authentically is also important to us, this can decrease our personal sense of satisfaction and fulfillment, and it can decrease the energy we have to create what we care about the most.
Idealists gravitate toward causes including environmental sustainability, health and medicine, animal rights, social justice, ethical leadership, labor rights, and world peace. We may take on very formal roles such as nonprofit executive director, political leader, advocate, educator, counselor, physician, or entrepreneur of a socially and ecologically responsible business. We may occasionally volunteer or engage in civic action. Or, we may possess great concern about the issues of the world but feel too overwhelmed to act.
Coaching, whose power has long been recognized by successful corporations, is of particular benefit to idealists for many reasons. First, because we like to imagine a better world, idealists must often challenge the status quo. Humans innately resist change, so we may feel pressured to compromise our purpose and values to be accepted and viewed as practical. Coaching motivates us to explore and clarify key components of our foundation or “good side,” i.e., the core of who we are. This may include our life purpose, what things we value most, and our strengths and virtues.
Idealists, more than most, must build a particularly strong sense of self so that we’re not simply marching to the drumbeat of others. Taking the easy road may lead to feelings of conflict and lack of integrity, meaning we’re not living as energetically or powerfully as we could be. And until we learn to do this, it’s difficult to be a model for others, and to “be the change we wish to see in the world,” per Gandhi. Imagine being able to live and lead authentically, even in the face of pressure to do the same old, same old!
Secondly, our world is already filled with myriad negative images and soundbytes–violence, poverty, political leaders verbally attacking one another, crime, and so forth. Where the news media ends with this approach, those involved in social and ecological causes often begin, using shocking images and data to educate others about world problems.
Thus, many causes such as environmental sustainability, social justice, animal rights, worker rights and world peace have difficulty attracting other individuals, instead turning them away unintentionally. In fact, even organizations with common interests often end up competing rather than collaborating! This does little to advance one’s efforts, and may lead to feelings of isolation.
Life coaching can address such issues from a few angles. On one hand, coaching encourages one to practice an approach that’s proactively driven by visions of desired end results. This stands in stark contrast to the more common type of approach that’s reactively mired in problem-solving and fear. As a number of authors have explained, visions attract and energize people who can assist with our endeavors, while problems and fear do not create lasting motivation and progress.* After mastering a vision-based approach in one’s own life, one can apply a similar philosophy to larger endeavors involving other people.
Additionally, awareness of our own priority values enables us to communicate on a deeper and more meaningful level with people about common values–even if their positions or beliefs about how to solve issues are quite different from ours. Imagine engaging in meaningful and mutually beneficial dialogue, rather than simply debating and learning nothing!
Thirdly, given the daily stressors they often face, those in idealist professions must contend with exceptionally high rates of burnout, compassion fatigue, feelings of martyrdom and subsequent turnover. This is true of both paid employees and volunteers. Many individuals leave their position or even an entire field after a short time; and talented idealists often don’t remain in a field long enough to aspire to leadership levels. In several large cities, the nonprofit community is projected to have a significant shortage of qualified candidates to fill executive director positions in just a few years.
Some of this can be mitigated by learning and adopting a more positive vision-based approach, as noted above. Clarifying one’s purpose, values and wants also helps to increase energy levels and resilience, and it enhances our ability to say “No” and “Yes” more intentionally. Along with identifying our strengths, this helps us to engage in activities that resonate with our “core self” and decrease involvement in those that don’t. By learning to advocate for ourselves to the same degree we advocate for our causes, we can sustain our energies.
Related to the above, coaching can also help us to separate what matters most to us from the superficial “shoulds” that we’ve adopted from others. We may be working exceptionally hard to do the right thing, when we could actually be having more impact with seemingly less effort by living more authentically. Imagine being fulfilled enough so that you also have plenty to give others, and can focus your efforts to make a visible difference!
Life coaches can’t stop global warming on their own. Nor can they single-handedly create a world where all have the opportunity for a healthy and enjoyable life, nations are at peace, people of all races and backgrounds enjoy equal rights, humans respect other living beings, and leaders behave ethically. However, if socially and ecologically conscious individuals and organizations take full advantage of what life coaching has to offer, then a vision for a healthy and sustainable world is within our collective reach.
*A number of authors and bloggers have written on various aspects of the value of a vision-based or results-driven approach, including Bruce Elkin, Robert Fritz, Shakti Gawain, Hildy Gottlieb, Napoleon Hill, Hal Williamson and Walter Winch. I thank them for inspiring much of my thinking on this topic.
Caffeinated Content
Idealists frequently entertain ideas about how our lives and the world around us might be different. Our thinking extends beyond current reality, as we spend significant time considering the “big picture” complexities of how everything fits together in the world. Because of this, we see many problems and many possibilities that others often miss.
In fact, we may spend so much time thinking about the issues of the world that we ignore ourselves–and the future. Because living authentically is also important to us, this can decrease our personal sense of satisfaction and fulfillment, and it can decrease the energy we have to create what we care about the most.
Idealists gravitate toward causes including environmental sustainability, health and medicine, animal rights, social justice, ethical leadership, labor rights, and world peace. We may take on very formal roles such as nonprofit executive director, political leader, advocate, educator, counselor, physician, or entrepreneur of a socially and ecologically responsible business. We may occasionally volunteer or engage in civic action. Or, we may possess great concern about the issues of the world but feel too overwhelmed to act.
Coaching, whose power has long been recognized by successful corporations, is of particular benefit to idealists for many reasons. First, because we like to imagine a better world, idealists must often challenge the status quo. Humans innately resist change, so we may feel pressured to compromise our purpose and values to be accepted and viewed as practical. Coaching motivates us to explore and clarify key components of our foundation or “good side,” i.e., the core of who we are. This may include our life purpose, what things we value most, and our strengths and virtues.
Idealists, more than most, must build a particularly strong sense of self so that we’re not simply marching to the drumbeat of others. Taking the easy road may lead to feelings of conflict and lack of integrity, meaning we’re not living as energetically or powerfully as we could be. And until we learn to do this, it’s difficult to be a model for others, and to “be the change we wish to see in the world,” per Gandhi. Imagine being able to live and lead authentically, even in the face of pressure to do the same old, same old!
Secondly, our world is already filled with myriad negative images and soundbytes–violence, poverty, political leaders verbally attacking one another, crime, and so forth. Where the news media ends with this approach, those involved in social and ecological causes often begin, using shocking images and data to educate others about world problems.
Thus, many causes such as environmental sustainability, social justice, animal rights, worker rights and world peace have difficulty attracting other individuals, instead turning them away unintentionally. In fact, even organizations with common interests often end up competing rather than collaborating! This does little to advance one’s efforts, and may lead to feelings of isolation.
Life coaching can address such issues from a few angles. On one hand, coaching encourages one to practice an approach that’s proactively driven by visions of desired end results. This stands in stark contrast to the more common type of approach that’s reactively mired in problem-solving and fear. As a number of authors have explained, visions attract and energize people who can assist with our endeavors, while problems and fear do not create lasting motivation and progress.* After mastering a vision-based approach in one’s own life, one can apply a similar philosophy to larger endeavors involving other people.
Additionally, awareness of our own priority values enables us to communicate on a deeper and more meaningful level with people about common values–even if their positions or beliefs about how to solve issues are quite different from ours. Imagine engaging in meaningful and mutually beneficial dialogue, rather than simply debating and learning nothing!
Thirdly, given the daily stressors they often face, those in idealist professions must contend with exceptionally high rates of burnout, compassion fatigue, feelings of martyrdom and subsequent turnover. This is true of both paid employees and volunteers. Many individuals leave their position or even an entire field after a short time; and talented idealists often don’t remain in a field long enough to aspire to leadership levels. In several large cities, the nonprofit community is projected to have a significant shortage of qualified candidates to fill executive director positions in just a few years.
Some of this can be mitigated by learning and adopting a more positive vision-based approach, as noted above. Clarifying one’s purpose, values and wants also helps to increase energy levels and resilience, and it enhances our ability to say “No” and “Yes” more intentionally. Along with identifying our strengths, this helps us to engage in activities that resonate with our “core self” and decrease involvement in those that don’t. By learning to advocate for ourselves to the same degree we advocate for our causes, we can sustain our energies.
Related to the above, coaching can also help us to separate what matters most to us from the superficial “shoulds” that we’ve adopted from others. We may be working exceptionally hard to do the right thing, when we could actually be having more impact with seemingly less effort by living more authentically. Imagine being fulfilled enough so that you also have plenty to give others, and can focus your efforts to make a visible difference!
Life coaches can’t stop global warming on their own. Nor can they single-handedly create a world where all have the opportunity for a healthy and enjoyable life, nations are at peace, people of all races and backgrounds enjoy equal rights, humans respect other living beings, and leaders behave ethically. However, if socially and ecologically conscious individuals and organizations take full advantage of what life coaching has to offer, then a vision for a healthy and sustainable world is within our collective reach.
*A number of authors and bloggers have written on various aspects of the value of a vision-based or results-driven approach, including Bruce Elkin, Robert Fritz, Shakti Gawain, Hildy Gottlieb, Napoleon Hill, Hal Williamson and Walter Winch. I thank them for inspiring much of my thinking on this topic.
Caffeinated Content
Posted on May 29, 2009 - by Vic Desotelle
Strategies for Maintaining Peace in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria
Victor Izuogu asked:
INTRODUCTION:
The Niger Delta, an area of dense mangrove rainforest in the southern tip of Nigeria, comprises nine of Nigeria’s thirty-six states: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo, and Rivers. The region’s oil accounts for approximately 90 percent of the value of Nigeria’s exports, but the Niger Delta remains one of Nigeria’s least developed regions.
Although there had been conflicts in the oil regions of Nigeria between the host communities and oil extracting companies since the discovery of oil in Nigeria, recent conflicts began to surge appreciably in the late 1990s. Consequently, in 2000, the government of the former president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Olusegun Obasanjo created the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to help end the violence and spur socio-economic development. Yet, during and after the run-up to the 2003 presidential election, violence between rival militia groups and against the oil corporations increased considerably.
Facilitated by poverty intensified by conditions stated at http://globalinterchange.wetpaint.com, political disenfranchisement, and the easy availability of firearms, armed groups fought each other over the control of illegally acquired oil and engaged in violent acts against oil companies, such as kidnapping key officials of the oil companies(especially expatriates).
THE MASTER PLAN
Efforts of successive administrations to correct these anomalies translated to minor successes. The Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission, OMPADEC, was to ensure development got to the oil producing States. The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), given the promises that preceded its birth has not made the type of impact people in the region expected. The same politics and greed that have always placed the interests of a tiny few above the people, hijacked NDDC from inception.
AFTER decades of obvious official neglect, it is heart-warming that a Niger Delta Regional Development master plan to be supervised by Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has been drawn up. The development plan with a duration of 15 years is to gulp $50 billion (about N6.4 trillion).
The master-plan, as stated in http://globalinterchange.wetpaint.com, is a comprehensive analysis of the life development imperatives, challenges and opportunities in the Niger Delta which puts into perspective the economic growth; human and community needs, institutional development, physical infrastructure and natural environment of the region.
BENEFITS OF THE MASTER PLAN
Nothing should be allowed to stall the successful implementation of the master plan. The funding has been spelt out in the 2000 NDDC Act as follows – Ecological Fund 50 per cent; Federal Government 15 per cent; oil and gas industry three per cent; and 29 per cent from other sources.
Proper development of the Niger Delta region would create more global economic opportunities in the area, stable oil and gas prices, which means more income for the government, in addition to the most needed peace.
All parties involved in the implementation of the master plan should do their best to provide the resources to remove the blight that the Niger Delta has become. Government has to provide leadership in this direction. In view of this, the partnership between one of Nigeria’s foremost banks, the United Bank for Africa Plc and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in order to ensure the success of the Master Plan should be commended.
The success of this task does not only rest on providing the necessary infrastructure for the socio-economic development of the people of the Niger-Delta, but the people themselves must be involved from the policy formulation stage. We must not assume that we know what the people need. That was the mistake made by past administrations at various levels of government and the organizers of the master plan must not allow their intervention and participation in this plan to go the same way.
The main focus of this work therefore will be to critically consider and discuss some key success management factors that may make or mar the success of the Master-Plan.
SUCCESS MANAGEMENT FACTORS
Before funds are deployed in respect of the Master Plan, the organizers should consider the following critical factors:
(a) The Niger Delta Peace and Security Strategy
The organizers, in working to ensure the success of the Master Plan should lay emphasis on linking peace and development—the same strategy adopted by the oil and gas companies in the region and one that complements the work of the NDDC. Concerted efforts should be made to determine how the skills of the armed groups can be harnessed for positive purposes.
In this regard, a peace and security strategy to be formed by the organisers to aid the master plan, should target the corporate, media, governmental, international, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to address oil corporations’ responsibility toward the Niger Delta. It should also focus on mechanisms to reduce oil theft; media practices in reporting violence; reconciliation between groups; illegal arms importation; disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of militia groups; human capital development and employment/urban youth policies; early warning systems; money laundering; and good governance.
(b) Violence and Conflict Resolution Efforts in the Niger Delta
Previous governments largely ignored the Niger Delta, partly because its geography made it relatively inaccessible. The long period of military rule in Nigeria contributed to bad governance and corruption; and the burden for the provision of government services fell to oil and gas companies, which were ill equipped to supply water and electricity and maintain road networks.
The magnitude of this neglect has been an important factor behind the violence in the Niger Delta, which is carried out by social groups or street gangs, referred to by many as “cults.” These groups—made up of youths from the Niger Delta —originated with the intention of offering physical protection and providing its members with an opportunity to meet people with similar ethnic or social identities. In time these groups (now known as Militants of the Niger Delta) acquired arms and also began to compete with each other over oil bunkering.
The most recent violence in the Niger Delta grew out of the political campaigns in 2003. As they competed for office, politicians in Rivers State—a focal point of violence in 2003—manipulated the Niger Delta Vigilantes, led by Ateke Tom, and the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force, led by Alhaji Asari Dokubo. Exacerbating rivalries, political candidates used these groups to advance their aspirations —often rewarding gang members to commit acts of political violence and intimidation against their opponents.
The conclusion of the 2003 electoral period did not end the violence. The Niger Delta Vigilantes and the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force continued to fight each other throughout 2004. The hostilities peaked when over 300 commanders of the Ijaw ethnic group announced that if the government did not change conditions in the Niger Delta, they would take action against both the government and the oil installations. In September 2004, the former president Obasanjo invited Ateke Tom and Alhaji Asari Dokubo to the capital city of Nigeria, Abuja. And on October 1, 2004, a peace agreement was signed between the two groups.
Following the peace agreement, various concerned groups worked with the Rivers State Government to disarm, demobilize, and reintegrate members of the armed groups. More than 3,000 weapons were handed in and publicly destroyed. In December 2004, the former combatants requested a reconciliation church service to acknowledge the violence they had inflicted. In January 2005, a camp was organized for the former combatants to help reorient and reintegrate them into society. A program beginning in February 2005 provided over 2,000 youths with technical skills and training. However, the program did not provide jobs for these youths after their training. Moreover, due to the lack of an overall strategy, a coordinating agency, and a community-based program, the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration program was never completed. Thus the gains reaped in September and October 2004 gradually evaporated.
Now, after the 2007 elections, many fear a resurgence of violence in the Niger Delta and worry that politicians may once again mobilize youths for political ends. The threat of violence is exacerbated by international arms dealers who continue to find Nigeria a lucrative market and by neighboring African states that recruit Nigerians as mercenaries, creating a reservoir of people with the means and the motive to maintain a violent atmosphere.
(c) Human Capital Development and Employment/Urban Youth Policies: Concerned that demobilization and disarmament may increase the amount of cult group and illegal activity, as former insurgents will not have options for employment, job creation strategies must be comprehensive. As such, human capital development and employment strategies pursued by the Peace and Security Working Group will include developing a profile of cults, such as incentives behind their formation, leadership, membership, and territory. Additionally, the Peace and Security Working Group should consider suggestions at http://globalinterchange.wetpaint.com , and work with oil and gas companies in the Niger Delta to develop leadership skills and the NDDC to create jobs.
As a priority, emphasis should be placed on finding economic opportunities for the youth of the Niger Delta. Below are some of the employment opportunities that can be extended to the people of Niger Delta:
• The government can look at the possibility of establishing a public works program; developing sectors outside of oil and gas, which are traditionally not labor-intensive industries; and special employment set-asides for the Niger Delta’s residents.
• The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) can be made to assume the responsibility to monitor that 25 percent of management positions and 67 percent of staff positions in the oil and gas companies go to those from the Niger Delta.
• Cleaning up the Niger Delta communities might also serve as a way to engage the youth and address the environmental damage by the oil industry.
(d) Corporate Responsibility: Oil and gas corporations remain the target of grievances by local groups in the Niger Delta. A committee on corporate practices should be formed by the organizers of the Master Plan (although it may be chaired by the senior staff of NNPC) to examine the causes of conflict and corruption, how to increase corporate transparency, and how to more effectively enforce good policies.
Oil companies and the government should be encouraged to increase transparency by instituting the “publish what you pay” system where the government reports all revenues received by oil corporations. Alternatively, they can initiate and monitor a Permanent Fund system—where residents receive an annual dividend from oil’s proceeds—this can be adopted as a model for the Niger Delta to increase resource transparency.
(e) Reducing Oil Theft: Oil theft is one of the major causes of conflict between rival armed groups as illegally acquired oil is sold on black markets for high profits. Indeed, as the price of oil increases, the loss to the state increases as well. For example, when oil stood at $20 per barrel, the Nigerian government lost $3.7 billion per year; when oil prices rose to $30 per barrel, the Nigerian government lost more that $6 billion annually. There should be a working group to coordinate efforts with local, state, and federal authorities to understand the factors that facilitate oil theft. Focusing on the external markets, it will launch an international campaign against oil theft. However, the most effective strategy to stop the thievery should be to create alternative sources of income.
The situation is degenerating very fast as the militants have discovered a cheap way of making money through hostage taking. The militants started by kidnapping expatriates who were released after the payment of heave ransoms (although this has been denied by top government officials and the Nigerian press). The situation has reached the stage where the militants now kidnap children of wealthy Nigerians. The hostages were also released after the payment of ransoms.
(f) Media Relations: News reports play a large role in sensationalizing and thus exacerbating conflicts. Subsequently, part of the peace and security strategy is working with the media on how they report conflicts in the Niger Delta and ensuring that the media fully understands the purposes of the working group.
(g) Reconciliation Processes: Initial reconciliation efforts will begin with the Ogoni conflict in Rivers State, which dates back to the mid 1990s. In time, this will serve as a model for settling grievances of other groups in the Niger Delta—demonstrating an alternative to violence as a means to settle disputes.
(h) Arms Importation: The easy acquisition of small arms and light weapons in the Niger Delta undermines disarmament and demobilization efforts. There should be a Peace and Security Working Group working with local, state, federal, and international agencies, the Peace and Security Working Group will undertake efforts to reduce illegal arms importation; facilitate the exchange of information between relevant agencies; and review the accountability standards of local and international weapons’ manufacturers. A particular focus will be to curb the illicit arms trade at the international level.
(i) Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration: Previous attempts at disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration did not succeed due to the absence of a coordinating body and alternative employment possibilities. In this regard, the new government should plan a more comprehensive approach that will address the incentives of groups to hold arms; implement “best practices” from successful programs; institute a process for destroying weapons; invite international observers to monitor disarmament processes; and ensure coordination between disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration efforts. In addition, the reintegration programs will include meaningful employment opportunities.
(j) Early Warning: It is indeed necessary to design a system for early warning of conflict. Devising a comprehensive early warning system on impending violence will require the integration of local networks, investment in effective communication methods, building the capacity of governments and NGOs to respond to crises, and recruiting experts to design conflict analysis methods appropriate for the Niger Delta.
(k) Money Laundering: Money laundering activities undermine the search for peace and the creation of legal markets in the Niger Delta. Thus, in coordination with international financial institutions, NGOs, and government agencies, the government should devise means to prevent money laundering in Nigeria and means to return money that has been stolen (as occurred with funds taken by former head of state, late General Sani Abacha). Senior government officials must be transparent in the handling and disbursement of such stolen monies.
In summary, previous governments in Nigeria had unsuccessfully tried to solve the Niger Delta problem mainly because they overlooked or ignored the above issues which are fundamental to the success of any peace and development programs in the area.
N.B:
Due to popular demand, I am pleased to inform you that I have just written a book titled, MASTURBATION: How to Overcome and Quit the Habit.
I strongly advise everyone interested in this article to purchase my new book titled – MASTURBATION:How to Overcome and Quit the Habit. You can get the ebook version from the following link,
http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=3962841
While those interested in having the printed and bound copy of the book should send me an email via: donationsglobal@yahoo.com Please quote REQUEST FOR BOOK on the subject line, to distinguish your mail from spam mails.
Create a video blog…instantly.
INTRODUCTION:
The Niger Delta, an area of dense mangrove rainforest in the southern tip of Nigeria, comprises nine of Nigeria’s thirty-six states: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo, and Rivers. The region’s oil accounts for approximately 90 percent of the value of Nigeria’s exports, but the Niger Delta remains one of Nigeria’s least developed regions.
Although there had been conflicts in the oil regions of Nigeria between the host communities and oil extracting companies since the discovery of oil in Nigeria, recent conflicts began to surge appreciably in the late 1990s. Consequently, in 2000, the government of the former president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Olusegun Obasanjo created the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to help end the violence and spur socio-economic development. Yet, during and after the run-up to the 2003 presidential election, violence between rival militia groups and against the oil corporations increased considerably.
Facilitated by poverty intensified by conditions stated at http://globalinterchange.wetpaint.com, political disenfranchisement, and the easy availability of firearms, armed groups fought each other over the control of illegally acquired oil and engaged in violent acts against oil companies, such as kidnapping key officials of the oil companies(especially expatriates).
THE MASTER PLAN
Efforts of successive administrations to correct these anomalies translated to minor successes. The Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission, OMPADEC, was to ensure development got to the oil producing States. The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), given the promises that preceded its birth has not made the type of impact people in the region expected. The same politics and greed that have always placed the interests of a tiny few above the people, hijacked NDDC from inception.
AFTER decades of obvious official neglect, it is heart-warming that a Niger Delta Regional Development master plan to be supervised by Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has been drawn up. The development plan with a duration of 15 years is to gulp $50 billion (about N6.4 trillion).
The master-plan, as stated in http://globalinterchange.wetpaint.com, is a comprehensive analysis of the life development imperatives, challenges and opportunities in the Niger Delta which puts into perspective the economic growth; human and community needs, institutional development, physical infrastructure and natural environment of the region.
BENEFITS OF THE MASTER PLAN
Nothing should be allowed to stall the successful implementation of the master plan. The funding has been spelt out in the 2000 NDDC Act as follows – Ecological Fund 50 per cent; Federal Government 15 per cent; oil and gas industry three per cent; and 29 per cent from other sources.
Proper development of the Niger Delta region would create more global economic opportunities in the area, stable oil and gas prices, which means more income for the government, in addition to the most needed peace.
All parties involved in the implementation of the master plan should do their best to provide the resources to remove the blight that the Niger Delta has become. Government has to provide leadership in this direction. In view of this, the partnership between one of Nigeria’s foremost banks, the United Bank for Africa Plc and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in order to ensure the success of the Master Plan should be commended.
The success of this task does not only rest on providing the necessary infrastructure for the socio-economic development of the people of the Niger-Delta, but the people themselves must be involved from the policy formulation stage. We must not assume that we know what the people need. That was the mistake made by past administrations at various levels of government and the organizers of the master plan must not allow their intervention and participation in this plan to go the same way.
The main focus of this work therefore will be to critically consider and discuss some key success management factors that may make or mar the success of the Master-Plan.
SUCCESS MANAGEMENT FACTORS
Before funds are deployed in respect of the Master Plan, the organizers should consider the following critical factors:
(a) The Niger Delta Peace and Security Strategy
The organizers, in working to ensure the success of the Master Plan should lay emphasis on linking peace and development—the same strategy adopted by the oil and gas companies in the region and one that complements the work of the NDDC. Concerted efforts should be made to determine how the skills of the armed groups can be harnessed for positive purposes.
In this regard, a peace and security strategy to be formed by the organisers to aid the master plan, should target the corporate, media, governmental, international, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to address oil corporations’ responsibility toward the Niger Delta. It should also focus on mechanisms to reduce oil theft; media practices in reporting violence; reconciliation between groups; illegal arms importation; disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of militia groups; human capital development and employment/urban youth policies; early warning systems; money laundering; and good governance.
(b) Violence and Conflict Resolution Efforts in the Niger Delta
Previous governments largely ignored the Niger Delta, partly because its geography made it relatively inaccessible. The long period of military rule in Nigeria contributed to bad governance and corruption; and the burden for the provision of government services fell to oil and gas companies, which were ill equipped to supply water and electricity and maintain road networks.
The magnitude of this neglect has been an important factor behind the violence in the Niger Delta, which is carried out by social groups or street gangs, referred to by many as “cults.” These groups—made up of youths from the Niger Delta —originated with the intention of offering physical protection and providing its members with an opportunity to meet people with similar ethnic or social identities. In time these groups (now known as Militants of the Niger Delta) acquired arms and also began to compete with each other over oil bunkering.
The most recent violence in the Niger Delta grew out of the political campaigns in 2003. As they competed for office, politicians in Rivers State—a focal point of violence in 2003—manipulated the Niger Delta Vigilantes, led by Ateke Tom, and the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force, led by Alhaji Asari Dokubo. Exacerbating rivalries, political candidates used these groups to advance their aspirations —often rewarding gang members to commit acts of political violence and intimidation against their opponents.
The conclusion of the 2003 electoral period did not end the violence. The Niger Delta Vigilantes and the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force continued to fight each other throughout 2004. The hostilities peaked when over 300 commanders of the Ijaw ethnic group announced that if the government did not change conditions in the Niger Delta, they would take action against both the government and the oil installations. In September 2004, the former president Obasanjo invited Ateke Tom and Alhaji Asari Dokubo to the capital city of Nigeria, Abuja. And on October 1, 2004, a peace agreement was signed between the two groups.
Following the peace agreement, various concerned groups worked with the Rivers State Government to disarm, demobilize, and reintegrate members of the armed groups. More than 3,000 weapons were handed in and publicly destroyed. In December 2004, the former combatants requested a reconciliation church service to acknowledge the violence they had inflicted. In January 2005, a camp was organized for the former combatants to help reorient and reintegrate them into society. A program beginning in February 2005 provided over 2,000 youths with technical skills and training. However, the program did not provide jobs for these youths after their training. Moreover, due to the lack of an overall strategy, a coordinating agency, and a community-based program, the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration program was never completed. Thus the gains reaped in September and October 2004 gradually evaporated.
Now, after the 2007 elections, many fear a resurgence of violence in the Niger Delta and worry that politicians may once again mobilize youths for political ends. The threat of violence is exacerbated by international arms dealers who continue to find Nigeria a lucrative market and by neighboring African states that recruit Nigerians as mercenaries, creating a reservoir of people with the means and the motive to maintain a violent atmosphere.
(c) Human Capital Development and Employment/Urban Youth Policies: Concerned that demobilization and disarmament may increase the amount of cult group and illegal activity, as former insurgents will not have options for employment, job creation strategies must be comprehensive. As such, human capital development and employment strategies pursued by the Peace and Security Working Group will include developing a profile of cults, such as incentives behind their formation, leadership, membership, and territory. Additionally, the Peace and Security Working Group should consider suggestions at http://globalinterchange.wetpaint.com , and work with oil and gas companies in the Niger Delta to develop leadership skills and the NDDC to create jobs.
As a priority, emphasis should be placed on finding economic opportunities for the youth of the Niger Delta. Below are some of the employment opportunities that can be extended to the people of Niger Delta:
• The government can look at the possibility of establishing a public works program; developing sectors outside of oil and gas, which are traditionally not labor-intensive industries; and special employment set-asides for the Niger Delta’s residents.
• The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) can be made to assume the responsibility to monitor that 25 percent of management positions and 67 percent of staff positions in the oil and gas companies go to those from the Niger Delta.
• Cleaning up the Niger Delta communities might also serve as a way to engage the youth and address the environmental damage by the oil industry.
(d) Corporate Responsibility: Oil and gas corporations remain the target of grievances by local groups in the Niger Delta. A committee on corporate practices should be formed by the organizers of the Master Plan (although it may be chaired by the senior staff of NNPC) to examine the causes of conflict and corruption, how to increase corporate transparency, and how to more effectively enforce good policies.
Oil companies and the government should be encouraged to increase transparency by instituting the “publish what you pay” system where the government reports all revenues received by oil corporations. Alternatively, they can initiate and monitor a Permanent Fund system—where residents receive an annual dividend from oil’s proceeds—this can be adopted as a model for the Niger Delta to increase resource transparency.
(e) Reducing Oil Theft: Oil theft is one of the major causes of conflict between rival armed groups as illegally acquired oil is sold on black markets for high profits. Indeed, as the price of oil increases, the loss to the state increases as well. For example, when oil stood at $20 per barrel, the Nigerian government lost $3.7 billion per year; when oil prices rose to $30 per barrel, the Nigerian government lost more that $6 billion annually. There should be a working group to coordinate efforts with local, state, and federal authorities to understand the factors that facilitate oil theft. Focusing on the external markets, it will launch an international campaign against oil theft. However, the most effective strategy to stop the thievery should be to create alternative sources of income.
The situation is degenerating very fast as the militants have discovered a cheap way of making money through hostage taking. The militants started by kidnapping expatriates who were released after the payment of heave ransoms (although this has been denied by top government officials and the Nigerian press). The situation has reached the stage where the militants now kidnap children of wealthy Nigerians. The hostages were also released after the payment of ransoms.
(f) Media Relations: News reports play a large role in sensationalizing and thus exacerbating conflicts. Subsequently, part of the peace and security strategy is working with the media on how they report conflicts in the Niger Delta and ensuring that the media fully understands the purposes of the working group.
(g) Reconciliation Processes: Initial reconciliation efforts will begin with the Ogoni conflict in Rivers State, which dates back to the mid 1990s. In time, this will serve as a model for settling grievances of other groups in the Niger Delta—demonstrating an alternative to violence as a means to settle disputes.
(h) Arms Importation: The easy acquisition of small arms and light weapons in the Niger Delta undermines disarmament and demobilization efforts. There should be a Peace and Security Working Group working with local, state, federal, and international agencies, the Peace and Security Working Group will undertake efforts to reduce illegal arms importation; facilitate the exchange of information between relevant agencies; and review the accountability standards of local and international weapons’ manufacturers. A particular focus will be to curb the illicit arms trade at the international level.
(i) Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration: Previous attempts at disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration did not succeed due to the absence of a coordinating body and alternative employment possibilities. In this regard, the new government should plan a more comprehensive approach that will address the incentives of groups to hold arms; implement “best practices” from successful programs; institute a process for destroying weapons; invite international observers to monitor disarmament processes; and ensure coordination between disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration efforts. In addition, the reintegration programs will include meaningful employment opportunities.
(j) Early Warning: It is indeed necessary to design a system for early warning of conflict. Devising a comprehensive early warning system on impending violence will require the integration of local networks, investment in effective communication methods, building the capacity of governments and NGOs to respond to crises, and recruiting experts to design conflict analysis methods appropriate for the Niger Delta.
(k) Money Laundering: Money laundering activities undermine the search for peace and the creation of legal markets in the Niger Delta. Thus, in coordination with international financial institutions, NGOs, and government agencies, the government should devise means to prevent money laundering in Nigeria and means to return money that has been stolen (as occurred with funds taken by former head of state, late General Sani Abacha). Senior government officials must be transparent in the handling and disbursement of such stolen monies.
In summary, previous governments in Nigeria had unsuccessfully tried to solve the Niger Delta problem mainly because they overlooked or ignored the above issues which are fundamental to the success of any peace and development programs in the area.
N.B:
Due to popular demand, I am pleased to inform you that I have just written a book titled, MASTURBATION: How to Overcome and Quit the Habit.
I strongly advise everyone interested in this article to purchase my new book titled – MASTURBATION:How to Overcome and Quit the Habit. You can get the ebook version from the following link,
http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=3962841
While those interested in having the printed and bound copy of the book should send me an email via: donationsglobal@yahoo.com Please quote REQUEST FOR BOOK on the subject line, to distinguish your mail from spam mails.
Create a video blog…instantly.
Posted on May 29, 2009 - by Vic Desotelle
Gender Equity Woman Empowerment
loveleenchawla asked:
GENDER EQUITY WOMAN EMPOWERMENT
Abstract
Empowerment is a multi-faceted, multi-dimensional and multi-layered concept. Women’s empowerment is a process in which women gain greater share of control over resources – material, human and intellectual like knowledge, information, ideas and financial resources like money – and access to money and control over decision-making in the home, community, society and nation, and to gain `power’. According to the Country Report of Government of India, “Empowerment means moving from a position of enforced powerlessness to one of power”.
If NGO employees are advocating behavior change for self-empowerment such behaviour must also be modeled for successful transmission as suggested in the self-efficacy models of behavior change. Rural NGOs in India that depend on local population for employees face a limited labor pool who are as likely to be vulnerable to the traditional social pressures and therefore equally marginalized as their clients. This may cause a gap between what the employees may be trained to ‘preach’ and what they may ‘practice’ thereby diminishing their effectiveness to motivate change. We examine the employees of a successful rural NGO in India that has received accolades for its work in empowerment to establish if the employees actually ‘walk the talk’. Using three empowerment instruments, including one developed for this study, we find that employees indeed ‘walk the talk’ and their index of empowerment is related to their tenure in the NGO.
“Fight for gender equality is not a fight against men. It is a fight against traditions that have chained them – a fight against attitudes that are ingrained in the society – it is a fight against system – a fight against proverbial Laxshman Rekha which is different for men and different for women. The society must rise to the occasion. It must recognize & accept fact that men and women are equal partners in life. They are individual who have their own identity”.
- Dr. Justice A.S. Anand
Introduction
Man and woman are both equal and both plays a vital role in the creation and development of their families in a particular and the society in general. Indeed, the struggle for legal equality has been one of the major concerns of the women’s movement all over the world. In India, since long back, women were considered as an oppressed section of the society and they were neglected for centuries. During the national struggle for independence, Gandhi gave a call of emancipation of women. He wrote – :I am uncompromising in the matter of women’s rights. The difference in sex and physical form denotes no difference in status. Woman is the complement of man, and not inferior”. Thus, the first task in post-independent India was to provide a constitution to the people, which would not make any distinctions on the basis of sex. The preamble of constitution promises to secure to all its citizens- “Justice- economical, social, and political”. The constitution declares that the equality before the law and the equal protection of laws shall be available for all . Similarly, there shall be no discrimination against any citizen on the ground of sex . Article 15(1) guarantees equalities of opportunities for all citizens in matters of employment. Article 15(3) provides that the state can make any special provisions for women and children. Besides, directive principle of state policy which concern women directly and have a special bearing on their status directly and have a special bearing on their status include Article 39(a) right to an adequate means of livelihood; (d) equal pay for equal wok both men and women, (e) protection of health and strength of workers –men, women, children and Article 42 provides for just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief.
It is really important to note that though the Constitution of India is working since more than fifty-seven years – the raising of the status of women to one of equality, freedom and dignity is still a question mark.
The empowerment of women is one of the central issues in the process of development of countries all over the world. The contribution of writers and social reformers has been well documented. The Government of India has made Empowerment of Women as one of the principal objectives of the Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002) and also declared 2001 as the year of ‘Women’s Empowerment’. These issues of gender equality are discussed in World Conferences, National and International Conferences, etc. Our Constitution has conferred and guaranteed equality before law, universal adult franchise and equal opportunities for men and women as fundamental rights. The imperative of gender partnership in matters of development has been recognised. In order to give a fillip to empowerment of women and appropriate institutional mechanisms and interventions have been consciously built into the development design.
Separate institutions for women and child development, departments at the Central and State levels, creation of the National Commission for Women and also State Commission for Women in several States are some of the important developments for the betterment and prosperity of women. The launching of Rashtriya Mahila Kosh, Indira Mahila Yojana, Mahila Samridhi Yojana, reserving of one third of the number of seats in Panchayats and the local bodies are programmes launched with a view to improve and empower women socially, economically and in political frontiers.
Empowerment is a multi-faceted, multi-dimensional and multi-layered concept. Women’s empowerment is a process in which women gain greater share of control over resources – material, human and intellectual like knowledge, information, ideas and financial resources like money – and access to money and control over decision-making in the home, community, society and nation, and to gain `power’. According to the Country Report of Government of India, “Empowerment means moving from a position of enforced powerlessness to one of power”.
Women constitute almost 50% of the world’s population. As per as their social status is concerned, they are not treated as equal to men in all the places, through in the western countries women are treated on par with men in most of the fields, their counterpart in the east suffers from many disabilities. The disabilities on the one hand and the inequalities between men and women on the other, have given rise to what is known “Gender problem”. All one the world and particularly in South and East Asia and Africa the gender problem has assumed importance during the recent years the gender issue has become virtually a crucial point of argument. It is now widely believed that empowerment of women i.e., providing equal rights, opportunities and responsibilities to women, will go a long way in removing the existing gender discrimination. Women empowerment in contemporary Indian society in forms of their work, education, health and media images in the forms of their work, education, health and media images in the context of lineage, rule of residence and household chores, their context of lineage, rule of residence and household chores, their participation in social and political activities, their legal status in terms of marriage, divorce and inheritance of property, seeking wealth care should be taken into consideration. Empowerment in terms of knowledge and awareness of ones own life and society including legal raise their status with regarded to the lives.
Meaning
Gender Inequalities refers to the obvious or hidden disparities among individuals based on the performance of gender. This problem in simple term is known as Gender Bias which in simple terms means the gender stratification or making difference between a girl and a boy i.e. a male or a female. In making biasness among the gender India has 10th rank out of 128 countries all over the world which is shameful for us . But this problem is increasing although government has banned the pre-natal sex examination. In India (in the older times) this problem is mainly seen in the rural areas because many rural people think that the girl child is burden on them. But now this is also being seen in the urban areas i.e. in offices, institutions, schools and in society. The afflicted world in which we live is characterised by deeply unequal sharing of the burden of adversities between women and men. Gender Inequality exists in most part of the world, from Japan to Morocco, or from Uzbekistan to United States of America (as stated earlier).
However, inequality between men and women can take very many different forms. Indeed, gender inequality is not one homogeneous phenomenon, but a collection of disparate and interlinked problems. The issue of gender inequality is one which has been publicly reverberating through society for decades. The problem of inequality in employment being one of the most pressing issues today. In order to examine this situation one must try to get to the root of the problem and must understand the sociological factors that cause women to have a much more difficult time getting the same benefits, wages, and job opportunities as their male counterparts. The society in which we live has been shaped historically by males.
Before thinking about the empowerment of women, one needs to understand the exact meaning of the word empowerment. According to Cambridge English Dictionary empowerment means “to authorize”. In the context of the people they have to be authorized to have control over their lives. When applied in the context of development the particular segment of population, the poor, the women, the vulnerable, the weak, the oppressed and the discriminated have to be “empowered” to have control over their lives to better their socioeconomic and political conditions,. But the questions raised are, who empowers them and how to empower them? Ideally speaking no one empowers any one,
the best way us ‘self empowerment’, by the segments of population mentioned above are handicapped both structurally and culturally to empower themselves without any outside help and affirmative action by the State and others. But still as long as these segments of population does not make any effort at self-employment. It would be long and arduous task and process for the outsiders to empower them.
Since the 1990’s women have been identified as key agents of sustainable development and women’s equality and empowerment are seen as central to a more holistic approach towards establishing new patterns and processes of development that are sustainable. The World Bank has suggested that empowerment of women should be a key aspect of all social development programs (World Bank, 2001). Although a considerable debate on what constitutes empowerment exists, in this paper we find it useful to rely on Kabeer’s (2001) definition: “The expansion in people’s ability to make strategic life choices in a context where this ability was previously denied to them.” For women in India, this suggests empowerment in several realms: personal, familial, economic and political. Since the 1980’s the Government of India has shown increasing concern for women’s issues through a variety of legislation promoting the education and political participation of women (Collier, 1998). International organizations like the World Bank and United Nations have focused on women’s issues especially the empowerment of poor women in rural areas. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have also taken on an increased role in the area of women’s empowerment (Sadik, 1988). NGO’s, previously catering to women’s health and educational needs, have moved beyond this traditional focus to addressing the underlying causes of deprivations through promoting the economic and social empowerment of women. (McNamara: 2003). There are many challenges that face NGOs who make it their goal to empower women (Narayan: 2002; Mayoux: 2000; Malhotra and Mather: 1997).
Types Of Gender Inequalities
There are many kinds of gender inequality or gender disparity which are as follows:
1. Natality inequality: In this type of inequality a preference is given for boys over girls that many male-dominated societies have, gender inequality can manifest itself in the form of the parents wanting the newborn to be a boy rather than a girl. There was a time when this could be no more than a wish (a daydream or a nightmare, depending on one’s perspective), but with the availability of modern techniques to determine the gender of the foetus, sex-selective abortion has become common in many countries. It is particularly prevalent in East Asia, in China and South Korea in particular, but also in Singapore and Taiwan, and it is beginning to emerge as a statistically significant phenomenon in India and South Asia as well.
2. Professional or Employment inequality: In terms of employment as well as promotion in work and occupation, women often face greater handicap than men. A country like Japan and India may be quite egalitarian in matters of demography or basic facilities, and even, to a great extent, in higher education, and yet progress to elevated levels of employment and occupation seems to be much more problematic for women than for men. The example of employment inequality can be explained by saying that men get priority in seeking job than women.
3. Ownership inequality: In many societies the ownership of property can also be very unequal. Even basic assets such as homes and land may be very asymmetrically shared. The absence of claims to property can not only reduce the voice of women, but also make it harder for women to enter and flourish in commercial, economic and even some social activities. This type of inequality has existed in most parts of the world, though there are also local variations. For example, even though traditional property rights have favoured men in the bulk of India.
4. Household inequality: There are often enough, basic inequalities in gender relations within the family or the household, which can take many different forms. Even in cases in which there are no overt signs of anti-female bias in, say, survival or son-preference or education, or even in promotion to higher executive positions, the family arrangements can be quite unequal in terms of sharing the burden of housework and child care. It is, for example, quite common in many societies to take it for granted that while men will naturally work outside the home, women could do it if and only if they could combine it with various inescapable and unequally shared household duties. This is sometimes called “division of labour,” though women could be forgiven for seeing it as “accumulation of labour.” The reach of this inequality includes not only unequal relations within the family, but also derivative inequalities in employment and recognition in the outside world. Also, the established fixity of this type of “division” or “accumulation” of labour can also have far-reaching effects on the knowledge and understanding of different types of work in professional circles.
5. Special opportunity inequality: Even when there is relatively little difference in basic facilities including schooling, the opportunities of higher education may be far fewer for young women than for young men. Indeed, gender bias in higher education and professional training can be observed even in some of the richest countries in the world, in India too. Sometimes this type of division has been based on the superficially innocuous idea that the respective “provinces” of men and women are just different.
Role of women in development process
The principal of gender equality was recognized in the United Nations Charter in 1945 and the UN Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the majority of development planners did not fully address the role of women in development process. In 1975, the first UN Conference of Women and Development was held at Mexico city under the motto, “Equality, Development and peace”. The need to integrate women into development was internationally proclaimed in the 1995 Beijing Conference. The Economic Survey (1999-2000) used an entire section on gender inequality. It began with a reminder of the commitment made in the ninth plan document of allocating 30 per cent of resources for women’s development schemes through “Women’s Component Plans”. According to Menon and Probhu (2001), there was a strong plea for investing in women’s equality on the ground that this made economic sense and spoke of “the social rate of return on investment in women” being greater that the corresponding rate for men. According to Paten (2002), women’s development can be attained by improving here status and bargaining power in the economy.
Sushma Sachay (1998) argues that approaches and strategic for women empowerment could be possible by outlining the mechanisms and tools that till influence for women empowerment. Decisions making process, multidimensional process that are enable worn to realize their full identity and powers in all walks of life.
As a Concept
Gender Inequalities refers to the obvious or hidden disparities among individuals based on the performance of gender. This problem in simple term is known as Gender Bias which in simple terms means the gender stratification or making difference between a girl and a boy i.e. a male or a female. In making biasness among the gender India has 10th rank out of 128 countries all over the world which is shameful for us . But this problem is increasing although government has banned the pre-natal sex examination. In India (in the older times) this problem is mainly seen in the rural areas because many rural people think that the girl child is burden on them. But now this is also being seen in the urban areas i.e. in offices, institutions, schools and in society.
However, inequality between men and women can take very many different forms. Indeed, gender inequality is not one homogeneous phenomenon, but a collection of disparate and interlinked problems. The issue of gender inequality is one which has been publicly reverberating through society for decades. The problem of inequality in employment being one of the most pressing issues today. In order to examine this situation one must try to get to the root of the problem and must understand the sociological factors that cause women to have a much more difficult time getting the same benefits, wages, and job opportunities as their male counterparts. The society in which we live has been shaped historically by males. However, in many parts of the world, women receive less attention and health care than men do, and particularly girls often receive very much less support than boys. As a result of this gender bias, the mortality rates of females often exceed those of males in these countries. The concept of missing women was devised to give some idea of the enormity of the phenomenon of women’s adversity in mortality by focussing on the women who are simply not there, due to unusually high mortality compared with male mortality rates. In some regions in the world, inequality between women and men directly involves matters of life and death, and takes the brutal form of unusually high mortality rates of women and a consequent preponderance of men in the total population, as opposed to the preponderance of women found in societies with little or no gender bias in health care and nutrition. Mortality inequality has been observed extensively in North Africa and in Asia, including China and South Asia.
Empowering may be understood as enabling people, especially women to acquire and possess power resources, in order to make decision on their own or resist decisions that are made by others that affect them. A person may said to be powerful when he/she has control over a large portion of power resources in society. The extent of possession of various resources such as personal wealth, such as land skills, education, information, knowledge, social status, position held, leadership trains, capabilities of mobilization.
The National Policy on Education (1986) suggested certain strategies to empower women. Accordingly, women become empowered through collective reflections and decision making enable them to become agency of social change. The global conference on Women Empowerment (1988), highlighted empowerment as the best way of making own partners in development the development of women and children in Rural Areas (DWCRA) program was initiated as a sub scheme of the national wide poverty alleviation program i.e., the Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP). It aims at imparting self reliance to rural areas through income generating skill s along with group
organization skills. Keeping this in view the year 2001 was celebrated as “The Women’s Empowerment Year”. Human resource development and empowerment of women unlock the door for modernization of society,. Instated of remaining as passive beneficiaries, women must become active partner. Participation and control over resources of power are considered as the critical indicators in the process of development discharged women especially in rural areas, possess the least proportion of these resources and as a result they are powerless and dependent on the powerful and wealthy.
Focusing On India
While there is something to cheer in the developments I have just been discussing, and there is considerable evidence of a weakened hold of gender disparity in several fields in the subcontinent, there is also, alas, some evidence of a movement in the contrary direction, at least in one aspect of gender inequality, namely, natality inequality. This has been brought out particularly sharply by the early results of the 2001 decennial national Census of India, which are now available. Early results indicate that even though the overall female to male ratio has improved slightly for the country as a whole (with a corresponding reduction of the proportion of “missing women”), the female-male ratio for children has had a substantial decline. For India as a whole, the female-male ratio of the population under age 6 has fallen from 94.5 girls for hundred boys in 1991 to 92.7 girls per hundred boys in 2001.
While there has been no such decline in some parts of the country (most notably Kerala), it has fallen very sharply in others, such as Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Maharashtra, which are among the richer Indian States. Taking together all the evidence that exists, it is clear that this change reflects not a rise in female child mortality, but a fall in female births vis-à-vis male births, and is almost certainly connected with increased availability and use of gender determination of foetuses. Fearing that sex-selective abortion might occur in India, the Indian Parliament banned some years ago the use of sex determination techniques for foetuses, except when it is a by-product of other necessary medical investigation. But it appears that the enforcement of this law has been comprehensively neglected. This face of gender inequality cannot, therefore, be removed, at least in the short run, by the enhancement of women’s empowerment and agency, since that agency is itself an integral part of the cause of natality inequality. Policy initiatives have to take adequate note of the fact that the pattern of gender inequality seems to be shifting in India, right at this time, from mortality inequality (the female life expectancy at birth is by now two years higher than male life expectancy in India) to natality inequality. Indeed, there is clear evidence that traditional routes of changing gender inequality, through using public policy to influence female education and female economic participation, may not serve as a path to the removal of natality inequality.
A sharp pointer in that direction comes from countries in East Asia, which all have high levels of female education and economic participation. Despite these achievements, compared with the biologically common ratio across the world of 95 girls being born per hundred boys, Singapore and Taiwan have 92 girls, South Korea only 88, and China a mere 86. In fact, South Korea’s overall female-male ratio for children is also a meagre 88 girls for 100 boys and China’s 85 girls for 100 boys. In comparison, the Indian ratio of 92.7 girls or 100 boys (though lower than its previous figure of 94.5) still looks far less unfavourable.
However, there are more grounds for concern than may be suggested by the current all-India average. First, there are substantial variations within India, and the all-India average hides the fact that there are States in India where the female-male ratio for children is very much lower than the Indian average. Second, it has to be asked whether with the spread of sex-selective abortion, India may catch up with – and perhaps even go beyond – Korea and China. There is, in fact, strong evidence that this is happening in a big way in parts of the country.
There is, however, something of a social and cultural divide across India, splitting the country into two nearly contiguous halves, in the extent of anti-female bias in natality and post-natality mortality. Since more boys are born than girls everywhere in the world, even without sex-specific abortion, we can use as a classificatory benchmark the female-male ratio among children in advanced industrial countries. The female-male ratio for the 0-5 age group is 94.8 in Germany, 95.0 in the U.K., and 95.7 in the U.S., and perhaps we can sensibly pick the German ratio of 94.8 as the cut-off point below which we should suspect anti-female intervention. The use of this dividing line produces a remarkable geographical split of India. There are the States in the north and the west where the female-male ratio of children is consistently below the benchmark figure, led by Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Gujarat (with ratios between 79.3 and 87.8), and also including, among others, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, and Bihar (a tiny exception is Dadra and Nagar Haveli, with less than a quarter million people altogether).
On the other side of the divide, the States in the east and the south tend to have female-male ratios that are above the benchmark line of 94.8 girls per 100 boys: with Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Assam (each between 96.3 and 96.6), and also, among others, Orissa, Karnataka and the north-eastern States to the east of Bangladesh (Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh). One significant exception to this neat pattern of adjoining division is, however, provided by Tamil Nadu, where the Female-male ratio is just below 94, which is higher than the ratio of any State in the deficit list, but still just below the cut-off line used for the partitioning (94.8). The astonishing finding is not that one particular State seems to provide a marginal misfit, but how the vast majority of the Indian States fall firmly into two contiguous halves.
Classified broadly into the north and the west, on one side, and the south and the east, on the other. Indeed, every State in the north and the west (with the slight exception of the tiny Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli) has strictly lower female-male ratio of children than every State in the east and the south (even Tamil Nadu fits into this classification), and this indeed is quite remarkable.
The pattern of female-male ratio of children produces a much sharper regional classification than does the female male ratio of mortality of children, even though the two are also fairly strongly correlated. The female-male ratio in child mortality varies between 0.91 in West Bengal and 0.93 in Kerala, on one side, in the southern and eastern group, to 1.30 in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, with high ratios also in Gujarat, Bihar and Rajasthan, in the northern and western group. The north and the west have clear characteristics of anti-female bias in a way that is not present – or at least not yet Visible – in most of the east and the south. This contrast does not have any immediate economic explanation. The States with anti-female bias include rich ones (Punjab and Haryana) as well as poor States (Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh), and fast-growing States (Gujarat and Maharashtra) as well as growth failures (Bihar and Uttar Pradesh). Also, the incidence of sex-specific abortions cannot be explained by the availability of medical resources for determining the sex of the foetus: Kerala and West Bengal in the non-deficit list, both with the ratio of 96.3 girls to 100 boys (comfortably higher than the benchmark cut-off of 94.8), have at least as much medical facilities as in such deficit States as Madhya Pradesh or Rajasthan. If commercial facilities for sex-selected abortion are infrequent in Kerala or West Bengal, it is because of a low demand for those specific services, rather than any great supply side barrier.
It would also be important to keep a close watch on whether the incidence of sex-specific abortions will significantly increase in States in which they are at this time quite uncommon. It was never meant to be an elitist idea. It has come and assumed from the grassroots level. The women parliamentarians have been able to make many changes to address the state of women in India. But one can never say enough has been done for women.
In India, this problem is mainly in work places i.e. related to Sexual Harassment and Wage Payment and related to inheritance. Although, judiciary decided in favour of the deceased i.e. the suffered parties. There are many landmark and famous cases of gender discrimination in work place like that of Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan it was held that a woman was brutally gang raped in the village of Rajasthan. The incident reveals the hazards to which a working woman may be exposed and the depravity to which sexual harassment can degenerate; and the urgency for safeguards by an alternative mechanism in the absence of legislative measures. In the absence of legislative measures, the need is to find an effective alternative mechanism to fulfil this felt and urgent social need. So, a writ of Mandamus was filed in Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Indian constitution. Later the Supreme Court decided that direct that the certain guidelines and norms would be strictly observed in all work places for the preservation and enforcement of the right to gender equality of the working women. These directions would be binding and enforceable in law until suitable legislation is enacted to occupy the field.
Since Article 15(3) itself hints substantive approach, its application for giving special educational facilities, for giving representation in local bodies and for protection in places of work has a substantive dimension. Upholding a service rule that preferred women in recruitment to public employment to the extent of 30% of posts, the Supreme Court stated in Government of A.P. v. P.B. Vijayakumar: “To say that under Article 15(3) job opportunities for women cannot be created would be to cut at the very root of the underlying inspiration behind this Article. Making special provision for women in respect of employments or posts under the state is an integral part of Article 15(3)”.
Also, In Mackinnon Mackenzie & Co. Ltd v. Audrey D’Costa The Court observed that there was discrimination in payment of wages to lady stenographers and such discrimination was being perpetuated under the garb of a settlement between the employees and the employer. The Court finally not only made it mandatory to pay equal remuneration to lady stenographers as their male counterparts but also observed that the ground of financial incapability of the management cannot be a ground to seek exemption from the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976.
Andhra Pradesh’s Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act 1986 is a piece of legislation that ought to be replicated in all our states. The Act confers equal rights of inheritance to Hindu women along with men, thus achieving the constitutional mandate of equality. An important measure undertaken to thereby eradicate the ills brought about by the dowry system while simultaneously ameliorating the condition of women in Hindu society
But now after the decision of the Supreme Court in Gurupad Khandappa Magdum v Hirabai Khandappa Magdum and that till such time, such ascertained share is handed over, the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) would continue to be treated as the owner of such assets, notwithstanding the ascertained shares of such female heir as part of the corpus of the Hindu family, even as held in State of Maharashtra v Narayan Rao Sham Rao Deshmukh . And also after the amendment of Hindu Succession Act in September 2005 under Sec. 3(2), the right of a Hindu widow to get the full share of her late husband in coparcenary property (with limited interest — later enlarged to absolute right) continues or has been curtailed now. It means that From September 2005, daughters also have become coparceners.
So, these are some landmarks where the legislature and judiciary had performed a well job i.e. by serving in favour of the deceased or victim in a way that the truth or right should not to fail.
Role and Empowerment
We will now realize the vital importance of the terms such as role, empowerment and function for an understanding of society. These terms tell us how individual and groups organize themselves as well as relate to each other. Very simple, role tells us about what is expected from individuals in a particular situation. While empowerment deals with her or his expectation arising out of the situation. Similarly, a role deals with duties and obligations wile empowerment deals with rights. For instance, it is commonly assumed that the most is a women, a wife a cook, a teacher of her children and daughter-in-law and so on. What happens when the mother is also the principal of the local village school? Not only does she have to deal with a range of roles and empowerments, but also with he tensions that may raise out of her ole s mother and her role as an administrator.
“Woman reposes more closely on the central surface of life, while man hunts it in the boundaries of existence, always concerned to overcome, and in the last analysis, to kill. A woman has a secret alliance with eternal life and man with the principle of death. Woman wants to embrace the contradiction of life and to reconcile them in the act of degree so. Man on the other hand release the tension between opposites by annihilating one of the sides, the one he finds unpleasant. He seeks the solution not in love and reconciliation, but in over coming and annihilation. He has a militant and not an erotic manner. The male principle borne of isolation, makes solitude thermal, seeks being in itself and disturbs life as a wholes his being is battle and self service, his will to- life is concerned with ascertaining his own person or overthrowing that of the stranger until the motive of salvation kindles with in him. Woman with her sustaining constitutions is at one and is harmony with the basis of the world. But man wants to change the world to bring it forward to overcome it”.
This paper addresses one specific challenge that is faced by NGOs located in rural areas that wish to promote women’s empowerment. These NGOs have little or no access to skilled social workers. They must often depend on the local population for their employees, employees who may be vulnerable to the similar social pressures and are often equally marginalized as their clients. For rural NGOs to be successful they must attract employees who must at some level be relatively more empowered than the clients. They must have certain credibility to be able to effectively persuade their marginalized clients to alter their ways of thinking on many long-standing traditional issues, such as dowries, child labor, and patriarchal subjugation. The literature of behavior change in the health field suggests that self-efficacy is one of the four most commonly cited constructs for behavioral change 1. Although stated for different purposes and from different perspectives, the literature on self-efficacy can be brought to bear on issues of empowerment. Self-efficacy determines when an individual will undertake new behaviors such as self-empowerment. Low self-efficacy beliefs of women in rural India often stem from the limited and disadvantaged positions women have in society. This makes any behavior change towards self-empowerment difficult if it merely relies on verbal persuasion. The best way by which self-efficacy is acquired is by combining persuasion with role modeling in a supportive and appreciative environment (Bandura, 1997).
NGO employees must model empowered behaviors in order to evoke sustained behavior modification for the empowerment of women they serve. Rural NGOs, who have to often depend on the same local pool for clients and employees, find it difficult to promote empowerment effectively (Goyder: 2001). Despite the training given to employees to promote empowerment among their clients, there may still be a gap between what the employees ‘preach’ and what they may ‘practice’ in their own lives. This, in turn, may make them less effective and impede the NGO from achieving its goals (Turton and Farrington: 1998; Tillman: 2003).
In this paper we seek to explore how a relatively small and isolated rural NGO in Village Jaisakarra, P O Jaisakarra, Kanker – 494 337, Madhya Pradesh , Disha-Samaj Sewi Sanstha (DSSS) has been successful in the empowerment of rural women living in highly patriarchal and traditional societies Background Disha-Samaj Sewi Sanstha (DSSS for short) is a successful rural NGO in India that has received accolades for its success in empowering the women of the region and drawing them out of the cycle of dependency.
Research Question
In this paper we seek to explore how DSSS, a relatively small and isolated rural NGO in Village Jaisakarra, P O Jaisakarra, Kanker – 494 337, Madhya Pradesh , Disha-Samaj Sewi Sanstha (DSSS) has been successful in the empowerment of rural women living in highly patriarchal and traditional societies. The Indian Government as well as CIDA profiles DSSS as a model NGO in the arena of women’s empowerment. In particular we investigate the employees at DSSS, who come from the same villages as the clientele, and examine whether they are significantly different in their levels of empowerment than those they help. Is a gap between the rhetoric and reality of empowerment among the employees? Are employees whose aim is to empower women, empowered themselves? Do they practice what they preach? We seek to uncover the reasons for their success.
Literature Review
To understand the change women undergo in becoming empowered we look at two sets of literature: behavior change and women’s empowerment. In the first set of literature we review what leads to successful change, and in the second set of literature we review what is understood as empowerment for women.
Behavior change
We first start with a review of the self-efficacy literature and focus on the criteria for successful behavior change. Bandura (1986) suggests that a person’s self-expectations determine whether or not certain behavior will be undertaken, the extent of effort expended by the individual, and whether the individual can persist in the face of challenges encountered. This notion of self-efficacy is mediated by a person’s beliefs or expectations about his/her ability to achieve certain tasks effectively or exhibit certain behaviors (Hackett and Betz 1981).
For example, individuals with low self-efficacy regarding their behavior limit their participation when making difficult behavior changes and are more likely to give up when faced with obstacles. Their efficacy beliefs about themselves serve as barriers to change, and in this case, their own empowerment (Hackett and Betz 1981). Furthermore, these authors state that self-efficacy is not necessarily an in-born trait and can be acquired and nurtured. This fact makes these concepts particularly relevant to our study. Bandura (1986) identifies four ways in which self-efficacy and self-efficacy expectations are acquired: performance accomplishments, vicarious learning, verbal persuasion and physical/affective status.
Performance accomplishments are beliefs that stem from the reactions with which individual accomplishments are greeted. A negative assessment can lower confidence and
self-efficacy beliefs; conversely a positive assessment encourages self-efficacy beliefs and the self-efficacy expectations that similar behaviors will be well received in the future. Vicarious learning results in beliefs that are acquired by observing modeling behaviors. When the modeling behavior is undertaken within similar contexts5 such as gender, economic and social class it presents a realistic option. Thus, one of the most effective strategies for enhancing self-efficacy beliefs and self-efficacy expectations is that modeling behavior is context specific. It is of little use for a woman of low social class to observe the success of an entrepreneurial woman born to a family of high social standing with access to resources that are unavailable to the poor woman.
Other ways such as ‘verbal persuasion’ and ‘affective status6‘ encourage selfefficacy. Persuading women to attempt positive behavior change and providing a supportive environment in which women can attempt change, further enhances self-efficacy. Changes based on verbal persuasion, affective status and modeling behavior can lead to significant changes in self–beliefs and self-expectation. These ‘personal factors’ according to Bandura (1986) and Pajares (1996), from an integral part of a triadic relationship necessary for change. They suggest that there is a reciprocal relationship between ‘personal factors’, ‘behavior’ and ‘environmental factors’, which result in social change.
Changes in personal factors (such as self efficacy) can affect an individuals’ behavior (willingness to take risks), which can impact on environmental factors (family and society). These relationships are reciprocal and reinforce each other. This suggests that strategies purposefully introduced in order to enhance women’s personal factors (self efficacy) can lead to reinforcing behaviors (such as self assertive behavior) which in turn can impact and reinforce environmental factors (such as alteration of familial relations). The interaction and reciprocity of the triadic relationship can result in a positive and significant change for women.
________________________________________________________________________
5 In India, where this research is based, we include caste as a determinant of class for successful modeling
behaviors
6 ‘Affective status’ suggests that people learn best in a supportive environment, people do not easily learn in high stress situations, such as criticism.
Women’s Empowerment
Although the notion of women’s empowerment has long been legitimized by international development agencies7, what actually comprises empowerment, and how it is measured, is debated in the development literature. Malhotra, Schuler and Boender, 2002 provide an excellent review of this debate. They review the many ways that empowerment can be measured and suggest that researchers pay attention to the process in which empowerment occurs. The frequently used Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) is a composite measure of gender inequality in three key areas: Political participation and decision-making, economic participation and decision-making and power over economic resources (HDR: 2003). It is an aggregate index for a population and does not measure Empowerment on an individual basis. It is made up of two dimensions: Economic participation and decision-making (measured by the percentage of female administrators and managers, and professional and technical employees), and political participation and decision-making (measured by the percentage of seats in parliament held by women). For our purposes GEM is limited and does not capture the multidimensional view of women’s empowerment. It cannot be assumed that if a development intervention promotes women’s empowerment along a particular dimension
that empowerment in other areas will necessarily follow. A number of studies have shown that women may be empowered in one area of life while not in others (Malhotra and Mather 1997; Kishor 1995 and 2000b; Hashemi et al. 1996; Beegle et al. 1998).
While we do not attempt to resolve this debate, we take the position, that women’s empowerment can be measured by factors contributing to each of the following: their personal, economic, familial, and political empowerment. We make a point to include household and interfamilial relations as we believe is a central locus of women’s disempowerment in India. And by including the political, we posit that women’s empowerment measures should include women’s participation in systemic transformation by engaging in political action (Batliwala 1994; Bisnath and Elson 1999; Kabeer 2001; Narasimhan ,1999; and Sen and Grown 1987;) Amin, Becker and Bayes (1998) split the concept of women’s empowerment into three components each measured separately:
7 Women Key to Effective Development (December 6, 2001) World Bank Press) Engendering Development -
Through Gender Equality in Rights, Resources, and Voice is a Policy Research Report by the World Bank
Inter-spouse consultation index, which seeks to represent the extent to which husbands consult their wives in household affairs; Individual autonomy indexes which represents women’s self-reported autonomy of physical movement outside the house and in matters of spending money; and the Authority index, which reports on actual decision-making power (which is traditionally in the hands of the patriarch of the family). These indices are similar to those of used by Balk in her 1994 study. Comparable components of empowerment are included in the eight indicators by Hashemi (1996): mobility, economic security, ability to make a small purchases, ability to make larger purchases, involvement in major decisions, relative freedom from domination by the family, political and legal awareness, and involvement in political campaigning and protests.
Several different efforts have been made in recent years to develop comprehensive frameworks delineating the various dimensions along which women can be empowered (Malhotra, Schuler and Boender, 2002) We construct four separate components of empowerment in Table 1 that draw from many of the authors mentioned earlier and especially rely on Hashemi (1996) and Amin Becker and Bayes, (1998), as their work seems most relevant for rural women in India.
These measures in Table 1 reflect our belief that to measure women’s empowerment more fully and in the broadest sense, it is necessary to add an individualized component representing her political autonomy to the autonomy within the family. Given that the legislation in India reserves special seats for women in elected bodies, even at the village level, an empowerment index for rural women should include her awareness of political issues and participation in the political process.
TABLE I
EMPOWERMENT MEASURES
Personal Autonomy Index Generally(1) Occasionally(1/2) Never(0)
Visiting Respondents’ home
Visiting Village Market
Visiting Hospital
Helping a relative with family
Family Decision Making Index Wife(1) Joint Decision(1/2) Husband Alone(0)
Family Planning
Children’s education in School
Day to day expenditures of family
Medical treatement
Going outside Home
Entertaining guests
Favorite things
Economic Domestic Consultation Index Generally(1) Occasionally(1/2) Never(0)
Buying Household Furniture
Education/expense of Children
Purchase of Land
Purchasing Women’s Clothes
Purchasing medical treatment of Family
Purchasing Children’s clothes
Purchasing Daily Food
Political Autonomy Index Generally(1) Occasionally(1/2) Never(0)
Awareness of any political issue
Voting according to own decisions
Campaigning politically
Standing for elections
Methodology
As this paper seeks to explore how a relatively small and isolated rural NGO in Village Jaisakarra, Disha-Samaj Sewi Sanstha (DSSS) has become a model for the development and empowerment of rural disenfranchised women, a few words on the choice of the NGO are appropriate. Using a database from the directorate of NGOs in India we examined several successful women led NGOs in different parts of India. The criteria for inclusion were that the NGO cater to rural women of lower castes who face traditional gender and class discrimination.
We also stipulated that the NGO must be a successful grass roots organization that has the empowerment of women as its mission. It should have received attention for its success both locally and internationally, and whose founder/director had time to meet with us and would allow us to survey the employees. After a limited search, based on telephone calls, we decided to use DSSS as it met our criteria.
Research methods
Ethnographic and survey research was undertaken at DSSS. Face to face interviews were conducted with DSSS employees, and participant observation of the meetings and activities that took place at DSSS during two weeks in January in 2008 followed by visit in January 2009 to present our findings and tie up some loose ends. We also observed and
documented the various programs at the village level where the women gathered at a prearranged time to participated in a variety of programs (such as the micro credit program or listen to consciousness raising speeches, plays and puppet shows). To document the levels of empowerment among women in the NGO we drew our data from the employees who were responsible for the services that were designed to empower the rural village women. At the leadership level we interviewed nearly all of the ‘“Supervisors’’’ (15/16)11 of the various programs. These “Supervisors’’ administered the `Field workers’ who went into the villages and worked directly with the village women. We interviewed 32 of the 57 “`Fieldworkers’’’ who assisted the “`Supervisors’’’. We also chose to interview 25 local women living the area that the NGO served. They represented women who were eligible to be among the `Recipients’ of the services of the NGO, by the fact they lived in the areas the NGO served. Although these are potential recipients we call them `Recipients’ for convenience. We chose not to interview current recipients of services, as we wanted to establish a baseline of empowerment among the village women from whom the employees were drawn. As all of the employees lived in the neighboring villages before seeking employment (and still continue to live in these villages) the findings on the empowerment indices of the `Recipients’ may also be seen to reflect the those of the employees before coming to the NGO We chose to interview women employees (`Supervisors’ and `Fieldworkers’) and eligible women `Recipients’ to ascertain the main research question, of whether the employees were ‘walking the talk’ and if the employees were significantly different from the recipients. In other words did the women employees who intervened to help promote the empowerment of women were themselves empowered. We were seeking to establish whether the employees own individual levels of empowerment were significantly different from the recipients of the services. Furthermore, we interviewed individuals at both levels of hierarchies in the organization to ascertain if all employees had same or differing levels of empowerment. We decided to interview half of the `Fieldworkers’. We ended up with a sample of 32/57 of `Fieldworkers’. The latter was an opportunistic sample, in that we simply interviewed all the employees who happened to be present in the DSSS headquarters on the days we visited. During the period we visited the NGO, there was a rotation of the `Fieldworkers’ assigned to duties at villages coming in to meet with the `Supervisors’. We were thus able to interview 32 of the `Fieldworkers’. The sample of women eligible to be recipients was done by employing two of the NGO employees to visit every third house in the village and identify women who would be likely potential recipients. We were able to get a sample of 25 women who were willing to be interviewed. Two `Supervisors’ helped us fine tune and translate our instrument for the `Recipients’, which included the measures of women’s empowerment used for the employees. Additionally, we trained one local woman to undertake the interviews due to their fluency in the language.
Findings:
In this section we turn to the findings obtained from the interviews. We present our findings as follows: Section A presents general demographic data of all three groups of respondents: `Supervisors’, `Fieldworkers’ and `Recipients’ and examines for any differences in these three groups; Section B presents empowerment levels of all three groups of respondents and a statistical analysis of the data and Section C presents qualitative findings on the NGO based on interviews with the executive director of the NGO who has run the NGO for the last nineteen years.
Section A: Demographic and socio economic data
The women in our study are all from the district of Jaisakarra, P O Jaisakarra, Kanker. There is a wide age spread in the total number of respondents (72) 12. They range in age from 21 to 65; most women are married and lived with their husbands and have an average of 2.74 children. Only five women in our study did not live with a spouse, 3 of the women are divorced and two are widowed. Divorce is not common in the rural areas and the general tradition is to put up with an abusive spouse or a bad marriage. With reference to caste 89% (64 / 72) of the women categorize themselves as low caste or `OBC’ or Other Backward Classes. This is a `catch all’ category developed by the Government of India census to include some of the most marginalized caste segments of Indian society. Four of the `Supervisors’ belong to the higher castes, as do two of the `Fieldworkers’ and one from the group of `Recipients’. Family structure is relevant to discussion of empowerment. As many of the questions relate to domestic decisions making to establish empowerment levels family structures can influence the responses. The traditional family structure in India is not a nuclear family, it a joint family. In this system, when a son marries, he continues to reside with his parents with his wife and their children. The daughter on the other hand goes to her husband’s home and lives with his parents, unmarried siblings, and the families of his married brothers. The parents of the husband, in a joint family, tend to hold decision-making authority that often overrides the authority of any of the married sons or their wives.
Twenty-nine of the seventy two (40.28%) women in our study live in traditional joint families, whereas the rest lived in a nuclear family setting, which is far less than the norm in of Jaisakarra, P O Jaisakarra, Kanker over 50% .The women had an average of 6.13 years of education
In this area where alcoholism is rampant, we asked our respondents if they hadproblems related to alcohol consumption. We find that half of the women (36) suggested that they had experienced problems related to the alcohol consumption by their husbands. This ranged from beatings and the use of household money for alcohol to unemployment. The differences between the groups were striking, in that the least amount of alcoholism was present in the families of `Fieldworkers’ (6/32) and the most in the `Recipients’ (23/25), where as the half the `Supervisors’ experienced alcohol related problems. We then compared the differences of the means of several socio demographic variables and the means of the empowerment index between the three groups: `Supervisors’, `Fieldworkers’ and `Recipients’, to see if they differed significantly on any of the socio demographic variables and empowerment levels (See Table 2). While they appeared significantly different on the number of all counts with the exception of age, the Scheffe Post Hoc test showed that not all the differences were significant.
________________________________________________________________________
11 One supervisor was a man and therefore not included.
12 This number includes 15 “Supervisors’’, 32 Field workers and 25 eligible recipients.
Table 2
Comparision of Means of socio Economic Data and Empowerment Index for ‘Supervisors’, ‘ Fieldworkers’ and ‘ Recipients’
Mean
Supervisors
Field workers
Recipients
ANOVA
F-Test 3 groups
T-test for 2 groups S and F sig 2 tailed
Age
40
38.94
36.64
.818
.669
Kansieo.com
GENDER EQUITY WOMAN EMPOWERMENT
Abstract
Empowerment is a multi-faceted, multi-dimensional and multi-layered concept. Women’s empowerment is a process in which women gain greater share of control over resources – material, human and intellectual like knowledge, information, ideas and financial resources like money – and access to money and control over decision-making in the home, community, society and nation, and to gain `power’. According to the Country Report of Government of India, “Empowerment means moving from a position of enforced powerlessness to one of power”.
If NGO employees are advocating behavior change for self-empowerment such behaviour must also be modeled for successful transmission as suggested in the self-efficacy models of behavior change. Rural NGOs in India that depend on local population for employees face a limited labor pool who are as likely to be vulnerable to the traditional social pressures and therefore equally marginalized as their clients. This may cause a gap between what the employees may be trained to ‘preach’ and what they may ‘practice’ thereby diminishing their effectiveness to motivate change. We examine the employees of a successful rural NGO in India that has received accolades for its work in empowerment to establish if the employees actually ‘walk the talk’. Using three empowerment instruments, including one developed for this study, we find that employees indeed ‘walk the talk’ and their index of empowerment is related to their tenure in the NGO.
“Fight for gender equality is not a fight against men. It is a fight against traditions that have chained them – a fight against attitudes that are ingrained in the society – it is a fight against system – a fight against proverbial Laxshman Rekha which is different for men and different for women. The society must rise to the occasion. It must recognize & accept fact that men and women are equal partners in life. They are individual who have their own identity”.
- Dr. Justice A.S. Anand
Introduction
Man and woman are both equal and both plays a vital role in the creation and development of their families in a particular and the society in general. Indeed, the struggle for legal equality has been one of the major concerns of the women’s movement all over the world. In India, since long back, women were considered as an oppressed section of the society and they were neglected for centuries. During the national struggle for independence, Gandhi gave a call of emancipation of women. He wrote – :I am uncompromising in the matter of women’s rights. The difference in sex and physical form denotes no difference in status. Woman is the complement of man, and not inferior”. Thus, the first task in post-independent India was to provide a constitution to the people, which would not make any distinctions on the basis of sex. The preamble of constitution promises to secure to all its citizens- “Justice- economical, social, and political”. The constitution declares that the equality before the law and the equal protection of laws shall be available for all . Similarly, there shall be no discrimination against any citizen on the ground of sex . Article 15(1) guarantees equalities of opportunities for all citizens in matters of employment. Article 15(3) provides that the state can make any special provisions for women and children. Besides, directive principle of state policy which concern women directly and have a special bearing on their status directly and have a special bearing on their status include Article 39(a) right to an adequate means of livelihood; (d) equal pay for equal wok both men and women, (e) protection of health and strength of workers –men, women, children and Article 42 provides for just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief.
It is really important to note that though the Constitution of India is working since more than fifty-seven years – the raising of the status of women to one of equality, freedom and dignity is still a question mark.
The empowerment of women is one of the central issues in the process of development of countries all over the world. The contribution of writers and social reformers has been well documented. The Government of India has made Empowerment of Women as one of the principal objectives of the Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002) and also declared 2001 as the year of ‘Women’s Empowerment’. These issues of gender equality are discussed in World Conferences, National and International Conferences, etc. Our Constitution has conferred and guaranteed equality before law, universal adult franchise and equal opportunities for men and women as fundamental rights. The imperative of gender partnership in matters of development has been recognised. In order to give a fillip to empowerment of women and appropriate institutional mechanisms and interventions have been consciously built into the development design.
Separate institutions for women and child development, departments at the Central and State levels, creation of the National Commission for Women and also State Commission for Women in several States are some of the important developments for the betterment and prosperity of women. The launching of Rashtriya Mahila Kosh, Indira Mahila Yojana, Mahila Samridhi Yojana, reserving of one third of the number of seats in Panchayats and the local bodies are programmes launched with a view to improve and empower women socially, economically and in political frontiers.
Empowerment is a multi-faceted, multi-dimensional and multi-layered concept. Women’s empowerment is a process in which women gain greater share of control over resources – material, human and intellectual like knowledge, information, ideas and financial resources like money – and access to money and control over decision-making in the home, community, society and nation, and to gain `power’. According to the Country Report of Government of India, “Empowerment means moving from a position of enforced powerlessness to one of power”.
Women constitute almost 50% of the world’s population. As per as their social status is concerned, they are not treated as equal to men in all the places, through in the western countries women are treated on par with men in most of the fields, their counterpart in the east suffers from many disabilities. The disabilities on the one hand and the inequalities between men and women on the other, have given rise to what is known “Gender problem”. All one the world and particularly in South and East Asia and Africa the gender problem has assumed importance during the recent years the gender issue has become virtually a crucial point of argument. It is now widely believed that empowerment of women i.e., providing equal rights, opportunities and responsibilities to women, will go a long way in removing the existing gender discrimination. Women empowerment in contemporary Indian society in forms of their work, education, health and media images in the forms of their work, education, health and media images in the context of lineage, rule of residence and household chores, their context of lineage, rule of residence and household chores, their participation in social and political activities, their legal status in terms of marriage, divorce and inheritance of property, seeking wealth care should be taken into consideration. Empowerment in terms of knowledge and awareness of ones own life and society including legal raise their status with regarded to the lives.
Meaning
Gender Inequalities refers to the obvious or hidden disparities among individuals based on the performance of gender. This problem in simple term is known as Gender Bias which in simple terms means the gender stratification or making difference between a girl and a boy i.e. a male or a female. In making biasness among the gender India has 10th rank out of 128 countries all over the world which is shameful for us . But this problem is increasing although government has banned the pre-natal sex examination. In India (in the older times) this problem is mainly seen in the rural areas because many rural people think that the girl child is burden on them. But now this is also being seen in the urban areas i.e. in offices, institutions, schools and in society. The afflicted world in which we live is characterised by deeply unequal sharing of the burden of adversities between women and men. Gender Inequality exists in most part of the world, from Japan to Morocco, or from Uzbekistan to United States of America (as stated earlier).
However, inequality between men and women can take very many different forms. Indeed, gender inequality is not one homogeneous phenomenon, but a collection of disparate and interlinked problems. The issue of gender inequality is one which has been publicly reverberating through society for decades. The problem of inequality in employment being one of the most pressing issues today. In order to examine this situation one must try to get to the root of the problem and must understand the sociological factors that cause women to have a much more difficult time getting the same benefits, wages, and job opportunities as their male counterparts. The society in which we live has been shaped historically by males.
Before thinking about the empowerment of women, one needs to understand the exact meaning of the word empowerment. According to Cambridge English Dictionary empowerment means “to authorize”. In the context of the people they have to be authorized to have control over their lives. When applied in the context of development the particular segment of population, the poor, the women, the vulnerable, the weak, the oppressed and the discriminated have to be “empowered” to have control over their lives to better their socioeconomic and political conditions,. But the questions raised are, who empowers them and how to empower them? Ideally speaking no one empowers any one,
the best way us ‘self empowerment’, by the segments of population mentioned above are handicapped both structurally and culturally to empower themselves without any outside help and affirmative action by the State and others. But still as long as these segments of population does not make any effort at self-employment. It would be long and arduous task and process for the outsiders to empower them.
Since the 1990’s women have been identified as key agents of sustainable development and women’s equality and empowerment are seen as central to a more holistic approach towards establishing new patterns and processes of development that are sustainable. The World Bank has suggested that empowerment of women should be a key aspect of all social development programs (World Bank, 2001). Although a considerable debate on what constitutes empowerment exists, in this paper we find it useful to rely on Kabeer’s (2001) definition: “The expansion in people’s ability to make strategic life choices in a context where this ability was previously denied to them.” For women in India, this suggests empowerment in several realms: personal, familial, economic and political. Since the 1980’s the Government of India has shown increasing concern for women’s issues through a variety of legislation promoting the education and political participation of women (Collier, 1998). International organizations like the World Bank and United Nations have focused on women’s issues especially the empowerment of poor women in rural areas. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have also taken on an increased role in the area of women’s empowerment (Sadik, 1988). NGO’s, previously catering to women’s health and educational needs, have moved beyond this traditional focus to addressing the underlying causes of deprivations through promoting the economic and social empowerment of women. (McNamara: 2003). There are many challenges that face NGOs who make it their goal to empower women (Narayan: 2002; Mayoux: 2000; Malhotra and Mather: 1997).
Types Of Gender Inequalities
There are many kinds of gender inequality or gender disparity which are as follows:
1. Natality inequality: In this type of inequality a preference is given for boys over girls that many male-dominated societies have, gender inequality can manifest itself in the form of the parents wanting the newborn to be a boy rather than a girl. There was a time when this could be no more than a wish (a daydream or a nightmare, depending on one’s perspective), but with the availability of modern techniques to determine the gender of the foetus, sex-selective abortion has become common in many countries. It is particularly prevalent in East Asia, in China and South Korea in particular, but also in Singapore and Taiwan, and it is beginning to emerge as a statistically significant phenomenon in India and South Asia as well.
2. Professional or Employment inequality: In terms of employment as well as promotion in work and occupation, women often face greater handicap than men. A country like Japan and India may be quite egalitarian in matters of demography or basic facilities, and even, to a great extent, in higher education, and yet progress to elevated levels of employment and occupation seems to be much more problematic for women than for men. The example of employment inequality can be explained by saying that men get priority in seeking job than women.
3. Ownership inequality: In many societies the ownership of property can also be very unequal. Even basic assets such as homes and land may be very asymmetrically shared. The absence of claims to property can not only reduce the voice of women, but also make it harder for women to enter and flourish in commercial, economic and even some social activities. This type of inequality has existed in most parts of the world, though there are also local variations. For example, even though traditional property rights have favoured men in the bulk of India.
4. Household inequality: There are often enough, basic inequalities in gender relations within the family or the household, which can take many different forms. Even in cases in which there are no overt signs of anti-female bias in, say, survival or son-preference or education, or even in promotion to higher executive positions, the family arrangements can be quite unequal in terms of sharing the burden of housework and child care. It is, for example, quite common in many societies to take it for granted that while men will naturally work outside the home, women could do it if and only if they could combine it with various inescapable and unequally shared household duties. This is sometimes called “division of labour,” though women could be forgiven for seeing it as “accumulation of labour.” The reach of this inequality includes not only unequal relations within the family, but also derivative inequalities in employment and recognition in the outside world. Also, the established fixity of this type of “division” or “accumulation” of labour can also have far-reaching effects on the knowledge and understanding of different types of work in professional circles.
5. Special opportunity inequality: Even when there is relatively little difference in basic facilities including schooling, the opportunities of higher education may be far fewer for young women than for young men. Indeed, gender bias in higher education and professional training can be observed even in some of the richest countries in the world, in India too. Sometimes this type of division has been based on the superficially innocuous idea that the respective “provinces” of men and women are just different.
Role of women in development process
The principal of gender equality was recognized in the United Nations Charter in 1945 and the UN Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the majority of development planners did not fully address the role of women in development process. In 1975, the first UN Conference of Women and Development was held at Mexico city under the motto, “Equality, Development and peace”. The need to integrate women into development was internationally proclaimed in the 1995 Beijing Conference. The Economic Survey (1999-2000) used an entire section on gender inequality. It began with a reminder of the commitment made in the ninth plan document of allocating 30 per cent of resources for women’s development schemes through “Women’s Component Plans”. According to Menon and Probhu (2001), there was a strong plea for investing in women’s equality on the ground that this made economic sense and spoke of “the social rate of return on investment in women” being greater that the corresponding rate for men. According to Paten (2002), women’s development can be attained by improving here status and bargaining power in the economy.
Sushma Sachay (1998) argues that approaches and strategic for women empowerment could be possible by outlining the mechanisms and tools that till influence for women empowerment. Decisions making process, multidimensional process that are enable worn to realize their full identity and powers in all walks of life.
As a Concept
Gender Inequalities refers to the obvious or hidden disparities among individuals based on the performance of gender. This problem in simple term is known as Gender Bias which in simple terms means the gender stratification or making difference between a girl and a boy i.e. a male or a female. In making biasness among the gender India has 10th rank out of 128 countries all over the world which is shameful for us . But this problem is increasing although government has banned the pre-natal sex examination. In India (in the older times) this problem is mainly seen in the rural areas because many rural people think that the girl child is burden on them. But now this is also being seen in the urban areas i.e. in offices, institutions, schools and in society.
However, inequality between men and women can take very many different forms. Indeed, gender inequality is not one homogeneous phenomenon, but a collection of disparate and interlinked problems. The issue of gender inequality is one which has been publicly reverberating through society for decades. The problem of inequality in employment being one of the most pressing issues today. In order to examine this situation one must try to get to the root of the problem and must understand the sociological factors that cause women to have a much more difficult time getting the same benefits, wages, and job opportunities as their male counterparts. The society in which we live has been shaped historically by males. However, in many parts of the world, women receive less attention and health care than men do, and particularly girls often receive very much less support than boys. As a result of this gender bias, the mortality rates of females often exceed those of males in these countries. The concept of missing women was devised to give some idea of the enormity of the phenomenon of women’s adversity in mortality by focussing on the women who are simply not there, due to unusually high mortality compared with male mortality rates. In some regions in the world, inequality between women and men directly involves matters of life and death, and takes the brutal form of unusually high mortality rates of women and a consequent preponderance of men in the total population, as opposed to the preponderance of women found in societies with little or no gender bias in health care and nutrition. Mortality inequality has been observed extensively in North Africa and in Asia, including China and South Asia.
Empowering may be understood as enabling people, especially women to acquire and possess power resources, in order to make decision on their own or resist decisions that are made by others that affect them. A person may said to be powerful when he/she has control over a large portion of power resources in society. The extent of possession of various resources such as personal wealth, such as land skills, education, information, knowledge, social status, position held, leadership trains, capabilities of mobilization.
The National Policy on Education (1986) suggested certain strategies to empower women. Accordingly, women become empowered through collective reflections and decision making enable them to become agency of social change. The global conference on Women Empowerment (1988), highlighted empowerment as the best way of making own partners in development the development of women and children in Rural Areas (DWCRA) program was initiated as a sub scheme of the national wide poverty alleviation program i.e., the Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP). It aims at imparting self reliance to rural areas through income generating skill s along with group
organization skills. Keeping this in view the year 2001 was celebrated as “The Women’s Empowerment Year”. Human resource development and empowerment of women unlock the door for modernization of society,. Instated of remaining as passive beneficiaries, women must become active partner. Participation and control over resources of power are considered as the critical indicators in the process of development discharged women especially in rural areas, possess the least proportion of these resources and as a result they are powerless and dependent on the powerful and wealthy.
Focusing On India
While there is something to cheer in the developments I have just been discussing, and there is considerable evidence of a weakened hold of gender disparity in several fields in the subcontinent, there is also, alas, some evidence of a movement in the contrary direction, at least in one aspect of gender inequality, namely, natality inequality. This has been brought out particularly sharply by the early results of the 2001 decennial national Census of India, which are now available. Early results indicate that even though the overall female to male ratio has improved slightly for the country as a whole (with a corresponding reduction of the proportion of “missing women”), the female-male ratio for children has had a substantial decline. For India as a whole, the female-male ratio of the population under age 6 has fallen from 94.5 girls for hundred boys in 1991 to 92.7 girls per hundred boys in 2001.
While there has been no such decline in some parts of the country (most notably Kerala), it has fallen very sharply in others, such as Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Maharashtra, which are among the richer Indian States. Taking together all the evidence that exists, it is clear that this change reflects not a rise in female child mortality, but a fall in female births vis-à-vis male births, and is almost certainly connected with increased availability and use of gender determination of foetuses. Fearing that sex-selective abortion might occur in India, the Indian Parliament banned some years ago the use of sex determination techniques for foetuses, except when it is a by-product of other necessary medical investigation. But it appears that the enforcement of this law has been comprehensively neglected. This face of gender inequality cannot, therefore, be removed, at least in the short run, by the enhancement of women’s empowerment and agency, since that agency is itself an integral part of the cause of natality inequality. Policy initiatives have to take adequate note of the fact that the pattern of gender inequality seems to be shifting in India, right at this time, from mortality inequality (the female life expectancy at birth is by now two years higher than male life expectancy in India) to natality inequality. Indeed, there is clear evidence that traditional routes of changing gender inequality, through using public policy to influence female education and female economic participation, may not serve as a path to the removal of natality inequality.
A sharp pointer in that direction comes from countries in East Asia, which all have high levels of female education and economic participation. Despite these achievements, compared with the biologically common ratio across the world of 95 girls being born per hundred boys, Singapore and Taiwan have 92 girls, South Korea only 88, and China a mere 86. In fact, South Korea’s overall female-male ratio for children is also a meagre 88 girls for 100 boys and China’s 85 girls for 100 boys. In comparison, the Indian ratio of 92.7 girls or 100 boys (though lower than its previous figure of 94.5) still looks far less unfavourable.
However, there are more grounds for concern than may be suggested by the current all-India average. First, there are substantial variations within India, and the all-India average hides the fact that there are States in India where the female-male ratio for children is very much lower than the Indian average. Second, it has to be asked whether with the spread of sex-selective abortion, India may catch up with – and perhaps even go beyond – Korea and China. There is, in fact, strong evidence that this is happening in a big way in parts of the country.
There is, however, something of a social and cultural divide across India, splitting the country into two nearly contiguous halves, in the extent of anti-female bias in natality and post-natality mortality. Since more boys are born than girls everywhere in the world, even without sex-specific abortion, we can use as a classificatory benchmark the female-male ratio among children in advanced industrial countries. The female-male ratio for the 0-5 age group is 94.8 in Germany, 95.0 in the U.K., and 95.7 in the U.S., and perhaps we can sensibly pick the German ratio of 94.8 as the cut-off point below which we should suspect anti-female intervention. The use of this dividing line produces a remarkable geographical split of India. There are the States in the north and the west where the female-male ratio of children is consistently below the benchmark figure, led by Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Gujarat (with ratios between 79.3 and 87.8), and also including, among others, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, and Bihar (a tiny exception is Dadra and Nagar Haveli, with less than a quarter million people altogether).
On the other side of the divide, the States in the east and the south tend to have female-male ratios that are above the benchmark line of 94.8 girls per 100 boys: with Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Assam (each between 96.3 and 96.6), and also, among others, Orissa, Karnataka and the north-eastern States to the east of Bangladesh (Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh). One significant exception to this neat pattern of adjoining division is, however, provided by Tamil Nadu, where the Female-male ratio is just below 94, which is higher than the ratio of any State in the deficit list, but still just below the cut-off line used for the partitioning (94.8). The astonishing finding is not that one particular State seems to provide a marginal misfit, but how the vast majority of the Indian States fall firmly into two contiguous halves.
Classified broadly into the north and the west, on one side, and the south and the east, on the other. Indeed, every State in the north and the west (with the slight exception of the tiny Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli) has strictly lower female-male ratio of children than every State in the east and the south (even Tamil Nadu fits into this classification), and this indeed is quite remarkable.
The pattern of female-male ratio of children produces a much sharper regional classification than does the female male ratio of mortality of children, even though the two are also fairly strongly correlated. The female-male ratio in child mortality varies between 0.91 in West Bengal and 0.93 in Kerala, on one side, in the southern and eastern group, to 1.30 in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, with high ratios also in Gujarat, Bihar and Rajasthan, in the northern and western group. The north and the west have clear characteristics of anti-female bias in a way that is not present – or at least not yet Visible – in most of the east and the south. This contrast does not have any immediate economic explanation. The States with anti-female bias include rich ones (Punjab and Haryana) as well as poor States (Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh), and fast-growing States (Gujarat and Maharashtra) as well as growth failures (Bihar and Uttar Pradesh). Also, the incidence of sex-specific abortions cannot be explained by the availability of medical resources for determining the sex of the foetus: Kerala and West Bengal in the non-deficit list, both with the ratio of 96.3 girls to 100 boys (comfortably higher than the benchmark cut-off of 94.8), have at least as much medical facilities as in such deficit States as Madhya Pradesh or Rajasthan. If commercial facilities for sex-selected abortion are infrequent in Kerala or West Bengal, it is because of a low demand for those specific services, rather than any great supply side barrier.
It would also be important to keep a close watch on whether the incidence of sex-specific abortions will significantly increase in States in which they are at this time quite uncommon. It was never meant to be an elitist idea. It has come and assumed from the grassroots level. The women parliamentarians have been able to make many changes to address the state of women in India. But one can never say enough has been done for women.
In India, this problem is mainly in work places i.e. related to Sexual Harassment and Wage Payment and related to inheritance. Although, judiciary decided in favour of the deceased i.e. the suffered parties. There are many landmark and famous cases of gender discrimination in work place like that of Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan it was held that a woman was brutally gang raped in the village of Rajasthan. The incident reveals the hazards to which a working woman may be exposed and the depravity to which sexual harassment can degenerate; and the urgency for safeguards by an alternative mechanism in the absence of legislative measures. In the absence of legislative measures, the need is to find an effective alternative mechanism to fulfil this felt and urgent social need. So, a writ of Mandamus was filed in Supreme Court under Article 32 of the Indian constitution. Later the Supreme Court decided that direct that the certain guidelines and norms would be strictly observed in all work places for the preservation and enforcement of the right to gender equality of the working women. These directions would be binding and enforceable in law until suitable legislation is enacted to occupy the field.
Since Article 15(3) itself hints substantive approach, its application for giving special educational facilities, for giving representation in local bodies and for protection in places of work has a substantive dimension. Upholding a service rule that preferred women in recruitment to public employment to the extent of 30% of posts, the Supreme Court stated in Government of A.P. v. P.B. Vijayakumar: “To say that under Article 15(3) job opportunities for women cannot be created would be to cut at the very root of the underlying inspiration behind this Article. Making special provision for women in respect of employments or posts under the state is an integral part of Article 15(3)”.
Also, In Mackinnon Mackenzie & Co. Ltd v. Audrey D’Costa The Court observed that there was discrimination in payment of wages to lady stenographers and such discrimination was being perpetuated under the garb of a settlement between the employees and the employer. The Court finally not only made it mandatory to pay equal remuneration to lady stenographers as their male counterparts but also observed that the ground of financial incapability of the management cannot be a ground to seek exemption from the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976.
Andhra Pradesh’s Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act 1986 is a piece of legislation that ought to be replicated in all our states. The Act confers equal rights of inheritance to Hindu women along with men, thus achieving the constitutional mandate of equality. An important measure undertaken to thereby eradicate the ills brought about by the dowry system while simultaneously ameliorating the condition of women in Hindu society
But now after the decision of the Supreme Court in Gurupad Khandappa Magdum v Hirabai Khandappa Magdum and that till such time, such ascertained share is handed over, the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) would continue to be treated as the owner of such assets, notwithstanding the ascertained shares of such female heir as part of the corpus of the Hindu family, even as held in State of Maharashtra v Narayan Rao Sham Rao Deshmukh . And also after the amendment of Hindu Succession Act in September 2005 under Sec. 3(2), the right of a Hindu widow to get the full share of her late husband in coparcenary property (with limited interest — later enlarged to absolute right) continues or has been curtailed now. It means that From September 2005, daughters also have become coparceners.
So, these are some landmarks where the legislature and judiciary had performed a well job i.e. by serving in favour of the deceased or victim in a way that the truth or right should not to fail.
Role and Empowerment
We will now realize the vital importance of the terms such as role, empowerment and function for an understanding of society. These terms tell us how individual and groups organize themselves as well as relate to each other. Very simple, role tells us about what is expected from individuals in a particular situation. While empowerment deals with her or his expectation arising out of the situation. Similarly, a role deals with duties and obligations wile empowerment deals with rights. For instance, it is commonly assumed that the most is a women, a wife a cook, a teacher of her children and daughter-in-law and so on. What happens when the mother is also the principal of the local village school? Not only does she have to deal with a range of roles and empowerments, but also with he tensions that may raise out of her ole s mother and her role as an administrator.
“Woman reposes more closely on the central surface of life, while man hunts it in the boundaries of existence, always concerned to overcome, and in the last analysis, to kill. A woman has a secret alliance with eternal life and man with the principle of death. Woman wants to embrace the contradiction of life and to reconcile them in the act of degree so. Man on the other hand release the tension between opposites by annihilating one of the sides, the one he finds unpleasant. He seeks the solution not in love and reconciliation, but in over coming and annihilation. He has a militant and not an erotic manner. The male principle borne of isolation, makes solitude thermal, seeks being in itself and disturbs life as a wholes his being is battle and self service, his will to- life is concerned with ascertaining his own person or overthrowing that of the stranger until the motive of salvation kindles with in him. Woman with her sustaining constitutions is at one and is harmony with the basis of the world. But man wants to change the world to bring it forward to overcome it”.
This paper addresses one specific challenge that is faced by NGOs located in rural areas that wish to promote women’s empowerment. These NGOs have little or no access to skilled social workers. They must often depend on the local population for their employees, employees who may be vulnerable to the similar social pressures and are often equally marginalized as their clients. For rural NGOs to be successful they must attract employees who must at some level be relatively more empowered than the clients. They must have certain credibility to be able to effectively persuade their marginalized clients to alter their ways of thinking on many long-standing traditional issues, such as dowries, child labor, and patriarchal subjugation. The literature of behavior change in the health field suggests that self-efficacy is one of the four most commonly cited constructs for behavioral change 1. Although stated for different purposes and from different perspectives, the literature on self-efficacy can be brought to bear on issues of empowerment. Self-efficacy determines when an individual will undertake new behaviors such as self-empowerment. Low self-efficacy beliefs of women in rural India often stem from the limited and disadvantaged positions women have in society. This makes any behavior change towards self-empowerment difficult if it merely relies on verbal persuasion. The best way by which self-efficacy is acquired is by combining persuasion with role modeling in a supportive and appreciative environment (Bandura, 1997).
NGO employees must model empowered behaviors in order to evoke sustained behavior modification for the empowerment of women they serve. Rural NGOs, who have to often depend on the same local pool for clients and employees, find it difficult to promote empowerment effectively (Goyder: 2001). Despite the training given to employees to promote empowerment among their clients, there may still be a gap between what the employees ‘preach’ and what they may ‘practice’ in their own lives. This, in turn, may make them less effective and impede the NGO from achieving its goals (Turton and Farrington: 1998; Tillman: 2003).
In this paper we seek to explore how a relatively small and isolated rural NGO in Village Jaisakarra, P O Jaisakarra, Kanker – 494 337, Madhya Pradesh , Disha-Samaj Sewi Sanstha (DSSS) has been successful in the empowerment of rural women living in highly patriarchal and traditional societies Background Disha-Samaj Sewi Sanstha (DSSS for short) is a successful rural NGO in India that has received accolades for its success in empowering the women of the region and drawing them out of the cycle of dependency.
Research Question
In this paper we seek to explore how DSSS, a relatively small and isolated rural NGO in Village Jaisakarra, P O Jaisakarra, Kanker – 494 337, Madhya Pradesh , Disha-Samaj Sewi Sanstha (DSSS) has been successful in the empowerment of rural women living in highly patriarchal and traditional societies. The Indian Government as well as CIDA profiles DSSS as a model NGO in the arena of women’s empowerment. In particular we investigate the employees at DSSS, who come from the same villages as the clientele, and examine whether they are significantly different in their levels of empowerment than those they help. Is a gap between the rhetoric and reality of empowerment among the employees? Are employees whose aim is to empower women, empowered themselves? Do they practice what they preach? We seek to uncover the reasons for their success.
Literature Review
To understand the change women undergo in becoming empowered we look at two sets of literature: behavior change and women’s empowerment. In the first set of literature we review what leads to successful change, and in the second set of literature we review what is understood as empowerment for women.
Behavior change
We first start with a review of the self-efficacy literature and focus on the criteria for successful behavior change. Bandura (1986) suggests that a person’s self-expectations determine whether or not certain behavior will be undertaken, the extent of effort expended by the individual, and whether the individual can persist in the face of challenges encountered. This notion of self-efficacy is mediated by a person’s beliefs or expectations about his/her ability to achieve certain tasks effectively or exhibit certain behaviors (Hackett and Betz 1981).
For example, individuals with low self-efficacy regarding their behavior limit their participation when making difficult behavior changes and are more likely to give up when faced with obstacles. Their efficacy beliefs about themselves serve as barriers to change, and in this case, their own empowerment (Hackett and Betz 1981). Furthermore, these authors state that self-efficacy is not necessarily an in-born trait and can be acquired and nurtured. This fact makes these concepts particularly relevant to our study. Bandura (1986) identifies four ways in which self-efficacy and self-efficacy expectations are acquired: performance accomplishments, vicarious learning, verbal persuasion and physical/affective status.
Performance accomplishments are beliefs that stem from the reactions with which individual accomplishments are greeted. A negative assessment can lower confidence and
self-efficacy beliefs; conversely a positive assessment encourages self-efficacy beliefs and the self-efficacy expectations that similar behaviors will be well received in the future. Vicarious learning results in beliefs that are acquired by observing modeling behaviors. When the modeling behavior is undertaken within similar contexts5 such as gender, economic and social class it presents a realistic option. Thus, one of the most effective strategies for enhancing self-efficacy beliefs and self-efficacy expectations is that modeling behavior is context specific. It is of little use for a woman of low social class to observe the success of an entrepreneurial woman born to a family of high social standing with access to resources that are unavailable to the poor woman.
Other ways such as ‘verbal persuasion’ and ‘affective status6‘ encourage selfefficacy. Persuading women to attempt positive behavior change and providing a supportive environment in which women can attempt change, further enhances self-efficacy. Changes based on verbal persuasion, affective status and modeling behavior can lead to significant changes in self–beliefs and self-expectation. These ‘personal factors’ according to Bandura (1986) and Pajares (1996), from an integral part of a triadic relationship necessary for change. They suggest that there is a reciprocal relationship between ‘personal factors’, ‘behavior’ and ‘environmental factors’, which result in social change.
Changes in personal factors (such as self efficacy) can affect an individuals’ behavior (willingness to take risks), which can impact on environmental factors (family and society). These relationships are reciprocal and reinforce each other. This suggests that strategies purposefully introduced in order to enhance women’s personal factors (self efficacy) can lead to reinforcing behaviors (such as self assertive behavior) which in turn can impact and reinforce environmental factors (such as alteration of familial relations). The interaction and reciprocity of the triadic relationship can result in a positive and significant change for women.
________________________________________________________________________
5 In India, where this research is based, we include caste as a determinant of class for successful modeling
behaviors
6 ‘Affective status’ suggests that people learn best in a supportive environment, people do not easily learn in high stress situations, such as criticism.
Women’s Empowerment
Although the notion of women’s empowerment has long been legitimized by international development agencies7, what actually comprises empowerment, and how it is measured, is debated in the development literature. Malhotra, Schuler and Boender, 2002 provide an excellent review of this debate. They review the many ways that empowerment can be measured and suggest that researchers pay attention to the process in which empowerment occurs. The frequently used Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) is a composite measure of gender inequality in three key areas: Political participation and decision-making, economic participation and decision-making and power over economic resources (HDR: 2003). It is an aggregate index for a population and does not measure Empowerment on an individual basis. It is made up of two dimensions: Economic participation and decision-making (measured by the percentage of female administrators and managers, and professional and technical employees), and political participation and decision-making (measured by the percentage of seats in parliament held by women). For our purposes GEM is limited and does not capture the multidimensional view of women’s empowerment. It cannot be assumed that if a development intervention promotes women’s empowerment along a particular dimension
that empowerment in other areas will necessarily follow. A number of studies have shown that women may be empowered in one area of life while not in others (Malhotra and Mather 1997; Kishor 1995 and 2000b; Hashemi et al. 1996; Beegle et al. 1998).
While we do not attempt to resolve this debate, we take the position, that women’s empowerment can be measured by factors contributing to each of the following: their personal, economic, familial, and political empowerment. We make a point to include household and interfamilial relations as we believe is a central locus of women’s disempowerment in India. And by including the political, we posit that women’s empowerment measures should include women’s participation in systemic transformation by engaging in political action (Batliwala 1994; Bisnath and Elson 1999; Kabeer 2001; Narasimhan ,1999; and Sen and Grown 1987;) Amin, Becker and Bayes (1998) split the concept of women’s empowerment into three components each measured separately:
7 Women Key to Effective Development (December 6, 2001) World Bank Press) Engendering Development -
Through Gender Equality in Rights, Resources, and Voice is a Policy Research Report by the World Bank
Inter-spouse consultation index, which seeks to represent the extent to which husbands consult their wives in household affairs; Individual autonomy indexes which represents women’s self-reported autonomy of physical movement outside the house and in matters of spending money; and the Authority index, which reports on actual decision-making power (which is traditionally in the hands of the patriarch of the family). These indices are similar to those of used by Balk in her 1994 study. Comparable components of empowerment are included in the eight indicators by Hashemi (1996): mobility, economic security, ability to make a small purchases, ability to make larger purchases, involvement in major decisions, relative freedom from domination by the family, political and legal awareness, and involvement in political campaigning and protests.
Several different efforts have been made in recent years to develop comprehensive frameworks delineating the various dimensions along which women can be empowered (Malhotra, Schuler and Boender, 2002) We construct four separate components of empowerment in Table 1 that draw from many of the authors mentioned earlier and especially rely on Hashemi (1996) and Amin Becker and Bayes, (1998), as their work seems most relevant for rural women in India.
These measures in Table 1 reflect our belief that to measure women’s empowerment more fully and in the broadest sense, it is necessary to add an individualized component representing her political autonomy to the autonomy within the family. Given that the legislation in India reserves special seats for women in elected bodies, even at the village level, an empowerment index for rural women should include her awareness of political issues and participation in the political process.
TABLE I
EMPOWERMENT MEASURES
Personal Autonomy Index Generally(1) Occasionally(1/2) Never(0)
Visiting Respondents’ home
Visiting Village Market
Visiting Hospital
Helping a relative with family
Family Decision Making Index Wife(1) Joint Decision(1/2) Husband Alone(0)
Family Planning
Children’s education in School
Day to day expenditures of family
Medical treatement
Going outside Home
Entertaining guests
Favorite things
Economic Domestic Consultation Index Generally(1) Occasionally(1/2) Never(0)
Buying Household Furniture
Education/expense of Children
Purchase of Land
Purchasing Women’s Clothes
Purchasing medical treatment of Family
Purchasing Children’s clothes
Purchasing Daily Food
Political Autonomy Index Generally(1) Occasionally(1/2) Never(0)
Awareness of any political issue
Voting according to own decisions
Campaigning politically
Standing for elections
Methodology
As this paper seeks to explore how a relatively small and isolated rural NGO in Village Jaisakarra, Disha-Samaj Sewi Sanstha (DSSS) has become a model for the development and empowerment of rural disenfranchised women, a few words on the choice of the NGO are appropriate. Using a database from the directorate of NGOs in India we examined several successful women led NGOs in different parts of India. The criteria for inclusion were that the NGO cater to rural women of lower castes who face traditional gender and class discrimination.
We also stipulated that the NGO must be a successful grass roots organization that has the empowerment of women as its mission. It should have received attention for its success both locally and internationally, and whose founder/director had time to meet with us and would allow us to survey the employees. After a limited search, based on telephone calls, we decided to use DSSS as it met our criteria.
Research methods
Ethnographic and survey research was undertaken at DSSS. Face to face interviews were conducted with DSSS employees, and participant observation of the meetings and activities that took place at DSSS during two weeks in January in 2008 followed by visit in January 2009 to present our findings and tie up some loose ends. We also observed and
documented the various programs at the village level where the women gathered at a prearranged time to participated in a variety of programs (such as the micro credit program or listen to consciousness raising speeches, plays and puppet shows). To document the levels of empowerment among women in the NGO we drew our data from the employees who were responsible for the services that were designed to empower the rural village women. At the leadership level we interviewed nearly all of the ‘“Supervisors’’’ (15/16)11 of the various programs. These “Supervisors’’ administered the `Field workers’ who went into the villages and worked directly with the village women. We interviewed 32 of the 57 “`Fieldworkers’’’ who assisted the “`Supervisors’’’. We also chose to interview 25 local women living the area that the NGO served. They represented women who were eligible to be among the `Recipients’ of the services of the NGO, by the fact they lived in the areas the NGO served. Although these are potential recipients we call them `Recipients’ for convenience. We chose not to interview current recipients of services, as we wanted to establish a baseline of empowerment among the village women from whom the employees were drawn. As all of the employees lived in the neighboring villages before seeking employment (and still continue to live in these villages) the findings on the empowerment indices of the `Recipients’ may also be seen to reflect the those of the employees before coming to the NGO We chose to interview women employees (`Supervisors’ and `Fieldworkers’) and eligible women `Recipients’ to ascertain the main research question, of whether the employees were ‘walking the talk’ and if the employees were significantly different from the recipients. In other words did the women employees who intervened to help promote the empowerment of women were themselves empowered. We were seeking to establish whether the employees own individual levels of empowerment were significantly different from the recipients of the services. Furthermore, we interviewed individuals at both levels of hierarchies in the organization to ascertain if all employees had same or differing levels of empowerment. We decided to interview half of the `Fieldworkers’. We ended up with a sample of 32/57 of `Fieldworkers’. The latter was an opportunistic sample, in that we simply interviewed all the employees who happened to be present in the DSSS headquarters on the days we visited. During the period we visited the NGO, there was a rotation of the `Fieldworkers’ assigned to duties at villages coming in to meet with the `Supervisors’. We were thus able to interview 32 of the `Fieldworkers’. The sample of women eligible to be recipients was done by employing two of the NGO employees to visit every third house in the village and identify women who would be likely potential recipients. We were able to get a sample of 25 women who were willing to be interviewed. Two `Supervisors’ helped us fine tune and translate our instrument for the `Recipients’, which included the measures of women’s empowerment used for the employees. Additionally, we trained one local woman to undertake the interviews due to their fluency in the language.
Findings:
In this section we turn to the findings obtained from the interviews. We present our findings as follows: Section A presents general demographic data of all three groups of respondents: `Supervisors’, `Fieldworkers’ and `Recipients’ and examines for any differences in these three groups; Section B presents empowerment levels of all three groups of respondents and a statistical analysis of the data and Section C presents qualitative findings on the NGO based on interviews with the executive director of the NGO who has run the NGO for the last nineteen years.
Section A: Demographic and socio economic data
The women in our study are all from the district of Jaisakarra, P O Jaisakarra, Kanker. There is a wide age spread in the total number of respondents (72) 12. They range in age from 21 to 65; most women are married and lived with their husbands and have an average of 2.74 children. Only five women in our study did not live with a spouse, 3 of the women are divorced and two are widowed. Divorce is not common in the rural areas and the general tradition is to put up with an abusive spouse or a bad marriage. With reference to caste 89% (64 / 72) of the women categorize themselves as low caste or `OBC’ or Other Backward Classes. This is a `catch all’ category developed by the Government of India census to include some of the most marginalized caste segments of Indian society. Four of the `Supervisors’ belong to the higher castes, as do two of the `Fieldworkers’ and one from the group of `Recipients’. Family structure is relevant to discussion of empowerment. As many of the questions relate to domestic decisions making to establish empowerment levels family structures can influence the responses. The traditional family structure in India is not a nuclear family, it a joint family. In this system, when a son marries, he continues to reside with his parents with his wife and their children. The daughter on the other hand goes to her husband’s home and lives with his parents, unmarried siblings, and the families of his married brothers. The parents of the husband, in a joint family, tend to hold decision-making authority that often overrides the authority of any of the married sons or their wives.
Twenty-nine of the seventy two (40.28%) women in our study live in traditional joint families, whereas the rest lived in a nuclear family setting, which is far less than the norm in of Jaisakarra, P O Jaisakarra, Kanker over 50% .The women had an average of 6.13 years of education
In this area where alcoholism is rampant, we asked our respondents if they hadproblems related to alcohol consumption. We find that half of the women (36) suggested that they had experienced problems related to the alcohol consumption by their husbands. This ranged from beatings and the use of household money for alcohol to unemployment. The differences between the groups were striking, in that the least amount of alcoholism was present in the families of `Fieldworkers’ (6/32) and the most in the `Recipients’ (23/25), where as the half the `Supervisors’ experienced alcohol related problems. We then compared the differences of the means of several socio demographic variables and the means of the empowerment index between the three groups: `Supervisors’, `Fieldworkers’ and `Recipients’, to see if they differed significantly on any of the socio demographic variables and empowerment levels (See Table 2). While they appeared significantly different on the number of all counts with the exception of age, the Scheffe Post Hoc test showed that not all the differences were significant.
________________________________________________________________________
11 One supervisor was a man and therefore not included.
12 This number includes 15 “Supervisors’’, 32 Field workers and 25 eligible recipients.
Table 2
Comparision of Means of socio Economic Data and Empowerment Index for ‘Supervisors’, ‘ Fieldworkers’ and ‘ Recipients’
Mean
Supervisors
Field workers
Recipients
ANOVA
F-Test 3 groups
T-test for 2 groups S and F sig 2 tailed
Age
40
38.94
36.64
.818
.669
Kansieo.com
Posted on May 29, 2009 - by Vic Desotelle
Eco-Friendly Accomodation
Paula Ojeda asked:
Following the worldwide boom of sustainable tourism and the environment, plenty of hotels around the world are becoming “green.” Discover the best guide to hotels and their ecological services.
Conscious of the need to conserve the planet, about 48% of travelers seeking shelter today “eco-friendly.” The commitment to the planet was not made to wait and each day there are more people willing to bet on construction demand and “green.”
Today, Europe is leading the initiative to make environmental protection at the best value-added offering for its hotels. Northern America and Asia will follow the steps towards reducing, reusing and recycling. Latin America, for its part, has already begun to generate ecological responsibility within the guild hotel.
A change worth
Studies show that 95% of waste generated by a hotel can be recycled or reused. However, these residues are untapped in its entirety. In order to change this reality, the Fairmont Hotels and Resorts Green Partnership is an action plan to bring the hotel chain to a position of leadership in environmental responsibility.
Some of the actions proposed by this program are directed to waste management, water saving and energy practices. However, the most innovative proposal is a community that not only benefits the environment but to the needy population.
Adopt-A-Shelter involves the donation of items that may no longer be used in the hotel, yet may be vital to families affected by floods, displacement and violence. These items include bedding, furniture, linens, towels, food and general use without any reusable product.
Although conversion to hotels’ green ‘is expensive to include in the structure changes from (purchase of solar panels, for example), to purchase recyclable products, the long-term savings in cost can be between 40 % and 50%.
The best in the world
Today there are many hotels that are combined with the environment without losing an iota of charm. Rather, his concern for preserving it has become the value that tourists seek. In countries such as China, Cuba, United States, Costa Rica and Colombia soar constructions based on the concept of conservation.
Then the three best hotels in the organic world.
Scandic Hotel Hasselbacken.
Stockholm, Sweden
Scandic’s chain is known for its environmental policy. This hotel offers rooms furnished with wood, cotton and wool to replace plastics and synthetics. Products such as shampoo are biodegradable and their menu offers organic options. Like most hotels of its cut, it offers guests the option of not changing their sheets and towels every day and uses energy-saving bulbs.
Sumba Nihiwatu
Indonesia
The seven bungalows offered are built with indigenous materials to enable them to adapt to most environment without causing any environmental impact. Committed to responsible tourism, tend to preserve the environment by using biodiesel derived from coconuts and promote reforestation of the forests in the area.
Chumbo Island
Tanzania
The principle of preservation is based on reuse. In this hotel rainwater is collected, stored and heated by solar energy. The soaps are organic, the lights are photovoltaic and bungalows form allows the breeze to the fan that is not necessary to use air conditioning.
No doubt exists that the overall need to work towards a future of working for a more engaged and aware of the environment. In choosing a hotel make sure that most of the energy consumed is solar, which comply with the rules of bioclimatic building, which is not located in areas crowded by tourists and have plans for recycling and reuse.
Do not forget that from our position of consumers and tourists are on the duty to demand alternatives environmentally friendly. It is our responsibility to provide ideas that will complement the efforts of the major hotel chains for conservation. Caring for the environment depends on everyone.
Related Items
The city’s theater world
A paradise called Taganga
Caffeinated Content
Following the worldwide boom of sustainable tourism and the environment, plenty of hotels around the world are becoming “green.” Discover the best guide to hotels and their ecological services.
Conscious of the need to conserve the planet, about 48% of travelers seeking shelter today “eco-friendly.” The commitment to the planet was not made to wait and each day there are more people willing to bet on construction demand and “green.”
Today, Europe is leading the initiative to make environmental protection at the best value-added offering for its hotels. Northern America and Asia will follow the steps towards reducing, reusing and recycling. Latin America, for its part, has already begun to generate ecological responsibility within the guild hotel.
A change worth
Studies show that 95% of waste generated by a hotel can be recycled or reused. However, these residues are untapped in its entirety. In order to change this reality, the Fairmont Hotels and Resorts Green Partnership is an action plan to bring the hotel chain to a position of leadership in environmental responsibility.
Some of the actions proposed by this program are directed to waste management, water saving and energy practices. However, the most innovative proposal is a community that not only benefits the environment but to the needy population.
Adopt-A-Shelter involves the donation of items that may no longer be used in the hotel, yet may be vital to families affected by floods, displacement and violence. These items include bedding, furniture, linens, towels, food and general use without any reusable product.
Although conversion to hotels’ green ‘is expensive to include in the structure changes from (purchase of solar panels, for example), to purchase recyclable products, the long-term savings in cost can be between 40 % and 50%.
The best in the world
Today there are many hotels that are combined with the environment without losing an iota of charm. Rather, his concern for preserving it has become the value that tourists seek. In countries such as China, Cuba, United States, Costa Rica and Colombia soar constructions based on the concept of conservation.
Then the three best hotels in the organic world.
Scandic Hotel Hasselbacken.
Stockholm, Sweden
Scandic’s chain is known for its environmental policy. This hotel offers rooms furnished with wood, cotton and wool to replace plastics and synthetics. Products such as shampoo are biodegradable and their menu offers organic options. Like most hotels of its cut, it offers guests the option of not changing their sheets and towels every day and uses energy-saving bulbs.
Sumba Nihiwatu
Indonesia
The seven bungalows offered are built with indigenous materials to enable them to adapt to most environment without causing any environmental impact. Committed to responsible tourism, tend to preserve the environment by using biodiesel derived from coconuts and promote reforestation of the forests in the area.
Chumbo Island
Tanzania
The principle of preservation is based on reuse. In this hotel rainwater is collected, stored and heated by solar energy. The soaps are organic, the lights are photovoltaic and bungalows form allows the breeze to the fan that is not necessary to use air conditioning.
No doubt exists that the overall need to work towards a future of working for a more engaged and aware of the environment. In choosing a hotel make sure that most of the energy consumed is solar, which comply with the rules of bioclimatic building, which is not located in areas crowded by tourists and have plans for recycling and reuse.
Do not forget that from our position of consumers and tourists are on the duty to demand alternatives environmentally friendly. It is our responsibility to provide ideas that will complement the efforts of the major hotel chains for conservation. Caring for the environment depends on everyone.
Related Items
The city’s theater world
A paradise called Taganga
Caffeinated Content
Posted on May 29, 2009 - by Vic Desotelle
Business Excellence: Its in the Eye of the Beholder
Graeme Nichol asked:
At a recent forum the panel the discussion was around programs that lead an organization to excellence. The most consistent views seemed to suggest that few programs on their own will achieve excellence. There needs to be an overall strategy moving an organization towards excellence. Nothing occurs overnight and each piece of the puzzle has its own pitfalls.
Looking at the Ford Motor Company, as an example. They have implemented almost every business improvement or business excellence strategy possible and they recently posted losses of about $12 BILLION. Clearly, the strategies they have implemented (TQM, TPS, JIT, Lean, Six Sigma, TOC, and probably more) as well as new IT systems that have been installed, have not led to business excellence.
I have seen companies get results from each strategy individually but few have had breakthrough results. Each strategy has usually only focused on one aspect of the business, mostly process. Yes, Lean is moving into the office but it is still process. It is now about shuffling paper faster and more efficiently. Big deal. ERP systems moved companies to think in terms of processes and attempted to break functional silos, but ERPs are transactional systems that move companies forward incrementally, by creating piecemeal savings. Yes in a F50 the numbers are large but relatively speaking they are incremental. People in the business require new skill sets and ROIs are hardly ever equal to those planned or projected by the IT departments and consultants! Been there seen that.
GE is often mentioned as an outstanding organization. Business owners and managers often mention GEs success and Six Sigma in the same breath. What they fail to realize is Six Sigma was part of an overall plan. Some GE companies only started on their road to excellence and using Six Sigma after many years had been spent re organizing, redesigning, re hiring and focusing the business in minute detail. Six Sigma was not the cause and final end result of their improvement, nor their excellence!
Over the past few years I have been working with companies to achieve their strategies. What this has meant is looking at business in a holistic manner and making sure each piece of a strategic plan is budgeted for and is executed to achieve the desired results, or better. Essentially companies realize that no matter what happens in their strategic planning sessions they are not realizing the results they would like to see. Yes, one can just imagine FORD executives saying” OK guys we are going to drop $12 Billion this next year!
What this means is companies needs to improve their performance in a multitude of areas. This can be done without a name brand process, or a software package. To reiterate, it is not about ERPs, CRMs, Lean, Six Sigma, TQM, or anything else you can think of. Sure you may add one later but that is not the reason for success, although it probably will assist in reinforcing the changes that are made along the way.
The key to excellence in performance is rather simple; It is not easy but it is simple.
1. Have a great strategy.
2. Surround yourself with people who believe in the strategy.
3. Aggressively execute the strategy.
4. Measure your results along the way.
5. Celebrate your successes
This very simple strategy is often scoffed at as not possibly being able to work. The reasons for chuckles are typically; my business is too complex, we are different, and you dont understand my business, I am sure you have all heard these and more, yet this process has never failed. Its tried and tested. Everything else clouds your vision and makes things seem more complex than they really are.
There are, however, any number of small, middle market, and transitional businesses who have grown 3 – 5x their revenue using this very simple strategy. Again, the simplicity should not overshadow the difficulty of actually implementing it. It is tough. People are the issue. Its about challenging paradigms. Moving through false assumptions and mental models which may have become ingrained over many years.
So how do you get this right? Get your top team together. For a session with a difference. Develop that strategy that everybody can support from the get-go. Start with assessing and analyzing the things you do well and the things in which you are challenged. Be rigorous and hide nothing. Your failures reversed could just propel you to success. Failures are an indication of trying new things and just not having figured out all the kinks. Develop working guidelines for achieving success when implementing new approaches. Ensure these are in line with your companies values. This step is all too often overlooked and very quickly leads to discontent and resulting failure.
Next step is letting each team member developing process based, or even functional based priorities for the year. Present these to the group with the rationale as to their inclusion. Once they are all up there select no more than ten as the major objectives for the organization. This is not as simple as it sounds, mind you. A good facilitator will certainly help.
List those top ten objectives. Determine the metrics of success. Define monthly targets. Determine how to get the data in a format to present to your group and the company to show success.
This will be the basis of a monthly review. You will be visiting the exceptions in detail and celebrating successes. This will be the cornerstone of achieving strategic success and corporate excellence. Focused monthly review session based on the top ten objectives will place you squarely on the path to success and excellence.
Like I said, simple. Not easy.
Caffeinated Content
At a recent forum the panel the discussion was around programs that lead an organization to excellence. The most consistent views seemed to suggest that few programs on their own will achieve excellence. There needs to be an overall strategy moving an organization towards excellence. Nothing occurs overnight and each piece of the puzzle has its own pitfalls.
Looking at the Ford Motor Company, as an example. They have implemented almost every business improvement or business excellence strategy possible and they recently posted losses of about $12 BILLION. Clearly, the strategies they have implemented (TQM, TPS, JIT, Lean, Six Sigma, TOC, and probably more) as well as new IT systems that have been installed, have not led to business excellence.
I have seen companies get results from each strategy individually but few have had breakthrough results. Each strategy has usually only focused on one aspect of the business, mostly process. Yes, Lean is moving into the office but it is still process. It is now about shuffling paper faster and more efficiently. Big deal. ERP systems moved companies to think in terms of processes and attempted to break functional silos, but ERPs are transactional systems that move companies forward incrementally, by creating piecemeal savings. Yes in a F50 the numbers are large but relatively speaking they are incremental. People in the business require new skill sets and ROIs are hardly ever equal to those planned or projected by the IT departments and consultants! Been there seen that.
GE is often mentioned as an outstanding organization. Business owners and managers often mention GEs success and Six Sigma in the same breath. What they fail to realize is Six Sigma was part of an overall plan. Some GE companies only started on their road to excellence and using Six Sigma after many years had been spent re organizing, redesigning, re hiring and focusing the business in minute detail. Six Sigma was not the cause and final end result of their improvement, nor their excellence!
Over the past few years I have been working with companies to achieve their strategies. What this has meant is looking at business in a holistic manner and making sure each piece of a strategic plan is budgeted for and is executed to achieve the desired results, or better. Essentially companies realize that no matter what happens in their strategic planning sessions they are not realizing the results they would like to see. Yes, one can just imagine FORD executives saying” OK guys we are going to drop $12 Billion this next year!
What this means is companies needs to improve their performance in a multitude of areas. This can be done without a name brand process, or a software package. To reiterate, it is not about ERPs, CRMs, Lean, Six Sigma, TQM, or anything else you can think of. Sure you may add one later but that is not the reason for success, although it probably will assist in reinforcing the changes that are made along the way.
The key to excellence in performance is rather simple; It is not easy but it is simple.
1. Have a great strategy.
2. Surround yourself with people who believe in the strategy.
3. Aggressively execute the strategy.
4. Measure your results along the way.
5. Celebrate your successes
This very simple strategy is often scoffed at as not possibly being able to work. The reasons for chuckles are typically; my business is too complex, we are different, and you dont understand my business, I am sure you have all heard these and more, yet this process has never failed. Its tried and tested. Everything else clouds your vision and makes things seem more complex than they really are.
There are, however, any number of small, middle market, and transitional businesses who have grown 3 – 5x their revenue using this very simple strategy. Again, the simplicity should not overshadow the difficulty of actually implementing it. It is tough. People are the issue. Its about challenging paradigms. Moving through false assumptions and mental models which may have become ingrained over many years.
So how do you get this right? Get your top team together. For a session with a difference. Develop that strategy that everybody can support from the get-go. Start with assessing and analyzing the things you do well and the things in which you are challenged. Be rigorous and hide nothing. Your failures reversed could just propel you to success. Failures are an indication of trying new things and just not having figured out all the kinks. Develop working guidelines for achieving success when implementing new approaches. Ensure these are in line with your companies values. This step is all too often overlooked and very quickly leads to discontent and resulting failure.
Next step is letting each team member developing process based, or even functional based priorities for the year. Present these to the group with the rationale as to their inclusion. Once they are all up there select no more than ten as the major objectives for the organization. This is not as simple as it sounds, mind you. A good facilitator will certainly help.
List those top ten objectives. Determine the metrics of success. Define monthly targets. Determine how to get the data in a format to present to your group and the company to show success.
This will be the basis of a monthly review. You will be visiting the exceptions in detail and celebrating successes. This will be the cornerstone of achieving strategic success and corporate excellence. Focused monthly review session based on the top ten objectives will place you squarely on the path to success and excellence.
Like I said, simple. Not easy.
Caffeinated Content
Posted on May 29, 2009 - by Vic Desotelle
Vedic Astrology Xxiv
G Kumar asked:
Vedic Astrology Lesson 24
The Effects of the 10th lord in many Houses
The 10th House or MC is considered the most important house after
the Ascendant.The calculation of the longitudes of the houses start with
the calculation of the longitudes of the Ascendant and the MC. This is
the formula used for calculating the longitude of the MC
Tan K = Tan R /Cos w
where K is the longitude of the MC, R is the mean longitude of the Sun and
w, the Sun’s maximum declination.
The Tenth House deals with Profession, the important dimension in one’s
life.
One becomes a success in the professional sphere, depending on the strength
of the 10th lord and the 10th house. If the 10th lord is debilitated or weak,
the professional life of the native will suffer. If he be powerful, professional
success is indicated.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Ascendant
Since the 10th lord is in the First, the native will be a workaholic
and will come up the hard way to the top. They will be self emplo-
yed and will have independent professions. If their talents are
developed properly, they will be hailed as pioneers. Health prob-
lems manifest only during childhood. Their principle is “Slow and
steady wins the race” and the progress they achieve will be steady
and slow. They will have relations with powerful people, people
who are related to politics. This combination is conducive to
success in politics.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Second House
Since the 10th lord is in the 2nd, the native is lucky as far as
profession is concerned. Since the 2nd is 5th from the 10th, they
will be successful in their professional spheres. They may develop
their family business and if they suffer losses, they may wind it up.
This is a combination that bestows fame according to astrological
savants. A big patrimony may be inherited. Professional reputation
and enhancement results as a result of hard work put in.While
they overcome the impediments to success with determination,
they go up in the ladder of fame.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Third House
Since 10th lord is in the 3rd, part of the native’s career will be spent
in travelling. They may shine as speakers or writers. Brothers
will be instrumental in their progress in the professional sphere.
Rivalry with brothers and possible reversals as a result likely.
Since they are wedded to truth, they command respect within their
circle. They will be well liked and there wont be any lack of
cooperation and goodwill at the place of work. They may be beset
by problems in profession as the 3rd is the 6th from the 10th. They
will overcome these problems in time.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Fourth House
Since the 10th lord is in the 4th, the native will be a versatile per-
son with knowledge in various subjects. They will be renowned for
their learning and generosity. They may shine in real estate deals
and agricultural pursuits. They will wield political power and will
be known as good mediators. They will have powerful friends who
will help them in their hour of crisis. They will have a well decora-
ted house & conveyances. Because of their wealth and leadership
qualities, they will have followers and juniors who admire them.
This is a powerful position for public life.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Fifth House
Since the 10th lord is in the 5th, the native will excel in real estate
deals and in speculation.They are inclined to Religion and Philoso-
phy and lead a simple life with prayer and meditation. They are
interested in learning from early childhood and adhere to Truth.
They will be blessed with all the comforts of life. They will have
powerful friends. As the 5th is 8th from the 10th, they will have
reverses in profession and may be subjected to vicissitudes. They
will have powerful enemies also who will try to block their pro-
gress and development.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Sixth House
Since the 10th lord is in the 6th, the native will shine in occupations
which are connected with the judiciary, hospital or prison. They
will hold responsible posts. They will be known as impartial
men and will be held in high esteem. There may be transfers and
changes in their environment. They will subject to trouble through
enemies. As the 6th is 9th to the 10th, they will have professional
luck and people will recognise them as professionals. They will
wield political power and have wealth beyond the dreams of avarice
Lucky breaks come to them automatically.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Seventh House
Since the 10th lord is in the 7th, this is a powerful position
for professional life. Their IQ will be above the average & they
will be renowned for their communication skills. They will be ble-
ssed with a partner who becomes a cause for their career deve-
lopment. They may travel abroad for business. Their managerial abi-
lities are well known as they fill their targets in time. They beli-
eve in people and in delegation. Hence all ventures initiated by
them prove to be successful. As the 7th is 10th from the 10th,
their professional fame will surpass all boundaries.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Eighth House
Since the 10th lord is in the 8th, changes or breaks in career
are to be expected. Anyway they will have a regal status in their
profession. They may become mystics & choose the path celestial.
They will be blessed with good longevity. They are noble-minded
& high principled and uphold lofty principles. They will be well
appreciated by their juniors & associates. As the 8th is 11th from
the 10th, they will have high gains via profession. Their brothers
also ascend the ladder of success.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Ninth House
Since the 10th lord is in the 9th, the native will become a sage & a
mystic. They will become exemplars and guides to those who
walk the path celestial. Fortune will favour them generally and they
will be well off. A hereditary profession will be taken up by them
-viz that of a teacher, preacher or healer. Their father will play
a dominant role in their development and they will prove dutiful to
him. They are basically altruists and charitable. They will shine
as psychological counsellors. They will have a regal status and
bearing and will be respected for their talents.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Tenth House
Since the 10th lord is in the 10th, the native will shine in their profe-
ssion as this position is conducive to professional brilliance.
They may turn to asceticism during a particular stage in life. They
respect their seniors and get respected thereby. People will find
them trustworthy and they always prove to be good assistants who
can be depended on. They can wield immense political power &
always have contact with those in the Government. A powerfully
posited 10th lord confers professional enhancement & reputation.
People will look up to them for guidance.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Eleventh House
Since the 10th lord is in the 11th, the native will earn merit & reputa-
tion along with money. They display a happy exterior always and
show bonhomie and geniality. This earns them good reputation and
goodwill among the public. They will be in a position to give emp-
loyment opportunities to many a people. And this makes them the
most sought after individuals with many friends. As the 11th is 2nd
from the 10th, profession will fetch them immense largesse. Fame
and reputation will be theirs. Professional enhancement indicated.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Twelfth House
Since the 10th lord is in the 12th, the native is likely to reside ab-
road and will be beset with many problems and obstacles. They
will be after Self Actualisation. They should be cautious in matters
of tax or when dealing with government organisations. Beware of
involvement with politicians which will result only in major loss for
them . They may have a vocation linked to rituals and religion.
Income may be from ecclesiastical sources. They may have many
enmity & problems in profession.They are advised to turn to remedial
measures for problem solution.
Article by G Kumar, Astrologer, writer & programmer of www.eastrovedica.com. Recently he was awarded a Certificate by the Planetary Gemologists Association Global ( www.p-g-a.org ) as a Planetary Gem Advisor. He has 25 years psychic research experience in the esoteric arts. To subscribe to his free informative Ezine, the Z Files mailto:info@eastrovedica.com?subject=SubscribeZF. His Astro blog is up at http://www.zodiacastrology.blogspot.com & his Philosophy blog is http://transcendentalphilosophy.blogspot.com Mobile 091 9388556053
Website content
Vedic Astrology Lesson 24
The Effects of the 10th lord in many Houses
The 10th House or MC is considered the most important house after
the Ascendant.The calculation of the longitudes of the houses start with
the calculation of the longitudes of the Ascendant and the MC. This is
the formula used for calculating the longitude of the MC
Tan K = Tan R /Cos w
where K is the longitude of the MC, R is the mean longitude of the Sun and
w, the Sun’s maximum declination.
The Tenth House deals with Profession, the important dimension in one’s
life.
One becomes a success in the professional sphere, depending on the strength
of the 10th lord and the 10th house. If the 10th lord is debilitated or weak,
the professional life of the native will suffer. If he be powerful, professional
success is indicated.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Ascendant
Since the 10th lord is in the First, the native will be a workaholic
and will come up the hard way to the top. They will be self emplo-
yed and will have independent professions. If their talents are
developed properly, they will be hailed as pioneers. Health prob-
lems manifest only during childhood. Their principle is “Slow and
steady wins the race” and the progress they achieve will be steady
and slow. They will have relations with powerful people, people
who are related to politics. This combination is conducive to
success in politics.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Second House
Since the 10th lord is in the 2nd, the native is lucky as far as
profession is concerned. Since the 2nd is 5th from the 10th, they
will be successful in their professional spheres. They may develop
their family business and if they suffer losses, they may wind it up.
This is a combination that bestows fame according to astrological
savants. A big patrimony may be inherited. Professional reputation
and enhancement results as a result of hard work put in.While
they overcome the impediments to success with determination,
they go up in the ladder of fame.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Third House
Since 10th lord is in the 3rd, part of the native’s career will be spent
in travelling. They may shine as speakers or writers. Brothers
will be instrumental in their progress in the professional sphere.
Rivalry with brothers and possible reversals as a result likely.
Since they are wedded to truth, they command respect within their
circle. They will be well liked and there wont be any lack of
cooperation and goodwill at the place of work. They may be beset
by problems in profession as the 3rd is the 6th from the 10th. They
will overcome these problems in time.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Fourth House
Since the 10th lord is in the 4th, the native will be a versatile per-
son with knowledge in various subjects. They will be renowned for
their learning and generosity. They may shine in real estate deals
and agricultural pursuits. They will wield political power and will
be known as good mediators. They will have powerful friends who
will help them in their hour of crisis. They will have a well decora-
ted house & conveyances. Because of their wealth and leadership
qualities, they will have followers and juniors who admire them.
This is a powerful position for public life.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Fifth House
Since the 10th lord is in the 5th, the native will excel in real estate
deals and in speculation.They are inclined to Religion and Philoso-
phy and lead a simple life with prayer and meditation. They are
interested in learning from early childhood and adhere to Truth.
They will be blessed with all the comforts of life. They will have
powerful friends. As the 5th is 8th from the 10th, they will have
reverses in profession and may be subjected to vicissitudes. They
will have powerful enemies also who will try to block their pro-
gress and development.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Sixth House
Since the 10th lord is in the 6th, the native will shine in occupations
which are connected with the judiciary, hospital or prison. They
will hold responsible posts. They will be known as impartial
men and will be held in high esteem. There may be transfers and
changes in their environment. They will subject to trouble through
enemies. As the 6th is 9th to the 10th, they will have professional
luck and people will recognise them as professionals. They will
wield political power and have wealth beyond the dreams of avarice
Lucky breaks come to them automatically.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Seventh House
Since the 10th lord is in the 7th, this is a powerful position
for professional life. Their IQ will be above the average & they
will be renowned for their communication skills. They will be ble-
ssed with a partner who becomes a cause for their career deve-
lopment. They may travel abroad for business. Their managerial abi-
lities are well known as they fill their targets in time. They beli-
eve in people and in delegation. Hence all ventures initiated by
them prove to be successful. As the 7th is 10th from the 10th,
their professional fame will surpass all boundaries.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Eighth House
Since the 10th lord is in the 8th, changes or breaks in career
are to be expected. Anyway they will have a regal status in their
profession. They may become mystics & choose the path celestial.
They will be blessed with good longevity. They are noble-minded
& high principled and uphold lofty principles. They will be well
appreciated by their juniors & associates. As the 8th is 11th from
the 10th, they will have high gains via profession. Their brothers
also ascend the ladder of success.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Ninth House
Since the 10th lord is in the 9th, the native will become a sage & a
mystic. They will become exemplars and guides to those who
walk the path celestial. Fortune will favour them generally and they
will be well off. A hereditary profession will be taken up by them
-viz that of a teacher, preacher or healer. Their father will play
a dominant role in their development and they will prove dutiful to
him. They are basically altruists and charitable. They will shine
as psychological counsellors. They will have a regal status and
bearing and will be respected for their talents.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Tenth House
Since the 10th lord is in the 10th, the native will shine in their profe-
ssion as this position is conducive to professional brilliance.
They may turn to asceticism during a particular stage in life. They
respect their seniors and get respected thereby. People will find
them trustworthy and they always prove to be good assistants who
can be depended on. They can wield immense political power &
always have contact with those in the Government. A powerfully
posited 10th lord confers professional enhancement & reputation.
People will look up to them for guidance.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Eleventh House
Since the 10th lord is in the 11th, the native will earn merit & reputa-
tion along with money. They display a happy exterior always and
show bonhomie and geniality. This earns them good reputation and
goodwill among the public. They will be in a position to give emp-
loyment opportunities to many a people. And this makes them the
most sought after individuals with many friends. As the 11th is 2nd
from the 10th, profession will fetch them immense largesse. Fame
and reputation will be theirs. Professional enhancement indicated.
The Effects of the 10th lord in the Twelfth House
Since the 10th lord is in the 12th, the native is likely to reside ab-
road and will be beset with many problems and obstacles. They
will be after Self Actualisation. They should be cautious in matters
of tax or when dealing with government organisations. Beware of
involvement with politicians which will result only in major loss for
them . They may have a vocation linked to rituals and religion.
Income may be from ecclesiastical sources. They may have many
enmity & problems in profession.They are advised to turn to remedial
measures for problem solution.
Article by G Kumar, Astrologer, writer & programmer of www.eastrovedica.com. Recently he was awarded a Certificate by the Planetary Gemologists Association Global ( www.p-g-a.org ) as a Planetary Gem Advisor. He has 25 years psychic research experience in the esoteric arts. To subscribe to his free informative Ezine, the Z Files mailto:info@eastrovedica.com?subject=SubscribeZF. His Astro blog is up at http://www.zodiacastrology.blogspot.com & his Philosophy blog is http://transcendentalphilosophy.blogspot.com Mobile 091 9388556053
Website content
Posted on May 29, 2009 - by Vic Desotelle
Seven Pointers to Successful Shared Services
Elaine Harrison asked:
IShared service organisations are failing to live up to expectations. A recent Research Study by Alsbridge plc of nearly fifty global shared service organisations showed that SSCs are not realising their full potential. In all the categories analysed (Process, Technology, Regulatory, Organisation and Regulatory) average scores ranged from 2.8 to 3.2 out of a maximum of 5 and even organisations that have been in operation for over five years failed to achieve maximum scores. One of the most alarming features is that only a handful of organisations could report that they had zero compliance issue and ensuring regulatory compliance was seen as an ongoing challenge for the SSCs.
So what are some of the key areas in which SSCs falling short?
Lack of standardisation and steadfastness to truly transform processes which is impeding processing efficiency. Failure to re-allocate resources. Limitation of scope. Many organisations still only include selected transactional processing activities in their scope. For example, only a quarter of our research study respondents have their final statutory accounts produced by the SSC. Business units opting out. Limited investment in technology enablers to automate processes. Simplistic charging mechanisms which tend to be based on a cost allocation calculated on the basis of a specific business unit characteristic (e.g. revenue). Cumbersome SLAs that lack buy in from key stakeholders. Ineffective governance structures.
So, how do you make shared services work?
1). If the benefits of shared services are to be fully realised, it is essential that the shared services part of the operation fits into the overall corporate operation in a seamless way and management focus is maintained. Ownership by top management of the end to end process is vital and a senior management mandate is essential for ensuring that:
Processes are standardised, Business units comply with policies and procedures, Resources are re-allocated, The SSC gets the investment required to automate and truly transform processes.
2). Create a governance structure that encourages open dialogue between the shared service and its customers at all levels; from day to day communications at the production level to strategic discussions at the senior management level. This is essential for effective decision making and to ensure that issues are resolved rapidly.
3). Invest time in building the relation between the SSC and the retained organisation. Personal relationships and dependencies are as important here as in any other part of the corporate structure and are key to smooth running and efficient operations. So, managing the relationship and keeping it healthy is an ongoing requirement. Recognise that this takes time and effort. Give the structure of the retained organisation as much focus as you do the new shared service structure. Get the right people in the right roles in the new organisation (a good Accounts Payable manager does not necessarily make a good Relationship manager!).
4). Strive to Increase the scope of the SSC. SSCs tend to start with repetitive high volume transactions but as confidence grows and the relationship improves they should move up the value chain both in terms of the breadth of services offered, e.g. HR, IT, Procurement etc, and the depth, e.g. within Finance moving away from just transaction processing (AP, AR, GA, T&E etc.) through centres of expertise (providing services such as tax planning, treasury services, internal audit etc.) to being business partners business partnering.
5). Endeavour to include all business units as the business case is often reliant on the transaction volumes of all the business to get the economies of scale. So, when decisions are made whether or not to include a particular business unit, organisations should consider what is best overall for the SSC organisation rather than just the specific business unit, i.e. consider what’s best for the ‘family’.
6). Don’t forget that SLAs are about people. Managing through SLAs represents a change to the organisation and change creates anxiety as people wonder “what does it mean for me?” The business may be concerned about a loss of flexibility and the SSC may be concerned about meeting challenging levels of service without exception. Keep SLAs flexible and keep both the business and SSC involved in the development of them.
7). Ensure service tracking focuses on both objective measurements and subjective perceptions. Objective quantifiable measurements reflect the efficiency of the services by focusing on performance data. Subjective, qualitative perceptions reflect what is perceived. This is as important in creating customer satisfaction and keeping the business engaged as objective measures.
As pressure to reduce costs and improve efficiency continues shared services will remain high on the corporate agenda. Outsource service providers have proved that through their structured, holistic, customer focused approach they can deliver significant efficiency gains whilst improving quality of service. So, can you afford to be complacent? Shouldn’t your SSC deliver at least as much value as outsourcing could?
Source: Outsourcing Leadership News
Create a video blog…instantly.
IShared service organisations are failing to live up to expectations. A recent Research Study by Alsbridge plc of nearly fifty global shared service organisations showed that SSCs are not realising their full potential. In all the categories analysed (Process, Technology, Regulatory, Organisation and Regulatory) average scores ranged from 2.8 to 3.2 out of a maximum of 5 and even organisations that have been in operation for over five years failed to achieve maximum scores. One of the most alarming features is that only a handful of organisations could report that they had zero compliance issue and ensuring regulatory compliance was seen as an ongoing challenge for the SSCs.
So what are some of the key areas in which SSCs falling short?
Lack of standardisation and steadfastness to truly transform processes which is impeding processing efficiency. Failure to re-allocate resources. Limitation of scope. Many organisations still only include selected transactional processing activities in their scope. For example, only a quarter of our research study respondents have their final statutory accounts produced by the SSC. Business units opting out. Limited investment in technology enablers to automate processes. Simplistic charging mechanisms which tend to be based on a cost allocation calculated on the basis of a specific business unit characteristic (e.g. revenue). Cumbersome SLAs that lack buy in from key stakeholders. Ineffective governance structures.
So, how do you make shared services work?
1). If the benefits of shared services are to be fully realised, it is essential that the shared services part of the operation fits into the overall corporate operation in a seamless way and management focus is maintained. Ownership by top management of the end to end process is vital and a senior management mandate is essential for ensuring that:
Processes are standardised, Business units comply with policies and procedures, Resources are re-allocated, The SSC gets the investment required to automate and truly transform processes.
2). Create a governance structure that encourages open dialogue between the shared service and its customers at all levels; from day to day communications at the production level to strategic discussions at the senior management level. This is essential for effective decision making and to ensure that issues are resolved rapidly.
3). Invest time in building the relation between the SSC and the retained organisation. Personal relationships and dependencies are as important here as in any other part of the corporate structure and are key to smooth running and efficient operations. So, managing the relationship and keeping it healthy is an ongoing requirement. Recognise that this takes time and effort. Give the structure of the retained organisation as much focus as you do the new shared service structure. Get the right people in the right roles in the new organisation (a good Accounts Payable manager does not necessarily make a good Relationship manager!).
4). Strive to Increase the scope of the SSC. SSCs tend to start with repetitive high volume transactions but as confidence grows and the relationship improves they should move up the value chain both in terms of the breadth of services offered, e.g. HR, IT, Procurement etc, and the depth, e.g. within Finance moving away from just transaction processing (AP, AR, GA, T&E etc.) through centres of expertise (providing services such as tax planning, treasury services, internal audit etc.) to being business partners business partnering.
5). Endeavour to include all business units as the business case is often reliant on the transaction volumes of all the business to get the economies of scale. So, when decisions are made whether or not to include a particular business unit, organisations should consider what is best overall for the SSC organisation rather than just the specific business unit, i.e. consider what’s best for the ‘family’.
6). Don’t forget that SLAs are about people. Managing through SLAs represents a change to the organisation and change creates anxiety as people wonder “what does it mean for me?” The business may be concerned about a loss of flexibility and the SSC may be concerned about meeting challenging levels of service without exception. Keep SLAs flexible and keep both the business and SSC involved in the development of them.
7). Ensure service tracking focuses on both objective measurements and subjective perceptions. Objective quantifiable measurements reflect the efficiency of the services by focusing on performance data. Subjective, qualitative perceptions reflect what is perceived. This is as important in creating customer satisfaction and keeping the business engaged as objective measures.
As pressure to reduce costs and improve efficiency continues shared services will remain high on the corporate agenda. Outsource service providers have proved that through their structured, holistic, customer focused approach they can deliver significant efficiency gains whilst improving quality of service. So, can you afford to be complacent? Shouldn’t your SSC deliver at least as much value as outsourcing could?
Source: Outsourcing Leadership News
Create a video blog…instantly.
Posted on May 29, 2009 - by Vic Desotelle
Choosing a Coach: Why a “Whole-Life” Approach Is Often the Best for Idealists
Dave Wheitner asked:
As a personal transformation tool, coaching goes several steps further than most training seminars, workshops and retreats. It engages us in a continual interactive process of practice, learning and feedback. This deepens the learning and truly embeds it in our thinking and habits.
Thus, coaching in general has the potential to provide an even greater return on investment. For idealists, however, coaching that emphasizes a whole-life approach may provide the greatest benefits of all.
Idealists frequently ponder how our lives and the world around us might be different. Our thinking extends beyond current reality, as we spend significant time considering the “big picture” complexities of how everything fits together in the world. Living authentically is very important to us, and we place a high priority upon living AND working from our deeper values.
A job or a career doesn’t feel right if it’s just about the money. It has to be where our heart is, whether our cause is environmental sustainability, public health, animal rights, social justice, ethical leadership, labor rights, or world peace.
We’re happiest when we have a sense of integration across our personal and professional lives, and when we don’t need to engage in “character changes” through the day–e.g., shifting from a “work me” to a “non-work me.” In fact, our professional and personal lives may overlap in many ways, especially if we work in a nonprofit organization, a socially conscious private-sector company, or a public sector agency.
The same people with whom we work may be those with whom we socialize, as they share many of our core values and beliefs. Because we believe so much in what we do, we often find ourselves talking about our work–both the good and the bad–to others in social settings. Our volunteer activities may be closely related to our work, or we may often engage in work-related activities on a volunteer basis.
While some of this occurs with any individual who loves what they do, the tendency for everything to “blur together” can be particularly notable among those of us with idealist leanings.
Given these features common among many idealists, life coaching that takes a true whole-life approach is often the most sensible route for us. This is true whether we initially seek coaching to improve our performance in the professional arena, to enhance our personal life, or to improve our well-being across areas. Executive coaching, in contrast, can vary significantly in the extent to which it spans beyond the workplace; as a general rule, it tends to focus more specifically upon workplace performance and productivity.
In some cases, executive coaching focuses even more narrowly upon developing a specific set of “competencies” or skills that are specific to the needs of the organization. Such coaching very clearly has its place and value, and many companies have experienced great benefits from it over the years. However, this approach can largely neglect the non-work side of life, and may leave much to be desired if applied to individuals and organizations that are deeply value-driven.
Thus, keep several things in mind when seeking a coach. First, regardless of the type of coach you speak with, ask whether they take a whole-life approach with their clients–the breadth may vary greatly by practitioner. Secondly, even if you are in a leadership position, it may make sense to begin with a coach who takes a holistic approach, and later transition to a more focused specialist in workplace executive coaching if necessary.
Thirdly, keep in mind that as you become more skilled in defining and creating what you want in your personal life, this growth will likely impact your professional life as well. A broad foundation will support any workplace-specific coaching you pursue down the road.
Create a video blog…instantly.
As a personal transformation tool, coaching goes several steps further than most training seminars, workshops and retreats. It engages us in a continual interactive process of practice, learning and feedback. This deepens the learning and truly embeds it in our thinking and habits.
Thus, coaching in general has the potential to provide an even greater return on investment. For idealists, however, coaching that emphasizes a whole-life approach may provide the greatest benefits of all.
Idealists frequently ponder how our lives and the world around us might be different. Our thinking extends beyond current reality, as we spend significant time considering the “big picture” complexities of how everything fits together in the world. Living authentically is very important to us, and we place a high priority upon living AND working from our deeper values.
A job or a career doesn’t feel right if it’s just about the money. It has to be where our heart is, whether our cause is environmental sustainability, public health, animal rights, social justice, ethical leadership, labor rights, or world peace.
We’re happiest when we have a sense of integration across our personal and professional lives, and when we don’t need to engage in “character changes” through the day–e.g., shifting from a “work me” to a “non-work me.” In fact, our professional and personal lives may overlap in many ways, especially if we work in a nonprofit organization, a socially conscious private-sector company, or a public sector agency.
The same people with whom we work may be those with whom we socialize, as they share many of our core values and beliefs. Because we believe so much in what we do, we often find ourselves talking about our work–both the good and the bad–to others in social settings. Our volunteer activities may be closely related to our work, or we may often engage in work-related activities on a volunteer basis.
While some of this occurs with any individual who loves what they do, the tendency for everything to “blur together” can be particularly notable among those of us with idealist leanings.
Given these features common among many idealists, life coaching that takes a true whole-life approach is often the most sensible route for us. This is true whether we initially seek coaching to improve our performance in the professional arena, to enhance our personal life, or to improve our well-being across areas. Executive coaching, in contrast, can vary significantly in the extent to which it spans beyond the workplace; as a general rule, it tends to focus more specifically upon workplace performance and productivity.
In some cases, executive coaching focuses even more narrowly upon developing a specific set of “competencies” or skills that are specific to the needs of the organization. Such coaching very clearly has its place and value, and many companies have experienced great benefits from it over the years. However, this approach can largely neglect the non-work side of life, and may leave much to be desired if applied to individuals and organizations that are deeply value-driven.
Thus, keep several things in mind when seeking a coach. First, regardless of the type of coach you speak with, ask whether they take a whole-life approach with their clients–the breadth may vary greatly by practitioner. Secondly, even if you are in a leadership position, it may make sense to begin with a coach who takes a holistic approach, and later transition to a more focused specialist in workplace executive coaching if necessary.
Thirdly, keep in mind that as you become more skilled in defining and creating what you want in your personal life, this growth will likely impact your professional life as well. A broad foundation will support any workplace-specific coaching you pursue down the road.
Create a video blog…instantly.
Posted on May 29, 2009 - by Vic Desotelle
Turn Your Company Into a Talent Factory
Nicholas Goh C S asked:
Attracting and retaining the best people is a major priority in the long-term strategic expansion outlook of many companies. With the impending retirement of a graying population and rapidly evolving business climates, faulty leadership development processes and executive inattention now carry a tangible cost. Companies have been forced to pass up on new businesses because they did not have the talent to see their growth strategies to fruition.
Although the importance of developing talent has been recognized, with resources being dedicated to systems and processes that support talent management, an astonishing number of companies still struggle to fill key positions, which puts a considerable constraint on their potential to grow.
The problem for many companies lies in the disjunction between talent processes and growth objectives. Processes need to be functional, with the appropriate tools and systems that allow a company to put the right people with the right skills in the right place at the right time. In order to achieve this aim, these processes need to be linked to the company’s objectives to support the management’s top concerns: driving performance and creating a conducive climate.
Centrally designed human resources practices and policies will assist the management in identifying expertise that supports expansion. Nevertheless, allowing for a degree of built-in flexibility will benefit human resource personnel, who can then accommodate variations according to the disparate demands of the divisions. Companywide processes for assessment, recruitment, performance, career management and leadership development can be supplemented with a menu of tools ranging from psychometric tests to individual interviews that probe employees’ aspirations.
Establishing an efficient talent management system will also assist mangers in identifying and tracking the careers of high-potentials within the firm. After these employees have been identified, they can be initially assigned new projects within their line of business and over time, are given opportunities to collaborate with personnel from other divisions. Managers can thus ensure that suitable groups of employees are given a holistic perspective of the company’s operations and that they are groomed to assume leadership positions that cut across different areas of expertise.
Similarly, the senior cadre of general managers can be put on a defined track. Employees in this pool are assigned to regional projects and given positions that cross boundaries. This allows them to inculcate global mindsets and aligns their expectations with that of the company’s globalization strategies. Such clear stratification of the employees’ development tracks gives a sense of security; employees can weigh themselves against the standards benchmarked by the company and develop long-term goals and outlook.
Leaders should also maintain relationship dialogues with members of each pool, in face-to-face conversations where possible, to address their development needs and concerns. The aim is to facilitate a set of experiences that leads to more in-depth knowledge of various facets of the business as well as an understanding of the different cultural environments in which the company operates. When employees comprehend and accept their roles within the organization, their skills and capabilities can be streamlined to meet the needs of the organization.
Allowing for relationship cultivation opportunities will also ensure an active feedback cycle. Rather than assessing each employee on a scale of one to five, which can be demoralizing, actively giving and soliciting feedback is a more well-rounded approach that takes into account early-stage development. Feedback can be framed in terms of development needs and support. Workplace conflicts, a factor that can result in loss of productivity and talent, can also be addressed.
It is widely recognized that people are a company’s most important assets, but making the most of them has acquired a new urgency. Any company aiming to grow has little hope of achieving its goals without the ability to put the right people on the ground. Companies can apply focus and drive toward capital, information technology, equipment and world-class processes but if there is an insufficient pipeline of high-potential employees to fill strategic management roles, fulfilling the potential for growth will be an uphill task.
Caffeinated Content
Attracting and retaining the best people is a major priority in the long-term strategic expansion outlook of many companies. With the impending retirement of a graying population and rapidly evolving business climates, faulty leadership development processes and executive inattention now carry a tangible cost. Companies have been forced to pass up on new businesses because they did not have the talent to see their growth strategies to fruition.
Although the importance of developing talent has been recognized, with resources being dedicated to systems and processes that support talent management, an astonishing number of companies still struggle to fill key positions, which puts a considerable constraint on their potential to grow.
The problem for many companies lies in the disjunction between talent processes and growth objectives. Processes need to be functional, with the appropriate tools and systems that allow a company to put the right people with the right skills in the right place at the right time. In order to achieve this aim, these processes need to be linked to the company’s objectives to support the management’s top concerns: driving performance and creating a conducive climate.
Centrally designed human resources practices and policies will assist the management in identifying expertise that supports expansion. Nevertheless, allowing for a degree of built-in flexibility will benefit human resource personnel, who can then accommodate variations according to the disparate demands of the divisions. Companywide processes for assessment, recruitment, performance, career management and leadership development can be supplemented with a menu of tools ranging from psychometric tests to individual interviews that probe employees’ aspirations.
Establishing an efficient talent management system will also assist mangers in identifying and tracking the careers of high-potentials within the firm. After these employees have been identified, they can be initially assigned new projects within their line of business and over time, are given opportunities to collaborate with personnel from other divisions. Managers can thus ensure that suitable groups of employees are given a holistic perspective of the company’s operations and that they are groomed to assume leadership positions that cut across different areas of expertise.
Similarly, the senior cadre of general managers can be put on a defined track. Employees in this pool are assigned to regional projects and given positions that cross boundaries. This allows them to inculcate global mindsets and aligns their expectations with that of the company’s globalization strategies. Such clear stratification of the employees’ development tracks gives a sense of security; employees can weigh themselves against the standards benchmarked by the company and develop long-term goals and outlook.
Leaders should also maintain relationship dialogues with members of each pool, in face-to-face conversations where possible, to address their development needs and concerns. The aim is to facilitate a set of experiences that leads to more in-depth knowledge of various facets of the business as well as an understanding of the different cultural environments in which the company operates. When employees comprehend and accept their roles within the organization, their skills and capabilities can be streamlined to meet the needs of the organization.
Allowing for relationship cultivation opportunities will also ensure an active feedback cycle. Rather than assessing each employee on a scale of one to five, which can be demoralizing, actively giving and soliciting feedback is a more well-rounded approach that takes into account early-stage development. Feedback can be framed in terms of development needs and support. Workplace conflicts, a factor that can result in loss of productivity and talent, can also be addressed.
It is widely recognized that people are a company’s most important assets, but making the most of them has acquired a new urgency. Any company aiming to grow has little hope of achieving its goals without the ability to put the right people on the ground. Companies can apply focus and drive toward capital, information technology, equipment and world-class processes but if there is an insufficient pipeline of high-potential employees to fill strategic management roles, fulfilling the potential for growth will be an uphill task.
Caffeinated Content
Be The Change !
-
Workshops & Blog Postings
Creative Commons License
DiscoveryFuel.com by DiscoveryFuel.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at VicDesotelle.com.
