Operations Management Review Questions

INTRODUCTION TO OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT Spring 2012-ASSIGNMENT # 1 Name 1: ————————————————— ID # ———————————————— Name 2: ————————————————— ID # ———————————————— Question # 1 [15 Marks] Bob Richards, the production manager of Zychol Chemicals, is preparing his quarterly report, which is to include a productivity analysis for his department. One of the inputs is production data prepared by Sharon Walford, his operation analyst. The report, which she gave him this morning, showed the following. |2011 |2012 | |Production (units) |4,5 00 |6,000 | |Raw material used (barrel of petroleum by-products) |700 |900 | |Labor hour |22,000 |28,000 | |Capital cost applied to the department ($) |375,000 |620,000 |Bob new the his labor cost per hour has increased from average of $13 per hour to an average of $14 per hour, primarily due to a move by management to become more competitive with a new company that had just opened a plant in the area. He also knew that his average cost per barrel of raw material had increased from $320 to $360. He was concerned about the accounting procedures that increased his capital cost from $375,000 to $620,000, but earlier discussions with his boss suggested that there was nothing that could be done about the allocation. Bob wondered if his productivity had increased at all.He called Sharon into the office and conveyed the above information to her and asked her to prepare this part of the report. Discussion Question; 1- Prepare the productivity part of the report for Mr Richards. He probably expects some analysis of productivity inputs for all factors, as well as a multifactor analysis for both years with the change in productivity (up or down) and the amount noted. 2- Assume additional information related to the cost of production were available. The cost per unit for 2011 was $120 and for 2012 was $125. Considering the increase in the cost is there a change in multifactor productivity growth? Solution Q1:Question # 2 [15 Marks] Forecasts based on average. Given the following data: (Stevenson page 96) |Period |Number of Complaints | |1 |60 | |2 |65 | |3 |55 | |4 |58 | |5 |64 | Prepare a forecast using each of these approaches: a. The appropriate naive approach. [2 marks] b. A three period moving average. [3 marks] c. A weighted average using weight of 0. (most recent), 0. 3 and 0. 2. [4 marks] d. Exponential smoothing with a smoothing constant of 0. 4. [6 marks] Solution Q2: Question # 3 [15 Marks] Using seasonal relatives, Apple’s Citrus Fruit Farm ships boxed fruit anywhere in Middle East. Using the following information, forecast shipments for the first four months of next year. |Month |Seasonal Relatives |Month |Seasonal Relatives | |January |1. 2 |July |0. 8 | |February |1. 3 |August |0. | |March |1. 3 |September |0. 7 | |April |1. 1 |October |1. 0 | |May |0. 8 |November |1. 1 | |June |0. 7 |December |1. 4 | The monthly equation being used is Yt = 402 + 3t Where t = 0 correspond to January of two years ago Yt = Number of boxes of fruits expected to ship in month t. Solution Q3:Question # 4 [15 Marks] Consider the following two techniques for forecasting F1 and F2. The actual and the two sets of forecast are as follows |Period |Demand |F1 |F2 | |1 |68 |66 |66 | |2 |75 |68 |68 | |3 |70 |72 |70 | |4 |74 |71 |72 | |5 |69 |72 |74 | |6 |72 |70 |76 | |7 |80 |71 |78 | . Calculate the MAD, for each set of forecast. Given your results, which technique appears to be more accurate? Explain b. Calculate the MSE, for each set of forecast. Given you r results, which technique appears to be more accurate? c. Calculate the MAPE, for each set of forecast. Given your results, which technique appears to be more accurate? Solution Q4: Question # 5 [10 Marks] Rick Wing, salesperson for Wave Soldering Systems, Inc. (WSSI), has provided you with a proposal for improving the temperature control on your present machine.The machine uses a hot-air knife to cleanly remove excess solder from printed circuit boards; this is a great concept, but the hot-air temperature control lacks reliability. According to Wing, engineers at WSSI have improved the reliability of the critical temperature controls. The new system still has the four sensitive integrated circuits controlling the temperature, but the new machine has a backup for each. The four integrated circuits have reliabilities of 0. 90, 0. 92, 0. 94, and 0. 96. The four backup circuits all have a reliability of 0. 90. ) What is the reliability of the new temperature controller? b) If you pay a premium, Wing says he can improve all four of the backup units to 0. 93. What is the reliability of this option? Solution Q5: Question # 6 [15 Marks] A weather satellite has an expected life of 16 years from the time it is place into earth’s orbit. Determine its probability of failure after each of the following lengths of service. (Assume Exponential distribution is appropriate. ) [2. 5 marks each a, b, c, and d] a. More than 9 years b. Less than 12 years c. More than 9 years but less than 12 years . At least 21 years Solution Q6: Question # 7 [15 Marks] An office manager has received a report from a consultant that includes a section on equipment replacement. The report indicates the scanners have a service life time that is Normally distributed with a mean of 41 months and standard deviation of 4 months. On the basis of this information, determine the percentage of scanners can be expected to fail in the following time periods. a. Before 38 months of service b. Between 4 0 and 45 months of service c. Within 2 months of the mean life Solution Q7:

People are not free to make moral decisions Essay

Is it right to say that our actions are determined, or are they free? Hard determinists argue that when we make a moral decision, we have no free will. This is significant because if we do not choose our actions we cannot be held morally responsible. Given our experience of decision making this determinist position is hard to accept and perhaps the compatabilist approach of soft determinism is more valid. Soft Determinists recognise that we can make a decision freely that is coerced but the choices in themselves may be determined themselves. This contrasts with libertarianism, which states that we freely choose our actions and rejects determinism. To fully examine whether we are in fact free or not to make moral decisions, we must first analyse what particular factors affect our decision making. When we debate over a decision we consider/ weigh up our options, we know that we have a choice and only we can make that choice, this is known as a libertarian view. Libertarians believe that we have full responsibility of our actions and nothing else affects our decision, however genes, environment, lifestyle and our upbringing affect or sometimes might determine our choices. Determinism objects libertarianism and believes that our choices are influenced by factors other than the will of the individual, events and actions are predetermined by other events therefore freedom of choice is an illusion. Free will is the term made up of ‘autos’ meaning self and ‘nomos’ meaning rule. Many philosophers such as Kant say that you can only be responsible for actions that you undertake of your own will, this is opposed to Determinism. Libertarianism is the belief that humans are free to make moral choices and therefore morally responsible. â€Å"By liberty we can only mean a power of acting of not acting according to the determinations of the will†. David Hume. In the definition of libertarianism a distinction between the persons character or personality and his/or her moral self. It is this moral self or will that is free. â€Å"Your destiny is allotted to you, but you shall choose it for yourselves†. Plato. There are many arguments that support libertarianism, the most predominant of these being the argument from experience, this states that we all experience making choices, such as the very fact that I am sat here writing this essay is the result of a choice, I did have another option so I could’ve chose otherwise. We are also aware of going through a decision making process, we can weigh up our options and act upon this. Libertarians also believe in the necessary cause stating that for Y to happen X must have caused it, without X Y will not happen. This is a determinist understanding, However Libertarians recognise that causes are contingent and not necessary, they may or may not cause Y, this is a libertarian view. However opposed to this Determinists would argue that if free will exists then what actually causes our actions, surely our actions are caused by something, for example what about our past experiences and emotions? Also a determinist would argue is it part of human nature to assume that we are free and what exactly is moral responsibility, and how is this separate from our personality. If it comes from the soul then what causes the soul. Hard determinism states that people do not have free will to act in moral situations. It also states that everything has a prior cause which precedes it; everything is a product of the cause which is unchangeable and fixed. Therefore we cannot be held morally responsible or blameworthy for their actions because their actions are determined. When we think that we are making a moral decision, hard determinists believe that this is an illusion that we are free but in fact we are not and the decision that we made was already determined. John Locke’s example of the man in the locked room shows that we believe that we are free but we are actually not. However libertarians would argue that we had the choice whether or not to go into the locked room. Psychological determinism is another form of Hard Determinism. This suggests that our characters are determined by our upbringing and experiences. There are many influencing factors on human behaviour such as hereditary, society, culture and environment. Freud taught that our early years have impact on our actions in the future, there is also much evidence to support this view such as Pavlov’s dogs which operant conditioning demonstrates that we can mould our behaviour through rewards and sanctions, it also demonstrates how our behaviour is determined. However a libertarian would argue that just because you can condition one element of decision making doesn’t mean that all behaviour is determined, we always have a choice. Theological determinism is also another form of hard determinism. This is the view that the causal chain can be traced back to an uncaused causer, as shown in Aquinas’ Cosmological argument, and this uncaused causer is God. If God is, as suggested by Calvin through his predestination view which suggests that God has already determined a plan for us so we are either damned (going to hell) or elect (going to heaven) , an omnipotent and omniscient God then we cannot have free will as our actions must be predetermined because of this. There are many criticisms for this view that Libertarians would address as it conflicts with biblical teachings as in Genesis it states that God gave us free will and also for theological determinism to be accepted, libertarians would also argue that there is no proof of this God, so in their view we still have a choice. A form of Hard Determinism that contrasts and argues this view is scientific determinism; this approach states that science tells us that for every physical event there is a physical cause. If we consider the mind to be material activity in the brain, so then our thoughts are also pre determined. Another form of hard determinism is Biological determinism which states that our characters are determined by our genes, this is partly true as genes do give us our characteristics such as what we look like, even our IQ, all this can determine our behaviour for example the violent gene as evidence can be traced back to the genome (e. g. a violent gene recognised by the Italian supreme court). However libertarians would argue that because there is only 0. 2% variation in our DNA, so this doesn’t seem efficient enough to explain all the variations in human behaviour, it’s not just our genetic makeup that influences our behaviour, and they would argue that we always have a choice. Soft determinism states that we are morally responsible for our actions; this approach allows libertarianism and hard determinism to be compatible. It states that as long as no one forces you to make a decision then you are free, this can be described as internal freedom. However soft determinists make a distinction between internal and external causes, these explain why freedom and Jeremy moral responsibility are not only compatible with determinism but actually require it. Soft Determinism, unlike hard determinism, allows for moral responsibility, for example if person A does not save a drowning child because person A cannot swim, he is not morally responsible. However, if he chooses not to because of his personality, a combination of his conditioning, an upbringing and so forth, then he is to be held responsible. Soft determinists believe that all human actions are caused and when we say that a person acted freely we are not saying that there was no cause but rather they were not forced to do it, here they act as free agents even though their actions are still caused. A main philosopher associated with soft determinism is Hume whom was a soft-determinist. He stated that all things are necessary and believed that some things are uncaused or happen as the result of chance. Hume also believed that we are free, he goes on to say that we don’t blame people for things they do ignorantly, and blame them less for things that are not premeditated, and any sense of moral blame can only come if something we do is the result of our character. Hume believed that free will, and moral responsibility, require determinism. Soft determinists are criticised by hard determinists for failing to realise the extent to which human freedom is limited and also by libertarians for failing to recognise the true extent of freedom. Whilst Soft determinism offers a ‘middle ground’ between hard determinism and libertinism an agreeable account of moral freedom, a line still has to be drawn between that which is determined and that which is open to choice. The major fault with soft determinism is that they have to try and agree on what is a determining factor and what is not and the complexities of genetics, psychology makes such a line difficult for them to draw. So In conclusion, through the arguments expressed in this essay, I believe that perhaps a Soft Determinist approach is more susceptible towards moral decision making, as although it allows us to make our own decisions, they are to an extent determined due to numerous factors such as our upbringing, environment and culture, however it also allows us to accept responsibility for our actions whatever they may be.

Foundations of the U.S. Federal Government Worksheet

Complete the chart below by identifying the three branches of government and their entities.U.S. ConstitutionTrue or False1. The Tenth Amendment limits the power of states. FALSE 2. The Constitution signed in 1787 contained the Bill of Rights. FALSE 3. The Constitution created a system of dual sovereignty, meaning the federal government has exclusive power in interstate commerce. True 4. The president and vice president are part of the legislative branch. FALSE 5. Congress can impose federal mandates, which require the state government to comply with its orders. True or FalseMultiple Choice6. The concept of dual federalism D: viewed federal and state power as fixedd. The Bill of Rights isC: the first 10 amendments to the Constitutione. The legislative branch is composed of which of the following:a. The House of Representatives and Senatef. The First Amendment of the Constitution regards which of the following:D: Freedom of religion, of speech, of the press, to assemble, and to petiti ong. The modern-day structure of categorical federal grants-in-aid came into being D: in the mid-1960sShort AnswerRespond to each question in 75 to 100 words.h. What are some of the historical events that shaped the formation of the U.S. federal government? Select one event you think had a major effect on the federal government. How does this event affect U.S. citizens today? A historical event would bei. Who were some of the early philosophical contributors to U.S. government? How did their ideas help shape the current government of the United States? Some early philosophical contributors were Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, that believed all men were created equal and jean-Jacques Rousseauj. Describe the historical role of the Supreme Court in federalism cases and the direction it has taken since 1990. The historical roles the Supreme Court took on federalism cases was changing the tenth amendment and revamping it so that it would be fair to all involved. It challenged both state and f ederal laws and eased out mixed signals and confusion brought on by the tenth amendment. Because of the Supreme Court, it reaffirmed laws such as limiting the Congress’s power over the interstate commerce and Gun Free Zones Act of 1990 that banned the possession of a firearm within feet of a school.k. What is the main function of the legislative branch? What role does the executive branch play in the formation of laws? Summarize how these two branches work together.The main function of the legislative branch is to pass laws and it also oversees the execution of these laws, while the executive branch main function is to execute laws created by Congress. The Executive branch is made up of the President and the Vice President and their main purpose is to execute the laws created by congress. The legislative branch is composed of the House of Representatives and the senate, these two make up Congress, who creates the laws.l. What is the role of the judicial branch? Who elects mem bers of this branch? Briefly describe the judicial process. The Judicial branch is made up of courts: the Supreme, Circuit, the magistrate, which is local, and Municipal (city) courts. This branch interprets the laws. State judges are elected by the citizens, rather than being appointed. Their duties include interpreting state laws, settling legal disputes, punishing violators of the law, hearing civil cases and protecting rights granted by the state constitution. They also determine the guilt and innocence of those accused of violating criminal laws of the state and they act as a check upon the legislative and executive branches of government.Short Essaym. In 250 to 300 words, define federalism and summarize its role relative to the current U.S. political climate.Federalism is a political system allows states united under a central government to maintain a measure of independence. This basically means that it allows each state to have their own set of laws but everyone follows the laws of the nation. There are certain things that can be done in Louisiana that are illegal in Texas. In some states it’s legal to have medicinal marijuana but not in Louisiana and in other states a man can be legally married to a man but in Louisiana their marriage is not considered legal. This among other things is made possible because of federalism

Theories Regarding the Nature of Organizational Culture Research Paper - 1

Theories Regarding the Nature of Organizational Culture - Research Paper Example Schein (2010) tries to understand the dimensions of organizational culture and how the organizational culture can direct innovation while the scholar also tried to highlight the role of leaders in shaping the organizational culture. These gaps in the literature have influenced the researcher to conduct research on the topic and write this research paper.   Schein (2010) found it difficult to derive a definition of culture due to conceptual and semantic confusions while the scholar also argued that it is not possible to define different social groups under the roof of the universally accepted definition of culture. In such context, Alvesson and Sveningsson (2008) suggested that the focus should be on defining culture within the organization rather than understanding the culture of social groups sharing similar kind of traditions, rituals, history, and customs. Brooks (2009) also tried to define the organizational culture in terms of norms, the behavior of members and knowledge sharing, yet, such definition is far from capturing full dimensions of culture. To clear out confusions regarding the definition and characteristics of organizational culture, the research paper will use Schein’s (2010) idea for organizational culture. According to Schein (2010), organizational culture has dimensions like behavioral regularities, group dyna mics, espoused values, ideological  principles, unwritten rules of the organization, communication between members, special competencies displayed by group members, shared cognitive frames between members, the way team members celebrate within organization, emotional and aesthetic response etc.  Now, the fact is that it is very difficult to integrate all the mentioned elements within same organizational context but there is no doubt that these factors play the vital role in shaping the organizational culture. Schein (2010) also identified three levels of culture such as Artifacts, Espoused Beliefs & Value, and Underlying Assumptions.

Developments in Biology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Developments in Biology - Essay Example Later in 1953 Crick and Watson invented double helix model of DNA. RNA and DNA invention led to the comprehensive understanding of human behavioral characteristics and appearance. The central dogma also helped in this regard. However the field of genetic engineering made outstanding achievements. Paul Berg and co-workers created the first recombinant DNA molecule (PNAS) in 1972. In 1977, Allan Maxam and Walter Gilbert at Harvard University and Frederick Sanger at the U.K. Medical Research Council (MRC) independently develop methods for sequencing DNA. The development of human genome project can be said to be the culmination of advances in the field of human genetics. In 1980, David Botstein, Ronald Davis, Mark Skolnick and Ray White proposed a method to map the entire human genome based on RFLPs which can be considered as the starting point of human genome project ideology. In 1984, MRC scientists decipher the complete DNA sequence of the Epstein-Barr virus, 170 kb. Later in 1985, Kary Mullis and colleagues developed PCR, a technique to replicate vast amounts of DNA. In 1986, Leroy Hood and Lloyd Smith of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and colleagues came up with the first automated DNA sequencing machine. In 1987, Helen Donis-Keller and colleagues at Collaborative Research Inc. published the "first" genetic map with 403 markers, sparking a fight over credit and priority (Leslie Roberts, 2001). Similarly, in 1992, U.S. and French teams completed genetic maps of mouse and human and mouse followed by the publication of a complete genetic linkage map of the human genome. One more important finding was in 1995, researchers at Whitehead published a physical map of the human genome containing 15,000 markers. Later in 1996, An international consortium publicly released the complete genome sequence of the yeast S. cerevisiae. Later Yoshihide Hayashizakis group at RIKEN completed the first set of full-length mouse

Waste Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Waste - Essay Example 1). A complete elimination of waste from the waste stream however starts with responsibility of individual people who use the materials for packaging, the consumers of the packed goods and users of other commodities that turn into wastes. The users, instead of passing the waste disposal burden to the authorities, can more effectively eliminate these wastes from the waste stream. One of the most effective ways to eliminating wastes from the waste stream is by using materials that can easily be recycled. Manufacturers can for instance eliminate wastes by producing plastics, wrappers and other commodities that can easily be recycled. Similarly, individuals can facilitate elimination of wastes by recycling materials whenever possible. Another approach towards eliminating wastes from waste stream is the reuse of materials. This approach retains the materials usefulness, meaning that the materials will not become wastes and will not be taken to the waste cycle (Zbore, p. 1). Zbore, Tammy. (2011). ‘Making it go â€Å"away†- waste reduction strategies for cities.’ National League of Cities. Available from: http://citiesspeak.org/2011/04/19/making-it-go-%E2%80%9Caway%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%93-waste-reduction-strategies-for-cities/. [Accessed on 30 March

Management (how to be an efficient leader) Essay

Management (how to be an efficient leader) - Essay Example For instance, planning needs the conceptual skill of a manager as it involves abstraction such as setting a strategic direction for the company. Leading, controlling, and organizing is made easier by all the skills as employees usually look up to managers who are good geared with the technical skills, concern for people, and ability to analyze and solve problems. Human skill is imperative in staffing as managers will need to communicate and devise motivational techniques in order to become efficient. In addition, the ten managerial roles outlined by Mintzberg can only be accomplished when the manager is equipped with the three management skills. Interpersonal roles such as being a leader, liaison, and figurehead are roles where human skills can are necessary as these include interacting and communicating with the workforce. Informational roles (monitor, disseminator, spokesperson) also require human skills while decisional roles (entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator) are attained through the employment of conceptual, human, and technical skills. The major theories of management can be grouped into four major classifications namely classical, human, systems, and collaborative approaches.

Events Management Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Events Management Law - Essay Example Also the overall situation while reviewing the terms of the contract. But it would not be wrong to mention that, in this case, the requirements of the audience were not considered during such previous deliberations. The main questions that arise is this: Are the basic needs of the audience, viewed in the light of shows conducted by highly acclaimed and successful divas as the present one, subservient to such demands and is it necessary to bend rules and conduct to suit individual requirements, much to the detriment of common health and safety norms. The laws relating to law of tort could be applied in this particular instance which could hold the organising groups responsible for deficiencies in public services by not providing basic amenities to the viewing public. There are also elements of lack of car or imputed negligence which could become cause for later action. It needs to be reaffirmed that in such events, the onus of proving that standards of care were maintained would lie on the organisers who have take up the responsibility for stage managing this concert. It would be first of all, necessary to take up aspects of health and safety laws since providing for necessary air- conditioning would come primarily under public safety standards. Apparently, there has been a deficiency in service, and audience comprising of around 12,000 people had to endure 90 F heat and resultant health detriment. It is quite possible that the section of audience who have suffered health loss could file suits against event management organisers for reparation of health damages due to exposure to excessive heat and related hazards. The organisers could seek remedies under insurance coverage schemes, or exclusion clause. The main idea behind exclusion clauses is to limit or exempt the extent of liability in the event of any problem relating to performance of agreed contract. The conditions for the enforcement of the exclusion clause

Defining Pholosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Defining Pholosophy - Essay Example Bertrand Russell, a philosopher, states that philosophy â€Å"is something intermediate between theology and science. Like theology, it consists of speculations on matters as to which definite knowledge has, so far, been unascertainable; but like science, it appeals to human reason..." (What is philosophy?, n.d.) The four main branches of philosophy are logic, epistemology, metaphysics and ethics. These branches of philosophy are divided as to the nature of the questions asked in each area; however, these divisions cannot be rigidly separated. Logic pertains to the attempt to codify the rules of rational thought. This is one of the primary tools used by philosophers in their inquiries. Logicians explore the structure of arguments that preserve truth or allow the optimal extraction of knowledge from evidence. The second branch of philosophy is epistemology which is the study of knowledge itself. It deals with the nature, scope, and limits of human knowledge. Epistemologists ask quest ions such as what are the limits to our knowledge, does science give us knowledge at all or can our powers of reasoning give us knowledge. The third branch of philosophy is metaphysics which is the study of the nature of things. Metaphysicians ask what kinds of things exist, and what they are like. This is the area of philosophy which deals with the ultimate nature of reality. Metaphysicians reason about whether or not people have free will, in what sense abstract objects can be said to exist, and how it is that brains are able to generate minds. Examples of questions asked by metaphysicians are: Given that something exists, why that and not something else? Why that and not nothing? Why is there change? How can there also be permanence through change? Ethics is the fourth branch of philosophy which deals with the study of the rightness and wrongness of actions, the kinds of things which are good or desirable, and the blameworthy and praiseworthy actions. This area deals with how we conduct ourselves within the world. Moral philosophers may investigate questions such as, is it right for rape victims to abort their babies or is euthanasia the solution to a comatose patient? Philosophical questions are conceptual not factual. Generally speaking, philosophical questions are often a series of "why-questions." These are questions which cannot be fully answered with a simple â€Å"yes† or â€Å"no†. These questions come about when people reflect on their lives and their world. They are often questions about our concepts and the relation between our concepts and the world they represent. Russell states that philosophical questions â€Å"appeal to human reason† (What is philosophy?, n.d.). Some philosophical questions are practical while others are theoretical. Example of a practical question is, "Is divorce justifiable?" A theoretical question on the other hand, often arise through thinking about practical issues such as â€Å"What is the meaning and purpose of our existence?† According to Stroll and Popkin, philosophical questions have seven characteristics (1972). First, it is a reflection about and the things nothing in it. Example is if one has a pen in his hand and took it off, there is nothing in his hand. So, does that mean that everything exists in nothing? The second characteristic of a philosophical question is it is a conceptual rather than a practical activity. The third characteristic is the use of reason and argumentation to establish a point. Fourth, a philosophical question asks for an explanation of the puzzling features of things such as the mirror, whether it reverses up or down or left or right. A philosophical question also digs beyond the obvious like what is a fact? Is a computer a fact? Another characteristic of

Quran Essay Essay Example for Free

Quran Essay Essay Among the innumerable facts, this writing will contribute two facts only: First, the Quran contains many scientific facts that are only being found out recently. The Quran’s linguistic style is far superior then any other form of writing. Without a doubt men have negated and contested the truth and revelation from God including the Quran revealed to prophet Mohamed (sallahu alahi wa salaam). For that reason, men in their objection and adamant behavior suggested that the Quran is word of Mohamed or the Quran is created by Mohamed; such statement is away from the truth. Undoubtedly there are other verses in the Quran related to human development that will be understood in the future as our knowledge increases. † In the Quran, Allah (subhanahu wa tala) also speaks about the Cerebrum: ( ) ( ) (Nay! If he (Abu Jahl) ceases not, We will catch him by the forelock (the front part of the brain also known as the prefrontal lobe) (15) A lying, sinful forelock! (96:15-16) Why does Allah describe the front part of the brain to be lying and sinful? In recent research scientists have found out that the prefrontal lobe actually controls a person’s decision making, cognitive behavior, personality expression, and moderating social behavior (Yang, Y Prefrontal structure†¦). This part of the brain also deals with the creation of thoughts and actions (Miller, Earl the prefrontal cortex†¦). This shows that the prefrontal lobe is the part of the brain that may engage in sinful behavior and entices someone to lie or not. This also shows that the Quran does confirm scientific facts and there is no way an unlettered nomadic Arab man[5] in the 7th century could have known these facts. The pagan Arabs of the 7th century were for the most part isolated from the two great empires[6] at that time. The two empires did not waste their time in conquering the vast Arabian deserts because of its plain and unattractive look. The Arabs had nothing, they didn’t have any monuments, and they didn’t have masterful pieces of art. Therefore the Arabs of Mecca[7] were not much of a concern to the two empires; as well the two empires were not willing to send their forces through the dangerous deserts. Thanks to this isolation, the Arabs were able to refine their language. After a few centuries, the Arabs had shaped their language into an eloquent language where everyman was known to be a poet. The Arabs prided themselves on their language. So much so, they would have tribal battles not with swords but rather their tongues and the losing tribe would be shamed. The pagan Arabs marveled at the amazing speech of the Quran. When a person speaks he is able to organize his thoughts, but a person is incapable of organizing their words based on what they are going to say later . For example, there are two ayahs that are very much the same one ayah states: â€Å"Say (O Muhammad): Allah is enough as a witness between me and you†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . The other ayah states: â€Å"Say (O Muhammad): Allah is enough between me and you as a witness † The difference is sequence, in the first ayah Allah says â€Å"witness† first, and â€Å"me and you’ later. The Quran is very sensitive to context, at the end of the first ayah Allah says â€Å"†¦he is the ever all knower, all seer of his slaves†. The ayah ends speaking about Allah, the word â€Å"witness† for Allah is used first so therefore the ayah begins with Allah and ends with Allah. While the second ayah ends with speaking about people it uses â€Å"between me and you† first then â€Å"witness† second. So the ayah begins with speaking about people and ends with speaking with people. So what is about to be said in the future has a direct influence on how words are organized before. Humans are unable to do that. Prophet Muhammad (sallahu alahi wa salaam) was never known to be a composer of any types of poetry or any other forms of literature. So when they heard this literature they were amazed. â€Å"Umar bin Al-Khattab was a great enemy of the prophet. He planned to kill the prophet, but on his way he was informed that his sister had joined the religion. He immediately changed course. Upon arrival he hit his sister. He regretted what he did so asked for the paper she was reading (containing ayahs of the Quran). Once he read it he immediately went to prophet (sallahu alahi wa salaam) and accepted Islam†. Umar bin Al-Khattab was a man that was amazed by the Quran’s linguistic style and its strong meaning. This is one of the many men who accepted Islam because of the Quran’s amazing speech. The famous Arab grammarian H. Gibb had this to say about the Quran: â€Å"As a literary monument the Koran (referring to the Quran) thus stands by itself, a production unique to the Arabic literature, having neither forerunners nor successors in its own idiom. Muslims of all ages are united in proclaiming the inimitability not only of its contents but also of its style†¦ and in forcing the High Arabic idiom into the expression of new ranges of thought the Koran develops a bold and strikingly effective rhetorical prose in which all the resources of syntactical modulation are exploited with great freedom and originality. John Penrice stated: â€Å"That a competent knowledge of the Koran is indispensable as an introduction to the study of Arabic literature will be admitted by all who have advanced beyond the rudiments of the language. From the purity of its style and elegance of its diction it has come to be considered as the standard of Arabic † These two men have an understanding of the linguistic exc ellence of the Quran. Allah says: Do they not then consider the Quran carefully? Had it been from other than Allah, they would surely have found therein many contradictions. (Quran 04:82). The Quran contains many palindromes; palindromes in many languages can only be done with one word. For example, in the English language the word Race Car can be written the same backward. In the Quran there are entire sentences that are palindromes. For example, in the Quran, Allah says: ( ) Magnify your Lord (Allah)! (Quran 74:3) In conclusion, the Quran has impacted the world in many ways. The Quran was not only sent to the desert Arabs but rather it was sent to all of mankind. Allah sends out a challenge, Allah (subhanahu wa tala) says: ( ) â€Å"And if you (Arab pagans, Jews, and Christians) are in doubt concerning that which We have sent down (i. e. the Quran) to Our slave (Muhammad Peace be upon him), then produce a Surah of the like thereof and call your witnesses (supporters and helpers) besides Allah, if you are truthful. † (Quran 2:23) The Quran is a revelation from Allah and it was revealed upon the tongue of Muhammad (sallahu alahi wa salaam). The Quran contains many scientific facts ranging from embryology to the purpose of the frontal lobe. All of this presented in a beautiful linguistic form, so much so when the Quran is translated into English, the language’s primitive level is unable to display the Quran’s linguistic beauty. This renders the English native unable to appreciate the Quran in a way the pagan Arabs of the 7th century were able. The Quran reaches the top level of eloquence in the Arabic language as well as other languages. The idea of Muhammad (sallahu alahi wa salaam) being able to go from being a unlettered man to the top author in the Arabic language is impossible on all plains of reality. Therefore, the only logical reason to say is that Muhammad (sallahu alahi wa salaam) has received revelation from the Almighty. QURAN: A REVELATION? Name: Harun O. G Course: GLE20 Teacher: Ms. Vacar Date: April 09, 2011 1]sallahu alahi wasalm means peace be upon him [2] Allah is the Arabic word for God and is preferred(to Muslims) [3] subhanahu wa tala means glorified and exalted be he(Allah) [4] Ayat: this is the plural version of Ayah, this word does not have a direct translation in English but the closest one is verse. In other places in the Quran ayah means signs. [5] According to sources Prophet Muhammad (sallahu alahi wasalm) was a illiterate man [6] Persian and Roman empire [7] Is found in Saudi Arabia and is th e holiest city for Muslims

Legal Environment Of Colombia Politics Essay

Legal Environment Of Colombia Politics Essay History Colombia is one of three countries that emerged following the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830. Francisco de Paula Santander became the president of the new state. Colombias name has changed many times since its independence from Gran Colombia, starting with the Republic of New Granada, then the Granadine Confederation, then the United States of Colombia, and finally the current Republic of Colombia. Colombias history is filled with violent conflicts between the conservative and liberal political parties. The most notable of these conflicts was a civil war occurring between 1899 and 1903, known as The War of a Thousand Days. The war led to approximately 100,000 deaths. Colombia also lost part of its northern territory in the conflict, which ultimately became what is currently Panama. Tension increased and conflict continued through 1958. From 1948 to 1957, Colombia experienced its worst political conflicts it what is now coined la violencia. The violence began after the assassination of the liberal leader, Jorge Elià ©cer Gaità ¡n. It is estimated this turmoil resulted in at least 200,000 deaths. During this period, Colombia was ruled by two successive dictators, Laureano Gà ³mez and Gustavo Rojas Pinalla. The conflicts and violence finally ended with an agreement between the conservatives and liberals in 1958. They formed a coalition government, known as the National Front government. The idea behind this type of government was that each party would hold the presidency and all other government and civil positions on an equal, rotating basis. This lasted for sixteen years and let to better economic conditions. Beginning in 1974, Colombia began to have legitimate elections between the two political parties. While political violence declined as a result of these elections, Colombia has been plagued with other issues. In 1985 a dormant volcano erupted outside of Bogotà ¡ killing nearly 20,000 people in the town of Armero. In 1999, another volcano resulted in significant loss of life in the town of Armenia. In addition to these natural disasters, Colombia was plagued by increased terrorist and drug activity. The Minister of Justice was assassinated in 1984 by drug barons working to protect the extremely profitable drug trade. Less than a year later, Guerrillas raided the Palace of Justice in Bogotà ¡ in 1985 taking a number of hostages until the Colombian troops stormed in. The incident resulted in nearly 100 deaths including several Supreme Court judges. The Marxist guerrillas terrorist activities still continue and have gained in strength since they partnered with the drug cartels for weapons. These guerrillas, known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), reside in the south part of the country and have approximately 20,000 members. From this remote region, the guerrillas plan attacks on the Colombian military and police and protect their cocaine plantations. The estimated number of deaths in the 1990s from this conflict is 35,000 and has resulted in a number of military personnel being held hostage. Andrà ©s Pastrana became President in 1998 and unveiled a plan to combat the violence and drug problems, known as Plan Colombia. The goals of the plan were to increase peace throughout the country, combat the drug industry, revive the economy, improve protection of human rights, and reduce social inequalities. The United States provided a $1.3 billion assistance package mostly to help build-up the military and counternarcotics initiatives. In 2002, à lvaro Uribe was elected President and released the Democratic Security and Defense Policy. This plan focused attention on the security and military components of Colombia, but also worked to improve the social and economic issues. Uribe was reelected in 2006. (Gascoigne, 2001) Most recently, in June 2010 Juan Manuel Santos Calderà ³n was elected President of Colombia. (President of Colombia, 2010) He is believed to want to continue Uribes market-based economic reforms. (The world in figures: Countries, 2010) Background Facts All facts and statistics below were taken from the CIA World Factbook, unless indicated otherwise. (The World Factbook, 2010) Colombia is located in South America. It is over 1 million square kilometers, which is slightly less than twice the size of Texas, ranking it 26th in the world in terms of size. The major natural resources of Colombia are petroleum, natural gas, coal, and other minerals. Current issues facing the Colombian environment are deforestation, soil and water damage from the overuse of pesticides, and air pollution. The population of Colombia as of July 2010 was 44,205,293, with an annual growth rate of approximately 1.184 percent. A majority of this population is between 15 and 64 years old (66 percent), a relatively smaller percentage is under 14 (28 percent), and even smaller still is the percentage of the population over 65 years old (6 percent). Just about two-thirds of the population lives in urban areas. An indicator of social and economic conditions in the country, the infant mortality rate is 16.97 deaths per 1,000 live births and the life expectancy at birth is 74. Only about 170,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS, constituting only .6 percent of the population. The official language of Colombia is Spanish. The dominant religion is Roman Catholic at about 90 percent of the population. The government spends approximately 3.9 percent of GDP on educational expenditures, ranking 111 in the world. Over 90 percent of the population over the age of 15 is literate and students are expected to remain in school on average for 13 years. These statistics indicate a successful educational system. Military service is required of 18-24 year olds for 18 months. The military expenditures are 3.4 percent of GDP, ranking 35th in the world. Colombia ranks first in murders per capita in the world. (Crime Statistics) Predominant Economic Model The predominant economic model in Colombia is a market-based mixed economy. (Financial Standards Foundation, 2009) Both privately owned enterprises and the government play an important role. The market-based aspect of their economy focuses on private businesses producing goods and services and individuals consuming those goods and services. Ownership rights are important in protecting the private enterprises from governmental power. The economy is believed to be more efficient in a market economy as supply and demand are used to determine the production and pricing of goods and services. The mixed economy aspect means Colombia allows certain limitations to be placed on free enterprise through government regulations. Some services are better provided by the government than through a free market system. (U.S. Department of State) In 2005, over half of the total investment in Colombia was from government enterprises and government investments. This leans Colombia to more of a mixed economy. A process of economic liberalization was started in 1990 by removing restrictions on imports and foreign investment, privatizing more services, and easing government regulations. More recent reports show the liberalization is effective. The 2008 index of Economic Freedom reported the Colombian governments total expenditures were only 31 percent of gross domestic product. (Financial Standards Foundation, 2009) The National Administrative Department of Statistics states that the Colombian gross domestic product growth rates were approximately 7 percent in 2006 and 8 percent in 2007. The U.S. State Department reports there are a few factors that are contributing to the stable growth in Colombia: an increase in domestic security, monetary policy that maintains low inflation and a stable exchange rate, a rise in petroleum prices and exports in response to their economic liberalization, and various trade agreements. In 2008, the growth rate fell mostly due to a worldwide economic downturn, continuing to decline to 2.4 percent in 2010. (Financial Standards Foundation, 2009) Of some concern to the International Monetary Fund is the large deficit Colombia faces. The deficit is mostly financed by foreign investment, which can be risky due to an uncertain international economic environment. (Financial Standards Foundation, 2009) In summary, the Colombian economy exhibits characteristics of both a market-based economy and a mixed economy. The economic liberalization effort has already and will continue to move Colombia more toward a market-based economy that features less government regulation and a greater focus on privatization and international trade and investment. Legal Environment The Colombian government is made up a three branch system, similar to that in the United States. It consists of an executive branch, headed by the President, a judicial branch, and a legislative branch, consisting of a bicameral Congress. (The World Factbook, 2010) A new constitution was ratified in 1991 and brought about major changes in the political institutions. The new constitution maintained the three-branch system of government. It created new positions such as the Inspector General, a Human Rights Ombudsman, a Constitutional Court, a Superior Judicial Council, and Vice President. Significant social changes were implemented such as civil divorce, dual nationality and most importantly a legal means to appeal government decisions affecting constitutional rights. The constitution also implemented an accusatory system of criminal justice. Finally, an amendment in 2005 allows presidents to hold two consecutive four year terms, as opposed to just one. (Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, 2010) The Index of Economic Freedom measures the property rights index. The index measures the degree to which private property rights are protected by a countrys laws. It also indicates the likelihood private property will be seized by the government, how independent the judiciary is, and the enforceability of contracts. Scores range from 0 to 100, where higher scores indicate a better protection of property rights. Colombia scored a 50. (Property Rights Index, 2010) The constitution explicitly protects private property and contracts are generally enforced. Compensation is required in expropriation cases. Intellectual property rights are not always guaranteed. There are commonly infringements on intellectual property, especially trademarks. In terrorist territories property rights are not guaranteed. (Heritage Foundation, 2010) Corruption is a significant problem in Colombia. There are concerns about the influence of criminal organizations on the police, military and other judicial services. (Heritage Foundation, 2010) Drug trafficking and terrorist activity is still a major issue in Colombia. With the assistance of the United States, Colombia has been able to weaken the drug trafficking organizations, reduce the supply of drugs to the United States, and establish a military presence in conflict regions. The involvement of terrorist groups in drug trafficking increases the difficulty of cutting down the problem. With the help of the United States alternative development programs have cultivated over 650,000 hectares of agricultural and forestry lands. Colombia has instituted social infrastructure projects to entice communities to remain illicit-crop free. (Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, 2010)

Performance Appraisal: Reliability and Effectiveness

Performance Appraisal: Reliability and Effectiveness Introduction The whole principle of this study report is to identify and appreciate the value of performance appraisal system, from the staff point of view, in command to notify a developed system that will be executed in Sidmak Laboratories (India) Pvt. Ltd. The first chapter gives a general idea of the entire dissertation. It will present background to the research, give explanation exactly what the matter is that needs research, validate the project, and present a summary of the methodology that will be used. Background to the research Sidmak India was established in 1984 in technical collaboration with Sidmak USA. Sidmak India has successfully adopted various technology platforms under this collaboration and continues to develop additional technologies. Sidmak Laboratories (India) Pvt. Ltd. is a pharmaceutical corporation contains developing ability at Gujarat, India. Sidmak point towards at improved safety and ease for human life through a dedicated excellence in manufacturing recommendation drugs, specifically oral dosages. The organisation is permitted by W.H.O. as per GMP rule and by local FDA as per Drug and Cosmetic Act. The organisation has skill in the production of constant release solid dosage mode. Sidmak manufactures both pharmaceuticals as well as nutraceuticals products. The organisation preserves highest level of quality by sticking on to cGMP and cGLP compliance rule in manufacturing products and meeting national and international requirement. Working with Sidmak has given me good experience about how to work in an organisation. It has also given me knowledge about the flow or work from one department to another department. Thought the work flow is very smooth in Sidmak, I personally feel that it can be more productive and beneficial to the employee and the organisation if company adopts proper appraisal system. Research Questions The whole research dilemma relates to the reliability and effectiveness of performance appraisal systems. The literature review will sketch many comments in relation to the plan and function of such systems. It was transparent from administrating the literature review that a large amount had been written regarding the effectiveness of performance appraisal system. The goal, therefore, of this dissertation is to realize and appreciate the effectiveness of performance appraisal, from the staff point of view. Four objectives have been recognised, and by undertaking these unified objectives, a comprehensive literature review, and new practical research, answers to the problem should be known. The objectives of this research are: Figure: 1 Methodology The research pattern take on is interpretive. The interpretive model is an idealistic location which is related to with understanding the way we humans build logic of the world surrounding us (Saunder at al, 2007). The purpose for this method are set out in describe in the methodology. The study method is qualitative. The methodology is extra related with human questions than pure science. The literature review does not place out a specific theory, but does set up a theoretical structure to assist the gathering and study of data, to respond the research issues. The preferred research tactic is a case study. The practical data will be established on qualitative interview techniques. This will present the utmost transform of successful research, as it will quantify human reaction. It can also be accomplished inside the timescale of the project. Semi-structured interviews and utilise of secondary data from comprehensive Employee estimation Survey will be incorporated in the research methods. The primary source includes the personal experience which I had experienced while working with Sidmak Laboratories (I) Pvt. Ltd. and the secondary sources includes information gathered through surfing the internet, information available on intranet site on knowledge management, different study materials, and sample performance appraisal forms obtained from reliable resources. The research will permit evaluation between groups of employees, to find out if duration of service or superiority is a issue. Privacy will be guaranteed to participants and the information will be edited to look after the identification of persons before it is pass around to the organisations management board. Outline of the chapters Chapter 1 This chapter presents a summary of the entire project. It puts out what the research area is, splits it down into a sequence of objectives for the project, and associates this to the background of the firm that is to be researched in depth. Chapter 2 This section reviews literature related to the research purposes. It constructs a theoretical establishment upon which the research is build. It starts with an assessment of what performance is, and why it is measured. The vital parts of a valuable and efficient performance appraisal system consist of recognize its foundations and the important steps that set the foundation. It is also essential to make out the objectives and advantages of this system. For profit realization it is required to recognize Key Result Areas (KRAs) i.e. goal setting and observe resulting performance so that a significant relationship between performance, reward and development of necessary skills, through counseling, can be set up. And a lot of thinking, suggestions and bright ideas are required to be done to develop a sensible appraisal system by assessing available techniques and execution process. The section then takes into account how performance appraisal fits into the parent control of performance m anagement. A study of literature including appraisal systems and their application follows, and this consists of reference to new appraisals. The above data will then direct to the creating of the conceptual type that will be build up through the research. Chapter 3 This section explains the methodology that will be employed to collect the primary data. It will sketch the research model selected, put out the research strategy, and also give explanation for the selection of the methodology. Ethical problems will also be focused in this chapter. Chapter 4 This section will put forward the findings of the research. Due to the diverse ways used to research the issues, some of the findings will be put out in text, and some will be displayed in tables. The data will be examined in research of the following chapter, which sets out the conclusions. Chapter 5 This section will put out conclusions on the subject of the research objectives through connecting the research findings, with the findings of section 2. The chapter will talk about the limitations of the research and place opportunities for further research that will ahead make clear the problem area. Chapter 6 Based on the conclusion of section 5, this section involves advices and suggestions for new performance appraisal system. Summary This beginning section has familiarized the reader to the organisation, and quoted its new transformation. The section has exposed the need, to build up a performance culture, and contained by that, a full-bodied performance appraisal system. The research question and objectives have been put out, together with the methodology to be used to deal with the objectives.

Mateo Tepee Essay -- History Architecture Papers

"Mateo Tepee" Towering over 1250 feet above the beautiful Belle Fourche River stands a magnificent structure in northeast Wyoming. The shape of this structure is that of a huge tree stump. The base of this structure is over 1000 feet in diameter, while the top tapers to a 275 foot diameter. It stands 870 vertical feet from base to top, the tallest such formation in the U.S. This amazing structure has an incredible history and its legends are told to this day. It has been used for fame and fortune, religion and rituals, landmarks and legends, vacationers and visitors, movies and money, and many other things. It is beautiful and majestic, captivating and unique, feared and awed among those who have been in its presence. It has brought success to many and fate to some. The history this structure holds within itself is incredible. Its name sends fear to most and lives up to its reputation. May I introduce to you the one and only "Devils Tower." (5) Devils Tower historical significance begins with the theory of how it was formed. There are basically two very different theories of the formation of the unique tower. One theory is scientifically based while the other is legend based. Each belief has variances within themselves. Both theories are very different but yet intriguing. The scientific theory of how the tower was formed is believed by most scientist and geologist to be the hardened core of a once existing magma intrusion. This magma intrusion forced its way upward but did not reach the surface. It cooled and solidified underground into a hard, igneous rock called phonolite porphyry. When the magma cooled and solidified underground, the rock contracted and fractured into large vertical columns of 4, ... ... Works Cited: (1) National Park Sevice. Devils Tower National Monument, 1981. U.S. Department of the Interior Washington, D.C. (2) McGee, Dingus, and the Last Pioneer Woman. Free Climbs of Devils Tower,1992. Poorperson's Guidebooks, 655 N. Cedar, Laramie, WY 82070 (3) Hunger, Bill. The Hicker's Guide to Wyoming, 1992. Falcon Press Publishing Co., Inc., P.O. Box 1718, Helena, MT 59624 (4) Nation, The. Native Rites and Wrongs, p. 4-5. July 21, 1997 (5) "Devils Tower, Wyoming." http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/north_america/devils_tower.html (April 23, 1998) (6) "Devils Tower National Monument - The Legend." 1995. http://www.state.sd.us./tourism/devtower/devtower.htm (April 2, 1998) (7) "Devils Tower National Monument." http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/Parks/devils_tower/devils_tower.html (April 23, 1998)

Summer 2005 :: Creative Writing Essays

It was finally here, the last day of school! For me, the last day of school was like being an emancipated slave. I was one of those kids that never liked school (I did pretty well though) and would much rather spend the day at home helping my mother around the house. For that reason, summertime was always my favorite time of the year (I even liked it more than Christmas time) I got up more excited about a day of school than ever before. I got washed and my mom put my hair into two neat puff balls. The year was 2005 and I was seven years old. Back then most girls in my class had their hair relaxed, but not me! It was fine though because I thought that my puffs made me look like Penny (Janet Jackson’s character on Good Times). Well the walk to school had never been as enjoyable as it was that day. As I skipped down the rugged blocks and across the rusty train tracks I thought about the oncoming freedom, and the thought had me singing in exultation. Once at school, we received all of our work back; nothing but stickers reciting praise. Report card; straight A’s. What a start to a wonderful summer! The bells of freedom finally rung at 2:00 p.m. and the halls of Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary School were in uproar. I ran outside to the school yard proclaiming that I had gotten straight A’s. Grown-ups that I didn’t even know were say ing â€Å"Good job†, â€Å"Harold needs tips from you†, â€Å"Gloria, that is the kind of friend you need†. My brother and sister and I raced home through the train tracks and the alley way. We all could not wait to enjoy the start of the summer. As soon as we got home we changed from our school clothes to our play clothes (we did that faithfully) and went right back outside. All of my neighbors were outside setting up for the annual 9th street block party. I was especially excited about that, because I’ve never been to one, and this year my parents agreed to let us go. Mr. King, our block captain was outside decorating the block with flags and banners. Everybody loved Mr. King; he was the mastermind behind anything good that ever happened on our small block. He was a tall, thin, middle-aged man who always wore an army green hat and kept a toothpick in his mouth.

Poverty Eradication Plan

The Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP), Uganda’s equivalent of a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), serves as the country’s main development strategy and planning framework for fighting poverty. Government’s overriding aim as espoused in PEAP is reducing the total number of people living in absolute poverty to less than 10% of the population by 2017 (MFPED 2001). PRSPs are national planning frameworks for low-income countries.They are a requirement for all countries that would like to access concessional loans through the Poverty Reduction Growth Facility (PRGF) or to benefit from debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. They are also the main framework around which most bilateral donors are to build their cooperation (WHO 2004). Developed in 1997, prior to the advent of the PRSP initiative by the World Bank, PEAP is widely acknowledged to be a home-grown plan with clear national ownership and leadership.Since its formula tion, PEAP has undergone two rounds of revision. The first round of revision was in 1999/2000 and it gave rise to PEAP 2001. The second round was in 2002/2003 and gave rise to the PEAP 2004. PEAP 1997 was structured around four areas: a) macroeconomic policy, b) institutional framework for poverty eradication, c) policy framework to increase incomes of the poor, and d) measures to improve the quality of life of the poor (MFPED 1997).Following the introduction of the PRSP initiative, a mutual agreement was reached between the Government of Uganda and the World Bank to retain PEAP as Uganda’s PRSP with some improvements such as widening consultations on the plan and broadening its scope to include detailed diagnosis of poverty in the country. * What's New * Site Map * Site Index * Contact Us * Glossary ————————————————- Top of Form Bottom of Form * Home * About the IM F * Research * Country Info * News * Videos * Data and Statistics * Publications Uganda and the IMFSend your comments on PRSPs and IPRSPs to [email  protected] rg See also: Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs)Free Email NotificationReceive emails when we post new items of interest to you. Subscribe or Modify your profile| | | | Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Uganda's Poverty Eradication Action Plan Summary and Main Objectives Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Kampala, Uganda March 24, 2000 Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) are prepared by member countries in broad consultation with stakeholders and development partners, including the staffs of the World Bank and the IMF.Updated every three years with annual progress reports, they describe the country's macroeconomic, structural, and social policies in support of growth and poverty reduction, as well as associated external financing needs and major sources of financing. This country document is b eing made available on the IMF website by agreement with the member country as a service to users of the IMF website. | Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view Annex Tables and Chart 1 (212 KB) Contents 1. Introduction Uganda's planning framework The revision of the PEAP2. National vision and overall goals   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reducing bsolute income poverty: Raising educational achievement of Ugandans Improving the health of the people Giving voice to poor communities3. The Poverty Eradication Strategy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Creating a framework for economic growth and transformation   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Good governance and security Actions which directly increase the ability of the poor to raise their incomes   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Actions which directly improve the quality of life of the poor4. Macroeconomic stability, medium- and long-term expenditure implications of the PEAP   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Macroeconomic stability and the macroeconomic framework   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Medium-Term Expenditure FrameworkU sing the PAF to prioritise public expenditure Poverty priorities and the PAF Additionality Accountability of PAF resources The overall allocation of expenditures within the MTEF   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Intermediate output targets in the medium-term Long-run targets and costings Long-run resource availability5. The Monitoring StrategyAnnex Table 1: Goals, targets and indicators in the PEAP 2000 Annex Table 2. 1. Uganda: Selected Economic and Financial Indicators, 1996/97–1999/2000 Annex Table 2. 2. Uganda: Fiscal Operations of the Central Government, 1996/97–2002/2003 Annex Table 2. . Uganda: Balance of Payments, 1996/97–2002/03 Annex Table 2. 4. Uganda: Monetary Survey, 2000–3 Annex Table 3: Summary of Medium-Term Expenditure Framework | Contents1. IntroductionThis paper is a synthesis of the main features of the Government of Uganda's Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP). The PEAP has guided the formulation of government policy since its inception in 1997, and is currently being revised. Under this plan, Uganda is being transformed into a modern economy in which people in all sectors can participate in economic growth.This implies a number of conditions: * The economy requires structural transformation, including the modernisation of agriculture, the development of industries which build on demand and supply linkages from agriculture, and continued institutional development in the legal and financial sectors. * Poor people must be able to participate in this growth, both by expanding smallholder agriculture and by increasing employment in industry and services. * Economic growth must be sustainable, high quality and broadly based. The non-material aspects of poverty must be addressed; participatory studies have shown that insecurity, illness, isolation, and disempowerment are as important to the poor as low incomes. Uganda's Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) is established on four major pillars: * Creating a framework for economic g rowth and transformation * Ensuring good governance and security * Directly increasing the ability of the poor to raise their incomes * Directly increasing the quality of the life of the poor.The revision of the PEAP in 2000 draws on the progress made since 1997, including the development of sector-wide approaches, the participatory research carried out by the Uganda Participatory Poverty Assessment Project (UPPAP), the constraints identified in the Poverty Status Report, and the development of costings of public actions and monitorable indicators in key, poverty-oriented sectors. It will also place a greater emphasis than the 1997 document on the actions which promote private sector development and therefore contribute indirectly to poverty-reduction. The revised PEAP is Uganda's Comprehensive Development Framework.Uganda's planning frameworkThere have been a number of initiatives to strengthen the planning process in recent years. This includes major consultative exercises concern ing Uganda's long term goals and objectives, such as Vision 2025, describing national aspirations, and the 1997 Poverty Eradication Action Plan as a national planning framework to guide detailed medium term sector plans, district plans, and the budget process. In turn, detailed sector-wide plans and investment programmes have reached varying stages of completion, set within an overall medium term expenditure framework.A programme of strengthening district capacity to prepare medium term expenditure frameworks is also underway. The modern approach to planning involves ensuring that the right framework has been established to enable effective programming, implementation and monitoring. Chart 1 describes the flows and relationships between different plan/policy processes in Uganda. The most important point to note is that these elements interact in an ongoing process. Uganda's over-arching national planning document is the Poverty Eradication Action Plan, signalling poverty eradication as the fundamental goal of the Government.Chart 1 shows the relations between the PEAP and other plans. The PEAP is not a blueprint for sector activities. It provides a framework for the development of detailed sector plans and investment programmes. Implementation of the PEAP demands sector-wide programming to determine sector objectives, outputs and outcomes expected from sector expenditures, and the activities which the expenditures will fund in order to achieve the desired outputs and outcomes. Quick guide to planning processes|   |Vision 2025:| an overview of long term goals and aspirations by the year 2025|   | The PEAP:| the national planning framework on which to develop detailed sector strategies|   | Sector Planning:| technical specifications of sector priorities, disciplined by hard budget constraints|   | District Planning:| implementation plans for sector strategies based on local priorities / needs|   | MTEF:| annual, rolling 3 year expenditure planning, set ting out the medium term expenditure priorities and hard budget constraints against which sector plans can be developed and refined|   |District MTEF:| setting out the medium term expenditure priorities and hard budget constraints Against which district plans can be developed and refined|   | Annual Budget ; District Budgets:  Ã‚  Ã‚  | annual implementation of the three year planning framework|   | Donor; NGO; private sector:| participating and sharing information / ideas in developing sector plans and budgets|   | Participatory processes:| bottom-up participation of districts in the planning and monitoring process, as well as participatory poverty assessments, providing essential feedback on progress towards poverty eradication goals| Thus the 1997 PEAP has guided the preparation of detailed sector plans. Capacity constraints within line ministries, which have been a serious limitation in sector planning, are being overcome by support from our donor and NGO communities i n a spirit of partnership and teamwork. In recent years, major advances have been recorded in production of the Ten Year Road Sector Development Programme, the Education Strategic Investment Plan and the Health Sector Plan, and the Plan for the Modernisation of Agriculture. Also underway are plans for the energy sector and the justice sector.Eventually all sectors will be covered by up-to-date, resource constrained sector plans and investment programmes which focus on achieving the goals of the PEAP. In turn, the PEAP and the sector plans set the framework for preparation of district plans (although these are still at an early stage of development). Under Uganda's decentralised system of governance, the local authorities are responsible for determining the implementation plan for sector programmes based on local priorities. Involvement of communities in the planning framework is also being strengthened.Under the Uganda Participatory Poverty Assessment Project (UPPAP), the second pha se will include dissemination of the perspectives of the poor in order to help guide policy at both national and district levels, and there will be further work in nine pilot districts to enhance community-level participatory planning and monitoring capacities. It is important to note that the relationship between both the PEAP and sector plans, and between sector and district plans, and between district and lower local council plans, is an iterative one. The PEAP sets the framework for other plans, but is also a product of those plans.For example, the current PEAP revision reflects the policy statements made in various sector plans, and tries to balance the sector objectives within a national framework. In turn, revisions of sector plans should take note of national priorities and constraints as outlined in the PEAP in refining their own sector strategies. The National Planning Authority, according to its mandate in the Constitution, will have the role of ensuring that the differen t plans are consistent. The same principle applies to the relationship between sector and district plans.While medium term plans establish a policy framework and desired outputs and outcomes, they are meaningless unless disciplined by hard budget constraints. Therefore another critical element of the planning framework is the medium term expenditure framework (MTEF). Since 1992, MFPED has been developing an MTEF, which is presented to Cabinet as part of the annual â€Å"Budget Framework Paper† (BFP), covering three fiscal years. Preparation of the annual BFP includes detailed discussions with sector working groups each year to monitor performance of current programmes and projects.These discussions identify implementation bottlenecks, inefficiencies in existing operations, and potentially unsustainable imbalances in the size of the recurrent and development programmes. The discussions also take account of any upcoming policy initiatives in order to ensure that all new policie s are comprehensively costed to reveal the full extent of their fiscal implications, and in order to propose how the Government's expenditure programme can be adjusted in light of new policy priorities, both within and between sectors.The important point is that, in the medium term, public resources can be redeployed in accordance with changing strategic priorities; it only requires development of the capacity and willingness to reprioritise spending needs and reallocate expenditures in a disciplined way. More recently, there have been attempts to broaden the consultation of the BFP process by increased discussion with donors, especially on the sectoral priorities of Government expenditure and on the consistency of Government assumptions regarding external financing with actual donor financing plans.Steps are also being taken to involve civil society in the consultation process. An abbreviated version of the BFP (the version that goes to Cabinet before the expenditure allocations ar e approved by Cabinet) is published in the annual â€Å"Background to the Budget†, and a detailed summary of the composition of expenditure for all sectors for the three year MTEF is published as an appendix table in the Budget Speech document. In 1999, a start was made on extending the BFP process to the districts, when training workshops were organised for the local Governments.Technical expertise is being provided by the central ministries to help district administrations to prepare their own three year expenditure planning frameworks consistent with resource availability. Government hopes that in due course this capacity can be extended to lower level local councils. The final element of the planning framework is an assessment of the impact of plans and budgets on civil society and beneficiaries, shown at the bottom of Chart 1 as â€Å"civil society†.There are a variety of monitoring techniques, such as technical assessments of project/programme performance, statis tical surveys, and more participatory methods to complement the traditional household survey methods such as the Uganda Participatory Poverty Assessment Project, which is attempting to bring the voice of the poor into national, district, and lower level planning. The results of monitoring activities provide feedback at all levels of the planning system.The revision of the PEAPWhile the basic principles behind the 1997 PEAP remain valid, there have been significant developments since its preparation both in outcomes—such as the huge increase in educational enrolments—and in the preparation of sectoral plans and the information available about poverty. Hence, to remain relevant, the plan has to be revised. It is envisaged that the revision of the PEAP will be a regular process carried out every two years, drawing on the results of the Poverty Status Report which will also be prepared every two years.Preparation of the revised PEAP remains a highly participatory process. Government recognises that the planning system does not consist of decision-making by a single institution at the centre. Rather, the system involves the interaction of a number of processes within an overall framework. As such, the process is much more dynamic and responsive to changes in policy priorities and/or resource constraints. The involvement of a much larger number of agencies in the planning process makes it important that planning linkages are clearly specified and understood.Substantial effort is being made to improve the partnership process in Uganda. As mentioned above, participatory approaches have increasingly been adopted both for sector plan preparation and monitoring and appraisal exercises. In revising the PEAP we have summarised and consolidated the results of previous consultations and research findings. The revised PEAP builds on an ongoing process of consultation. An initial â€Å"discussion draft† was circulated to a wide range of stakeholders to sti mulate dialogue and debate.Later drafts incorporate the results of this wide consultation. In order to ensure reasonable levels of participation in preparation of the revised PEAP, the editorial team prepared a Participatory Action Plan. This includes consultations at the central government level as well as with local governments, with donors, with Parliamentarians, and with civil society, as well as the development of adequate feedback mechanisms to ensure that all stakeholders have contributed effectively to the drafting process.General consultative workshops: the revision process includes two major consultative meetings involving wide representation of stakeholders (politicians; ministries; donors; NGOs; private sector; civil society; urban and local authority representatives, media). The objective of these workshops is to review current drafts and to provide detailed comments on policy issues arising from the drafts. Regional meetings for district officials: MFPED, working with the Ministry of Local Government, has already undertaken some regional work to explain the PEAP, UPPAP findings and budget issues.District officials will be presented with drafts of the revised PEAP at a series of regional workshops. As mentioned above, the CSO Task Force will also be promoting discussion of PEAP related issues within districts and communities. Donor consultations: in addition to participation in the general consultative workshops, the current draft has been presented at the Donor Consultative Group meetings in March 2000. Political consultation: In addition to attendance at the general consultative workshops, another meeting for members of all Parliamentary sessional committees was held in February 2000.This will be followed by further briefing sessions for specific sessional committees on issues relevant to their sector. Feedback mechanisms: It is very important to ensure that there is adequate time for written responses and contributions. Drafts have been widely circulated for the consultative workshops in February and April. There will be active follow-up, especially at the district level, to ensure that written responses are received from every district and sector ministry.Building on existing consultative processes: Issues raised during the revision process will not only be followed up at the general consultative meetings, but also raised through existing consultative fora (such as the sector working groups for the budget framework process; NGO consultative meetings; and regular donor meetings). Contents2. National vision and overall goalsPoverty has many dimensions including low and highly variable levels of income and consumption, physical insecurity, poor health, low levels of education, disempowerment, a heavy burden of work or unemployment, and isolation (both social and geographical).Drawing on recent evidence (including household surveys and the Uganda Participatory Poverty Assessment Project), the PEAP highlights the many dimensi ons of poverty in the Ugandan context. It recognises the importance of increasing income to poor households, and places a high priority on eradicating income poverty. It also views ignorance as a particularly constraining feature of the lives of poor people, and is concerned to improve literacy and educational achievement among the population at large.Health is another central concern for the poor, and the Government has established clear goals for improving the health of Ugandans. It is essential that poor people have an effective voice in the design and implementation of public policy. The objective of the PEAP is to marshal public effort at improving these dimensions of household wellbeing. Reducing absolute income poverty:Income levels are low in Uganda, and large sections of its population are unable to buy the basic necessities of life—food, clothing, and shelter. Low incomes also lead to poor health and limited education. Consumption poverty levels are high.In 1997, 44 percent of the population was estimated to consume less than what is required to meet the basic needs of life. Low rates of economic growth, and the effects of civil disorder, are important historical factors causing poverty in Uganda. Incomes are also highly unequally distributed, which reduces the impact of economic growth on poverty reduction. At the level of the household, poverty is related to rural residence (specifically to living in the north or the east), to land shortage, to low levels of education, to being headed by a female widow or by someone old, and to limited access to markets.Unequal sharing of resources within the household reflects not only cultural factors but unequal access to education and physical assets such as land, in which women are disadvantaged. Poverty also reflects society-wide phenomena including insecurity, the quality of public services, the availability of productive employment, macroeconomic stability and the functioning of markets, health infor mation, and the technical information available throughout society. But there are clear signs of improvement: * The proportion of Ugandans in consumption poverty fell from 56 percent in 1992 to 44 percent in 1997. Average real household consumption rose by 17 percent over the period, and rose in every year (this is confirmed in the national accounts data). * The expenditures of the bottom 20 percent rose even more: those of the bottom 10 percent rose by 29 percent, and those of the of the next 10 percent by 23 percent over the period. * A major factor in the reduction of poverty was the benefit farmers gained from the increase in coffee prices, reflecting the combined effect of the boom in world coffee prices and the liberalisation policy, which passed the price increase on to farmers. There was no systematic trend in inequality in the 1990s. But although inequality is not definitely getting worse in Uganda, it would be desirable to reduce it. These data are encouraging: incomes are rising without a significant increase in inequality, and therefore poverty is falling. However, not all groups participated equally in the growth in incomes. Although poverty fell in all regions, average incomes grew faster in the regions which were initially better off. So although overall inequality did not increase, regional inequality increased significantly (Table 2. 1). Table 2. : Household consumption gains by region| | Region| Percentage of population in consumption poverty| Percentage growth in real consumption|    | 1992| 1997| 1992–1997| | Central| 45. 5| 27. 7| 21. 4| West| 52. 8| 42. 0| 15. 9| East| 59. 2| 54. 3| 11. 0| North| 71. 3| 58. 8| 14. 4| | The income group which benefited most dramatically was cash crop farmers, reflecting the increase in cash crop prices. Poverty in this group fell from 60 percent to 44 percent between 1992 and 1996 (Table 2. 2). Income poverty among food crop farmers remained largely unchanged (falling marginally from 64 percent to 62 percent).Table 2. 2 Household consumption gains by economic sector| | Sector of household head| Share of population (%)| Percentage of population in consumption poverty|    | 1992| 1996| 1992| 1996| | Food crop| 47. 2| 44. 2| 63. 7| 62. 2| Non-food cash crop| 23. 4| 26. 7| 60. 1| 43. 7| Manufacturing| 3. 7| 3. 3| 44. 8| 27. 4| Trade| 6. 7| 6. 9| 25. 9| 19. 4| Government services| 6. 8| 5. 5| 35. 0| 28. 0| Not working| 4. 3| 4. 9| 60. 2| 63. 4| | Participatory data from the UPPAP indicate that many communities consider that poverty is increasing. This probably reflects two differences from the household survey.First, the participatory assessment was confined to poor, mainly food-producing communities, which gained the least from recent improvements. And the perceptions of poor people covered in the UPPAP were probably based on a broader view of poverty, encompassing more than simply low income. The Government of Uganda considers that absolute poverty must be eradicated. It has set itself the objective of reducing the headcount of income poverty to 10 percent of the population by 2017. Raising educational achievement of UgandansThe PEAP aims to raise educational achievement of the Ugandan population, especially among children of poor households.The significance of education is that it increases incomes and economic growth, and it offers an intrinsic benefit in itself. In 1997, the policy of free education for four children in every family was introduced and primary enrolment increased enormously from 2. 6 million in 1996 to 6. 5 million currently. Almost three million children entered the schooling system and the gross enrolment rate, using school-based data, rose to 128 percent in 1997 and 145 percent in 1999. Participatory evidence clearly shows that this increase is greatly appreciated by poor people.These data show that the main issue in primary education is no longer increasing quantity, but maintaining quantity while enhancing quality. It is generall y agreed that the quality of education in Uganda declined seriously between the mid-1970s and the late 1980s, and the increased enrolment is now straining the system. While the 1998 National Integrity Survey found that 60 percent of parents were satisfied with the quality of their children's education, the UPPAP investigation found widespread concern with schooling quality among the poor communities contacted.This is borne out by more formal investigations of schooling quality. The heavily burdened primary schooling system cannot meet the immediate demands for classrooms, teachers, and teaching/learning materials. Educational policy thus faces two central challenges: first, how to keep the increased number of children in school: and secondly, how to ensure that quality is maintained and improved given the expansion in the system. Enrolment rates in secondary and tertiary education remain low, although they have increased in recent years.Total secondary enrolment rose from 336,022 in 1997 to 427,592 in 1999. The draft strategic plan for secondary education estimates that only 10 percent of the secondary school age population is in school and that only 6 percent of the poorest 25 percent complete secondary education whereas 22 percent of the best-off 25 percent do so. Whereas Uganda is now well ahead of most countries in Africa in primary education, it is behind the others in secondary education.Although current policy will be focussed on achieving sustainable universal primary education, the requirements of a growing modern economy will place increasing emphasis on secondary schooling, and such schooling is certain to figure prominently in future PEAP revisions. The Government of Uganda has achieved its objective of universal primary education. The challenge it now faces is to encourage children to remain in school, and to acquire relevant skills for adult life.This implies the following objectives: * Maintain universal primary school enrollment (including poor households) * Reduce drop out rates and raise completion rates * Raise the cognitive skills of primary school graduates (as reflected in results from the National Assessment of Progress in Education). Improving the health of the peopleLife expectancy in Uganda has been estimated at just 42 years in 1997 (World Development Indicators). This is exceptionally low, mainly because of the AIDS epidemic. Child mortality is high, though it fell significantly from 180 per thousand in 1989 to 147 in 1994.In addition to increasing mortality, illnesses such as AIDS and malaria incapacitate large numbers of people. Trends in AIDS incidence are presented in the Poverty Status Report; there is a marked fall in incidence in urban areas, where the range of prevalence rates in ante-natal clinic attenders in six urban centers fell from 12–28 percent in 1991 to 7–15 percent in 1997. In rural areas there is no clear trend. Illness is a dimension of poverty which affects all income groups in Uganda, although it affects the poor particularly badly.Health outcomes depend on at least six factors: incomes, education, information, health services, water supply and sanitation. Studies of household data in Uganda have shown that both education and specific information about the causes of illness significantly reduce child mortality. For instance, one study (using 1992 data) found that if a mother has good information about malaria and diarrhea, this reduces the under-five mortality of her children by 0. 045, compared with the overall mortality rate of 0. 18. The same study found that child mortality was much more strongly related to education than to incomes.Mothers in the top expenditure quartile had lost almost the same proportion of their children as mothers in the bottom expenditure quartile, but child mortality dropped at every level of maternal education and mothers with further education had only a quarter as high a rate of child mortality as mothers with no educatio n. More recent data suggests that the link between incomes and mortality has grown stronger (Table 2. 3). Between 1988 and 1995, while under-three mortality fell by 6 percentage points for the poorest 20 percent, it declined by almost 60 points for the richest quintile. Table 2. Under-three mortality by wealth quintile| | | 1988| 1995| | Poorest quintile| 188. 5| 182. 5| Second quintile| 163. 9| 154. 5| Third quintile| 184. 9| 168. 1| Fourth quintile| 180. 6| 134. 3| Richest quintile| 157. 6| 99. 7| | Source: Sahn et al (1999)| Adult mortality may be more powerfully affected than child mortality by income and access to curative services. The most commonly named consequence of poverty in the UPPAP study was ill health, and the third most commonly named was death. It may also be more powerfully affected by the presence of health services, especially for maternal mortality.In the case of AIDS, cultural factors interact with poverty. In some parts of the country, single women cannot get access to land; finding a partner then becomes a matter of survival and people in these circumstances take risks which they would otherwise avoid. A World Bank study has developed projections of under-five mortality in Uganda. Using international data, it has been shown that child mortality responds to the effects of technical progress in preventive and curative care over time, and to female education and income growth within the economy. Using relationships estimated using international data, the ollowing projections are derived: Table 2. 4: Projections of Child Mortality in Uganda, 2017| | | Child mortality in 1995:| 160. 2| | Child mortality in 2015:| | | assuming time trend alone assuming increased female education assuming female education and 3% per capita income growth assuming female education and 5% per capita income growth| 118. 9 117. 6 110. 2 85. 2| | | | These projections show that child mortality could be halved by the end of the period. However, there are three cavea ts: * the impact of female education may be underestimated, especially given UPE. AIDS will tend to increase child mortality more than these data suggest. * Most importantly, the best international performers—many of whom have been socialist countries such as China and Cuba—have achieved much faster improvements in health outcomes. It is important to recognize that energetic public action can produce very fast improvements in health even at low income levels, as the examples of China, Cuba and Sri Lanka show; Uganda's primary education enrolment, though not its health status, is now much better than most countries at its income level.The lessons suggested by these countries include the enormous importance of getting simple health messages out to the population, and the importance of community-level management using very cheap personnel sometimes known as `barefoot doctors'. The very strong emphasis on preventive health messages in the minimum package is an attempt to r eorientate the health system to maximize its effects on health outcomes. Improving the health of the Ugandan population is a priority objective of the Government of Uganda.The Health Sector Strategy sets targets of reducing child mortality from 147 to 103 per thousand, maternal mortality from 506 to 354 per 100,000, to reduce HIV prevalence by 35%, reducing the total fertility rate to 5. 4, and reducing stunting to 28% by 2004/5. Giving voice to poor communitiesPoor people suffer directly from being disempowered. Powerlessness, described as inability to affect things around one, was reflected in the findings of UPPAP. The National Integrity Survey also found that 40 percent of the users of public services had to pay bribes.Such experiences are not only materially impoverishing; they are also demoralising. More broadly, people experience frustration when they cannot perceive their influence over public policy. UPPAP reported, for instance, that poor people saw no effective mechanisms to hold service deliverers accountable. The Government of Uganda aims to implement further administrative and political reforms which will increase poor people's control over their own lives and the policies and services which affect them. Contents3.The Poverty Eradication StrategyThe overall poverty eradication strategy is based on the following principles: * The public sector's role is to intervene in areas where markets function poorly or would produce very inequitable outcomes. * Where the public sector intervenes, it should use the most cost-effective methods, including the use of NGOs for service delivery where appropriate. * Poverty-eradication is a partnership and should involve the closest possible integration of the efforts of government with its development partners. All government policies should reflect the importance of distributional considerations, of gender, of children's rights, and of environmental impacts. * Each area of public action will be guided by the formu lation of desired outcomes and the designs of inputs and outputs to promote them. Strategic public action for poverty eradication is established on four pillars: * creating a framework for economic growth and transformation; * good governance and security; * actions which directly increase the ability of the poor to raise their incomes; * actions which directly improve the quality of life of the poor.It is important to note that these four elements interact. For instance, although primary education is discussed under `quality of life', it also has implications for all the other three goals. The distinction between the goals helps to focus attention on the actions which most directly affect poverty, but the interactions between the objectives need to be borne in mind. Creating a framework for economic growth and transformation. Economic growth and employment-generation are necessary conditions for poverty-eradication.The PEAP must be based on an understanding of the growth potential of the Ugandan economy, and of the public interventions needed to achieve it. .Work at Uganda's Economic Policy Research Centre has projected the growth of incomes and investment over the next twenty years. The EPRC's model has three main components; an investment function, a balance-of-payments constraint, and a production function. Economic growth in the model is driven by three main factors; the accumulation of human and physical capital, and the shift of labour from agriculture to manufacturing, in which it is assumed to be more productive.Estimates of the coefficients are derived from a sixteen-country panel data set. The projections for Uganda include a low-case, based on existing trends, giving 5. 5–6. 5 percent annual growth in GDP over the period (giving a GDP per capita of $550 in constant prices in 2020). They also provide a high-case, based on an increase in the productivity of aid and the diversification of the productive structure. This yields 7–8 percent per annum growth, giving a GDP per capita of $700 in 2020. This model therefore gives potential annual per capita GDP growth of between 2. percent and 4 percent. A very recent study at the World Bank takes a larger cross section to explain why growth rates vary across countries, and focuses more on institutional determinants. It identifies a number of factors which constrain growth, and assesses by how much economic growth could be raised if Uganda could close the gap in these factors compared with average values for developing countries (controlling for income levels). Some factors (such as trade openness and macroeconomic stability) are already better than average, and cannot yield higher future growth.Uganda must maintain the good performance of these indicators. But others—closing the gap in educational attainment, deepening financial institutions, and improving property and contract rights—can yield significant gains. The study estimates such gains could produce an additional GDP annual growth per capita of 1. 7 percentage points. Mean per capita growth of 3. 2 percent per annum (which is what was achieved in the 1990s) could be raised to around 4. 9 percent (assuming no deterioration in the external terms of trade).This translates into a GDP growth rate of 7. 8 percent per annum. These studies show that GDP growth of the order of 7 percent per annum is feasible over the longer term in Uganda. But such economic growth will not be automatic. It will call for public action today to build the institutions needed for higher growth. Economic growth in Uganda requires a framework within which the private sector can expand. The first essential element is macroeconomic stability. Without this, economic growth will not be sustainable.The revised PEAP therefore includes a commitment to maintain macroeconomic discipline which has underpinned the fast economic growth of recent years. The second key element is setting appropriate macroeconomic incentive s. This involves economic openness, which encourages exports and labor-intensive investments. The future for Ugandan industry is not reliance on a wall of high tariff protection—which encourages capital-intensive investment which does little for employment—but open competition in a market which is being expanded by rising incomes from agricultural modernisation.Thirdly, the framework for economic development also includes the equitable and efficient collection and use of public resources. On the revenue side, independent research has shown that recent tax reforms, including the introduction of VAT have made the incidence of taxes more progressive. Local taxation, however, may need review in order to make it more progressive. The use of the savings made available by external debt relief for poverty-reducing purposes and the development of a sound strategy for external borrowing are essential.On the expenditure side, the Poverty Action Fund has been used to reallocate ex penditures to directly poverty-reducing services – primary education, primary health, agricultural extension, feeder roads. Equalisation grants are gradually being introduced; these are designed to make the delivery of services more equals across the country. The aim is that a poor woman in a remote rural area should be able to demand the same standard of service from the public sector as a man in the most affluent urban setting. The budgetary reform under the MTEF is central to implementing the PEAP.Finally, in order to promote economic transformation, the constraints on private sector competitiveness need to be removed. Surveys of business people in Uganda have shown that they face severe constraints on their operations. Infrastructure is a major constraint; firms' experience of power cuts significantly reduces their investment, and the development of internal markets is impeded by the limitations of the road network. Hence the sector-wide transport strategy and the ongoing process of utility reform are key.Another constraint is the difficulty that business people experience in enforcing contracts; this will be addressed by the programme of commercial justice reform which the government is beginning. The weakness of the financial sector is also a serious constraint. Reform of these sectors is essential for the development of the private sector. This is a poverty issue, because the expansion of formal employment is a central part of the strategy. A crucial component of the PEAP is accelerating economic growth. The actions outlined above can be expected to raise GDP growth performance to a potential as high as almost 5 percent per capita per year.Good governance and securityGood governance is increasingly recognised as a prerequisite to economic growth and development. In Uganda, consultations with the poor have shown that insecurity is among their most pressing concerns. Work by the Human Rights Commission, the Law and Order Sector Working Group and th e Governance Action Plan project has identified the main priority areas in this sector. Conflict resolution and effective support to conflict-afflicted areas are essential. Armed conflict has been a decisive factor in the impoverishment of the North and the East.In 1999 the internally displaced population of Uganda is estimated at 622,000, and in addition insecurity affects many people who are not actually displaced. So the successful resolution of conflicts is a necessary part of poverty-eradication. The democratisation of Uganda has been pursued in a context of decentralisation. The process involves the transfer of responsibilities to district level. Participatory work has shown that the most highly appreciated level is the Local Council 1 or Village Council (LC1), the level which is closest to the people.The implications of decentralisation for ministries of central government have been reflected in the government restructuring, but the extent to which they are now ready to fulfi l their new role needs to be assessed. Good governance involves making public expenditure transparent and efficient. Many reforms have been undertaken to make it harder to misuse public funds with impunity, including the establishment of the Ministry of Ethics and Integrity and the design of a new regulatory structure for procurement. Service delivery on the ground urgently needs improvement, as various surveys have shown.This is to be addressed by the introduction of results-orientated management, by pay reform designed to increase and simplify public sector remuneration, and by strengthening bottom-up accountability; communities must be able to hold service deliverers accountable through the Village Councils. Law and order is being addressed by the introduction of a sector-wide approach in which reforms proposed for the criminal justice sector will be costed. The poor reputation of the police needs to be addressed by an improvement in service delivery.The relatively good reputatio ns of LDUs and LC courts can be built upon. Public information is central to good governance and innovative methods of disseminating information should be explored by inter-sectoral cooperation. The special needs of the disabled require a community-based approach which deserves priority. Disaster management, which includes the handling of drought, floods, earthquakes and conflict, requires both preparedness and response; the recently established Ministry within the Prime Minister's Office has prepared a national strategy.Actions which directly increase the ability of the poor to raise their incomesRecent empirical work (mentioned above) has established that GDP growth rates of over 7 percent per annum are feasible for Uganda, providing the needed public actions are taken. What does such growth mean for household income and poverty? The Government has prepared projections for GDP growth and other key macroeconomic variables. The model forecasts real GDP and real per capita private co nsumption up to fiscal year 2019/20, on the basis of a national accounts format.In these scenarios private incomes grow less fast than Government income. As a result, private consumption growth is slower than GDP growth. In real terms, consumption per capita grows by 3. 2 percent per annum for the high projection and 2. 5 percent per annum for the low one. How much poverty reduction are such consumption growth rates likely to yield? Taking the structure and distribution of income (measured by household consumption) as given in the 1997 Poverty Monitoring Survey, an assessment can be made of the effect of such growth on income poverty.If we assume that every Ugandan household experiences per capita income growth of 3. 3 percent per annum, the income poverty headcount would fall to 10 percent by 2017. The MOFEP higher growth scenario (a growth of household consumption of 6. 2 percent per annum, or 3. 3 percent in per capita terms) is therefore consistent with the poverty goal of the P EAP, so long as such growth is distributionally neutral (all households benefit proportionately). Not all sectors, however, will experience such high growth. Taking past experience as a guide, a growth rate of 6. percent in aggregate consumption might involve agricultural incomes growing at only 4. 7 percent per annum (with services and manufacturing growth being respectively 7. 9 percent and 12. 4 percent). If households are locked in their sectors of employment (as reported in the 1997 household survey), those employed in agriculture would experience slower income growth. We estimate that in this limiting case, headcount poverty would only fall to 22 percent, even if aggregate household income growth were 6. 2 percent per annum. Low agricultural growth constrains the poverty reducing impact of economic growth.These conditional projections of potential poverty reduction under the Gvovernment's assumptions for economic growth highlight the need for more targeted interventions, the e ffect of which would be to accelerate the incomes of the poor directly. Two main lessons emerge: first, poverty reduction calls for higher agricultural growth rates; and non-farm employment must be increased in the rural areas where most poor people live. Most Ugandans are self-employed, mainly in agriculture. This gives the Plan for the Modernisation of Agriculture a central role in poverty-eradication.Despite the constraints of limited technology and market access, the potential of raising agricultural incomes is considerable. The PMA identifies six core areas for public action in agriculture: research and technology, advisory services, education for agriculture, access to rural finance, access to markets, and sustainable natural resource utilisation and management. Employment outside agriculture can be promoted by microfinance, advisory services, and vocational training. Feeder roads remain a central priority as in the 1997 PEAP, since when maintenance expenditure has tripled.Lab our-intensive methods have been found to be financially cheaper than other methods of road-building and will contribute to employment generation. Research on land shows considerable inequality, often resulting from administrative and political factors more than the operation of the market. The Land Act is designed to strengthen the land rights of the poor. Women's land rights need to be strengthened further; public sensitisation for the purpose of the Land Act is needed: a cost-effective structure for land administration is needed; and the Land Fund needs to be operationalised, targeting the landless poor.The restocking programme for rural livestock has the potential to reduce poverty by restoring economically valuable assets, provided mechanisms are identified to target the poor. The Government is establishing a new regulatory and supervisory structure for microfinance in order to increase poor people's access to financial services. The Government has withdrawn from the provision o f capital for credit but will still provide support for capacity-building. Publicly supported research is coordinated by NARO. Research is to be decentralised, and stakeholders are to be involved.The appropriate mix between national and international research needs consideration. The potential benefits of publicly provided advisory services vastly outweigh their costs. Strategy is now being reviewed. The advisory service must address issues relevant to poor farmers, using ideas developed by NGOs for low-input technologies which the poor can afford. The services need to address productivity-enhancing techniques for farmers at different levels of resources, drought-resistant crops where needed, nutritional issues, marketing, storage and processing, and soil-conservation.Livestock, fisheries and agroforestry will also be covered by the advisory services. The management of markets is a private sector role under the PMA. The public sector has a role in ensuring that market access is affo rdable for vendors, in improving access to market information throughout the country, and in formulating policy on genetic modification and on organic farming. Sustainable resource use will be promoted by raising awareness, including the encouragement of communal initiatives to protect common property resources.Forestry needs to be promoted by a mixture of public protection and investment in private forests. Valley dam schemes will be reviewed; this is an important priority for addressing the poverty of the Karimojong and the insecurity associated with cattle-rustling. Energy for the poor will be promoted by encouraging the use of more efficient cooking technologies and by smart subsidies for rural electrification, which will encourage entrepreneurs to invest in power infrastructure in rural growth centres.This will make it easier for the rural poor to have their output processed, increasing their effective access to the market; it will also enable more households to gain access to electricity in their homes. Actions which directly improve the quality of life of the poorHuman development outcomes in Uganda have been transformed by the introduction of free primary education for four children in each family, which has lead to a massive increase in enrolment. Primary education is a central element of the PEAP. Now that quantity has increased so much, quality is critical.Challenges include the implementation of low-cost classroom construction and the management of the gap between teachers and classrooms including the use of double shifts where appropriate, measures for bottom-up accountability, and the possibility of using school gardens to educate children about agriculture while also providing some food. In secondary education, a strategy is in draft. Targeting gifted children from poor backgrounds is a poverty issue. Health care is being coordinated by the new health strategic plan. At the heart of this is the minimum health package.Service delivery is being im proved by a number of mechanisms including better remuneration and training, better infrastructure, and better accountability to consumers through village health committees. The pro-poor implementation of cost-recovery will require the successful identification of targeting mechanisms, perhaps geographically based. AIDS and population growth raise cross-cutting issues. Water and sanitation are being supported by major public interventions, with communities paying a small proportion of the investment costs and being responsible for the maintenance of the facilities.Community sensitisation on water-borne disease and on the need for maintenance is therefore critical. Adult literacy is likely to be made an element of PAF from this year; its benefits are potentially very considerable, as literacy has been directly found to increase agricultural productivity and evidence suggests it will also influence health outcomes. Housing is a private sector responsibility, but the state can encourag e the availability of low-cost housing. Contents4.Macroeconomic stability, medium- and long-term expenditure implications of the PEAPMacroeconomic stability and the macroeconomic frameworkIn the medium term (three years), Government's strategy for fighting poverty is reflected in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the expenditure priorities which are incorporated into the MTEF. The MTEF is itself fully integrated into a macroeconomic framework which is designed to ensure low inflation of no more than 5% and to support rapid broad based real GDP growth of 7% per annum. In the first year of the MTEF, 2000/01, inflation may be higher and growth lower than the medium term targets because of the lagged impact of the external terms of trade shock which Uganda suffered in 1999/2000). The exchange rate will continue to be market determined, with the Bank of Uganda intervening only to dampen excessive volatility in the exchange rate and to maintain net international reserves at a level which is consistent with the targets in the PRGF programme (these targets will be based on the objective of maintaining gross foreign reserves at a minimum of ive months of imports of goods and non factor services). Macroeconomic policy will be accompanied by a deepening of structural reforms in key areas including the banking and financial system, public utilities and the transport infrastructure, which are aimed at removing key constraints to private sector growth, and reforms to improve the efficiency and quality of public services. The key linkages between the MTEF and the macroeconomic framework are via the domestic borrowing requirement and the projected net inflows of external financing.The MTEF is consistent with both the levels of donor support projected over the medium term, relatively conservative projections of domestic revenue mobilisation and domestic bank borrowing which is consistent with the monetary objectives discussed in the next paragraph. The increased expenditures on programmes and projects specifically targeted on poverty reduction (for example, expenditures under the Poverty Action Fund (PAF) are projected to increase from 2. 9% of GDP in 1998/99 to 4. 6% of GDP in 2000/01) are fully consistent with the Government's macroeconomic objectives.Increased expenditures on the PAF will be funded by increased donor support, including debt relief made available under the enhanced HIPC initiative, and by restraint in the growth of non priority expenditures. The overall fiscal deficit, excluding grants, is projected to rise from the programmed 8. 1% of GDP in 1999/2000 to 9. 7% of GDP in 2000/01, before declining to 8. 7% and 8. 2% of GDP in 2001/02 and 2002/03 respectively. Donor support, net of external amortisation, is projected at 10. 4%, 10. 1% and 9. % of GDP respectively in 2000/01, 2001/02 and 2002/03, and will therefore more than cover the projected fiscal deficits, allowing Government to accumulate savings with the domestic ban king system and the non bank private sector. Annex Table 2. 1 refers. The medium term monetary objectives are to maintain a rate of growth of broad money (M2) of 15% per annum which is required to hold core inflation (which excludes food crop and fuel prices) to no more than 5% per annum. This rate of money supply growth is consistent with the projected increase in money demand given projected growth of nominal GDP (averaging 12. % per annum) and a decline in the velocity of circulation of circulation of an average of 2. 2% per annum. Private sector credit is projected to expand by 15% per annum in nominal terms. This will allow private sector credit to gradually increase as a share of GDP. The growth in the net foreign assets of the Bank of Uganda will be determined primarily by the objective of maintaining gross foreign reserves at a minimum of five months of imports. Consistent with these objectives, Government is projected to accumulate savings in the domestic banking system of Shs 14 billion (0. 14% of GDP) in 2000/01, Shs 89 billion (0. 1% of GDP) in 2001/02 and Shs 95 billion (0. 77% of GDP) in 2002/03. Annex Table 2. 4 refers. The trade deficit (denominated in dollars) is projected to widen in 2000/01 because of the impact of the external terms of trade shock, which will depress export earnings. However the increase in the trade deficit will be largely offset by the projected rise in official and private transfers. As a percentage of GDP, the current account deficit (including transfers and FDI) will rise from the outturn of 4. 1% in 1998/99 to a projected 4. 6% of GDP in 2000/01, before declining to 3. 8% and 3. % of GDP in the following two years. The capital account is projected to remain in surplus, which together with the debt relief provided under the HIPC and enhanced HIPC initiatives, will enable the Bank of Uganda to accumulate net international reserves of $58 million in 2000/01, $108 million in 2001/02, and $116 million in 2002/03. This is s ufficient to maintain gross reserves at the target level of five months of imports of goods and non factor services. Annex Table 2. 3 refers. Annex Table 2. 1 summarises projected investment and savings. Public investment is projected at 7. 4% of GDP in 1999/2000 and 7. %, 7. 3% and 7. 0% in the next three years. Public savings are projected at 5. 1% of GDP in 1999/2000 and 5. 0%, 5. 0% and 4. 7% in the next three years. Private investment is projected at 10. 3% of GDP in 1999/2000, rising to 10. 5%, 12. 8% and 12. 9% in the next three years. Finally, private savings are projected to fall to 8. 1% of GDP in 1999/2000, recovering to 8. 7%, 11. 2% and 11. 5% in the next three years. The Medium-Term Expenditure FrameworkThose aspects of the PEAP which have implications for public expenditure will be implemented through the medium-term expenditure framework.This framework is presented to Cabinet as part of the annual â€Å"Budget Framework Paper (BFP)†, covering three fiscal year s. The objective of the MTEF is the design of all public expenditure by a clear analysis of the link between inputs, outputs and outcomes, in a framework which ensures consistency of sectoral expenditure levels with the overall resource constraint in order to ensure macroeconomic stability and to maximise the efficiency of public expenditure in attaining predetermined utcomes. Ultimately, these medium-term objectives need to be consistent with the longer-term objectives defined by the PEAP; so the PEAP will be used to guide reallocations of expenditure. The sectoral implications of the PEAP objectives are reflected in the design of sectoral strategies which in turn guide the expenditure allocations made each year under the MTEF. The MTEF is intended to guide all public expenditure including the use of resources committed by donors.For this reason, the Government is introducing a sector-wide approach wherever feasible, under which government and donors contribute to a common pool of resources used to achieve the sectoral objectives. The flexibility which this arrangement allows is essential to the efficient use of public expenditure,. because only in a sector-wide approach can the overall implications of a national programme within each sector be considered, and because a sector-wide approach can reduce duplications of effort by different projects and divergences of cost structure between projects and other public activities.Using the PAF to prioritise public expenditureThe PEAP of 1997 drew particular attention to the need for increased expenditure on the delivery of those services which directly benefit the poor. It was recognised that in Uganda, as in most other countries, there could be a tendency to neglect the interests of the poor unless a conscious effort was made; this is one implication of the observation that powerlessness is one aspect of poverty. Since 1997, the institution of the Poverty Action Fund has been used to achieve the planned reallocatio ns.The PAF has three essential elements for this objective. First, no expenditure is included in PAF unless its direct poverty benefits are clearly demonstrated. Secondly, the use of funds in the PAF is subject to particularly stringent monitoring procedures in which civil society actively participates. Thirdly, the use of funds for PAF activities is clearly additional to the levels achieved in the 1997/8 budget. Most of the areas included in the PAF consist of service delivery which directly benefits poor people, rather than administration.In order to achieve the increase in spending on service delivery and on infrastructure, it is necessary to keep administration lean. Government will continue to endeavour to make its administrative elements as lean as possible and to avoid the proliferation of administrative structures which can impose serious fiscal costs. Poverty priorities and the PAF The PAF (summarised in Table 4. 1) includes the most high-priority public expenditures from t he poverty-eradication perspective.Inclusion of a particular sector or programme in the PAF is justified by the high economic and/or social returns to the form of expenditure, by the fact that a substantial proportion of the benefits of expenditure in that area are received by the poor, and by the priority which participatory work has shown the poor themselves attach to that area. Areas already included in the PAF include rural roads, agricultural extension, primary health, primary education, water supply, and equalisation grants whose purpose (defined in the Constitution) is to make the quality of service del