Analyzing Mass Media And Popular Culture English Language Essay

Analyzing Mass Media And Popular Culture English Language Essay Data Workshop 1 Analyzing Mass Media and Popular Culture: Theories of Celebrity Gossip Although many can dismiss celebrity blogs such as www.perezhilton.com and www.wwtdd.com as frivolous and mean, the popularity and prevalence of these websites have a considerable social impact on our world today. For this Data Workshop, you will be analyzing entries in a celebrity blog, using one of the three major social paradigms. Step 1: Collecting Data Choose a celebrity blog and pick five entries. Scrutinize the pictures, read the headlines and text carefully, and review the reader comments. Step 2: Thinking about and Analyzing the Data For the five entries that you have selected, answer the following questions from each of sociologys three major theoretical perspectives. Later, use your data-collection form to write a one page essay summarizing the differences in the theories and their value as a sociological analyst. Compare what you observed to what the textbook says in Ch 1. DATA-COLLECTION FORM FOR THEORIES OF CELEBRITY GOSSIP Data Workshop 1 1. Structural Functionalist Theory: What is the function (or functions) of celebrity gossip blogs for society? What purpose(s) do they serve, and how do they help society maintain stability and order? Do celebrity gossip blogs have manifest and latent functions? Are any dysfunctions built into such publications? 2. Social Conflict Theory: What forms of inequality are revealed in celebrity gossip blogs? In particular, what do celebrity gossip blogs have to say about gender, race, and class inequalities? Who suffers and who benefits from the publication of celebrity gossip blogs? 3. Symbolic Interactionist Theory: What do celebrity gossip blogs mean to society as a whole? What do they mean to individual members of society? Can they have different meanings for different individuals or groups of individuals? How do those meanings get constructed in interaction? And how do celebrity gossip blogs shape and influence our everyday lives? -1 Kim Kardashian is good at twitter 53166_kim_kardashian_at_photoshoot_twitpics_01_123_391lo Kim Kardashian doesnt really do anything of course, but before this our famous celebrities who didnt really do anything were fug whores like Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. Remember that? What the hell was that all about? So at least Kim is hot, and goes on  her twitter  and posts pics of her kick ass rack. The only way to get even more intimate pictures of Kim is to be black. Comments: Talked ab poop. Said she isnt preggo, hated on blk ppl -2 Rihanna got a new haircut Rihanna By all accounts Rihanna (seen here last night at a Clippers game in LA) is a perfectly nice woman and everyone seems to like and shes a good singer, but very obviously her new bang haircut sucks. If this were  American Idol, these pictures would be turned into a montage with that So You Had a Bad Day song playing over it. Comments: talk ab it being fake, a wig 3 Gwyneth Paltrow has advice for other working moms 56852284 I know some people who have worked with Gwyneth Paltrow and they say shes delightful but that seems impossible to believe. Because shes a complete cunt, delusional and arrogant beyond all comprehension. The latest proof:  on her website GOOP, Paltrow, who is worth 90 million dollars and got married in a castle, has advice for other extremely busy working mothers. Yes that said other. Because thats what she considers herself. And just like all working moms, after she drops her kids at schoolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Did dance aerobics for 45 minutes then all of the butt lifts and the like. Rushed upstairs to have a shower, doing my post workout stretch while the conditioner was doing its magic on my hair to combine activities/save time. Dressed quickly and rushed downstairs. Her day is essentially filled with stuff like that. The stuff that real working moms do when not at work or being a mom. The stuff they have to squeeze into one hour on the weekend is Paltrows entire life, but shes here to tell them how to do it. Because they dont know. They need tips from Gwyneth Paltrow. Im honestly shocked that she isnt punched in the face at least once every time she leaves the house. 4 Kate Beckinsale is in a bikini SPL240191_003 Kate Beckinsale is down in Mexico this weekend, and unlike the hags at the Golden Globes she looked fantastic in this bikini, and I think thats the same place where Jennifer Aniston is always going. I can see why she likes it. Its basically a rock and theres lots of empty space. Just like her womb. 5 Eva Longoria at the Golden Globes Eva Longoria Eva Longoria at least tried to look sexy for last nights Golden Globe awards, but her depressing tits are useless and so it didnt work. This is one of the most boring and unsexy periods I can ever think of in Hollywood. No one ever wears anything good, and most of the big stars are either not pretty or not pretty anymore. About the most positive thing I can say is that theres room for improvement everywhere. You could find hotter girls putting ads on craiglist asking for you to come rape them. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 1.What is the function (or functions) of celebrity gossip blogs for society? To make fun of people, to show off the latest/ or not so latest trends, to spread gossip/info What purpose(s) do they serve, and how do they help society maintain stability and order? They serve as entertainment purpose/news/ way to spread info- help society maintain order by letting ppl know what is in/not in what to do/not do- Do celebrity gossip blogs have manifest and latent functions? Find something from bookPos effect on society-possibly could help spread trends/ show who is/isnt role models Are any dysfunctions built into such publications? Bad-neg affect, more so thatn manifest latent, gossip is bad- demeaning to persons self confidence- shows bad role models- more mature content 2. What forms of inequality are revealed in celebrity gossip blogs? First one talks ab her obsession with blk ppl, ( only blk can see more pics)-what celebritys have that most common ppl can not do/ or afford to have In particular, what do celebrity gossip blogs have to say about gender, race, and class inequalities? Blk ppl thing- class the mother issue, females- sexy hot whores Who suffers and who benefits from the publication of celebrity gossip blogs? everyone suffers from these blogs, the ppl who are wrote ab suffer bc it degrades self image, children suffer from bad role models Benefit- writer bc so many read them, if decent blog then the readers celebrities could benefit 3. What do celebrity gossip blogs mean to society as a whole? Past time- way to spread info- teach what is not cool/cool What do they mean to individual members of society? Back to the benefit/suffer part Kids are hurt by this, adults are humored by this, celebrity can be degraded by this Can they have different meanings for different individuals or groups of individuals? Yes they do How do those meanings get constructed in interaction? And how do celebrity gossip blogs shape and influence our everyday lives?back to #1 Info from book Pg 11- theoretical approach: roadmaps that connect basic image of society with research Structional functional approach- repeat behavior that affects the viewers pg 12 Pg 12- this approach was to keep ppl unified Pg 12- social dysfunction:social pattern that disturbs Pg 13- social conflict: inequality building up over time Theoretical Perspectives in Blogs From analyzing celebrity blogs we can learn a lot more than the latest gossip. The celebrity blogs provide great insight in the differences between sociologys three major theoretical perspectives. The celebrity blog that I reviewed had great examples of the structural functionalist theory, social conflict theory, and the symbolic internationalist theory that compared nicely to the books definition of each, but still had some different points. First I examined how the structural functionalist theory appeared in the blog. As known by the definition given by the text book the structural functionalist theory is a theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability (page 11). One of the major differences I noticed between how the blog portrayed this theory from how the book described this theory is the stability. I did not notice any of the different blog entries or any of the celebrities that appeared in the blog entries to work together to provide stability in todays society, if anything I noticed the celebrities all behaving in different manners that disturbed the stability of the blog. While the book describes social structure as ..gives our lives shape in families, the work place, or the college classroom, ( page 12). A similarity I noticed was how the book explained how manifest and latent functions are a part of the structural-functional approach, and you could see each function within the blog. Manifest functions could be recognized from the comments to each of the blogs, the readers adjusted their thoughts and actions based on the blogs that they read. Secondly, the social conflict theory appeared inside the blog and the book. By definition the social conflict approach is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ sees society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and change. (page 13) Overall throughout each blog I examined I saw issues of race, sex, and social classes. The blog that discussed Kim Kardashian was full of issues of race and sex from the main picture to the response. Her risquà © picture provided conflict for the other women viewers who saw it, but the males tended to enjoy it more. Also an issue of race was brought up when the writer of the blog mentioned that you have to be black to get more pictures of Kim. A quote like this could create an issue between all races who read the comment. Thirdly, the symbolic interaction theory that is defined as society as the product of the everyday interactions of individuals. ( page 15) appears inside the blogs entries. The blog gives viewers the opportunity to express their feelings and allow them to interact with others. Also the blog purpose of a blog is to collect data and distribute it to followers, this data can be gossip, news, latest trends, or basically anything. Some of the information can play a positive or negative affect based on the type of reader. The book mentions two different levels of symbolic-interaction, macro-level and micro-level, while the blog provides a great example of each. From the macro-level observing from a helicopter level, you can see the broad focus of the blog is celebrities different styles. The micro, or street level focus, you can see how their different styles affect the followers. Each of the three theories, structural-functionalist, social-conflict, and symbolic interaction have the same goal in mind of analyzing how a particular item affects a society, while each theory has its own specific areas. I believe that each theory builds on each other to provide a in-depth analysis, starting from how things work together, to conflicts that arise, even down to how everyday interactions. ( The blog I used was from www.wwtdd.com. The five blogs I chose were Kate Beckinsale is in a bikini Jan. 17, Eva Longoria at the Golden Globes Jan. 17, Kim Kardashian is good at twitter Jan. 14, Rhianna got a new haircut Jan. 13 and Gwyneth Paltrow has advices for other working moms Jan. 13.

The Long Walk :: essays research papers

Walking, there is no end in sight: stranded on a narrow country road for all eternity. It is almost dark now. The clouds having moved in secretively. When did that happen? I am so far away from all that is familiar. The trees are groaning against the wind’s fury: when did the wind start blowing? Have I been walking for so long that time hysterically slipped away! The leaves are rustling about swirling through the air like discarded post-it notes smashing, slapping against the trees and blacktop, â€Å"splat-snap†. Where did the sun go? It gave the impression only an instant ago, or had it been longer; that it was going to be a still and peaceful sunny day; has panic from hunger and walking so long finally crept in? Waking up this morning, had I been warned of the impending day, the highs and lows that I would soon face, and the unexpected twist of fate that awaited me, I would have stayed in bed. It was a sunny day. The leftovers of last week’s snowstorm still blanketed most of the surrounding area. I decided, after straggling about the house for nearly two hours, lethargy slowly creeping in, that I would go for a drive. I leaped in my trusty old Maverick and roared away. The Maverick, which I bought in 1975, was dark blue, (my favorite color). It was a steal and only ten years past its prime. It was a good, trustworthy car and until today, I had not had any problems with it. This was a spontaneous kind of getaway, so nothing was planned, no basket of food prepared, nor did I make any other preparations. Living in the city can be depressing so getting away from the concrete jungle for a few hours was a welcomed escape. I have not lived in this city for very long, although I knew the names of the adjoining towns, there were a few that I did not know. However, being the adventurer that I am, I drove off in a direction that I have never been. I do not know why I did not t hink to look at the gas gauge before I left perhaps I was too preoccupied with the thought of fleeing that I did not care. After two and a half hours of Driving, on an old narrow country road, maneuvering the Maverick to its full potential I began to sense the problem with my car even before it actually happened.

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

The Case of Legalized Euthanasia: Analysis and Insights

Euthanasia, also commonly known as mercy killing or assisted suicide, as defined by any lexicon, would refer to the act of intentionally killing a person in a painless or minimally painful manner so as to end that person’s suffering.The word euthanasia was actually derived from two Greek words to wit: â€Å"eu† and â€Å"thanatos†, which mean good and death, respectively. Thus, euthanasia is also sometimes referred to as good death while in other references it is referred to as easy death.Euthanasia or mercy killing is usually carried out for people who are terminally ill and would want to cut short their prolonged suffering from pain and or for those people who are placed in a situation wherein they have become incapable of making such request for themselves. This group of people would include those whose primary existence is being provided by a life support or vital medication.There are actually various types of euthanasia. This would include active, passive an d physician assisted suicide.Active euthanasia, according to various references, would refer to that type of euthanasia wherein there is a direct action involved in causing an individual to die. To illustrate, let us take into consideration one of the most talked about film of the year, the Million Dollar Movie.In the said film Ms. Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) was placed in a situation wherein the only thing that enables her to thrive is by means of a life-support machine. Mr. Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood), who was Ms.Fitzgerald’s trainer in the field of boxing, as a response to Ms. Fitzgerald’s request to help her end her suffering actually engaged oneself in committing the active type of euthanasia via injecting a substance which is alien to the Ms. Fitzgerald’s body, thus causing Ms. Fitzgerald’s death.Passive euthanasia, on the other hand, is defined as that type of assisted suicide wherein the death of a person is hastened by deliberately alterin g available forms of life support and letting the individual experience the natural course of death.To illustrate, Mr. Frankie Dunn also exhibited this type of euthanasia by means of taking out the life support machine of Ms. Fitzgerald, thus contributing to her hastened death.Passive euthanasia may also be exhibited by stopping necessary and imperative medical procedures, medications, and the like. Likewise, by stopping food as well as water intake thus allowing the person or patient to dehydrate and or starve to death is also another manifestation of a passive type of euthanasia.Physician assisted euthanasia, in contrast with the other two types mentioned, is that type of euthanasia wherein a professional in the field of medicine makes available to his or her patient the necessary information and or means to cut short the patient’s suffering or life.Due to the fact that euthanasia involves an act that deviates from the natural way of dying, it became a precursor to various ethical, religious, and moral issues. Likewise, since there have been many medical cases that involved the act of mercy killing as well as existing and public policies that legalizes it, strong protests on its practice became prevalent. Should euthanasia be legalized despite the many intricacies and social implications it has created?For the purpose of this paper, the author aims to discuss the nature of euthanasia and the claim of Mr. Robert Dworkin et al. in the compendium entitled â€Å"Assisted Suicide: The Philosopher’s Brief†. Likewise, it is also the objective of the author to make a stand on the legalization of euthanasia and support his claim by citing examples from the movie the Million Dollar Baby and other examples of even nature to critically examine Mr. Dworkin’s claim in his published essay.

Scholarly Writing Awareness

While the paragraph focuses on the social reaction towards the development and evolution of computers through the years, the reader can immediately notice in the introductory sentence that the author of the paragraph does not provide scholarly research to support the presumptive claim that there is the â€Å"widespread availability of the personal computer. † Had the author indicated a recognized research or study on the widespread availability of the personal computer, the claim that such a widespread phenomenon has been â€Å"one of the greatest breakthroughs in the past 50 years† could have easily been upheld. Further, substantiating the claim that such a widespread phenomenon has been a breakthrough would have also played a contributing role to the latter arguments stated in the paragraph. The second sentence in the paragraph indicates that the personal computer is a â€Å"powerful learning tool† because of two primary stated reasons: one is its revolutionizing influence on commerce and education, and; two is its effect on â€Å"the very way everyone conducts his or her daily lives. While it is good to indicate the reasons behind qualifying the personal computer as a powerful learning tool, the author failed to take note of the other influencing ‘side’ of the personal computer, which is that the use of it has also already turned into an addiction to some people that it has altered their ways of dealing with other people. The exposition of the other ‘side’ of personal computers is important so as to avoid bias in writing an essay with a scholarly voice. Inasmuch as it balances the pros and the cons pertaining to personal computers, providing a view of both negative and positive influences of these tools is equally significant as it gives the reader a broader understanding of the issue at hand. Moreover, the third sentence of the paragraph shows the hasty generalization of the author by denying the fact that there still remain significant debates surrounding the â€Å"digital divide between those who could afford computers and those who could not. By neglecting that fact, the author then proceeds to assert the claim that â€Å"poor people can now save enough to buy their families a computer for home and school use. † In writing scholarly papers, one should avoid using opinion as a premise or evidence for further arguments as it weakens the very arguments of the author. The opinion that there is almost no more â€Å"digital divide† is not enough to stand as a factual evidence and to support the claim that less fortunate individuals can now actually â€Å"save enough† money for them to be able to purchase personal computers. If the target audience of the author is a group of people who experts or who have sufficient knowledge on the effects and history of personal computers, it is highly probable that the audience will be unable to connect with the statements of the author precisely because there is little evidence used to back-up his arguments. Worse, the audience might simply disagree with the author, with the latter failing to convince the audience or failing to send his message across effectively. If, on the other hand, the audience of the author is a group of individuals who have little to no background knowledge about personal computers and are expecting an objective presentation of ideas from the author, it is most certain that the tendency is for the audience to believe in the claims of the author and, eventually, hold these beliefs as close to being treated as facts. Both of these two instances are not commendable as far as scholarly writing and scholarly voice are concerned because both fail to consider the fact that the author’s writing should be fair and objective, or should render no bias and should make use of accepted facts. In essence, the substance of the paragraph can be improved by citing facts and removing opinion. Doing both things can give the paper and the author more credibility and will not be suspect of unsound arguments and invalid points.

Compound Interest Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Compound Interest - Assignment Example His latest investments have been successful – after selling a four-unit apartment building and a town house, Willie has $300,000 in the bank and is debt-free. With only 10 years before retirement, Willie wants to make solid financial decisions that will limit his risk exposure. An attractive property has come on the market this week – a pair of townhouses with a great view. The rental units are in good condition and would need only some minor repairs in order to get them into shape for rental. They are in a good location for vacationers and summer rentals. The price tag for the two townhouses totals $225,000 – well within his range. He figures he can invest the remaining $75,000, and between the two hopes to have $600,000 on which to retire by age 56. 1. Willie knows that real estate in this general location appreciates by about 5% a year. Assuming that this trend continues, what will be the future value of the $225,000 townhouses in 10 years? (5 points) 2. Willie’s local bank offers a 2-year certificate of deposit (CD) that pays 5% compounded quarterly. A competing bank in town also offers a 2 year CD that pays 5%, but the interest is componded daily. If Willie invests the $75,000, how much more money will he get from the second bank after two years due to the daily compounding (assume exact time is used)? (5 points) 3. After purchasing the townhouses, Willie receives an assessment from the town for $17,500 due in 2 years to pay for road repairs and new sewer hookups for the properties. How much would he need to invest today in a CD paying 5%, compounded semiannually, to fully pay the assessment in 2 years? 4. A friend of Willie’s is a real estate developer and needs to borrow $75,000 to finish a development project. He is desparate for cash and offers Willie 18%, compounded monthly for 2 Â ½ years. Given that he can invest the

Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Disorders Term Paper

Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Disorders - Term Paper Example Moreover, Thompson 2008 posits that a major factor in the incident of bulimia is low self-esteem. In their attempt to secure the approval of others they hide their true feelings, thus, food develops into their main supply of comfort. Thompson also notes that Bulimics are different to the anorexic individual in that they recognize that they have a problem and request help. Compulsive eating appears to be on the other extreme of anorexia and bulimia because entails unmanageable eating and hence results in an increase in weight. Food is used as a means of hiding from reality and covering a plethora of problems. Both the bulimic and the compulsive overeater are aware that they have a problem; however, the bulimic attempts purging to solve any weight gain whilst the compulsive overeater attempts to diet. It is this dieting that opens a can of worms. The more the compulsive overeater attempt to diet the more they binge. Binge eating results in the compulsive overeater feeling powerless, us eless and guilty hence, Thompson 2008 argues that dieting and bingeing may go on forever unless the reason for the emotional upheaval is resolved. One specific factor in the onslaught of compulsive eating from childhood is the inability to manage stressful situations. Food was used as a major source of stress management. Consequently, fat may be considered a means of hiding from the world. This particularly occurs in individuals who were sexually abused. Â  Interestingly, researchers have found there to be more male overeaters than females.