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| Subject | IT |
| Description | IT is very necessary all of technical student. My favorite sit is IT. |
| Full Name | Debbroto Mondol |
| Email Address | debbrotomondol@ymail.com |
If you gave away all of your money and nearly everything you owned, could you get it all back? What if you had to start over in a completely new career? Could you repeat your success? That's exactly what Mark, the subject of today's case study, did.…
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Two foreign shoe sellers were once sent to Africa in search of new customers. At the sight of locals marching barefoot, the first retreated in despair. The second rejoiced at the untapped market. He ordered thousands of shoes, sold them to locals and…
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--Perhaps our generation's greatest failing is how lazy we are. How many of my readers have sent me emails talking about how they want to change…how they want to improve their finances, or earn more, or get healthier…or even READ my book (which is…
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| Subject | Items added to the UN report. |
| Description | Items added to the UN report. Subheading in the Millennium Development Goals agenda of the World Rehabilitation Organization (WRO) underprivileged around the world and the world to foster the welfare of the disabled are included. · 66th September 2011, UN General Assembly. Establishment of the UN World Rehabilitation Organization. · Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger · Achieve Universal Primary Education · Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women · Reduce Child Mortality · Improve Maternal Health · Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases · Ensure Environmental Sustainability · Promote Global Partnership for Development The United Nations reports have insisted that many countries and communities in Africa may not achieve these goals by 2015 unless some extra-ordinary measures are taken urgently to inspire local actions and commitments by the people under a conducive environment by the government. This makes the initiative for the 2011 Millennium Development Ambassadors summit on Building a Culture of Peace and the Millennium Development Goals in Accra, Ghana critical and most timely. Please attend. |
| Full Name | World Rehabilitation Organization |
| Email Address | wro5@wro5.com |
Over the course of creating Earn1K 2.0, we discovered some fascinating insights about people and money. In order to create the second version of my flagship course on earning money on the side, I collected over 100,000 data points. That's surveys,…
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Wikipedia has defined job satisfaction as a pleasurable emotional state
resulting from the appraisal of one's job; an affective reaction to one's
job;and an attitude towards one's job.Weiss (2002) has argued that job
satisfaction is an attitude but points out that researchers should clearly
distinguish the objects of cognitive evaluation which are affect (emotion),
beliefs and behaviors. This definition suggests that we form attitudes towards
our jobs by taking into account our feelings, our beliefs, and our behaviors.
Gone are the days when people used to join one company and retire from the
same company after spending their entire life in the company. Relocation for
job was not the norm. However the introduction of economic reforms in early
1990's has changed the way of people's outlook towards their career and
professional life. Thinking small or thinking less becomes unacceptable. People
begin to think that thinking little is a crime. The kind of money and comforts
that people got exposed to was something unrealistic and unimaginable by the
previous generation. All this has contributed to the greed of human being.
Companies begin to offer numerous benefits to their employees' such as
pick-and-drop facilities, mobile, high-tech cafeterias, fully subsidized
houses, financing for their higher education, stock-options, opportunity to
work on-site, in-door games, and in-house entertainment, option to work from
home, so on and so forth. Has all these facilities and benefits contributed
towards the job-satisfaction of employees? No, it hasn't. It has only
contributed to expand their greed. Doesn't matter what you offer to them and
how you keep them, the moment they get any better offer, they will leave the
company. So, how and when does an employee begin to feel satisfied in his job?
I define job satisfaction as a perfect state of mind that can be attained only
then when either a person gets tired of changing jobs at regular intervals or
companies get fed-up of hiring a recurrent job-hopper. One may move from one
company to another and may change 7-8 companies in a span of, say, 5-6 years (I
know people who have achieved this goal in lesser number of years). In every
company, they found similar kind of comforts, benefits and perks and now that
they have become tired of changing jobs and hence they thought of "begin to
love their current job and feel satisfied in the current environment". Other
reason for being satisfied in their current job is that they have hopped so
many jobs and companies in last few years that the companies have begin to
ignore their profiles. If there is no job in offering, you will love what you
have.
I believe that all these job satisfaction talks and surveys are wastage of
time and resources. Just like the way, no one can motivate you or make you feel
passionate, if you do not want to; in a same way, no one and nothing can make
you love your job or feel satisfied in your job, if you don't want to.
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Stress tests being conducted in the European Union will show that all the major European banks have sufficiently capital, International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a French television station.
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--TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese consumer electronics giant Panasonic Corp will slash 40,000 jobs over the next two years in a bid to pare costs and keep up with ever-harsher competition from Asian rivals, a source said on Thursday.
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--
Prepayment implies closing the loan earlier than planned. Most banks impose a
penalty on prepayment. The prepayment can be charged in two cases. One, when
you prepay with your own sources. In this case, you issue a cheque from your
account. Second, you refinance the loan from another bank.
Impact of prepayment
The prepayment penalty for public sector banks is about 1% or less while it can
be anywhere between 1% and 3% in private banks. In many cases, banks do not
charge any prepayment penalty if you prepay using your own sources.
The penalty is calculated on principal. Hence if you have 20 lakhs of loan
outstanding, the penalty could be from 0 to Rs 60,000 depending on banks.
Now, when it comes to figuring your outstanding loan amount do not assume that
for instance if you have taken a 40L loan for a 20 year tenure, you would have
paid 20L in 10 years. Here is why. During the initial years of repayment the
interest component repaid is higher and during the latter years the principal
component is higher. So in your repayment so far you would have only repaid the
interest component for the most part.
To determine how exactly the repayment happens throughout the tenure you can
visit this link – here and try out the EMI calculator, which will provide you
with the entire repayment schedule otherwise known as the amortization table.
Banks do this to retrieve their interest cost or fee for the loan upfront
before obtaining the actual loan amount (principal) borrowed.
However, do note that when you prepay it directly reduces the principal amount
borrowed. So if you were to prepay in small amounts throughout the loan tenure
chances are you will close your loan much earlier. Most banks allow you to
partially prepay upto a certain limit without any penalty but when you prepay
in full you are likely to incur the highest prepayment charge. However, it
maybe worth it if you actually save a significant amount in interest by
refinancing the loan.
Banks and Borrowers – some points to keep in mind
From the banks' point of view, they charge prepayment penalty as it impacts
the future income of the bank. To ensure you get clarity on prepayment, you
must discuss the clauses at the time of borrowing. Insist on getting a written
note on all the clauses.
At the same time, discuss with the bank the specific prepayment penalty levied
at different stages of the tenure of the loan as banks have different charges
for prepayment at different timelines. For example, banks may charge 2% if you
prepay before 5 years, 1% between 5 to 10 years, none beyond 10 years.
You should also discuss with the banks the difference in charges on prepayment
from your own sources and on refinancing from other banks.
Last and most important as mentioned earlier, you should also see if you can
prepay partially. Most of the banks do allow partial prepayment up to a certain
limit. For example, you can pay 3-5 extra EMIs in a year.
RBI and its position on prepayment penalty
The RBI has shown its displeasure in past on prepayment charges and has been
advising the banks against it. The larger discussion is still on.
However, there is another body, owned by RBI, called National Housing Bank
(NHB) directed the banks in Oct, 2010, with immediate effect, not to charge
prepayment penalty when the borrowers pay with their own sources. Violation
will lead to action under the National Housing Bank Act, 1987. You can take a
look at the one page directive here.
This directive, however, doesn't say anything about refinancing. The banks are
opposing it tooth and nail. It looks likely that there could be a middle path
between banks and the RBI where the prepayment penalty on refinancing will stay
but with the reduced rate. The jury is still out.
Copyright 2011 BankBazaar.com. All rights reserved.
This tool/content is provided by BankBazaar.com and not by Reuters. The content
may not be copied, broadcast, downloaded and stored (in any medium),
transmitted, adapted or changed in any way whatsoever without the prior written
permission of BankBazaar.com.
BankBazaar.com is an online marketplace where you can instantly get the lowest
loan rates, compare and apply online for your personal loan (click here), home
loan (click here), car loan (click here), credit card (click here) from
India's leading banks and NBFCs.
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Yesterday, I ran a small survey: How long until you're out of debt? Yes, it's a self-selected audience I've long suspected that most people in debt don't even know how much they owe. I'm trying to dig up data on this, but from talking to tons of…
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--
For most of the world's companies, growth appears to have regained its place at
the top of strategic agenda, displacing the cost-control mentality that has
dominated boardrooms and executive suites for the past three years. That's good
news, but are companies prepared for the economic recovery? Do they have the
talent they need to grow?
According to the most recent Accenture High Performance Workforce Study, which
is based on a survey of 674 C-level executives around the world, the answer for
many companies is not hopeful.
The study, conducted between January and May 2010, found that president
challenges in improving enterprise skill levels, workforce performance, HR
organization productivity and effectiveness can substantially impede a
company's ability to capitalize on emerging growth opportunities as economic
prospects brighten in most parts of the world.
Workforce Actions During the Downturn
There's no doubt the recession had an impact on workforces around the globe,
and that impact has been most visible in job eliminations: 62 percent of
executives in the survey reported their organization had reduced the number of
full-time employees during the downturn. Layoffs were much more prevalent in
developed markets than in emerging economies.
When determining which employees to let go, 52 percent of companies claimed to
eliminate employees in the lowest tier of performance. Future competitiveness
also played a role in the decisions of many companies, with approximately four
in 10 executives saying eliminated employees either had skills that were not
critical to the organization's future business or were in workforces that were
not deemed important to the organization's focus areas going forward.
But at the same time companies were laying off employees, about eight in 10
also were adding staff, mostly for strategic reasons such as strengthening
workforces critical to the success of the business or addressing specific
people needs related to a launch of a new product or business.
The study also revealed that the use of analytics is not pervasive. Only about
one in 10 respondents strongly agreed they have a formal analytics capability
that can help them make fact-based decisions about the skills needed to drive
growth and the changes necessary to improve HR and training performance and
effectiveness.
The net result of companies' workforce actions during the downturn was a
smaller workforce for 47 percent of organizations, a larger workforce for 34
percent and workforce of about the same size for 19 percent.
Workforce Skills and Performance
Such workforce actions notwithstanding, Accenture's research revealed many
companies will likely encounter major skills challenges that could make it
difficult for them to achieve their growth objectives.
For instance, although sales and customer support and service were cited as the
two most important functions by survey participants in the previous three
editions of the study, many executives expressed concern about the performance
of these workforces.
Just 21 percent of executives who named sales as a top-three workforce
described that workforce as high performing, down from 25 percent in the
previous edition of this study. Only 30 percent of respondents said the same
about the customer service and support organization, an increase of 5 percent
from the previous edition. There's a similar pattern across all other
functions.
A major reason for this lack of high performance is that most organizations
don't have the skills necessary for these functions to excel. A majority of
executives who cited sales as their company's most important function said they
either lack the needed skills in the sales function (29 percent) or significant
proportions of the skills they do have in sales are out of date (24 percent).
The study found the same situation regarding customer service and support,
although in this function, executives mentioned the additional challenge of
having a difficult time attracting skills because their companies cannot afford
to pay what the market demands. Overall, only 16 percent of respondents
considered the current skill level of their entire workforce as industry
leading. Worse, 30 percent said it would take a year or longer for their
organization's workforce skills to return to the appropriate level.
Workforce Ability to Handle Change
In addition to facing skills challenges, executives said their workforces lack
the ability to deal with change, a critical trait in today's business climate.
In other words, many companies lack organizational agility, the adaptability
and speed that enable them to execute innovations faster and move their
organizations forward more nimbly.
For example, 8 percent of participating executives said their workforce is
extremely well prepared to adapt to and manage change through periods of
economic uncertainty. Only 23 percent strongly agreed they have the leadership
necessary to help the enterprise navigate periods of economic uncertainty and
the leadership development programs to prepare the organization's future
leaders.
Given the preceding, it's not surprising that only 33 percent of survey
participants strongly agreed they can quickly mobilize their enterprise to
execute new strategies, serve new markets and new customers, and deliver new
products and services, or that just 17 percent strongly agreed their
organization's culture is highly adaptive and responds quickly and positively
to change.
This puts many companies in a precarious competitive position as capturing
growth opportunities requires quick, decisive action in a recovering economy.
Human Resource Function Capabilities
Critical to supporting the increased focus on growth reported by companies is a
strong talent management function that can help build and sustain the workforce
necessary to achieve performance objectives. But most companies said their HR
functions are not fully prepared to answer this challenge. Indeed, the
Accenture study found serious shortcomings continue to impede the ability of
the HR and training functions to drive continuous improvement in the overall
enterprise's operations and performance.
Perception of the HR function is not favorable. As reported in previous
editions of this study, satisfaction with the HR function remains low. Only 8
percent of respondents said the performance of their human resource function in
supporting the larger enterprise's pursuit of its business goals was industry
leading.
Furthermore, just 13 percent of respondents rating HR as a top-three workforce
described the function as high performing; and only 10 percent said their HR
and training organizations are extremely well prepared to adapt to and manage
change through periods of economic uncertainty. Perhaps most troubling of all,
just 19 percent strongly agreed that HR and training are seen by their company
as critical functions and act as true strategic partners in the enterprise's
C-suite.
With a growing focus on talent and human capital as a key component of
companies' growth strategies, HR needs to earn its place at the table. One tool
that could help HR executives in that quest is analytics that enable HR and
talent leaders to gauge how well their function performs. Such analytics can
help identify areas where improvements can be made in cost and performance, to
increase the business value the HR function generates for the larger enterprise
and ultimately build greater credibility for the function and its leader.
The HR function is in need of a skills upgrade. More than half of respondents
who cited HR as their company's most important function said they either lack
the needed skills in the HR function (29 percent) or significant proportions of
the skills they do have in HR are out of date (28 percent).
Some of the skills that should be more prevalent in today's HR function are
financial acumen, including developing strong business cases for HR
initiatives; stakeholder management; program management, ensuring the effective
execution of initiatives; and communications, interacting with and inspiring
stakeholders involved in change efforts.
Key HR and training capabilities in a large majority of companies are lacking
in maturity. Only a small percentage of companies strongly agreed with
statements that would indicate the presence of mature or robust HR and talent
management practices. For example, only 10 percent of companies indicated that
they have formal processes and tools that enable effective learning and
knowledge sharing across the workforce, and only 13 percent claim to have a
formal talent sourcing strategy that includes making use of alternative sources
of talent.
Moving Forward
In the wake of the most severe economic downturn in decades, companies face
myriad challenges, but none more important - or difficult - than creating a
workforce that can implement an enterprise's strategies and respond to new
competitive challenges.
The road back to recovery and growth begins with companies aligning their
business strategy with a human capital strategy that puts in place the right
talent in the right roles performing in the right ways to bring the business
strategy to life and execute it optimally. It also includes a more flexible
business design that can help increase the pace and certainty of successful
organizational change and accommodate the ready use of other sources of talent,
including outsourced talent and contingent labor, as needs dictate.
Most companies experienced some disruption to their workforces because of the
recession, and many face a long road ahead. To spur growth, companies should
leverage new techniques and tools to rapidly re-skill existing employees to
perform new jobs and roles, and take on new hires in a way that gets them to
competent performance levels faster.
What appears to be a monumental challenge also provides rare opportunities for
companies to revisit their human capital strategies and capabilities and ensure
the actions they take now and in the foreseeable future result in a new
workforce that embodies the skills and capabilities needed for the organization
to excel in the post-recession world.
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1. It's Coming: The $5 ATM fee My thoughts: Who cares if you have a checking account that refunds 100% of ATM fees? 2. Awesome tips on dealing with contracts My thoughts: From the article, the commenter writes: "This isn't even a housing thing, this…
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--Measuring indicators of life chances is an excellent idea (Could do better? Report card to test social mobility, 31 March). But since it is not just life in the womb but the first 1,000 days of life after conception that are crucial to a child, using…
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--
The business case for low-balance savings is tough, as the margin on float may
not amount to much. In much of South Asia, the economics of savings for the poor
has been buttressed by microcredit – the notion that the account anchors the
customer relationship and the loan gives it profitability. But financial
inclusion premised on credit is always going to leave some people behind: those
who do not feel like credit is the right financial tool for them or who simply
do not have the ability to commit to future payment streams.
A new vision is emerging around integrating the savings proposition into a
broader payments network. Offering "connected savings" accounts rather than
stand-alone accounts helps the economics of low-balance savings in three ways:
First, it adds value to the account beyond the mere store of value, hence
increasing customer use and willingness to pay. If I can use my savings to
instantaneously send money home, pay school fees or buy goods at the store, I am
more likely to shift my savings into that electronic format. And if my payments
and wages are deposited electronically into my account, I may be more tempted to
leave the money in electronic form. But if all these payments can only be made
in cash, I am more likely to remain in the cash world.
Second, by connecting banks to retail shops, electronic payment systems allow
banks to delegate "last mile" cash handling functions to retail outlets. This is
the branchless banking or Business Correspondent (BC) vision, which allows basic
deposits and withdrawals to occur at much lower unit cost for the bank and at
much more convenient locations for customers. But stores would like to serve the
cash in/cash out needs of any of their customers, not just those who are with a
particular bank or mobile operator. To do this, stores must be able to make and
receive inter-bank transfers (to offset the cash exchanged with customers)
instantaneously at low cost. This level of convenience could unleash significant
customer willingness to sign up and pay for "connected savings" accounts.
Third, the infrastructure costs of operating banking and payment platforms can
be amortized over a much larger pool of transactions that go beyond savings.
These possibilities are now moving to the center of the debate in India, with
the recent launch of the Interbank Mobile Payments Services (IMPS) by the
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). IMPS is a 24x7 real-time payments
switch enabling low-value transactions between any two bank accounts. Customers
can send and receive payments using their mobile phone. With IMPS, the 690
million mobile phones in India could be used as a payment instrument very much
like a debit card. That's a world first.
Indian banks now have the possibility of working together to offer their
customers a convenient, low-cost way to send money to anyone with a mobile phone
and a bank account. This should be a big hook to drive take-up and usage of
accounts. To make this possible, banks will need to agree to very low
interchange fees on IMPS transactions and provide a simple and secure mobile
interface to their customers.
Will banks seize this opportunity, or will they give the game to the mobile
operators who, sooner or later, will find a way to assemble these payment
networks among their own customer bases?
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Over the past 4 years, HSBC has successfully raised financing in excess of USD
3 billion to finance projects such as Telecommunication Network expansion,
Highway and Bridge construction, Flyovers, Solar Irrigation, Electricity and
Port Development.
It is the only bank in Sri Lanka to have consecutively won 3 Bond mandates by
the Government of Sri Lanka starting with its inaugural issue in 2007 and
subsequently in 2009 and 2010.
The most recent, 2010 issue was a landmark transaction being Sri Lanka's first
USD 1 billion issue which saw a record subscription at a price of 6.25% for 10
year funds.
The success of these mandates were celebrated recently at the Finance Asia
awards held in Hong Kong recently, where the Assistant Governor of the Central
Bank of Sri Lanka, Siriwardena accepted the accolade "Best Sri Lanka Deal 2010"
for the US$1 Billion sovereign bond due in 2020.
"We thank Finance Asia for acknowledging this landmark transaction from Sri
Lanka. This is the 3rd Sovereign Bond that the Government of Sri Lanka has
issued and we are very proud of its success in the international market. Its
acceptance by the global investors demonstrated by the order book on the deal
only further reinforces the improving fundamentals of Sri Lanka," Siriwardena
said.
HSBC acted as Joint Lead Manager and Bookrunner of Sri Lanka's third
international sovereign bond of a USD 1 Billion 10 year issue with a coupon
rate of 6.25%. This attracted an order book that exceeded USD 6.3 billion
within 14 hours of opening on 27 September 2010, thereby being over-subscribed
more than 6 times, clearly underscoring the high global investor confidence
based on recent progress and the future prospects of Sri Lanka since the end of
the conflict in the country.
Nick Nicolaou, Chief Executive Officer for HSBC Sri Lanka and Maldives said,
"HSBC has strong Debt Capital Market capabilities in Asia. With a team of over
300 Professionals in the region, we have secured this prestigious award for the
Government of Sri Lanka on its Benchmark Bond issue. We are committed to
support the Government and the corporate sector in various infrastructure
development projects in line with national level strategies and we expect a
flurry of activity in this space."
For more Information and Articles: http://www.developmentnetwork.co.nr/
With unemployment still high, job seekers who have been discouraged by a lack of work might be inclined to take the first opportunity they're offered. That will help pay the bills, but it could cause other problems: A new study suggests that some…
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--Japan charity donations: With thousands of people feared missing and concerns about radiation leaks after an explosaion at a Japanese nuclear power plant, rescue and recovery efforts have already begun and are expected to last for months, with…
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--
A massive earthquake has hit the north-east of Japan, triggering a tsunami that
has caused extensive damage.
Japanese television showed cars, ships and even buildings being swept away by a
vast wall of water after the 8.9-magnitude earthquake.
The quake has sparked fires in several areas including Tokyo, and numerous
casualties are feared.
Here BBC News website users in Japan recount their experience of the moment the
quake struck.
Mike Hall, Hokkaido
I live in Hakodate, which is on the southern most peninsular of Hokkaido.
We have been really lucky, my apartment was shook up for several minutes, a few
things fell over etc but there was no major damage.
It is very much like a swaying rolling motion, with jolts that really put the
fear of God in you.
Initially, I didn't pay any attention as we've had earthquakes before. But this
time, it went on for longer and there were several big aftershocks. The last
one was about an hour ago (1000 GMT).
Power and water supplies are fine at the moment and cell phones and the
internet seem unaffected. But we have a major tsunami warning in effect.
The bay area of the city has been flooded, though I'm not sure how badly.
We haven't had any visits from local emergency wardens or city officials. Most
of the information has come through the various news broadcasts
Yukiko, Tokyo
I have never felt such strong quake in my life.
Continue reading the main story
"Start Quote
I have never felt such strong quake in my life"End Quote
My flat is on the fifth floor (British fourth floor) and the building shook
slowly at first, then more and more violently. It was really scary.
TV is showing a fire in a tall building in the Odaiba area in Tokyo, and also
tsunami waves carrying lorries and cars. It looks like there are more fires
breaking out in Sendai, a major city in northern Japan.
Until a few minutes ago I was with neighbours who jumped out of the building
and shared what little information we had and consoled each other.
Lifts have stopped in our building, and I guess have in most buildings. There
are still aftershocks every few minutes.
Ryosuke, Tokyo
Although we're far from northern Japan, the quake here was very big.
Continue reading the main story
"Start Quote
The first quake was very long - everyone in the office was screaming"End Quote
The first quake was very long - everyone in the office was screaming. Then we
had another long one about 30 minutes after that. Paper and items were falling
off the desks. We can hear the walls. We can hear the walls going back and
forth.
Things have started to calm down now and some people have started to get back
to work.
Transportation has all stopped. The company has asked us to stay in the office.
Robert Koch, Tokyo
Everything that is meant to be inside is now outside. My beloved audio system
is trashed as is the CD collection.
Continue reading the main story
"Start Quote
My flat looks like a bomb has hit it"End Quote
Thank goodness it did not happen at midnight with my four-year-old son at home.
None of the trains here are running, buses seem to be fine and no-one here has
been hurt. It was just really scary being in a high-rise building during an
earthquake. My flat looks like a bomb has hit it.
There is almost a buzz of excitement around. I live about 20 minutes away from
central Tokyo. Being a South African, one is not very used to ground that
ripples and wobbles under your feet.
Jeffrey Balanag, Higashi-Shimbashi, Tokyo
The quake shook and rolled our building in Shiodome Sumitomo Building.
Continue reading the main story
"Start Quote
There is no panic but I am almost seasick from constant rolling of the
building"End Quote
We are stuck in our offices because elevators are stopped. We are watching the
TV which is showing the tsunami rushing landward.
The trains have been stopped. We can see Yurikamome Line and JR Yamanote Line
stopped.
We can also see fires. You can see the fires across the bay in the Odaiba area.
There is no panic but I am almost seasick from constant rolling of the
building.
For all Articles and Information: http://www.developmentnetwork.co.nr/
MOUNTAIN VIEW, California (Reuters) - LinkedIn, the Internet social network for professionals, launched a service on Thursday that creates a customized online newspaper from articles being shared by the network's more than 90 million members.
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--
It said the positive gender indicators in health and education had not always
translated into equal opportunities for women
The UN said: "Sri Lanka has achieved significant progress towards equality for
women with positive gender indicators in health and education; however, these
have not always translated into equal opportunities for women. The recent
progress report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Sri Lanka
highlights a range of inequities between men and women; one of the most
apparent being the labour force participation rate where Sri Lanka records the
twentieth largest gap in labour force participation between the sexes. The
participation of women in parliament continues to be low with only 5.7% of
parliamentarians being women.
"The 100th commemoration of International Women's Day stresses the importance
of equal access to education, training and science and technology to drive
economic growth, empower women and ensure the well being of their families,
their communities and nations. The UN calls on all nations to strive to ensure
the full and equal participation of women in all areas of public and private
life.
This year's theme -- equal access to education, training and science and
technology: pathway to decent work for women, is more important now than ever
before because wide differences within and across countries continue to persist
despite a closing gender gap in education. Women and girls continue to endure
unacceptable discrimination and violence often at the hands of intimate
partners or relatives. In the realm of decision-making, fewer than 10 per cent
of countries have female heads of state or government, and even where women are
prominent in politics, they are often under-represented in other areas of
decision-making, including at the highest level of business and industry.
The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in his message said the use of
tools such as Internet and cell phone backed by education and training, could
help women to break the cycle of poverty, combat injustice and exercise their
rights.
"Only through women's full and equal participation in all areas of public and
private life can we hope to achieve the sustainable, peaceful and just society
promised in the United Nations Charter," Mr. Ban said.
For all Articles and Information: http://www.developmentnetwork.co.nr/
More than 128 million of the world's poorest families received a microloan in
2009—an all-time high, according to The State of the Microcredit Summit
Campaign Report 2011 released today by the Microcredit Summit Campaign.
Assuming an average of five persons per family, this means that loans to 128
million poorest clients affected some 641 million family members, which is
greater than the combined population of the European Union and Russia.
Overall, more than 190 million people had a microloan in 2009; however, the
Campaign focuses on the 128 million poorest. In the 12 years since the
Campaign's founding, the number of very poor families with a microloan has
grown more than 16-fold from 7.6 million in 1997 to 128 million in 2009. The
report includes data from over 3,500 institutions with more than 93 percent of
the information collected last year and verified by a third party, the report
said.
"Microcredit has very effectively lifted millions of poor women and their
families out of poverty," said U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's
Issues Melanne Verveer. "With the 100th anniversary of International Women's
Day being celebrated on March 8th, it is gratifying to see that over 81 percent
of the very poor who received microloans were women – that is more than 100
million people. Women entrepreneurs are one of the smartest investments in
microfinance. Not only have they shown strong returns in the success of their
businesses, but they consistently have demonstrated high loan repayment rates
and they re-invest in their families and their communities."
To download the report (*pdf):
http://www.microcreditsummit.org/SOCR_2011_EN_EMBARGOED.pdf
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Sri Lanka - Canada Scholarship Foundation (SLCSF) is a non-profit, volunteer
organization registered in British Columbia, Canada. Since 2008, Canada Revenue
Agency has approved it as a charitable organization, making donations to SLCSF
tax-deductible. Its main objective is to advance education by providing
scholarships and educational material to financially disadvantaged students in
Sri Lanka and Canada, who continually demonstrate academic excellence.
The Foundation has been established in 1998. Since then, over 700 students have
received financial assistance through scholarships up to 2008. Currently, 290
students in grades 12 and 13 are receiving financial assistance.
* Sponsor a Scholarship
Pre-authorized Donation Form
Instructions for completing Pre-authorized Donation Form
* Financial Information
How can you be a part of realizing a child's dreams?
Just by donating Canadian $12.50 (or, an equivalent amount in other currencies)
a month, you can become the sponsor of a needy student, who will thank you from
his/her heart for helping them to realize their dreams and help their families
in turn. While 42 cents a day may not be a big amount for you, it makes a world
of difference for many students in Sri Lanka - and it also gives tremendous
satisfaction to you by realizing that you have really made a child's dream come
true!!
The current focus is on students in Sri Lanka who are studying in grades 12 and
13. The Foundation annually selects a number of students (the number depending
on the level of contributions received from sponsors) and provides Sri Lankan
Rupees 1000 per student per month for a total of 24 months (i.e., two years).
Any additional savings resulting from increased Canadian $/Sri Lankan Rupee
exchange rate are pooled and used to provide additional scholarships.
With the exception of direct expenses such as bank service charges, postage,
stationary and annual registration fees of the Foundation, all donations go
directly to the students. There are no paid staff in the Foundation. All
advertising costs and other miscellaneous costs are not paid from the sponsor
donations, but are borne by other general donations from supporters of the
Foundation.
* Sponsor a Scholarship
Pre-authorized Donation Form
Instructions for completing Pre-authorized Donation Form
Sponsoring a Memorial Scholarship
With the Memorial Scholarship Program, you can sponsor one or more scholarships
in loving memory of deceased family members, relatives, friends or anyone close
to your heart.
The scholarship(s) will be specifically named as �Name-provided-by-you Memorial
Scholarship(s)� and will be awarded to the recipient student(s) indicating as
such. We will also separately list these memorial scholarships and their
recipients in our annual newsletter. We believe this is an excellent way to
ensure that the name of your deceased family member or anyone close to your
heart continues to live on, while you are paving the path for a needy student
to become successful in life!
The same selection criteria of regular scholarships will apply to these
scholarships as well. The sponsor financial commitment is still $150 per year
for a total of $300 for 2 years. The recipient student will get SL Rs:1000.00
per month for a period of 2 years.
* Sponsor a Memorial Scholarship
Pre-authorized Donation Form
Instructions for completing Pre-authorized DonationForm
How do you know whether your donations really go to the students?
Students periodically write to their sponsors, appreciating their kindness,
generosity and how the donations make their dreams come true. You may directly
write to them if you wish. All the names of sponsors, students and the
Foundation's annual financial statements are published in a newsletter annually
(see current and past newsletters) and sent to the sponsors and other
supporters of the Foundation.
How are the students selected?
By advertising in Sri Lankan newspapers, applications are invited from students
who satisfy the following criteria:
* An academic achievement of a minimum of eight (8) 'A' passes (out of 9
subjects) in the most recent GCE O/L (General Certificate of Education -
Ordinary Level) examination.
* A certified copy of the GCE (O/L) examination results by the school
principal.
* A letter from the Grama Officer (the Government Representative for the area
of residence of the student) attesting to the suitability of the student for
financial support for education, based on the economic standing of the
family.Out of the applications received that satisfy the above criteria, the
Board of Directors select the most deserving children based on a priority
ranking of academic excellence, economic hardships and other factors such as
family handicaps (eg: deceased parents), for the award of the scholarships.
After the scholarship has been awarded, the student's suitability for continued
assistance is evaluated, based on their performance in the examinations
conducted by the schools.
Board of Directors
President
Don L. Perera, P.Eng.
Vice President
Sudu Vatagodakumbura, M.Sc., P.Eng.
Secretary
Bandula Abeysundara, M.Sc., Ph.D., P.Eng.
Treasurer
Sisira Hewa Bandula
Sri Lankan Coordinator
Gunadya Bandarage, Ph.D.
Canadian Projects Coordinator
Pradeep Perera
Additional Sri Lankan Coordinator
Praneeth Abhayasundere, Ph.D.
Newsletter Editor & Webmaster
Gayan Abeysundara, B.C.S.
Links to Other Organizations
Sri Lanka Humanitarian Foundation of Canada (SLHFC)
The SLHFC is a non-religious, non-communal, non-political and non-profit
organization incorporated in the Province of Alberta. It is formed primarily to
address the needs of newcomers to Edmonton from Sri Lanka and to assist them by
providing education, counseling and other support services.
For all articles and Information: http://www.developmentnetwork.co.nr/
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