Caricom Achievements

4th Future Diplomats Essay CompetitionThe Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is celebrating 40 years of integration in 2013. Discuss the achievements of CARICOM in light of the statement and make suggestions for future development.Kerri Mc NeilHappy fortieth anniversary to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)! An establishment which has transgressed shared colonial history; propelling its fifteen member states and five associate member states to economic integration and social development. The achievements will be discussed in ascending order of importance (CDEMA, CCJ, CXC and CSME). Suggestions such as the introduction of art forms and history into the school curriculum will be elaborated on for future developmental reference. Regional leaders recognized how valuable the Caribbean is due to its rich history, which, was in itself an economic propeller and indirectly an agent of social development.Notwithstanding the divisions that came along with it. It has presented a diverse community viab le for exploration. The need for a Caribbean identity proved to be a goal worth meeting. As globalization aggressively pounced on the minds of Caribbean nationals, destabilizing the already broken cultural and economic foundation, the leaders of these Caribbean nations saw a challenge at hand and founded the CARICOM on the first of August 1973 to promote integration and unity in hopes of achieving international competitiveness and self-reliance. The survival of CARICOM for forty years is not qualified for inessential interrogation. The goal statement of the Secretariat consolidates this, â€Å"To provide dynamic leadership and service, in partnership with Community institutions and groups toward the attainment of a  viable, internationally competitive and sustainable community, with improved quality of life for all.† This is an engine for generating efficient performance from the twenty-three designated institutions of the Caribbean Community. For example, the Caribbean Exa minations Council (CXC). This institution is the functioning of the Caribbean’s educational successes. Need I expound by way of The Mighty Sparrow, â€Å" Education, education, this is the foundation. Our rising population needs sound education!† Our standing committee members could attest to that! In addition to this, there are numerous achievements of the CARICOM, however this essay chooses to focus on the important ones through the institutions under CARICOM.To begin with, the Caribbean region is prone to natural disasters. Under this observation, the Caribbean Community engaged in the implementation of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency(CDEMA) in the late twentieth century after reports of severe change of weather patterns. There were other agencies but the region needed a regionally centralized disaster preparedness and relief agency. As such one may understand the role of the CDEMA whose prime focus is to increase the level of assistance being len t to Caribbean nations. For example, the CDEMA exercised great efficiency in responding to the 2004 disasters of Grenada and Jamaica after the much pronounced visit of Hurricane Ivan.In light of such implementations orchestrated by the CARICOM, it is clear that the life and safety of the Caribbean people are of grave importance to that bold goal of creating a Caribbean identity. Another accomplishment of the CARICOM was the introduction of an ‘assumed’ standardized justice agency. This was the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), established in 2001. Whilst it followed the format of a First World nation ( European Court of Justice) it sparked major controversies as it was offset by the decision of the then Privy Council to bar capital punishment which was practiced by the supreme European nations on persons convicted of murder. This was obviously ruled out by the Privy Council . The other issue might resonate with modern times ( the storm of globalization).This issue lied within the government of Antigua and Barbuda where,  again, the Privy Council gave a radio license, ironically, to a company without the consent of the government of Antigua and Barbuda. Any vacuity of the mind should be fed as it was clear that the CARICOM wanted to reduce the influence of the European powers. However, in the act of doing this, they only managed to establish an institution in the Caribbean rather than a Caribbean institution. Not straying from the intent of this essay, the Caribbean now has in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, a Caribbean Court of Justice. The CARICOM fails to stop there as the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) was implemented in 1972.This council seeks to provide nationals with opportunities and qualifications to further their primary education by way of Caribbean Secondary Education Certification (CSEC) , along with the advantage of obtaining qualifications or even scholarships to universities through the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Exa minations (CAPE). The University of the West Indies and the University of Guyana are direct providers for the council. It is quite notable of the CARICOM to have provided its people with the equal opportunities of any given advanced region internationally; an important one being, securing and providing sound education of its members. Through the educational system we have many aspiring career persons.Their career may require them to move to another state or the successes of their business may allow them the opportunity to expand their business to other nations. Delighted to state, they can do so. However this is only in effect due to the implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy which will be further discussed in the following paragraph. The CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) was put into order on the first of January 2006. The aim of this institution was to increase integration among member states. They did this by removing tariffs and restrictions so that both economic and human resources could be shared to promote sustainable development. The Caribbean peoples benefitted as there was free movement of goods and services, skilled persons and capital. Now nationals have the right to work in any of the member states.Nurses, media workers, musicians,  sportsmen and women, university graduates and artistes benefit from this (CSME) as there are a greater availability of opportunities for job creation. Goods and services could now be provided across the single market where the owners would also have access to land and property under rights of establishment. This created a greater framework for competitiveness and a variation of choice for consumers. Equality to buy stocks and shares and being a part of the regional stock exchange is now possible for better investment opportunities. The CSME was, out of many, the most important achievement of the CARICOM.This gave way to consolidating the goal of self-reliance within the Caribbean region. No lo nger do nationals have to travel internationally to obtain jobs. They can stay within the region and do so gainfully. However it is optional. Business persons in the interest of creating enterprises and being investors now have the opportunity to do so as the market has widened to becoming intra-regional. From this increase in production, there are better quality goods on the market, and an increase in employment opportunities which may improve the standard of living. The CARICOM has created the Caribbean into a mecca. The Caribbean people now possess some sense of identity. However some adjustments can and should be made to improve the cooperation of the people who are indeed the prime target for such developmental changes.I propose that the Caribbean Examination Council promote raw data of history from an earlier stage to arouse the curiosity of nationals. This will, hopefully create the desire within them to want to know from where they have come with relation to where they are g oing. A sense of self-respect and responsibility to self will be awarded by those who willingly and factually grasp the understanding from such historical awakenings. Like the process of any natural cycle, with an attachment to a particular identity, preferably and hopefully the West Indian identity, more allegiance will be paid to the country of their nativity.Participating and contributing to the economic and social development of the nation  will simply be a part of the person’s natural regime ; rather than becoming mentally enslaved by foreign music and their inapplicable doctrines to Caribbean life; physically enslaved by clothing that speaks little about our native heritage and spiritually detached from the land of conception. Also the CARICOM should consider the implementation of compulsory arts in the curriculum where the art forms will be based on that particular culture. Music, dance, theatre, jewelry making, painting and photography are popular art forms used by youth today. It will assist greatly in the learning process. Furthermore, the students who perform the best will have the opportunity to be a part of an exchange program where they can go to other member states and learn about the culture of that nation.From this, we have the promotion of equality amongst nations of CARICOM in shared cultural diversity. With such activities the Caribbean culture can perforate the globe much like the Europeans and Americans. Many things have been done to create a distinction between the then society of colonialism and the modern society today and many more things can still be done. The Caribbean is of the most diverse regions in the world, attracting much attention, however the internal affairs must be efficient to maintain positive attention. To do this, a mode by which strong bonds can be developed has been created through the use of the Caribbean Community. In all our endeavors, I wish the CARICOM many more successful years with a plethora of deve lopmental introductions!

Target-Market Selection Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Target-Market Selection - Research Proposal Example If the company does not pay enough attention in order to discern its exact target market, it could land up in trouble at the time of devising its marketing strategy since it would address a completely unknown marketing segment, one which was not asked for by the product’s target domains. Thus it is essential that the target market is selected in a proper manner as falling short on the same count could lead to wastage which no organization is willing to afford. Wastage can also happen if the secondary audience, one that is not exactly the audience for the said product is catered to the product and its message and thus there is a complete mix-up within the related ranks. (2) Beyond evaluating current businesses, designing the business portfolio involves finding businesses and products the company should consider in the future. Using the product-market expansion grid, illustrate the process that a company can use to evaluate a portfolio. Pick an example for your demonstration that is different from the one used in the text. Be sure your example covers all cells. The product-market expansion grid of Ansoff is basically a model that is useful in demonstrating a clear link between the different processes of the business unit strategy so that there is a clear cut identification of the growth opportunities for the business. Since this grid looks at product and market in different alignments, a company can analyze a portfolio by touching the method for market penetration where it could sell the product in an excessive manner by making it available in a wholesome quantity.

Pros and Cons of the current Alcon IT management system Essay

Pros and Cons of the current Alcon IT management system - Essay Example Another major disadvantage of the management at Alcon is the autonomous operation of each of the business groups in the execution of their activities. They have adopted a culture of independent operation for each of the group and minimum cooperation among the groups. This leads to the independent execution of tasks from each group. Cooperation among different business groups in any organization helps in providing support and improves work handling. The position of Corporate Director of IT plays a vital role in the management hierarchy of the organization (Stair & Reynolds). Its long vacancy has affected the operation of the other groups below it in the hierarchy because they were operating without corporate governance. This put the organization at such a disadvantage that they had to create a new position to help with the situation. The decentralization of the management process can also play as a strength for the organization. This is in the sense that, with their own management of operations some groups will execute their operation better that others, hence singling out the poor performing branches. This can serve as a wakeup call for the improvement of the poor performing branches. The decentralization of operations also improves accountability in the dispensation and use of funds. With every branch allocated its own budget, accountability for the use of these funds in achieved more comprehensively The Alcan management also outsourced a lot of the work. This made then unaware of some of the workings and utilization of resources. The new enterprise architecture management system The vice president of Corporate Information Technology, Robert Ouellette had a vision of how he wanted to run the management at Alcan. After being brought on board, he performed an analysis and decided to come up with a new way of operation. His main target was to achieve cohesion and cooperation among the business groups. This was to be achieved at different levels. The new system, a lthough with advantages, did not come without a few setbacks. The main advantage of his system was development of better working relations among the departments. This helped improve work execution, although as a disadvantage, the lesser performing groups could easily go unnoticed, because their work seems complete. To tackle this, he made it a requirement, that in every team, the head of department and their officers were to report on the progress on their activities to higher management. This immensely improves accountability. The other major problem was the definition of roles in the management hierarchy. Due to unclear definition of roles, some activities were not properly executed. The advantage of Robert’s system is that, it clearly defines the roles of each position. Robert looked to reorganize the operations of the major braches in the organization. This was to be achieved by the implementation of the enterprise architecture. The architecture ideally centralizes operat ions and integrates the business activities of the organization with the IT infrastructure (Anderson). This greatly improves coordination among all the functions. This will lead to the creation of a centrally shared business center for the Information Systems within the organization. The disadvantage of this change is that implementation is mostly achieved at the management level; hence, the human resource at the

Exploring University Students' Perception of Healthy Eating and Food Essay

Exploring University Students' Perception of Healthy Eating and Food Consumption - Essay Example It is widely known that about 8% of students in the university ate at least five meals of either fruits or vegetables daily (Roosen et al., 2011). This trend is even worse among the third and fourth year students at the university. There is a strong correlation between demographic and psychographic physiognomies with food consumption behaviour among university students. The dietary habits developed in the first two years at the university are carried on to later years in the university (Dunn, 2013). Student’s residences have also been found to affect their dietary habits. For instance, off-campus students were reported to take healthier foods than those living within the campus (Brown, 2014). A healthy eating habit is vital to good health throughout a person’s lifespan (Tseng, 1981). Despite the knowledge imparted in populations on the benefits of healthy eating, unwarranted consumption of food is prevalent especially among the adult population (Lindgreen & Hingley, 200 9). Previous works indicate that female students have a tendency towards fatty foods as compared to their male counterparts. However, fruit and consumption levels across both gender is the same (Shield, Mullen & Association, 2002). According to a study conducted by Tseng (1981) on the eating habits of students in California public schools, female students tend to avoid some food types especially junk owing to worries associated with body weight, beliefs and fitness. On the contrary, male students reported insignificant concern about weight and had no problem consuming junk food (Scaffa & Reitz, 2013). Therefore, it was evident that the choice of food type for male and female students was dictated by a number of... This report approves that to achieve such efforts there is need to develop projects aimed at imparting positive eating habits and creating awareness and attitudes towards appropriate diets. Such projects should aim at nurturing health eating habits among university students. Further, stakeholders owe to develop mechanisms that would ensure availability of adequate resources and healthy food types within the reach of college students in an effort to eliminate barriers of cost and availability impeding healthy eating habits. Lastly, there is need for a comprehensive partnership between the university’s catering departments with suppliers to ensure that shortage of specific food commodities is eliminated. There is also a need to create awareness regarding healthy choices of food through food exhibitions and demonstrations among the university students. This essay makes a conclusion that the findings of this research are based on the personal views of participating individuals within the focus groups. The views sampled from these groups may not reflect the views of the entire university populations. Each individual has his/her own identity and perception of food choice. In addition, identification of themes and cohesions was a big challenge in conducting this research. This was because the research was based on a relatively low sample considered. Time constraint was another challenge that faced the research process.

Cultural Economy of the Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Cultural Economy of the Media - Essay Example This study stresses that  since advertisements and consumer culture is an ongoing system, customers must be constantly motivated to buy and spend more money on products. It follows then that new strategies must be used to hook these buyers by replacing old goods with new ones and also being constantly in touch with current trends in terms of goods and services. The need for new inventions has pushed the advertisement market into new heights whereby the targeted customers are confused. This means that the targeted clients are more likely to look for new adverts just like looking for new products. Indeed, overcoming ideas to circulation of capital has led to the rise of commodity culture based on a high turnover of signfieds and signifiers.As the research highlights that  hidden beneath the innovations that create new images and colourful presentations are less than normal and discontinuous stories which define the society. The excitement found in this adverts are packed through te chnological fantasy to suit different segments if client base. Recognisable and traditional representations in seasoned advertisements are usually anchored on a combination of new ideologies as well as enduring ideologies.  This then brings about the sense of contoured cultural meaning which integrates different meanings to bring about relativity and conventionalism.  Ã‚  It is not surprising that businesses usually exploit dominant ideologies at the expense of the important elements of promotion which are expected to be dominant in adverts. (Caraher, Landon an

The methods and principles of accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The methods and principles of accounting - Essay Example Rules and principles of accounting are basically designed in such a way that they provide certain standardized frameworks which help in the assessment of the financial position of a firm or a government. Hence there may always be a difference from one country to another in the accounting practices that are followed. There can be a major influence of the accounting consequences of different kinds of available options with which the decision makers are faced with, on the final decision taken. Thereby, the choice between the different methods of accounting may not limit themselves to just the portrayal of results; they may also play a vital role in the actual shaping of future decisions including the organization's financial structuring, functioning and activities. Accounting is best known as the language of business and communicates the results of the business. As the accepted Lingua Franca in addition to being the medium of communication it also satisfies the role of understanding the existing as well as potential additions to the available literature. As with every credible language, Accountancy also has its own rules and syntax which comprises the principles on which the system is based, known as the Generally Accepted Principles (GAAP), International Accounting Standards, and US GAAP etc. forming the theoretical base of Accountancy, and the Double Entry bookkeeping for recording the transactions providing the Practical Base of the system. To communicate the necessary, vital and relevant information, the requirements of the prospective users are identified and a systematic process is adhered to resulting in the formation of "Financial Statements." They are primarily the Income Statement and the Position Statement which are popular as "Trading and Profit & Loss Account" and the "Balance Sheet" respectively. The Balance Sheet shows the financial status of a business at a given point of time. That is the reason, the heading of Balance Sheet reads as "Balance Sheet of Xxx Company as on 31st March, 20xx." The balance sheet shows the amount of funds the owner has in the business. To determine this amount, the assets owned are listed and a value is placed on them. Liabilities and their values also are listed. The difference between assets and liabilities is equal to the net worth, or the owner's equity in the business (Klinefelter, 2000). The income statement on the other hand reflects the performance of the entry over a period of time and hence it is headed as "Income Statement of Xxx Company for the year ended 31st March, 20xx." The major purposes of financial reporting are: Providing information which in turn becomes the basis for exercising decisions and actions by the potential users, Reflect the financial progress and present health of the business, Aid in the formulation of policies and procedures for the smooth and efficient conduct of the business, Enable the management to discharge their obligations and stewardship functions effectively Financial Reporting The end-users of financial statements need not necessarily be those of finance background. They might not be in a position to understand the complex technicalities of financial statement. People who do not have detailed understanding of the financial

Vulnerable Population Essay Example for Free

Vulnerable Population Essay Children are one population group of the society that is vulnerable. The U. S. A agencies for Development, most vulnerable children are those who get inadequate support from adults due to abandonment, chronic illness i. e. those who have AIDS or those that are suspected to have it. Other causes of vulnerability emanate from the destruction of social systems that used to protect children in the community. Such destruction comes around due to conflicts, violence, and living outside family care. These bad conditions expose children to serious survival risk. The UNAIDS projects that by 2010 there will be 20-25 million AIDS orphans. Orphans are confronted by a large number of challenges. They don’t easily have access to funds for food, clothing, basic healthcare, or school fees. The desperation that comes out of this scenario makes the children more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse that ends up making them contract the disease. According to the 2006 act: safeguarding vulnerable groups, chapter 47. subsection 21; controlled activity relating to children; schedule 3 parts 1 sub paragraph 4 in reference to offence committed against children it states culpable conduct is that which puts or is likely to put the child in danger, conduct involving material on sex, graphical material conduct. In part 2 of the same subsection a person endangers a child in cases where; they harm the child, put the child into risk, attempts to harm or incites someone else to harm the child. ( Act, 2006) According demographics of there are groups in the category of children that are more vulnerable than others. Orphans are the most vulnerable section among the vulnerable children. Others are the children who come from poor families, children from minority ethnicities, or children with disabilities among others. In a study done on Hester-sway area of local community, in a population of 11,730 it was identified that high risk group areas for children constitute twenty percent of the population. Speakers addressing the congress on the world aids day cited orphaned children and children suffering from the deadly AIDS disease as the most vulnerable group. Children who lack parental care consequently lack a source of primary care. Under this category we have orphans, refugees, detainees, abducted children, children under care of caregivers, and children in prolonged stay at the hospital, or detained seekers of asylum who happen to be children. (Cox, The child is first exposed to risk when there occurs a separation of the family unit. Placement of children to institutions such as care institutions that may follow is not good for the well being of the child. It is known that children who lack protection and guidance of their parents or guardians are more predisposed to becoming victims of violence, discrimination, trafficking, exploitation etc. Children who get orphaned in conflict situations such as war face malnutrition, physical and psychological trauma, illness, and suffer faulty development emotionally. Unprotected girls run the risk of being sexually abused, while boys in similar situation are prone to forced participation in armed conflict and violence The numbers of children facing orphanage situations are many across states. Central and eastern Europe has 1. 5 million children living in public care. In Russia, despite a fall in birth rates over the last ten years, numbers of children left without parental care continue to soar. Worldwide armed conflict separated or orphaned a million children. Of all refugees five percent are unaccompanied children, and finally the estimated number of total orphans in the in the world is 143 million. (Unicef, 2008) Putting the children into institutions is often a move that is meant to keep them out of the society. This is caused by certain biases members of the society harbor for the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups such as orphans, children suffering from AIDS, and children with disabilities among the others. Institutionalized, in this sense, amounts to deprivation of the right of the persons to freely associate with other members of the society. The conditions in the institutions of essentially violate the children’s. In the institutions there is rampant discrimination, neglect, denial of the right to education and participation among other abuses. Being victims of blatant discrimination, vulnerable children under five years of age carry the bulk of disease and mortality rates for the world’s population. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) this is caused by lack of health support services which leaves the children in risk of contracting infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS. In Eastern Europe the stigma surrounds HIV causes many cases of abandonment of children by their HIV positive mothers. ( Unicef, 2004) The children end up neglected, either on the streets or in an institution. And following the sense of lack of support from the society the children end up being dehumanized, others become social misfits due to substance abuse and their condition generally worsens. According to research it has been established that the risk of orphan hood or suffering from the dreaded HIV is not reserves of a few but all people can suffer from it. This is due to the escalation of violence and the unpredictability of contracting aids. Similar risks exist in the categories of disability, and poverty, that threatens everyone in the modern times. In a new vision then, vulnerable children should be seen as children who face increased risk of negative outcome compared to average children in the society. If the society doesn’t change the stereotyping it has condoned on the vulnerable groups the same may soon or later affect them the same way. Appropriate interventions that can help the orphaned and vulnerable children should be structured alongside the specific needs of the children. This should be done with the children’s circumstances, gender age etc. There should be improvement of nutritional status for the children from poor backgrounds, and proper integration that is tailored to restore the mental health of the children. In any case the vulnerable children are only disadvantaged by discrimination the society has for them. Their situations are not a cause for failure and if they are given fair chances in the society they can perform even better out of sheer resilience. (Molenaar, 2002) Doctors Of the World (DOW) work among vulnerable groups. In an analysis of their target groups they concluded that children are the most vulnerable group. For the organization violation of the Childs healthy development amounts to violation of their rights. The society emphasizes and works towards protection of basic rights of children i. e. those orphaned, disabled, institutionalized, and those on the street. With a perspective like that of the DOW we see that the vulnerability risks of the child are enormous, but can be surmounted. Through an approach such as theirs, that are principally done with the cooperation of the governments and civil societies, people can build capacities for and develop children welfare, and substantially reduce the risks that make children vulnerable all over the world. Juvenile crime has sent many young people to juvenile detention in America today. Most of the young detainees are held on nonviolent cases such as mental health, failed families. Instead of addressing the young persons need for treatment, they are locked up that can only keep them, not help them positively. (Liss, 2005) References Cox, T. (2000), Combating Educational Disadvantage: Meeting the Needs of Vulnerable Children, Routledge. Liss, S (2005) No Place for Children: Voices from Juvenile Detention University of Texas Press. Molenaar M.(2002) Assessing and Promoting Resilience in Vulnerable Children: A Handbook on Social Work and Student Counseling, Kingsley Publishers Child protection from violence, exploitation and abuse, Unite for Children press centre http://www. unicef. org retrieved November 20, 2008 Children on the Brink (2004). A Joint Report of New Orphan Estimates and a Framework for Action. UNICEF/UNAIDS/USAID http://www. cheltenhampartnership. org. uk/libraries/documents/neighbourhood%20policing/hestersway profile . pdf. Retrieved; November 20, 2008.