Monday, November 30, 2020

Have's and Have Nots. Renters are still being evicted. November 30.2020

 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/renters-still-being-evicted-despite-federal-moratorium/?fbclid=IwAR3tnaTTdyuZ5PY1dQTLJVqiYTML67W8Wf1EK8japgyBD6A9hFVDMwMSi1o


A nationwide eviction ban was supposed to protect tenants like Tawanda Mormon, who was forced out of her two-bedroom Cleveland apartment last month.


BEMA International. Since 2013 BEMA International has been a member of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). 10 Principles

BEMA International building a culture of integrity


The Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact

Corporate sustainability starts with a company’s value system and a principles-based approach to doing business. This means operating in ways that, at a minimum, meet fundamental responsibilities in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption

Responsible businesses enact the same values and principles wherever they have a presence, and know that good practices in one area do not offset harm in another. 

By incorporating the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact into strategies, policies and procedures, and establishing a culture of integrity, companies are not only upholding their basic responsibilities to people and planet, but also setting the stage for long-term success.

The Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact are derived from

Human Rights
  • Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; and
  • Principle 2: make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.

Labour
  • Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
  • Principle 4: the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour;
  • Principle 5: the effective abolition of child labour; and
  • Principle 6: the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

Environment
  • Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges;
  • Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and
  • Principle 9: encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.

Anti-Corruption
  • Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.


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The UN Global Compact Ten Principles and the Sustainable Development Goals: Connecting, Crucially

Illustrates the philosophical and practical connections between the UN Global Compact Ten Principles and the Sustainable Development Goals. This white paper draws an important philosophical line in the sand in relation to the crucial importance of principles, especially the UN Global Compact Ten Principles. We welcome your input.


EPECARE 2019. Deployment to the Bahamas.

Harold Roy and your EPECARE Team thank you for your service and volunteering to help a community in need.

Not only assisting the community in the Bahamas, but assisting Haitian immigrants to repatriate.


BEMA INTERNATIONAL


Recap of our two 2019 deployments to the Bahamas to teach First Aid and safety awareness with Project Hope in the wake of Hurricane Dorian.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXToTZTgcD8&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR21FXXmDMXP47-YyZL_8r7b3-1yDDDSxWgBikeo0PiTwfHfEP8gfRia7f8



Saturday, November 28, 2020

Why do international development projects fail? November 28, 2020

 

DevelopmentAid news digest

Why do international development projects fail?


26 november 2020

The current aid system has grown into an enormous endeavor reaching a total of US$152.8 billion in official development assistance in 2019. However, research shows that a huge portion of aid projects fail or suffer problems, with the figure sometimes amounting to almost a half. This article analyzes what project failure is and looks at the main causes for the failure of international development projects.

What is an international development project?

Nowadays, projects are the building blocks of international development and most aid is delivered through the project model, which has become the primary instrument for grants, loans, and technical aid. The Marshall Plan, implemented after WWII, is the program that set the tone.

Through international development projects (IDPs), governments, national agencies, multilateral development banks, such as the World BankUnited Nations agencies, bilateral government agencies, such as USAID, and NGOs channel development assistance to developing countries. The main aim of development projects is to stimulate economic growth, bring change, and to boost national and sectoral development in the developing world. It is exactly in this respect that the objectives of international development projects differ from conventional commercial projects, which have a commercial gain as a motive. This is one of the reasons that makes development projects challenging: removing the imperative to make profit seems detrimental to project implementation. Experience shows that aid and development projects fail and suffer difficulties at higher rates than for-profit projects and this often leads to dire consequences for both governments and recipients alike, such as mounting debt or causing beneficiaries to be worse off.


Source: www.developmentaid.org

What is project failure?

The concept of project failure has been a long-debated subject and not only in the development sector. Any attempt to define failure has by no means been easy and no generalized definition has been given by theoreticians for this notion. Some categorize a project that has been terminated before completion as a failure. On the other hand, a project might be completed on time, within budget, and to the required specification, but might turn out to be a failure because it was unsuccessful in making the desired impact or bringing a return on investments. Furthermore, would a project that is completed to the required specifications but outside its planned implementation period and budget and yet makes the required impact be considered to be a failure? One could simply say that a project is a failure if the stakeholders consider this to be so. The literature in the field however suggests that some characteristics are strongly related to the perception of project failure.

Three layers of project failure

There are three layers of research regarding aid projects which can lead to failure. The first focuses on broad macro-economic indicators that could become the cause of challenge for individual projects. Such indicators are literacy rates, per-capita income, or the prevalence of a disease in a region or nation. The second layer, a narrower one, is focused on project implementation related indicators which includes issues such as fieldwork, project activities and project outcomes as well as community processes. Results for this micro-layer are easier to capture and evaluate. The third layer, termed by some authors as the mezzo-issue, is concerned with management and leadership and looks into how people and organizations that implement development activity are managed, motivated, or led.

Internal failure red flags

Unsuccessful projects usually start to fail early on and there are numerous red flags within the project’s activities that, can alert the implementers. Such signs can be inadequate reporting, isolationism or lack of communication, overemphasis on how a system will be built, staff re-assignments, and sluggish achievements. According to the literature, these red flags can be categorized into people-related and process-related and are called Early Warning Signs, defined as events or indications that predict, raise caution, or alert regarding a possible impending problem. Giving these flags appropriate consideration can increase the probability of successful project outcomes.

Source: Early Warning Signs of IT Project Failure: The Dominant Dozen. Kappelman, L.A., R. McKeeman, and L. Zhang, 2006

IDP failure rate

It can happen that a single trigger event leads to project failure but, more often than not, it is a complex entwined set of problems which cumulatively result in failure. Many causes of project failure have been studied with every failed project having its own set of issues therefore the best way to understand the causes of project failure is to study prior projects that have failed.

Research so far argues that the failure rate of aid projects, despite having the experience of decades of implementation and evaluation, remains high. For example, some research claims that only half of the World Bank’s projects in Africa have a positive evaluation and are considered a success. In an attempt to evaluate the success rate of aid projects and the leading causes of failure, the World Bank Group and the Development Research Group have published a paper examining decades of project implementation by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The assessment uses data from 3,821 World Bank projects since 1995 and 1,342 ADB projects since 1973 to produce project outcomes conclusions.

The finding is that macro-level country characteristics contribute only 10-15% of a project outcome which indicates that the specific internal factors of the project implementation actually play the crucial role that leads to success or failure. Among macro variables, country growth and the policy environment are the significant factors that can influence project outcomes. Among the leading project-specific causes of failure are longer project duration and the lack of additional financing. In addition, the track record of the project manager in delivering projects plays a significant role as to whether a project will succeed or fail.

Source: Calleam Consulting Ltd.

Good vs poor project management

Good project management is one of the key strategies for successful project implementation whereas bad project management and poor planning continue to crippling the implementation of development projects. Furthermore, too often the common causes of IDP failure overlap with the generic factors of project failure in the Project Management literature. The disconnection between the donors and local organizations and managers, bad management decisions and actions such as ignoring the environment of the project, rewarding wrong actions and lack of communication of goals, weak plans that fail to identify risk factors and mitigation measures are among the many leading causes of project failure. And, of course, research points to the important role the leadership of projects and organizations has to play in managing successful projects.

“All too often this failure of leadership results in programmatic dysfunctionality and even organizational collapse,” Trees Die From the Top, John Haily and Rick James, 2004.

DevelopmentAid is a leading platform in the development sector, gathering together information on jobs, experts, organizations, donors, and references. To gain access to the numerous job opportunities posted daily on our platform, register with DevelopmentAid, and become a member of our community.









Gender-based violence on the rise during lockdowns

DevelopmentAid news digest Gender-based violence on the rise during lockdowns


26 november 2020

By early April, over half the world’s population was living under lockdown, and women with violent partners found themselves trapped with their abusers and cut off from the support of friends and family. Within months of the outbreak starting, UN Women was warning of a Shadow Pandemic, as all types of violence against women and girls, but particularly domestic violence, intensified.

Refugee and displaced women were at greater risk from gender-based violence (GBV) even before COVID-19. The pandemic has heightened their vulnerability.

​While data has been slow to emerge, with displaced women often afraid or unable to seek help, some patterns are becoming clear. Colombia’s Ministry of Health reported a nearly 40 percent increase of GBV incidents affecting the country’s Venezuelan population between January and September of this year, compared to the same period last year.

The Global Protection Cluster – a UNHCR-led network of NGOs and UN agencies providing protection to people affected by humanitarian crises – noted in August that gender-based violence was occurring at a higher incidence in 90 percent of its operations, including in Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq. Meanwhile, nearly three-quarters of refugee and displaced women surveyed recently by the International Rescue Committee in three regions of Africa reported an increase of GBV in their communities.

Just as levels of violence against women have risen, lockdowns and other movement restrictions have made it more difficult for survivors to report abuse and seek help. Refugee women often lack access to public health facilities and other critical social services and are reliant on services available through NGOs and UN agencies. But COVID has forced many of those services to close and in camps from Kenya to Bangladesh, humanitarian workers have been unable to visit refugees or organize prevention activities.

“In March, we realized we weren’t able to do our normal activities,” said Gabriela Cunha Ferraz, a GBV officer with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Kakuma refugee camp in north-western Kenya. “It forced us to start thinking about different ways of reaching people.”

In many locations, this has involved a shift to online support groups and tele-counseling. In Lebanon, for example, GBV staff moved from running prevention sessions for refugee women in physical safe spaces, to running them online.

Original source: UNHCR





Friday, November 27, 2020

Communities and Community Stakeholders. Must be at the table.

Success and paradigm shift must have key individuals, groups, and communities at the table.
BEMA International

Communities are defined as having geographically-delineated boundaries—such as towns, cities, counties, neighborhoods, community districts, rural areas, and tribal regions—consisting of various populations, with the structure and ability to engage in meaningful ways with proposed research activities. A “smart and connected community” is, in turn, defined as a community that synergistically integrates intelligent technologies with the natural and built environments, including infrastructure, to improve the social, economic, and environmental well-being of those who live, work, learn, or travel within it.


Community stakeholders may include some or all of the following: residents, neighborhood or community groups, nonprofit or philanthropic organizations, businesses, as well as municipal organizations such as libraries, museums, educational institutions, public works departments, and health and social services agencies. T


$23,500,000 Grant. National Science Foundation Smart and Connected Communities

 The following grant opportunity was created, updated, or deleted on Grants.gov:
 
NSF
National Science Foundation
Smart and Connected Communities
Synopsis 1
https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=330047


Agency Name:National Science Foundation



Description:
Communities in the United States (US) and around the world are entering a new era of transformation in which residents and their surrounding environments are increasingly connected through rapidly-changing intelligent technologies. This transformation offers great promise for improved wellbeing and prosperity but poses significant challenges at the complex intersection of technology and society. The goal of the NSF Smart and Connected Communities (S&CC) program solicitation is to accelerate the creation of the scientific and engineering foundations that will enable smart and connected communities to bring about new levels of economic opportunity and growth, safety and security, health and wellness, accessibility and inclusivity, and overall quality of life.

For the purposes of this solicitation, communities are defined as having geographically-delineated boundaries—such as towns, cities, counties, neighborhoods, community districts, rural areas, and tribal regions—consisting of various populations, with the structure and ability to engage in meaningful ways with proposed research activities. A “smart and connected community” is, in turn, defined as a community that synergistically integrates intelligent technologies with the natural and built environments, including infrastructure, to improve the social, economic, and environmental well-being of those who live, work, learn, or travel within it.

The S&CC program encourages researchers to work with community stakeholders to identify and define challenges they are facing, enabling those challenges to motivate use-inspired research questions. For this solicitation, community stakeholders may include some or all of the following: residents, neighborhood or community groups, nonprofit or philanthropic organizations, businesses, as well as municipal organizations such as libraries, museums, educational institutions, public works departments, and health and social services agencies. The S&CC program supports integrative research that addresses fundamental technological and social science dimensions of smart and connected communities and pilots solutions together with communities. Importantly, the program is interested in projects that consider the sustainability of the research outcomes beyond the life of the project, including the scalability and transferability of the proposed solutions.

This S&CC solicitation will support research projects in the following categories:
  • S&CC Integrative Research Grants (SCC-IRG) Tracks 1 and 2. Awards in this category will support fundamental integrative research that addresses technological and social science dimensions of smart and connected communities and pilots solutions together with communities. Track 1 proposals may request budgetsranging between $1,500,001 and $2,500,000, with durations of up to four years. Track 2 proposals may request budgetsup to $1,500,000, with durations of up to three years. Note that NSF is working with the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) to support joint US-Japan IRG Track 2 proposals (SCC-IRG JST) that address topics related to recovery from COVID-19 and future resilience planning related to pandemics and disasters, including how the proposed research will enable community adjustment to life in the new normal of a post-COVID-19 society.
  • S&CC Planning Grants (SCC-PG). Awards in this category are for capacity building to prepare project teams to propose future well-developed SCC-IRG proposals. Each of these awards will provide support for a period of one year and may be requested at a level not to exceed $150,000 for the total budget.
    • S&CC Integrative Research Grants (SCC-IRG) Tracks 1 and 2. Awards in this category will support fundamental integrative research that addresses technological and social science dimensions of smart and connected communities and pilots solutions together with communities. Track 1 proposals may request budgetsranging between $1,500,001 and $2,500,000, with durations of up to four years. Track 2 proposals may request budgetsup to $1,500,000, with durations of up to three years. Note that NSF is working with the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) to support joint US-Japan IRG Track 2 proposals (SCC-IRG JST) that address topics related to recovery from COVID-19 and future resilience planning related to pandemics and disasters, including how the proposed research will enable community adjustment to life in the new normal of a post-COVID-19 society.
  • S&CC Planning Grants (SCC-PG). Awards in this category are for capacity building to prepare project teams to propose future well-developed SCC-IRG proposals. Each of these awards will provide support for a period of one year and may be requested at a level not to exceed $150,000 for the total budget.
    • S&CC Planning Grants (SCC-PG). Awards in this category are for capacity building to prepare project teams to propose future well-developed SCC-IRG proposals. Each of these awards will provide support for a period of one year and may be requested at a level not to exceed $150,000 for the total budget.

A Family Affair. Jon Batiste Grammy Nomination for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album

 

Thursday, November 26, 2020 *********************** For Immediate Release

 

Christian Scott and Jon Batiste; Former students of Kidd Jordan receives Grammy Nominations for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album

 

Christian Scott - Grammy Nominee

NEW ORLEANS - Two former music students of New Orleans' Kidd Jordan; Christian Scott; and Jon Batiste were nominated for 2021 Grammy Awards in the category of Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. Both musicians are graduates of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and studied under Jordan at the Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong Summer Jazz Camp during their formative years. Jordan has served as the artistic director of the Jazz Camp since its 1995 inception.

 

Scott, known professionally as Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, is nominated for his album "Axiom" and is also nominated for a second Grammy, in the category of Best Improvised Jazz Solo, for his solo performance "Guinevere," a track from his album "Axiom."

 

He is the nephew of jazz innovator and legendary sax man, Donald Harrison, Jr. His musical tutelage began under the direction of his uncle at the age of thirteen. After graduating from the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) in 2001, Christian received a full tuition scholarship to Berklee College of Music where he earned a degree in professional music and film scoring thirty months later.

 

Since 2002, Christian has released eleven critically acclaimed studio recordings, two live albums and one greatest hits collection. According to NPR, "Christian Scott ushers in new era of jazz". He has been heralded by JazzTimes Magazine as "Jazz's young style God." Christian is known for developing the harmonic convention known as the “forecasting cell” and for his use of an un-voiced tone in his playing, emphasizing breath over vibration at the mouthpiece. The technique is known as his “whisper technique.”

 

Christian is the progenitor of “Stretch Music,” a jazz rooted, genre blind musical form that attempts to “stretch” jazz’s rhythmic, melodic and harmonic conventions to encompass as many other musical forms, languages and cultures as possible...

 

Jon Batiste_Verve

Jon Batiste, a Kenner native who serves as the bandleader for CBS' "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and a previous Grammy nominee will be competing with Scott for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. Batiste is nominated for "Chronology of a Dream: Live at the Village Vanguard."

 

Batiste also received a second nomination, in the New Age Album category, for his work on "Meditations" with Cory Wong.

 

As a teenager, Batiste began self-producing and releasing his music on the internet, as well as performing internationally. His major label debut “Hollywood Africans” was nominated for a GRAMMY award for Best American Roots Performance in 2019 and, along with his band Stay Human, he is featured nightly on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. His music is featured in the 2020 Disney Pixar film Soul, and his composing and songwriting will be featured in his large scale, genre-melding symphonic work “American Symphony,” set to be performed at Carnegie Hall in 2021.

 

Born into a long lineage of Louisiana musicians, Batiste received both his undergraduate and masters degrees in piano from the Juilliard School. He is currently the Music Director of The Atlantic, the Co-Artistic Director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem and is on the board of Sing For Hope.

 

 

Joining Scott and Batiste in terms of nominees in the 63rd annual Grammy Awards with local ties are P.J. Morton, Harry Connick Jr., Ledisi and Luke James. Morton a previous Grammy winner and multiple Grammy nominee is nominated for Best Gospel Album for his album, "Gospel According to P.J.: From the Songbook of P.J. Morton."

 

Three-time Grammy winner Harry Connick Jr. is nominated in the category of Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, for his album, "True Love: A Celebration of Cole Porter." Ledisi received her 13th nomination for Best Traditional R&B Performance, for "Anything for You."

 

Luke James, a singer/songwriter/actor from New Orleans, is nominated for Best R&B Album for his second album, "To Feel Loved."

 

The winners will be announced at the live show on Jan. 31 on CBS and WWL-TV Channel 4. For the full list of nominees, visit the GRAMMYs website here.

 

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Who is Alejandro Mayorkas? Nominated as DHS Secretary

 Who is Alejandro Mayorkas? Nominated as DHS Secretary

One Checklist version. Customize one for your community. Community Emergency Response Team Set-Up Checklist

 Community Emergency Response Team Set-Up Checklist 

An educated and well-trained citizen response team may be your best line of defense against an emergency. Use this checklist as you build your CERT to ensure you are preparing for success.
DOWNLOAD PAPER

Mental Health in the Black Community, and other communities of color. "Filling The Gaps" Discussion. Tuesday, November 24, 2020, 11:00am - 12:30pm PT

 Reminder.....

"Filling The Gaps" Discussion. Tuesday, November 24, 2020, 11:00am - 12:30pm PT

I hope this email finds you well and safe!
 
African Coalition is hosting a virtual discussion for the community, as we share and talk about the systematic barriers that impact mental health in the Black community.


Join us on 
 
Tuesday, November 24, 2020
11:00am - 12:30pm PT
Join Zoom Meeting


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Meeting ID: 996 5777 3828
Passcode: 001669
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Let's talk even more during the COVID -19 Crisis. Why? Seasonal Affective Disorder. November 24, 2020

 
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What is Seasonal Affective Disorder?

Woman looks out of the window in rain.


Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is more than just a feeling of “cabin fever” or being “down” — it’s a type of depression that comes and goes with the seasons.

You may go through short periods of time where you feel sad or not like your usual self. That yearly feeling may not be a case of the "winter blues" and you don't have to deal with it alone. The symptoms of SAD can get worse and lead to problems if not treated.

Learn how to spot the common symptoms of SAD, how it’s diagnosed, and the treatment options available. Take steps to keep your mood and motivation steady throughout the year.

Get Support for SAD

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