Monthly Archives: April 2020

Continued from yesterday

With their proficiency, some Tech-U students engage in technical jobs outside the university at their leisure. The Students Start-Up Fund to has been helpful for innovative students who have ideas that have already been transformed into startups.

The fact is that two things happen when the entrepreneurial capacity of youths is developed; the economy is strengthened because it has a direct contribution to the socio-economic development process through the development of indigenous expertise and it also helps to address youth unemployment. Policy and support programmes for TVET, therefore, need to be well-coordinated in Nigeria to achieve desirable results. While awareness for TVET programmes continues to increase, the same cannot be said about the coordination among the different sectors and ministries that offer TVET courses; this is evidenced by their different standards and the many inadequacies being faced. In many centres, the capacity of the trainers themselves still needs to be adequately developed. There is also the issue of financing as well as that of inadequate infrastructure.

Not only should entrepreneurship education be tailored towards the needs of the industry, but it should also be designed and administered according to the need of the target clientele. It should be put in mind that only entrepreneurial faculties will effectively deliver entrepreneurship instructions. The capacity of lecturers will, therefore, have to be developed from time to time. While the country eagerly awaits the formulation of a proper policy on skills acquisition, private enterprises can support collaborative research to identify skill gaps in the industry and also partner the ivory tower to develop training contents for youth development in response to the identified skill gaps. They could also be of help through the provision of opportunities for industrial work experience for students in training as well as the offering of an apprenticeship programme for unemployed youths.

Though youths are being trained in TVET, the outcome is not yet commensurate with the efforts being put in. And the higher a country ranks in terms of TVET training, the better for the country in the world economy. It is therefore not wrong to say that TVET development has a lot to do with economic and national development in the long run. It is obvious that no country develops without developing its science and technology. As such, enduring technological development may not take place without skilled technicians. Skilled technicians play major roles in the development of a technology-driven economy anywhere in the world. And TVET is the key that can ensure the required potential and productive workforce with the right scientific and technological competence. Matthew Lauer in his article titled: The future of work requires a return to apprenticeship, published in The Nation of March 9, 2020, put it succinctly when he noted that the skills required for the skilled jobs are not taught in the traditional university. He argued that the Fourth Industrial Revolution will eliminate many white and blue-collar jobs. This is perhaps the reason many countries are now prioritising TVET, and he cited the example of Switzerland where 2/3 of young people are pursuing dual-track classroom and vocational training.

It is undeniable that Nigeria has adopted TVET as an integral part of her national development strategy. TVET that was rejected by many only a few decades back is fast becoming the cornerstone for the development and transformation of education and training. To ensure, however, that the objectives of TVET, which include the impartation of knowledge and skills for increased efficiency in the world of work, personal empowerment and socio-economic development, are achieved, proper execution and management will be of absolute necessity.

Since TVET involves applying skills to support life, it will make a country technologically relevant and internationally competitive. It will also improve the quality of life through technological improvement. And of course, with those, there will be a reduction of poverty and it will culminate in the reduction of social vices. The absence of a national skills policy calls for urgent attention.

It will do the nation a lot of good for the government to invite stakeholders in the industry and the education sector to formulate a comprehensive national skill acquisition policy that aims at arming the youth against unemployment, building self-reliant youths and ultimately improving the economy. The government should also back this up with appropriate legislative instruments to compel and guide implementation.

The point must be made that nations do not just become great. Greatness is assured only on the heels of concerted investment in their people. Therefore, for Nigeria to emerge as a superpower, as commensurate with its latent potential, there has to be a calculated investment in people and skills. This, of course, will be with a view to fully developing comparative areas of strength and positioning for global relevance.

Nigeria will do well to learn from the stories of such outstandingly successful models as you find in Asia, for instance. The phenomenal progress countries such as China, South Korea and India have made with technology show what is possible when nations own their destinies and follow through with definite strategic roadmap. There are indications that the growth rate of Chinese students studying STEM-related courses in America in the last few decades, for instance, is not unconnected with a covert agenda for technological transfer.

Back home in Nigeria, while it is heartwarming that Technical, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Education is increasingly being considered as potent tools for stimulating the economy, it has become necessary to have it codified in a strategic response for achieving national industrial development.

Taking a cue from similar policies deployed in advanced economies like the industrially-rich Germany, the imperativeness of the policy stems from its usefulness in providing sharp strategic direction to the overall formal and informal skills development processes in the country. Covering such broad areas as institution-based skills development and sectoral skills development which includes formal and informal apprenticeship models, the policy would assist to align the developmental priorities of the nation with active measures to produce the relevant manpower for both immediate and future needs of the nation.Sadly, there was a time the country thought better and acted in consonance with best global practices. Just sixty years ago, through the 1959 Ashby Commission Report, the Nigerian government had been counselled on her manpower needs for post-school certificate and higher education over a 20-year period. That report had enunciated both the intermediate and high-level manpower needs of the country, detailing the actual supply rate and estimated capacity of the nations tertiary educational institutions.

Parts of the recommendation of the Eric Ashby-led Commission for the nations educational system were the production of 2,000 graduates a year by 1970, a proposal on the establishment of a National Universities Commission (NUC) and it insisted that enrolment in the universities should reflect national needs in terms of technical and non-technical fields.

Also diligently envisaged in that report were recommendations on teacher production and estimation of enrolment rates in our university system by 1970 and1980. One feels very sad that the country failed to implement the recommendations faithfully and also sustain such enviable planning tradition. But, it is not too late to reinvent that culture of diligence. The formulation of a skills development policy and the proper realignment of existing developmental structures are stepped in that direction.

It should be said that Nigeria needs to now urgently implement thorough skills gap analysis to help provide real-time data and on the actual human capital needs of the country. With such data, the nation is better informed on the extent of skills deficiency and the opportunities available for transformation. Anything short of this is tantamount to paying lip-service to solve the current job crises in the country.

Like Confucius, the Chinese philosopher, said, Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation, there is sure to be a failure. Without a national policy in place, it will yet be a long walk to the ideal situation in skill acquisition.

Concluded.

Professor Salami is Vice-Chancellor, First Technical University, Ibadan.

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National policy on skill acquisition for youths Part 3 - Guardian

GREENSBORO, April 9th, 2020 -- The Annual Human Race event has always been about fundraising, but it has now become a platform for local non-profit organizations to raise the funds needed to aid their missions and the vulnerable populations they serve during this pandemic. The Volunteer Center has a collective goal to raise $157,500 before June 20th, 2020. Over 75 local nonprofits have signed up with teams of fundraisers that can easily be supported online. Several for-profit companies have also created fundraising teams to raise money for nonprofits that align with their values. These organizations are still fundraising and now is more important than ever.

On a regular day, these organizations are serving food to those that are hungry, freeing dogs from heavy chains, empowering the next generation, building homes for those without, showing support for those who need it, gathering resources for veterans, supporting those with disabilities, educating children at every level, offering health and wellness to all, and more. With the effects of the pandemic, fundraising for many of them has completely stopped or reduced significantly. Many have small teams that are trying to reach the masses with small volunteer crews. The number of people knocking on the doors of these organizations has doubled in some cases as more are out of work and in need of resources.

We need your help. Just $25 could feed a family, replenish supplies, pay for gas needed to deliver medications to those in need, and more. You can choose an organization or team to donate to HERE or you can donate to the overall cause HERE.

Participating Non-Profit Organizations include American Cancer Society, After Gateway, Animal Rescue and Foster Program, Break of Life Church, BackPack Beginnings, Beautiful Butterflies, Bingo Pet Hospice, Black Child Development Institute, Break the Chain Kennel Kru, Ronald McDonald House, Child Evangelism Fellowship of Greater Greensboro, Chosen Generation Connection, Church World Service Greensboro, Combat Female Veterans Families United, Communication Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Community Housing Solutions, Corporation of Guardianship, CreateME, Empowered Girls of North Carolina, Epilepsy Alliance NC, FaithAction International House, Feral Cat Assistance Program, Future Hope Single Parents Ministry, GCS American Indian Education, GMCPD, Grandmas Handz, Greensboro Bar Association, Greensboro Farmers Curb Market, Guilford Green Foundation, Hand In Hand Water Safety Awareness, Haynes-Inman Education Center PTA, Helping Hands of High Point, Herald Charters, Herbin-Metz Education Center PTA, Authoracare (formerly Hospice and Palliative Care of Greensboro), Interactive Resource Center, Kellin Foundation Smiles 4 Miles, Keris Crusade for ALS,

maCares, Manasseh Baptist Church, Mental Health Greensboro, National MS Society, MBCC Foundation, NC African Service Coalition, Nehemiah Community Empowerment Center, One Step Further, Operation Xcel, People to People Liason, Resources for Artful Living, Ruff Love Rescue, Senior Resources of Guilford, SHIELD Mentor Program, Singing Dog Farm, The Sparrows Nest and Black Suit Initiative, TC Mens Ministry, The Arc of Greensboro, The Circle Foundation NC, The Servant Center, The Volunteer Center, This is My Sexy, Tiny House Community Development, Triad Golden Retriever Rescue, Triad Health Project, Triangle Beagle Trotters, United Way of Greater Greensboro, Victory Junction, and the Womens Resource Center.

You can donate to any of these teams HERE. Non-profits not listed above can still create fundraising teams. Contact jordan@volunteergso.org for more information.

For more information about COVID-19, visit the CDC OR NCDHHS. The state also has a special hotline set up where you can call 866-462-3821 for more information on the coronavirus. You can also submit questions online at ncpoisoncontrol.org or select chat to talk with someone about the virus.

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Thank you to our sponsors:

Bank of America has sponsored since 2001 and has been the presenting 5k sponsor since 2004 and is returning for this 26th annual Human Race. They also participate as fundraisers for 12 different nonprofit organizations and have been the top company fundraisers ever year.

Additional repeat sponsors are Dicks Broadcasting, WFMY News 2, Arch Mortgage Insurance, Jimmys Plumbing, American National Bank, Griswold Home Care, Zos Kitchen, Kneaded Energy, Little Guys Movers, and Palmetto Equity Group.

New this year, we have support and sponsorship from Novant Health, Renewal By Andersen, Truliant Federal Credit Union, Sequoia Services, Right Fit Storage, Smoothie King, Joy Squad, Shift, YES! Weekly, Hand in Hand Water Safety, Good Health Chiropractic, and Biscuitville.

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Registration for timed runners is $35. Day of registrations are $40. Walkers and those utilizing the short-route turnaround will not be timed, and can register at no cost but are encouraged to make a donation at registration. All registrants receive a link for personal fundraising pages as well as a link for the fundraising page for the team they join. These links offer a way for people everywhere to donate and support the cause whether they are near or far, participating or not.

Awards include best times for the top three individuals in each age group and gender, top ten fundraising individuals and teams, most spirited team awards, and more.

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About The Volunteer Center

The mission of The Volunteer Center is to strengthen our community by creating meaningful volunteer connections. We connect people, promote volunteerism, support nonprofits, and build partnerships. For more information about TVC, please visit http://www.volunteergso.org

Follow us on Facebook here and here, as well as on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

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OUR LOCAL NONPROFITS NEED YOUR HELP | Business - Yes! Weekly

Miracle cures, detox cleanses, and vaccine denial may seem to be the products of Hollywood and the social media age, but the truth is that medical pseudoscience has been a cultural touchstone in the U.S. since nearly its founding. At the dawn of the 19th century, when medical journals were still written almost entirely in Latin and only a handful of medical schools existed in the country, the populist fervor that animated the Revolutionary War came to the clinic. And while there was no shortage of cranks peddling phony medicine on a raft of dubious conspiracy theories in the early 1800s, none was more successful and celebrated than Samuel Thomson.

Portrait of Samuel Thomson

Visual: Wikimedia Commons

Portraying himself as an illiterate pig farmer (he was neither), Thomson barnstormed the Northeast telling rapt audiences things they wanted to hear: that natural remedies were superior to toxic chemical drugs; that all disease had a single cause, despite its many manifestations; that intuition and divine providence had guided him to botanical panaceas; that corrupt medical elites, blinded by class condescension and education, were persecuting him, a humble, ordinary man, because of the threat his ideas and discoveries posed to their profits.

For decades, Thomson peddled his dubious system of alternative medicine to Americans by playing to their cultural, political, and religious identities. Two centuries later, the era of Thomsonian medicine isnt just a historical curiosity; it continues to provide a playbook for grifters and dissembling politicians peddling pseudoscientific solutions to everything from cancer to Covid-19.

An acquisitive paranoiac with the steely-eyed look of a fundamentalist preacher, Thomson lectured on the same circuit as the Second Great Awakenings theatrical revivalists, one of countless unschooled peoples doctors as the esteemed orthodox physician Daniel Drake called them. In addition to his lectures, Thomson spread his gospel in his mega bestseller, New Guide to Health, a catalog of herbs accompanied by anecdotes testifying to their medicinal utility. Credulous readers learned that simple preparations of herbs like cayenne pepper or Lobelia inflata also known as puke weed not only relieved minor complaints like headaches and coughs but also rapidly cured progressive, terminal diseases like cancer. In breathless testimonials and self-aggrandizing anecdotes, Thomson and his followers attested to individuals being cured of dysentery, smallpox, and measles using the Thomsonian system. Between sales of the book, which went through 13 editions, and the family rights to buy his patented botanical nostrums, Thomson grew fabulously wealthy.

Though he was dismissed at the time as a dangerous fraud by mainstream physicians, Thomson was nevertheless held in high esteem by millions of Americans, who saw him as an avatar of self-reliance and entrepreneurial ambition. His followers wrote songs, poems, and prayers in homage to him. They congregated in Friendly Botanic Societies that more closely resembled churches than scientific seminars. His most zealous supporters, including some state legislators, hailed him alternately as the American Hippocrates or Jesus. That Thomson was regularly accused of killing patients and was even tried for murder once in Massachusetts seemed only to burnish the legend of his persecution and martyrdom.

In retrospect it can be hard to see how Thomson garnered so much influence. None of his botanical remedies were new to medicine, nor were they very effective for treating any serious condition. Yet in some states, such as Ohio and Mississippi, between a third and half of residents were said to have eschewed orthodox medicine in favor of Thomsons patented system. What made the Thomsonian sales pitch so successful was not just its blanket condemnation of the medical establishment, but its populist conception of healing itself. Just as Americans were free to be their own governors, lawyers, and priests, Thomson argued, so too should they be free to act as their own physician and surgeon. In this view, attempts to enforce state licensure laws or raise standards for medical education and practice were merely assaults on therapeutic choice and medical freedom as anti-American as government establishment of religion.

The parallels between our post-truth era and the age in which Thomsonian medicine prospered are striking. Though rural Americans were highly literate by the standards of the time, they had quickly come to associate intellectualism with the hated urban ruling class. The Thomsonians, the sociologist Paul Starr has written, viewed knowledge as an element in class conflict. In other words, Americans then, as today, were deeply distrustful of an ostensibly egalitarian government led by learned patricians or at least by those who looked and spoke the part. The simplicity of Thomsons system and his elaborate pantomime of socioeconomic solidarity were thus vital elements of his commercial success.

Thomsonian medicine could only succeed in a nation lacking scientific medicine and sharing a widespread belief in the superiority of inborn, intuitive, folkish wisdom over the cultivated, over-sophisticated, and self-interested knowledge of the literati and well-to-do, as Richard Hofstadter put it in his landmark Anti-intellectualism in American Life. Glorification of what one Thomson biographer later called the native practical sense of the ordinary man with direct access to truth would later reach its zenith in national icons like Andrew Jackson and Davy Crockett. But Thomson provided a template thats still followed today.

The parallels between todays post-truth era and the age in which Thomsonian medicine prospered are striking.

Thomson and his followers also shared the conviction that access to information is not only an adequate substitute for formal education but preferable and superior to it. As steam-powered presses enabled the mass production of newspapers, early 19th century Americans were deluged with information of questionable provenance and reliability. The effect, as with the internet today, was to generate pervasive cynicism about what can actually be known; truth becomes whatever is believed most widely or fervently. Nowhere was this more evident, and to some extent warranted, than in pre-scientific medicine. In 1825, you might well have been better off seeing a pig farmer about your headaches than seeing an M.D., who probably would have recommended mercury-based purgatives and bleeding to ooze you back to humoral harmony and health.

Yet today, when medicine can claim more successes than ever and is among the most respected professions, people of all political persuasions are embracing pseudoscientific alternative therapies in truly staggering numbers. In 2012, the last year for which authoritative statistics are available, Americans spent over $30 billion out-of-pocket on so-called complementary and alternative medicine, despite a dearth of evidence suggesting any of it works. In fact, about the same proportion of Americans use such products and services today as used Thomsonian medicine in the 1830s. And despite the perception, even among some physicians, that alternative medicine is harmless, its use today is associated with significant adverse public health outcomes, such as vaccine noncompliance and a greater risk of death in cancer patients. How did we arrive at this strange place, where so many educated Americans in the 21st century reject proven, evidence-based medicine in favor of 19th century magic?

The answer is complex. Surely part of it is that we have become victims of our own success. Life expectancy is long. Infant mortality is low. Most of us get more than enough to eat and, at least prior to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, have worried little about dying in an infectious disease outbreak, as so many of our ancestors did. Since we enjoy a relatively high standard of health, were free to focus on newer and harder problems like chronic diseases and developmental disorders precisely the conditions that modern medicine lacks good treatments for. Then there are the long-term crises of knowledge and authority that have been well-chronicled by others: the glut of misinformation online, declining trust in institutions, the devaluation of expertise, and the disturbingly common belief that much if not most of what happens in our world is the result of vast, invisible conspiracies.

But Americans embrace of pseudomedicine is also a reaction to less abstract and more personal problems: the inaccessibility of proper care, the alienating experience many have receiving it, and its intolerably burdensome costs. Research has shown that patients in highly commodified health care systems like ours express the highest mistrust of physicians, and while the exact reasons for this are unclear, its reasonable to suppose that perceived conflicts of interest play a role. Enter the white-coated naturopath or chiropractor, resembling a physician in all but training, education, and experience, and eager to confirm the worst suspicions of their frustrated marks. Just as in Thomsons time, dissatisfaction and distrust drive otherwise reasonable people into the arms of unregulated quacks who, in Hofstadters words, flatter their intuitive, folkish wisdom, provide an outlet for their political anger, and sell them an expensive illusion of empowerment and control over their health.

If we hope to limit the spread of modern medical denialism and the predatory industry feeding on and profiting from it, we must acknowledge this reality. Until we do, the neo-Thomsonians among us will continue to rake in cash and put all of us at risk with their pre-scientific, 19th century ideas.

John Charpentier is a Ph.D. candidate and immunology researcher at the University of Michigan.

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The 19th Century Roots of Modern Medical Denialism - Undark Magazine

As much of the world has entered into a bleak period of social confinement and dramatic economic decline, there has been an understandable urge to identify the upshot of this dark moment in global history. In particular, the desire to regard the pandemic as an opportunity to spark a kind of social, economic and political reset, reinstating a nostalgic vision of a simpler, more community-focused time.

In 1887, Friedrich Engels predicted that only a brutal war would provide the necessary chaos and economic disruption to precipitate a revolution. In 2020, these kinds of hopefully utilitarian aspirations for the pandemic are not confined to any one political tradition. In Western nations in particular, COVID-19 has been portrayed as the Great Leveller. Yet, it is difficult to afford this notion any credence beyond the superficial universal requirements of behavioural change.

The flagrant use of this term reveals much about the social challenges in Western liberal democracies, which pre-dated this pandemic. As our societies have become more diverse in every sense, and more empowered, the task of conjuring the imagined community that Benedict Anderson espoused has become more difficult. And with the arrival of pandemic, the public sphere itself is reconfigured to some degree, with millions tuning in to watch national broadcasts from leaders and their advisers, providing the backdrop of that most elusive quality of modern life: a shared reality.

A survey I published just before the crisis showed that the desire for a greater degree of national unity was one of the few consensus positions in European nations. The outsized salience of nostalgia in Western politics and its cultural resonance at least in part captures the absence of community-forging national tests over recent decades, and strengthens the potency of historical crises such as the Second World War. Leaders and citizens alike have been desperate to chart a course towards a rejuvenation of social ties, because the fragmentation of communities on the back of economic and technological change has made it more difficult to govern and embedded a persistent sense of insecurity.

Over recent years, new identities have emerged and assumed an astonishing degree of power and influence, with societies polarising around generational, socio-economic, educational, regional and gender lines. Over the past five years, policy-makers and researchers and have frequently discussed how an effective invocation of the community underpinning the nation could provide the key to softening some of these seemingly insurmountable barriers repairing the atomising effects of our late-stage capitalist, digital era lives.

There was a considerable desire amongst citizens, too, to believe in the crisis alchemy of social trust. At the outbreak of the crisis I appeared on Sky News discussing, amongst other things, the feverish stockpiling of toilet paper and penne pasta that had consumed the United Kingdom. It was suggested that this behaviour, disadvantaging the elderly and vulnerable, was completely out of character this is, after all, the land of the Blitz Spirit. When I made the point that the Blitz saw moments of great heroism and selflessness, but also precipitated astonishing spikes in the levels of violent, sexual and petty crime, I received a torrent of threats and abuse on social media and via email for having tarnished the legacy of this crucial period in the national consciousness.

There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought out some of the best traits of the people of the United Kingdom, a nation that prides itself on its generosity; not least of all, the staggering number of applications to volunteer for the National Health Service. Yet, it cannot come as a surprise that stressful situations that inspire a degree of competition around access to scarce resources do not always lead to the highest expression of the immense capacities of human nature. Many other less visible and more troubling forms of destructive social behaviour, whether child abuse, domestic violence, or the tinder box compelled in council estates by confining large families in cramped, unsatisfactory accommodations have predictably flared, with devastating and lasting consequences for the victims.

As I discussed last week, there is nothing endemic in this crisis that naturally suggests that populism in the West will fall by the wayside in its aftermath even despite the rallying we have seen around the flag in many nations, and the renewed empowerment of our institutions. Similarly, any sense of national unity the pandemic inspires is vulnerable to erosion as we over-compensate for our confinement in the transition, and in the face of the acceleration of social conflict and competition seething beneath the surface of this collective test. At the heart of this pandemic is in fact a very unevenly experienced situation.

While it began as the globalists disease, striking down politicians and political staff, those attending international conferences, or partaking in skiing holidays in the Dolomites, the citizens who bear the brunt of hospitalisations, and indeed deaths, are those with underlying medical and health conditions. Conditions that often reflect deep structural inequalities including the higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, smoking and respiratory illness affecting citizens from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Those in cities are especially vulnerable, with air pollution linked to a higher propensity for complications and even death. As are those with mental health conditions. In some nations, including the United States, socio-economic disparities are fused onto racial inequalities meaning citizens from BAME backgrounds are disproportionately likely to be hospitalised, and to pass away.

The trauma of another economic recession of this nature will be collectively shared, yet ultimately, the personal financial impacts of this pandemic will also be asymmetrical. While governments are offering unprecedented interventions to help shield workers and employers from the brunt of the disruption, as in the 2008-09 Financial Crisis, it will be the young who are most vulnerable to its immediate and long-term effects. As the Resolution Foundation noted, The Government is rightly socialising much of the costs of this crisis [] But these approaches create insider/outsider dynamics in which the young come off worst compensating people for the earnings they already had rather than the potential earnings they would otherwise have received. So too are many women, already disadvantaged in their career earnings by the structural inequalities of child-bearing, housework and family caring responsibilities, bearing the brunt of burden of this crisis to the working lives of parents.

The daily experience of this allegedly unifying crisis is also deeply subject to personal circumstance. While we all must undertake social distancing, limiting many of the pleasures of life and certainly the fall is greatest for those who are able to regularly partake in a vibrant social calendar, excursions to restaurants and the theatre, and overseas travel the environment in which we live through this lockdown varies tremendously. While abuse and violence are of course the extreme, though distressingly common, expressions of disadvantage, many citizens safe in their homes are also due to prohibitive housing costs living in small, dark flats with no outdoor spaces. Contrast this with the experience of those living in the countryside, or with large gardens, and the scale of the disparities of constraint and sacrifice become clear.

While images of middle-class runners sprinting buoyantly through parks in their Lululemon athletic gear feature heavily on the news, policy-makers are all too aware that every day that the lockdown continues, many other citizens are eating more, smoking more, drinking more, and experiencing a greater degree of mental strain than they would in their ordinary lives. The elderly have lost many of the activities and support services that maintain their quality of life. Children are forced to confront dark sides of the world previously unbeknownst to their innocent minds. Those who rely on medical support and interventions, including cancer patients, are treading water, and those with undiagnosed conditions may now only discover their illnesses at a dangerous moment in their spread.

The costs to society, and to the state, mount day by day forcing governments to balance choices about which groups of individuals, and which types of afflictions, are to be privileged.

Worryingly, many of the groups disproportionately affected in a negative manner by the economic, social and daily experiences of the crisis, are those most vulnerable to political disengagement. If there is an eventual backlash from this crisis and remembering that the lag on shaping political behaviour can be relatively long it could potentially deepen and embed disenfranchisement amongst certain social groups, or equally, create the conditions for a new wave of anti-establishment movements predicated on correcting injustices and inequalities revealed by the crisis. Depending on your personal politics, this second scenario may appear to be a positive option; however, simply from the perspective of governance and social cohesion, it would undoubtedly foretell more rocky years ahead.

I do not wish to appear to forecast only lasting doom and gloom from this crisis. Indeed, there are many ways in which it could indeed offer a pathway towards some profound social reckonings lighting a fire under burgeoning movements towards a recalculation of our relationship with nature, with work, and with one another. Amidst the obvious stresses, parents are given the chance of a modern lifetime to bond with their children. There will be tremendous opportunities for third sector organisations to have their work more visible and valued, and to build on the momentum of charitable and community acts compelled by the pandemics swift hand. It also feels inevitable to some extent that lower-paid workers (often described as unskilled) on the frontline of this crisis will be afforded a greater degree of respect, and that there will be increased public pressure to reduce the pernicious environmental impacts of industry and transport.

The pandemic has already compelled a surge in public sector innovation and an unprecedented degree of speed in policy responses, and enacted changes to the welfare state that will be difficult to reverse including the long-called-for adjustments to the payment level and access period of Universal Credit, the UK Governments flagship centralised welfare payment system. It is also difficult to imagine that the red lines of the first iteration of the UK Governments new immigration policy will remain as fixed, with thousands of desperately needed frontline NHS migrant workers having had their visas extended in the heat of the crisis.

Ultimately, governments will need to ask themselves why is it unacceptable for citizens to experience acute poverty or social deprivation during a pandemic, and acceptable at other times? Why must social media organisations intervene to combat conspiracy theories about the coronavirus, but are allowed wash their hands of the harmful proliferation of conspiracy theories that work daily to undermine social and political trust? Why is it outrageous for a woman to suffer at the hands of her partner during a lockdown, and somehow not worthy of our outrage on a normal day? Is it because the circumstances conjured by the pandemic are seen as so outside of reasonable individual agency? In asking ourselves these questions, we may well begin to expand our common societal understanding of what is beyond a persons control, and in doing so, find ourselves willing to look with fresh and frank eyes at some of the more enduring structural barriers that have persisted in plain sight.

Yet, it is nonetheless important to caution and particularly in light of the very human desire for this crisis to somehow, naturally lead us towards salvation that its harmful social effects will be profound and potentially long-lasting. And that governments will find themselves at the end of all of this, with a list of unresolved problems that pre-dated the crisis, as well as these more recent consequences of the pandemic itself.

While it is perfectly possible that leaders can rise to this tremendous challenge, we do not have ample evidence from the past five years which has brought up the bodies of many simmering tensions and conflicts and inequalities of their will and capacity to do so. Perhaps the trauma and jolt of this fast-moving, wide-reaching pandemic will provide the grist to the mill to support this in a manner that was not possible before its emergence. It is too early to say. All we can assert with certainty, is that no outcomes are inevitable.

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What does COVID-19 mean for the social fabric of our nations? - BFPG

Apr. 08 /CSRwire/ - Cisco Blogs | Corporate Social Responsibility

We know that the most vulnerable populations are disproportionately affected by the economic impacts of global crises, and continue to be impacted after a crisis is over. Those who are unemployed or underemployed. Small business owners. Women. The poor. People who are un/underbanked. At Cisco, we bring to bear all our available resources our funding, our technology, and our expertise to support nonprofit organizations that have technology-based solutions to connect the unconnected and help people become economically self-sufficient.

Ciscos model of investing in innovative organizations with early-stage, technology-based initiatives means that our nonprofit partners are already using technology to deliver many of their programs and services. This has enabled them to quickly pivot to deliver different types of services to address new and emerging needs, and also to rapidly accelerate their reach to meet increased needs of the individuals and communities they are serving.

These are some of nonprofits Cisco supports through our economic empowerment portfolio, and how they are responding to support people and communities in need right now:

Skills Training

Anudip:Provides technology skills training, professional development skills, mentoring, and employment opportunities to low-income and underserved populations (youth, women, people with disabilities) in India, delivered both face-to-face and online. Cisco has supportedAnudips work with cash grant investments, donations of WebEx and other Cisco technologies, and our expertise.How are they helping?Anudip has temporarily transitioned their services to 100 percent remote learning.

AnnieCannons:Provides technology skills training, professional development skills, mentoring, and employment opportunities to survivors of human trafficking in the Bay Area of California. We have supported AnnieCannons with cash grant investments, and donations of WebEx and other Cisco technologies.How are they helping?AnnieCannons has temporarily transitioned its online technology skills training to 100% remote learning. In addition, their staff have increased their outreach to human trafficking and domestic violence survivors who are particularly vulnerable during times of crises.

Upwardly Global (UpGlo):Provides training and support to skilled refugees and immigrants to eliminate barriers and help them integrate into the professional American workforce. Cisco has supported this work via an initial cash grant investment, and we are partnering to support virtual networking and mentoring opportunities with our employees.How are they helping?UpGlo is scaling its online skills training and job readiness resources, enhancing virtual coaching and volunteer services, and helping clients find immediate jobs in high demand areas like healthcare.

Financial Inclusion

Opportunity International (Opportunity):Provides financial products (regular and emergency loans, savings accounts, insurance) and services (capacity building for entrepreneurs, educators, farmers, and financial literacy training) to low income populations in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. With Cisco support,Opportunitydesigned, implemented, and scaled mobile enabled financial products and services to more than 20 million people across Africa and Asia.How are they helping?Access to these types of financial products and services is critically important for vulnerable populations who now are unemployed or without a steady source of income.

Kiva:Expands financial access through its peer-to-peer lending platform that enables individuals to make interest-free loans to students and entrepreneurs globally. Small businesses are already being negatively impacted by the spread of COVID-19, including many members of the Kiva community.How are they helping?In the United States, Kiva isofferinglarger loans, flexible repayment schedules, and expanded eligibility. They are working to provide support to their partner financial institutions and individuals outside the United States.

Social Enterprise

Vispala:Started by the CEO of Anudip, Vispala uses 3D printing technology to print low cost prosthetic arms for underserved populations in India. Cisco provided early stage funding to help them develop and test their products, scale, and become a financially sustainable social enterprise.How are they helping?They have now pivoted their focus to 3D printing surgical masks for healthcare providers.

NESsT:NESsT develops sustainable social enterprises that solve critical social problems in emerging market economies, likePIXED, a Peruvian social enterprise that manufactures 3D-printed prosthetics.How are they helping?PIXEDhas shifted its manufacturing of prostheses into personal protective equipment (PPE) for physicians and hospitals in Peru. NESsT is working closely with PIXED management (and all of its portfolio companies) to create contingency plans that address short- and longer-term needs that must be addressed during an impending global recession.

To accelerate global problem solving, we need financially sustainable solutions that address different issues in different parts of the world. Thats why Cisco invests in early-stage solutions that leverage technology to create meaningful impact at scale.

Our nonprofit partners in economic empowerment are able to quickly adapt to the way they serve others in order to address the biggest challenges that we face. To learn more about these amazing nonprofits and how you can get involved, please visit oureconomic empowermentpage.

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How Cisco's Nonprofit Partners Are Pivoting and Innovating to Address Unexpected Needs - CSRwire.com

Even conspiracy theories need to be partly built on facts in order to be plausible enough to market.

It is impossible to convince any sane person with blatant nonsense, or pathological illusions that ignore solid developments, and actions and quotes by authorities with well-known experience in their fields. Indeed, this is exactly what we are witnessing in these exceptional times as Covid-19 sweeps the world, bringing down all barriers.

A few days ago, a friend of mine sent me a recorded interview with a controversial British personality self-regarded as a visionary crusader against forces of global hegemony. This interview almost appeared with two valuable contributions by Jacques Attali, the Algerian-born French economist, thinker and political adviser, and Yuval Noah Harari, the Israeli (of Lebanese origin) historian and professor.

I had followed the career of the British personality since his early days as footballer, and then as a prominent sports journalist. His next step, however, took him to a totally different career; as he became an anti-establishment activist, first becoming an environmentalist with The Greens, and later a campaigner against political and economic elites, which he doubts and ruthlessly demonizes, and feels that it is his mission to uncover and warn against its evil conspiracies!

In his interview, the British conspiracy theorist dismisses the Covid-19 virus, and sees it as a new chapter in the global 1% elites conspiracy designed to strengthen its world domination. This is done as he claims by destroying the current world economys institutions and rebuild them in a way that further serves their interests.

In his argument, in addition to the global companies, and Davos World Economic Forum, he includes the World Health Organization (WHO), among the leading co-conspirators!

Some of the data mentioned by the controversial gentleman is true; more so for any political and economic researcher or expert, who understands the dynamics of the market economy and the role of accumulation, concentration, monopoly and speculation in capitalism.

Furthermore, anybody who has been following the progress of technology through the centuries would know the impact of technologies, from the discovery of the gunpowder and paper, the invention of printing, and recently, the development of the computer, genetic engineering and artificial intelligence (AI).

What I mean to say is that with or without Covid-19 we have been marching towards a new world. The only thing this pandemic has done is merely accelerating this march, and negating all reservations against it.

This is where Harari hits his target. He acknowledges the historical importance of the world crisis we are all facing.

Humankind is now facing a global crisis, he says, adding, perhaps the biggest crisis of our generation. The decisions people and governments take in the next few weeks will probably shape the world for years to come. They will shape not just our healthcare systems but also our economy, politics and culture. We must act quickly and decisively. We should also take into account the long-term consequences of our actions. When choosing between alternatives, we should ask ourselves not only how to overcome the immediate threat, but also what kind of world we will inhabit once the storm passes. Yes, the storm will pass, humankind will survive, most of us will still be alive but we will live in a different world.

Harari goes on many short-term emergency measures will become a fixture of life. That is the nature of emergencies. They fast-forward historical processes. Decisions that in normal times could take years of deliberation are passed in a matter of hours. Immature and even dangerous technologies are pressed into service, because the risks of doing nothing are bigger. Entire countries serve as guinea-pigs in large-scale social experiments. What happens when everybody works from home and communicates only at a distance? What happens when entire schools and universities go online? In normal times, governments, businesses and educational boards would never agree to conduct such experiments. But these arent normal times. In this time of crisis, we face two particularly important choices. The first is between totalitarian surveillance and citizen empowerment. The second is between nationalist isolation and global solidarity.

The first choice therefore is between a Chinese model of totalitarian surveillance and the respect of human rights, including personal privacy; and the second is between isolationism and globalization.

Jacques Attali, who was the first head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in 1991-1993, and a former adviser to ex-French President Francois Mitterrand, seems somehow to agree with Harari on more than one issue. He also believes that great historical disasters caused by various plagues led to profound changes in the political structures of nations, as well as the cultures embodied in those structures.

Talking of the bubonic plague (The Black Death) of the 14th century, which killed almost one third of Europes population, Attali says that among its most significant repercussions was the change in the position of the clergy. The clergy lost out influence to the benefit of the police, which became the only protector of the people after the churchs failure to protect them.

However, as Attali explains, this situation did not last long either; after the real power shifted from the authority of religion as represented by the Church to the authority of enforcement as represented by the police, it shifted again from the authority of enforcement to the authority of the state and the laws.

This point, in particular, will bring us back to ongoing argument about who would be the main beneficiary from the repercussions of Covid-19 in the Arab World. Is it the political and security, which has decisively taken the initiative in confronting the pandemic? Or is it some religious groups which are waiting until the worst passes, and then emerge to say Well, where were your science and scientists when God attempted to test our beliefs?

Indeed, contradicting theories and arguments about our lives and futures mushroom here and there, as the world, as a whole finds itself fighting against time.

From one side there are voices insisting that the top priority now must be saving lives, as saving the economies can wait, especially, that they are built on lending and debts, and can be rebuilt after recessions. From the opposite direction, many voices argue that life and death are existential facts, and the world must never sacrifice its economic well-being for the many to save the lives of the few.

Personally, I am - without hesitation - with the first opinion.

More here:

Covid-19 and the Conspiracy Theorists | Asharq AL-awsat - Asharq Al-awsat English

Since she started telecommuting a few weeks ago, she has faced more verbal and physical abuse from her husband, who has always worked from home.

Friction between the couple has become worse now that they are together almost all the time, the woman's social worker, Ms Kristine Lam, told The New Paper.

One of the flashpoints is her husband's harsh disciplining of their two young children, who stopped going to kindergarten a while ago because of the Covid-19 outbreak.

When she tries to help them, he would turn his anger towards her and become violent.

"Her husband would accuse her of being a lousy mother who was incapable of managing the kids," said Ms Lam, who declined to reveal their personal details due to confidentiality.

"He would push her and bang her head against the wall. He also hit her with his hands."

She said the man had always been abusive and controlling, such as checking his wife's phone and laptop, but the frequency of his violence rose after she began working at home.

Ms Lam, a lead social worker at Care Corner's Project StART, and advocacy groups are concerned about a potential rise in domestic abuse as families are forced to stay home during this circuit breaker month.

Minister for Social and Family Development Desmond Lee addressed this issue in Parliament on Monday when he noted a trend in "higher rates of domestic violence, domestic quarrels and friction in the family" in countries that had imposed movement restrictions.

He said a national care hotline will be set up for callers to get support from psychologists, counsellors and others.

Family Violence Specialist Centres (FVSC) and Child Protection Specialist Centres will be "adequately resourced during this time" as they are essential services, Mr Lee added.

The Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) said it received 619 inquiries last month, a 35 per cent jump from March last year.

Aware's head of research and advocacy Shailey Hingorani told TNP: "Crises, such as pandemics or economic recessions, have historically corresponded with a surge in domestic violence cases."

She said social workers told Aware last month that they had observed a rise in family violence cases.

One social worker said 60 per cent of her daily referrals were family violence-related, up from 30 per cent last year.

United Women Singapore president Georgette Tan said such cases may continue to rise as virus containment measures may inadvertently trigger domestic violence.

Nanyang Technological University's associate professor of psychology, Dr Andy Ho, noted that physical isolation also makes it harder for victims to get help.

He said: "Victims are now constantly in close physical proximity with their abusers. This exposes them to a higher likelihood of abuse.

"And they might not have the privacy and personal space to contact their support network for help even if they have one."

Stress arising from the Covid-19 crisis may also result in more abusive behaviour by perpetrators, said Ms Hingorani of Aware.

She added: "Abusers may seek a sense of control in their disrupted and uncertain lives, which may trigger them to lash out at those around them."

Ms Lam, whose centre is one of two FVSCs here, said she has seen a recurrence of violence in cases involving those who were previously on stay-home notices or quarantine orders.

Like NTU's Dr Ho, she feels that victims are now more isolated from their support networks. For example, school counsellors and teachers can no longer monitor how potential child abuse victims are doing now that they are not in school.

Work-from-home arrangements may also impact victims' level of empowerment, as many find their identity through their jobs, and this could affect whether they seek help, said Ms Lam.

Stressing that physical isolation does not mean social isolation, Dr Ho said: "It is crucial for victims to have a contact point that checks in on them. Technology makes that possible, but only if they can have privacy or time alone."

Here is the original post:

Rise in domestic abuse cases as families forced to stay home - The New Paper

War against virus: The new nightingales of India, lighting the lamp of hope (IANS Special)

New Delhi, April 10 (IANS) As thousands of nurses across the country light the lamps of hope in the hospitals, several leading ladies play a vital role in India''s war room to contain the spread of dreaded pandemic.

From developing India''s first test kit for COVID-19, to despatching life saving medicines in remote areas, and from chalking out strategies for the government to tackle the spread of the virus to building treatment protocols, women from various walks of life burn midnight oil to counter the virus which is gradually spreading in world''s second most populated country.

Just a day before she delivered a baby, Minal Dakhave Bhosale, a Pune based virologist, managed to deliver the first testing kit for COVID-19 to India. In just a record time of six weeks, Minal and her team including some of the best scientists gifted its first test kit to conduct COVID-19 tests at a large scale in the country, an exercise required to identify and isolate carriers of the dreaded virus.

A few kilometers away from Minal''s laboratory in Pune, another virologist, Dr Priya Abraham, made an important breakthrough by isolating the virus. This breakthrough, by Dr Abraham, Director of the National Viral Institute, helps the scientists and immunologists in developing a vaccine or a drug for the treatment for new coronavirus.

Around 1500 kilometers away from Pune, in India''s seat of power, New Delhi, several women bureaucrats, policy makers, health strategists, joined hands with the Prime Minister''s Office (PMO) in chalking out strategies and initiating quick steps to prevent the country from slipping into stage 3, where disease is transmitted into communities.

Preeti Sudan, an alumni of London School of Economics, and presently the Secretary of Union Ministry of Health and Welfare, became the nodal point for the PMO to execute the key medical strategies on ground through health departments of various states."

Preeti is a workaholic. Fortunately she has rich experience of public food distribution, disaster management and PM''s mega health Insurance scheme. She seems to be the fittest person to be the nodal point for coordinating the war against a pandemic, " says a 1983 batch IAS and batchmate of Preeti Sudan.

Incidentally, the person in charge of viral diseases in India''s premiere medical body, Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR), happens to be a well known woman scientist, Dr Nivedita Gupta. Her contribution in containment of virus Nipah in India''s southern most state of Kerala is widely acknowledged in the research fraternity.

Dr Gupta, who played a key role in setting up a viral and diagnostic network for ICMR, is presently building testing and treatment protocols in India. Such protocols, adhered by the medical practitioners are vital in the fight against the virus.

The actual battle against COVID-19 could be won only through a repurposed drug or a vaccine, a field which usually comes under biotechnology ministry. As several groups of scientists launch the project of developing repurpose drugs or a vaccine to combat the virus, Renu Swaroop, a top class scientist and secretary in the Union Ministry of Biotechnology, looks after all these projects.

She hopes that repurpose drugs could be an answer to quickly deal with the highly infectious virus.Seeing her deep involvement in the going projects, the union government has given Renu Swaroop one year extension in her service.

While these scientists and bureaucrats hold the key in fighting the pandemic, thousands of nurses, who form the frontline of the battle, work tirelessly in hundreds of hospitals where patients are being treated.

"We are thankful to Prime Minister Modi. For the first time we were invited in a video conference with the PM and I am happy to say all our requests ranging from suitable insurance package to availability of Personal Protection Equipments (PPEs) were heard and sorted out, " said Professor Roy George, the President of The Trained Nurses Association of India (TNAI) the apex body of nurses founded in 1908.

India has over 1.2 million workforce of trained nurses, who seem to brave this highly contagious virus and redefine women empowerment as the country gears up to battle coronavirus.

--IANS

ds/rt

Disclaimer :- This story has not been edited by Outlook staff and is auto-generated from news agency feeds. Source: IANS

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War against virus: The new nightingales of India, lighting the lamp of hope (IANS Special) - Outlook India